I had a thought the other day and was wondering if GWR might be one of few TOCs to completely outcompete against a neighbouring TOC in all its geographical extremities. Taking GWR, it’s western and southernmost point is Penzance, northernmost is Worcester and easternmost is Gatwick Airport, although Brighton just about beat it until a couple of weeks ago. By comparison, SWR’s southernmost point is Weymouth, westernmost is Exeter St David’s, while it’s northernmost and easternmost point is London Waterloo. That means for 3 out of 4 compass points, GWR totally outcompetes SWR in terms of geographical operating extremities.
The point which it doesn’t quite outcompete is the easternmost, as Gatwick Airport is just a couple of miles further west from a ruler-straight line drawn south of Waterloo (the red line in the attached image proves this). Even Brighton didn’t quite make it for the many years it was on the GWR map despite being east of Gatwick as shown by the purple line in the second image.
Would be interesting to find some other similar comparisons.
The point which it doesn’t quite outcompete is the easternmost, as Gatwick Airport is just a couple of miles further west from a ruler-straight line drawn south of Waterloo (the red line in the attached image proves this). Even Brighton didn’t quite make it for the many years it was on the GWR map despite being east of Gatwick as shown by the purple line in the second image.
Would be interesting to find some other similar comparisons.
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