Grecian 1998
Member
In most cases where there are or were competing routes, the older route has always been the primary one, as generally it would take either the most favourable route, either geographically or serving the most settlements. For instance Birmingham - Euston is the prmary route rather than Birmingham - Paddington, and St Pancras - Sheffield is now the sole route, as Marylebone - Sheffield is largely closed. But what routes are there where the one built later is now the primary route?
For clarity I'd assess the primary route to be the one with the fastest journey times, most frequent services and best quality rolling stock (although the latter is of course subjective).
I can think of four:
Manchester - Sheffield via the Hope Valley was built in 1897, over half a century after the Woodhead route. However despite being threatened by Beeching, it was the Woodhead route which was ultimately closed.
Manchester - Leeds via Huddersfield. I think this is largely because the older route which opened in 1841 took a much more meandering route via the Calder Valley through Rochdale and Halifax to avoid tunnelling costs, although the Summit Tunnel is still rather long. The Standedge route via Huddersfield built a few years later is rather more direct.
London - Portsmouth via the Portsmouth Direct. The original rival LSWR route via Eastleigh and LBSCR route via Arundel had similar journey times, but the LSWR then decided to build the route via Petersfield (which led to the Battle of Havant).
Paddington - Exeter. Whilst the original route via Bristol pre-dates the Waterloo - Exeter route, parts of the Reading - Taunton section are newer than the Salisbury route, and expresses couldn't be routed that way until 1906.
For clarity I'd assess the primary route to be the one with the fastest journey times, most frequent services and best quality rolling stock (although the latter is of course subjective).
I can think of four:
Manchester - Sheffield via the Hope Valley was built in 1897, over half a century after the Woodhead route. However despite being threatened by Beeching, it was the Woodhead route which was ultimately closed.
Manchester - Leeds via Huddersfield. I think this is largely because the older route which opened in 1841 took a much more meandering route via the Calder Valley through Rochdale and Halifax to avoid tunnelling costs, although the Summit Tunnel is still rather long. The Standedge route via Huddersfield built a few years later is rather more direct.
London - Portsmouth via the Portsmouth Direct. The original rival LSWR route via Eastleigh and LBSCR route via Arundel had similar journey times, but the LSWR then decided to build the route via Petersfield (which led to the Battle of Havant).
Paddington - Exeter. Whilst the original route via Bristol pre-dates the Waterloo - Exeter route, parts of the Reading - Taunton section are newer than the Salisbury route, and expresses couldn't be routed that way until 1906.
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