Trivia: Elongated/Indirect Services

[jopsuk]

Edinburgh to Perth (and beyond) Scotrail services run via Fife (the shorter route); The Highland Chieftain and Highland Sleeper run via Falkirk and Stirling instead. Indeed, the two LNER services (one to Invernes, one terminating at Stirling, and their morning equivalents in the opposite direction) are the only services to offer 1st class for passengers travelling from Edinburgh to Falkirk Grahamston and Stirling (the sleeper has 1st as well, but Edinburgh is not a boarding or alighting point for the Highland service)

 

[route101]

Edinburgh to Perth (and beyond) Scotrail services run via Fife (the shorter route); The Highland Chieftain and Highland Sleeper run via Falkirk and Stirling instead. Indeed, the two LNER services (one to Invernes, one terminating at Stirling, and their morning equivalents in the opposite direction) are the only services to offer 1st class for passengers travelling from Edinburgh to Falkirk Grahamston and Stirling (the sleeper has 1st as well, but Edinburgh is not a boarding or alighting point for the Highland service)

Did there not used to be evening scotrail Edinburgh to Perth via Stirling?

 

[jopsuk]

Did there not used to be evening scotrail Edinburgh to Perth via Stirling?

I think you're right, but there's no such service in the December 2019 timetable; I don't know when it was withdrawn.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Aren’t there Crewe - Liverpool services, via Piccadilly?

Via Manchester Airport (reverse).

Comparing air and rail mileages, I was surprised to find the straight-line London-Glasgow distance was about 344 miles.
That's 57 miles shorter than the WCML.
It's not at all obvious where this level of indirection occurs on the train, but large kinks around Rugeley and Grayrigg, and in the winding Clyde valley, don't help.
The straight line would go east of Manchester through Oldham!
The shortest rail route London-Manchester was actually via Nuneaton, Burton, Uttoxeter, Churnet Valley, Leek and Macclesfield.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Swansea St Thomas to Birmingham via Cray , Brecon , Hay , Hereford etc (Midland Railway) , also Carmarthen to Euston via Llandeilo , and the Heart of Wales line (LNW)

Early 20thC of course...

 

[S&CLER]

Via Manchester Airport (reverse).

Comparing air and rail mileages, I was surprised to find the straight-line London-Glasgow distance was about 344 miles.
That's 57 miles shorter than the WCML.
It's not at all obvious where this level of indirection occurs on the train, but large kinks around Rugeley and Grayrigg, and in the winding Clyde valley, don't help.
The straight line would go east of Manchester through Oldham!
The shortest rail route London-Manchester was actually via Nuneaton, Burton, Uttoxeter, Churnet Valley, Leek and Macclesfield.

I believe the shortest route from London to Carlisle was from Kings Cross via Doncaster, Holbeck, Skipton, Ingleton and Low Gill. Unfortunately I can't find a reference for this, but I seem to recall that the advantage over the WCML was only a mile or two.

 

[daodao]

The shortest rail route London-Manchester was actually via Nuneaton, Burton, Uttoxeter, Churnet Valley, Leek and Macclesfield.

The Macclesfield-Uttoxeter line was built as a double track line in the mid 19th century and its promoters envisaged it as a main line from Manchester to London. Unfortunately for them, it remained until closure a little-used rural backwater. The former site of one of the stations (Bosley) was sadly the location of a fatal explosion that killed 4 workers not so long ago. The parallel main road out of Macclesfield (the A523 to Leek and beyond) is called London Road. At one time, there were through carriages (originating at Buxton LNW) from Uttoxeter to Euston via Burton and Nuneaton.

Swansea St Thomas to Birmingham via Cray , Brecon , Hay , Hereford etc (Midland Railway) , also Carmarthen to Euston via Llandeilo , and the Heart of Wales line (LNW). Early 20thC of course...

Through carriages to London (Euston) from the Heart of Wales line, and also the Cambrian main line until its takeover by the GWR, were routed from Shrewsbury via Newport (Salop). On the subject of the Central Wales line, this is a far more direct route between Craven Arms and Llanelli than that taken by most trains, which are routed via Cardiff.

In France, many direct inter-regional services and also some through services from Paris, have been drastically curtailed or rendered impossible by line closures, and replaced by TGV services routed more indirectly via bypass lines around Paris, the TGV Mediterranean line via Montpelier or other TGV routes from Paris to regional centres. Examples include Lille-Strasbourg, Lyon-Bordeaux and Paris-Toulouse.