Iskra
Established Member
Pre-May 2018 (Might have been before then) there was the Scunthorpe to Lincoln via Sheffield (Return journey went to Adwick). Made even worse by the fact that they called at both Retford and Doncaster - 20 minutes on the ECML, well over an hour via Sheffield.
Leeds to Lincoln via Barnsley and Sheffield nowadays is also a good contender, however, that and the prior service only exist to give Lincoln, Gainsborough, Retford, Worksop etc a direct service to Meadowhall.
Should have probably picked up on these ones myself!
Back in Virgin XC days, several services used to do Brum-Preston via Stoke and Piccadilly, another time consuming diversion.
I probably wouldn't have minded if it was in the days of proper trains...