Trivia: long distance direct trains by wildly different routes.

[Jimini]

Which services go from St Pancras to Lincoln?

These ones do.

 

[route101]

In normal times (I think services may be suspended at the moment due to some combination of covid and TPEs rolling stock/training woes) one can get a direct train from Manchester picadilly/oxford road/airport to edinburgh by two wildly different routes. One can either go up the west coast via preston/carlisle or up the east coast via leeds/york. It seems the same is also true for Liverpool lime street to Edinburgh.

Are there any other places where you can take long distance direct trains between two stations by such radically different routes?

TPE don't operate from Liverpool Lime St to Edinburgh via WCML.

Glasgow to Birmingham New St - XC and Avanti. Just XC at the moment.

 

[D6975]

But only in that direction! (There is no longer a through train from Newcastle to Glasgow via Carlisle and Dumfries.)

Oh yes there is. There's a 0620 Newcastle-Glasgow. Because the leg to Carlisle is Northern and the leg to Glasgow ScotRail, it shows on RTT as two separate services, but it is actually a through service. (The two legs have different headcodes too)

 

[vlad]

If you want to go from London (Waterloo) to Portsmouth then SWR run trains via Guildford and Haslemere, or alternatively via Basingstoke and Winchester.

Southern also run a train from London Victoria to Portsmouth via Gatwick and Arundel. I'm not sure if this counts - but given that it runs through Clapham Junction the two routes definitely cross!

 

[ExpressTrain]

Unless its now gone from the timetable there used to be a Shrewsbury to Manchester via Chester late at night, a much more circuitous route than via Crewe and Wilmslow.

It gets better - the train actually started at Birmingham International! It's quite a diversion compared to the CrossCountry services from there to Manchester.
It's only running as far as Chester at the moment (presumably a COVID change).

 

[Bald Rick]

Baker St to Embankment

 

[Cricketer8for9]

Mile End to Ealing Broadway... I’ll get my hat.

 

[Jamesrob637]

München to the Rhein-Ruhr can be done via Nürnberg or via Stuttgart.

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

On Sundays from Woking you have the choice of a fast train via the mainline through Weybridge taking 21 minutes.

Or you have the choice of the via Chertsey train which takes an hour and a half

 

[xotGD]

There used to be a direct service from Edinburgh to Carlisle (and back) via Newcastle (1M04/1S15), but that was a few years ago now. Only a crank would have done it throughout.

 

[Jamesrob637]

There used to be a direct service from Edinburgh to Carlisle (and back) via Newcastle (1M04/1S15), but that was a few years ago now. Only a crank would have done it throughout.

Or they might have offered ludicrously cheap Advances

 

[andythebrave]

Derby to Kettering via either Leicester or Melton Mowbray. Currently southbound only.

 

[Stathern Jc]

Derby to Kettering via either Leicester or Melton Mowbray. Currently southbound only.

I know it's dfifting a bit off thread, but that reminds me.
In the 80s Sunday diversions South of Leicester went via Melton, it was then a rare opportunity to travel between Manton and Kettering.
One of those in the early afternoon was a double headed Peak, that was an even rarer opportunity. Brilliant!

 

[ValleyLines142]

Depends how long distance you want, but Marylebone to Aylesbury has two different routes.
Doncaster to Peterborough has services via Grantham and via Lincoln.
Waterloo to Portsmouth via Eastleigh and via Petersfield
Waterloo to Weybridge via Surbiton and via Virginia Water
Cardiff to Bridgend via the main line and via the Vale of Glamorgan
Manchester to Leeds
Manchester to Liverpool
Manchester to Chester

Are there still any Cross Country services between Cardiff and Manchester via Birmingham? (TfW services go via Shrewsbury)

Daily Voyager service from Cardiff is withdrawn at the moment.

 

[Jamesrob637]

Daily Voyager service from Cardiff is withdrawn at the moment.

Yep no Bristols and I don't believe they're returning in five weeks at the timetable change either.

 

[peteb]

It gets better - the train actually started at Birmingham International! It's quite a diversion compared to the CrossCountry services from there to Manchester.
It's only running as far as Chester at the moment (presumably a COVID change).

I wonder if you could actually buy a Birmingham International to Manchester stations single which would be valid on that route!

 

[Lloyds siding]

You can do Lancaster to Carlisle up the WCML via Oxenholme, or the even more scenic route via Barrow-in-Furness and the Cumbrian coast.

Liverpool Lime Street to Crewe via Runcorn, or else via Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Airport!

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Lancaster to Carlisle - Avanti direct and Northern round the coast.

You can do Lancaster to Carlisle up the WCML via Oxenholme, or the even more scenic route via Barrow-in-Furness and the Cumbrian coast.

We've had that one already!

 

[Whistler40145]

Liverpool Lime Street to Crewe direct via Runcorn and via Manchester Piccadilly and Wilmslow

 

[30907]

München to the Rhein-Ruhr can be done via Nürnberg or via Stuttgart.

And there's a daily ICE via Kassel-Paderborn too.

While we're on the mainland, Berlin to Vienna has trains by 3 different routes ATM.

 

[route101]

There used to be a direct service from Edinburgh to Carlisle (and back) via Newcastle (1M04/1S15), but that was a few years ago now. Only a crank would have done it throughout.

When was that and traction?

 

[Mag_seven]

When was that and traction?

I remember seeing the northbound version of it at Carlisle in the early 1980s. - I seem to remember it either had a class 31 or 47 up front but I don't know whether the 31 would gave gone through to Edinburgh?

 

[Jamesrob637]

And there's a daily ICE via Kassel-Paderborn too.

While we're on the mainland, Berlin to Vienna has trains by 3 different routes ATM.

Sticking within one European country, Paris to Dijon and Lyon via TGV or the classic line. Don't know if Bordeaux still sees a classic train from Paris now the LGV has been extended past the Loire Valley.

 

[30907]

Sticking within one European country, Paris to Dijon and Lyon via TGV or the classic line. Don't know if Bordeaux still sees a classic train from Paris now the LGV has been extended past the Loire Valley.

Not sure, but Toulouse is still served by both routes, so is Narbonne - though these use different Paris termini, so strictly outwith the OP's definition.

Barcelona to Cordoba is possibly the longest by totally different routes, though I look forward to being outbid

 

[LSWR Cavalier]

Koeln - Frankfurt/M, high-speed or Rheintal
I prefer the latter, the trains on the Neubaustrecke are so fast that one can not relax and watch the landscape

 

[Whistler40145]

Innsbruck to Munich via Garmisch-Partenkirchen or direct via Rosenheim

 

[SteveyBee131]

Another fairly recent historic one, Leeds to Huddersfield:

TransPennine Express via Dewsbury/direct;
Northern via Bradford Interchange and Halifax.

Go a little bit further back and you could extend it to Leeds to Wakefield Kirkgate:

Both Northern, but either via Castleford/direct (15-20 minutes);
Or via Bradford, Halifax and Huddersfield (around 2 hours!)

Similarly Leeds to Wakefield Westgate:

Direct/via Outwood (as little as 10 minutes);
Or via the West Yorkshire circular (around 2 hours 10 minutes!)

 

[transmanche]

But only in that direction! (There is no longer a through train from Newcastle to Glasgow via Carlisle and Dumfries.)

Oh yes there is. There's a 0620 Newcastle-Glasgow. Because the leg to Carlisle is Northern and the leg to Glasgow ScotRail, it shows on RTT as two separate services, but it is actually a through service. (The two legs have different headcodes too)

It's not only RTT which doesn't show it as a through service, no timetable shows it as a through service.

If you look up, say, a Haltwhistle to Dumfries journey at around 7am, you're told you need change at Carlisle. In the reverse direction, the 16:13 is shown as a through service from Glasgow Central to Newcastle in the timetable.

If it's not shown in any timetable as a through service and not advertised as a through service and has different headcodes - then it's not a through service.

 

[Cricketer8for9]

Aren’t there two ways to get to Florida from New York, at least in normal times? And while there are different terminals New York to Chicago via the New York Central or Pennsylvania Railroads is a pretty long way.

 

[xotGD]

I remember seeing the northbound version of it at Carlisle in the early 1980s. - I seem to remember it either had a class 31 or 47 up front but I don't know whether the 31 would gave gone through to Edinburgh?

Yes, early 80s. Usually Haymarket would provide a Type 4, but could be 40, Peak or 47. Also produced the occasional Deltic in their final days.