Trivia - longest journey time and distance between stations outside London

[Bessie]

I was at Reading station today and noticed the Penzance train was just leaving. This showed a 1 hour 20 min journey time to the next station stop at Taunton. A quick google search has shown this to be a distance of 97 miles. Now my trivia question is what is the longest non-stop journey between two stations outside of London. I assume the LNER or WCML could have some decent long distance non-stop trains.

 

[Ianno87]

Pre-Covid, the 0540 Edinburgh-King's Cross was non-stop from Newcastle to King's Cross.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Pre-Covid, the 0540 Edinburgh-King's Cross was non-stop from Newcastle to King's Cross.

Surely Kings Cross is London?!

 

[Ianno87]

Surely Kings Cross is London?!

Ah, misunderstood the OP - between two stations niether of which are London.

There's an evening LNER service that is non-stop York to Stevenage.

 

[SteelWeelApeal]

There was a diversion in this thread (6) Trivia: Longest scheduled non-stop run on any National Rail service | Page 3 | RailUK Forums (railforums.co.uk) into the longest non-stop on services that didn't go to London. The winners in terms of time were Manchester Pic to Sheffield on a diverted route at 1h 31m (but with an unadvertised stop at Huddersfield), Shrewsbury to Newport at 1h 28m, and Newcastle to Edinburgh at various times. All but the latter aren't running due to covid (and the thread is two years old, so they might not be in the current timetable at all). There is also York to Stevenage on Saturday evenings, and soon there will be Newcastle to Stevenage with the new operator. There are also Haymarket to Dundee and Dundee to Aberdeen as crosscountry are currently missing out intermediate stops (a Scotrail service also does Dundee to Haymarket nonstop). Reading to Taunton was mentioned in the op, and I expect there are some on Caledonian sleeper but haven't checked.

 

[Cambus731]

Is there still a train that on M-F runs non stop from Glasgow Queen Street to Perth?

 

[Jamesrob637]

I'm sure some Plymouth or Penzance trains go Reading to Exeter which must be pushing on 130 miles.

 

[30907]

Watford to Carlisle on the Lowlander must be the longest between public stops at 282m?
York to Stevenage comes 2nd at 159m, Reading to Exeter on the sleeper 3rd at 135m (or more!).

 

[southern442]

When East Coast Trains come in there will be some Stevenage-Newcastle runs, is that longer than Watford-Carlisle?

 

[yorkie]

When East Coast Trains come in there will be some Stevenage-Newcastle runs, is that longer than Watford-Carlisle?

No.

 

[Mag_seven]

I'm sure some Plymouth or Penzance trains go Reading to Exeter which must be pushing on 130 miles.

There aren't any that run non stop Reading to Exeter anymore. All the WOE services had a Taunton stop added in the Dec 2019 TT change.

 

[Statto]

Quite a few Euston-Chester/North Wales services run non stop Milton Keynes-Crewe which is a bit of a distance

 

[Ianno87]

Quite a few Euston-Chester/North Wales services run non stop Milton Keynes-Crewe which is a bit of a distance

The 1840 Glasgow-Euston runs non-stop Warrington-MK.

Longest non-stop run to Watford (Sleeper excepted) I think certainly used to be (pre-Covid) the 1747 Liverpool-Euston, non-stop from Stafford.

 

[Statto]

The 1840 Glasgow-Euston runs non-stop Warrington-MK.

Longest non-stop run to Watford (Sleeper excepted) I think certainly used to be (pre-Covid) the 1747 Liverpool-Euston, non-stop from Stafford.

I thought one of the Euston-Glasgow trains went non stop Milton Keynes-Warrington, i wasn't sure.

 

[Ianno87]

I thought one of the Euston-Glasgow trains went non stop Milton Keynes-Warrington, i wasn't sure.

Pre-Covid, the only MK calling Euston-Glasgow was the 05-whatever off Euston, that was Watford, MK, Rugby, Crewe, Warrington then the usual stops.

 

[30907]

The 1840 Glasgow-Euston runs non-stop Warrington-MK.

Longest non-stop run to Watford (Sleeper excepted) I think certainly used to be (pre-Covid) the 1747 Liverpool-Euston, non-stop from Stafford.

WBQ-MKC is around 135m, similar to Reading-Exeter which is the 3rd longest.

 

[Jamesrob637]

WBQ-MKC is around 135m, similar to Reading-Exeter which is the 3rd longest.

But mag_seven specified that there are sadly no non-stop Reading to Exeter services anymore.

 

[Glenn1969]

Grand Central's Bradford service is non stop London- Doncaster
Is the Sunderland service non stop London- York?

 

[30907]

Grand Central's Bradford service is non stop London- Doncaster
Is the Sunderland service non stop London- York?

Probably, but the OP asked about stations outside London.

 

[HamworthyGoods]

There aren't any that run non stop Reading to Exeter anymore. All the WOE services had a Taunton stop added in the Dec 2019 TT change.

The Up Summer Saturday Newquay to Paddington appears to be booked non-stop Exeter to Reading but it’s not likely it will run this summer.

Realtime Trains - 1A84 1106 Newquay to London Paddington

Realtime Trains is an independent source of live realtime running information for the Great British railway network.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

But mag_seven specified that there are sadly no non-stop Reading to Exeter services anymore.

Just the one Summer Saturday service it appears

 

[TommyJ]

I was at Reading station today and noticed the Penzance train was just leaving. This showed a 1 hour 20 min journey time to the next station stop at Taunton. A quick google search has shown this to be a distance of 97 miles. Now my trivia question is what is the longest non-stop journey between two stations outside of London. I assume the LNER or WCML could have some decent long distance non-stop trains.

For rail mileages I use the excellent https://my.railmiles.me/mileage-engine/

This shows the rail distance from Reading to Taunton to be 106 miles 59 chains.

 

[RolandR]

I think up until covid, there was the daily 7:05 Kings Cross to Leeds that only stopped at Stevenage and Wakefield Westgate.
That's 148 miles non-stop between these 2 stations.

 

[30907]

I think up until covid, there was the daily 7:05 Kings Cross to Leeds that only stopped at Stevenage and Wakefield Westgate.
That's 148 miles non-stop between these 2 stations.

You may well be right, but it doesn't appear in the Azuma timetable in the May 2020 NRT which was planned pre-Covid even if never implemented in full.

 

[Kite159]

I think up until covid, there was the daily 7:05 Kings Cross to Leeds that only stopped at Stevenage and Wakefield Westgate.
That's 148 miles non-stop between these 2 stations.

That certainly is an interesting service for non-stop running between Stevenage & Wakefield in the early morning. I wonder how busy it was on average

 

[RolandR]

You may well be right, but it doesn't appear in the Azuma timetable in the May 2020 NRT which was planned pre-Covid even if never implemented in full.

I think that extra stops like Peterborough and Doncaster were added recently, but this service had operated for at least 20 years.

That certainly is an interesting service for non-stop running between Stevenage & Wakefield in the early morning. I wonder how busy it was on average

The bulk of the passengers would be traveling between London and Leeds.

 

[Keithheller]

Three that spring to mind...
Early 2000’s the high Summer Saturday Cornish Riviera service was RA Reading - Plymouth.

The last couple of years of Virgin CrossCountry saw a hired HST run non stop Bristol Temple Meads - Plymouth on a Newquay bound service.

And until a few years ago you could run non stop Euston- Preston - Glasgow on the 1630 weekday service. That service caught a lot of normals out after leaving Preston.

 

[Bill57p9]

I would have thought that Caledonian Sleeper is a candidate outside the COVID timetable.
As previously said, the Lowlander runs withouh advertised stops between Watford and Carlisle with a non advertised stop at Preston.
The Highlander is booked to run non-stop between Edinburgh and Preston.

Way back in the early 90s the Night Scotsman appeared in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest between advertised stops: Watford to Edinburgh in something over 6 hours.

In terms of time, 2 hours for AWC Glasgow to Carlisle via Glasgow & South Western might be in the running in current times: https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/S65824/2021-04-25/detailed

 

[Kite159]

I think that extra stops like Peterborough and Doncaster were added recently, but this service had operated for at least 20 years.

The bulk of the passengers would be traveling between London and Leeds.

At 07:05 in the morning?

 

[Jamesrob637]

At 07:05 in the morning?

You'd be surprised. Leeds has lots of commerce non COVID.

 

[Ianno87]

At 07:05 in the morning?

You'd be surprised. Leeds has lots of commerce non COVID.

Yes, a 09xx arrival is ideal for people going for meetings.