Trivia: Longest journey time from London in England and Wales?

[Shimbleshanks]

What is the longest journey time of any station from London in England & Wales? Am I right in thinking it's Pwllheli? (Best journey time 6h 30min northbound, 6h 22min southbound, according to National Rail Enquiries.)

I'm excluding oddities like branch lines or stations with very low frequencies (eg Denton, Reddish South) where you'd have to wait hours or days for the next train or individual services where the connections don't work very well.

In fact, does Pwllheli have the longest time of anywhere south of the Scottish lowlands?

 

[HarleyDavidson]

What you need to do is define the level of service. Daily,4 Hourly,Bi-Hourly,Hourly,½ hourly?

 

[Shimbleshanks]

What you need to do is define the level of service. Daily,4 Hourly,Bi-Hourly,Hourly,½ hourly?

Frequency doesn't come into it, just journey time. As I said, I'm excluding stations with a 'Parliamentary' or similar low frequency service.

 

[Robertj21a]

Frequency doesn't come into it, just journey time. As I said, I'm excluding stations with a 'Parliamentary' or similar low frequency service.

If frequency doesn't come into it why do you need to exclude services with a very low frequency ?

Presumably you just simply mean travelling time from A to B, but unless you mean by direct services with no changes I don't understand how you can exclude *some* low frequency connections [which ones - 20 mins/2 hours/5 hours ?]

 

[Shimbleshanks]

If frequency doesn't come into it why do you need to exclude services with a very low frequency ?

Presumably you just simply mean travelling time from A to B, but unless you mean by direct services with no changes I don't understand how you can exclude *some* low frequency connections [which ones - 20 mins/2 hours/5 hours ?]

No, I just wanted to exclude very low frequency services where the lack of services would affect the journey time. Basically, include anything where the connecting times are reasonably 'normal' - up to an hour, say - but not Reddish South for example where, if you missed the weekly train you'd then have to wait 168 hours for the next one...

 

[HSTEd]

It might be more reasonable to say that you want the shortest possible journey time for London to the station.

That way you avoid the mess of defining parliamentaries but you avoid using a Saturday Departure when the only train on the route is on Sunday.

 

[Rapidash]

Looks like there are a few Penzance services which are just under 6 hours. And considering the amount of delays down there, you can probably add a few more minutes on there.

 

[HarleyDavidson]

Well you could do 2200 ex Kings Cross to Chathill which will take 8h 46.

 

[Shimbleshanks]

Well you could do 2200 ex Kings Cross to Chathill which will take 8h 46.

But there is a daytime service that takes only 4h 46min. Not the greatest service in terms of frequency, I grant you...

 

[SeanG]

So we are looking for the shortest journey time from London for all stations in England/Wales?
And then want the longest one of those?


Someone mentioned pwhelli is the longest including the scottish lowlands, I'd say Stranraer is probably longer

 

[ashworth]

I haven't checked with timetables but just guessing, if it's just England and Wales, that Somewhere like Ravenglass or Seascale on the Cumbrian Coast could be contenders.

 

[PHILIPE]

Does an overnight stay count ? There'd be scores of these.

 

[Shimbleshanks]

I haven't checked with timetables but just guessing, if it's just England and Wales, that Somewhere like Ravenglass or Seascale on the Cumbrian Coast could be contenders.

I don't think so, because to reach the Cumbrian Coast stations there is the option of going 'over the top' on a fast train to Carlisle and changing there to reach the more northerly stations on that route (that is actually the quickest option for many of them rather than via Barrow-in-Furness).

The fact that one can no longer reach Pwllheli via the North Wales Coast and Caernorfon via Afon Wen - meaning that there is no option but to take a slow all-stations train for the whole length of the Cambrian Coast branch is one factor that makes it so slow.
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Does an overnight stay count ? There'd be scores of these.

I'm ruling out the odd journey that has dodgy connections - I'm using the fastest available service as the yardstick.

 

[Gareth Marston]

I was part of a stag party that went from Caersws/Newtown to Brighton a couple of years ago, we split tickets and went Chiltern with a Birmingham to Brighton ticket valid via High Wycombe. We used the 0730 from Aberystwyth which has a portion from Barmouth that leaves there about 0650. It was certainly around 1500 we got there.

 

[Shimbleshanks]

Looks like there are a few Penzance services which are just under 6 hours. And considering the amount of delays down there, you can probably add a few more minutes on there.

I'm basing it on published scheduled services. I did a random check of a few of the Cornish branch lines and they all seem to have relatively brisk journey times - eg 5hr 24min to St Ives, which I'd imagine is the longest as you have to do almost the whole of the Cornwall main line.
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So we are looking for the shortest journey time from London for all stations in England/Wales?
And then want the longest one of those?


Someone mentioned pwhelli is the longest including the scottish lowlands, I'd say Stranraer is probably longer

Ah yes, didn't think of Stranraer, though in railway terms it's sort of honorary Scottish Highlands I suppose.

The point I'm trying to make, I suppose, is that you have to go a long, long way north to find a slower London link than Pwllheli's...

 

[GarethJohn]

Id expect Vladivostock to be pretty long 186 hours according to DB BHAN Timetable.

 

[bb21]

You are not making things any clearer.

I think you are looking for the longest of the shortest possible journey time, which someone mentioned above, but you neither confirmed or denied it.

 

[Shimbleshanks]

You are not making things any clearer.

I think you are looking for the longest of the shortest possible journey time, which someone mentioned above, but you neither confirmed or denied it.

If that makes things clearer, yes.

 

[trivran]

Id expect Vladivostock to be pretty long 186 hours according to DB BHAN Timetable.

I think that falls outside the definition of England & Wales

 

[GarethJohn]

I think that falls outside the definition of England & Wales

So does Stranraer. Although Siberia feels closer too Pwlheli than London.

 

[Shimbleshanks]

So does Stranraer. Although Siberia feels closer too Pwlheli than London.

And often warmer too, no doubt, when the wind's coming in off the Irish Sea...

 

[jamesontheroad]

As entertaining as it is to feed the pedants, I think what the OP meant to ask is...

Which station in England or Wales has the longest (!) shortest possible journey time to a London terminus.

Might also help to limit it to weekdays for comparability?

Pwllheli's quickest connection to London is 6h22m. The next longest I could find is St. Ives in Cornwall, at 5h28m.

Might there also be a remote halt somewhere between the mainlines which might require a long connection*or backtrack? I thought somewhere on the Settle & Carlisle or Cumbrian Coast, but nothing is about 5h.

 

[Altnabreac]

As entertaining as it is to feed the pedants, I think what the OP meant to ask is...



Might also help to limit it to weekdays for comparability?

Pwllheli's quickest connection to London is 6h22m. The next longest I could find is St. Ives in Cornwall, at 5h28m.

Might there also be a remote halt somewhere between the mainlines which might require a long connection*or backtrack? I thought somewhere on the Settle & Carlisle or Cumbrian Coast, but nothing is about 5h.

THe tipping point on the Cumbrian coast seems to be Sellafield which has its quickest connection via Lancaster at 5 hours 3 minutes and Braystones which has its quickest connection via Carlisle at 5 hours and 1 minute.