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Trivia: Longest journeys done by rolling stock?

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tsr

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They're almost the same I think, but that service was actually as far as Gatwick Airport, not Brighton so the journey time for that is actually less than 2 hours. As for your second question, does it take longer to get to Ashford than Brighton from London? (Not including high-speed)

They definitely ran to Brighton. I happen to work with some people who used to be traincrew on that service...
 
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PHILIPE

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There's actually the 1720 Crewe to Cardiff via Shrewsbury, Ll Wells and Swansea. But I believe this is usually a 150.

The 142, I believe there's a Middlesbrough to Carlisle service, if it still runs.

There's also, again if they still run, a 153 or 156 run from Preston to Carlisle via Barrow.

The 1720 Crewe to Cardiff via HOWL is booked 150 and seems the leading contender at 6hrs 18 mins beating the 0600 PNZ to CDF by 2 mins.
 

61653 HTAFC

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Pre ETCS, and pre the separate Wales franchise, as mentioned in the OP Cambrian services ran further East than Birmingham including Boston, Skegness and possibly even Cambridge and Stansted. There services were run by a wide variety of Central Trains stock including 153s, 156s and 170s as well as the 158s that run there now and the 150s which dominated in the late 80s.
 

Ayman Ilham

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The 1720 Crewe to Cardiff via HOWL is booked 150 and seems the leading contender at 6hrs 18 mins beating the 0600 PNZ to CDF by 2 mins.

At least it wasn't a Pacer, or else the passengers would certainly "HOWL" :lol: ;)
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Pre ETCS, and pre the separate Wales franchise, as mentioned in the OP Cambrian services ran further East than Birmingham including Boston, Skegness and possibly even Cambridge and Stansted. There services were run by a wide variety of Central Trains stock including 153s, 156s and 170s as well as the 158s that run there now and the 150s which dominated in the late 80s.

I took that into account when listing the 158 (Pwllheli to Lowestoft was longest possible combination). And did Turbostars used to run to Aberystwyth and Pwllheli back in the Central Trains era?
 
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61653 HTAFC

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At least it wasn't a Pacer, or else the passengers would certainly "HOWL" :lol: ;)
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---


Did Turbostars used to run to Aberystwyth and Pwllheli back in the Central Trains era?

Don't know if they did Pwllheli, but I have an old photo somewhere of one passing Ynyslas near Borth with a 153 in tow- so they did do Aber.
 

Harrythecat

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The 1720 Crewe to Cardiff via HOWL is booked 150 and seems the leading contender at 6hrs 18 mins beating the 0600 PNZ to CDF by 2 mins.

Surely this is just 3 journeys rolled into 1 . Crewe to Shrewsbury, Shrewsbury to Swansea via HOWL and Swansea to Cardiff. If they were listed as 3 separate services then nothing remarkable
 

PHILIPE

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Surely this is just 3 journeys rolled into 1 . Crewe to Shrewsbury, Shrewsbury to Swansea via HOWL and Swansea to Cardiff. If they were listed as 3 separate services then nothing remarkable

Yes. of course it is, as is a common event with such long distance trains. Nobody, I should think would do the journey throughout. But, in the context of the thread title, it is a through train, through ID, through unit. One train.
 

Ayman Ilham

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Surely this is just 3 journeys rolled into 1 . Crewe to Shrewsbury, Shrewsbury to Swansea via HOWL and Swansea to Cardiff. If they were listed as 3 separate services then nothing remarkable

These are the sorts of services I'm looking for in this thread! All very interesting :)
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That's a brilliant picture! :D Wish more 170s were built to replace all Sprinters on long routes so only the 170 and 158 would be working services longer than 2-3 hours (Super Sprinters are more suitable for 1-2 hours and 150s around 1 hour or less)
 
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XC90

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1B01 19:50 fort William - Euston sleeper.

+ the other 2 from Aberdeen and Inverness & returns
 
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rg177

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1B01 19:50 fort William - Euston sleeper.

+ the other 2 from Aberdeen and Inverness & returns
The Fort Bill is a service in its own right though, isn't it? Only the Inverness has its own headcode throughout.
 

All Line Rover

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There's actually the 1720 Crewe to Cardiff via Shrewsbury, Ll Wells and Swansea. But I believe this is usually a 150.

6h 20m on a 150. Bliss!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Surely this is just 3 journeys rolled into 1 . Crewe to Shrewsbury, Shrewsbury to Swansea via HOWL and Swansea to Cardiff. If they were listed as 3 separate services then nothing remarkable

It is a through train as far as reservations are concerned, to the particular annoyance of passengers travelling no further than Shrewsbury (i.e. Advance fare allocations are restricted to "accommodate" passengers making longer journeys, even though only a handful boarding at Crewe remain on the train to stations past Shrewsbury: so much so that guards between Crewe and Shrewsbury (the guards change at Shrewsbury) often haven't even heard of certain stations on the Heart of Wales line!).
 
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XC90

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The Fort Bill is a service in its own right though, isn't it? Only the Inverness has its own headcode throughout.

Think you may be right but 1B01 is still a good 4 and a bit hours to Edinburgh.
 

GatwickDepress

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They're almost the same I think, but that service was actually as far as Gatwick Airport, not Brighton so the journey time for that is actually less than 2 hours. As for your second question, does it take longer to get to Ashford than Brighton from London? (Not including high-speed)
I think it was originally Rugby to Brighton, then it was cut back to Gatwick Airport, and finally trimmed to Watford Junction but extended to Brighton. I remember seeing a 377/2 at Brighton going to Watford Junction, notable for using a two character route indicator code! Probably one of Connex South Central's biggest successes and was likely used more than the cross country services from Manchester and Birmingham.
 

neilm

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I think it was originally Rugby to Brighton, then it was cut back to Gatwick Airport, and finally trimmed to Watford Junction but extended to Brighton. I remember seeing a 377/2 at Brighton going to Watford Junction, notable for using a two character route indicator code! Probably one of Connex South Central's biggest successes and was likely used more than the cross country services from Manchester and Birmingham.
I don't think it was cut, I think certain ones started at Gatwick perhaps morning ones if I remember rightly. Then reformed as the Brighton to Watford service.
 

GatwickDepress

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I don't think it was cut, I think certain ones started at Gatwick perhaps morning ones if I remember rightly. Then reformed as the Brighton to Watford service.
Hm, I just had a look at my 1999 - 2000 GBTT. It shows just one direct Connex train departing Brighton at 0515 and arriving into Rugby at 0807, with a return journey at 1923 - arriving into Brighton at 2153. All the rest started from Gatwick Airport.

Monday - Friday timetable extract included below for anyone interested.
Code:
BTN - Brighton
RUG - Rugby
GTW - Gatwick Airport

BTN 0515 - RUG 0807
GTW 0637 - RUG 0847 
GTW 0727 - RUG 0951
GTW 0842 - RUG 1051
GTW 0937 - RUG 1151
[Then hourly until]
GTW 1437 - RUG 1647
GTW 1537 - RUG 1758
GTW 1637 - RUG 1859
GTW 1737 - RUG 1958
GTW 1837 - RUG 2043
GTW 1937 - RUG 2144
 
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