TRIVIA: Most circuitous shortest route by rail

[Indigo Soup]

To quote myself in another thread...

You quote Fort William to Inverness, but Mallaig to Kyle of Lochalsh would be even more egregious. There may be something still more extreme out there.

The mileage from Mallaig to Kyle of Lochalsh is 421.6 miles by rail. As the crow flies, it's 19.4 miles, for a difference of 402.2 miles.

Is there a pair of stations with a greater difference between the rail distance and the 'as the crow flies' distance?

 

[jfollows]

Whitby and somewhere else, I expect. Oh, but not as much as this, I misread your post initially …..

 

[GRALISTAIR]

To quote myself in another thread...

The mileage from Mallaig to Kyle of Lochalsh is 421.6 miles by rail. As the crow flies, it's 19.4 miles, for a difference of 402.2 miles.

Is there a pair of stations with a greater difference between the rail distance and the 'as the crow flies' distance?

On my last Rover in the 1980s I cheated and took the Caledonian MacBryne ferry between the two!

However, to answer your question - that is a good one and at the moment I can't think of anything better than your example.

 

[A S Leib]

Barton-on-Humber and Hessle, if not counting buses?

Edit: as a proportion, but definitely not beating the original example in absolute terms. Two miles by air or around ninety by rail via Doncaster.

 

[CornishDave]

Liskeard to Coombe Junction - 2 miles by train or half a mile by foot.
Starcross to Exmouth - 19 miles by train or 1.5 miles by bird

 

[A S Leib]

Are cases like Catford and Catford Bridge, where realistically anybody would walk, being counted?

 

[Indigo Soup]

On my last Rover in the 1980s I cheated and took the Caledonian MacBryne ferry between the two!

These days it'd be a ferry and a bus!

Barton-on-Humber and Hessle, if not counting buses?

There's probably a second category for the greatest ratio between the two distances, in which case Mallaig-Kyle's score is 21.7.

Tyndrum Upper to Lower Tyndrum is 10.25 miles by train and less than half a mile by bird, giving it a ratio of 26.4.

Are cases like Catford and Catford Bridge, where realistically anybody would walk, being counted?

I don't see why not - most of these routes are ones where nobody would realistically take the train except for the novelty anyway.

 

[The exile]

I would imagine that Catford and Catford Bridge would win the ratio prize by a long chalk - though Waterloo and Waterloo East would be in the running as well - especially if you consider the Waterloo East entrance to be the barriers at the top of the escalator from the main concourse. Can’t work it out atm.

 

[Y Ddraig Coch]

Blaenau FFestiniog to Porthmadog is about 12 miles drive and best part of 200 I guess on the train.

 

[RetroCrowe]

Blaenau FFestiniog to Porthmadog is about 12 miles drive and best part of 200 I guess on the train.

Similarly, Porthmadog to Bangor is 20 miles as the crow flies and 204 miles by train

 

[Peter0124]

Wouldn't count as they are same station, but I wonder how long Tamworth HL to Tamworth LL would be by train as there isn't a common station between them IIRC?

 

[CornishDave]

Until the direct train ceased to be, you could catch a train from St Budeaux Victoria Road to St Budeaux Ferry Road. A distance of 6 MILES by train, or 6 METRES by foot!

 

[Y Ddraig Coch]

Similarly, Porthmadog to Bangor is 20 miles as the crow flies and 204 miles by train

Indeed venturing into another country before returning back into Wales

 

[A S Leib]

Wouldn't count as they are same station, but I wonder how long Tamworth HL to Tamworth LL would take by train as there isn't a common station between them IIRC?

34 miles via Nuneaton and Water Orton is the shortest I can find.

 

[norbitonflyer]

Indeed venturing into another country before returning back into Wales

Likewise Aberywstwyth to Carmarthen or Fishguard

 

[Ritchie333]

Ashford International to Faversham is about 62 miles via train, and 13.5 miles by car. What's more, that's an actual journey you can put into a planner without doing anything contrived. And also, unlike some of the above examples, it's because of political reasons rather than geographical.

 

[A S Leib]

Gravesend to Tilbury Town is a mile and a half in a straight line. Purely using National Rail passenger services and not walking between stations, I think the shortest route is via Abbey Wood, Whitechapel, Stratford and Rainham (Essex) (42 miles).

It isn't as large of a difference, but Portadown to Derry~Londonderry is 120 miles by rail to move 52 miles by air.

 

[duffield]

Wouldn't count as they are same station, but I wonder how long Tamworth HL to Tamworth LL would be by train as there isn't a common station between them IIRC?

A railtour could do it in theory in 19mi5ch from HL via Wichnor Junction (reverse) and Lichfield North junction (reverse) to LL, but it's much longer on scheduled services since the XC services that do run over the Lichfield route to Burton don't stop at Lichfield.

So it would probably be Tamworth HL->Brimingham New Street->Lichfield->Tamworth LL which I make 42mi15ch

 

[Taunton]

Marylebone to Euston, where I think you have to go up to Coventry and come back. Bonus marks because the exits from London cross over one another twice on the way out.

 

[PTR 444]

Penaznce - Wick must surely win for greatest additional distance compared to the crow.

As for ratio, how does Southampton Central - Woolston compare with other examples given?

 

[sjm77]

Marylebone to Euston, where I think you have to go up to Coventry and come back. Bonus marks because the exits from London cross over one another twice on the way out.

This is a good one! However it will soon become shortened to Euston-Blectchley-Bicester Village-Marylebone

 

[A S Leib]

As for ratio, how does Southampton Central - Woolston compare with other examples given?

Around 2.6 times further by rail than by air (four and a half miles vs 1.7). Middlesbrough to Billingham, another river example, is four times longer (10 miles vs 2.5).

Sticking with diversions caused by rivers, Langbank and Dalreoch are 1.6 miles across the Clyde and Woodhall and Cardross are 2 miles. Via Glasgow Central it's 31 miles (×19) for the former pair and 37 miles (×18.5) for the latter, or 41 miles (×25.6) and 47 miles (×23.2) if counting Central High and Low Levels separately and going via Cambuslang.

Felixstowe to Harwich Town is 35.5 miles or around eleven times shorter (3.12 miles by air) by ferry.

 

[cjw714]

Barnstaple to Tenby is about 46 miles as the crow flies and 253 miles by train while Weston-Super-Mare to Barry Island is 13 and 66 miles respectively. Allowing heritage railways would add Minehead to Llantwit Major and Swanage to Bournemouth to the list.

 

[duffield]

Barnstaple to Tenby is about 46 miles as the crow flies and 253 miles by train while Weston-Super-Mare to Barry Island is 13 and 66 miles respectively. Allowing heritage railways would add Minehead to Llantwit Major and Swanage to Bournemouth to the list.

Allowing heritage railways also gives Tunbridge Wells West to Tunbridge Wells.

 

[Da142072]

Rhymney to Ebbw Vale ?

 

[PLY2AYS]

Barnstaple to Swansea… 64miles as the crow flies, but haven’t got the route maps to hand to figure out the rail distance.
*EDIT (195m50ch)

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 26 Jun 2025 ==

Barnstaple to Tenby is about 46 miles as the crow flies and 253 miles by train while Weston-Super-Mare to Barry Island is 13 and 66 miles respectively. Allowing heritage railways would add Minehead to Llantwit Major and Swanage to Bournemouth to the list.

Hadn’t seen this, beat me to it whilst I was trying to figure out the mileage… gave up in the end

 

[AY1975]

Ashford International to Faversham is about 62 miles via train, and 13.5 miles by car. What's more, that's an actual journey you can put into a planner without doing anything contrived. And also, unlike some of the above examples, it's because of political reasons rather than geographical.

Indeed, and National Rail gives options via Ramsgate, Ebbsfleet International, or walking between the two Canterbury stations. I presume 62 miles is via Ramsgate?

And how about Headcorn to Robertsbridge (which can be done via Tonbridge or via Ashford and Hastings)?

 

[pokemonsuper9]

Penaznce - Wick must surely win for greatest additional distance compared to the crow.

Thurso is longer in straight line, Wick is further in train distance

Straight line - 590.57 miles to Thurso, 583 to Wick
Railmiles* - 912mi 76ch miles to Thurso, 920mi 41ch to wick

* Not perfect since it uses non-passenger lines and doesn't visit Thurso on the way to Wick.

 

[PLY2AYS]

Bradford Forster Square to Bradford Interchange must be pretty disproportional in terms of distance… half a mile apart, but a much longer train journey via Leeds I’d imagine? EDIT* (22m66ch)

 

[plugwash]

Similarly, Porthmadog to Bangor is 20 miles as the crow flies and 204 miles by train

Depends if you count the Ffestiniog railway or not.