TRIVIA: Most circuitous shortest route by rail

[The exile]

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

And that’s without estuaries getting in the way.

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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.

Might Penzance - Kyle of Lochajsh not beat it? Rail distance is shorter, but the crow has to do a lot less flapping as well

 

[renegademaster]

King's Cross to St Pancras could be done easy now thameslink is a thing but what would be the shortest route to St Pancras High level? Would it be via Nottingham and Grantham or is there some shorter route I'm missing?
Liverpool St to Morgate would require you to go via Cambridge

 

[pokemonsuper9]

And that’s without estuaries getting in the way.

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Might Penzance - Kyle of Lochajsh not beat it? Rail distance is shorter, but the crow has to do a lot less flapping as well

to Thurso - Rail 912.95, line 590.57 = 322.38 miles difference = 55% longer by train
to Wick - Rail 920.51, line 583.06 = 337.46 miles difference = 58% longer by train
to Kyle - Rail 841.6, line 494.61 = 346.99 miles difference = 70% longer by train.

Yep, the significant bit of going sideways leads to a bigger difference and proportion

(% calculated by doing (rail-line)/line)

 

[Class15]

Kings Cross (High Level) to St Pancras (High Level) - probably up to Peterborough, across to Leicester and back down.

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King's Cross to St Pancras could be done easy now thameslink is a thing but what would be the shortest route to St Pancras High level

 

[Ritchie333]

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

The 62 miles is Ashford International - Ramsgate - Margate - Herne Bay - Faversham.

I remember travelling back from Tunbridge Wells with a friend who was carrying a double bass. He was going to Dover, which couldn't be done directly because the South East Main Line was closed for an extended period around Samphire Hoe, so it terminated at Folkestone Central. The guard said he could get the train to Thanet and change at Ramsgate, to which he replied that changing at Canterbury was easier. The guard didn't believe this was sensible, and it took a bit of explaining and convincing that a) yes, he knew the stations were some distance apart and b) yes, he could carry a double bass between them!

 

[plugwash]

King's Cross to St Pancras could be done easy now thameslink is a thing but what would be the shortest route to St Pancras High level? Would it be via Nottingham and Grantham or is there some shorter route I'm missing?

If you just want to avoid walking between low level and high level then. I suspect the shortest route on regular services would be something like Kings Cross - Finsbury park - St pancras low level - Luton airport parkway - St pancras high level.

If you are pretending the ECML link to St pancras doesn't exist at all, and you want to use rail services only, then maybe Kings Cross -> Finsbury park -> Highbury and islington -> Peckham rye -> Blackfriars -> Luton airport Parkway -> St pancrash high level.

 

[PLY2AYS]

Shoeburyness to Sheerness-on-Sea 10.6m as the crow flies and 72m34ch by rail.

Shoeburyness to Burnham-on-Crouch also 10.6m by air and 71m53ch by rail.

 

[devon_belle]

Dorking Deepdene to Dorking.

30m 15ch by rail (via Guildford), 0.15 miles by crow. That's more than 200x further.

 

[sjm77]

Howabout Southend Victoria to Southend Central?
0.3 miles as the crow flies, but 52.5miles via Romford and Upminster by rail. That's a multiple of 175 times further!

*Damn! As I typed I was beaten by the Dorking example above, D'oh!

 

[pokemonsuper9]

Ormskirk (Northern) to Ormskirk (Merseyrail) has to have a pretty long rail journey.

 

[A S Leib]

As an international example – not uncommon due to neglect of cross-border routes – Turmantas to Daugavpils is 20 km by air or 711 km using passenger services via Vilnius and Riga.

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Ormskirk (Northern) to Ormskirk (Merseyrail) has to have a pretty long rail journey.

Counting the two parts of Liverpool South Parkway separately, I've got 20 miles (Ormskirk – Hunts Cross), 6 miles (Hunts Cross – Edge Hill), 37 miles (Edge Hill – Preston) and 15 miles (Preston – Ormskirk) for a total of 78 miles to move around 78 feet.

 

[Krokodil]

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

I did Mallaig to Armadale on the rover back in 2019. Sadly I think that CalMac have stopped accepting it.

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

I can sell you a through ticket from Llandudno to Porthmadog via Blaenau Ffestiniog, if you like. If you want a return you will need to avoid Fridays and Sundays though.

 

[Y Ddraig Coch]

I did Mallaig to Armadale on the rover back in 2019. Sadly I think that CalMac have stopped accepting it.


I can sell you a through ticket from Llandudno to Porthmadog via Blaenau Ffestiniog, if you like. If you want a return you will need to avoid Fridays and Sundays though.

National rail only... I was assuming. Not heritage or coaches. other wise this thread gets a little spoilt.

 

[Omnidekkalover]

Buxton to Matlock must be a decent distance by rail as compared to how far the crow flies

 

[PLY2AYS]

As an international example – not uncommon due to neglect of cross-border routes – Turmantas to Daugavpils is 20 km by air or 711 km using passenger services via Vilnius and Riga.

If we’re doing international examples, has anyone got any idea how far it is by rail from Bournemouth to Cherbourg?
It’s about 76miles as the crow flies.

 

[Donny Dave]

In terms of former services, Scunthorpe to Gainsborough (roughly 17 miles) and Lincoln (somewhere around 25 to 30 miles), yet the direct service went via Doncaster, Sheffield and Retford.

 

[Statto]

Pwllheli to Bangor by road its 29 miles, by rail its via Shrewsbury (not sure of the mileage), taking minimum just over 6 hours, if you catch the 11.37 you can arrive in Bangor 17.41, that includes about a 10 minute change at Shrewsbury which is doable if the Cambrian isn't delayed.

 

[A S Leib]

If we’re doing international examples, has anyone got any idea how far it is by rail from Bournemouth to Cherbourg?
It’s about 76miles as the crow flies.

I think the shortest option via routes provided by passenger services (ignoring the current lack of services calling at anywhere else in the UK to St. Pancras Eurostar platforms) is approaching Clapham Junction from Wandsworth Town then Brixton, the South Eastern Main Line to Ashford, Lille, Amiens, Rouen and Caen for a total of 967 km / 601 miles.

 

[duffield]

Ormskirk (Northern) to Ormskirk (Merseyrail) has to have a pretty long rail journey.

And Headbolt Lane (Northern) to Headbolt Lane (Merseyrail).

And am I the only one who really can't avoid thinking of Frankenstein's monster everytime Headbolt Lane is mentioned?

 

[Ianigsy]

Prestatyn to West Kirby is about 8 miles by an increasingly exhausted crow and 40-45 by rail changing at Shotton and Bidston.

 

[Krokodil]

National rail only... I was assuming. Not heritage or coaches. other wise this thread gets a little spoilt.

The last time that I looked at an NRE map (some time ago, admittedly) the Ffestiniog was marked as a through link. At one point it even appeared in the national rail timetable.

 

[Y Ddraig Coch]

The last time that I looked at an NRE map (some time ago, admittedly) the Ffestiniog was marked as a through link. At one point it even appeared in the national rail timetable.

Definitely not theses days. About 50 quid return and never meets the train anyway. 100% not a through link. Well ...saying that sail rail from Holyhead is classed as a through link and literally nothing meets up and tickets are so hard to find.

 

[Bradford PA]

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)

The former Great Northern route via Shipley to Laisterdyke was originally available for this and must have occasionally been used for the transfer of locomotives, stock and goods, etc. However, even this was above six miles in distance and the terminal stations in Bradford were even closer together in those days. I don't know whether parcels were ever walked or trolleyed over between the two ?

 

[davetheguard]

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

But only 13.5 miles by train on a day the Ffestiniog Railway is running....

Edit: aplologies to Krokodil whose earlier post making this point I managed to miss.

 

[D6975]

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

You were lucky. When my friend and I tried it, we transferred from the 37 on the sleeper to the 156 at Fort Bill only for the guard to come through and inform us that the Mallaig-Kyle ferry was cancelled due to bad weather. We ended up on the coach to Kyle for the 37 to Dingwall and coach to Inverness.

ps - In days long gone by, Banff - McDuff was a bit of a faff.

 

[zwk500]

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.

Going via Cov would require either a reversal or a loop via Nuneaton and Birmingham. Either way the route Marylebone-Oxford-Reading-Acton-Willesden-Euston is shorter than a west mids trip isn't it (admittedly not possible via regular services unless you'd count an Acton ML-Acton Town OSI and Willesden Jn change)?

 

[Class15]

I might be misunderstanding the OP but isn’t it ‘rail distance’ being counted here? So changing trains between two separated lines (e.g. Tamworth) doesn’t count?

 

[zero]

Plenty of examples in, or near to, TfL land.

At least when expressed as a ratio, since the absolute distances are be rather small.
Also depends on exactly what is counted as a station and whether you can leave a station to interchange.

Windsor C to Windsor R (via Richmond, Turnham Green and Ealing Broadway)
Heathrow Crossrail to Heathrow Piccadilly (via Acton Town and Ealing Broadway)

Watford Junction to Watford Met (via Baker Street, or walk from Kenton to Northwick Park, which could be an example in itself)

West Ruislip to Ruislip, or Sudbury Hill to Sudbury Hill Harrow, not sure which is longer (3 changes around Ealing)

Wembley Central to Wembley Stadium (via Oxford Circus. If tube/Chiltern interchange at Marylebone is not allowed, then you'd have to go via South Ruislip)

High Barnet to New Barnet (via Euston and Finsbury Park is probably the simplest route)

Hammersmith D&P to Hammersmith H&C, if you wanted to stay inside the barriers you'd have to go all the way to Edgware Road.

West Hampstead - three stations.

 

[Non Multi]

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.

Or two reversals via the Dudding Hill line through north west London.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

I am trying to work out what it is between the two Tyndrums. In my siphon bashing days I did of course walk between the two.