Trivia: Most routes out of a station?

[Cherry_Picker]

I was just curious as to which stations have a lot of routes out of them. Leamington Spa for example has three, southbound you can go to Banbury but northbound you can go to Birmingham via Warwick or Birmingham via Coventry. Both completely separate routes, arrive in different stations in Birmingham and accessed from different signalled moves within Leamington station.

I guess it's difficult to define exactly what a route out of a station is because for example a place like New Street has junctions after junctions so while you really only have four routes available from the station platforms (Stour north, Stour south, Derby, Gloucester) you can get on the lines through Soho, Aston or Small Heath without having to pass through another station first.

How many routes are available at Crewe? Is it six? (Chester, WCML north, Manchester, Potteries, WCML south and Salop?)

I will exclude sidings and non passenger lines from the discussion though. Only places somebody can buy a ticket and catch a train too. Fast and slow lines really don't need to be considered separate routes either.

 

[telstarbox]

Stockport has five - Manchester, Denton, Hazel Grove, Cheadle Hulme (where the line splits) and Altrincham.

Conversely, Waterloo has trains to many destinations but all use the same route (as defined above) as far as Clapham Junction where they begin to diverge.

 

[snowball]

How many routes are available at Crewe? Is it six? (Chester, WCML north, Manchester, Potteries, WCML south and Salop?)

Yes, as any online mapping site will confirm. Weaver Junction, for example, is too far away for the Liverpool line to be counted as a separate route out of Crewe.

 

[edwin_m]

Ashford and London Bridge both have seven, but some of the junctions at London Bridge are out of sight from the station (but before the next station).

 

[WestRiding]

Goldthorpe!

 

[william]

Leeds has 11. Harrogate, Skipton, Ilkley, Bradford Forster Square, Bradford Interchange, Huddersfield, Wkefield Westgate, Wakefield Kirkgate, Knottingley, Selby and York.

That is not including further route divergence further afield but does include junctions beyond Woodlesford and Shipley.

 

[WestCountry]

Cambridge only has four now, but had eight at one time:
Northbound: St Ives, Ely, Mildenhall, Newmarket
Southbound: Haverhill, Bishops Stortford, Hitchin, Sandy.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Stockport has five - Manchester, Denton, Hazel Grove, Cheadle Hulme (where the line splits) and Altrincham.

Conversely, Waterloo has trains to many destinations but all use the same route (as defined above) as far as Clapham Junction where they begin to diverge.

Clapham Junction, however, has the following:

Waterloo
Victoria
Croydon lines
Windsor lines
Wimbledon lines
West London Line - by two separate direct routes put of the station
South London Line - by two separate direct routes out of the station

Making at least nine; ten if you can count the up Windsor and up Wimbledons as separate routes as they don't have direct connections until further along the line near Queenstown Road - or do they?

 

[snowball]

Leeds has 11. Harrogate, Skipton, Ilkley, Bradford Forster Square, Bradford Interchange, Huddersfield, Wkefield Westgate, Wakefield Kirkgate, Knottingley, Selby and York.

That is not including further route divergence further afield but does include junctions beyond Woodlesford and Shipley.

I would be inclined to count only routes that diverge within say 5km of the station, which I think would reduce Leeds to 6 - five out of the west end and one out of the east.

 

[william]

Don't you mean 7?

1 east (Garforth line)
1 south east (Castleford line)
1 south (ECML)
4 west (Harrogate, routes under the wires to Wharfedale/Airedale), Pudsey and Morley)

I would be further inclined to say 8 by classing Wharfedale and Airedale as separate routes as these diverge before another station is reached.

 

[tractakid]

Wouldn't the easiest way to calculate this be 'Station with the most neighbouring stations'?

 

[MK Tom]

Wouldn't the easiest way to calculate this be 'Station with the most neighbouring stations'?

But then you'd have three for Wolverton and by the OP's original post I'm guessing Wolverton would only count as two... (as an example of more distant divergences).

 

[tractakid]

But then you'd have three for Wolverton and by the OP's original post I'm guessing Wolverton would only count as two... (as an example of more distant divergences).

I'm happy for Wolverton to be three.

 

[W230]

Ashford and London Bridge both have seven, but some of the junctions at London Bridge are out of sight from the station (but before the next station).

I'm going with Ashford for so many diverging lines so close to the station. When you look at a map you can see that six lines diverge pretty much immediately (where's the seventh?)

 

[edwin_m]

I'm going with Ashford for so many diverging lines so close to the station. When you look at a map you can see that six lines diverge pretty much immediately (where's the seventh?)

East: HS1, Canterbury, Dover, Hastings.
West: HS1, Maidstone, Tonbridge

 

[Eagle]

(where's the seventh?)

It's hard to see because to the east HS1 and the mainline to Dover run alongside each other for a while.

 

[12CSVT]

How do you define a separate route ?

For instance, Carlisle has thee diverging routes immediately south of the station, one of which splits again about a mile away at Petterill Bridge Junction (however trains routed for both the Newcastle line and the Settle line will get the same route indicator on the signals at the station).
Going north, trains for Dumfries / Kilmarnock use the main line as far as Gretna Junction, almost 10 miles away. Does this count as one route from the station or two ?
Add to that, non-passenger traffic for Kingmoor Yard or the DRS depot diverge from the main line at Caldew Junction, but freight trains which recess at Kingmoor and then continue north re-join the main line at Floriston.

 

[Rugd1022]

When Rugby still had two stations you could leave the town in nine different directions.

 

[rm88]

Chester has 4 routes into the station.

 

[jopsuk]

I'd count any routes that diverge before the next station is reached...

 

[Eagle]

I'd count any routes that diverge before the next station is reached...

In which case, Chester has six. (Helsby, Mouldsworth, Crewe, Wrexham General, Shotton, Bache.)

 

[edwin_m]

On the same basis Glasgow Central would have eight if you were allowed to count the low level lines as well.

Argyle Street
Cambuslang (from high level)
Pollokshields East
Crossmyloof
Pollokshields West
Drumbreck
Cardonald
Anderston

 

[306024]

Looking at Stratford, you have the following routes:

GEML to Liverpool St and Maryland
West Anglia to Tottenham Hale
LOROL to Hackney Wick
Central Line to Mile End and Leyton
DLR to Stratford International, Pudding Mill Lane and Stratford High Street
Jubilee Line to West Ham (but you could take the DLR)
c2c to Barking

That's a maximum of 11 routes depending on how you define the question.

 

[The Planner]

That opens it up a bit if that is the rule and you aren't counting diverging again, you could tenuously argue that New St has 10, Duddeston, Water Orton, Adderley Park, Walsall (via Sutton Park), Tyseley, Kings Norton, Five Ways, Smethwick Rolfe St, Perry Barr and Hamstead.

 

[Eagle]

One of those isn't a passenger route though (Sutton Park line), and the OP says we're only considering passenger routes.

 

[Buttsy]

Birmingham New Street I would say has these 8:

Duddeston, Water Orton, Adderley Park, Small Heath, King's Norton (Camp Hill route), Five Ways, Smethwick Rolfe Street and Hamsted

 

[Eagle]

Perry Barr counts too, there are some passenger trains to/from the Coventry line that go round that way.

 

[Buttsy]

Perry Barr counts too, there are some passenger trains to/from the Coventry line that go round that way.

Wasn't aware of that, thought that was only on diversions rather than on a regular service.

 

[Cherry_Picker]

The last XC of the day in from Reading takes that route.

 

[Eagle]

The last XC of the day in from Reading takes that route.

That's the only completely regular service, but when Aston Villa are at home on a Saturday there are a couple more services that go that way.