Trivia: shortest time between passing two stations

[AM9]

How about a Euorstar train passing both Westenhanger and Sandling at the linespeed of 300Km/h. Those stations are 2Km apart so it would take just 24 seconds.

 

[elbows47]

Culrain to Invershin on the Far North line is 34 chains either side of the Shin viaduct. By road it is 8.8 miles!

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Culrain to Invershin on the Far North line is 34 chains either side of the Shin viaduct. By road it is 8.8 miles!

And your point is in relation to this thread?

 

[Snow1964]

Redbridge and Totton are only about 700m apart, but line speed is only about 50mph

Do get some diverted services running past Kingston and Hampton Wick. They are even closer, but most diverted trains stop at Kingston which would take too long

 

[philthetube]

Just 29 chains between Turnham Green and Stamford Brook. What sort of maximum line speed might non-stop Piccadilly line trains be doing on that stretch of LU line?

40mph max speed for the stock.

 

[Ashley Hill]

[

Indeed it will. Slightly over half a mile between those two stations, i.e. Exton and Lympstone Commando, so at 60 mph, it would take just over 30 secs. What's the actual max line speed on that stretch of the Avocet line?

It's 50mph for units over that stretch and 36 chains between them.

 

[greyman42]

Do we really need to refer to distances in chains? I think metres would be easier for most people to understand.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Do we really need to refer to distances in chains? I think metres would be easier for most people to understand.

Inclined to disagree (although an argument could perhaps be made either way), given that maximum line speeds on the heavy rail network are usually still quoted in miles per hour, distances between stations have historically been measured in miles (with chains being the sub-unit used) and combining metric distances and imperial speeds would then be a tad tricky if then trying to do a quick calculation to determine the time elapsed when travelling between one station and the next, as per the topic of this thread.

Having said that, a chain (= one eightieth of a mile), is nowadays a fairly old school unit of imperial measurement.

Noted also that non-National Rail systems such as London Underground and Manchester Metrolink tend to measure their route mileages in kilometres, but unless mistaken, speed limits on the Manchester Metrolink are nevertheless still displayed in m.p.h.

 

[AndyPJG]

A useful conversion is a chain is almost exactly 20 metres (20.1m)

 

[Cherry_Picker]

20 chains is a quarter mile. It's pretty easy to extrapolate from there.

 

[Ashley Hill]

[

It's 50mph for units over that stretch and 36 chains between them.

0.4 miles or 643.7 meters between them according to google maps.

 

[Jamie Price]

As an aside, there can't be more than a minute between Llanishen and Lisvane & Thornhill on the Rhymney Line in South Wales. Trains have always stopped there as far as I'm aware but, currently many are passing through these stations between Caerphilly and Queen Street. If only the line speeds were a bit higher it would be a very quick pass! Heath High Level - Llanishen - Lisvane and Thornhill is currently timed at 2 minutes for a non stopping service.

 

[route101]

Prestwick Town and Prestwick Airport, dont think theres any non stoppers but very short.

 

[Jim Jehosofat]

A useful conversion is a chain is almost exactly 20 metres (20.1m)

A chain is the length of a cricket pitch, 22 yards. 22 multiplied by 80 equals 1760, the number of yards in a mile.

 

[philthetube]

10 chains to a furlong, 8 furlongs to a mile. Very off topic though.

Although distance on LU is measured in K all speed restrictions and train speedos work in MPH, not sure about the Vic.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Prestwick Town and Prestwick Airport, dont think theres any non stoppers but very short.

38 chains, so just under half a mile.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

As an aside, there can't be more than a minute between Llanishen and Lisvane & Thornhill on the Rhymney Line in South Wales. Trains have always stopped there as far as I'm aware but, currently many are passing through these stations between Caerphilly and Queen Street. If only the line speeds were a bit higher it would be a very quick pass!

64 chains between Llanishen and Lisvane & Thornhill, so just over three quarters of a mile.

Ty Glas to Birchgrove on the nearby Coryton line at 17 chains, (under a quarter of a mile) much closer, but presumably also no non-stoppers.

 

[CW2]

Culrain to Invershin on the Far North line is 34 chains either side of the Shin viaduct. By road it is 8.8 miles!

They are close together, but the low line speed means even non-stopping trains take over a minute.
(They are both request stops but have to be approached slowly, and speed across the viaduct is limited too, 20mph?).

 

[Bald Rick]

Late to the party here.

Assuming we are ruling out the D.C. line stations on the WCML, I think the answer is a close one between Anerley and Penge West (32ch @ 70mph), and Stratford and Maryland (36ch at 80mph on the up). The latter has it by three tenths of a second

 

[KingJ]

Assuming the DLR counts, at a distance of just 199 meters West India Quay to Canary Wharf on the DLR? Services from Bank to Lewisham skip West India Quay via the West India Down Viaduct. I can't recall an exact time for how long this takes, but it's certainly pretty short!

The question arises though - do these trains 'pass' West India Quay, or bypass it? (Thus disqualifying them from this trivia question). The line taken rises up alongside West India Quay, leveling out near the end of the platform. This picture illustrates both the distance onwards to Canary Wharf, and the line's position relative to West India Quay.

 

[bluesfromagun]

Carnoustie to Golf Street is 43ch, in the middle of a very long 100mph PSR, thats got to be about the shortest time in Scotland at least.

 

[Jamie Price]

64 chains between Llanishen and Lisvane & Thornhill, so just over three quarters of a mile.

Ty Glas to Birchgrove on the nearby Coryton line at 17 chains, (under a quarter of a mile) much closer, but presumably also no non-stoppers.

Quite correct, I only added Llanishen and Lisvane because currently there are a good few that do not stop between Caerphilly and Queen Street temporarily, but I don't think that has been introduced on the City Line.

Thank you for the mileage information, I wasn't too sure on the exact distances!

 

[jopsuk]

How about a Euorstar train passing both Westenhanger and Sandling at the linespeed of 300Km/h. Those stations are 2Km apart so it would take just 24 seconds.

Watford DC was stretching it a bit, this is even more! I know they're parallel, but they're not the same line here, surely a requirement?

Regarding timing points, i'd say to count it is when the front cab passes the same end of the platform (eg the Up end for an Up train)

 

[AM9]

Watford DC was stretching it a bit, this is even more! I know they're parallel, but they're not the same line here, surely a requirement? ...

Yes I know, but this is a trivia thread.

 

[83G/84D]

Lelant Saltings and Lelant on the St Ives line, 321m 49ch to 322m 06ch.

 

[Esker-pades]

Lelant Saltings and Lelant on the St Ives line, 321m 49ch to 322m 06ch.

Seems to be timed for ~1 minute, and the low speed will hamper it compared to the of the others.

 

[sjm77]

These two Yorkshire stations are slightly further apart than Hillington East / Cardonald in Scotland, at approximately just under three-quarters of a mile distance, so the minimum time taken to pass through the two would depend on the maximum line speed permitted on that section of track out of Leeds.

Line Speed is 90 mph through the Garforths which are 47 chains apart. Therefore it is possible to pass though them 23.5 seconds apart, quick but not as quick as the Penge and Huyton-Roby examples. Carnoustie - Golf Street however is 19.35 seconds at 100mph.

 

[Jamiescott1]

Purley and reedham