Worst Railway Journeys in the UK

[12LDA28C]

I'm finding this difficult to understand. It's absolutely lovely. It's very much like Shap (one of the nicest unsung bits of the railway) but going on for hours rather than only about half an hour.

One of my most enjoyable journeys I can remember was going down there at sunset in 1st on a 170 with the shadows from the mountains.

As for Kyle it's like the Conwy Valley but twice as long. And (for completeness) Wick is beautiful for its bleakness.

Likewise. Plenty of interest between Perth and Inverness, both infrastructure and scenery. Decent line speed for the most part as well.

I personally hate the bit between Marylebone and Moor Park/Rickmansworth on the way up to Aylesbury. I find it so boring and rather slow, just endless back gardens on slow diesel trains (which are often comprised of 2 carriage trains). It doesn't help that the latest Chiltern timetable has been cut back either, with an hourly service on weekends. I suppose the only interesting part of the journey is passing the Neasden LU depot.

The Chiltern Main Line on the other hand, I love!

The southern end of the Met is rather dull although it's not really the 'diesel trains' that are slow, particularly when a 168 is diagrammed, more the 60mph maximum line speed between Harrow and Amersham.

 

[Tracked]

Doncaster-Hull

Field, field, field, bridge, field, field, field, field. And repeat.

The swing bridge is the highlight on a journey punctuated by fields.

It has none of the rugged and at times bleak beauty of the Standege line, nor even the curiosity of former industrial wastelands that you might get around East Manchester.

The ECML is pretty fieldy as well. Once you've seen one farmland, you've really seen them all.

I'd have said Doncaster to Lincoln for that sort of thing (after you've left the ECML), or maybe Sheffield-Cleethorpes via Brigg, which doesn't have that many trains; ticked that one off a few years ago and can't say it was that spectacular a journey.

Leeds-Bradford Interchange has been mentioned already, I'd have to agree on that

 

[Mat17]

I'd have said Doncaster to Lincoln for that sort of thing (after you've left the ECML), or maybe Sheffield-Cleethorpes via Brigg, which doesn't have that many trains; ticked that one off a few years ago and can't say it was that spectacular a journey.

Leeds-Bradford Interchange has been mentioned already, I'd have to agree on that

I did think of Doncaster-Lincoln, add Sheffield-Lincoln into that as well.

 

[M!T]

On the subject of Voyagers… currently sat on 1V52 - we’re taking my mum to Cornwall for her 80th birthday. Her succinct observation: “aren’t these trains funny, there are hardly any windows next to the seats”. Also, I’ve noted the borderline criminal lack of luggage space!

It gets better…

1V50 (HST) in front of us is running on one power car so it’s going slow and we’re stuck behind it. They’ve cancelled some of its stops so people wanting those stops are piling off that and onto our four car Voyager! Quite why they didn’t hold the HST at Birmingham and let us in front beggars belief. There goes our eight minute connection at Plymouth! Meanwhile our Voyager is now packed.

 

[Sealink]

I remember when commuting from Euston to Watford always enjoying the smell of baking biscuits near Stonebridge Park.
And I found the line interesting, given it was using WCML and shared with LU in parts.
I remember standing at North Kenton station (?) and hearing what sounded like hydraulics, turns out it was the track circuit stuff switching DC between LU (with a 4th rail) and (as it was) Silverlink trains and their 3rd rail.

On the subject of Voyagers… currently sat on 1V52 - we’re taking my mum to Cornwall for her 80th birthday. Her succinct observation: “aren’t these trains funny, there are hardly any windows next to the seats”. Also, I’ve noted the borderline criminal lack of luggage space!

On the subject of what people notice when travelling by rail, what I find interesting is that I thought people who wanted to have a cuppa and maybe a snack/sandwich on a train few and far between, indeed SWR has removed the facility.
I've since spoken to several people who "we'll drive to London because we can stop for a cup of tea and a bite to eat" or variations of that. It's annoying that Weymouth to London has no catering facility at all.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I remember when commuting from Euston to Watford always enjoying the smell of baking biscuits near Stonebridge Park.
And I found the line interesting, given it was using WCML and shared with LU in parts.

You could of course smell the McVitie's biscuits on a London to Manchester trip both there and at Stockport!

I remember standing at North Kenton station (?) and hearing what sounded like hydraulics, turns out it was the track circuit stuff switching DC between LU (with a 4th rail) and (as it was) Silverlink trains and their 3rd rail.

That's actually the tripcock, a physical device that knocks a valve open and vents the brakes (causing an emergency brake application) if a train passes a signal at danger. It's fitted to all of London Underground, as well as Merseyrail where you can clearly hear it in the tunnels. It's not to do with the power, which is done by having the third rail at the full voltage and the centre rail earthed rather than the usual split between the two of a positive outer and negative inner rail.

On the subject of what people notice when travelling by rail, what I find interesting is that I thought people who wanted to have a cuppa and maybe a snack/sandwich on a train few and far between, indeed SWR has removed the facility.
I've since spoken to several people who "we'll drive to London because we can stop for a cup of tea and a bite to eat" or variations of that. It's annoying that Weymouth to London has no catering facility at all.

Weymouth and Salisbury/Exeter are both bizarre fits on SWR, not that GWR does catering much better. I do love the run to Weymouth and the 444s are about as good as UK long distance stock gets, but really this 4-5 hour journey justifies faciliities as good as an LNER Edinburgh at least.

 

[Sealink]

Doesn't help when the SWR website has nonsense like this.

There is a COSTA across the courtyard at DCH, a corner shop a few steps away and a pub and other cafes, restaurants within a five minute walk.


Same at Weymouth.




I understand there is a line to be drawn (where do you "cut off" a listing. But I'd say anywhere you can see the station from a café or pub should qualify!

 

[M!T]

Well, unsurprisingly I missed my connection at Plymouth. The silver lining is that I’m now on a GWR Castle HST. My connection would have been an IET. I’d forgotten just how beautifully these old MKIIIs ride!

 

[Sealink]

That's actually the tripcock, a physical device that knocks a valve open and vents the brakes (causing an emergency brake application) if a train passes a signal at danger. It's fitted to all of London Underground, as well as Merseyrail where you can clearly hear it in the tunnels. It's not to do with the power, which is done by having the third rail at the full voltage and the centre rail earthed rather than the usual split between the two of a positive outer and negative inner rail.

Fascinating! Just never hard that tripcock at other stations.

 

[rf_ioliver]

Doncaster-Hull

Field, field, field, bridge, field, field, field, field. And repeat.

The swing bridge is the highlight on a journey punctuated by fields.

It has none of the rugged and at times bleak beauty of the Standege line, nor even the curiosity of former industrial wastelands that you might get around East Manchester.

The ECML is pretty fieldy as well. Once you've seen one farmland, you've really seen them all.

Come to Finland

tree,tree,tree,tree, 900km later, tree,tree,tree............ I

Except in Winter.... tree,tree, darkness... 900km later... still dark...4 months later...dark

 

[WesternBiker]

Weymouth and Salisbury/Exeter are both bizarre fits on SWR, not that GWR does catering much better. I do love the run to Weymouth and the 444s are about as good as UK long distance stock gets, but really this 4-5 hour journey justifies faciliities as good as an LNER Edinburgh at least.

I am glad that someone besides me likes the class 444s. Somehow, they feel spacious, light and airy in a way that no other stock does.

 

[Goldfish62]

I am glad that someone besides me likes the class 444s. Somehow, they feel spacious, light and airy in a way that no other stock does.

Yes, great trains. They've stood the test of time very well.

 

[al78]

Doesn't help when the SWR website has nonsense like this.

There is a COSTA across the courtyard at DCH, a corner shop a few steps away and a pub and other cafes, restaurants within a five minute walk.

View attachment 137640
Same at Weymouth.

View attachment 137641


I understand there is a line to be drawn (where do you "cut off" a listing. But I'd say anywhere you can see the station from a café or pub should qualify!

They mean there are no shops/cafes/restaraunts AT the station i.e. on the station footprint. That doesn't mean there aren't any within a short walking distance. I would imagine any station in a large town/city is going to have something like that within a five minute walk.

 

[Bletchleyite]

They mean there are no shops/cafes/restaraunts AT the station i.e. on the station footprint. That doesn't mean there aren't any within a short walking distance. I would imagine any station in a large town/city is going to have something like that within a five minute walk.

Last time I was at Weymouth there was a small shop in the station building. Has it closed?

 

[GoneSouth]

Bristol Temple Meads to Birmingham New St in a CrossCountry Voyager - horrific!

I did that on Saturday, it was on a very uncrowded, nicely air conditioned, smooth Voyager through mostly lovely rural Gloucestershire and Worcestershire. Altogether very relaxing and really not even close to horrific

Well if we're going to include tunnels then I nominate Dore to Grindleford as Britain's least scenic rail journey!

Nice little station cafe at the Grindleford end though where you can adjust to being in daylight again over a cuppa and a chip butty!

 

[riceuten]

Any journey with a dearth of tunnels

 

[GoneSouth]

hard to see it when you are wedged in a doorway in the corridor...................

A falling of the gov/franchise, not the actual train. Great views from a large Voyager windows if you can get a seat

 

[J-2739]

Some of the local lines through South East London towards Dartford aren't the most interesting either - I recall the line via Bexleyheath as being horrendously boring.

I was on that line this past Saturday. Boring is the last word I'd use to describe it.

 

[GoneSouth]

+1 for Shipley to Bradford.

Ha yes haven’t done that for a few years but I seem to remember it starting by a scrapyard in Shipley and ending in the back end of a horrible retail park in Bradford.

Just beautiful!

 

[75A]

Any journey with a dearth of tunnels

5 tunnels in the 23 miles from Three Bridges to Hove.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Any journey with a dearth of tunnels

'Dearth' meaning a scarcity or lack of something.

5 tunnels in the 23 miles from Three Bridges to Hove.

So there are. Not sure what point it is that are you endeavouring to make?

Either way, I'm not sure that a goodly number (or not, as the case may be) of tunnels on a particular stretch of line, makes for "the worst railway journey in the UK" exactly?

 

[owidoe]

Huntingdon to St Pancras on Thameslink. When it's not in an embankment it's surrounded on all sides by commuter belt shoeboxes, and it has so many tunnels that trying to stream anything is an exercise in frustration. It's the only journey where I make sure to download my audiobook before setting off.

 

[bramling]

Huntingdon to St Pancras on Thameslink. When it's not in an embankment it's surrounded on all sides by commuter belt shoeboxes, and it has so many tunnels that trying to stream anything is an exercise in frustration. It's the only journey where I make sure to download my audiobook before setting off.

Hitchin to London is okay IMO, but I agree the section north of Hitchin is tedious. The trains are limited to 80 mph on the slow lines, most trains call at all stations, and the clientele on the trains is a particularly depressing type of blue collar. One can add that all the towns between Hitchin and Peterborough are surprisingly rough, and Peterborough itself has very much gone down the plug hole in recent years too.

 

[Sealink]

They mean there are no shops/cafes/restaraunts AT the station i.e. on the station footprint. That doesn't mean there aren't any within a short walking distance. I would imagine any station in a large town/city is going to have something like that within a five minute walk.

But even when Weymouth had a coffee shop in the main building they said there was nothing there. It has since closed.

 

[glynmonhughes]

On the subject of Merseyside, I would argue for Ormskirk to Preston. Dreadful run with dreadful stock

Except that trip is all in Lancashire.

 

[nlogax]

ECML from north of Welwyn viaduct to pretty much Doncaster. One long featureless dirge of a journey, and no, Newark flat crossing does not count as a scenic highlight.

 

[GoneSouth]

What's interesting about wheat field after wheat field when compared to e.g. an interesting cityscape or some beautiful mountains? We all know wheat is grown in fields.

Personally I’d rather look at wheat fields than graffiti, piles of rubbish, the arse end of decaying warehouses and discarded mattresses

Mountains on the other hand are hard to beat!

 

[156421]

'Dearth' meaning a scarcity or lack of something.



So there are. Not sure what point it is that are you endeavouring to make?

Either way, I'm not sure that a goodly number (or not, as the case may be) of tunnels on a particular stretch of line, makes for "the worst railway journey in the UK" exactly?

Corkickle to Whitehaven is good for tunnels

 

[Adrian1980uk]

For me you're into relative comparison here, you can't change the actual landscape but for me GEML is far better than the M11/A11 alternative

 

[AY1975]

Corkickle to Whitehaven is good for tunnels

So is Rochester to Gillingham.