Strangest long distance through trains

[GrimsbyPacer]

Scunthorpe to Lincoln direct by train is silly as it goes via Doncaster, Sheffield, Worksop, East Retford, Gainsborough etc. Much better to take indirect trains or the bus.

 

[Killingworth]

Harwich Parkestone Quay to Glasgow Central and Edinburgh via Sheffield and Manchester Victoria was operating late 1970s and is Table 23 in the 1984 timetable.

Harwich 7.17, Glasgow Central 17.09, Edinburgh 17.11. Quicker options were available!

 

[Gloster]

For many years, many years ago, you could go (in through coaches) from Euston to Swansea via Stafford and the Central Wales line. There were also through coaches from Leicester to Aberystwyth via Woodhead and Chester (Liverpool Road).

 

[Pokelet]

Central Trains really were the masters of this in Privatisation days. Hereford - Nottingham, Great Malvern to Grantham. Cambrian coast to Lincolnshire. All on a 150, marvellous

 

[liamf656]

There used to be a single Hull to Lincoln journey until a few years ago, that went via Doncaster, Sheffield and Gainsborough Lea Road. It was effectively two services stitched together with one headcode, and was booked a 144!

Around 2020 there was a single Matlock to Skegness journey which was introduced to make things easier operationally. There’s also the current Peterborough to Nottingham via Leicester evening journey which I believe is booked a 170

 

[MDB1images]

A few odd ones remain in the memory from the 90's.....
Lostock-Cardiff Central(was booked a CF Class 155).

Cleethorpes-Wigan Wallgate via Atherton(was booked a NL Class 158).

 

[CaptainHaddock]

If we're talking current services how about the Sundays only Nottingham-Carlisle train that goes via Barnsley, Leeds & Settle?

 

[Loppylugs]

In steam days there was a Margate to Birkenhead service. The loco exchange took place from a Southern light pacific to a western Castle on the spur from Reading Southern station to Reading General.

 

[EssexGonzo]

In the late 90s/early Noughties I regularly used to travel, on a Friday afternoon, on the same train from Bristol Temple Meads to Bolton on the “Plymouth to Edinburgh Express”. Hauled by a 47 (I think) with a few standard coaches and one or two first class coaches IIRC.

It was a lovely way to spend 4 hours with a glass or three of red in 1st.

 

[Ianno87]

There used to be a Lancaster - York via Preston, Manchester, Calder Valley, Bradford and Leeds. (Or did it go via Copy Pit) 1980's I think. And of course there was the Rose Grove - Paignton summer Saturdays train.

Didn't Northern just pre-Covid have an evening York-Leeds-Preston-Barrow service?

A few odd ones remain in the memory from the 90's.....
Lostock-Cardiff Central(was booked a CF Class 155).

That's new to me...starting from Lostock? What timetable period?

Lostock did once upon a time (May 1988) get a call in the first Blackpool North-Ipswich service of the day.

 

[davetheguard]

In the late 1970s there was something like a Poole-Poole service, which ran (I think) via Solihull into Birmingham and continued to Worcester, then Oxford, and back to Poole again. It won't have been advertised with all its calling points throughout, I'm sure, but I'm reasonably sure I caught it from Solihull to Oxford once, going via Birmingham. This pre-dated the ticketing rules we have today, so announcing it as going to Oxford via Birmingham at Solihull wouldn't have made it a "through train" and therefore "valid" for ticketing purposes in the way that it would today, but equally I don't expect I had much difficulty using something like a Macclesfield-Oxford day return for the trip anyway.

EDIT Or perhaps it was a Paddington-Paddington service, that might make slightly more sense?

Paddington to Paddington rings a bell with me too: class 50-hauled:

Out via Reading/Oxford/Worcester/Droitwich/Birmingham New St.
Return via Leamington/Banbury/Oxford

 

[ChiefPlanner]

For many years, many years ago, you could go (in through coaches) from Euston to Swansea via Stafford and the Central Wales line. There were also through coaches from Leicester to Aberystwyth via Woodhead and Chester (Liverpool Road).

Also there were through coaches from Carmarthen via the LNW branch to Llandeilo , for attaching to the Swansea Victoria service , giving both starting points a Euston service , but really there for the then heavy middle class traffic to the Central Wales spa resorts.

Another oddity was a summer only Treherbet to Aberystwyth service via Neath and Carmarthen. A flow I suspect decimated in the 1930's by more direct road coaches.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 23 Aug 2021 ==

Central Trains really were the masters of this in Privatisation days. Hereford - Nottingham, Great Malvern to Grantham. Cambrian coast to Lincolnshire. All on a 150, marvellous

For some reason they ran one train a day (diesel) from Northampton to New St , which was linked through to Aberystwyth , - but returned as something else. Knowing Central Trains , probably Cleethorpes or Skegness.

 

[Doctor Fegg]

Paddington to Paddington rings a bell with me too: class 50-hauled:

Out via Reading/Oxford/Worcester/Droitwich/Birmingham New St.
Return via Leamington/Banbury/Oxford

Yes, that was the one I was going to mention. Ran both ways round the "loop"; the via-Worcester journey was apparently advertised as a train to Charlbury at New Street, to stop London and Oxford passengers unwittingly getting on it!

 

[Gloster]

In steam days there was a Margate to Birkenhead service. The loco exchange took place from a Southern light pacific to a western Castle on the spur from Reading Southern station to Reading General.

In Kent I think that this ran via Deal and Folkestone.

 

[MP393]

There used to be Buxton - Barrow/Blackpool services and vice versa with First North Western and then Northern. A few Preston - Buxton services survived up until the May 2018 timetable change. There was also a Buxton - Clitheroe service up until the same timetable change!

 

[Wilts Wanderer]

Think Lostwithiel would have been a sensible reversing point, if you don’t have line or platform capacity at Par.

Bit odd from the passenger perspective though. Having just checked my Summer 1999 GBTT in that particular year it was an 0900 Treherbert-Lostwithiel which is really odd.

 

[sjm77]

I once caught a morning through loco-hauled train from Didcot to Hull. I travelled on it all the way to Hull Paragon. The train had originated at London Paddington.

This wasn't a special; it was a booked train that ran five or six days a week. I think it was pre-sectorisation (certainly pre-privitisation), so perhaps early to mid 1980's?

The Paddington to Hull service had a portion to Leeds (if I remember correctly).
The return writing in the afternoon was Hull / Leeds to Brighton

I travelled on this once too, and the service definitely split from memory at Doncaster. The Guard (yes that is what they were still called) walked through double checking everybody was in the correct half of the train.

Also in the 1980s was a loco hauled Hull -Carlisle via S&C but there was no return working all the way back to Hull.

There were also some TranPennine workings from Scarborough that continued to Llandudno and Bangor rather than running to Lime Street.

 

[Steve Harris]

Harwich Parkestone Quay to Glasgow Central and Edinburgh via Sheffield and Manchester Victoria was operating late 1970s and is Table 23 in the 1984 timetable.

Harwich 7.17, Glasgow Central 17.09, Edinburgh 17.11. Quicker options were available!

That would be "The European" service. I used it regularly between Ely and Peterborough in the early 80's

 

[MDB1images]

Didn't Northern just pre-Covid have an evening York-Leeds-Preston-Barrow service?




That's new to me...starting from Lostock? What timetable period?

Lostock did once upon a time (May 1988) get a call in the first Blackpool North-Ipswich service of the day.

Would be around 1990-91.

 

[peteb]

There was a Scarborough to Leicester DMU through train via Beverley which was supposed to use the Hull avoiding curve, which I once got, but sadly that day it went into Hull and reversed. Quite a bizarre route from Hull to Leicester if I recall, first booked stop Sheffield so a variety of route choices available then, I'm sure we used a goods only route.....?

PS this was made more interesting by the use of Gloucester gangwayed suburban sets so sat behind driver in both directions!

 

[hermit]

Going back to the 70's and early 80's, there was the St Pancras - Nottingham - Leeds - Settle - Carlisle - Dumfries - Kilmarnock - Glasgow, the Thames-Clyde Express. Doubt anyone went all the way on it.

They probably did - returning from a family holiday in Dunoon in the late 50s my father, always keen to experience new routes, took us that way. The start then was at St Enoch. It did take an age; my chief memory is of dawdling all the way, including reversing in Leeds, but then an exciting and very fast charge down the MML from Leicester to St Pancras as it started to get dark. The motive power long forgotten, but probably a Jubilee.

 

[Ianno87]

Liverpool-Norwich. Basically driven by operational convenience in 1992.

 

[RT4038]

They probably did - returning from a family holiday in Dunoon in the late 50s my father, always keen to experience new routes, took us that way. The start then was at St Enoch. It did take an age; my chief memory is of dawdling all the way, including reversing in Leeds, but then an exciting and very fast charge down the MML from Leicester to St Pancras as it started to get dark. The motive power long forgotten, but probably a Jubilee.

Don't think it went via Nottingham....... the 'Waverley' / Thames-Forth Express did though.

 

[sjm77]

There was a Scarborough to Leicester DMU through train via Beverley which was supposed to use the Hull avoiding curve, which I once got, but sadly that day it went into Hull and reversed. Quite a bizarre route from Hull to Leicester if I recall, first booked stop Sheffield so a variety of route choices available then, I'm sure we used a goods only route.....?

For most of the 1980s it was actually loco hauled, usually a class 37. It ran non-stop from Bridlington to Pontefract Baghill via the Hull avoiding curve as you say and then the Milford Curve from Gascoigne Wood to Burton Salmon. For its last couple of years it was changed to a DMU with NO TOILETS.

 

[peteb]

For most of the 1980s it was actually loco hauled, usually a class 37. It ran non-stop from Bridlington to Pontefract Baghill via the Hull avoiding curve as you say and then the Milford Curve from Gascoigne Wood to Burton Salmon. For its last couple of years it was changed to a DMU with NO TOILETS.

Ha ha that would probably explain why we diverted to Hull for a 15 minute break though if I recall there was a toilet in the centre non powered composite carriage!

 

[Doctor Fegg]

Liverpool-Norwich. Basically driven by operational convenience in 1992.

CT ran a Cambridge-Aberystwyth circa 1996, too.

 

[Pigeon]

Paddington to Paddington rings a bell with me too: class 50-hauled:

Out via Reading/Oxford/Worcester/Droitwich/Birmingham New St.
Return via Leamington/Banbury/Oxford

It may have been booked for a 50 but it used to turn out with whatever they had on the shed. Used to see it come past school at lunchtime. Later on at a different school I used to catch it on Saturdays at which period it was not unlikely to produce a Peak.

 

[Twingo37175]

I travelled on this once too, and the service definitely split from memory at Doncaster. The Guard (yes that is what they were still called) walked through double checking everybody was in the correct half of the train.

Also in the 1980s was a loco hauled Hull -Carlisle via S&C but there was no return working all the way back to Hull.

There were also some TranPennine workings from Scarborough that continued to Llandudno and Bangor rather than running to Lime Street.

Pretty sure the same North bound, but certainly South bound use to "merge" at Sheffield into one train. Never travelled on it, just remember it being the 14:18 to Brighton as it travelled through Doncaster (from Hull), assume the Leeds portion went direct from Wakefield to Sheffield

 

[delt1c]

There was also 'The Waverley' from St Pancras to Edinburgh, after Carlisle it took the Waverley route.

I am sure that was called the Thames Forth Express

 

[AJG3]

I travelled on this once too, and the service definitely split from memory at Doncaster. The Guard (yes that is what they were still called) walked through double checking everybody was in the correct half of the train.

Also in the 1980s was a loco hauled Hull -Carlisle via S&C but there was no return working all the way back to Hull.

There were also some TranPennine workings from Scarborough that continued to Llandudno and Bangor rather than running to Lime Street.

There was; the 1638 Carlisle to Hull via Leeds. Usually 2 x class 31 and mk1s