Trivia: Cities/major towns joined by multiple routes

[Ken H]

Worcester - Brum (Lia Lickey and via Stourbridge)
Brum and Wolverhampton. Via Sandwell and Dudley and via Perry Bar. Actually more because there is the Soho - Thame bridge link.
Leeds - Bradford, Leeds - Wakefield, Leeds - Sheffield, Leeds - Halifax.
Lancaster - Leeds. There used to be a through working from Carnforth to Leeds via Preston, Man Vic and the Calder valley. cant find it in the 78-79 timetable tho. Think its a valid routing

 

[mlambeuk]

Leeds and York
Middlesbrough and Newcastle

 

[Graham H]

Southern does not really compete for London traffic on either of these routes.

I beg to differ. From Portmouth to London Southern is significantly cheaper (almost half price), SWR 450's are significantly less comfortable 3 + 2 seating and are used on the fast services, not just stoppers (444's are of course sometimes available if lucky !) whereas Southerns offerings have a good number of bays of 4 with tables and windows that align Of the three SW offerings per hour only the fast train is significantly quicker and of the two stoppers one takes 8 mins less and the other actually 7 mins more than the Southerns Victoria service. Thats based on a perhaps scientifically flawed quick check of trains on National Rail Journey Planner leaving from Fratton over the next couple of hours but I can assure you that Southern does compete very well.

 

[ValleyLines142]

Newcastle and Gateshead

Leeds and Bradford

Birmingham and Nottingham

Glasgow and Edinburgh

Bristol and London

Exeter and London

I could go on...

I wouldn't really say Bristol and London counts to be honest; prior to SWR withdrawing the Bristol services I'd say yes, but most services just go via Swindon (does the first service of the day go via Bristol Parkway still?).

Edit: just remembered the daily early morning one via Newbury (1K71). Wasn't sure if that was still running post-COVID.

 

[Western Sunset]

Bristol long had two routes to Padd, even before Parkway was built (via Bath or Badminton). Plus a third via Devizes.

 

[Ken H]

Before the Sharpness Bridge got trashed were there trains to SWales via Sharpness and via Gloucester.

 

[Peter0124]

As of today, Glasgow and Edinburgh no longer have 5 routes between them as the via Cumbernauld service has been withdrawn. So 4 now.

 

[317 forever]

Oxford - London via Reading or Haddenham & Thame Parkway.

Manchester - London via Crewe or Stoke.

Crewe - London via Tamworth (via Stoke or avoiding Stoke) and via Birmingham.

Birmingham - London via Milton Keynes or High Wycombe.

 

[Strathclyder]

Glasgow - Clydebank via Garscadden or Drumchapel (via Anniesland or via Possil & Maryhill, the latter of course being the West Highland services out of Queen Street High Level).

 

[frodshamfella]

I know.

But Salfordians don't exactly go shopping or to work around Salford Central.

It's a subsumed part of (arguably) England's second city.

Isnt Birmingham Englands second city ?.

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London to Dartford, has 3 routes
London to Dover
London to Canterbury
London to Southampton
London to Exeter
London to Southend

Actually lots in the South

 

[Traveller54]

Glasgow to Carlisle; WCML and GSW. Though big differences in time.

 

[BeijingDave]

Isnt Birmingham Englands second city ?.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 15 May 2022 ==

London to Dartford, has 3 routes
London to Dover
London to Canterbury
London to Southampton
London to Exeter
London to Southend

Actually lots in the South

That's why I put "(arguably)" England's second city. "As the second city is an unofficial title and one of subjective opinion, a number of polls have been conducted over the years. Despite Birmingham being viewed as the traditional second city, public polls have shown a slight preference for Manchester since 2000. "

Second city of the United Kingdom - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[MontyP]

Hull to Doncaster via Selby or Goole

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Leeds to Sheffield via Outwood & Moorthorpe or via Normanton & Darton.

There also used to be a through train via Huddersfield, though nobody would use it for the full journey unless they were a glutton for punishment as it was booked a 144.

Huddersfield to Leeds: direct via Dewsbury or via Bradford (currently Sundays only).

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Huddersfield to Leeds: direct via Dewsbury or via Bradford (currently Sundays only).

Think there's a daily 0501 (SuX) service from Leeds to Huddersfield via Bradford Interchange and Brighouse, but, as you say, nothing in the reverse direction from Huddersfield to Leeds via Brighouse, other than what runs on Sundays.

 

[BeijingDave]

Leeds to Sheffield via Outwood & Moorthorpe or via Normanton & Darton.

There also used to be a through train via Huddersfield, though nobody would use it for the full journey unless they were a glutton for punishment as it was booked a 144.

Or wanted to tick off the Penistone line, as I haven't done yet.

 

[Western Sunset]

Trying to think of all the main routes which have, at one time or another, linked London and Birmingham with regular, scheduled services:

Euston - Curzon Street direct (London & Birmingham Rly)
Euston - New St direct (LNWR, LMS, BR)
Euston - Northampton - New St (LNWR, LMS, BR)
Padd - Bicester - Snow Hill (GWR, BR)
Padd - Oxford - Snow Hill (GWR, BR)
Marylebone - Bicester - Moor St (since privatisation)

Any others?

 

[Iskra]

Sheffield to York via Leeds or Doncaster?

Or the 3rd option, via neither.

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London Kings Cross to Bradford Via Leeds or Wakefield Kirkgate

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Or wanted to tick off the Penistone line, as I haven't done yet.

That too... if you were lucky you might get a 158 on it. At one point I managed to get a 158 which was on loan from SWT. Declassified first from Batley to Denby Dale was quite the treat!

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 16 May 2022 ==

Think there's a daily 0501 (SuX) service from Leeds to Huddersfield via Bradford Interchange and Brighouse, but, as you say, nothing in the reverse direction from Huddersfield to Leeds via Brighouse, other than what runs on Sundays.

Didn't think there was anything so thanks... not that it's much use at that time in the morning!

 

[BeijingDave]

Trying to think of all the main routes which have, at one time or another, linked London and Birmingham with regular, scheduled services:

Euston - Curzon Street direct (London & Birmingham Rly)
Euston - New St direct (LNWR, LMS, BR)
Euston - Northampton - New St (LNWR, LMS, BR)
Padd - Bicester - Snow Hill (GWR, BR)
Padd - Oxford - Snow Hill (GWR, BR)
Marylebone - Bicester - Moor St (since privatisation)

Any others?

Paddington - New Street via Reading. I think it ran through to Manchester up to the 90s.

 

[scotrail158713]

Perth to Inverness can be done via Aviemore or Aberdeen although I'm not sure how many through services there are. There is definitely the 1441 Glasgow Queen St to Inverness service on Monday-Saturday though.

 

[Western Sunset]

Paddington - New Street via Reading. I think it ran through to Manchester up to the 90s.

Thanks. Used to get a 52 on them in the mid '70s if lucky. Was there a solitary Padd - New St via Bicester too?

 

[Magdalia]

Thanks. Used to get a 52 on them in the mid '70s if lucky. Was there a solitary Padd - New St via Bicester too?

Until WCML electrification there was an hourly Paddington-West Midlands service via Bicester to Birmingham Snow Hill and Wolverhampton Low Level. Many went through to/from Chester and Birkenhead, and there was also the Birmingham Pullman and the Cambrian Coast Express routed via Bicester. It was one of the WR's premier express routes and in steam days usually had King class locos.

After WCML electrification most Paddington-Birmingham trains were rerouted to go via Reading, but the 0713 ex Birmingham and 1742 return continued to run via Bicester. For many years these were the only booked passenger trains between Old Oak and South Ruislip.

On the Reading route the 0645/1405 Pad-Birmingham and 1025/1825 return were a load 7 set and in the early 1970s crewed by WR throughout. These were most likely to be worked by something a bit more interesting than a class 47.

 

[Matt1981]

Birmingham - Leamington (from New Street via Birmingham International, from New Street via Solihull, from Moor Street via Solihull)


Birmingham - London is three routes too, Chiltern, WCML fast or WCML via Northampton

 

[robert thomas]

Swansea/Llanelli-Shrewsbury

 

[gg1]

Trying to think of all the main routes which have, at one time or another, linked London and Birmingham with regular, scheduled services:

Euston - Curzon Street direct (London & Birmingham Rly)
Euston - New St direct (LNWR, LMS, BR)
Euston - Northampton - New St (LNWR, LMS, BR)
Padd - Bicester - Snow Hill (GWR, BR)
Padd - Oxford - Snow Hill (GWR, BR)
Marylebone - Bicester - Moor St (since privatisation)

Any others?

Broad Street - New Street (LNWR) ran for a few years prior to WW1

 

[Old Yard Dog]

Another thread got me thinking...

From Chester it's possible to go to Manchester via Northwich or via Warrington with a reasonably frequent service.

But it's far faster changing at Crewe than travelling via Northwich - and I have often done it. Most tickets are valid via all 3 routes.

 

[Western Sunset]

Broad Street - New Street (LNWR) ran for a few years prior to WW1

Well done; I forgot about that service. Was it called something like the City-to-City Express?

 

[DavidGrain]

Worcester to Birmingham (or v.v.).
Currently passenger services via University or Camp Hill Line or Stourbridge Line into New Street or via Stourbridge Line into Snow Hill. Also possible for Stourbridge line trains into New Street to use the Soho Loop although not scheduled at the moment.
There are two stations in Worcester, Shrub Hill and Foregate Street both able to send trains to Birmingham without passing through the other station so that doubles the total combinations
Then if you add Worcestershire Parkway into the mix there are 4 possible combinations but two of those would require running through Shrub Hill but XC crews would not sign for that route.

 

[King Lazy]

Wigan to Salford/Manchester via

-Westhoughton and Bolton.
-Atherton.
-Chat Moss.