Trivia: major destination pairs with only one route between them

[A S Leib]

As an antonymical thread to the one on major cities with multiple routes connecting them, what are some examples of (preferably large but many people, myself included, ignored that bit for the other thread) settlements which are only connected by one route?

Ideally I'd be looking for pairs with only one route between them, no diversions at any point, and far enough apart and large enough that having multiple routes is a realistic expectation (so e.g. I'm not looking for Sheffield to Barnsley).

I'm sure there's going to be lots, but a shorter list than the other thread; Exeter to Plymouth's the first one which comes to mind, with London to Chelmsford and Colchester, if not further north, needing large enough diversions if not going via the Great Eastern Main Line that I'd count those as well.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

The first that sprung to mind was Sheffield and Manchester, two significant cities that had one route between them closed leaving just the Hope Valley.

 

[thenorthern]

There are many such as:

• Birmingham to Derby, Leeds, Sheffield, Doncaster, Leicester, Bristol, Exeter, Plymouth, Southampton, Bournemouth, Peterborough, Preston, Carlisle, Nottingham and many more from Birmingham.
• Manchester to Nottingham, Peterborough, Ely, Norwich, Bradford and I am sure many others.
  The first that sprung to mind was Sheffield and Manchester, two significant cities that had one route between them closed leaving just the Hope Valley.
• Not a city (although I think I read it's the 3rd largest urban area in the North West or something like that) but with Blackpool almost everywhere which has a service there has one route as other than the local trains to Blackpool South from Preston every other train seems to go into Blackpool North.

One important part of the Beeching Axe was to close lines that were seen as duplicates so for example from Manchester to London there were I think 3 lines which were the West Coast Main Line, the Midland line via Matlock and Derby as well as the Great Central Main Line. Now of course there is only the West Coast Main Line.

The first that sprung to mind was Sheffield and Manchester, two significant cities that had one route between them closed leaving just the Hope Valley.

Sort of, at New Mills South Junction there is the line where the local trains go via Marple and the express trains go via Stockport.

 

[sad1e]

Rugby to London is only doable on the WCML now. It used to have the GCML serving it as well , but as we all know that was closed in the Late 60s

 

[thenorthern]

Rugby to London is only doable on the WCML now. It used to have the GCML serving it as well , but as we all know that was closed in the Late 60s

Sort of there is the main service via Weedon and the Northampton loop.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Sort of, at New Mills South Junction there is the line where the local trains go via Marple and the express trains go via Stockport.

Only the one route crossing the Pennines though. Services between Bristol and Birmingham can run from Kings Norton via Camp Hill or Five Ways, but you'd have a job on convincing anyone that that constitutes two separate routes between the two cities.

 

[thenorthern]

Only the one route crossing the Pennines though. Services between Bristol and Birmingham can run from Kings Norton via Camp Hill or Five Ways, but you'd have a job on convincing anyone that that constitutes two separate routes.

Fair point I forgot about the Camp Hill line.

 

[sad1e]

Sort of there is the main service via Weedon and the Northampton loop.

It still mainly uses the WCML to get to London as the loop is only a small part of London-Rugby. The loop is also basically just the WCML Slows separating from the Fasts to serve Northampton as the WCML Between Hanslope and Hillmorton Junctions is only dual tracked and only takes Fast trains

 

[A S Leib]

Going via Barry's a big enough diversion that I'd count Swansea to Cardiff as only having one route.

Newcastle to Edinburgh (no normal alternatives to Berwick) and York (normally always via Darlington) don't have any other options which would typically be called alternative routes, but which both have direct services via Carlisle / Sunderland during engineering work, such as this weekend via the Durham Coast.

 

[Pit_buzzer]

With regard to Sheffield to Manchester are there not regular trains via Wakefield and Huddersfield overnight and also quite often due to engineering work

 

[thenorthern]

Derby to Stoke-on-Trent there is only one route.

 

[yorksrob]

I'm surprised that no one's mentioned London to Eastbourne/Worthing and everywhere along the coast inbetween.

 

[Old Yard Dog]

Manchester to Sheffield trains take different routes between Piccadilly and Chinley. Fast trains go via Stockport, slow ones via Marple.

 

[Tomos y Tanc]

Swansea > Cardiff
Cardiff > Bristol TM

 

[A S Leib]

I'm surprised that no one's mentioned London to Eastbourne/Worthing and everywhere along the coast inbetween.

London to Brighton fails the "no diversions at any point" given that via avoiding / via Redhill and Victoria / London Bridge are options, but I don't know how much slower non-direct Eastbourne and Worthing services via slightly different routes are.

 

[Scotty]

• Manchester to Nottingham

I came back from Manchester the other week (due to a fallen tree) travelling Manchester > Stoke > Nottingham

 

[bishdunster]

Winchester to Southampton?????

 

[A S Leib]

Winchester to Southampton?????

I was thinking of pairs further apart than around ten miles.

 

[BeijingDave]

Newcastle to Carlisle

 

[DanNCL]

Manchester to Glasgow. The only reasonable route is via the WCML.

Whilst Manchester to Edinburgh is also only directly linked via the WCML, I’d say that doesn’t count as the ECML with a change at York or Newcastle isn’t an unreasonable route for that journey.

 

[bishdunster]

I was thinking of pairs further apart than around ten miles.

Ok, how about Exeter and Truro ?

 

[A S Leib]

Ok, how about Exeter and Truro ?

Yes.

 

[DH1Commuter]

Newcastle to Carlisle

Yes.

 

[JD2168]

Sheffield to Bridlington
Sheffield to Worksop

 

[thenorthern]

Aberdeen to Inverness a detour via Perth is not really an option.

Neither are a city but Shrewsbury and Telford to Wolverhampton could really only go one way.

 

[D6975]

There are many such as:

• Birmingham to Derby, Leeds, Sheffield, Doncaster, Leicester, Bristol, Exeter, Plymouth, Southampton, Bournemouth, Peterborough, Preston, Carlisle, Nottingham and many more from Birmingham.

Half of these have 2 routes or more. My local one (Birmingham-Bristol) has a whole bunch of routes, 3 of which I have used in recent times.

 

[plugwash]

Are we looking for cases where there is strictly only one possible route? or are we also including cases where the alternatives are totally unreasonable.

For example, the only reasonable route from South wales to London is along the south wales coast, but you *could* also take the heart of wales line to Shrewsbury, then head down to birmingham and on to London.

The first that sprung to mind was Sheffield and Manchester, two significant cities that had one route between them closed leaving just the Hope Valley.

There is a direct service from Manchester to Sheffield every night that avoids the hope valley, seems to take about half an hour longer than the usual route.

Realtime Trains | 1B52 2331 Manchester Airport to Sheffield | 10/02/2025

Real-time train running information for 1B52 2331 departure from Manchester Airport to Sheffield on 10/02/2025. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

 

[A S Leib]

Are we looking for cases where there is strictly only one possible route? or are we also including cases where the alternatives are totally unreasonable.

For example, the only reasonable route from South wales to London is along the south wales coast, but you *could* also take the heart of wales line to Shrewsbury, then head down to birmingham and on to London.

I've mentioned going via Barry to get from Swansea to Cardiff as impractical enough that I'd count that as only having one route, so I think Shrewsbury, either via Hereford or Llandrindod, would be too inconvenient compared to direct services to count.

 

[Gazimo]

I've mentioned going via Barry to get from Swansea to Cardiff as impractical enough that I'd count that as only having one route, so I think Shrewsbury, either via Hereford or Llandrindod, would be too inconvenient compared to direct services to count.

but what about going via gloucester which is used when the severn tunnel goes down, would that count as a separate valid route

 

[plugwash]

Some sections of the route have some local diversions, but if you are going from South Wales to London there are really no good alternatives to going through severn tunnel junction, Swindon, Didcot parkway and Reading.