Trivia: Shortest Class 1 and Longest Class 2 & Class 3 or 5 headcode journeys

[Magdalia]

Vast majority of ecs coming off depot going to nearest main station run as class 5, eg Neville Hill to Leeds, Bounds Green to Kings Cross even if they are going straight into passenger service.

For GN at Kings Cross that's not the case. There are 9 weekday evening peak Hornsey-Kings Cross ECS moves and all of them run as class 3s.

 

[Ian Hardy]

On SWR today due to engineering work between Hounslow / Whitton – Byfleet & New Haw / Ascot / Windsor & Eton Riverside:
13 miles 40 chains XX:35 Hounslow to London Waterloo via Brentford services and XX:49 London Waterloo to Hounslow via Brentford services running with 1Sxx headcodes.
14 miles 12 chains for the some of the London Waterloo - Hounslow via Richmond services which have 1Uxx headcodes.
https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/se...11-16/0200-0159?stp=WVS&show=all&order=actual

 

[Peter0124]

Surely these are the winner for class 1's, with a journey time of just 9 minutes. That's if you count services truncated due to engineering work.

Realtime Trains | Departures from Glasgow Central between 1200 and 1400 on 16/11/2025

Train information at Glasgow Central between 1200 and 1400 on 16/11/2025. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

 

[Class15]

For GN at Kings Cross that's not the case. There are 9 weekday evening peak Hornsey-Kings Cross ECS moves and all of them run as class 3s.

Across Britain the standard for this kind of move is Class 5. Class 3 are usually used by specific operators; the real use for Class 3’s should be contra-peak ECS flows.

 

[Magdalia]

Across Britain the standard for this kind of move is Class 5. Class 3 are usually used by specific operators; the real use for Class 3’s should be contra-peak ECS flows.

Class 3 ECS moves with First Capital Connect (FCC) go back to at least 2009. Initially they were mainly used on contra peak ECS moves but some Hornsey-Kings Cross evening peak ECS moves have been class 3 since the start of the Great Northern (GN) era in 2014. Timekeeping of evening peak ECS moves into Kings Cross is critical for platform capacity in the terminus and right time departures to deliver right time running through the 2 track section at Digswell. Kings Lynn trains also have joining in the platform to make 12 car trains and 2tph on a single line railway north of Ely.

 

[Peter749]

Realtime Trains | 3R19 0700 Manchester Piccadilly to London Euston | 12/02/2026

Real-time train running information for 3R19 0700 departure from Manchester Piccadilly to London Euston on 12/02/2026. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

187 mile ECS move

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 17 Nov 2025 ==

174 miles 53 chains Class 2 service

Realtime Trains | 2H61 0700 Inverness to Wick | 12/02/2026

Real-time train running information for 2H61 0700 departure from Inverness to Wick on 12/02/2026. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

 

[elltrain3]

As Said upthread the CTR-CRE Shuttles take just 19m to do 21m, but the Wrexham Shuttle which appears in December will be another contender, at around 15mins!

Do any Llandudno Jn - Town services run as Class 1s, i think a few of them have in the past!

Another contender for longest Class 2's are the Heart Of Wales Sprinters! From Crewe - Swansea
(I found a train in the May 2003 TT a while back that did Shrewsbury - Leamington Spa via the Heart of Wales, Swansea, Newport, Gloucester & Birmingham, surley one of the longest in recent history but that's not strictly relevant here!)

 

[Harpo]

Shortest regular headway class 1 is probably Heathrow Express.

 

[Peter749]

but the Wrexham Shuttle which appears in December will be another contender, at around 15mins!

All Class 2 trains so not in the category of this thread

 

[pompeyfan]

Shortest regular headway class 1 is probably Heathrow Express.

As has been said, there are other shorter class 1 services, the Lymington branch runs as 1Jxx, 10 minutes each way and just over 5.5 miles.

 

[trundlewagon]

As has been said, there are other shorter class 1 services, the Lymington branch runs as 1Jxx, 10 minutes each way and just over 5.5 miles.

How come a self-contained branch line run with Class 1 headcodes? Bit of an odd one.

The Stourbridge Town Car is missing a trick here..!