Trivia: Most delayed train to ever complete its service

[150249]

Due to an unfortunate incident at Taunton on Saturday evening, the Cross Country 1V64 Edinburgh to Plymouth service reached Plymouth at 0130, 223 minutes late (as shown in the link below). I was wondering what the latest a train to arrive at its destination was without being curtailed at a station on the way.

Realtime Trains | 1V64 1305 Edinburgh to Plymouth | 15/08/2026 https://share.google/ItlbRSpKsOuta9w4s

 

[StephenHunter]

We're not counting derailments, are we?

 

[Tester]

If railtours qualify, I offer the RCTS 'End of Steam Commemorative Rail Tour' on 4 August 1968, which I was on aged 12.

Due Euston 21:47 - actual arrival around 02:15 next day, so around 4.5 hours late. To BR's credit buses to other London terminals were laid on, and I got home via Waterloo to Kingston on the first train.

A bit of an adventure!

 

[StephenHunter]

Six day delay for the Orient Express in February 1929. Got stuck in a snowdrift.

 

[steamybrian]

29 December 1962- last two trains on the Launceston- Tavistock- Plymouth line were delayed over 6 hours- stuck in snow drifts.

 

[800001]

Multiple times due to disruption on ECML I've know trains to arrive into Edinburgh and London over 6 hours late, usually the services towards the end of the day.

 

[hexagon789]

Highland Chieftain was 489 mins late into Inverness last Wednesday, for example.

 

[Horizon22]

Only a few months back I think people were quoting 6/7/8 hour delays during a recent ECML meltdown. The Caledonian Sleeper is normally a favourite for picking up such ridiculous delays.

 

[Bald Rick]

Didn’t Henry and train get bricked up in a tunnel? He was there months!

 

[150249]

We're not counting derailments, are we?

If a train derailed I don't think it would finish its journey!

 

[StephenHunter]

If a train derailed I don't think it would finish its journey!

Unless it was re-railed.

 

[The exile]

Unless it was re-railed.

Unlikely still to be in passenger service, which I assume is the point. My own personal record is something in the region of 4.5 hours in January 1998.

 

[Falcon1200]

Monday 28th June 2021: 1110 Euston-Glasgow Central terminated at Central 245 minutes late, thanks to the failure of a certain freight train...

 

[Tester]

Unless it was re-railed.

A train which derails, and is re-railed with the passengers still on board (or even with the passengers watching from the sidelines) and then continues its journey to its original destination with said passengers on board, would in my opinion most definitely qualify for this thread!

Of course in reality this is not what happens.

Having said that, I have been on a train in exactly that situation, and indeed assisted with the re-railing. However as it was on the Leighton Buzzard Light Railway, it really doesn't count

 

[A S Leib]

Via Rail 46 (Toronto to Ottawa) reached its destination 344 minutes late the Thursday before last due to mechanical issues. I'm sure that far longer delays are common on their non-corridor routes and on longer Amtrak routes; that's just the first delay over an hour I found.

 

[notspy]

The longest I’ve ever seen out and about. +479 late into EDB last year, I believe due to a inside fire near Peterborough.

 

[swt_passenger]

I had about 18 hours on a Friday Plymouth to Newcastle service around spring 1972. There was some sort of industrial dispute going on, I think the maximum time we spent stationary was at Derby, for about 4-5 hours. Was it even known as Cross Country back then?

I think the normal through service took about 7 hours, but taking one train for the whole distance was unusual, most of the day you had to change as the majority of trains didn’t cover the full route. I think you could change at any main station between Sheffield and Bristol, but that’s from my 54 year memory…

 

[Merle Haggard]

I had about 18 hours on a Friday Plymouth to Newcastle service around spring 1972. There was some sort of industrial dispute going on, I think the maximum time we spent stationary was at Derby, for about 4-5 hours. Was it even known as Cross Country back then?

I think the normal through service took about 7 hours, but taking one train for the whole distance was unusual, most of the day you had to change as the majority of trains didn’t cover the full route. I think you could change at any main station between Sheffield and Bristol, but that’s from my 54 year memory…

"North East - South West".

 

[Strathclyder]

The longest I’ve ever seen out and about. +479 late into EDB last year, I believe due to a inside fire near Peterborough.

Getting into Via Rail/Amtrak lengths of delay there!

 

[JohnofWessex]

I seem to remember in the early 80's the Edinburgh - Plymouth or VV train could turn up anywhere at any time usually horribly late.

I remember passing it in the loop at Bromsgrove, two 37's on the back but nothing on the front.

 

[hexagon789]

The longest I’ve ever seen out and about. +479 late into EDB last year, I believe due to a inside fire near Peterborough.

Getting into Via Rail/Amtrak lengths of delay there!

I raise you 486L, Wednesday last week:



(Screenshot shows Realtimetrains running data for train 1S15 1203 LNER London King's Cross to Inverness 'Highland Chieftain' for Wednesday 12th August, in which the train arrived at destination 486 mins late by the public timetable.)

 

[FenMan]

1990, on honeymoon and returning to Paris Bercy from Nice on the sleeper/motorail service, due in around 8am. In the middle of the night a lorry jumped off a bridge onto the tracks somwhere north of Lyon. Job stopped and we were in the middle of nowhere. It stayed stopped for many hours - water supplies exhausted, no food, non-air conditioned carriages getting steaming hot under the summer sun and the loos getting very grim indeed. Angry American tourists demanding instant action colliding with the confusion of the onboard staff added to the gaiety.

The issue being, our consist was so long, and being a motorail service, it could only be accommodated at Bercy. After slowly backing up to a junction, we headed northeast and eventually approached Paris from the east. Instead of SNCF evacuating foot passengers somewhere reasonably sensible we then shuffled around Paris, including reversals, for nearly three hours before finally arriving at Bercy at 5pm.

That was a long day, around 19 hours on the train!

 

[Watershed]

Via Rail 46 (Toronto to Ottawa) reached its destination 344 minutes late the Thursday before last due to mechanical issues. I'm sure that far longer delays are common on their non-corridor routes and on longer Amtrak routes; that's just the first delay over an hour I found.

I was about 9 hours late when I took the Canadian from Toronto to Vancouver. We were up to 15 hours late at one point. I'm sure longer delays have happened but extreme delays seem routine on Via Rail, even more so than the couple of hours of delays you can almost expect with Amtrak (5 hours when I took the California Zephyr).

 

[Shimbleshanks]

Must have been multi-hour delays during the Blitz in World War 2.

 

[Strathclyder]

I raise you 486L, Wednesday last week:

View attachment 209845

(Screenshot shows Realtimetrains running data for train 1S15 1203 LNER London King's Cross to Inverness 'Highland Chieftain' for Wednesday 12th August, in which the train arrived at destination 486 mins late by the public timetable.)

Good lord, being stuck on an Azuma that long would have me wearing a groove in the carpet/floor from having to give my backside a break from those bloody awful seats.

 

[150249]

I raise you 486L, Wednesday last week:

View attachment 209845

(Screenshot shows Realtimetrains running data for train 1S15 1203 LNER London King's Cross to Inverness 'Highland Chieftain' for Wednesday 12th August, in which the train arrived at destination 486 mins late by the public timetable.)

Is that real and not a Realtime Trains bug where it tracked again the next morning while running ECS? What could have possibly happened between Aviemore and Inverness?

I raise you 486L, Wednesday last week:

View attachment 209845

(Screenshot shows Realtimetrains running data for train 1S15 1203 LNER London King's Cross to Inverness 'Highland Chieftain' for Wednesday 12th August, in which the train arrived at destination 486 mins late by the public timetable.)

I wonder why it stayed at Doncaster for so long. I would assume to switch train crew for safety reasons?

 

[hexagon789]

Is that real and not a Realtime Trains bug where it tracked again the next morning while running ECS? What could have possibly happened between Aviemore and Inverness?

No, it's accurate.

It sadly hit a person at Carrbridge and the line was blocked for several hours.

The next morning's service south was cancelled and the unit worked to Craigentinny ECS in the mid-afternoon instead.

 

[etr221]

The classic story - apocryphal maybe, but with basis in how it was - was of someone who went to visit their friends who lived up country in one of the colonies, and when it was time to return, saw that train was at 12:00, and insisted on being at the station in ample time, over the protests of their friends, who said it was never on time; but there, at 12:00 was the train. So they said good bye and told you so to their friends, boarded the train and off they went. At which point friends rounded on the station master: 'What's going on, the train is never on time?'. To which the response was 'No, that wasn't today's train on time, it was yesterday's, 24 hours late'.

And an Amtrak story: railfan in (I think) Buffalo, NY, went down to the depot to see the (daily) train go through - which, after a couple of hours, it did. And when they were walking back to their car, the station man, who knew what them and what they were doing, called that there would be another in a couple more hours. Which there was. That was yesterday's train. The first one they'd seen was the day before yesterday's train. Today's train had been cancelled; the stock to form it hadn't yet arrived on its outward run... But there was several feet of snow on the ground.

 

[Class15]

There is a video on YouTube (Superalbs I think?) where the Belgrade to Bar sleeper was 10 hours late.

 

[Merle Haggard]

Getting into Via Rail/Amtrak lengths of delay there!

Co-incidentally I struck up a conversation with a couple next to me on an Avanti service a couple of weeks ago. The lady, even older than me, had first worked on the Monon Railroad (she said 'It ran from Chicago to Kentucky!! - I had to look it up, it does make sense) so we got talking railways.
They went on to describe their luckless Amtrak journey from California to Chicago, though it doesn't count in this thread because the train never reached Chicago. After a couple of engine failures - one visually spectacular - they then stood 'in a cornfield' for a long while to allow the affects of a freight train derailment ahead to be resolved. Freight trains were then given priority, and when the delay exceeded 2 days, Amtrak gave in and arranged for road coaches.
The last meal they were offered on the train was dinner consisting of mashed potato and beef gravy with a spoon for cutlery. The lavatories and sinks had long run out of water. Couples with children had run out of nappies, people had run out of medication. Hotel accommodation, onward flights, family visits at Chicago were all ruined.
Puts delays on our rail network in the shade.