Heritage Railway stations where the train is faster / slower than driving

SECR 65 · 30 Jul 2026

peteb said:
You were lucky. I've never managed, in 34 years, to drive from Kidderminster SVR station to Bewdley SVR station in under 12 minutes, keeping to legal speed limits. On a weekday morning at 0740 I'd estimate the Bewdley SVR to Kidderminster SVR journey time (or vice versa) to be 20 mins (+5/10 when schools are back). Problem is Kidderminster is a real traffic bottleneck, a legacy of having an incomplete ring road dating from the 1960s. I live less than a mile from the SVR Kidderminster station, but if I drive there at 0730am it can take 10 minutes, due to hoardes of children being dropped off to catch trains to Worcester or Hagley. Just driving up Comberton Hill to the station is a nightmare! So it's worth them trialling the Bewdley Kidderminster service.

This got me thinking, how many heritage railway stations are quicker to drive between than the train at 25mph? Happy to have examples in either direction where train or car is faster.

From Sheffield Park to Horsted Keynes on the Bluebell, it's a pretty similar time (but if you're going to HK village, then that's a long walk from the station!)

If members seek an exact measure, let's take the bottom of the station drive / car park entrance / i.e. where railway property meets the road. This is not a compulsory point to consider - only if one wishes to be highly specific.

I would suggest this thread could be kept to UK preserved line only, but maybe someone could start another thread for mainline?

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TastyMaltesers · 30 Jul 2026

I can think of one where the train is definitely slower, as the railway route is effectively a U shape;

Kingsley & Froghall - Ipstones takes about 6 times longer by Churnet Valley Railway train than by car (approx. 60 vs 10 min)! Of course, there is no actual station at Ipstones, just a loop for trains to reverse...

Flange Squeal · 30 Jul 2026

Alton station to Alresford station is typically 33/34 mins by Watercress Line train, or 20-25 mins by car. The bus takes half hour from Alton station to Alresford village centre then a few mins walk, so about the same as the train. Whether you drive or take the bus, you are pretty close to the railway for the whole journey, and able to see it in several places, including a couple of stretches alongside the A31 road.

dgl · 30 Jul 2026

I reckon when the traffic is bad Corfe Castle to Swanage is quicker by Swanage Railway, probably by a decent amount.

aar0 · 30 Jul 2026

East Somerset Railway is probably faster by light jog.

HertiageFan · 30 Jul 2026

Wensleydale Railway takes 22 minutes driving between Leeming Bar and Leyburn, compared to 40 minutes on the train, and you have to walk into the village which takes about 10 minutes.

amahy · 30 Jul 2026

Horsehay and Dawley to Spring Village on the Telford Steam Railway could be the winner. About a 2 minute brisk walk, versus c.15 minutes by train!

geoffk · 30 Jul 2026

Paignton to Kingswear is shown as 25 minutes each way non-stop on the Dartmouth Steam Railway. I googled "Paignton to Kingswear drive time" and this came up with 22 or 23 minutes, which seems a lot for 8 miles but realistic in the holiday season. The 120 bus is scheduled to take 24 minutes. At this time of year I would imagine the train might be quicker more often than not.

Tempest3K · 30 Jul 2026

I beat the Prototype HST from Ruddington Fields to Rushcliffe Halt at GCR(N) previously by car if that counts

43096 · 30 Jul 2026

Tempest3K said:
I beat the Prototype HST from Ruddington Fields to Rushcliffe Halt at GCR(N) previously by car if that counts

Bet you didn’t reverse at 50 Steps though!!

Uk02048 · 30 Jul 2026

A slight stretch but the route from fairbourne to barmouth via fairbourne railway and the boat add-on can be quicker than the driving option. Haven't timed it though.

Iskra · 30 Jul 2026

I imagine that the train is faster between Haworth and Oxenhope by car due to the indirectness and poor quality of the local roads.

30907 · 30 Jul 2026

Iskra said:
I imagine that the train is faster between Haworth and Oxenhope by car due to the indirectness and poor quality of the local roads.

I was thinking Oakworth to Haworth for the same reason - and as for Damems....

Iskra · 30 Jul 2026

30907 said:
I was thinking Oakworth to Haworth for the same reason - and as for Damems....

Yes, very true!

kje7812 · 30 Jul 2026

Going back to the original post on the other thread, Kidderminster to Bridgnorth is 25-30 mins drive via the A442. On the SVR, it's 58 mins purely based on section times with 75 mins typical on service trains.

Narrowgauge725 · 31 Jul 2026

Heatherslaw to Etal is timetabled for 20 minutes for just short of 2 miles. The walking distance between the two is less than a mile and Etal station is a 1/4 mile from the centre of the village. Easy win for the walk!

Bill57p9 · 1 Aug 2026

Another bit of a stretch, however a few years ago the road between Wanlockhead and Leadhills was closed for several days for resurfacing. The Wanlockhead and Leadhills railway provided a (circa 5 minute) shuttle service at the time as an alternative to the nearly an hour road diversion

A S Leib · 1 Aug 2026

The fastest scheduled Loughborough Central to Leicester North services I can see (26 minutes) are comfortably beaten by car (15 minutes), and around even with the bus (skylink Derby being at least 14 minutes and a half-mile walk at each end). Whilst being beaten by London EMR services isn't surprising if just counting between a Leicester and a Loughborough station (9 minutes), it's barely slower than the stopping services (23 minutes).

I'm not entirely sure where in Llanberis the Snowdon Race starts from; with a record of 1:02:29, it might be possible for somebody – definitely not people in general – to beat the Snowdon Mountain Railway's scheduled time of an hour on foot.

SECR 65 · 1 Aug 2026

Sheffield Park to Horsted Keynes (Bluebell) is definitely much faster than the bus!!!!!

First, you'll have to wait up to 5 days for a bus (weekends only). Then, having taken the 121 to Lewes, you'll have to catch a train to Haywards Heath and pick up a second bus (260) to Horsted Keynes.

You can (and I often have) walked Horsted Keynes to Kingscote in a couple of hours (always stop to film trains so don't have an exact time) but that's quicker than the lack of bus service as well!

Western Gaffer · 1 Aug 2026

Caernarfon to Blaenau Ffestiniog: 49 minutes by car, 5 hours 20 minutes by heritage railway(s)!

A S Leib · 1 Aug 2026

Leaving Ramsey at 11:10 today would have meant a 15:30 arrival at Port Erin by train due to missing a train at Douglas by around fifteen minutes, with driving being 45 minutes.

norbitonflyer · 2 Aug 2026

I was driving along the A5 on Friday, and saw a train on the Llangollen Railway as we approached Glyndyfrdwy. Despite the serpentine nature of the A5 we got to Berwyn long before the train. Llangollen was one big traffic jam but we were neveterthelss through that before the train got there.

I have also seen my family onto a train at Dunster on the West Somereret line and driven to Bishops Lydeard to wait to meet them (pausing at Williton to wave as they went past)

Best Beloved claims to be the originator of "Race the Train" over fifty years ago, having run from Llanfair Caerinion to Sylfaen (the then terminus) faster than the train - which her brother was driving.

Never mind preserved lines though - the official journey time on a direct train from Kingston to Richmond is 20 minutes - with two trains an hour. The No 65 bus is scheduled to take 22 minutes between the two stations, and has between eight and ten bph

cce · 2 Aug 2026

I quite enjoy racing the trains on the Avon valley railway on my bicycle.

Bill57p9 · 2 Aug 2026

Some heritage railways have stations that are virtually inaccessible by road. Newtondale Halt on NYMR springs to mind: train will be faster than alternative means (road, bike, walk). Also Ddualt on the Ffestiniog

norbitonflyer · 2 Aug 2026

Bill57p9 said:
Also Ddualt on the Ffestiniog

Staying at the holiday cottage at Coed y Bleddiau on the Festiniog, which is only accessible by rail, or by mountain path from a car park a hundred feet below, we decided to race a train from Tan y Bwlch, which is about a mile. As soon as the train arrived at TyB, we jumped in the car, drove to the car park and climbed the hill, and had the tea things out to wave at the train when it passed.

It has to be noted that northbound trains pause at Tan y Bwlch for about ten minutes to take on water..................

Egg Centric · 2 Aug 2026

Both Tanfield Railway and Weardale Railway, my locals, are miles quicker to drive end to end - albeit in former example there's not a railway car park at one end. Between any consecutive station pair I don't think that would be the case with the latter cause of where the stations are positioned - basically you're doing 3 sides of a rectangle driving- but anything further (ignoring the halt) would work; with the former you could easily race the train from anywhere to anywhere else with the exception of Causey Arch where the station is too far from parking to manage it (unless you ran which I think is agains spirit of this)

Toby3875 · 14 Aug 2026

The Kent and East Sussex Railway between Northiam and Bodiam Station is Just quicker than Car.

Heritage Railway stations where the train is faster / slower than driving

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