3 Questions, do you have the answers?

[EJMJ]

Hello, can anyone help me with a few questions I have in relation to railway travel in the late 19th / early 20th century.

1) How would you get from Edinburgh to Denham Village in Buckinghamshire in 1893 and how long would it take?

2) How would you get from Brampton (near Carlisle) to London in 1924? How long would it take?

3) How would you travel from London to Paris in 1938 and how long would it take?

Much appreciated, thank you.

 

[PeterC]

Q1. no idea about the journey time. Nearest open station would be Uxbridge Vine Street operated by GWR, probably requiring a change at West Drayton.

Q3 the Golden Arrow via Dover and Calais would run at the most convenient time. Don't know the pre war time but in 1949 it was 6 hours. Leave 10am arrive 5pm

 

[30907]

1. http://www.flyingscotsman.org.uk/race-to-the-north/

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_to_the_North

Amazing what Google can tell you. This should give you enough information.

To get from the London termini you would use the Metropolitan Railway to Paddington and then the Great Western to Vine Street as already mentioned. I do not have access to timetable information for that year, but in 1902 there were rush-hour through trains between the Met and Uxbridge taking about an hour.

2. The obvious route would be to change at Carlisle. The 1922 Bradshaw gives a best time to Euston from there of just over 6 hours, but poor connections mean the whole trip would have taken just over 8 1/2 hours leaving Brampton at 7.37 or 9.56am.
It would also have been possible to travel via Newcastle to Kings Cross (I would guess similar times) or via Carlisle to St Pancras (slower).

3. The 1938 Bradshaw gives the choice of the luxury Golden Arrow, taking 6hr 40m, and ordinary day services taking similar times - but if you went 3rd class it took 8-9 hours.
There was the Night Ferry through sleeper (very new that year!) taking 11 hours,
and the shorter and therefore cheaper Newhaven Dieppe route to Paris St Lazare, taking 7hr 40 by day and 2 hours longer by night.
To complete the picture, you could go by overnight steamer from Southampton to Le Havre, total journey 13 hours.
Again, a Google search shiuld answer further questions.

 

[Dr Hoo]

Hello, can anyone help me with a few questions I have in relation to railway travel in the late 19th / early 20th century.

1) How would you get from Edinburgh to Denham Village in Buckinghamshire in 1893 and how long would it take?

2) How would you get from Brampton (near Carlisle) to London in 1924? How long would it take?

3) How would you travel from London to Paris in 1938 and how long would it take?

Much appreciated, thank you.

Welcome to the forum.

To provide an illustrative answer to your first question I took a look at the Middleton Press reprint of the December 1895 Bradshaw's Rail times. It was an interesting demonstration of how a journey such as Edinburgh to Denham could hardly be contemplated other than in cases of extreme need in those days.

Denham was a tiny rural village that for most intents and purposes still lay outside London's orbit.

There were three routes between Edinburgh and London that each offered a similar service of a 'day train' and a night/sleeper train. Thus:

Edinburgh Waverley to King's Cross at 1000, arriving 1830
Edinburgh Princes Street to Euston at 1015, arriving 1845
Edinburgh Waverley to St Pancras at 1005, arriving 2045 ( but probably on a more comfortable train).

Night trains at 2300 to King's Cross, arr 0805; 2250 to Euston, arr 0730; and 2145 to St Pancras, arr 0755.

People would probably want to book into a hotel to change and have a proper meal after such a long and tiring journey.

There was little by way of a 'suburban' service from Paddington in those days, as evidenced by the fact that the West Drayton to Uxbridge branch was shown in the London to Bristol main line table. Nevertheless there were a few through workings to what we now think of as the northern side of the Circle Line. So an Aldgate to West Drayton train at around 1000 from King's Cross/St Pancras or Euston Square would put you ready for brisk change to Uxbridge at 1105.

Your intrepid traveller might then take some refreshment whilst a 'conveyance' was rustled up to take them onwards to Denham for lunchtime.

An evening arrival in London from a day train might offer a chance to take a horse cab to Paddington for the 1945 to West Drayton, connecting to Uxbridge for 2032. Depending on the time of year and weather it might not have been ideal for continuing to Denham on the same day. It would not really have been feasible to continue the journey from the later arrival at St Pancras.

I hope that this helps.

 

[thewiltog]

2. The obvious route would be to change at Carlisle. The 1922 Bradshaw gives a best time to Euston from there of just over 6 hours, but poor connections mean the whole trip would have taken just over 8 1/2 hours leaving Brampton at 7.37 or 9.56am.
It would also have been possible to travel via Newcastle to Kings Cross (I would guess similar times) or via Carlisle to St Pancras (slower).

If I read the Bradshaw correctly, you could arrive in London earlier going via Newcastle. Assuming you start from Brampton Town at 7:50 am, changing at Brampton Junction and Newcastle gets you to Kings Cross at 4:30 pm

You certainly couldn't get to London and back in a day - I wonder what the closest station to London was (in 1922) where that was the case?

 

[30907]

If I read the Bradshaw correctly, you could arrive in London earlier going via Newcastle. Assuming you start from Brampton Town at 7:50 am, changing at Brampton Junction and Newcastle gets you to Kings Cross at 4:30 pm

You certainly couldn't get to London and back in a day - I wonder what the closest station to London was (in 1922) where that was the case?

I'd forgotten about Brampton Town, sorry!

The distance and journey time from the junction are almost identical by either route, and it's not surprising the NER produced a decent London connection from one of its own stations. The 2.22pm from Brampton Town was a fraction faster, though 3.5pm to Euston is actually faster still, both reaching London at 10.30pm.

For completeness' sake, there were night sleeper trains from Carlisle and Newcastle.

Newcastle to London and back was certainly do-able but nowhere further West. On the West Coast the furthest would have been Fleetwood, and that only because of Boat trains.