Impossible journeys

[Tomnick]

How is "on the same line" defined? I'd consider the earlier example of Melton to Sileby to be perfectly valid, but they're no more "on the same line" than East Midlands Parkway and Tutbury & Hatton ('adjacent' stations via Chellaston) are!

 

[Buttsy]

How is "on the same line" defined? I'd consider the earlier example of Melton to Sileby to be perfectly valid, but they're no more "on the same line" than East Midlands Parkway and Tutbury & Hatton ('adjacent' stations via Chellaston) are!

I think the definition is being taken as 2 consective stations that have a passenger service running through them both without passing through another station in the interim, but that's only my thinking.

 

[trickyvegas]

Stalybridge to Guide Bridge is only possible by doubling back from Piccadilly. I just had a look on NRE for prices and they are showing an Anytime Single - Route Any Permitted - at £1.50 !!! Can anyone explain this?

 

[Daz28]

St Mary Cray to Chislehurst

 

[bb21]

Newhaven marine to Newhaven harbour

Technically the service still runs, just that you are barred from boarding, so I don't think it counts.

 

[thenorthern]

Isn't Lockerbie to Carstairs one but not Carstairs to Lockerbie.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Hapton and Burnley Manchester Road is one as well.

 

[alex17595]

Technically the service still runs, just that you are barred from boarding, so I don't think it counts.

Not technically on the same line but Willington* to Peartree?


* Spelling edited.

 

[Eagle]

I assume you mean Willington (Wellington is in Shropshire).

And yes, they are on the same line, namely the Birmingham to Derby line. Peartree just happens to also be on the Stoke to Derby line.

 

[noddingdonkey]

Castleford to Church Fenton? (Some overnight TPE trains go that way for route retention)

 

[Buttsy]

Castleford to Church Fenton? (Some overnight TPE trains go that way for route retention)

Surely you mean Castleford to Sherburn-in-Elmet as that's the next station.

 

[dannypye9999]

Gorton to Fairfield, two stations next to each other yet no direct train in either way..

Meaning a person who wants to travel from Gorton to Fairfield would have to change at Guide Bridge then make a reverse journey. Cheapest ticket option from Gorton to Guidge Bridge would be to buy a single to Fairfield because you have to change at Guide Bridge anyway.

 

[Eagle]

Gorton to Fairfield, two stations next to each other yet no direct train in either way..

Meaning a person who wants to travel from Gorton to Fairfield would have to change at Guide Bridge then make a reverse journey. Cheapest ticket option from Gorton to Guidge Bridge would be to buy a single to Fairfield because you have to change at Guide Bridge anyway.

This is no longer true. Since the last timetable change, Rose Hill trains now call at both Gorton and Fairfield.

 

[dvboy]

Wolverhampton to Walsall is another one.

Wolverhampton to Walsall can be done on a direct train, multiple times per day, that runs via Birmingham New Street, so hardly impossible.

 

[Altnabreac]

Motherwell - Uddingston not via Bellshill is only possible on 2 trains each way per day. Uddingston - Newton is shown on Scotrail's Lanarkshire route map but I don't think any services actually go that way?

 

[nw1]

Norton Bridge to Crewe is one as well as Stoke-on-Trent to Rugeley Trent Valley via the Stone-Colwich line (one northbound London Midland train per day goes along that line).

Mind you does that count, because all trains from there (Norton Bridge) are actually buses?

 

[Philip Elliott]

Wolverhampton to Walsall can be done on a direct train, multiple times per day, that runs via Birmingham New Street, so hardly impossible.

It might not require any changes but it is certainly not direct.

 

[yorkie]

It might not require any changes but it is certainly not direct.

We often refer to 'direct trains' but the official rule used in the Routeing Guide is a "through train", so if we're being pedantic, let's use that official term, and there can be no doubt! (People often use the terms interchangeably)

I think the definition is being taken as 2 consective stations that have a passenger service running through them both without passing through another station in the interim, but that's only my thinking.

The opening post does not state they must be consecutive. We've had many threads asking about consecutive stations (here's an example: Consecutive stations with no direct service? )

How is "on the same line" defined? I'd consider the earlier example of Melton to Sileby to be perfectly valid, but they're no more "on the same line" than East Midlands Parkway and Tutbury & Hatton ('adjacent' stations via Chellaston) are!

As is often the case with these sort of threads, confusion is generated if the opening post is not clear.

I assume he meant to say, rather than "the same line", a route by which there are through trains? But then that opens up all sorts of possibilities.

If "the same line" was intentional then, I agree, we need a definition.

By "impossible" I guess he really either means "Not possible without doubling back" or "Not possible without catching 2 or more trains" (I am not sure which)

 

[Be3G]

Clapton to Tottenham Hale.

This is possible on one train per day: the last service from London to Hertford East.

 

[bb21]

Uddingston - Newton is shown on Scotrail's Lanarkshire route map but I don't think any services actually go that way?

You are correct that this is not possible.

Uddingston - Newton involves crossing from Newton East Junction to Newton (Hamilton Line) Junction, which according to PSUL has only one service in the eastbound direction, by Virgin, early Saturday morning only.

 

[172212]

Wolverhampton to Walsall is another one.

Wrong. There is a parliamentary train from Wolverhampton that calls at Walsall only. Saturdays at 06:38, arriving at 06:50

 

[Cheds]

A couple of others

Oxenholme Carnforth
Melton Mowbray Loughborough

Melton seems to have a few of these.

 

[Mitch in Notts]

There are trains in the morning from Loughborough to Melton, and an evening return on Nottingham-Peterborough services.

 

[Eagle]

Also Melton and Loughborough are not adjacent stations because there are two stations between them.

 

[St Rollox]

Springburn - Ashfield

 

[Cheds]

I may have to bow to eagle's superior knowledge here, but I thought there was track between Melton and Loughborough which doesn't pass through other stations? Eg for nottingham - east Anglian routes

 

[Eagle]

No, that route passes through Sileby and Barrow-upon-Soar. (These stations are only served by the Leicester to Lincoln trains though.)

Might be that you're looking at an old map as those stations only opened in 1994.

 

[Philip Elliott]

The station Eagle refers to are Sileby and Barrow-on-Soar. However if it is using the main lines (which I'm sure it does) then it won't pass through them as they are on the goods lines.

 

[Eagle]

Well yeah, but by that definition a train only passes through a station if it's on a platform line, and that would invalidate a lot of the responses on this thread.

 

[Trainfan344]

Glasgow to Bath Spa is impossible direct, but Bath Spa to Glasgow is possible direct.

 

[Andyjs247]

Liverpool Lime Street - Moorfields
Liverpool Central - Liverpool Lime Street