Longest diversion by rail compared to road

[northwichcat]

By road Greenbank station to Hartford station is 1.1 miles, by rail using existing passenger services (Greenbank-Chester-Crewe-Hartford) it's 44 times as long as just over 48.5 miles. Is there any rail stations where you have to do a longer diversion to get between by rail?

 

[Cherry_Picker]

Has the West Coast sleeper ever been diverted via the East Coast? If so, that has to be up there in terms of absolute mileage, if not in terms of a ratio of normal mileage to diverted mileage.

 

[Buttsy]

I got on a SW-Scotland service at Oxford in the 80s going to Edinburgh and got diverted via Cotswold line, Chase line and from Wigan to Lostock to Preston, making the only regular stop between Oxford & Stafford was New Street. After all that mularky, we had hoped for a diversion over the S&C, alas this did not happen.

 

[ainsworth74]

Has the West Coast sleeper ever been diverted via the East Coast?

It does from time to time if the WCML is closed due to engineering work. It isn't very common but does happen.

 

[cuccir]

The question is about difference between road and rail distances, not about diversion v regular routeing (I think?).

I'm sure we've had similar threads quite recently haven't we?

Whitby to Scarborough must be fairly high in the ''absolute'' category: 19 miles by road, 128 by rail (109 diff). Barton-on-Humber to Hessle is 4.9 miles by road, and 69 by rail (65 diff).
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Again, in the absolute rather than ratio category: Kyle of Lochalsh to Oban is 118 miles by road, and 360 miles by rail, or a difference of 242 miles!

 

[bnm]

Yeovil Pen Mill - Yeovil Junction, by road 2¼ miles.

By rail, using regular timetabled services: 96 miles.

Yeovil Pen Mill - Castle Cary - Westbury - Salisbury - Yeovil Junction.

 

[Cherry_Picker]

The question is about difference between road and rail distances, not about diversion v regular routeing (I think?).

The question was changed after several replies. It originally asked about diverted services. You can see it was edited at 11:39am.

 

[tirphil]

Skipton - Colne isn't far by road but must be some journey by rail.

 

[142094]

Clitheroe - Hellifield not in the summer must also be a contender.

 

[northwichcat]

The question was changed after several replies. It originally asked about diverted services. You can see it was edited at 11:39am.

The question hasn't been changed at all. The title was changed to add the 'by road' bit in because the first few replies looked like they had been submitted after only reading the title and not reading the actual question that was posed.

Originally it was:

Longest diversion by rail
By road Greenbank station to Hartford station is 1.1 miles, by rail using existing passenger services (Greenbank-Chester-Crewe-Hartford) it's 44 times as long as just over 48.5 miles. Is there any rail stations where you have to do a longer diversion to get between by rail?

Now it's:

Longest diversion by rail compared to road
By road Greenbank station to Hartford station is 1.1 miles, by rail using existing passenger services (Greenbank-Chester-Crewe-Hartford) it's 44 times as long as just over 48.5 miles. Is there any rail stations where you have to do a longer diversion to get between by rail?

 

[Buttsy]

Mallaig to Kyle Of Lochalsh is only 27 miles if you go via Skye and 113 inland by road, 426 miles the two by train.

 

[MCR247]

^Its 427 by rail

 

[northwichcat]

I'm sure we've had similar threads quite recently haven't we?

We had one that compared rail journey times to literal distance between places but I'm fairly sure that was only using 'direct' services.

 

[trickyvegas]

Without working out the distances (I have no idea how to do it for rail)

Buxton to Matlock is the longest I can think of.

New Mills Newtown to New Mills Central must be a fair whack even though it's only about 15 minutes walk between them.

 

[mallard]

In "relative" terms, Dorchester West to Dorchester South takes over 30 minutes, requires 9 miles of travel, a change and a £40 fare by rail. On foot it's a 0.3 mile walk, taking about 5 minutes.

Relatively, that's a 3000% difference in distance travelled.

 

[robschopper]

Penrhyndeudraeth (Cambrian Coast) - Blaenau Ffestiniog (Conway Valley) -
Road 5.9 miles & 12 mins / Rail (not Ffestiniog Railway) 211.75 miles & 7hr 27mins.

 

[bb21]

...and a £40 fare by rail...

Dorchester Stations - Upwey costs £3.40 for an Anytime Day Return or £6 for two Anytime Day Singles. How did you get £40?

 

[mallard]

Dorchester Stations - Upwey costs £3.40 for an Anytime Day Return or £6 for two Anytime Day Singles. How did you get £40?

Just put in Dorchester South to Dorchester West on National Rail Enquiries. It suggests a Freedom of Severn and Solent 3 in 7 Rover!

 

[GNERman]

What about Pontefract Baghill to Monkhill?

 

[158_Sprinter]

Bromley North - Bromley South
0.9 Miles by road/ Twelve minutes walk
7 miles 7ch by rail

 

[12CSVT]

St. Albans Abbey to St. Albans City

Hertford North to Hertford East

Ebbw Vale Parkway to Rhymney

Bourne End to Beaconsfield

Bedford to Sandy

Penrith to Langwathby

Bradford Interchange to Bradford Forster Square

There's probably loads more examples

 

[geoff10]

Without working out the distances (I have no idea how to do it for rail)

Buxton to Matlock is the longest I can think of.

New Mills Newtown to New Mills Central must be a fair whack even though it's only about 15 minutes walk between them.

For the first, NR Journey planner gives a route as Matlock-Derby, Derby-Sheffield, Sheffield-Stockport, Stockport-Buxton (3hr 14min-17min, not bad considering). From the public timetable I total this to 110.25 miles.

For New Mills Newtown to Central the NR Journey planner comes up with a sensible suggestion to walk (18 mins)

 

[rail-britain]

Has the West Coast sleeper ever been diverted via the East Coast? If so, that has to be up there in terms of absolute mileage, if not in terms of a ratio of normal mileage to diverted mileage.

Yes, during summer 2009 each Sunday night
This was aborted for summer 2010 after last minute negotiations
However, as above, it does still happen at short notice

The difference in mileage isn't all that much, and it adds about 2 hours to the journey time
1 hour of that is simply due to the additional mileage plus additional stops for crew changes
The other hour is added due to the slow running after leaving the ECML and reversal at Wembley, I was shocked that it took so long to complete once coming to rest at Wembley

 

[trickyvegas]

For the first, NR Journey planner gives a route as Matlock-Derby, Derby-Sheffield, Sheffield-Stockport, Stockport-Buxton (3hr 14min-17min, not bad considering). From the public timetable I total this to 110.25 miles.

For New Mills Newtown to Central the NR Journey planner comes up with a sensible suggestion to walk (18 mins)

I'd fancy doing Matlock to Buxton on foot sometime.

 

[The Planner]

Bicester Town to Bicester North, needs Oxford and a reverse to Banbury then another reverse back to Bicester.

 

[Buttsy]

Bicester Town to Bicester North, needs Oxford and a reverse to Banbury then another reverse back to Bicester.

That won't be true for much longer providing Evergreen 3 continues...

 

[The Snap]

Manchester Piccadilly to Manchester Victoria is less than 1 mile and takes no more than 15 minutes to walk through the city centre.

By train you would have to go Piccadilly > Stalybridge > Huddersfield > Brighouse > Hebden Bridge > Rochdale > Victoria, which would take a good hour, if not two!

(You could do it much quicker by train using the various freight branches which connect the lines out of Piccadilly and Victoria to the North East of the city centre ie: Guide Bridge/Denton/Ashton Moss – although that would involve a reverse or two…)

 

[The Planner]

Technically no, you should be able to reverse at the top of the chord. Im not convinced the planned signalling allows this though and it would never be planned as a WTT move.

 

[philjo]

If you compare the distances for a through train & road between Peterborough and Leicester:
road 36 miles
train 52.5 miles

 

[Yew]

Retford low level to Retford high level. You would have to go to Lincoln. Then Newark. Then Peterborough. Then Retford. (or is there a direct train to Peterborough or between Retford and Newark? (don't they usually just atop at one of them?)