Most pointless journey for which a fare is available

[Tallguy]

Denham to Denham Golf on the Chiltern must be one of the most pointless journeys. Takes 2 mins on the train and costs £2.90 single. It’s about 0.6 miles along the tracks but double that on foot as there is no direct path and you have to follow the roads.

 

[Dai Corner]

Denham to Denham Golf on the Chiltern must be one of the most pointless journeys. Takes 2 mins on the train and costs £2.90 single. It’s about 0.6 miles along the tracks but double that on foot as there is no direct path and you have to follow the roads.

It's quite expensive on a per-mile basis but I'd say it was useful to avoid the walk if the weather is bad or you have heavy baggage such as golf clubs.

 

[Requeststop]

.....and don't forget your balls. (the golfing ones that is).

 

[Gathursty]

Invershin to Culrain £1.60 single - If you have mobility issues or if the footbridge has washed away, it's a useful ticket.

 

[philthetube]

Not pointless journey but pointless fare, peak Thurso Dover Priory, off peak appears to be available on all options, I suspect that there are actually loads of these and I know it is slightly off topic, but it interested me.

 

[Watershed]

Not pointless journey but pointless fare, peak Thurso Dover Priory, off peak appears to be available on all options, I suspect that there are actually loads of these and I know it is slightly off topic, but it interested me.

Perhaps pointless if you were doing the journey all in one go, but I would imagine most people would decide to break their journey (possibly overnight) when travelling such a long distance by train. You might then come acropper of Off-Peak restrictions if restarting at a different time. Depending on the circumstances it may then be cheapest to get an Anytime ticket.

 

[PG]

Not pointless journey but pointless fare, peak Thurso Dover Priory, off peak appears to be available on all options, I suspect that there are actually loads of these and I know it is slightly off topic, but it interested me.

However if you break your journey overnight then the Anytime (SOS) fare offers no restrictions whereas the Off-Peak Single (SSS) has a restriction on arriving into London before 11:17.

In this particular case the SOS is only an extra £5.90 so might well be worth it.

[Edit] Watershed beat me to it

 

[Kingston Dan]

Newcraighall to Musselburgh - £3.80 anytime single and about 37 minutes via Waverley. Or about an 800m walk through Queen Margaret University campus.

 

[philthetube]

sounds like a great trip for Grandparents to take the Grandkids on.

 

[Kite159]

Newcraighall to Musselburgh - £3.80 anytime single and about 37 minutes via Waverley. Or about an 800m walk through Queen Margaret University campus.

Maybe sees some use for someone living between the two stations as a cost saving to avoid buying a return ticket, similar to some of those Glasgow area ones

 

[MrEd]

Invershin to Culrain £1.60 single - If you have mobility issues or if the footbridge has washed away, it's a useful ticket.

Would the conductor even charge you? By the time you’ve boarded and told the conductor you’re getting off at Culrain (it’s not even worth sitting down), it’ll be time for the conductor to open the doors again.

I suspect that this ticket is prized by enthusiasts for the novelty factor, but I can imagine it’s probably most often bought online and collected from TVMs as a souvenir, rather than issued by conductors on the train. I wonder how many such tickets have existed?

Banavie to Corpach on the Mallaig line is probably another such journey in Scotland for which the conductor will not have time to sell a ticket, and for which tickets are probably snapped up by enthusiasts as novelty items.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I suspect that this ticket is prized by enthusiasts for the novelty factor, but I can imagine it’s probably most often bought online and collected from TVMs as a souvenir, rather than issued by conductors on the train. I wonder how many such tickets have existed?

I believe uk.railway did a "virtual meet" a while ago in which this ticket, with reservations, was purchased by a fair few people. I don't think anyone actually travelled, though some were talking about it.

 

[181]

Invershin to Culrain £1.60 single - If you have mobility issues or if the footbridge has washed away, it's a useful ticket.

Would the conductor even charge you? By the time you’ve boarded and told the conductor you’re getting off at Culrain (it’s not even worth sitting down), it’ll be time for the conductor to open the doors again.

I suspect that this ticket is prized by enthusiasts for the novelty factor, but I can imagine it’s probably most often bought online and collected from TVMs as a souvenir, rather than issued by conductors on the train.

Before the footbridge as attached to the viaduct (which I think was not all that long ago -- 2000 according to Wikipedia) it's something people might well have done as a real journey, as it's a few miles to the nearest alternative crossing.

 

[Mat17]

Marple to Rose Hill Marple - £2.90

I believe it's a fair walk between the two, but is it quicker than the 27 minute journey time?

 

[madjack]

Bromley North to Bromley South is surprisingly quick (39 minutes) by train - changing at Grove Park and Petts Wood - but the £3.40 is steep compared to £1.50 if you take any of 10 bus routes for the three stops (or you can walk in 11 minutes).

This seems to be a real fare - PAYG would be cheaper at £2.40/£2.80.

 

[24Grange]

Exeter St Davids to Exeter Central ( or St James Park to Central) - you can see central's platforms from the end of St James Platforms!

Also Surbition to Kingston. I've actually done this one for a laugh. The ticket office didn't want me to buy a ticket, but to get the bus outside the station ( much quicker). Involves a change at New Malden - heading in the opposite direction to start with( and a long wait!) - I caught the bus back !!

 

[317 forever]

Or the “Go Faster” option shown for £7.20 - it would be faster to walk for free !

Or you could go 1 stop on a bus for £1.50 and only pay the fare if you were not using other buses around then

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 9 Jan 2021 ==

Crofton Park -> Honor Oak Park

£4.70 for a paper single ticket (Route Via London not Underground) - the £3.40 "Not via London" ticket doesn't appear in the National Rail Planner - is there any valid route for this ticket...?

Walking it's a bit under 3/4 mile (so about 15 min).

By rail, the quickest journey on the above is 46min via Blackfriars and London Bridge (sometimes up to 1h15m from the looks).

Chuck in Travelcard routes as offered on the NR journey planner (or Oyster I suppose), and you get some interesting suggestions out of the planner, like this:

Crofton Park -> Catford
Catford -> Catford Bridge (walk)
Catford Bridge -> New Cross
New Cross -> New Cross Gate (walk 0.4mile)
New Cross Gate -> Honor Oak Park
All in 48min with 3 trains, no timetabled journey longer than 9 min, and 2 walks...

Talking of which, I have tried to look up a fare from Catford to Catford Bridge without success

A good one I unearthed is Harrow & Wealdstone to Harrow-on-the-Hill, £5.90 single or £11,80 return via Queen's Park and London Marylebone.

Also, Greenford to South Ruislip via West Ealing, to avoid the Central Line direct. Various fares between £5.50 and £23.30 came up. The £22.30 fare involves changing at West Ealing, Paddington, Marylebone and Gerrards Cross.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Talking of which, I have tried to look up a fare from Catford to Catford Bridge without success

Didn't the renowned Geoff Marshall point out in one of his weblogs that this had to be done as a zonal fare.

 

[317 forever]

Didn't the renowned Geoff Marshall point out in one of his weblogs that this had to be done as a zonal fare.

Yes I did see that one later once I got that far.

 

[Tallguy]

Moorthorpe to South Elmsall or how about Sherborne in Elmet to South Milford or maybe Pontefract Tanshelf/Monkshill to Pontefract Baghill?

 

[unlevel42]

Moorthorpe to South Elmsall or how about Sherborne in Elmet to South Milford or maybe Pontefract Tanshelf/Monkshill to Pontefract Baghill?

Moorthorpe and South Elmsall are both in Weat Yorkshire but you could use the South Yorkshire rail/tram/tram-train/bus Rover £8 80( SYConnect+) via trains using Swinton/Meadowhall/Sheffield and then Doncaster,

 

[berneyarms]

Moorthorpe to South Elmsall or how about Sherborne in Elmet to South Milford or maybe Pontefract Tanshelf/Monkshill to Pontefract Baghill?

The OP specifically requested journeys for which a fare is available.

There are no quoted fares for Moorthorpe to South Elmsall or between Pontefract Tanshelf/Monkshill and Pontefract Baghill.

Whether a fare exists can be seen on www.brfares.com

 

[londonbridge]

Also Surbition to Kingston.

That's another that you can easily walk. When I worked in Kingston the trains from Clapham were 7:51 and 8:06. If I missed the 51 (or it was delayed or cancelled), I used to get the 8:00 Alton, first stop Surbiton, walk from there and reach the office quicker than if I'd waited for the 8:06.

 

[24Grange]

All to do with Surbiton being on the "main line " and Kingston on a loop, I guess - early Victorian politics?

 

[Kingston Dan]

Yup. The original plan was for the SW mainline to run a little bit north of where it is with a mainline station where Kingston University and Surrey County Hall is. The good burgers of the Royal Borough of Kingston refused as they wanted to protect the mail coach business (Kingston was the first stop out of London - and the first Thames crossing after London Bridge). So the London and Southampton (?) built the mainline where it is today and Surbiton station was for a number of years was known as Kingston upon Railway.

 

[jumble]

Or you could go 1 stop on a bus for £1.50 and only pay the fare if you were not using other buses around then

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 9 Jan 2021 ==



Talking of which, I have tried to look up a fare from Catford to Catford Bridge without success

A good one I unearthed is Harrow & Wealdstone to Harrow-on-the-Hill, £5.90 single or £11,80 return via Queen's Park and London Marylebone.

Also, Greenford to South Ruislip via West Ealing, to avoid the Central Line direct. Various fares between £5.50 and £23.30 came up. The £22.30 fare involves changing at West Ealing, Paddington, Marylebone and Gerrards Cross.

Most people would take Bakerloo/TFL to Kenton and then walk to Northwick Park which is an OSI and take Met to HotH
They could take the 140 bus instead

 

[berneyarms]

Also, Greenford to South Ruislip via West Ealing, to avoid the Central Line direct. Various fares between £5.50 and £23.30 came up. The £22.30 fare involves changing at West Ealing, Paddington, Marylebone and Gerrards Cross.

The £5.50 fare is the quoted anytime single fare between the two (with a maltese cross).

 

[njamescouk]

Would the conductor even charge you? By the time you’ve boarded and told the conductor you’re getting off at Culrain (it’s not even worth sitting down), it’ll be time for the conductor to open the doors again.

I suspect that this ticket is prized by enthusiasts for the novelty factor, but I can imagine it’s probably most often bought online and collected from TVMs as a souvenir, rather than issued by conductors on the train. I wonder how many such tickets have existed?

Banavie to Corpach on the Mallaig line is probably another such journey in Scotland for which the conductor will not have time to sell a ticket, and for which tickets are probably snapped up by enthusiasts as novelty items.

Exeter st David's to st Thomas likewise.

 

[Kite159]

Exeter st David's to st Thomas likewise.

You will need a ticket to get onto the platforms at St Davids to head to St Thomas

 

[Jamesrob637]

You will need a ticket to get onto the platforms at St Davids to head to St Thomas

I used to frequently cycle down the hill from the Uni, board a train to Central then use the ramp at the far end of the platform to cycle back up Pennsylvania Road to the Uni. This was in 2003 when there were no barriers. I think barriers must be fairly recent at Exeter.