Trivia: long distance direct trains by wildly different routes.

[Grecian 1998]

Southampton Central to Clapham Junction. Via Winchester or via Horsham.

There is currently 1 direct train per day from Clapham Junction to Portsmouth stations via Winchester (southbound early morning, northbound at night), so there are three options from Clapham Junction to Portsmouth, given the via Guildford and via Horsham options mentioned earlier.

 

[D6975]

It's not only RTT which doesn't show it as a through service, no timetable shows it as a through service.

If you look up, say, a Haltwhistle to Dumfries journey at around 7am, you're told you need change at Carlisle. In the reverse direction, the 16:13 is shown as a through service from Glasgow Central to Newcastle in the timetable.

If it's not shown in any timetable as a through service and not advertised as a through service and has different headcodes - then it's not a through service.

hmmm... Forgive me for thinking that if a unit starts in Newcastle and works through to Glasgow then it's a through service.

 

[Sean Emmett]

There must be loads.

Pre covid there were Westbury - Gloucester / Cheltenhams via both Bristol T M and Swindon. Not sure re current situation.

Anybody mentioned Bristol T M - Paddington via Parkway, Chippenham and Westbury?

Or Waterloo - Yeovil via Gillingham & Castle Cary.

In summer Waterloo - Weymouth via Yeovil & Bournemouth.

Paddington - Worcester via north and south Cotswolds.

Aren't there high speed/classic services to Dover via different routes?

 

[peteb]

Sticking within one European country, Paris to Dijon and Lyon via TGV or the classic line. Don't know if Bordeaux still sees a classic train from Paris now the LGV has been extended past the Loire Valley

Sticking within one European country, Paris to Dijon and Lyon via TGV or the classic line. Don't know if Bordeaux still sees a classic train from Paris now the LGV has been extended past the Loire Valley.

I think there used to be an intercities eco Paris to Bordeaux but not sure at present. Another long distance pair served by through trains is Lyon to Nantes, a) via TGV towards Paris b) via Roanne, Bourges, Saumur, Angers. The latter much more direct geographically but very slow compared to the TGV. This is an IC service formed of bi mode units, no longer loco hauled.

 

[Jamesrob637]

Vienna to Bratislava but then it's two different stations in Bratislava - Hlavni or Petrzalka.

Bologna to Firenze has three different lines, albeit the very original line is only served by local trains nowadays. The 1930s Direttissima is, however, still well-used.

 

[30907]

Vienna to Bratislava but then it's two different stations in Bratislava - Hlavni or Petrzalka.

The daily RJ and IC trains both go through to Hlavni via Petrzalka, so that qualifies

 

[Deerfold]

Leeds to Manchester Victoria (Rochdale or Huddersfield)

Of course that's actually three routes:
Via Huddersfield
Via Dewsbury and Rochdale
Via Bradford and Rochdale

When York-Blackpool North trains were recently only running Leeds - Preston, one a day was extended to Lancaster, making 2 routes possible between Leeds and Lancaster (also via Skipton).

 

[Jamesrob637]

The daily RJ and IC trains both go through to Hlavni via Petrzalka, so that qualifies

Petrzalka to Hlavni must take 10 minutes just in itself!

 

[30907]

Petrzalka to Hlavni must take 10 minutes just in itself!

Even worse, 22, with a stop at Nove Mesto. It's Hlavna, my bad - Babel strikes again. Probably as quick by bus/tram, but that wouldn't qualify

 

[jfisher21]

Chicago - LA must be one of the longest. 2 days on the Southwest Chief or 3 days on the Texas Eagle!

 

[61653 HTAFC]

On weekends only, Huddersfield to Leeds (Northern via Bradford or TPE via Dewsbury).
When there's disruption on the Hope Valley, Huddersfield to Sheffield also qualifies, with non-stop TPE services via Wakefield Kirkgate or the usual Northern Sprinters via Penistone and Barnsley.

 

[pompeyfan]

Am I correct in thinking that one of the Sunday Reading - Salisbury services then detaches at Salisbury and continues to Bristol? So Reading to Bristol via Salisbury or via Didcot?

 

[D6975]

One that I noticed recently is the 0819 Scarborough-York service which is a Northern service via Hull. It doesn't get to York until 1101.

 

[Sad Sprinter]

London to Ramsgate/Dover can be done from Victoria, Charing Cross or St. Pancras an in the peaks-Cannon Street too.

I suppose when XC trains stopped at Clapham Junction you could go from there to Reading via Richmond or via Kensington.

 

[robbeech]

(Normal timetable)
Retford to Leeds

via Sheffield and via Doncaster up the ECML

 

[Whistler40145]

During the normal timetable, on Sundays you can travel Preston to Carlisle via Penrith or enjoy a journey on the DalesRail via Blackburn, Clitheroe and Hellifield

 

[Old Yard Dog]

Ellesmere Port to Liverpool via Hamilton Square or Warrington Bank Quay.

 

[73128]

Depends how long distance you want, but Marylebone to Aylesbury has two different routes.
Doncaster to Peterborough has services via Grantham and via Lincoln.
Waterloo to Portsmouth via Eastleigh and via Petersfield
Waterloo to Weybridge via Surbiton and via Virginia Water
Cardiff to Bridgend via the main line and via the Vale of Glamorgan
Manchester to Leeds
Manchester to Liverpool
Manchester to Chester

Are there still any Cross Country services between Cardiff and Manchester via Birmingham? (TfW services go via Shrewsbury)

and Clapham Junction to Portsmouth via either Guildford or Winchester but also via Horsham & Chichester

 

[Jamesrob637]

Ellesmere Port to Liverpool via Hamilton Square or Warrington Bank Quay.

Not quite? Ellesmere Port to Leeds is via Warrington.

However, Chester to Liverpool can be done via the Wirral or via the Halton curve

 

[berneyarms]

Not quite? Ellesmere Port to Leeds is via Warrington.

However, Chester to Liverpool can be done via the Wirral or via the Halton curve

The evening train operates from Ellesmere Port to Liverpool Lime Street.

 

[Jamesrob637]

The evening train operates from Ellesmere Port to Liverpool Lime Street.

Thanks, does that replace the evening Manchester service during COVID?

 

[TrainTube]

York to Selby either direct or via Sherburn in Elmet

 

[xotGD]

As the 'long distance' element of the thread has fallen by the wayside, I'll throw in Leeds to Knottingley and York to Sheffield.

 

[Jamesrob637]

Vienna to Innsbruck used to be possible via Linz or via Villach, though unless the one via Villach was ludicrously cheap it wasn't viable. The line to Salzburg via Linz is very fast and frequent nowadays with Westbahn having their slice of the pie (even if the Stadler are rather boring)

 

[A Challenge]

Bringing us backup back to long distance, some (all of?) the Amtrak examples in the USA:
Chicago Union to Los Angeles via San Antonio/Kansas City (65/43 hours)
Washington DC Union to Chicago Union via Cincinnati/Pittsburgh (18/24 hours)
New York Penn to Chicago Union via Albany and Cleveland/Washington and Cincinatti (26.5/19.5 hours)


I suppose Kissemmee to Winter Haven (direct/via Tampa, 45 minutes/3 hours) isn't particularly long distance, and by American standards neither is Rocky Mount to Savannah (via Rayleigh/Charleston, 9/6.5 hours), but the whole journey from New York Penn to Miami is (~28 hours each way)

 

[Jamesrob637]

Zurich to Geneva via either Bern or Neuchâtel. Yep I have been to a second Newcastle albeit they don't say anything like "way aye man" there. Swiss French is far less hillbilly than Swiss German!

 

[Parallel]

Not sure if it’s been mentioned but you can go from London Paddington to Worcester both via Evesham and via Stroud.

Cardiff to Chester via Wrexham or via Crewe

 

[30907]

Zurich to Geneva via either Bern or Neuchâtel. Yep I have been to a second Newcastle albeit they don't say anything like "way aye man" there. Swiss French is far less hillbilly than Swiss German!

Though the wildly different route is Olten-Renens (near Lausanne) which is only about half the journey time.
(Thanks for the flag-up - I've learnt today that the Jurafuss route is actually the faster, despite more stops.)

 

[vlad]

Zurich to Geneva via either Bern or Neuchâtel. Yep I have been to a second Newcastle albeit they don't say anything like "way aye man" there. Swiss French is far less hillbilly than Swiss German!

They don't say "way aye man" in North Staffs. "Ey up duck" perhaps.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Frankfurt/Main-Berlin via Kassel or Erfurt, both with ICEs.
There used to be 4 through routes between Prague and Vienna, but they are down to one now, via Kolin and Brno.
Budapest-Bucharest has at least 2 through routes (via Craiova or Brașov) and there are at least 2 other variants used from time to time.

Chester-Birmingham is an obvious one, via Stafford/Cewe, or via Telford/Wrexham or Telford/Whitchurch/Crewe.