Trivia: Stations with more than 1 route between

[Clansman]

Just a thought, after looking over the plans Abellio Scotrail has in store for 2018 there will be 5 different routes between Glasgow and Edinburgh:

GlasgowQS-Edinburgh via Falkirk High
GlasgowQS-Edinburgh via Cumbrnauld and Falkirk Grahamston
GlasgowQS-Edinburgh via Bathgate
GlasgowC-Edinburgh via Shotts
GlasgowC-Edinburgh via Carstairs

Is there any more stations with similar routes like the Glasgow to Edinburgh one?
Not in the circumstances like London, where you can get to Glasgow, Edinburgh and Birmingham, but more in the same circumstances as Glasgow-Edinburgh, if that makes sense?

 

[Northern Pacer]

You can go the veg way WGN-LIV at 0644 Monday to Saturday via SHJ and the chat moss

 

[Springs Branch]

Will be hard to match Glasgow/Edinburgh, but I'd imagine there are loads of stations with two routes between them, especially if you allow more than one station at either end.
Fewer options have three routes.

Three routes between Wigan and Manchester. I think the 5 permutations of stations & routes are:

• Man Picc - Wigan NW via Patricroft
• Man Picc - Wigan Wallgate via Bolton
• Man Vic - Wigan Wallgate via Bolton
• Man Vic - Wigan Wallgate via Atherton
• Man Vic - Wigan NW via Atherton

Three (at a stretch) between Birmingham New St and Manchester Picc.

• via Crewe.
• via Macclesfield & Stoke.
• via Crewe & Stoke*.

* 0511 Piccadilly - Bournemouth and 2230 New Street - Piccadilly go this way.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

Is there any more stations with similar routes like the Glasgow to Edinburgh one?
Not in the circumstances like London, where you can get to Glasgow, Edinburgh and Birmingham, but more in the same circumstances as Glasgow-Edinburgh, if that makes sense?

I'm afraid I'm confused by this. Your example appears to count Glasgow Queen Street and Glasgow Central as the same station, but then you appear to exclude London for exactly that reason. So what are you counting as a 'station' for the purposes of this thread?

Also, do routes have to be direct routes, or are reasonable routes that involve a change of train but which passengers would reasonably nevertheless take count? (Example: Greenwich to Lee - you could do it without changing, but it'd probably be quicker to change either at London Bridge or via DLR changing at Lewisham).

Two routes that I suspect would be hard to beat in terms of literal same-station-to-same-station choices would be London Bridge to Dartford and London Bridge to Slade Green: For both of those there would normally be 4 direct routes (although not while the London Bridge reconstruction works are going):
via Greenwich and Woolwich
via Lewisham and Woolwich
via Lewisham and Bexleyheath
via Lewisham and Bexley
There's also the possibility of a 5th route - via Lewisham-avoiding line and Bexley, although I'm not sure whether in practice any trains were or will be actually timetabled to take that route.

 

[Mag_seven]

I would suggest that you have to constrain the number of routes between two stations to services that actually run via those routes (without changes i.e. "direct") otherwise you could end up with potentially lots of routes e.g. Glasgow Central, Carlisle, Newcastle, Edinburgh - you could use that route to get from Glasgow Central to Edinburgh but only by changing so therefore it doesn't count.

 

[Quakkerillo]

Will be hard to match Glasgow/Edinburgh, but I'd imagine there are loads of stations with two routes between them, especially if you allow more than one station at either end.
Fewer options have three routes.

Three routes between Wigan and Manchester. I think the 5 permutations of stations & routes are:

• Man Picc - Wigan NW via Patricroft
• Man Picc - Wigan Wallgate via Bolton
• Man Vic - Wigan Wallgate via Bolton
• Man Vic - Wigan Wallgate via Atherton
• Man Vic - Wigan NW via Atherton

Three (at a stretch) between Birmingham New St and Manchester Picc.

• via Crewe.
• via Macclesfield & Stoke.
• via Crewe & Stoke*.

* 0511 Piccadilly - Bournemouth and 2230 New Street - Piccadilly go this way.

There's also the 21:15 ATW Birmingham - Manchester via Shrewsbury, Chester, and Warrington BQ.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Manchester to Leeds...

Piccadilly via Huddersfield
Victoria via Huddersfield
Victoria via Brighouse
Victoria via Bradford Interchange

Plus the occasional trips via Wakefield and Normanton, and via Todmorden, Brighouse and the Bradley Curve for diversionary route retention.

 

[RichardN]

You can go from London to Portsmouth and Southsea via a few different routes.

Via Winchester,
Direct Line via Woking,
Direct Line via Cobham, but not stopping there (at least one train is booked that way)
via Horsham to London Victoria, down the quarry lines.
via Horsham and Redhill to London Victoria.

(I'm not sure if making the London station Clapham Junction, takes out the via Cobham route though.)

 

[Strathclyder]

There are three routes available between Dumbarton Central & Glasgow Queen St;

• via Dalmuir, Yoker & Partick
• via Dalmuir, Westerton & Partick
• via Dalmuir & Maryhill

 

[ValleyLines142]

Waterloo to Guildford via Cobham
Waterloo to Guildford via Epsom

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Waterloo to Guildford via Cobham
Waterloo to Guildford via Epsom

Not to mention via Woking, of course... Plus the peak-only Southern services if we're not sticking to just the one London terminus.

 

[Phil.]

In an idle hour one morning a colleague and I worked out that there were - if memory serves correctly - about twenty ways to get to London's Victoria station from Sutton without reversing.

 

[Gathursty]

You can go the veg way WGN-LIV at 0644 Monday to Saturday via SHJ and the chat moss

The 'veg' way???

 

[GrimsbyPacer]

Hull to Sheffield can go via Goole or Selby, and via Rotherham or not.

 

[PHILIPE]

Just a thought, after looking over the plans Abellio Scotrail has in store for 2018 there will be 5 different routes between Glasgow and Edinburgh:

GlasgowQS-Edinburgh via Falkirk High
GlasgowQS-Edinburgh via Cumbrnauld and Falkirk Grahamston
GlasgowQS-Edinburgh via Bathgate
GlasgowC-Edinburgh via Shotts
GlasgowC-Edinburgh via Carstairs

Is there any more stations with similar routes like the Glasgow to Edinburgh one?
Not in the circumstances like London, where you can get to Glasgow, Edinburgh and Birmingham, but more in the same circumstances as Glasgow-Edinburgh, if that makes sense?

Glasgow QS - Edinburgh via Maryhill one way and via Springburn the other for the next 5 months.

 

[dk1]

Great Yarmouth to Norwich via Acle or Reedham.

 

[mbreckers]

Motherwell to Glasgow Central via Uddingston
Motherwell to Glasgow Central via Bellshill
Motherwell to Glasgow Central via Hamilton

 

[PHILIPE]

London Paddington to Exeter St. Davids via:-

(1) Reading, Berks & Hants & Taunton
(2) Reading Bristol Parkway & Bristol Temple Meads
(3) Reading, Bath & Bristol Temple Meads
(4) Reading, Chippenham, Melksham, Westbury & Taunton
(5) Either of the above to Westbury, Yeovil Pen Mill, Yeovil Jn and the Mule via Exeter Central.

The following are relatively short variations:-
(1) and (4) could also go via Frome or Avoider
(1) could go via Westbury Avoider or Westbury Station.

 

[adrock1976]

Sheffield Midland and York, although not necessarily start and end points in all instances.

1) Via Rotherham Masborough (former site) and Doncaster
2) Via Rotherham Central and Doncaster (occasional services routed this way)
3) Via Rotherham Masborough, Wakefield Westgate, and Leeds City
4) Via Rotherham Central and Pontefract Baghill (the 2 services that run Mon - Sat in both directions)
5) Via Barnsley, Wakefield Kirkgate, and Castleford (occasional diversions)

 

[mlambeuk]

York to Leeds via Garforth
York to Leeds Via Harrogate
York to Liverpool Via Warrington
York to Liverpool Via Chat Moss
York to Sunderland via Hartlepool
York to Sunderland via Newcastle
Newcastle to Glasgow Central via Edinburgh
Newcastle to Glasgow Central via Carlisle

 

[greaterwest]

London Waterloo to both Yeovils via Frome, or via Sherborne
London Waterloo to Weymouth via Yeovil Junction & Yeovil Pen Mill, or via Winchester & Southampton Central (planned for summer Saturdays in the May timetable change)
Weymouth/Southampton to Gloucester via Bristol or via Melksham, Swindon and the Golden Valley
Bristol to Taunton via Westbury (one XC a week does this), or via Yatton
Reading to Redhill via Guildford, or via Kensington Olympia
Basingstoke to Southampton via Andover & Salisbury Avoider (one XC a week does this) or via Winchester
Southampton to Romsey via Chandler's Ford, or via Redbridge
Chester to Manchester Piccadilly via Warrington, or via Altrincham
Cardiff Central to Bridgend via the Vale of Glamorgan, or via Llanharan
Swansea to Shrewsbury via Llandrindod, or via the Marches line
Wrexham to Shotton via Chester, or via Penyffordd (does this one count, as Shotton is a multi-level station?)

 

[thenorthern]

Crewe to London Euston has a couple:

Crewe to London most direct
Crewe to London via Birmingham New Street
Crewe to London via Stoke-on-Trent
Crewe to London via Stoke-on-Trent and Northampton

In a way Manchester to London is the same:

Manchester to London via Crewe
Manchester to London via Stoke-on-Trent
Manchester to London via Style Loop line
Manchester to London via Stoke-on-Trent and Birmingham New Street

 

[swt_passenger]

...(I'm not sure if making the London station Clapham Junction, takes out the via Cobham route though.)

The odd few that go via Cobham still use the normal main line until/from just west of Surbiton. (Are both diverging routes there described as Hampton Court Junction?)

The basic reason it is done for up trains is to make use of the grade separated junction there to avoid the flat crossing at Woking.

 

[Dai Corner]

London Paddington to Exeter St. Davids via:-

(1) Reading, Berks & Hants & Taunton
(2) Reading Bristol Parkway & Bristol Temple Meads
(3) Reading, Bath & Bristol Temple Meads
(4) Reading, Chippenham, Melksham, Westbury & Taunton
(5) Either of the above to Westbury, Yeovil Pen Mill, Yeovil Jn and the Mule via Exeter Central.

The following are relatively short variations:-
(1) and (4) could also go via Frome or Avoider
(1) could go via Westbury Avoider or Westbury Station.

(2) and (3) could go either via Weston-super-Mare or direct between Worle and Uphill junctions.

 

[Dai Corner]

Cardiff Central to Radyr via either Cathays or Ninian Park

 

[Dai Corner]

Newport to Cheltenham via Lyndey, once a day via Bristol Temple Meads and Bristol Parkway and if changing trains is allowed via and changing at Bristol Parkway.

Filton Abbey Wood to Bath Spa via or avoiding Bristol Temple Meads (haven't checked if this is still the case but it used to be).

 

[steamybrian]

London Charing Cross to Dover Priory via numerous routes. Here are a few to start..
via Deptford, Woolwich, Dartford, Chatham and Canterbury East
via New Cross, Lewisham, Woolwich, Dartford, Chatham and Canterbury East
via New Cross, Lewisham, Eltham, Dartford, Chatham and Canterbury East
via New Cross, (Lewisham or direct) Hither Green, Sidcup, Dartford, Chatham, Canterbury East.
New Cross, Chislehurst Spur, Swanley, Chatham and Canterbury East,
New Cross, (via Lewisham or direct), Ladywell, Beckenham Spur, Bromley South, Swanley, Chatham, Canterbury East,
New Cross, Chislehurst Spur, Swanley, Maidstone East, Ashford, Folkestone Central
New Cross, Chislehurst Spur, Swanley, Bat &Ball, Sevenoaks, Tonbridge, Ashford
New Cross, (Lewisham or direct), Chislehurst, Orpington, Tonbridge, Ashford.
New Cross, (Lewisham or direct), Ladywell, Beckenham Spur, Bromley South, Orpington, Tonbridge and Ashford.



...most of these routes I have either used on direct trains myself or have been used on engineering diversions.

I will leave you to list all the permutations from Victoria to Dover Priory..!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[PHILIPE]

(2) and (3) could go either via Weston-super-Mare or direct between Worle and Uphill junctions.

Well spotted. I missed that one.

 

[Clansman]

Motherwell to Glasgow Central via Uddingston
Motherwell to Glasgow Central via Bellshill
Motherwell to Glasgow Central via Hamilton

Also via Whifflet.

 

[delt1c]

Hackney Downs to Cheshunt via Tottenham Hale
Hackney Downs to Cheshunt via Edmonton
Edinburgh to Perth via Ladybank
Edinburgh to Perth via Stirling
Finsbury Park to Green Park via Victoria Line
Finsbury Park to Green Park Via Picadilly Line
Loads more options on the underground