Visiting all stations on the network

[mervyn72]

Wasn't sure which thread to put his in but here goes...

I read recently of a boy who raised money for charity after travelling the entire London Underground network in one day. Great effort and long day!!

It got me thinking as to how long it would take to travel on a train calling at every National Rail Station and would anyone be brave/stupid enough to do it.

I suppose it would have to be done in the summer months so Dunrobin Castle, Falls of Cruachan, Sampford Courtenay and Okehampton were possible. Also hypothetically what would be the best time of year to do this in terms of punctuality?

 

[IrishDave]

Actually I started trying to work this exact question out a few years ago, but it proved rather more challenging than I expected... I gave up after a while, and I can't find the original spreadsheet now anyway, but I did find a summary of the part that covered Scotland: it took six days, starting at 16:00 on a Monday up in Wick, and finishing at 22:13 in Glasgow Central on the Saturday evening. (If anyone wants a copy of the plan, drop me a PM and I can send it over.)

This had an absolute minimum of rest taken in whichever place was most convenient - for example, I planned for an arrival in Alloa just after midnight on Wednesday night, leaving just six hours later, just because that was convenient. In reality you'd probably want to stay in, say, Glasgow for a week or so and take more like seven or eight days to have some margin for error and some creature comforts.

There are about 350 stations in Scotland, which leaves about 2,200 in England and Wales, so if you could keep up the same rate, I guess it would take about six to eight weeks or so. But it would be relatively tricky to do, particularly concerning those stations with a limited service - for example, you'd have to make sure to end up in Stockport on a Friday to get to Reddish South and Denton. Engineering works would also make it tricky to plan ahead - the timetable is only fixed and released to the public 12 weeks in advance.

It's certainly a much, much more difficult challenge than the Tube Challenge, and while some people have certainly visited every station in the UK, they've typically done so over years, not weeks. Still, it might be fun someday...

 

[Kite159]

Actually I started trying to work this exact question out a few years ago, but it proved rather more challenging than I expected... I gave up after a while, and I can't find the original spreadsheet now anyway, but I did find a summary of the part that covered Scotland: it took six days, starting at 16:00 on a Monday up in Wick, and finishing at 22:13 in Glasgow Central on the Saturday evening. (If anyone wants a copy of the plan, drop me a PM and I can send it over.)

This had an absolute minimum of rest taken in whichever place was most convenient - for example, I planned for an arrival in Alloa just after midnight on Wednesday night, leaving just six hours later, just because that was convenient. In reality you'd probably want to stay in, say, Glasgow for a week or so and take more like seven or eight days to have some margin for error and some creature comforts.

There are about 350 stations in Scotland, which leaves about 2,200 in England and Wales, so if you could keep up the same rate, I guess it would take about six to eight weeks or so. But it would be relatively tricky to do, particularly concerning those stations with a limited service - for example, you'd have to make sure to end up in Stockport on a Friday to get to Reddish South and Denton. Engineering works would also make it tricky to plan ahead - the timetable is only fixed and released to the public 12 weeks in advance.

It's certainly a much, much more difficult challenge than the Tube Challenge, and while some people have certainly visited every station in the UK, they've typically done so over years, not weeks. Still, it might be fun someday...

Agreed about it being a much harder challenge, when you take into account those stations which only see one/two calls a day (or a week in the case of Teeside Airport/Pilning).

Then you've got request stops to deal with, would the train have to stop at every tiny request stop on say the Heart of Wales or the fact it is timetabled to stop in request count when you sail on by?

 

[J-2739]

You could try PMing Gathursty (the station Pokemaster) for advice.

He's gone to every station. You definitely couldn't do this in one day, though!

 

[swt class 450]

I am currently trying to visit every National Rail station in the UK. So far i visited every station in Surrey / Sussex / Hampshire / Kent / Wiltshire / Dorset / Berkshire / Greater London / Buckinghamshire / Hertfordshire / Essex and a few other various stations around the UK yet i am still very far off from completing it.

To tick off a station i have to board and alight at that station. I also have to walk around the station and walk on all of the platforms. And i have to enter and exit the station and walk around the local area.

I imagine that it will probably take me around three or four years to complete. I usually try to tick off stations a few days a week on my days off going out at about 16:00 and coming home at about 00:00 (or when i have the time about once a month i try to do a full day from 10:00 to 00:00). If you did it every day from early morning until late night then i imagine that you could get it done much quicker though.

I would definitely recommend it though. I have really enjoyed it and seen so many different places.

 

[Cowley]

Wasn't sure which thread to put his in but here goes...

I read recently of a boy who raised money for charity after travelling the entire London Underground network in one day. Great effort and long day!!

It got me thinking as to how long it would take to travel on a train calling at every National Rail Station and would anyone be brave/stupid enough to do it.

I suppose it would have to be done in the summer months so Dunrobin Castle, Falls of Cruachan, Sampford Courtenay and Okehampton were possible. Also hypothetically what would be the best time of year to do this in terms of punctuality?

Hi Mervyn, welcome to the forum. I found this subject interesting and actually asked on here quite recently who had visited the most stations.
As you can see there are people that have done all or at least the majority of them.
I also wonder what the cheapest way of doing it would be?
How long it would take to do all the LT, tram stops and other light rail/metro/underground stations on top?
There's stations on preserved railways too of course!

It could certainly keep someone busy for a long time that's for sure.

 

[yorkie]

Wasn't sure which thread to put his in but here goes...

I read recently of a boy who raised money for charity after travelling the entire London Underground network in one day. Great effort and long day!!

It got me thinking as to how long it would take to travel on a train calling at every National Rail Station and would anyone be brave/stupid enough to do it.

I suppose it would have to be done in the summer months so Dunrobin Castle, Falls of Cruachan, Sampford Courtenay and Okehampton were possible. Also hypothetically what would be the best time of year to do this in terms of punctuality?

If your requirement is to be on a train that calls at all stations (with no need to get on/off) that may be harder than you think; see Penzance to Wick only on stopping trains.

Some more reading material:

• Visiting EVERY National Rail station
• Visiting every train station (by car!) -
  
• Visiting every station in britain

 

[Blindtraveler]

A brouse through some trip reports on here will show you several people who dedicatedly are scoring every station over periods od months/years. Whilst its not something I wish to do myself I have helped others achieve goles in this respect, including a daytrip to Breich on a January pre storm Gertrude day, mad!

Good luck and welcome

 

[Gathursty]

It will take a long time.

You will need several weeks to do this, namely because of the once a week services and other peculiarities (Dunrobin Castle, Smallbrook Junction, etc...)

I took several weekends to do it my way. As for going on trains which call at all stops, you would be looking at buying several multi-day rovers as well as accommodation or other transport costs if you don't end up back where you started by the end of the day. That was another reason why I chose the car, although some stations were in nice enough settings that you could pitch a tent up if you wished (Highlands, HOWL line, Cambrian)! :P

Some people will have their own criteria. I wish I spent more time doing things in the local area such as visiting a Cornish beach, walking the White Sands of Morar or going to the Harry Potter house very close to Martins Heron station. Whatever you do, take it easy and enjoy Britain!

 

[Techniquest]

A brouse through some trip reports on here will show you several people who dedicatedly are scoring every station over periods od months/years. Whilst its not something I wish to do myself I have helped others achieve goles in this respect, including a daytrip to Breich on a January pre storm Gertrude day, mad!

Good luck and welcome

See, Breich wasn't so bad, as it was just pretty windy and therefore cold. Addiewell on the other hand, that was very windy, very cold and very wet, not to mention that awful quality road from the station to the nearest bus stop! I'll never be so glad to get off a bash again!

As for visiting every shack in the UK, it is indeed taking even the most dedicated bashers (Kite159, I'm looking at you here!) several months to get even close to done. I've been doing it for years and still am nowhere near done, although I've included two foreign holidays this year and I spent far too much focused solely on motive power for years. I don't anticipate being finished with all the stations in England, Wales or Scotland until at *least* the 2020s, although for me I do also count preserved railways in my totals. Which I haven't updated in some time, something else I need to do! Unlike Kite159 I've become rather part time on the railway now, due to location and available funds.

If the OP goes for the insane challenge, I wish them all the luck in the world as it will take ages!