Trivia: Competing routes where the younger route is now the senior route.

[Grecian 1998]

In most cases where there are or were competing routes, the older route has always been the primary one, as generally it would take either the most favourable route, either geographically or serving the most settlements. For instance Birmingham - Euston is the prmary route rather than Birmingham - Paddington, and St Pancras - Sheffield is now the sole route, as Marylebone - Sheffield is largely closed. But what routes are there where the one built later is now the primary route?

For clarity I'd assess the primary route to be the one with the fastest journey times, most frequent services and best quality rolling stock (although the latter is of course subjective).

I can think of four:

Manchester - Sheffield via the Hope Valley was built in 1897, over half a century after the Woodhead route. However despite being threatened by Beeching, it was the Woodhead route which was ultimately closed.

Manchester - Leeds via Huddersfield. I think this is largely because the older route which opened in 1841 took a much more meandering route via the Calder Valley through Rochdale and Halifax to avoid tunnelling costs, although the Summit Tunnel is still rather long. The Standedge route via Huddersfield built a few years later is rather more direct.

London - Portsmouth via the Portsmouth Direct. The original rival LSWR route via Eastleigh and LBSCR route via Arundel had similar journey times, but the LSWR then decided to build the route via Petersfield (which led to the Battle of Havant).

Paddington - Exeter. Whilst the original route via Bristol pre-dates the Waterloo - Exeter route, parts of the Reading - Taunton section are newer than the Salisbury route, and expresses couldn't be routed that way until 1906.

 

[Ianno87]

London-Cambridge.

The "traditional" route being the GE route to Liverpool Street (indeed originally via Statford not Hackney Down).

But now the main route (in terms of passengers and journey time) is to Kings Cross.

 

[Shimbleshanks]

'Quarry' Line is now the 'fast' route rather than the line via Redhill between London and Brighton.

 

[Esker-pades]

Aviemore to Inverness.

The original route ran via Grantown-on-Spey and Forres (opened in 1863). The direct line via Carrbridge (now the Highland Main Line) opened 30 years later (1892). The original route was shut by the Beeching cuts. The Strathspey Heritage Railway has re-opened part of it (Aviemore to Broomhill).

 

[Mag_seven]

London to Ashford (Kent) via HS1

 

[KeithP]

Waterloo to Portsmouth via Portsmouth Direct / Guildford.

 

[Springs Branch]

Not sure what's the minimum length route the OP is interested in, but some examples in the north-west:-

• Liverpool - Wigan Wallgate (L&YR route) opened 1848.
• Liverpool Lime St - Huyton - Wigan NW (LNWR route) opened 1871.

Route to Wallgate had hourly non-stop expresses in the past. Now cut at Kirkby, with no evening or Sunday trains at the Wigan end.
Route to Wigan NW now electrified with several services per hour, including limited-stop trains.

• Liverpool - Ormskirk - Preston (L&YR route) opened 1849.
• Liverpool Lime St - St Helens - Preston (LNWR route) opened 1871.

Similar to Wigan lines - original route (which carried medium & long-distance expresses) is now cut at Ormskirk with single track and a sporadic DMU service on outlying portion.
Service between Liverpool & Preston is now via newer & longer route, with regular 25kV EMUs.

• Birmingham - Liverpool via Warrington & Earlestown: opened 1837.
• Weaver Junction - Runcorn - Ditton Junction: opened 1869.

All main line trains from southern WCML to Liverpool now via Runcorn.
Hourly all-stations local service Warrington BQ to Lime St via Earlestown.

• Lancaster Green Ayre - Morecambe (Midland route) opened 1848.
• Lancaster Castle - Bare Lane - Morecambe (LNWR route) opened 1888*

Former Midland route totally closed under Beeching.
* A branch from Hest Bank to Morecambe in north-facing direction opened in 1864.

• Manchester - Clifton Jn - Radcliffe - Bury: opened 1846.
• Manchester - Cheetham Hill - Prestwich - Bury: opened 1879.

Line between Clifton Jn and Radcliffe closed and long-gone.
Manchester/Bury via Prestwich was electrified by L&YR and now part of Manchester Metrolink.

One where the wheel of fortune has turned full circle is the line to Blackpool.

• In 1846, the first lines opened, being a branch off what was then the Fleetwood main line. This ran from Poulton-le-Fylde to Blackpool "North" and immediately became very popular. There was a separate railway from Kirkham going only as far as Lytham (apparently considered a less salubrious resort at the time).
• In 1871, the Lytham route was completed as a through line into Blackpool Central, and this became a major route for nearly a century, including the daily trains to/from Euston and fast trains to/from Manchester (although Blackpool North was not exactly quiet in this era).
• In 1964, Blackpool Central was closed. Over the next few years North reverted to being the station for most Blackpool traffic, while the South Fylde Line into Blackpool South became a backwater.

 

[Tomos y Tanc]

The Badminton Line on the SWML (opened 1903) although the original route is still part the main line for Bristol TM.

 

[tsr]

The Southern route via Selhurst now dominates, instead of the original and previously more desirable route via Crystal Palace. (Though you could still argue that the atmosphere of the suburbs on the Crystal Palace route is a bit nicer, even now.)

 

[61653 HTAFC]

A small point of order for the OP: The route via Halifax is a later addition to the original Calder Valley route, which means there are two newer routes trumping the first one... Albeit with one of them using the original until Milner Royd junction.

The original L&Y route no longer has services over the full length (to ride it now requires changes at Mirfield and Wakefield Kirkgate) though all sections are open to passengers.

Speaking of Trans-Pennine services, the principal route across Manchester for expresses switched to the newer route via Ardwick and the Castlefield corridor... but then switched back again 20-or-so years later!

 

[30907]

The Southern route via Selhurst now dominates, instead of the original and previously more desirable route via Crystal Palace. (Though you could still argue that the atmosphere of the suburbs on the Crystal Palace route is a bit nicer, even now.)

The Crystal Palace LL route was also the first LCDR route to Victoria, superseded by the Penge Tunnel route.
However, as it hasn't been used by "Chatham" services for 150 years (other than engineering diversions), was closed during WW1 and is now effectively a branch line, I don't know whether that qualifies as a competing route.
There are other routes that have been superseded but no longer "compete:"
Peterborough-Lincoln-Doncaster was the original ECML, London Br-Redhill-Tonbridge the main line to Dover....

 

[Grecian 1998]

A small point of order for the OP: The route via Halifax is a later addition to the original Calder Valley route, which means there are two newer routes trumping the first one... Albeit with one of them using the original until Milner Royd junction.

The original L&Y route no longer has services over the full length (to ride it now requires changes at Mirfield and Wakefield Kirkgate) though all sections are open to passengers.

Speaking of Trans-Pennine services, the principal route across Manchester for expresses switched to the newer route via Ardwick and the Castlefield corridor... but then switched back again 20-or-so years later!

I stand corrected re the Calder Valley.

For clarity I'm looking for examples of routes run by different companies or BR regions which competed with each other for traffic where the younger route has won out over time, rather than routes built to alleviate congestion or allow faster services. E.g. the SWML from Wootton Bassett to Severn Tunnel Junction via Badminton was built by the GWR as a more direct route to South Wales from London, but has always been run by the same organisation as the GWML via Bath and Filton (GWR, WR of BR, Great Western franchise holder), so can't really be said to compete with it, given Paddington has always had a monopoly on direct trains from London to South Wales.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

You could argue that the ECML route (the younger, 1852) usurped the Midland route (the older, 1841) all the way from London to Newcastle.
The "Midland" route was originally from Euston via Rugby/Leicester (or even earlier via Coleshill), Derby, Rotherham and Castleford to York.
Later it ran from King's Cross via Hitchin, Bedford and Leicester, and finally from St Pancras via Luton.
The GN initially even had to use the L&Y and Midland/Y&NM to reach Leeds and York, from Shaftholme Jn.

We can probably argue till the cows come home as to who (if anyone) won out on London-Scotland or London-West Midlands.
Remember "Euston only for the North" in the 1970s? That would have wound the clock back a bit - but it will return when HS2 is built.
It's also worth noting that the Scots originally only envisaged one railway connecting England to the whole of Scotland - the Caledonian.
The last main line to be built to London was the Great Central, and also the first to close.

 

[Dave W]

Remember "Euston only for the North" in the 1970s?

Sorry for drifting off topic, but an exact match google search for this only returned this post - has this been discussed elsewhere on the forums?

 

[GLC]

Not an entirely separate route as such, but the Caledonian Railway Bridge which leads all traffic into Glasgow Central High Level is now only made of up the newer half of the bridge, built in 1905. The supports for the older half still remain in situ however, 150 years later

 

[aliceh]

Brockenhurst to Poole would probably count? The route via Ringwood opened in 1847, followed by the direct line via New Milton in 1888. Fast forward 100 years and there's only the newer route still in existence

 

[ThisIsSurbiton]

London to Ashford (Kent) via HS1

And before that, via Orpington and Sevenoaks instead of Redhill.

 

[Tio Terry]

Think I’m right in saying the original main line from London Liverpool St to Norwich was via Cambridge and Ely whereas the current main line is via Colchester and Ipswich.

 

[Grecian 1998]

Sorry for drifting off topic, but an exact match google search for this only returned this post - has this been discussed elsewhere on the forums?

I haven't heard that phrase before but the second Beeching report of 1965 - 'The Development of the Major Railway Trunk Routes' envisaged that major trunk routes should be developed. Newcastle-Edinburgh however wasn't one of them. Nor for that matter was the Midland main line - it seems to have been felt possible to serve Leicester, Derby, Nottingham and Sheffield via the WCML and the lines now used by XC services. The WCML would have therefore become the primary mainline from London to the north for all major cities except Leeds, Hull and Newcastle.

It wasn't explicitly stated that all other routes would close, but as railways were largely seen as a Victorian relic at the time, the implication was they were not to be invested in and would wither away. Given the fact it would decimate large parts of the rail network, particularly in the south-west, East Anglia, Wales and Scotland (interestingly it would have left Cambridge without any railways, hard as it is to imagine now), it was rejected by the government and led to the Doctor returning to ICI. The Labour government of the late 1960s elected not to close the Heart of Wales line as it passed through too many marginal constituencies, so there was no appetite whatsoever for closures on the scale hinted at by the report.

The report is available here, with the map available on p76 of the PDF. http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/docsummary.php?docID=14

 

[Ianno87]

Think I’m right in saying the original main line from London Liverpool St to Norwich was via Cambridge and Ely whereas the current main line is via Colchester and Ipswich.

Correct.

 

[trebor79]

Leamside branch was the original ECML, the current route via Durham and Team Valley being an amalgamation of various branches over a long period of time.

 

[Fawkes Cat]

Am I right in thinking that London - Wycombe was originally Paddington - Maidenhead - Wycombe, which was superseded by Marylebone - Wycombe? And going further, that Oxford was initially served Paddington - Maidenhead - Wycombe - Oxford, rather than Paddington - Reading - Didcot - Oxford?

 

[Dave W]

*highly interesting response*

Thanks, this was most informative - I was vaguely familiar with “Beeching II” but hadn’t connected the plan with the concept that Euston would be the sole departure point.

Much appreciated!

 

[imagination]

Am I right in thinking that London - Wycombe was originally Paddington - Maidenhead - Wycombe, which was superseded by Marylebone - Wycombe?

Yes

And going further, that Oxford was initially served Paddington - Maidenhead - Wycombe - Oxford, rather than Paddington - Reading - Didcot - Oxford?

No - Oxford via Reading was open before High Wycombe, and High Wycombe was a terminus for the first decade after it did open.

 

[Fawkes Cat]

No - Oxford via Reading was open before High Wycombe, and High Wycombe was a terminus for the first decade after it did open.

Thanks.

 

[dk1]

Liverpool Street to Norwich.

The original main line was via Ely until the Ipswich route became the preferred one thanks to the link between Trowse Upper Jcn & Lower Jcn then after whittling the Breckland direct service down to one per day GEML electrification finally reached Norwich in May 1987 & the sole remains train was withdrawn. Briefly resurrected during the six week Ipswich tunnel blockade in 2004.

 

[Glenn1969]

Take it the original Calder Valley route is Leeds- Dewsbury- Brighouse- Rochdale- Manchester then? It does still have a Northern stopping service full length these days but more use could be made of it for express services

 

[martinsh]

Take it the original Calder Valley route is Leeds- Dewsbury- Brighouse- Rochdale- Manchester then?

No. The original route of the Manchester & Leeds Railway was Manchester - Rochdale - Brighouse - Mirfield - Wakefield - Normanton. At Normanton in connected with the North Midland (later Midland) to reach Leeds. I don't think the L & Y ever did reach Leeds under its own metals.

 

[Senex]

Take it the original Calder Valley route is Leeds- Dewsbury- Brighouse- Rochdale- Manchester then? It does still have a Northern stopping service full length these days but more use could be made of it for express services

No, the original Calder Valley route is Leeds - Normanton - Wakefield - Brighouse - Rochdale - Manchester. Via Dewsbury was the first cut-off! (Leeds to Goose Hill Jn was common to the plans of the North Midland and the Manchester & Leeds companies. Parliament actually shewed some sense and decreed that only one company should build this section, and it was the North Midland that did.)

 

[Mikey C]

In London a number of old branch lines were effectively superseded by newer Underground lines with a better service, e.g. the LNWR Stanmore branch or (to an extent) the LNER Edgware branch