Trivia: Highest location that each TOC/FOC serves or passes

[Wilts Wanderer]

A recent visit to Okehampton makes me wonder where is the highest location (above mean sea level) that GWR services operate to, or through. And all other passenger and freight operators too!

Some are easy - any operator working trains over the Highland Main Line pass through Drumochter which IIRC is the highest main line location on the U.K. rail network. So that’s ScotRail, LNER, Caledonian Sleeper and various freight operators sorted. What about all the others?

 

[Pacef8]

Ffestiniog would count.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Aisgill Summit on the Settle and Carlisle line. It's about 1169 feet (= 356 metres) above sea level. Northern work that particular line.

 

[Peter0124]

Shap Summit on the WCML is some 916 feet (= 279 metres) above sea level. Avanti and TPE pass by there.

Beattock Summit just beats it at 1,016 feet

 

[A S Leib]

c2c's highest looks like a point near Laindon 50 metres / 164 feet above sea level, which I'd guess is the lowest or second-lowest (after Merseyrail?) highest point. I think 98 metres / 322 feet is the record for the London Overground, between Finchley Road and Frognal and Hampstead Heath. Edit: Aughton Park (66 metres / 217 feet) seems to be the highest for Merseyrail.

In both cases I'm going off of ground level; I don't know how much higher the tracks are.

I think LNER, Thameslink, Great Northern, Grand Central, Hull Trains and Lumo are at least tied for joint-lowest above ground at sea level south of Yaxley / Peterborough.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Ffestiniog would count.

The station at Blaenau Ffestiniog, which I think is some 710 feet (= 216 metres) above sea level, or somewhere likely higher on the way there from Llandudno Junction using TfW, such as in the middle of Ffestiniog tunnel?

 

[AndrewE]

c2c's highest looks like a point near Laindon 50 metres / 164 feet above sea level, which I'd guess is the lowest or second-lowest (after Merseyrail?) highest point. I think 98 metres / 322 feet is the record for the London Overground, between Finchley Road and Frognal and Hampstead Heath.

In both cases I'm going off of ground level; I don't know how much higher the tracks are.

I think LNER, Thameslink, Great Northern, Grand Central, Hull Trains and Lumo are at least tied for joint-lowest above ground at sea level south of Yaxley / Peterborough.

so is the Mersey Tunnel the lowest? What about the Severn Tunnel - or even the Channel Tunnel?

 

[A S Leib]

They're not the highest points of Merseyrail, GWR or Eurostar.

 

[AndrewE]

They're not the highest points of Merseyrail, GWR or Eurostar.

but they are the biggest negative numbers...
9 posts - and not much chance of many more, why not extend it this way?

 

[Magdalia]

A recent visit to Okehampton makes me wonder where is the highest location (above mean sea level) that GWR services operate to, or through. And all other passenger and freight operators too!

This is a good one, though tricky for me as an old tech person relying on the Ordnance Survey.

I think that Greater Anglia is Elsenham, and Great Northern is a toss up between Potters Bar, Bayford, Stevenage and Ashwell and Morden. All of these look to be about 90m above sea level. A bit of research for someone?

Lowest point of Great Northern will be somewhere between Drayton Park and Moorgate.

Thameslink is going to take some working out but I'm going to open the bidding with Leagrave.

 

[Bigfoot]

I believe that Haslemere is the highest point for SWR.

 

[Howardh]

The difficulty with using a map is that the highest point may well be inside a tunnel, so one has to know the highest point inside that tunnel! Example; I've been looking at an elevation map hoping to find the Thameslink high point; south of London it goes under a tunnel towards Balcombe (at c.112m north entrance, c.100m south) and the land above reaches 141m.

Looks like the highest point on Thameslink as a whole is north of St Albans c.125m.

I use this site, the heights it gives aren't totally accurate like an OS map is, but it's still a useful tool. https://en-gb.topographic-map.com/m...4.01359&zoom=7&base=2&popup=51.78266,-0.32777

 

[JGurney]

A recent visit to Okehampton makes me wonder where is the highest location (above mean sea level) that GWR services operate to, or through.

Okehampton does indeed seem the highest for the GWR at 258m

Next highest on other GWR lines appear to be:

- 154m where the Berks & Hants crosses the Thames / Wiltshire Avon watershed at Burbage (where it passes above the canal summit tunnel)
- 129m crossing the Thames / Warwickshire Avon watershed 1km north of Moreton-in-Marsh.

Interesting question indeed.

 

[Watershed]

This is a good one, though tricky for me as an old tech person relying on the Ordnance Survey.

I think that Greater Anglia is Elsenham, and Great Northern is a toss up between Potters Bar, Bayford, Stevenage and Ashwell and Morden. All of these look to be about 90m above sea level. A bit of research for someone?

Lowest point of Great Northern will be somewhere between Drayton Park and Moorgate.

Thameslink is going to take some working out but I'm going to open the bidding with Leagrave.

Elsenham looks to be around 94m AMSL. The summit of Brentwood Bank, just west of Shenfield, is pretty close at around 92m AMSL.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Does East Midlands Railway operate along any part of the GB network which is higher in altitude than partway inside Cowburn tunnel (between Chinley and Edale) on the Hope Valley line? That would be around some 860 feet (= 262 metres) above sea level.

 

[Class15]

I think 98 metres / 322 feet is the record for the London Overground, between Finchley Road and Frognal and Hampstead Heath.

Really? I always thought Parliament Hill (between Gospel Oak and Hampstead Heath) was the summit of the line! But the section you mentioned is in tunnel…

 

[Paul1160]

Dent station on the Settle to Carlisle line is 1150 feet above sea level.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Dent station on the Settle to Carlisle line is 1150 feet above sea level.

It is. But Aisgill Summit is slightly higher. See post #3, upthread.

 

[greatkingrat]

I think for the Overground, Crystal Palace is higher than anywhere on the NLL.

 

[A S Leib]

Really? I always thought Parliament Hill (between Gospel Oak and Hampstead Heath) was the summit of the line! But the section you mentioned is in tunnel…

That would be why I put in the caveat that I don't know how high the tracks are, just ground level at, above or below the tracks.

 

[Class15]

That would be why I put in the caveat that I don't know how high the tracks are, just ground level at, above or below the tracks.

Ah sorry for misunderstanding! Well the Hampstead tunnel is very deep in the middle.

 

[Macwomble]

Drumochter on the Highland Main Line is 1480ft above sea level.

 

[Wilts Wanderer]

The station at Blaenau Ffestiniog, which I think is some 710 feet (= 216 metres) above sea level, or somewhere likely higher on the way there from Llandudno Junction using TfW, such as in the middle of Ffestiniog tunnel?

What about Sugar Loaf summit on the Heart of Wales line? Wikipedia suggests that is 820ft ASL.

 

[D6130]

Drumochter on the Highland Main Line is 1480ft above sea level.

1,484 feet according to the lineside sign.

The highest station served by Caledonian Sleeper and ScotRail is Corrour at 1,347 feet. The nearby summit just to the North - which is the second highest point on the National Rail network - is at 1,350 feet.

 

[hermit]

The highest point on Island Line appears to be Shanklin station.

At the other end of the line, a large part of the stretch from Ryde Esplanade to St John’s Road is below sea level.

 

[InOban]

since XC run to Glasgow via Carstairs, I assume that somewhere near there is the highest point on their network- around 800 m

 

[Wilts Wanderer]

The highest point on Island Line appears to be Shanklin station.

At the other end of the line, a large part of the stretch from Ryde Esplanade to St John’s Road is below sea level.

This is true, but technically Island Line is operated by South Western Railway which has a higher summit elsewhere - someone has suggested the Haslemere area.

 

[Iskra]

Figures for Eurostar anyone?

 

[Magdalia]

The difficulty with using a map is that the highest point may well be inside a tunnel, so one has to know the highest point inside that tunnel!

Yes, but fortunately the Ian Allan gradient profile book helps because it shows the gradients through the tunnels.

For example, Ponsbourne Tunnel is on a rising gradient going north and the highest point is at the Bayford end.

The Ian Allan gradient profile book also shows where the summits are, though it is not very good at relative heights.

Looks like the highest point on Thameslink as a whole is north of St Albans c.125m.

There a 3 mini summits where the Midland Main Line crosses the Chilterns: Sandridge just north of St Albans, Chiltern Green near Luton Hoo, and Leagrave. At Sandridge I don't think the line is at 125m because it is in a cutting.

south of London it goes under a tunnel towards Balcombe (at c.112m north entrance, c.100m south) and the land above reaches 141m.

The Balcombe Tunnel portals are near to the 100m contour line, with the railway in cuttings. The summit is actually outside the tunnel at the north end. But I think that Balcombe summit is not quite as high as Quarry Tunnel near Merstham. The north end of Quarry Tunnel is the summit.

Elsenham looks to be around 94m AMSL. The summit of Brentwood Bank, just west of Shenfield, is pretty close at around 92m AMSL.

Subsequently it has occurred to me that the Stansted Airport branch could go higher, but it is very difficult to tell because of the tunnel under the runway and the station under the terminal.

 

[Cricketer8for9]

Might it be Tadworth or Tattenham Corner for Southern?