Trivia: shortest path to reverse a train from a terminus platform

[Class15]

This can't be done in this direction without a double reversal over the Harringay flyover.

Going through the Thameslink core and round the Sutton loop is the obvious solution, but I think this is a shorter route:

Or alternatively the same route I suggested but via Copenhagen Jn and Camden Road on the outbound leg.

 

[DarloRich]

Bletchley P5 > Bedford > Corby > Melton Mowbray > Syston > Bedford > Bletchley

Bletchley P5 > Nuneaton > Water Orton > Walsall > Stechford > Bletchley

( although the shortest must be the one above by @61653 HTAFC )

 

[Class15]

Is the Cathcart circle disqualified then because surely that would be the shortest?

If I am reading the OP correctly, there is an important constraint that the train should arrive in the same platform from which it departed.

This might rule out the Kingston loop.

An interesting sub plot is terminal stations where it is impossible to go round a loop and arrive back in the same platform. A few candidates here are Sheringham, Chingford, Looe and St Ives.

Perhaps Barton-on-Humber as well?

 

[Haywain]

Perhaps Barton-on-Humber as well?

Only if the west curve at Brocklesby (?) has been removed.

Bletchley P5 > Bedford > Corby > Melton Mowbray > Syston > Bedford > Bletchley

Bletchley P5 > Nuneaton > Water Orton > Walsall > Stechford > Bletchley

Is Bletchley P5 a terminal platform, or just one where trains terminate?

 

[DarloRich]

Is Bletchley P5 a terminal platform, or just one where trains terminate?

semantics

 

[Pit_buzzer]

Hull, most if not all platforms, west to Selby, south onto ECML at Temple Hirst, east at Joan Croft junction and back to Hull via Hatfield and Thorne north

 

[pokemonsuper9]

Isn't a double reversal required at Buxton to access the Peak Forest line?

Ah, it looks like I hadn't zoomed in far enough to realise there's no connection! Thanks for pointing that out.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Bletchley P5 > Bedford > Corby > Melton Mowbray > Syston > Bedford > Bletchley

Bletchley P5 > Nuneaton > Water Orton > Walsall > Stechford > Bletchley

( although the shortest must be the one above by @61653 HTAFC )

Which one? I'm pretty sure I'm a long way off top spot!

 

[DarloRich]

Which one? I'm pretty sure I'm a long way off top spot!

Leeds > Woodlesford > Wakefields > Leeds

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Leeds > Woodlesford > Wakefields > Leeds

Going the other direction is probably slightly shorter, being on the inside of the curve. Using the Copley Hill chord might save a few yards too!

 

[D6975]

Bristol Temple Meads P1 has a nice short route via Avonmouth and Filton - I understand this route was being considered for a passenger service at one point.

It did used to have a service that ceased on 09/05/1986. It was supposed to reopen as part of the Henbury loop project, but this has been cut back to Henbury (from Filton direction) instead of being a complete loop.

 

[jammmmmsssssss]

Hornsey do have a route through the core for turning trains, which they have used for turning class 387s. I can't remember exactly what it is.

They went via Stratford to turn around 379s

That's a good point! I think it has never been possible to arrive in Huntingdon platform 1 in passenger service, only by reversing in off the up slow line.

Well what's the point of it then

 

[Wilts Wanderer]

How would you do Watford Junction platform 10? I’m assuming there is some route via the London area, would it involve going via Camden Road and various junctions in the Stratford area then back again? And platforms 1-4 would be similar although slightly longer due to routing via the DC lines.

 

[zwk500]

How would you do Watford Junction platform 10? I’m assuming there is some route via the London area, would it involve going via Camden Road and various junctions in the Stratford area then back again? And platforms 1-4 would be similar although slightly longer due to routing via the DC lines.

Don't need to go as far as Stratford: Wembley Reliefs, No.7 Jn, Acton Wells, Kew lines, Clapham Jn, Kensington Olympia, Mitre Bridge, West London Jn, Wembley Central.

 

[xotGD]

Carlisle bay platforms, across the Tyne Valley, round the bridges at Newcastle and back again. Alternatively, down the S&C, then Preston and back along the WCML.

Darlington - York - Castleford - Leeds York - Darlington

Same loop for the bays at York.

I'm struggling with the Skipton bay platform. Via Newcastle?

 

[bananas]

Nottingham P2 (east facing bay) has got me scratching my head for something not too ridiculous!

Doing a loop around the Immingsby docks is the shortest I can find. Nottingham - Lincoln - Barnetby - Ulceby - Immingham - Healing - Barnetby - Lincoln - Nottingham

 

[duffield]

Doing a loop around the Immingsby docks is the shortest I can find. Nottingham - Lincoln - Barnetby - Ulceby - Immingham - Healing - Barnetby - Lincoln - Nottingham

Good spot. My excuse for missing that route is that the docks loop is cut in half between P60 and P66 of my Track Atlas.

 

[zwk500]

I'm struggling with the Skipton bay platform. Via Newcastle?

Looks to me like the shortest route from Skipton would be to use the connection across the throat at Leeds and then run Woodlesford-Hudds-Stalybridge-Ashburys-Baguley Fold-Stalybridge and back the same way. Alternatively, I think a loop via Chesterfield, the Erewash Valley, Trent jns, and Derby.

 

[Wilts Wanderer]

From the bay platform at Pontypridd is it possible to turn a train round via the circuit within Taffs Well depot and then return? Im not sure whether that quite beats the Cathcart mileage but it can’t be a huge amount more. Unless I misinterpret googlemaps, the depot has a northbound facing connection at Taffs Well. (You’d need a unit with a tram-type minimum radius to use it.)

 

[Falcon1200]

Is the Cathcart circle disqualified then because surely that would be the shortest?

Don't see why it should be, because it absolutely fits the OP's criteria, and none of the other suggested routes are shorter (many are much, much longer)

 

[supervalkoinen]

Don't see why it should be, because it absolutely fits the OP's criteria, and none of the other suggested routes are shorter (many are much, much longer)

Post 44 suggests Platform 3 Rock Ferry - Liverpool Loop - Rock Ferry is shorter.

 

[Falcon1200]

Post 44 suggests Platform 3 Rock Ferry - Liverpool Loop - Rock Ferry is shorter.

Fair enough, that is indeed shorter, and meets the criteria.