Trivia : What is the longest diversion you had to take due to a line closure.

[Mcr Warrior]

London Bridge to Haywards Heath via Sutton, Horsham and Gatwick Airport during closure of the Brighton Main Line (mid section) after Christmas one December took well over three times longer than normal.

 

[185143]

The night the wall collapsed on the approach to Liverpool Lime Street I ended up travelling to Warrington via Liverpool Central, South Parkway, Crewe and Man Picc. All on a Northern advance that cost about £1.50.

A few others I can think of:
Voyager to Glasgow via Kilmarnock
Voyager to Chester via Middlewich (both directions)
TPE 185s+68s via Calder Valley
TPE 185s+47s (on hire) via Castleford
ScotRail via Dunfermline on an Aberdeen service.
SWR 450 Woking-Fratton non stop via Eastleigh, vice all stops on the PDL.
More Ordsall Chord avoidance than I can think of.
Cally Sleeper via Bolton, Manchester and Stoke.
Cally Sleeper via Styal, Manchester and Eccles.
TPE 185 via Tinsley.
TPE 397 via Chat Moss vice Bolton. Northbound, so it wasn't announced due to Bolton being pick up only. Much to the dismay of a few chancers who'd jumped on!

Diversions that I had to improvise:
Warrington to Fort William via Newton le Willows and the ECML after a dewirement.
Edinburgh to Manchester via the ECML due to a failed 350 at Lockerbie, then also via Sheffield due to a fatality near Huddersfield.
Sheffield-Leeds-Manchester when it all hit the fan in Sheffield.
Manchester-Wigan via Crewe.

 

[PHILIPE]

One of the most interesting journeys I experienced took place in the late 90s on a Swansea to Paddington HST. A bump had been reported in the Severn Tunnel so it was arranged for us to divert via the usual diversionary route via Gloucester and the Golden Valley . After departure from Gloucester we were held at Standish Junction while a decision was made due to heavy congestion on the Golden Valley Line which, at that time, was still single for a stretch between Kemble and Swindon. Eventually, we got going and headed down towards Bristol Parkway instead, ran straight through there, down Filton Bank, round the Rhubarb Curve and onwards via Bath and Chippenham. After arriving at Swindon I discovered that 4 trains that had been following us had reached Swindon ahead of us, the incident in the Tunnel having been cleared almost as soon after we had started our Mystery Trip

 

[Halish Railway]

My longest at two hours would be an emergency diversion from Warrington Bank Quay to London Euston via Manchester Piccadilly and Wilmslow due to a fatality, although a lot of that time was spent sat at Warrington before heading south to make a reversal.

I’ve also experienced Ilkley to Bradford via a reversal at Apperley junction twice, both of which were caused by landslides IIRC.

Diversions I’ve been on caused by line closures include:
- Leeds to Carlisle via Newcastle on an HST
- Leeds to Doncaster via Hambleton on one occasion and via Knottingley around 2012
- Leeds to Halifax via Dewsbury
- Leeds to Sheffield via Barnsley on a Voyager
- Ilkley to Leeds via Shipley on a Class 158 back when there was the Saturday Leeds to Ilkley return operated by a 158.
- Bradford Interchange to Wakefield Kirkgate on a Grand Central 180 via Holbeck Jn, although that actually cut the journey time by about 15 minutes.

 

[cambsy]

i have done quite a few diversions over the years, some were long, others short but interesting, i have listed some of them below:

-Sleeper diverted via ECML, via Primrose Hill Station and other route,
-Glasgow-Kilmarnock-Dumfries-Carlisle-Settle-Manchester-Crewe on Virgin Voyager,
-Via Bescot diversions when Trent Valley shut,
-Birmingham-Walsall-suttton Park-Coleshill-Whitacre Junction then Tamworth normal route,
-Birmingham-Shelly Oak-Lifford curve -Camp Hill-Nuneaton etc on Cl 31 diverted East Anglia service,
Man Pic-Salford Central-Man vic-Heiden Bridge- via Huddersfield or straight on to Leeds overnight TPE service,
Birmingham-Oxford-Foxhalll Curve-Swindon-Bristol,
Exeter-Honiton-Yeovil-Castle Cary,
Waterloo-Basingstoke-Salisbury-Westbury then normal route, non stop Andover and Salisbury,

There are other diversions I have done, which cant remember right now, some including freight only lines and curves.

 

[xotGD]

Leaving New Street in the direction of Wolverhampton in order to get to Coventry. Rejoining the normal route at Stechford.

 

[Cricketer8for9]

Aachen to Cologne via reversal at Rheydt. On an ICE 3 from Brussels. In the UK a diversion via the Laverstock Loop between Southampton Airport Parkway and Basingstoke. Very sad as the reason was a fatality at Winchester.

 

[peteb]

I seem to recall not all that long ago travelling from London Paddington to Cardiff via Swindon, Chippenham, Bath, not via Temple Meads, Bristol Parkway, Gloucester, Lydney and Newport. On a HST. Added hours to the usual schedule. Was probably a Sunday...? No idea why Golden Valley line not available. Must have returned the same way, but think I escaped at Gloucester to head back to the West Mids.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Engineering works between Preston and Carlisle so my train from London reversed at Preston then via Blackburn, Clitheroe, Hellifield, Settle to Carlisle. I cannot remember the exact delay time but well over 2 hours maybe 3 hours.

Mine too but the other way round from Carlisle to Preston

 

[xotGD]

How could I have missed this one out: Cheltenham to Birmingham via Worcester, Kidderminster, etc. With the added bonus of a 37 acting as pilot loco forward from Worcester. Then a left turn at Perry Bar to come in to New Street from the wrong end.

 

[peteb]

OCT 2018 Cologne to Venice, booked via high speed line to Frankfurt and on to Munich. Derailment caused closure of high speed line, and diversions via Koblenz. Connection missed so had to bale out at Frankfurt airport and fly with Ryanair (sorry folks) to somewhere near Venice but thunderstorm on arrival left us circling for TWO hours before landing and then taking double deck train on to Venice. Bizzarely arrival more or less on time to original schedule! Fun, but missed the Brenner pass.

 

[peteb]

How could I have missed this one out: Cheltenham to Birmingham via Worcester, Kidderminster, etc. With the added bonus of a 37 acting as pilot loco forward from Worcester. Then a left turn at Perry Bar to come in to New Street from the wrong end.

Was that a Cheltenham race special??

 

[xotGD]

Was that a Cheltenham race special??

No. It was the Bristol - Glasgow overnight, planned diversion on a Saturday evening.

 

[voyagerdude220]

Mine too but the other way round from Carlisle to Preston

I remember having a fantastic day out around 10 years ago, one Saturday:

07:53 Preston to Edinburgh arrive around 10:20 perfectly normal until...

10:52 Edinburgh to London Euston arrive around 19:15. (via Carstairs/Glasgow Central/Kilmarnock/Carlisle/Appleby/Preston then usual route Preston to London via Tamworth)

I think we left Glasgow just before 12:00, Carlisle maybe 14:15, arrived Preston roughly about 16:40 before departing 16:58.

It was the same 2x221 Preston-Edinburgh-London although I can't remember which ones.

I thoroughly enjoyed it though.

I seem to remember my First Class carriage being very quiet leaving Edinburgh, but very busy leaving Glasgow (probably not helped it being the very closest carriage to the buffers), a little less busier upon leaving Carlisle, then only about 5 of us south of Preston.

 

[Gathursty]

Sounds very Tolkienesque. Near Wigan, yes?

Expect to hear it much more of it if HS2 reaches Wigan as Bamfurlong will become the junction on to the classic lines.

 

[Cheshire Scot]

In 1987 I set off from Zurich intending to arrive in Milan late afternoon via one of the slowest and most the scenic routes.

Zurich to Chur, then RhB to Samedan and Pontresina intending to reach Tirano and transfer to FS for the remaining miles into Milan blissfully unaware a drama was unfolding ahead of me.

At no time was I aware of any announcements or on board info that the line was blocked by flooding/landslip somewhere between Poschiavo and Tirano. The train was not at all busy and almost empty when it finally stopped at a station the name of which I cannot remember where the few remaining passengers got off and the train terminated before setting off back northwards. Milan was just over 100 miles away at this point.

There was no sign of any replacement buses (perhaps the road was blocked too) and all the usually helpful Swiss traincrew could tell me was I could not reach Tirano and my only option was to retrace my steps arriving back in Zurich around 6 hours later where I was able to catch one of the overnight trains to Milan. Information at Zurich was the Gotthard route was also closed and the train was diverted via the Lotschberg and Simplon.

430 miles after the train terminated short I arrived in Milan more than 12 hours later than planned, a diversion of over 300 miles from my planned route.