Shortest journey on National Rail

[phil_sutters]

How long is Ryde Pier?

About this long! (Edited to try to be more helpful - Google maps say 0.4 miles from Pierhead to Esplanade station.)

Edited August 14, 2017 by phil_sutters

[Ronnie MB]

How long is Ryde Pier? Doesn't it depend on whether he has his glasses on or not? ... (I'll get my coat.)

[The Evil Bus Driver]

Hove to Aldrington is not far. How about on LUL Embankment to Charing Cross

[TheSignalEngineer]

IIRC Smethwick Galton Bridge to Smethwick Rolfe Street is 33 chains. 

58 chains between centres, about 42 chains between platform ends. Now if a train had ever stopped at Smethwick West and Galton Bridge during the time after the Snow Hill 2 opening and before the closure paperwork for West was done that would have been about 8 chains between the platform ends

[Pacific231G]

That one always amuses me. I'm not even sure why City Thameslink exists given Farringdon is a very short walk North and Blackfriars platforms virtually butt onto City Thameslink. The station spacing on that section of Thameslink seems a bit silly. Farringdon serves a much bigger purpose than just being a stop for Farringdon thanks to the interchange with the Circle/Metropolitan/H&C line and soon Crossrail but it's hard to see why you really need City Thameslink.

Though the distance between platforms is very short, the distance between the northern entrance to City Thameslink and the entrance to Blackfirars is much greater.. I've used City Thameslink to get to to various stations on the Brighton Line when walking to Farringdon or Blackfirars would have been a bit of a schlep especially with luggage.

[Pacific231G]

About this long! (Edited to try to be more helpful - Google maps say 0.4 miles from Pierhead to Esplanade station.)

Island Line 006 approaches Ryde Pierhead 2004.jpg

Long enough at 681 metres to justify a parallel tramway at one time. I did get to use it once when I was very very young and we had a family holiday on the IofW staying in a guesthouse on Ryde seafront.  I vaguely remember the tramcar being crowded and to get to it we passed Pierhead station where I remember being very impressed by the four trains lined up on the platforms. The tramway presumably avoided the trains from Pierhead being crowded with arriving visitors going to Ryde at the expense of those travelling further afield. I'm afraid though that my only other memory of that holiday was the rain pouring down the windows of the steam train from Esplanade to Shanklin. apparently it was that sort of week in August. 

The 640metre (32 chains) Pier railway at Hythe is still running and providing a useful service and that's 40 metres shorter than Ryde Pier.

Edited August 14, 2017 by Pacific231G

[runs as required]

This must be a contender;

1 min for the run and it's £2.20 for an off-peak single.

No-one has yet beaten the 36ch between Kempton Park and Sunbury on price, I note.

dh

[LBRJ]

Devonport (Devon) to Dockyard(Devonport) is not very far - I think it is about 30 chains - and that is on a proper main line, complete with a tunnel.

 

The nearby St Budeaux VR to St Budeaux FR must be the shortest distance, but only if you walk it!

[rockershovel]

LUL again - Monument to Bank is a journey involving 5 stops and 2 changes, or you can take the escalator, as the two stations are superimposed.

[phil_sutters]

Long enough at 681 metres to justify a parallel tramway at one time. I did get to use it once when I was very very young and we had a family holiday on the IofW staying in a guesthouse on Ryde seafront.  I vaguely remember the tramcar being crowded and to get to it we passed Pierhead station where I remember being very impressed by the four trains lined up on the platforms.

Looks quite busy here -

Edited August 15, 2017 by phil_sutters

[stewartingram]

LUL again - Monument to Bank is a journey involving 5 stops and 2 changes, or you can take the escalator, as the two stations are superimposed.

 

Wearing my work hat, Bank and Monument are actually (in LU work terms) a single station, with 1 Station Supervisor and all staff under his management. They rotate their work posts throughout the shift, covering both stations (in public terms). We have to sign on with the Supv at Monument to work at Bank; we usually access Bank via the surface route of King William Street. Much shorter than going down under! And it becomes a pain if he issues the wrong keys to us so we have to return to his office to exchange them - carrying tools & spares with us as we can't leave them anywhere!

 

Stewart

[corneliuslundie]

I agree that walking in central London is often as fast as and usually more interesting than taking the Undeground. At one time i commuted into St Pancras and often walked to just behind Fleet Street rather than change to the Circle Line. Oddly, memory tells me that I rarely walked it the other way.

What about some closed stations such as Liverpool Street to Shoreditch(?) and similar inner suburban stations?

But many airports beat stations hands down when it comes to walking from the entrance to the actual departure lounge. At one time i used to fly from Gatwick to St Austell (St Mawgan to be exact) and it felt as though one walked to Reading to find what was then gate 100. At Dublin I distinctly remember walking three sides of a square. And at Istanbul last time i am sure we had to walk the length of the (very large) airport twice, once on each level.

[Mark Saunders]

 

But many airports beat stations hands down when it comes to walking from the entrance to the actual departure lounge. At one time i used to fly from Gatwick to St Austell (St Mawgan to be exact) and it felt as though one walked to Reading to find what was then gate 100. At Dublin I distinctly remember walking three sides of a square. And at Istanbul last time i am sure we had to walk the length of the (very large) airport twice, once on each level.

 

It never ceases to amaze me that people can get from the Long Stay Car Park, then walk for miles at the Terminal plus manage to change aircraft and find a transfer bus to their Hotel.

 

However have to change trains it is impossible!

 

Mark Saunders

[TheSignalEngineer]

 At Dublin I distinctly remember walking three sides of a square. 

Ryanair Dublin - Manchester entailed a 1600 yard walk from the City-Centre shuttle bus to the gate last time I used it.

[runs as required]

This now seems a totally different thread !

Anyway on RMweb shouldn't these departures/gate movements be rail based as in Stanstead?

Beijing has some of the longest walks: departures to gate I've ever experienced (and hint: do not try to photograph policemen en route My York Professor did and we missed the flight - with me endeavoring to save him from threats of 20 years planting rice).

dh

[Gwiwer]

Am I right in saying that the rear of the train has not yet cleared Old Street when the front arrives in Moorgate? I'm sure its one pair of stations on the NOrthern City line...

 

Definitely not correct.  The journey time is around 2 minutes by both GN and TfL.

 

The contenders so far are Ty Glas - Birchgrove (17 chains) and Blackfriars - City Thameslink (allegedly 14 chains) but not Deansgate - Manchester Oxford Road (which according to Quail maps is 28 chains).  However these distances are so short that any one could be considered longer or shorter than any other depending upon where on the platform the measurement is taken from.  Blackfriars may have had its measurement point changed during the rebuild but in any case has shifted slightly to the south away from City Thameslink.  Before the rebuild there was a change of mileage between the two which might have confused some people.  The Quail distance pre-rebuild was 20 chains.

 

In terms of making a journey since one boards and alights from the same point on the train (unless intentionally walking through) then one will travel the same distance irrespective of whether using the front, rear or any other carriage.

 

That hands line honours to Cardiff and the 17 chains between Ty Glas and Birchgrove.

 

If one ventures onto tramways and light rail systems there are some even shorter distances.  The oft-quoted example of Culrain to Invershin is 34 chains.

[John_Miles]

 

That hands line honours to Cardiff and the 17 chains between Ty Glas and Birchgrove

 

 

.And joy unbounded, this can regularly be travelled in a Pacer.

[DY444]

And not only is it a short distance between the two, it's also a steep gradient.  Around 1 in 37 I believe.

 

319443 stationary on the incline.  It had 'sat down' between City Thameslink and Blackfriars and was about to work back north.

 

319443 2E41 London Blackfriars - RMweb.jpg

 

The steepest part is 1 in 29

[Dunsignalling]

It never ceases to amaze me that people can get from the Long Stay Car Park, then walk for miles at the Terminal plus manage to change aircraft and find a transfer bus to their Hotel.

 

However have to change trains it is impossible!

 

Mark Saunders

That's because a lot of them seem to disengage their brains when anywhere near a railway! Maybe they'd find it easier if we renamed platforms "terminals" and made them check-in......

 

Some of the questions from passengers to staff that I've overheard are mind numbing - makes you wonder how they survive crossing the road to get to the station.

 

John

Edited August 16, 2017 by Dunsignalling

[stewartingram]

I've got a good idea! Never mind "train terminals", or even "train stations". Why not call them "train stops" (as in "bus stops"). After all, many only have a bus shelter on the platform, and stop is easier to say than "station". Also the PA on board usually states "The next stop will be...").

 

Stewart   

[TheSignalEngineer]

I've got a good idea! Never mind "train terminals", or even "train stations". Why not call them "train stops" (as in "bus stops"). ...................................

Stewart 

Sorry, term already in use for a piece of signalling equipment. A bit like TPWS but much more effective.

Edited August 16, 2017 by TheSignalEngineer

[Nearholmer]

Has this meander encompassed Leicester Square to Covent Garden on the Piccadilly, which I think is the shortest on the underground? It is quicker to walk, and there are signs at the station telling you to do just that.

[Enterprisingwestern]

That's a nice new footbridge.  When I was on holiday up there in the early 70s you just walked along the track.

 

David

 

Never had you down as a criminal David!

 

Mike.

[Gwiwer]

Has this meander encompassed Leicester Square to Covent Garden on the Piccadilly, which I think is the shortest on the underground? It is quicker to walk, and there are signs at the station telling you to do just that.

Yes it has. See post 48. See post 78 for its equal. Leicester Square - Covent Garden on the Piccadilly Line and Embankment - Charing Cross on the Northern Line are equal at 265 metres apart. TfL has measured distance in metric units for many years. Note that Embankment - Charing Cross by Bakerloo Line is 290 metres as the current single station at Charing Cross was once seperate ones at Strand (Northern Line) and Trafalgar Square (Bakerloo Line) with the two lines not running exactly parralel beneath Villiers Street.

 

Canary Wharf to Heron Quays on the DLR suggested above to be "about 5 metres" is 164 metres between platform centres though the platforms are around 60 metres in length. Taking the mid-points as the datum that suggests the platform ends are only around 100m apart.

[rockershovel]

Wearing my work hat, Bank and Monument are actually (in LU work terms) a single station, with 1 Station Supervisor and all staff under his management. They rotate their work posts throughout the shift, covering both stations (in public terms). We have to sign on with the Supv at Monument to work at Bank; we usually access Bank via the surface route of King William Street. Much shorter than going down under! And it becomes a pain if he issues the wrong keys to us so we have to return to his office to exchange them - carrying tools & spares with us as we can't leave them anywhere!

 

Stewart

So they are, but they appear as separate stations on the map...