Train routes in United Kingdom

London → Swansea · 306 km · 2 h 45 min

Great Western Railway · Class 800 IET

GWR’s flagship South Wales express; Hitachi bi-modes drop off the 25 kV wires west of Cardiff and switch to diesel for the last dash to Swansea.

London → Bristol · 190 km · 1 h 19 min

Great Western Railway · Class 800 IET

Brunel’s original 1841 main line: billiard-table levels from Paddington to Didcot, then a 1 in 100 fall through the 3 km Box Tunnel, said to face the sunrise on his birthday.

London → Manchester · 296 km · 2 h 7 min

Avanti West Coast · Class 390 Pendolino

Italian-built tilting Pendolinos lean into the curves of the West Coast Main Line, holding 125 mph where an upright train would have to brake.

London → Liverpool · 312 km · 2 h 8 min

Avanti West Coast · Class 390 Pendolino

Fast tilting Pendolinos finish at Liverpool Lime Street, opened 1836 and one of the world’s oldest grand terminus stations still in daily use.

London → Birmingham · 182 km · 1 h 23 min

Avanti West Coast · Class 390 Pendolino

Traces the pioneering 1838 London and Birmingham Railway, the first great trunk line driven into the capital, from Euston to England’s second city.

London → Leeds · 299 km · 2 h 9 min

London North Eastern Railway · Class 801 Azuma

Japanese-designed Azuma bi-modes sprint the East Coast Main Line out of King’s Cross (1852) to reach Leeds in a little over two hours.

London → Newcastle · 432 km · 2 h 37 min

London North Eastern Railway · Class 800 Azuma

Azuma expresses hold 125 mph down the East Coast Main Line, coming over the Tyne into Newcastle on Robert Stephenson’s High Level Bridge.

Aberdeen → Plymouth · 1,118 km · 11 h 30 min

CrossCountry · Class 220 Voyager

Britain’s longest direct train: one Voyager grinding 695 miles and nearly 40 stops from Aberdeen on the North Sea to Plymouth on the Channel.

London → Holyhead · 425 km · ≈ 3 h 50 min

Avanti West Coast · TfW · Avanti Class 805

The old Irish Mail route to the Dublin ferries, crossing Robert Stephenson’s Britannia Bridge to Anglesey and skirting the walls of Conwy Castle.

Exeter → Okehampton · 40 km · 40 min

Great Western Railway · Class 150

The first line reopened under Britain’s Restoring Your Railway plan, bringing regular trains back to Okehampton on the edge of Dartmoor half a century after closure.

Liverpool → Newcastle · 272 km · ≈ 3 h 30 min

TransPennine Express · Class 802 “Nova 1”

Coast to coast across northern England: Liverpool to Manchester, over the Pennines by way of Huddersfield and Leeds, then up the East Coast Main Line to the Tyne.

Exeter → Barnstaple · 63 km · ≈ 1 h 10 min

GWR · GWR Class 158 · 150

Along the Taw through Henry Williamson’s Tarka the Otter country: Devon’s surviving branch line winding from Exeter’s cathedral city to Barnstaple.

London → Nottingham · 205 km · ≈ 1 h 40 min

East Midlands Railway · EMR Intercity (Class 810 · 222)

St Pancras’s own intercity: the Midland Main Line under Barlow’s great arch, up through Bedford and Leicester to Nottingham, Britain’s last classic trunk to join the atlas.

London → Norwich · 185 km · ≈ 1 h 50 min

Greater Anglia · Stadler FLIRT intercity

“Norwich in 90”: East Anglia’s main line across Constable country with its all-new Swiss-built FLIRT fleet. A whole English region in one green run.

Cardiff → Manchester · 290 km · ≈ 3 h 10 min

Transport for Wales · TfW Class 197

The great spine outside England’s trunk lines: Cardiff to Manchester up the castle-studded Welsh border through Abergavenny, Ludlow and Shrewsbury.

London → Brighton · 82 km · ≈ 55 min

Govia Thameslink · Southern · Thameslink Electrostar

Victorian London’s dash to the sea, once home of the all-Pullman Brighton Belle, and still under the hour from Victoria to the pier and the Lanes.

Glasgow → Edinburgh · 76 km · ≈ 45 min

ScotRail · ScotRail Class 385

Scotland’s busiest corridor since 1842: four electric expresses an hour between its two great cities over the Falkirk high route.

London → Weymouth · 230 km · ≈ 2 h 55 min

South Western Railway · SWR Class 444

Waterloo’s main line to the sea: Winchester’s cathedral close, Southampton’s ocean-liner docks, Bournemouth sands and the Jurassic Coast at Weymouth.

Edinburgh → Tweedbank · 56 km · ≈ 55 min

ScotRail · ScotRail Class 158

The Waverley Route reborn: Britain’s longest railway reopening in a century (2015), winding out of Edinburgh to Walter Scott’s Abbotsford.

Leeds → Morecambe · 113 km · ≈ 2 h 5 min

Northern · Northern Class 158

The 1850 “Little North Western” the slow way out of Airedale: Bentham’s fell country, the Lune valley at Wennington, and the sands of Morecambe Bay to finish.

Shrewsbury → Chester · 68 km · ≈ 55 min

Transport for Wales · TfW Class 197

The 1848 border line between two walled towns: over Telford’s country at Chirk and the great Cefn viaduct, down the Dee valley through Wrexham to Chester.

Swansea → Milford Haven · 116 km · ≈ 2 h

Transport for Wales · TfW Class 153 · 197

The 1856 line west: Llanelli’s sands, the Tywi at Carmarthen, then deep Pembrokeshire to the haven Nelson called the finest port in Christendom.

Swansea → Pembroke Dock · 117 km · ≈ 2 h 10 min

Transport for Wales · TfW Class 153 · 197

Branch line to the sea at every turn: Tenby’s walls and beaches, Saundersfoot, and the Cleddau at Pembroke Dock.

Swansea → Fishguard Harbour · 115 km · ≈ 2 h

Transport for Wales · TfW Class 197

The boat train’s line since 1906: over the Preseli foothills to Fishguard Harbour, where the ferry sails for the Rosslare this atlas draws from the Irish side.

Cardiff → Rhymney · 37 km · ≈ 1 h

Transport for Wales · TfW Class 231 · 756 FLIRT

The Rhymney Railway’s own valley, opened to passengers in March 1858: out of Cardiff through the Caerphilly tunnel under the mountain, then Ystrad Mynach and Bargoed to the head of the valley at Rhymney.

Cardiff → Ebbw Vale Town · 47 km · ≈ 1 h

Transport for Wales · TfW Class 150 Sprinter

A coal line carrying people again: passenger trains ended in 1962, came back to Ebbw Vale Parkway in February 2008 and reached Ebbw Vale Town in May 2015, climbing the Ebbw valley off the Newport main line.

Cardiff → Maesteg · 46 km · ≈ 55 min

Transport for Wales · TfW Class 150 Sprinter

West along the South Wales main line to Bridgend, then up the Llynfi valley on Llynvi and Ogmore metals through Tondu to Maesteg. Reopened to passengers in 1992, twenty-two years after the last train.

Cardiff → Bridgend · 43 km · ≈ 1 h

Transport for Wales · TfW Class 231 FLIRT

The coast road to Bridgend: through Barry and out along the Glamorgan shore past Rhoose, where the airport is, and Llantwit Major. Passenger trains stopped in June 1964 and returned in June 2005 with two new stations.

Wrexham → Bidston · 44 km · ≈ 1 h 5 min

Transport for Wales · TfW Class 230 D-Train · 197

Wrexham to the Wirral: 1860s Wrexham, Mold and Connah’s Quay metals joined to the 1896 North Wales and Liverpool line, crossing the Dee on the Hawarden swing bridge and running on to Bidston for Liverpool.

Folkestone → Calais · 58 km · ≈ 35 min

Getlink · Class 9 locomotives · vehicle wagons

Drive on at Folkestone, drive off at Calais: thirty five minutes under the Channel on the shuttle that carries the cars, and the only fixed link between Britain and the continent.

London Marylebone → Birmingham Snow Hill · 179 km · 2 h 5 min

Chiltern Railways · Class 168 Clubman

The other main line from London to Birmingham: finished in 1910, when the Bicester cut-off shortened it by thirty kilometres and let the Great Western match its rival on two hours.

Brighton → Portsmouth Harbour · 73 km · 1 h 38 min

Southern · Southern Class 377 Electrostar

Five companies built this coast road in rails between 1840 and 1889; the last of it runs out over the water on piles into Portsmouth Harbour, opened on 2 October 1876.

Shoeburyness → London Fenchurch Street · 63 km · 1 h 7 min

c2c · Class 357 Electrostar

The Tilbury company reached Shoeburyness in 1884 and finished its direct line through Upminster to a re-sited Pitsea in 1886, the way the stopping trains from the sea to Fenchurch Street run today.

London Marylebone → Aylesbury Vale Parkway · 64 km · 1 h 7 min

Chiltern Railways · Class 168 Clubman

Marylebone opened on 15 March 1899, the last main line terminus London built for a century; the train runs out over the old Metropolitan and Great Central road to a station opened on 14 December 2008.

Stratford-upon-Avon → Leamington Spa · 24 km · 35 min

Chiltern Railways · Chiltern Railways

The Stratford-on-Avon Railway opened its branch from Hatton on 9 October 1860; Chiltern trains still use it to reach Shakespeare’s town off the Birmingham–Oxford main line.

Carlisle → Glasgow · 185 km · 2 h 28 min

ScotRail · ScotRail

The other line from Carlisle to Glasgow: over the border at Gretna, by Annan and Dumfries, up Nithsdale to Kilmarnock, and in by Barrhead on the joint line opened in 1873.

London → Exeter · 276 km · 3 h 56 min

South Western Railway · South Western Railway

The other way to Exeter: from Waterloo by Woking and Basingstoke, then west by Andover, Salisbury, Sherborne and Yeovil Junction, much of it on single track, to Exeter Central and down to St Davids, reached in 1862.

Stranraer → Kilmarnock · 120 km · 1 h 49 min

ScotRail · ScotRail

From Stranraer on Loch Ryan over the moors by Barrhill, the only station left between there and Girvan, then along the Firth of Clyde by Ayr and Troon to Kilmarnock; the line through the hills opened in 1877.

Hull → Scarborough · 86 km · 1 h 30 min

Northern · Northern

From Hull by Beverley and Driffield to Bridlington, then along the Yorkshire coast by Filey to Scarborough; the last link, from Bridlington to Filey, opened on 20 October 1847.

London → Hastings · 100 km · 1 h 48 min

Southeastern · Southeastern

From Charing Cross through the North Downs by the Sevenoaks tunnel to Tonbridge, then over the High Weald by Tunbridge Wells and Battle to the sea at Hastings; London trains have run this way since the Sevenoaks line opened in 1868.

Hereford → London · 240 km · 3 h 2 min

Great Western Railway · GWR Class 800

Hereford under the Malvern Hills to Worcester, then along the Cotswold Line by Evesham and Charlbury to Oxford and Paddington; the final stretch, through Colwall Tunnel, opened in 1861.

Ely → London · 113 km · ≈ 1 h 50 min

Greater Anglia · Greater Anglia Class 720

From Ely through Cambridge and down the Lea Valley by Bishop’s Stortford, Broxbourne and Tottenham Hale; the line reached Ely in 1845 and its trains have run into Liverpool Street since 1874.

London → King’s Lynn · 160 km · 1 h 45 min

Great Northern · Great Northern Class 387

From King’s Cross over the Cambridge line, complete in 1852, to Cambridge, then north across the fens by Ely, Downham Market and Watlington to King’s Lynn.

Blackpool → York · 168 km · 2 h 38 min

Northern · Northern

From Blackpool across Lancashire by Preston and Blackburn, over the Pennines through Burnley, Hebden Bridge and Halifax, reversing at Bradford Interchange on the way to Leeds and York.

Edinburgh → Inverness · 300 km · ≈ 3 h 30 min

ScotRail · ScotRail Inter7City HST

Over Druimuachdar Pass at 452 m, the highest main line in Britain, threading the Cairngorms from the capital to the Highland capital.

Glasgow → Oban · 162 km · ≈ 3 h 10 min

ScotRail · ScotRail Class 156

The West Highland Line’s other arm: splitting at Crianlarich for Loch Awe, Kilchurn Castle’s ruin and the Hebrides ferry port of Oban.

Sheffield → Manchester · 68 km · ≈ 50 min

Northern · Northern · TPE Nova

Straight through the Peak District: Edale, Kinder Scout and the Hope valley between England’s steel and cotton cities. The hikers’ line.

Carlisle → Barrow-in-Furness · 137 km · ≈ 2 h 40 min

Northern · Northern Class 156

England’s forgotten coastal railway: the Irish Sea one side, the Lakeland fells the other, all the way round from Hadrian’s city to shipbuilding Barrow.

Llandudno → Blaenau Ffestiniog · 44 km · ≈ 1 h 5 min

Transport for Wales · TfW Class 197

From the pier at Llandudno up the Conwy gorge into Snowdonia’s slate mountains, meeting the Ffestiniog steam trains at Blaenau: coast to crag in an hour.

Newcastle → Carlisle · 98 km · ≈ 1 h 25 min

Northern · Northern Class 158

One of the world’s first cross-country railways (1838), shadowing Hadrian’s Wall from the Tyne to the Solway, the Roman frontier out the window.

Loughborough → Leicester North · 13 km · 50 min

Great Central Railway · Preserved express steam & Mk1 coaches

Britain’s only double-track heritage main line, where two steam expresses can pass at speed just as they did on the last main line built towards the Continent.

Keighley → Oxenhope · 8 km · 25 min

K&WVR · Victorian steam & vintage coaches

The branch that starred in the 1970 film “The Railway Children”, steaming up the Brontë moors past Haworth to the mill village of Oxenhope.

Ravenglass → Dalegarth · 11 km · ≈ 40 min

Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway · 15 in gauge steam locomotives

Fifteen-inch gauge up Eskdale from the Cumbrian coast, laid for iron ore in 1875 and run since as a miniature main line that Cumbria calls La’al Ratty.

Paignton → Kingswear · 11 km · ≈ 30 min

Dart Valley Railway · Heritage GWR steam

The Kingswear branch of 1864, sold by British Rail to the Dart Valley company in 1972: steam from Paignton over Goodrington Sands and along the Dart estuary to Kingswear, for the ferry to Dartmouth.

Sheringham → Holt · 8 km · ≈ 25 min

North Norfolk Railway · Heritage steam & diesel

The Poppy Line: the last stretch of the Midland & Great Northern in Norfolk, carrying passengers again since July 1975, from the seaside at Sheringham past Weybourne to Holt.

Llangollen → Corwen · 16 km · ≈ 1 h

Llangollen Railway Trust · Ex-GWR steam & heritage railcars

Ten miles of the Great Western’s Ruabon–Barmouth line, closed in 1965: volunteers reopened Llangollen station in 1975 and relaid the Dee valley mile by mile, reaching a new station at Corwen in 2023.

Ongar → Epping Forest · 10 km · ≈ 35 min

Epping Ongar Railway · Heritage steam & diesel

The Central line’s lost end: London Underground closed Epping to Ongar in 1994, and heritage steam and diesel have run it again since 2012, from Ongar through North Weald to the edge of Epping Forest.

Embsay → Bolton Abbey · 7 km · ≈ 20 min

Embsay & Bolton Abbey Steam Railway · Industrial & heritage steam

Four miles of the Midland’s Skipton–Ilkley line, closed in 1965 and reopened by volunteers in 1981, with trains back into Bolton Abbey station, for the priory estate, since 1997.

Lydney Junction → Parkend · 7 km · ≈ 1 h 30 min (round trip)

Dean Forest Railway · Heritage steam & diesel

The Severn & Wye’s line into the Forest of Dean, rebuilt by volunteers: passenger trains since 1991, down to Lydney Junction in 1995 and up through the woods to Parkend.

Haverthwaite → Lakeside · 6 km · 18 min

Lakeside & Haverthwaite Railway · Heritage steam & diesel

The Furness Railway’s 1869 branch to Windermere, reopened in 1973: three and a half miles of steam from Haverthwaite to Lakeside, where trains still connect with the lake steamers.

Wroxham → Aylsham · 14 km · 45 min

Bure Valley Railway · 15 in gauge steam & diesel

Norfolk’s 15-inch-gauge railway, laid in 1990 on the old East Norfolk trackbed: nine miles from the Broads at Wroxham, over the River Bure and under the A140 by tunnel, to Aylsham.

Chinnor → Princes Risborough · 7 km · ≈ 1 h (round trip)

Chinnor & Princes Risborough Railway · Heritage diesel & steam

A surviving piece of the Great Western’s Watlington branch at the foot of the Chilterns, reopened to passengers in 1994 and reconnected to the main line at Princes Risborough in 2016.

Brechin → Bridge of Dun · 6 km · 20 min

Caledonian Railway (Brechin) · Heritage steam & diesel

Four miles of the Aberdeen Railway’s 1840s line between Brechin’s preserved terminus and Bridge of Dun, worked by volunteers every summer since 1993.

Wallingford → Cholsey · 4 km · ≈ 45 min (round trip)

Cholsey & Wallingford Railway · Heritage diesel, railcars & steam

The Great Western’s 1866 Wallingford branch, kept alive into preservation by the town’s maltings traffic: two and a half miles from Wallingford to the main line at Cholsey.

Abergwili Junction → Danycoed · 6 km · ≈ 1 h 15 min (round trip)

Gwili Railway · Industrial steam & heritage diesel

Wales’ first standard-gauge heritage railway, reopened in 1978 on the Carmarthen–Aberystwyth line, the last in Wales to lose Brunel’s broad gauge, and now four and a half miles up the Gwili valley.

Clayton West → Shelley · 5 km · 25 min

Whistlestop Valley · 15 in gauge steam

A 15-inch-gauge railway opened in 1991 on the Lancashire & Yorkshire’s Clayton West branch: through Skelmanthorpe and the 511-yard Shelley Woodhouse tunnel, with Emley Moor mast in view.

Page’s Park → Stonehenge Works · 5 km · 40 min

Leighton Buzzard Narrow Gauge Railway · 2 ft gauge industrial steam & diesel

Built in 1919 to carry sand from the Bedfordshire quarries and running passenger trains since 1968: two-foot-gauge industrial steam and diesel from Page’s Park to Stonehenge Works.

Aviemore → Broomhill · 18 km · ≈ 1 h 45 min (round trip)

Strathspey Railway · Heritage steam & diesel

Steam since 1978 on a preserved stretch of the Highland Railway main line, one of only a handful of former main lines saved in Britain: from Aviemore through Boat of Garten to Broomhill.

Aquarium → Black Rock · 2 km · 12 min

Brighton & Hove City Council · Heritage electric cars

The world’s oldest operating electric railway: Magnus Volk opened it on Brighton seafront in August 1883, and its cars still run along the beach from Aquarium to Black Rock.