Do you know what the UK’s longest direct train journey is? An obvious guess might be London to Edinburgh, or maybe even Plymouth to Glasgow. Both of those are good tries, but they are wrong.
The longest train route in Britain is actually the 14-hour cross-national epic that is Aberdeen to Penzance. Covers 775 miles of track and almost the entire length of Britain, it has 26 different stops, including Edinburgh, Newcastle, Sheffield, Birmingham, Bristol, and Exeter. That’s quite some shift for a train driver.
The route began in 1921, before stopping briefly in the pandemic and resuming in 2023. Its time may finally have come to an end, however, as CrossCountry has announced that it will be axing the Aberdeen-Edinburgh leg, which will cut off 80 miles (and almost two hours of route), from May of this year.
A spokesperson for the rail provider said that this will create ‘a more convenient service to Penzance for customers, adding that ‘a day trip from Bristol and the west of England become much more viable thanks to the new timetable’. This new service will operate once a day each way, leaving from Edinburgh at 11.08am, and from 8.40am from Penzance, and arriving at its final destination at 9.31pm and 7.04pm respectively.
What’s the appeal of such an uber-long route? Sure, you could fly between the two places in literally 1/10th of the time, but that’s not nearly as fun, and you don’t get to experience the joy of being asked ‘why are you still here?’ by the conductor when you reach hour 12. Plus, taking the train is far more eco friendly, and only £67 each way if you book well in advance.
You have three months left to try the current longest train journey in the country before it is gone, maybe forever. You can book your tickets with CrossCountry here.
Train travel with Time Out
Loco for locomotives? In other recent news from our railways, Virgin’s cross-Channel train competitor for the Eurostar just got a step closer to actually happening, Britain’s busiest train line is getting £3.8 billion of repairs, British rail passengers are getting a new government-backed website selling train tickets, and Rail fares and railcard prices are increasing massively in England this year.
Here is everything you need to know about the 2025 Dark Skies Festivals.
Plus: 75 miles of coastal paths in Cornwall have had a glow-up.
Stay in the loop: sign up to our free Time Out UK newsletter for the latest UK news and the best stuff happening across the country.