Travel time from London by train, bus, ferry and airplane in 1980 [OC]

27 comments
  1. Stranraer is mental because there is no direct transport link. You’d have to go up to Glasgow, then back down to Stranraer.

  2. I wanted to compare these to modern times. So I put the journeys into google maps and set the departure time as 8am on a work day. Some of these are worse now, some are better.

    [London Kings Cross to Edinburgh Waverly is 4 hours, 40 minutes](https://www.google.co.uk/maps/dir/Kings%E2%80%99s+Cross+Railway+Station,+Euston+Road,+London/Edinburgh+Waverley,+Edinburgh/@53.6856872,-6.1334993,6z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m18!4m17!1m5!1m1!1s0x48761b3c5cbf139b:0x7be9c9cf71db38fb!2m2!1d-0.1246057!2d51.5317236!1m5!1m1!1s0x4887c78fbc266833:0x9947329ba2a64fe4!2m2!1d-3.1899862!2d55.951998!2m3!6e0!7e2!8j1660723200!3e3). Way worse than what this map says about 1980.

    [London Paddington to Cardiff Central Station is about 20 minutes faster these days](https://www.google.co.uk/maps/dir/Paddington+Station,+Praed+Street,+London/Cardiff+Central,+Central+Square,+Cardiff/@51.4939838,-2.799395,8z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m18!4m17!1m5!1m1!1s0x48761aad72f39303:0x74926f3ec36c2314!2m2!1d-0.1769328!2d51.5166744!1m5!1m1!1s0x486e1cb26beab7ab:0x9ca4d0d9ca5c6edf!2m2!1d-3.1790303!2d51.4759636!2m3!6e0!7e2!8j1660723200!3e3).

    [London to Stranraer is now only 7 hours 30 minutes. Great job!](https://www.google.co.uk/maps/dir/Euston+Station,+Euston+Road,+London/Stranraer/@53.6104526,-7.0649475,6z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m18!4m17!1m5!1m1!1s0x48761b23f9215735:0xa5428a5c064ffdaa!2m2!1d-0.1332084!2d51.5280991!1m5!1m1!1s0x486222c5d4b17253:0x20c9568fda8dd62c!2m2!1d-5.024055!2d54.903367!2m3!6e0!7e2!8j1660723200!3e3)

    [Penzance is now 5 hours, down from 6 and a half](https://www.google.co.uk/maps/dir/Paddington+Station,+Praed+Street,+London/Penzance/@50.848634,-5.1001202,7z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m18!4m17!1m5!1m1!1s0x48761aad72f39303:0x74926f3ec36c2314!2m2!1d-0.1769328!2d51.5166744!1m5!1m1!1s0x486ab7f0bf270ec9:0xca2d222d47086b56!2m2!1d-5.537592!2d50.118798!2m3!6e0!7e2!8j1660723200!3e3)

    [London to Llandudno, North Wales, is around half an hour faster](https://www.google.co.uk/maps/dir/Euston+Station,+Euston+Road,+London/Llandudno/@52.4517001,-3.1065914,8z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m18!4m17!1m5!1m1!1s0x48761b23f9215735:0xa5428a5c064ffdaa!2m2!1d-0.1332084!2d51.5280991!1m5!1m1!1s0x4864e1e2afa75737:0x6c919e5e368577e0!2m2!1d-3.827609!2d53.324061!2m3!6e0!7e2!8j1660723200!3e3).

    [London to Manchester is about half an hour faster](https://www.google.co.uk/maps/dir/London/Manchester/@52.4911238,-2.5113338,8z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m18!4m17!1m5!1m1!1s0x47d8a00baf21de75:0x52963a5addd52a99!2m2!1d-0.1275862!2d51.5072178!1m5!1m1!1s0x487a4d4c5226f5db:0xd9be143804fe6baa!2m2!1d-2.2426305!2d53.4807593!2m3!6e0!7e2!8j1660723200!3e3).

    [London to Hull is not a direct train, but takes 3 hours 10 mins.](https://www.google.co.uk/maps/dir/Euston+Station,+Euston+Road,+London/Glasgow+Central+Station,+Gordon+Street,+Glasgow/@53.6840394,-6.6694193,6z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m18!4m17!1m5!1m1!1s0x48761b23f9215735:0xa5428a5c064ffdaa!2m2!1d-0.1332084!2d51.5280991!1m5!1m1!1s0x4888469dd79d903b:0xef65bf326caa4a56!2m2!1d-4.2581088!2d55.8591118!2m3!6e0!7e2!8j1660723200!3e3) A slight improvement.

    [Shockingly, London to Glasgow is almost 5 hours now. Over 2 hours worse than 1980](https://www.google.co.uk/maps/dir/Euston+Station,+Euston+Road,+London/Glasgow+Central+Station,+Gordon+Street,+Glasgow/@53.6840394,-6.6694193,6z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m18!4m17!1m5!1m1!1s0x48761b23f9215735:0xa5428a5c064ffdaa!2m2!1d-0.1332084!2d51.5280991!1m5!1m1!1s0x4888469dd79d903b:0xef65bf326caa4a56!2m2!1d-4.2581088!2d55.8591118!2m3!6e0!7e2!8j1660723200!3e3).

    So when traveling from London to locations in England and Wales journeys are typically half an hour faster than they were in 1980. However travel to Scotland has gotten harder over the last 40 years.

    I wonder if that would make Scottish people feel a weaker connection to people down south…

  3. Everything else aside, that’s a really good visualisation… Took me a minute to find Manchester though, thought it’d be faster than Leeds and Sheffield, and a lot faster than Glasgow..

  4. London to Norwich still taking 2 hours 42 years on tells you everything you need to know about the state of the trains in this country

  5. only 2 and a half hours from london to chester? these days you can’t even go direct and once you get to the station with the direct connection it’s still another 4 hour train ride

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