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I'm a lark rather than an owl - so rarely late back from London.   But I was "in town" on Thursday and looking at the list of final connections for the train I was catching.

These days, people travel far and wide into London and I was looking at the pattern of last trains ...

Question - for town which are (say) less than 120 miles from London, and have a population of over 15,000, what does the last train pattern look like these days?     How many towns in the 80 - 120 mile bracket have a last train that leaves London after 11 p.m.?  Between 10 and 11?  Between 9 and 10?   Any earlier ones you can come up with?

Wider Picture question - I would love to see South East, East Anglia, North Westwards comparisons here

Last train times have very often been part of the franchise specifications.   Should they be included in the next Franchise in some way, or left up to the TOC?

This sort of thing  ;)

Yate - 20:15 (Change at Bristol Parkway)
Lowestoft - 21:00 (Change at Ipswich)
Westbury - 21:45 (Change at Bath Spa)
Thetford - 21:45 (Change at Cambridge)
Taunton and Exeter - 21:45 (Rather over the mileage in the original question, mind you!)
Evesham - 21:48
Poole - 23:05
Solihull - 23:07
Salisbury - 23:40

Adding a few more - looking for the more obscure and potentially earlier

19:30 - Spalding (Change at Peterborough)
19:30 - Shanklin (Change at Portsmouth Harbour and Ryde Pier Head)
19:45 - Yeovil Pen Mill (Change at Castle Cary)
      - but direct train to Yeovil Junction at 21:20
19:48 - Ashchurch for Tewkesbury (Change at Gloucester)
20:15 - Barry (Change at Cardiff Central)
20:15 - Yate (Change at Bristol Parkway)
20:30 - Cromer (Change at Norwich)
20:35 - Oakham (Change at Peterborough)
20:35 - Lymington Town (Change at Brockenhurst)
21:00 - Lowestoft (Change at Ipswich)
21:03 - Bromsgrove (Change at Birmingham New Street)
21:07 - Stratford-upon-Avon (Change at Leamington Spa)
21:07 - Hinkley (Change at Nuneaton)
21:07 - March (Change at Peterborough)
21:15 - Chepstow (Change at Newport)
21:20 - Warminster (from Waterloo, change at Salisbury)
21:35 - Weymouth
21:42 - Rye (Change at Ashford International)
21:43 - Telford Central (Change at Birmingham New Street)
21:45 - Frome (Change at Bath Spa)
21:45 - Trowbridge and Westbury (Change at Bath Spa)
21:45 - Thetford (Change at Cambridge)
21:45 - Taunton and Exeter
21:48 - Evesham
22:05 - Romsey (Change at Eastleigh)
22:15 - Hungerford (Change at Reading)
22:15 - Kings Lynnn
22:15 - Stroud and Gloucester (Change at Swindon)
22:30 - Harwich Town (Change at Manningtree)
22:30 - Ryde Pier Head (Change at Portsmouth Harbour)
22:32 - Littlehampton (Change at Ford)
22:45 - Abergavenny (Change at Newport)
22:45 - Bristol Parkway, Newport and Cardiff
22:47 - Bexhill
23:05 - Poole
23:07 - Solihull
23:30 - Swindon, Chippenham, Bath and Bristol Temple Meads
23:40 - Salisbury
00:22 - Oxford

Newport & Cardiff are actually 23:30.

22:45 should be Bristol PW, Bridgend - Swansea.

FC

I really wondered about calling Newport and Cardiff 23:30 - but that train goes via Temple Meads and doesn't arrive until after 2 a.m.;  getting to be "first train" rather than "last train" almost?    Agreed on the 22:45 for Bridgend to Swansea, though getting beyond my 120 miles (yes, I know I included Exeter!).   I'll amend / update the list when I get a batch of others to add.

Does the midnight to Brighton still run (I know under 80 miles), although it use to slit for Eastbourne so could still count.

First job on the night shift at Victoria everyone on the platform to sort out the drunks  into the right portion.

Seeing as the railway day ends at 0429, there are many more services that could be called 'last', especially where ticket validity is concerned.

There's an 00:05 and an 01:00 ... yes, perhaps I should add those when I revise the list.

I wasn't too sure where to call it a day (literally) on some of the shorter distances and near-all-night services - should I have counted the sleeper as the last train to Taunton, for example?

At the other end of the list ... I have come up with one destination that fits the description (distance, population), with an even earlier last train than the 19:30 for Spalding and Shanklin ...

Would that be Melksham, perchance? 1745 off Paddington.  ;)

Revised list,  thanks for the inputs.  I've kinda got used to missing the last train home to my town's station, and having to make alternative plans from the nearest still-operating railhead during the evening.  Only when I was at Paddington the other evening did I realise just how significant this was for other places, with "Final Connection to ..." showing on the departures for a number of services.

17:45 - Melksham (Change at Swindon)
19:30 - Spalding (Change at Peterborough)
19:30 - Shanklin (Change at Portsmouth Harbour and Ryde Pier Head)
19:45 - Yeovil Pen Mill (Change at Castle Cary)
      - but direct train to Yeovil Junction at 21:20
19:48 - Ashchurch for Tewkesbury (Change at Gloucester)
20:15 - Barry (Change at Cardiff Central)
20:15 - Yate (Change at Bristol Parkway)
20:30 - Cromer (Change at Norwich)
20:35 - Oakham (Change at Peterborough)
20:35 - Lymington Town (Change at Brockenhurst)
21:00 - Lowestoft (Change at Ipswich)
21:03 - Bromsgrove (Change at Birmingham New Street)
21:07 - Stratford-upon-Avon (Change at Leamington Spa)
21:07 - Hinkley (Change at Nuneaton)
21:07 - March (Change at Peterborough)
21:15 - Chepstow (Change at Newport)
21:20 - Warminster (from Waterloo, change at Salisbury)
21:35 - Weymouth
21:42 - Rye (Change at Ashford International)
21:43 - Telford Central (Change at Birmingham New Street)
21:45 - Frome (Change at Bath Spa)
21:45 - Trowbridge and Westbury (Change at Bath Spa)
21:45 - Thetford (Change at Cambridge)
21:45 - Taunton and Exeter
21:48 - Evesham
22:05 - Romsey (Change at Eastleigh)
22:15 - Hungerford (Change at Reading)
22:15 - Kings Lynnn
22:15 - Stroud and Gloucester (Change at Swindon)
22:30 - Harwich Town (Change at Manningtree)
22:30 - Ryde Pier Head (Change at Portsmouth Harbour)
22:32 - Littlehampton (Change at Ford)
22:45 - Abergavenny (Change at Newport)
22:45 - Bristol Parkway, stations Bridgend to Swansea
22:47 - Bexhill
23:05 - Poole
23:07 - Solihull
23:30 - Swindon, Chippenham, Bath and Bristol Temple Meads
23:30 - (also) Newport and Cardiff
23:40 - Salisbury
23:45 - Hastings
00:12 - Canterbury West (Change at Ashford International)
00:12 - Dover Priory (Change at Ashford International)
00:22 - Oxford
01:00 - Brighton

I suspect that "First Connections" are somewhat less significant - but they do matter to business travellers heading out for meetings, etc - and they're often peak fares, so clearly considered to be busy trains.  Can anyone tell me what the latest "First Connection" is?   :-\

Edit Added extras in italics - thanks to Thetrout for those inputs

23:45 - Hastings
23:45 - Penzance - Sorry... Couldn't Resist ;D
00:12 - Canterbury West (Via HS1 - Change at Ashford International)
00:12 - Dover Priory (Via HS1 - Change at Ashford International)
^^ Change at Ashford International is onto 2 different trains; one runs to Canterbury West and the other Dover Priory

grahame, I believe the 23:45 stops at Taunton and Exeter and is available to Seated Passengers ;)

Well, one train that splits  ;)

50 years ago you could depart Paddington for the West Country via Bristol at 11.50 - very useful for a London theatre trip. The train was so popular that on Saturdays there was a timetabled relief going as far as Bristol at midnight. If there are now more people using trains than pre-war days, why cannot we have late evening trains now from London? They were well used then so why not now?

As CLPG implies when you look at the list there is not many places from where you could take in a show and be guarenteed to get to back to the station in time to catch the last train home.

Especially as you would have to allow at least 30 minutes from Theartre land to Padd say to be on "the safe side" and an hour or more from Excel or the O2.

Yes - but my lists are looking at the 80 - 120 mile range, and my concerns for business people who are working / working late / into the early evening - the longer distance (sometimes occasional) commuters.  You'll probably find later trains if you look at shorter distances - to the West of London, last trains to Reading, Henley, Marlow, Maidenhead.  And take in the other 'burbs such as Hemel, Luton, Hertford, Shenfield, Basildon, Gravesend, Sevenoaks, Godstone, Caterham, Epsom Downs, Dorking, Guildford and Staines for example.