The 'wandering all around the houses route' is interesting as a permanent reminder of the original concept, of picking up traffic from every place feasible en-route between the end destinations. The advance in speed in 1830 from horse and carriage or canal boat, to the truly startling 30 to 40mph of even the relatively early railway, must have made the relatively small deviations from the most direct route permitted by the geography seemingly inconsequential. A steam version of the trip would be a wonder, but we have to make do with the little we have. Recent BBC programming has shown a delightful clip of a Claughton overfilling the tender tank and giving the leading coach an impromptu wash, quite early in the LMS regime.