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TRIVIA: Rover and ranger tickets that are not valid where you'd expect them to be valid (or are valid where you wouldn't expect them to be valid)

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AY1975

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As is pointed out in this thread on the Lincolnshire Day Ranger at https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/lincolnshire-day-ranger-missing-towns-lines.222308/ the said ticket is not valid in the northern part of its namesake county such as on the lines via Brigg and Scunthorpe or the Barton-on-Humber branch (although between 1974 and 1996 much of the area where it isn't valid was part of Humberside, not Lincolnshire, and today much of that area south of the Humber is split between the unitary authorities of North Lincolnshire and North-East Lincolnshire).

Also mentioned in that thread is that back in the day the East Midlands Ranger was valid across pretty much all of the East Midlands, including the northern part of Lincolnshire (or rather what had historically been part of Lincolnshire) and the East Coast Main Line between Peterborough and Doncaster, but today that is no longer the case even though Lincolnshire is classed as East Midlands (as is Nottinghamshire, and the ECML also serves two towns in Notts: Newark and Retford).

This got me thinking: I wonder if there are any other examples of rover or ranger tickets that aren't valid for certain lines or destinations where one might expect them to be valid, particularly if their name suggests that they ought to be valid there (or, conversely, that are valid where you wouldn't expect them to be valid)?
 
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Watershed

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The Derbyshire Wayfarer is valid across the entirety of Derbyshire's rail network, as you might expect. It is also valid to Uttoxeter and Burton-on-Trent (both in Staffordshire) and Sheffield (in South Yorkshire).
 

Ianno87

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Always "Feels" like the Anglia Plus should be valid to King's Lynn.

The Kent Rover to be valid into London Zones, as it's (sort of) equivalent the Southern Daysave is.


The Greater Manchester Wayfarer is valid to Chorley and Darwen.
 

Bletchleyite

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The Greater Manchester Wayfarer is valid to Chorley and Darwen.

The GM Ranger (which only covers Greater Manchester plus Hadfield/Glossop) used to be valid to Rainford (Merseyside, having passed through Upholland which is Lancs) but this ceased in the late 90s. Caught me out once, though fortunately by a guard who let me off when I showed my out of date validity map, not a modern day RPI who would probably have seen me prosecuted.
 

Dai Corner

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The Freedom of the South West [England] rover is valid to Chepstow and Cardiff in Wales.
 

LNW-GW Joint

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The NW Rovers don't include routes via Crewe to Chester/Runcorn/Warrington/Stockport, nor the North Staffs route in Cheshire, nor Stockport-Buxton or anything east of Guide Bridge.
The southern/south-eastern boundary is the Chester-Northwich-Stockport-Manchester line.
That seems quite restrictive seeing as in other directions it reaches Leeds/Bradford, Shotton and Dumfries/Lockerbie/Hexham.
I would have expected it to cover all of Cheshire and points just outside, like the Cheshire Day Ranger does.
It also means places like Wilmslow aren't on any regional Rover map (Chester-Crewe-Stoke-Derby is on the Heart of England Rover map).
 

geoffk

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The Devon Day Ranger is valid to Gunnislake. Regarding the Derbyshire Wayfarer (post #2), it's not valid on trains at Glossop, but of course only the section to Dinting/Hadfield is in Derbyshire.
 

Watershed

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The Devon Day Ranger is valid to Gunnislake. Regarding the Derbyshire Wayfarer (post #2), it's not valid on trains at Glossop, but of course only the section to Dinting/Hadfield is in Derbyshire.
Good point - that bit of the Hadfield line has always been treated as being in Greater Manchester for ticketing purposes.
 

GW43125

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West Midlands Day Ranger is valid out to Gobowen (less than three miles from Wales) and Hereford!
Presumably it's due to Shrewsbury and Hereford being the limits of WMT's stoppers, but still quite a trek!
 
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S&CLER

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The NW Rovers don't include routes via Crewe to Chester/Runcorn/Warrington/Stockport, nor the North Staffs route in Cheshire, nor Stockport-Buxton or anything east of Guide Bridge.
The southern/south-eastern boundary is the Chester-Northwich-Stockport-Manchester line.
That seems quite restrictive seeing as in other directions it reaches Leeds/Bradford, Shotton and Dumfries/Lockerbie/Hexham.
I would have expected it to cover all of Cheshire and points just outside, like the Cheshire Day Ranger does.
It also means places like Wilmslow aren't on any regional Rover map (Chester-Crewe-Stoke-Derby is on the Heart of England Rover map).
Isn't Wilmslow on the Coasts and Peaks Rover? This includes Liverpool-Kirkby-Wigan but not Liverpool-Southport or Southport-Wigan.
 

adrock1976

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What's it called? It's called Cumbernauld
West Midlands Day Ranger is valid out to Gobowen (less than three miles from Wales) and Hereford!
Presumably it's due to Shrewsbury and Hereford being the limits of WMT's stoppers, but still quite a trek!

Regarding the West Midlands Day Ranger, although it is valid to travel to both Shrewsbury and Hereford, you cannot use the direct route via Craven Arms to travel between them.

I remember this dates back to at least 1988 or before then. This suggests that the WM Day Ranger was a Regional Railways Central product, with the direct line between Shrewsbury and Hereford via Craven Arms being operated by Regional Railways Wales & West.

I am surprised that the fare setters have not come up with something like charging a child fare if any passengers want to go direct between Shrewsbury and Hereford via Craven Arms when in possession of the WM Day Ranger. After all, an extra £5 in the till for Wales & West/Wales and Borders is better than not having £10 in the till as nobody would travel directly between Shrewsbury and Hereford via Craven Arms.
 

LNW-GW Joint

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Isn't Wilmslow on the Coasts and Peaks Rover? This includes Liverpool-Kirkby-Wigan but not Liverpool-Southport or Southport-Wigan.
Yes it is, forgot about that one.
I always expect that to include Cumbria for some reason (proper Peaks, not The Peak!).
 

Springs Branch

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The Cheshire Day Ranger has very generous coverage on lines east and south-east of Manchester.

No doubt partly due to historic boundaries of Cheshire, but the Ranger ticket covers the entire lines to Glossop/Hadfield, all the way to Buxton and stations to New Mills Central on the Hope Valley line.

It includes the Romiley to Rose Hill Marple branch, but excludes the line via Hyde Central (where most/all of the Rose Hill trains travel). Also apparently not valid between Stockport and Guide Bridge via Denton (but OK if you go via MAN)
 

voyagerdude220

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Lancashire Day Ranger allows travel on Merseyrail services between Liverpool and Southport.
 

lyndhurst25

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Merseyside PTE Saveaways are valid outside Merseyside to Ormskirk and Chester, where the electric services terminate. Applying similar logic, why isn’t the West Yorkshire DaySaver valid all the way to Skipton?
 

OliverH68

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I've always felt that the Oxfordshire Day Ranger should have its' validity extended to Bicester North/Village or even Haddenham & Thame.
 

lyndhurst25

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The Cumbria Round Robin is valid on the Windermere branch, but the North East Round Robin doesn’t include the Bishop Auckland branch.
 

CaptainHaddock

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West Midlands Day Ranger is valid out to Gobowen (less than three miles from Wales) and Hereford!
Presumably it's due to Shrewsbury and Hereford being the limits of WMT's stoppers, but still quite a trek!
If only the West Midlands Day Ranger was valid to Burton on Trent you could combine it with a Derbyshire Wayfarer to have a hell of a day out! *





* Okay, so there aren't many South Yorkshire based fans of Hereford FC apart from me but it would be a massive saving on a Sheffield to Hereford return!
 

JonathanH

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If only the West Midlands Day Ranger was valid to Burton on Trent you could combine it with a Derbyshire Wayfarer to have a hell of a day out! *
The West Midlands Day Ranger doesn't quite reach the Manchester Wayfarer either.
 

lyndhurst25

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I think that this has been highlighted before as being confusing for passengers. The Lancashire Day Ranger is only valid between Liverpool and Manchester (the two big cities in the old county of Lancashire) via Earlestown, and not via Warrington.

The extended version of the Ffestiniog Round Robin is actually available from stations a little beyond Liverpool/Manchester/Birmingham that you would never know about if you relied on the official validity map e.g. Hightown.
 

geoffk

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Regarding the West Midlands Day Ranger, although it is valid to travel to both Shrewsbury and Hereford, you cannot use the direct route via Craven Arms to travel between them.
Similarly, the GM Wayfarer is valid to both Warrington and Wigan (from Manchester) but not on the WCML between them, although you can travel from Warrington BQ to Manchester via Chat Moss but according to the map you can't get off at Earlestown.
 

Mcr Warrior

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GM Wayfarer is also valid to Northwich, Buxton, and Grindleford, none of which are in Greater Manchester.
 

plugwash

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IIRC what is now called the "TFGM wayfarer" used to be called the "Peak wayfarer" and the whole point of the ticket was to provide a way to get out of the city and into the peaks hence why it covers a much larger area than regular TFGM tickets do.
 

Killingworth

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GM Wayfarer is also valid to Northwich, Buxton, and Grindleford, none of which are in Greater Manchester.
Valid from 9.30. The 9.29 from Grindleford seems to be OK if ticket bought on train, presumably because it will be be timed a minute or two later. Makes that train quite popular into Manchester and helps sell tickets from Dore and Sheffield to Grindleford and Hathersage to pick up a Wayfarer from there!
 
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