Derbyshire to West Highland Line

[emorris]

Hi all,
I am beginning to plan a short trip in July or August with my father, mainly focussing on doing the West Highland Line. We'd be starting from somewhere in Derbyshire (probably Derby or Buxton), and I'm thinking we could get some other "nice" lines in, for example the Settle-Carlise, or Sheffield-Manchester via Hope etc.

Another thing I'm considering is doing the sleeper between Crewe and Fort William in one of the directions, for instance spending day 1 travelling up, spending a day or two around the area, then getting the sleeper back on the final night.

If anyone has any suggestions of lines to do, things to do, or splits to save money etc, they would be much appreciated. I have a 16-25 railcard and my father is eligible for a senior railcard. Particularly for the local legs, I'm mainly looking at open tickets rather than advances, to give maximum flexibility.

From looking at the routeing guide, I believe that both BUX-MLG (via Carlisle) and DBY-MLG (any permitted) SVRs are valid via Settle, however NRE wants me to buy more than one ticket with its suggested itinerary. I guess I'll try and figure my own route out to fit in with valid routes on those tickets.

Thanks.

 

[cuccir]

Quite a few questions to deal with!

To start with the specific routing question though - short answer is that Derby to Glasgow is valid via the Settle-Carlisle, but Buxton is not.

Long answer:
The routeing point for Mallaig is the Glasgow Group.
Derby is a member of the Derby Group of stations.
The appropriate routeing points for Buxton to Mallaig are Manchester, Hazel Grove and Guide Bridge.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, this gives a huge list of valid routes. However we can speed things up re Settle to Carlisle as this only appears on maps MM and AS.

Derby to Glasgow is valid on map MM.
Manchester, Hazel Grove and Guide Bridge are all valid to Glasgow via map MM but only when used in conjunction with map MH, which is routed Manchester-Bolton-Blackburn-Hellifield. This is only possible on summer Sundays, when the Preston-Carlisle via Hellifield train runs.
--
For Hope Valley Line - This is valid from Derby as well.

 

[emorris]

Manchester, Hazel Grove and Guide Bridge are all valid to Glasgow via map MM but only when used in conjunction with map MH, which is routed Manchester-Bolton-Blackburn-Hellifield. This is only possible on summer Sundays, when the Preston-Carlisle via Hellifield train runs.

Aha. That could be why I had problems getting an itinerary up there then! Thanks!

 

[sonic2009]

A Derby to Mallaig SVR is valid via the sleeper in either direction using maps PS + ZZ

PS : Derby - Chesterfield - Sheffield - Stockport - Crewe & Stockport - Manchester - Preston

ZZ : Crewe or Preston - Fort William