Edinburgh to Neilston using the Fort William sleeper, 10th December

[Techniquest]

Hi all,

Been trying to plan a bash around Glasgow on the 10th December, getting the Fort William sleeper over as far as Westerton or Dalmuir then doing some required track in Glasgow before getting Megabus to Manchester.

Thing is, to do much track over that way on a weekday morning will be expensive. So I was wondering:

Is an Edinburgh to Neilston fare valid on the Fort William sleeper to Westerton then on local stock to Glasgow Central? I'd have personally thought so, but I reckon I'm likely to be wrong.

Any thoughts gents?

 

[djw1981]

I got on the fort Bill sleeper at EDB a few weeks ago and spoke to the guard who said he;d be round to do a ticket check later. I got off at Westerton before he had checked my carriage, and I saw him on the platform and was told to 'stop being daft'. so you may only have to pay Westerton-Neilston

 

[John @ home]

Is an Edinburgh to Neilston fare valid on the Fort William sleeper to Westerton then on local stock to Glasgow Central? I'd have personally thought so, but I reckon I'm likely to be wrong.

The best answer I can reach is 'probably'.

Map EG, the only map listed for a journey using routeing points Edinburgh Group and Glasgow Group, indicates that a journey via Westerton is not a valid route.

But map ZZ, Sleeper trains, contains more helpful notes:
"The Fort William Sleeper runs from Edinburgh through Springbank and Ashfield to Fort William. It does not go into Glasgow Queen Street. Springbank and Ashfield are members of the Glasgow Group routeing point. Doubling back because of the train running pattern is permitted. Published easements describe these extended permissions."

That would lead me to expect that, for example, a Standard Anytime Single (SOS) from Edinburgh to Neilston (£12) would be valid via Westerton by the Fort William sleeper, and this ticket is indeed offered by the NXEC booking engine.

To check, I looked at the list of easements here:
http://www.atoc.org/rsp/_downloads/Routeing_Guide/easements.htm
And I didn't find any relevant easement.

So where on earth are these extended permissions "published"?

John

 

[yorkie]

There's a Scottish easements page somewhere!

 

[glynn80]

There's a Scottish easements page somewhere!

It used to be in the Local Scottish fares manual now incorporated into the FRPP but the easements page doesn't seem to of been brought across?

An older PDF version of NFM 98 containted the following:

The National Routeing Guide came into effect in September 1996 and had the purpose of clarifying the “permitted routes” for specific longer distance journeys. This was achieved through a networking of the mainlines (West Coast and East Coast). It was acknowledged at the time that local instructions would be needed to fill the gap between the National Routeing Guide (Longer Journeys) and the local journey variations peculiar to local operators. This page has been produced with the help of the Training School, Trains Inspectors, and the local booking office staff in particular with contributions from all, thank you to all who did. If you feel there are any additions that could be made or have any comments to make please call on 54074 or fax 54478.

It then goes onto detail the easements none of which help this situation, the only routes listed in the Scottish Routeing Guide for Edinburgh to Glasgow is as follows:

Edinburgh to Glasgow
via
Falkirk Grahamston, Falkirk High, Shotts and Carstairs

 

[Techniquest]

So the best thing to do would be to ask the guard on board before purchasing my ticket?

 

[John @ home]

So the best thing to do would be to ask the guard on board before purchasing my ticket?

I would buy the ticket in advance from the NXEC site and take with me a printout of the journey via Westerton.

John

 

[Techniquest]

Good idea, I'll do that actually.

Thanks for the advice everyone.