• Our booking engine at tickets.railforums.co.uk (powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!

Rail replacement buses - stops other than stations

Status
Not open for further replies.

cuccir

Established Member
Joined
18 Nov 2009
Messages
3,659
(Mods - feel free move if you can think of a better sub-forum for this topic!)

I note on the temporary timetable for the Settle-Carlisle that one rail replacement bus each day from Carlisle to Skipton will be calling to drop passengers off at Kirkby Stephen Town Centre and Hawes Market Place.

The Hawes call is interesting in particular; I presume it's there as they've decided that the bus can't do the narrow moors road over Garsdale Common.

Are there any other examples of non-station calls being formalised in this way? I can imagine it's the sort of thing that a lot of drivers will do informally, but it's interesting to see it in the timetable.
 
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R

RailUK Forums

Tetchytyke

Veteran Member
Joined
12 Sep 2013
Messages
13,305
Location
Isle of Man
The Hawes call is interesting in particular; I presume it's there as they've decided that the bus can't do the narrow moors road over Garsdale Common.

You wouldn't easily get a bus over the Coal Road from Garsdale to Dent Station, so it makes sense since the bus will have to go through Hawes anyway. IIRC they used to do that when RRBs ran that way.

I've seen similar on the Tyne Valley, where they'll stop in Brampton town centre rather than out at Brampton station.
 

PHILIPE

Veteran Member
Joined
14 Nov 2011
Messages
13,472
Location
Caerphilly
Yes, sensible and of course necessary where access is difficult. However, the location of the stops should be properly advertised at stations.
 

DarloRich

Veteran Member
Joined
12 Oct 2010
Messages
29,182
Location
Fenny Stratford
Yes, sensible and of course necessary where access is difficult. However, the location of the stops should be properly advertised at stations.

funny you should say that -After much complaining we have finally got a poster at Fenny Stratford telling people where the replacement bus stops ( there is difficult road access & 2 entrances which confuses people)

next task: Get the bus driver to actually stop!
 

Ibex

Member
Joined
23 Jan 2010
Messages
779
(Mods - feel free move if you can think of a better sub-forum for this topic!)

I note on the temporary timetable for the Settle-Carlisle that one rail replacement bus each day from Carlisle to Skipton will be calling to drop passengers off at Kirkby Stephen Town Centre and Hawes Market Place.

The Hawes call is interesting in particular; I presume it's there as they've decided that the bus can't do the narrow moors road over Garsdale Common.

Are there any other examples of non-station calls being formalised in this way? I can imagine it's the sort of thing that a lot of drivers will do informally, but it's interesting to see it in the timetable.

Two that I know of are Stone, replacement buses call here at Granville Square which is a 10-15 minute walk from the station but more central to Stone itself.

Furthermore, replacement buses on the Redditch branch in Alvechurch call here at The Red Lion pub in the village, rather than at the station itself which is on a fairly tight road with no public bus stop. Again that's a 15-20 minute walk from the station.
 

Bantamzen

Established Member
Joined
4 Dec 2013
Messages
9,668
Location
Baildon, West Yorkshire
Baildon station has always had it advertised that RRBs will not call at the station due to narrow surrounding roads / tight car park, but instead would stop a a bus stop on Otley Road (A6038) opposite the Halfway House pub. However, anyone not familiar with the route between the station and this particular bus stop might find themselves getting easily lost as there isn't a particulally straight route to take through the residential area around the station.
 

EbbwJunction1

Established Member
Joined
25 Mar 2010
Messages
1,565
Some years ago, I took a rail replacement bus in West Wales.

It was on a Sunday morning or afternoon, probably from Swansea westwards, although I can't remember any firm details. I do know, though, that we didn't go to all the stations because it was physically impossible for the bus to get there. Instead, we stopped on the main road and at least once the driver walked down to the station (it wasn't too far) to see if there was anyone there waiting for the train. It seemed that this was a regular practice for that route.
 

Bishopstone

Established Member
Joined
24 Jun 2010
Messages
1,468
Location
Seaford
When the Seaford branch is bustituted, Southease village is served rather than the station, which is the other side of the River Ouse via a pedestrian bridge and a country walk.

There's no issue with vehicular access, in this instance, as the station is actually on the better road: the A26.
 

noddingdonkey

Member
Joined
2 Nov 2012
Messages
772
Pre-planned bustitution for Slaithwaite and Marsden serve stops on Manchester Road rather than the stations. Buses arranged in an emergency for unforseen disruption do tend to run via the stations.
 

3141

Established Member
Joined
1 Apr 2012
Messages
1,771
Location
Whitchurch, Hampshire
Several years ago a late-night service from Kings Cross to Hertford North had a replacement bus from Gordon Hill. I wanted Bayford. The village is more than half a mile from the station. The driver kindly stopped for me outside the pub in Bayford where I was staying. Later, I discovered that I'd mis-read the timetable on-line - it was not very clearly reproduced on a computer screen - and that the Bayford call for the replacement bus only applied on Friday night. I'd travelled on Thursday. I thought I did rather well out of that.
 

notadriver

Established Member
Joined
1 Oct 2010
Messages
3,653
I only serve the designated rail replacement bus stops. Not doing so causes aggro for other drivers when passengers come to the front and say 'well the other driver let me off here'.
Why is it that rail replacement bus passengers seem to think they don't need to buy a ticket even at a staffed station?
 

30907

Veteran Member
Joined
30 Sep 2012
Messages
17,866
Location
Airedale
The S and C stops are very unusual, because they do not replace stops at stations (unlike the others quoted so far). The bus extension south of Appleby is SX. Kirkby Stephen centre is on the RRB route, while Hawes centre is only slightly off route.

I don't recall either being served before, but it seems a very sensible way of avoiding the problem flagged up by notadriver. As does making them set down only.
 

sheff1

Established Member
Joined
24 Dec 2009
Messages
5,459
Location
Sheffield
Rail replacement buses from Sheffield do not depart from the rail station. They depart from the bus station (aka Interchange) using the stand which is the furthest possible away from the rail station. Although the Interchange is signed from the rail station it is not visible from there.

I only serve the designated rail replacement bus stops. Not doing so causes aggro for other drivers when passengers come to the front and say 'well the other driver let me off here'.

When there used to be a bus stop outside the rail station at Sheffield (there isn't now) rows occurred when passengers who knew of it were driven past on the replacement bus before being deposited in the bus station 400 yards away.
 
Last edited:

Parallel

Established Member
Joined
9 Dec 2013
Messages
3,927
When the line was closed between Trowbridge and Bath last year, local rail replacement buses operated between Bath bus station and Bradford On Avon railway station serving 'Freshford Village' and 'Upper Westwood' vice Freshford and Avoncliff. Avoncliff itself wouldn't be possible to get a bus to so passengers that required this station were sent in taxis from B-O-A.
 

charley_17/7

Member
Joined
1 Sep 2006
Messages
195
Location
Milton Keynes Central
Not sure if this is still the case, but at Sankey for Penketh the RRBs could not turn in the Station Yard, nor on Station Road, so used to call at the bus stops either side of the crossroads, where the Police Station was situated.
 

lincolnshire

Member
Joined
12 Jun 2011
Messages
884
There are a lot of small stations from both Hull and Grimsby area,s where a bus can,t get to the station or if they did they can, t turn round again so they stop on the nearest main road to suit. Most station have a poster saying where the rail replacement buses call for that station.

Its the hazards of stations been built over 100 years ago and access roads no longer able to cope with anything other than cars these days or the access road blocked by people living down the roads cars only leaving room for one car to pass and no turning area anymore.
 

Mugby

Established Member
Joined
25 Nov 2012
Messages
1,917
Location
Derby
The Derby - Matlock service is replaced by buses on Sundays at the moment.

The bus travels up the A6 road from Derby but it's unable to call at Cromford station because it's located quite some distance from the main road and it would be impossible to turn a bus round in the station approach.

The RRB stops at the crossroads on the A6 which is probably far more convenient for local passengers than the station is.
 

cuccir

Established Member
Joined
18 Nov 2009
Messages
3,659
Thanks all - interesting stuff.

Seems it's quite rare for these stops to be timetabled, but quite common for them to occur. I'm reminded of an RRB via Chester-le-Street which reversed up Station Road in the town for the 200 yards uphill from the final access roundabout - entertaining stuff on the bus, but I'm sure everyone would have been happier stopping in the town cenre!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Top