Over the past weekend, I decided to use a 4 of 8 day Freedom of the North West Rover either side of the fantastic BLS Railtour. This is quite long, so sorry in advance.
On Monday, I decided to visit Salwick on the Preston-Blackpool line. It receives about 3 trains in each direction and has no Sunday service. I identified a 40 minute fester by catching a train from Blackpool late evening around 5PM and catching the last train towards Blackpool at 18:01 (a 40 gap to take photos and relax in the middle of nowhere). I checked on the 18:01 service beforehand and RTT showed it 'at platform' in Manchester way before departure time; a good sign. On checking again at Salwick (I had phone issues) it turned out it departed Manchester 22 down and lost even more time along the way. It got caped at Preston for passengers to board the following service to Blackpool not too far behind (one that does not call at Salwick!). A quick call to Northern (after Twitter got no quick response) and asking if a Special Stop Order could be arranged, a train finally stopped at 19:45 to take me onwards to civilization. I must commend Northern customer service in doing this and keeping me updated on events. Top marks
On Tuesday, I was in the Burscough area and noticed I could travel to Hoscar with a reasonable 20 minute wait. This station receives about 1 train every 3 hours in each direction. Again, I checked RTT and noticed the return train was running late. When I got off at Hoscar, I asked the guard if trains skip-stop when running late and was told 'no'. This didn't then help when the service was cancelled at Wigan Wallgate!! Now, the situation today was a little different. It was HOT! VERY HOT. I had a full bag with me as I was returning back to London later on. A call to Northern and again, I asked if a Special Stop Order could be arranged. The guy I was talking to was very understanding and told me upfront this probably wont be possible as there were other trains- albeit 3 hours wait. Just as he was updating me, the call got dropped. I called back and got a different person who was aware of the situation (same call centre and overhead Hoscar).
This person was not so understanding. I asked if he could take my mobile number down in case of disconnection again, but was only interested in taking my name to create a reference number. He looked on a map and said it's only a mile 'as the crow flies' to Burscough and I should probably walk it there, as Northern were not going to compensate me to take a taxi when I asked. Google maps showed it at 1.9 miles to Burscough Junction, and having walked from Burscough Junction to Burscough Bridge earlier, that's at least another 0.5 mile! I explained it's too hot to walk that far and I have a heavy bag. No dice. At this point, I was 80-90 minutes into the 3 hour wait, so decided to wait it out and hope a train in either direction would stop. Waiting in the shelter out of the sun, a train sounded it's horn (Network Rail were working up the line), and I thought nothing of it. Next minute, the train stops and picks me up! (I'm guessing the first person I spoke with took the time to arrange something, which I am very grateful for). It was running 20+ late, but also stopped at the other two shacks that receive little service on the way to Southport. This caused the return journey (the one train every 3 hours that is meant to stop at these stations) to run fast to Wigan Wallgate!! Oh, I mentioned I travelled the country trying to visit all the stations to the second guy and was told it was probably best to not visit the stations that have little service (or words to that effect)!
Surely there needs to be some failsafe for stations with such infrequent service. I can only imagine what would happen to an elderly passenger with no mobile in such a situation. Services that stop should be given a special headcode and if cancelled, signallers can see that and arrange for the next available service that can stop without disruption to do so?
Sorry again to make this so long. Just coincidental that I had this happen twice in two days, which severely messed up my plans. On that note, how does delay repay work for rover tickets?!
On Monday, I decided to visit Salwick on the Preston-Blackpool line. It receives about 3 trains in each direction and has no Sunday service. I identified a 40 minute fester by catching a train from Blackpool late evening around 5PM and catching the last train towards Blackpool at 18:01 (a 40 gap to take photos and relax in the middle of nowhere). I checked on the 18:01 service beforehand and RTT showed it 'at platform' in Manchester way before departure time; a good sign. On checking again at Salwick (I had phone issues) it turned out it departed Manchester 22 down and lost even more time along the way. It got caped at Preston for passengers to board the following service to Blackpool not too far behind (one that does not call at Salwick!). A quick call to Northern (after Twitter got no quick response) and asking if a Special Stop Order could be arranged, a train finally stopped at 19:45 to take me onwards to civilization. I must commend Northern customer service in doing this and keeping me updated on events. Top marks
On Tuesday, I was in the Burscough area and noticed I could travel to Hoscar with a reasonable 20 minute wait. This station receives about 1 train every 3 hours in each direction. Again, I checked RTT and noticed the return train was running late. When I got off at Hoscar, I asked the guard if trains skip-stop when running late and was told 'no'. This didn't then help when the service was cancelled at Wigan Wallgate!! Now, the situation today was a little different. It was HOT! VERY HOT. I had a full bag with me as I was returning back to London later on. A call to Northern and again, I asked if a Special Stop Order could be arranged. The guy I was talking to was very understanding and told me upfront this probably wont be possible as there were other trains- albeit 3 hours wait. Just as he was updating me, the call got dropped. I called back and got a different person who was aware of the situation (same call centre and overhead Hoscar).
This person was not so understanding. I asked if he could take my mobile number down in case of disconnection again, but was only interested in taking my name to create a reference number. He looked on a map and said it's only a mile 'as the crow flies' to Burscough and I should probably walk it there, as Northern were not going to compensate me to take a taxi when I asked. Google maps showed it at 1.9 miles to Burscough Junction, and having walked from Burscough Junction to Burscough Bridge earlier, that's at least another 0.5 mile! I explained it's too hot to walk that far and I have a heavy bag. No dice. At this point, I was 80-90 minutes into the 3 hour wait, so decided to wait it out and hope a train in either direction would stop. Waiting in the shelter out of the sun, a train sounded it's horn (Network Rail were working up the line), and I thought nothing of it. Next minute, the train stops and picks me up! (I'm guessing the first person I spoke with took the time to arrange something, which I am very grateful for). It was running 20+ late, but also stopped at the other two shacks that receive little service on the way to Southport. This caused the return journey (the one train every 3 hours that is meant to stop at these stations) to run fast to Wigan Wallgate!! Oh, I mentioned I travelled the country trying to visit all the stations to the second guy and was told it was probably best to not visit the stations that have little service (or words to that effect)!
Surely there needs to be some failsafe for stations with such infrequent service. I can only imagine what would happen to an elderly passenger with no mobile in such a situation. Services that stop should be given a special headcode and if cancelled, signallers can see that and arrange for the next available service that can stop without disruption to do so?
Sorry again to make this so long. Just coincidental that I had this happen twice in two days, which severely messed up my plans. On that note, how does delay repay work for rover tickets?!
