Although travel via Rugeley is probably going to be quicker, is the Stafford - Hednesford fare quoted here also interavailable via Birmingham New Street?
No. From the National Routeing Guide (
http://www.atoc.org/rsp/Routeing_Guide.asp)
Stafford is a member of Stafford Group routeing point.
The routeing points for Hednesford are Rugeley Trent Valley and Walsall Group.
To determine which routeing point for Hednesford to use for this journey, we need to do a fares check. For CDR fares:
Stafford - Hednesford £4.40
Stafford - Rugeley Trent Valley £3.00
Stafford - Walsall £6.70
Rugeley Trent Valley is the only routeing point where the
fare is the same or lower than the fare for the throughout journey from the origin station to the destination station, so it is the appropriate routeing point for Hednesford for this journey.
Permitted routes between Stafford Group and Rugeley Trent Valley are shown on map TL (Trent Valley local services) only.
Map TL shows that the two permitted routes between Stafford Group and Rugeley Trent Valley are:
- direct from Stafford to Rugeley Trent Valley, and
- from Stafford to Stoke-on-Trent, then to Rugeley Trent Valley avoiding Stafford.
(Note that the existence of a permitted route between two points does not imply the existence of a train service!)
So the two permitted routes for a £4.40 CDR Stafford - Hednesford are:
- from Stafford to Rugeley Trent Valley (direct) to Hednesford, and
- from Stafford to Stoke-on-Trent, to Rugeley Trent Valley avoiding Stafford (if you can find such a train), then to Hednesford.
Travel via Wolverhampton or Birmingham is not allowed.
John
Any suggestions for splitting tickets to reduce the price of an off-peak (day) return on a Saturday in March from Manchester Stations to/from Hednesford (= £30-30)? 
Thanks. As previously mentioned, however, the National Rail timetable planner (and the one for Virgin Trains as well) both show travel as being permissible by Birmingham New Street, and the fare as £4-40.