Rail replacement bus returns Hawes to rail network?

[JWK]

Intrigued to see that, according to this tweet from Northern, rail replacement bus services between Skipton and Kirkby Stephen over the next four days appear to be explicitly serving Hawes, which lost its train service in 1959 https://twitter.com/northernassist/status/1319911518411083778?s=21.

Note that this isn’t in lieu of serving Garsdale station, but that a decision seems to have been made for the buses to deviate (slightly) from the direct route in order to stop in Hawes town centre. Seems an interesting temporary expansion of the rail network, but I suspect I would struggle to purchase a Garsdale to Hawes ticket...

 

[Bletchleyite]

Looking at a map the deviation is about half a kilometre (if you look at roads that look like they would actually take a full size bus), so this is probably just being done to avoid silly arguments about whether the driver could unofficially drop people off there or not. It might even be easier to turn around in the market place (if I recall the layout correctly) than to do the left turn from the B6255 to the A684 as that looks fairly sharp.

An amusing effect of this (presumably) is that Hawes Market Place is shown on Google Maps as a railway station!

Edit: oh, it's a nearby former one with a train on display. That's more likely why.

 

[xotGD]

Now that the service has been reestablished will Northern have to operate a weekly parliamentary bus?

 

[Condor7]

When you say a slight diversion into Hawes is this because replacement bus services would normally go via the A684 and then the B6255 but don’t normally stop at Hawes?
Does anyone know what type of bus is being used. i presume Dent is missed out due to the unsuitability of the roads for anything other than a minibus.

 

[John Webb]

.... It might even be easier to turn around in the market place (if I recall the layout correctly) than to do the left turn from the B6255 to the A684 as that looks fairly sharp....

Just to the east of the Market place there is an 'oval' of one-way streets taking the A684 through the town centre's narrow roads which is even easier to use to turn a bus round.

I don't know where the works are taking place, but I wonder why the RRBs are going all the way to Skipton - not resuming trains at Settle I can understand as there is no crossover there, but what about Hellifield?

 

[xotGD]

Just to the east of the Market place there is an 'oval' of one-way streets taking the A684 through the town centre's narrow roads which is even easier to use to turn a bus round.

I don't know where the works are taking place, but I wonder why the RRBs are going all the way to Skipton - not resuming trains at Settle I can understand as there is no crossover there, but what about Hellifield?

Presumably by running the bus to Skipton the need for a DMU is avoided with passengers just catching the next EMU to Leeds.

 

[Hardcastle]

Apparently they are replacing two bridges in the Stainforth area as regards serving Hawes there is a difficult road junction approaching the town which makes it safer to call at Hawes then turn the vehicle there. Plus the restoration work on Ribble Head viaduct is about to start.

 

[30907]

I presume Dent is missed out due to the unsuitability of the roads for anything other than a minibus.

Indeed - and even a minibus would normally be overkill, hence the (longstanding) offer of a taxi.

I wonder why the RRBs are going all the way to Skipton - not resuming trains at Settle I can understand as there is no crossover there, but what about Hellifield?

Hellifield is unstaffed, has no facilities apart from the cafe, and is a very awkward place to turn a bus round. Skipton makes much better sense all round.

 

[SargeNpton]

Hawes has been used as an interchange for rail replacement buses since at least 2013, with passengers for Dent changing there into mini-buses or taxis. You won't find any fares to/from Hawes though, so no use trying to buy a ticket to it.

 

[DarloRich]

surely this is just a quirk of local road/geography and the fact this is a very rural area coupled with the type of bus used for these services. Can you change at Hawes for Northallerton?

 

[backontrack]

When you say a slight diversion into Hawes is this because replacement bus services would normally go via the A684 and then the B6255 but don’t normally stop at Hawes?
Does anyone know what type of bus is being used. i presume Dent is missed out due to the unsuitability of the roads for anything other than a minibus.

That makes sense. Hawes is the stop for Dent.

 

[xotGD]

That makes sense. Hawes is the stop for Dent.

"Dent Parkway"

 

[Merle Haggard]

NRES doesn't recognise Hawes if entered it as an origin or destination.
However, it does still accept Goldthorpe Police Station (GOZ), which, I think, similarly arose as an RRB connecting point.

 

[backontrack]

"Dent Parkway"

Dent Gateway!

 

[SargeNpton]

NRES doesn't recognise Hawes if entered it as an origin or destination.
However, it does still accept Goldthorpe Police Station (GOZ), which, I think, similarly arose as an RRB connecting point.

Goldthorpe was briefly a through rail/bus promotion offered by GNER during the early years of franchising. Doncaster was the railhead, with the buses going through to Barnsley. It really should have been taken out of NRES years ago.

 

[backontrack]

Goldthorpe was briefly a through rail/bus promotion offered by GNER during the early years of franchising. Doncaster was the railhead, with the buses going through to Barnsley. It really should have been taken out of NRES years ago.

Wow, TIL. Thanks!