And how long would a bus replacement take?
Surely that's an argument to increase the service frequency then, not can the entire line altogether.
Giggleswick station is only 1 mile from Settle. So people could (and do) drive to it. I do sometimes. Clapham is near the rail lines - but serves a massive sparsely populated hinterland. Rename it Keasden then people wont get so hung up on not being near Clapham. Bentham and Wennington are in the settlements.
Is there any progress on the linespeed increase? Even if the ‘fast’ train isn’t that much faster in terms of time, the all stops 158 doesn’t actually have that much capacity for any potential end to end Leeds - Skipton - Carlisle - Glasgow passengers.
Surely Scotby would be far better potentially served on the Tyne Valley line anyway? More trains that could stop there (although the chances of it getting built are pretty tiny I'd wager)
CG is a funny one; from the railway it looks fairly sizeable but the numbers don't support the notion!
Given the location of the village centre, probably, yes, though given the odd service pattern of the Tyne Valley line (compared with the far more regular, if not more frequent, service on the S&C), how well served is open to debate.
It certainly looked too big not to be served. I remember it clearly because while Ribblehead is the longest viaduct on the line, Crosby Garrett is the highest. What exactly is the permanent population of Ribblehead? Crosby Garrett’s must be many orders of magnitude higher and yet Ribblehead warrants a station for what reason exactly?
Tyne Valley has 2tph EWD (2Axx to Morpeth, 1Nxx semi fast to Newcastle). Not perfectly clock face I grant you but that hasn’t caused a particular issue anywhere else on the line.
Looking through the timetable for the Tyne Valley (a line which I don't know well at all) it appears that there isn't a single service which calls at all stations - there's always at least one which is skipped. Why is that? Is there an operational reason, or is it simply due to historical precedent (viz. the Carlisle - Leeds semifast services)?
If you mean West of Hexham, skip-stopping is offpeak only: Bardon Mill is indifferently sited for small communities that are on a good bus route, while Brampton is so far from its town that it used to have a horse-drawn branch line.
That's interesting, thank you - as I say, my knowledge of the line is limited. Is there a case for closing one of the lesser-used stations (Bardon Mill, say) and essentially replacing it with one at Scotby?
Uh? According to Wikipedia, Scotby has a population of 2366 (in 2018).
Permanent population of RHD is two - the owners of the pub. The station is there purely for the benefit of walkers (and the pub!).
I'll reply to your points in order.
So? Pick a nice day and lots get off/on there. All paying real money.
And on the not nice days real money still has to be paid to keep the station open....
That's the point I'm making - the local population may be negligible but Ribblehead must pay for itself many times over.
Not yet, no, and I suspect there never will be now the coffers are bare. As for skipping stops, twenty minutes saved in a four hour journey isn't arguably worth it! Unless as you say capacity is the main issue (which given the Adlestropian nature of the line outside the summer season seems unlikely).
So Crosby Garrett has a population of almost 100x that of Ribblehead and is unserved? Are there any other lines which see such a disparity?
So there are no units or crews in Leeds or Skipton who can run the service?
It was actually raining when I went there and it didn’t affect my enjoyment of the day. The trains were a bit crowded though.
This is a section of the Midland Main Line we’re talking about though. It is no different in nature to the section south of Kettering and should be treated as such. Leeds - Skipton - Carlisle - Glasgow traffic could make good use of the line without taking up capacity on the ECML or east-west routes.
To my pleasant surprise (as the forum seems to have missed this), they have the choice of an RRB to Long Preston at 0720 or an additional train which starts from Appleby at 0725 (off the first down).
I've been impressed at the level of RRBs which have been provided - every service to or from Appleby is met by two coaches, one express from Carlisle and the other 'all stops', even the final services of the day (which are very poorly patronised indeed).
Err, no.....Smardale viaduct is the highest. Crosby Garrett viaduct - a short distance to the North - is actually quite low.
The question is whether CG would provide an adequate business case on its own - RHD only exists because the railway can make money off it.
Pretty sure Clitheroe to Hellifield failed at RYR.
SSuO and dated high summer might work. But then thats true about some S&C workings. Not much business at Ribblehead on a cloudy dank November Friday
Perhaps one service per two hours to/from each of Blackburn (or beyond) and Leeds over summer? Residents of Appleby, Kirkby Stephen and Settle would appreciate a more frequent service but other stations could be skipped at certain times or by certain services, if expedient to the timetable.
Perhaps four in each direction per day, or roughly one every four hours.
