I can be decidedly out of touch -- I swear I'd never heard of the above line, until a moment ago -- had me thinking, "Pontrilas to Hay-on-Wye? -- What the...?" (Googling, has made sense of this thing to me.)
When the colliery is open there's lots to see
Really, just because Bradford Park Avenue are visiting?
Perhaps you should ask them if they can make the connection, since there are so many people potentially inconvenienced.
I think he meant because of the steam gala not the football
A very odd post, and entirely unnecessary.
I think that 47 is newly restored to service? It’s an excellent line, you need to try it again when steam is operating- it’s a cracking experience.
Perhaps comsider that they might know their market better than you do.
A business needs more than one market to prosper, so needless alienation of an easy potential revenue stream is unwise at best.
So, as I suggested previously, if you think they've got it wrong the tell them. You may find they agree or you may find that they really do know their market(s) better.
…Instead, I’ll just visit the nearby line that connects adequately with the national network, including offering a through ticket from my local station.
I don't know of any preserved line that does that. There are a few, very few, that connect to the national network, but I don't know of any through booking
Ecclesbourne Valley started doing through tickets earlier in the year. The search engine now also recognises the two intermediate stations which where not shown for a little while.
Competing demands such as line length/round trip time, number of services, passing points and spacing of services often override convenience of mainline connections, which is not ideal, but understandable if only a small fraction of the customers use those connections. In particular it may be impossible on intensive service days such as galas to provide reasonable connections and run the desired service. Personally, if there's a 50 minute wait (at Matlock for example) I'm OK with going to a handy pub, or just sitting on the platform if it's a nice day. But I realise that doesn't work for everyone.
tfw.wales
Well done for asking the question (I mean that, genuinely). Obviously the answer isn't what you would have wanted but it does show that they have constraints, just like the main line railway. Anyway, for what it's worth, there is a half-hourly bus service from Chesterfield to Matlock which may provide better connections if you are travelling from the north.
The spoons may be long gone, but there is the Bod cafe-bar (200m, 3mins from the station) which opens at 8.30am on Saturdays and serves locally brewed beer (I haven't personally tried it so I can't say if it's any good, but judging by the pictures there's quite a lot of choice).
