rovers and rangers: new interactive map

[fishwomp]

Now added: a rail-rover-explorer page

Here's what it can do - for Whitby with a Northern Explorer, say.

https://koyli.github.io/rail-rover/rail-explorer/?ticket=northern-explorer&station=Whitby&date=2026-06-15&time=09%3A00&mode=return

Shows everywhere you can reach by the appropriate train companies's trains - either one way or return within a day, with first and last trains and route. Poor Whitby, can't go far in a day.

It'll certainly have its issues for now, but darn it's fun already

 

[fishwomp]

The other change that happened last week was the creation of the Cumbria Travel Pass, and removal of Hadrians Wall Day Ranger, Settle & Carlisle Day Ranger, Cumbria Day Ranger, Cumbria Round Robin, Cumbria Coast Day Ranger, and Lakes Day Ranger (although the 1 day version of the new product uses the same codes as the Lakes Day Ranger did). Not sure how well the data has updated to reflect that.

Of course, they're still showing on nationalrail.co.uk... now I'm linked to the rail fares database, it should have an expiry date against it if it can't be issued - I can update that and check later.

 

[mattdickinson]

Thanks - yes, there'll be some corrections to make - not all are Claude, sometimes it's actual Network Rail error!

It found Denby Dale to be in the Thames Rover - and according to https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/tickets-railcards-offers/promotions/thames-rover-7-day/ that is correct as Denby Dale (ie. West Yorks) is listed in the "Applicable Zone of Stations(s)" which is in the Validity section!

For Whitchurch - I see there are three such stations (that must be a record?)! Bramley - ah yep, two of those! I'll fix that

Denby Dale (DBD) should have been Dorking (Deepdene) (DPD)

 

[sad1e]

Would you count a London travelcard as a Ranger ?
If so it's missing from the map.

 

[D1537]

These stations are missing from the Tyne and Tees Day Ranger (some new, some not)

Horden
James Cook
Northumberland Park
Blyth Bebside
Bedlington

 

[Roger Feltham]

Ever wanted to know what rover/rangers are valid from a particular station, or look at just one map and see coverage and overlap?

Claude (the AI service) created an interactive map for me: https://koyli.github.io/rail-rover/ - hope this is of some use to others! Any suggestions or corrections, do let me know.

What about North East Rover? not showing on Keighley Leeds and several other stations

 

[fishwomp]

What about North East Rover? not showing on Keighley Leeds and several other stations

Thanks for that - it was missing from the national rail API but had been present when screenscraping - I've restored it.


FWIW the behaviour on phones should have been improved now for the maps/sidebars - there were a few issues, which got fixed a couple of days ago.

 

[Acathater]

The other change that happened last week was the creation of the Cumbria Travel Pass, and removal of Hadrians Wall Day Ranger, Settle & Carlisle Day Ranger, Cumbria Day Ranger, Cumbria Round Robin, Cumbria Coast Day Ranger, and Lakes Day Ranger (although the 1 day version of the new product uses the same codes as the Lakes Day Ranger did). Not sure how well the data has updated to reflect that.

Northern's site still lists
Cumbria Day Ranger
Cumbrian Coast Day Ranger
Cumbria Round Robin Ranger
Lakes Day Ranger

see https://www.northernrailway.co.uk/tickets/rangers-tickets-and-rovers-tickets/lake-district
and https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/tickets-railcards-offers/promotions/cumbria-day-ranger/

 

[fishwomp]

Northern's site still lists
Cumbria Day Ranger
Cumbrian Coast Day Ranger
Cumbria Round Robin Ranger
Lakes Day Ranger

see https://www.northernrailway.co.uk/tickets/rangers-tickets-and-rovers-tickets/lake-district
and https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/tickets-railcards-offers/promotions/cumbria-day-ranger/

It still lists them but they are 'gone' or going. I've added them back in for now but https://www.northernrailway.co.uk/n...-it-introduces-new-ticket-allowing-passengers says :

It replaces five different types of Ranger tickets which were previously available to Northern passengers in Cumbria, and was introduced as part of a strategy to make ticketing simpler and more convenient.

so they'll vanish soon. It seems that they're half way through a rollout - the link on that page and the northern railway website doesn't actually let you buy that new ticket yet..

Do let me know if you spot anything else, thanks!

 

[D6975]

Can you provide the list that you know? The list I have is _everything_ on Network Rail plus a handful of known others so far provided by this forum.

It's pretty damning of the Network Rail website that there are missing ones like Manchester's, or Southern's. It's one thing for someone like me to add a nice or just different way to look at things - ie. my map - but I'd like for there to be a definitive government operated source of truth to start from!!

They are all here http://www.railrover.org/index.html

 

[fishwomp]

They are all here http://www.railrover.org/index.html

That is good, and there is also https://www.brfares.com/!roverhome which is a bit more of a feed from the official source.

Both of them are independent and not official sites - as such they have to handle the same issues in data correctness and consistency - the latter looks to source its data from the same official interface that I use, whereas I think the one you list has a good bit of manual curation in it - as I have found necessary too...

 

[Welshy1717]

I have a bit of an adventure brewing...... getting to Warwick & Stratford Upon Avon for (visiting the film location for Shakespear & Hathaway) and of course that awaited showcase of the Chiltern Network.

Setting off from Wellingborough (EMR) then Bedford (LNW Marston Vale) And hopefully soon Bletchley (Chiltern) then change at Bicester North (Chiltern again)
Full journey to Warwick.

This will be a trip with multiple tickets, is there a Day Ranger that covers the whole journey. i'm still learning all the tips n tricks for these travelling adventures.

 

[fishwomp]

I have a bit of an adventure brewing...... getting to Warwick & Stratford Upon Avon for (visiting the film location for Shakespear & Hathaway) and of course that awaited showcase of the Chiltern Network.

Setting off from Wellingborough (EMR) then Bedford (LNW Marston Vale) And hopefully soon Bletchley (Chiltern) then change at Bicester North (Chiltern again)
Full journey to Warwick.

This will be a trip with multiple tickets, is there a Day Ranger that covers the whole journey. i'm still learning all the tips n tricks for these travelling adventures.

Checkout the site -

Rail Rover & Ranger Map

- just hover over Wellingborough and you'll see it has East Midlands rovers and All Line, so it's a bit lame. You can only get to Coventry (if you click on the East Mids rover in the left panel) from Wellingborough.. East Midlands Ranger is even smaller area - and quite pricey - and doesn't cover Wellingborough.

West Midlands Day Ranger looks a decent area for what you're doing - but you need to get to Northampton or Nuneaton.

 

[Welshy1717]

Checkout the site -

Rail Rover & Ranger Map

- just hover over Wellingborough and you'll see it has East Midlands rovers and All Line, so it's a bit lame. You can only get to Coventry (if you click on the East Mids rover in the left panel) from Wellingborough.. East Midlands Ranger is even smaller area - and quite pricey - and doesn't cover Wellingborough.

West Midlands Day Ranger looks a decent area for what you're doing - but you need to get to Northampton or Nuneaton.

Hopefully in a few months, there will be a more direct route with Chiltern

 

[TheSel]

Noticed a strange 'quirk'. Hovering the mouse over both Kirkby and Rainford show validity for the Freedom of the North West (7 day and 4 in 8 versions) and the Coast & Peaks 4 iin 8 - but Headbolt Lane (the station between them) doesn't.

Also, there seems to be no reference to the Merseyrail Day Saver (valid throughout Merseyrail 'Northern' & 'Wirral' lines), or the Merseytravel 'Saveaway' ticket (all stations in Merseyside plus those on Merseyrail's network which lie in Cheshire).

 

[Forty29]

I have a bit of an adventure brewing...... getting to Warwick & Stratford Upon Avon for (visiting the film location for Shakespear & Hathaway) and of course that awaited showcase of the Chiltern Network.

Setting off from Wellingborough (EMR) then Bedford (LNW Marston Vale) And hopefully soon Bletchley (Chiltern) then change at Bicester North (Chiltern again)
Full journey to Warwick.

This will be a trip with multiple tickets, is there a Day Ranger that covers the whole journey. i'm still learning all the tips n tricks for these travelling adventures.

Don't forget you will be changing at Bicester Village to get to North. About 20 minutes walk or the black bus from the village. Hope helpful apologies if you already knew that.

 

[fishwomp]

Noticed a strange 'quirk'. Hovering the mouse over both Kirkby and Rainford show validity for the Freedom of the North West (7 day and 4 in 8 versions) and the Coast & Peaks 4 iin 8 - but Headbolt Lane (the station between them) doesn't.

Thanks - missing on nationalrail's list, but pretty obviously it should apply - fixed.
In a similar vein, I added a load of (mainly) new stations - missing from the national rail list, but evidently in error as new stations frequently get left out. Even things like fishguard and goodwick which has been open 14 years and predates the tickets it's not listed in!

Also, there seems to be no reference to the Merseyrail Day Saver (valid throughout Merseyrail 'Northern' & 'Wirral' lines), or the Merseytravel 'Saveaway' ticket (all stations in Merseyside plus those on Merseyrail's network which lie in Cheshire).

Having a look: https://www.merseyrail.org/tickets-passes/daily-travel/day-saver/ and https://www.merseyrail.org/tickets-passes/daily-travel/saveaway/.

It seems the saveaway difference is that it adds the ferries and buses - and pretty much only an extra 30-40p - and that you can still go to Chester with a day-saver - either specifically within zone G, or all areas.

If I'm understanding things - Chester - Lime St isn't covered, although some other non-Mersey lines that are eg. Avanti, TfW, Northern are.

 

[fishwomp]

Noticed a strange 'quirk'. Hovering the mouse over both Kirkby and Rainford show validity for the Freedom of the North West (7 day and 4 in 8 versions) and the Coast & Peaks 4 iin 8 - but Headbolt Lane (the station between them) doesn't.

Also, there seems to be no reference to the Merseyrail Day Saver (valid throughout Merseyrail 'Northern' & 'Wirral' lines), or the Merseytravel 'Saveaway' ticket (all stations in Merseyside plus those on Merseyrail's network which lie in Cheshire).

Saveaway added - I've skipped Day Saver given it's only 30-40p difference and duplicates it - getting crowded on the page.

Next I think it'll need London Travelcards - no good reason not..

 

[Welshy1717]

Don't forget you will be changing at Bicester Village to get to North. About 20 minutes walk or the black bus from the village. Hope helpful apologies if you already knew that.

oh yes its definitely worth spending some time exploring Bicester, there is a cross section there where the 2 lines meet.

Makes you wonder why they never built the station there, One station for the town.

 

[TheSel]

Saveaway added - I've skipped Day Saver given it's only 30-40p difference and duplicates it - getting crowded on the page.

Next I think it'll need London Travelcards - no good reason not..

Cheers! Just a couple more oddities I've spotted in that sort of area:

• All stations on the Liverpool South Parkway - Manchester Oxford Road stretch should show validity for 'Coast & Peaks' and 'Freedom of the North West' rovers. Some show both, some one or the other, some neither.
  
  
• Validity of the 'North Wales Rover' (the zonal one) is inconsistent. For example, Rhyl is correctly showing validity for the 2 & 3 zones ticket as well as the All Zones version, but some stations aren't showing these tickets to be valid (chiefly the smaller stations like Valley, Penyffordd & Harlech to give three examples on different lines).

Please don't think this is criticism - it's a great resource. Much appreciated.

 

[DiddyKongRacin]

GM Wayfarer validity is a little off as you have it the same as the day-saver, the boundary goes further out.

 

[fishwomp]

Cheers! Just a couple more oddities I've spotted in that sort of area:

• All stations on the Liverpool South Parkway - Manchester Oxford Road stretch should show validity for 'Coast & Peaks' and 'Freedom of the North West' rovers. Some show both, some one or the other, some neither.
  
  
• Validity of the 'North Wales Rover' (the zonal one) is inconsistent. For example, Rhyl is correctly showing validity for the 2 & 3 zones ticket as well as the All Zones version, but some stations aren't showing these tickets to be valid (chiefly the smaller stations like Valley, Penyffordd & Harlech to give three examples on different lines).

Thank you! I've just had Claude do a big ol' run through of where a station is not in a rover but is between two stations that are included, and been manually going through that with it - one of the things I'm already valuing on my site is being able to click the link to the official page against a rover in the alphabetical list of rovers. It drove me mad using national rail's site: you have to keep clicking 'show more' on the national rail site, and they're not alphabetical!

Please don't think this is criticism - it's a great resource. Much appreciated.

Glad you're finding it handy ! Absolutely not yet getting worried by the feedback - there's so many official disparate sources of truth, I need feedback like this to make it better.

 

[fishwomp]

GM Wayfarer validity is a little off as you have it the same as the day-saver, the boundary goes further out.

I didn't even have that in the list - thanks for pointing it out!

I did have Day Saver and Day Ranger - they're two different tickets - Day Saver includes the trams and buses IIRC. I've just added Wayfarer now, which handily has a list of stations covered ( https://tfgm.com/tickets-and-passes/wayfarer-adult )

 

[jupiter]

Great resource. There seems to be an anomaly with Okehampton and the preceding stations in that they aren’t included in the Freedom of the Southwest Rover.

 

[DiddyKongRacin]

I didn't even have that in the list - thanks for pointing it out!

I did have Day Saver and Day Ranger - they're two different tickets - Day Saver includes the trams and buses IIRC. I've just added Wayfarer now, which handily has a list of stations covered ( https://tfgm.com/tickets-and-passes/wayfarer-adult )

Happy to help!

 

[tumbledown]

The list shows the West Yorkshire Daysaver Train as only valid on Northern - is this true?

 

[pokemonsuper9]

The list shows the West Yorkshire Daysaver Train as only valid on Northern - is this true?

No it allows all TOCs in the area, it's one of the few rangers that allow Grand Central.

 

[tumbledown]

Thank you.

 

[fishwomp]

The list shows the West Yorkshire Daysaver Train as only valid on Northern - is this true?

Certainly not true! Keep the corrections coming

 

[fishwomp]

Great resource. There seems to be an anomaly with Okehampton and the preceding stations in that they aren’t included in the Freedom of the Southwest Rover.

Thanks - have added Okehampton to all rovers that Crediton is a rover for.