Doncaster<>Thurnscoe

ricoblade · 16 Jul 2026

Hi All - I'm wanting to go from Doncaster to Thurnscoe this Saturday and am getting a bit confused as to route and ticketing options.

The National Rail site routes me either by Wakefield Westgate or Swinton. In the Wakefield case it looks like I'd need 2 tickets.

The LNER site only shows the Swinton option.

The forum site shows either Swinton or changing at Fitzwilliam.

I'd like a flexible ticket, via the northern route as the timings are better and I don't know what time I'm returning but a Off-Peak Day Return only seems to valid via Swinton.

Can I get a flexible ticket via the northern route (changind at Fitzwilliam or Wakefield) please?

RailUK Forums

156401 · 16 Jul 2026

If you are reasonably mobile the walking distance between South Elmsall and Moorthorpe stations is less than a mile. A South Yorkshire connect day ranger ticket would give you the flexibility you need in this case, although it would require you to walk between the two or travel via Swinton. I can’t think of a flexible ticket that allows you to change at Fitzwilliam or Wakefield.

Watershed · 16 Jul 2026

Thurnscoe is associated with the Doncaster, Pontefract, Swinton and Wakefield Routeing Points. Because it's associated with Doncaster, a journey from Doncaster to Thurnscoe is treated as a 'local' journey under the Routeing Guide.

This means you can only use direct trains to & from the Routeing Point (there are none), or the shortest route or a route within 3 miles thereof. The shortest route is via Swinton and going via Fitzwilliam is more than 3 miles longer.

I'm not sure why TrainSplit/the forum site allows travel via Fitzwilliam but perhaps there's something I have missed here.

It's a bit of an unusual case in that the only reason it's associated with Doncaster is that Fitzwilliam isn't a Routeing Point (arguably it should be) and so you don't pass through any other Routeing Points if you go to Doncaster via Fitzwilliam.

But because travelling via Fitzwilliam is a much longer route than travelling via Swinton, it's not valid under the Routeing Guide. So the association with Doncaster isn't really usable and they should remove it, or add an easement to allow travel via Fitzwilliam.

You can still rely on the itinerary a journey planner offers when buying your ticket, or NRE after you buy it, of course.

ricoblade · 17 Jul 2026

156401 said:
If you are reasonably mobile the walking distance between South Elmsall and Moorthorpe stations is less than a mile. A South Yorkshire connect day ranger ticket would give you the flexibility you need in this case, although it would require you to walk between the two or travel via Swinton. I can’t think of a flexible ticket that allows you to change at Fitzwilliam or Wakefield.

Thanks! I've used the SY Connect+before for trains, trams and buses but didn't think of it for this route. That's probably going to give me the flexibility I need. I'm going walking anyway so mobility is not a problem for me and I'll look at your suggestion.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 17 Jul 2026 ==

Watershed said:
Thurnscoe is associated with the Doncaster, Pontefract, Swinton and Wakefield Routeing Points. Because it's associated with Doncaster, a journey from Doncaster to Thurnscoe is treated as a 'local' journey under the Routeing Guide.

This means you can only use direct trains to & from the Routeing Point (there are none), or the shortest route or a route within 3 miles thereof. The shortest route is via Swinton and going via Fitzwilliam is more than 3 miles longer.

I'm not sure why TrainSplit/the forum site allows travel via Fitzwilliam but perhaps there's something I have missed here.

It's a bit of an unusual case in that the only reason it's associated with Doncaster is that Fitzwilliam isn't a Routeing Point (arguably it should be) and so you don't pass through any other Routeing Points if you go to Doncaster via Fitzwilliam.

But because travelling via Fitzwilliam is a much longer route than travelling via Swinton, it's not valid under the Routeing Guide. So the association with Doncaster isn't really usable and they should remove it, or add an easement to allow travel via Fitzwilliam.

You can still rely on the itinerary a journey planner offers when buying your ticket, or NRE after you buy it, of course.

Thanks for the detailed explantion. That would be why the Off-Peak Day Return is only valid via Swinton.

Watershed · 17 Jul 2026

ricoblade said:
Thanks! I've used the SY Connect+before for trains, trams and buses but didn't think of it for this route. That's probably going to give me the flexibility I need. I'm going walking anyway so mobility is not a problem for me and I'll look at your suggestion.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 17 Jul 2026 ==

Thanks for the detailed explantion. That would be why the Off-Peak Day Return is only valid via Swinton.

Yes, that plus the fact that it is priced by South Yorkshire PTE so they would not want the validity to extend beyond their 'area'.

For example for Moorthorpe to Denby Dale, both are boundary stations between the SYPTE and WYPTE areas. It's plausible to go either via Meadowhall (through SYPTE's area) or via Huddersfield (through WYPTE's area). So each PTE sets the relevant fare that only allows travel through their own area.

ricoblade · 18 Jul 2026

Thanks all - In the end I got an Advance Doncaster>Wakefield Westgate (WKF) (with Senior Railcard) for £2.95(!), then an Off-Peak Single (no Advances offered from WKF to Thurnscoe) for £5.55 (extortion!) then I walked to Adwick and got another Off-Peak Day Single for £1.85 back to Donny.

Farigiraf · 18 Jul 2026

ricoblade said:
Thanks all - In the end I got an Advance Doncaster>Wakefield Westgate (WKF) (with Senior Railcard) for £2.95(!), then an Off-Peak Single (no Advances offered from WKF to Thurnscoe) for £5.55 (extortion!) then I walked to Adwick and got another Off-Peak Day Single for £1.85 back to Donny.

It's too late now, but if you ever make the journey again do note that the bus is around 20 mins faster, more frequent and cheaper than the train in this specific case. Might be worth considering.

Dewedin · 19 Jul 2026

Watershed said:
It's a bit of an unusual case in that the only reason it's associated with Doncaster is that Fitzwilliam isn't a Routeing Point (arguably it should be) and so you don't pass through any other Routeing Points if you go to Doncaster via Fitzwilliam.

Fitzwilliam and Sandal & Agbrigg should probably be included in the Wakefield routeing group.

Doncaster<>Thurnscoe

ricoblade

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156401

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Watershed

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ricoblade

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Watershed

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ricoblade

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Farigiraf

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Dewedin

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