Rail & Sail tickets to Orkney - Impossible to buy?

mvhamnavoe · 25 Jul 2026

The ScotRail site says they sell Rail&Sail tickets to Orkney, so I wanted to book one of these for a journey next month. My journey would start in Inverness and end in Stromness. Booking this seems to be impossible! Beyond one page on ScotRail's site, there is very little information online on these tickets.

In-person at Inverness station, the ticket clerk wasn't able to sell me one as the timetables apparently weren't loaded into the system. I emailed ScotRail who said they still sell the tickets, and that I should call to book. However calling ScotRail didn't work. The person on the other end first told me to book on the ScotRail site, which isn't possible for the ferry to Stromness. She then sent me a booking link on NorthLink ferries' website, which 404s. When I complained, I was sent another booking link on NorthLink which also 404s.

I did further research and found it's possible to purchase an anytime day single from Inverness to Stromness on BRFares. If I did this, would it be accepted for travel? What rights would I have if travel was refused e.g. by the ferry company? And is this still a valid itinerary?

RailUK Forums

voyagerdude220 · 25 Jul 2026

How strange..

I can certainly get the fares advertised on BR Fares on my Fujitsu Star ticket machine. They also come up on Journey Planner but no journey itineries are found.

Watershed · 25 Jul 2026

Since the ferries aren't in the rail timetable data feeds, almost all online/app based retailers won't find journeys and therefore won't sell tickets.

BR Fares is the only online retailer I'm aware of which doesn't require you to search for journeys to buy a ticket, hence you skip this issue when you buy the ticket through them.

I don't think you would face any difficulties using a thorough ticket, although it may be advisable to contact Northlink to see if you can make a reservation.

The fact that through tickets have been offered onto Northlink ferries for years means that the railway (and its retailers/agents such as BR Fares) has the apparent authority needed to bind Northlink, so you would have recourse against Northlink in the unlikely event your ticket was rejected.

Adam Williams · 25 Jul 2026

One of Raileasy's customers successfully travelled using a walk-up Northlink ticket to Orkney (Kirkwall on the NL2 service, rather than Stromness - but same island and same ferry operator) about a fortnight ago. These are pure TUAG, walk-up tickets and no ferry coupon or reservation is required - Raileasy was involved in getting ScotRail to update their website to clarify this.

You may need to politely explain that the ticket is indeed valid for the ferry on-departure and no additional fare is payable (as the staff won't see many of them), but Raileasy have asked Northlink (as of July 13th) to be re-briefed on the validity of tickets to try and reduce this friction.

I suspect you will be fine, but if you do buy from BR Fares and encounter problems, I have no doubt that you would be supported by the retailer afterwards.

mvhamnavoe · 25 Jul 2026

Thank you all for your help. I have purchased the ticket from BR Fares. I will write an update here once I have travelled.

I have also booked my taxi for the transfer from Scrabster to Thurso. The taxi driver did not know about the Rail and Sail tickets, and was confused when I asked if I just had to show him the ticket to pay the fare. I assume I'd be able to claim the taxi fare back from ScotRail, if for whatever reason the driver refused to accept the ticket as payment.

Adam Williams · 25 Jul 2026

What makes you think the taxi transfer is included in the price of the ticket?

Edit: Oh wow, I hadn't seen that on ScotRail's site. Hopefully it's an agreement that isn't a bygone relic, and something they'll still honour!

cornishjohn · 25 Jul 2026

Adam Williams said:
What makes you think the taxi transfer is included in the price of the ticket?

https://www.scotrail.co.uk/tickets/combined-tickets-travel-passes/rail-and-sail says they (still) are.

My mum used to use these tickets quite a bit. Never had any trouble showing the tickets to the ferry people at the time, as this is now quite a few years ago. They just printed off a boarding pass. She generally bought off scotrail over the phone at the time and had them posted.

Adam Williams · 25 Jul 2026

cornishjohn said:
https://www.scotrail.co.uk/tickets/combined-tickets-travel-passes/rail-and-sail says they (still) are.

My mum used to use these tickets quite a bit. Never had any trouble showing the tickets to the ferry people at the time, as this is now quite a few years ago. They just printed off a boarding pass. She generally bought off scotrail over the phone at the time and had them posted.

Pleasantly surprised they thought it all through. Hopefully it works out for OP next month

danm14 · 25 Jul 2026

The current North Highland line timetable PDF still references the free taxi transfer, but states to book with Ormlie & Violet's Taxis rather than Highland Taxis.

cornishjohn · 25 Jul 2026

Adam Williams said:
Pleasantly surprised they thought it all through.

Its quite a walk to the ferry and the bus connection used to vary between sketchy and not there at all.

Adam Williams said:
Hopefully it works out for OP next month

Yes. I dont have any up to date gen on these tickets, but they are\were quite handy.

There's no point thinking about reservations for the Stromness ferry, these are quite big enough for the usual foot-passenger load. If a cabin is wanted on the Aberdeen ferry then certainly contact the ferry people in advance.

danm14 said:
The current North Highland line timetable PDF still references the free taxi transfer, but states to book with Ormlie & Violet's Taxis rather than Highland Taxis.

Interesting, as I checked the scotrail website before posting, an this still says Highland. I wonder if our OP has spoken to the wrong firm.

mvhamnavoe · 25 Jul 2026

cornishjohn said:
Its quite a walk to the ferry and the bus connection used to vary between sketchy and not there at all.

Yes. I dont have any up to date gen on these tickets, but they are\were quite handy.

There's no point thinking about reservations for the Stromness ferry, these are quite big enough for the usual foot-passenger load. If a cabin is wanted on the Aberdeen ferry then certainly contact the ferry people in advance.

Interesting, as I checked the scotrail website before posting, an this still says Highland. I wonder if our OP has spoken to the wrong firm.

Yes, that explains why the guy from Highland Taxis was so confused! I've contacted Ormlie & Violet's to book the transfer and will cancel with Highland Cabs.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 25 Jul 2026 ==

I think the timetables have been loaded for some journeys. It's possible to buy a ticket from "Kirkwall via Scrabster to Inverness" on the forums' tickets service, although this is £4 more expensive than the Stromness to Inverness ticket and I'm not sure why. Also the forum's ticket site (incorrectly?) states the ticket won't cover the transfer from Scrabster to Thurso, see the attached photo.

AFAIK there's nowhere in Orkney to print train tickets. Is there a retailer that will sell these tickets then post them to Orkney? I don't think either BR fares or the forum offers this.

Adam Williams · 25 Jul 2026

mvhamnavoe said:
AFAIK there's nowhere in Orkney to print train tickets. Is there a retailer that will sell these tickets then post them to Orkney? I don't think either BR fares or the forum offers this.

I think most retailers would much rather see E-Ticket acceptance than anything else that relies on paper tickets. This is what's (hopefully) happening for some other non-rail tickets.

mvhamnavoe said:
Also the forum's ticket site (incorrectly?) states the ticket won't cover the transfer from Scrabster to Thurso, see the attached photo.

A TRANSFER fixed link is usually meant to indicate "at own expense" (except when it doesn't mean that - e.g. during engineering works!) and there's I'm not really aware of anything in the data that can override this. There is a TAXI mode that exists for additional fixed links, but I seem to recall FastJP don't support those.

Really, the data schema should've been given a "included in ticket cost" flag which could be set to true or false for specific links.

I agree it's misleading. I can't think of a good way to fix it, short of maintaining yet more custom data.

cornishjohn · 25 Jul 2026

mvhamnavoe said:
It's possible to buy a ticket from "Kirkwall via Scrabster to Inverness" on the forums' tickets service, although this is £4 more expensive than the Stromness to Inverness ticket and I'm not sure why.

*edit* there is a bus connection stromness\kirkwall, so I hope it is this. But am not in a position to confirm this. I thought I saw this on the website but maybe I dreamt it.

>> AFAIK there's nowhere in Orkney to print train tickets. Is there a retailer that will sell these tickets then post them to Orkney? I don't think either BR fares or the forum offers this.

As above, the intended method was to have scotrail post them to you, although I note your trouble with their phone line here. Maybe try again and hope you get a different agent? Good luck anyhow.

kkong · 26 Jul 2026

cornishjohn said:
*edit* there is a bus connection stromness\kirkwall, so I hope it is this. But am not in a position to confirm this. I thought I saw this on the website but maybe I dreamt it.

Industry data does indicate the bus between Kirkwall and Stromness is included, but I have no experience of how likely the Stagecoach drivers are to recognise such a ticket.

Confusingly, the data also mentions a bus connection from Thurso to Scrabster, whereas it is in fact a taxi, as it later explains:

Kirkwall (Orkney Islands) via Scrabster
NLC code: J207

Interchange station: Thurso then bus connection to Scrabster
Shipping operator: Northlink Ferries
...
Fare includes Ormlie Taxis service between Thurso and Scrabster, and Stagecoach in Caithness bus service between Stromness and Kirkwall

Single bus fares are capped at £2 in Orkney at present, so it's not going to be a financial hardship to pay for the bus, if required.

Edit: To add that there are now Ember buses between Thurso and Scrabster (route E6, continues to Inverness via Wick), albeit only four services per day.

Note that the Ember bus stop is at the Northlink vehicle check-in building, not the foot passenger terminal. It is an approximately 5-10 minute - mostly uncovered - walk between the two buildings!

davp · 26 Jul 2026

mvhamnavoe said:
I think the timetables have been loaded for some journeys. It's possible to buy a ticket from "Kirkwall via Scrabster to Inverness" on the forums' tickets service, although this is £4 more expensive than the Stromness to Inverness ticket and I'm not sure why.

It's a £2 cap on the bus from Kirkwall to Stromness, so that would be a cheaper way to do it.

mvhamnavoe · 26 Jul 2026

kkong said:
Industry data does indicate the bus between Kirkwall and Stromness is included, but I have no experience of how likely the Stagecoach drivers are to recognise such a ticket.

Confusingly, the data also mentions a bus connection from Thurso to Scrabster, whereas it is in fact a taxi, as it later explains:

Single bus fares are capped at £2 in Orkney at present, so it's not going to be a financial hardship to pay for the bus, if required.

Edit: To add that there are now Ember buses between Thurso and Scrabster (route E6, continues to Inverness via Wick), albeit only four services per day.

Note that the Ember bus stop is at the Northlink vehicle check-in building, not the foot passenger terminal. It is an approximately 5-10 minute - mostly uncovered - walk between the two buildings!

Interesting, where is this data listed?
I've used the E6 on previous journeys and have found it pretty good, but am keen to try this ticket for the sake of it.

I also contacted Ormlie Taxis who said they haven't had the contract for this with ScotRail since COVID. I will update here when I've figured out how to get the taxi transfer!

kkong · 26 Jul 2026

mvhamnavoe said:
Interesting, where is this data listed?

It is listed as "internal"...

cornishjohn · 26 Jul 2026

kkong said:
Single bus fares are capped at £2 in Orkney at present, so it's not going to be a financial hardship to pay for the bus, if required.

Cheaper than the combined ticket then...

kkong said:
Edit: To add that there are now Ember buses between Thurso and Scrabster (route E6, continues to Inverness via Wick), albeit only four services per day.

With only three ferries a day that seems overkill. Any idea why it cannot run to the pier head any more?

kkong · 26 Jul 2026

cornishjohn said:
With only three ferries a day that seems overkill. Any idea why it cannot run to the pier head any more?

Workers may use them to get to / from Scrabster at the start / end of the day.

I don't think Ember have ever visited the passenger terminal?

I did see a Stagecoach bus head over there while I was awaiting my Ember recently.

There were five of us boarding at Scrabster for the 09:17 departure on a weekday, with many more joining in Thurso and Wick.

ns274 · 30 Jul 2026

mvhamnavoe said:
In-person at Inverness station, the ticket clerk wasn't able to sell me one as the timetables apparently weren't loaded into the system.

Many Scotrail ticket office staff seem to over-rely on journey planners. They would claim they couldnt sell you the ticket if no itinerary is shown — I had a Scotrail clerk attempting to find an itinerary for a PlusBus Day ticket once ...

Rail & Sail tickets to Orkney - Impossible to buy?

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