Saltaire to Bromborough, Sunday 31st May

[RichardAsh1981]

I hope this in the right forum.
I am spending the weekend of 29th-31st May in Saltaire, ending at 4pm. Once I have got from the venue to the station (and hopefully bought some food), call it 5pm earliest reliable departure.
Transpennine Upgrade works mean that there is a closure Leeds-Huddersfield, so the forum's ticketing site is offering me three different 17:37 departures. All start off with the same train to Leeds. From there the options are:

• 18:12 Northern stopper to Manchester Victoria (train), change to TPE train to Liverpool.
• 18:05 Rail Replacement Bus to Huddersfield, then TPE train to Liverpool

There is a third option, but it is just a weird routing from Manchester of the first above.

Does anyone know what the Northern stopper is likely to be like on a closure weekend? Given the end to end time is the same, my initial thought was to take the train, but if it is likely to be rammed then maybe the bus is a better bet?
This will be on Advances, so if the connections are likely to fail, I don't want that.

The scheduled 1hr 05min for the bus seems tight given Google Maps says 53 minutes to drive it, and the timetable only gives me 10 minutes change at each end.
The Northern stopper train has longer connections at 18/22 minutes.

 

[yorkie]

I hope this in the right forum.
I am spending the weekend of 29th-31st May in Saltaire, ending at 4pm. Once I have got from the venue to the station (and hopefully bought some food), call it 5pm earliest reliable departure.
Transpennine Upgrade works mean that there is a closure Leeds-Huddersfield, so the forum's ticketing site is offering me three different 17:37 departures. All start off with the same train to Leeds. From there the options are:

• 18:12 Northern stopper to Manchester Victoria (train), change to TPE train to Liverpool.
• 18:05 Rail Replacement Bus to Huddersfield, then TPE train to Liverpool

There is a third option, but it is just a weird routing from Manchester of the first above.

Does anyone know what the Northern stopper is likely to be like on a closure weekend? Given the end to end time is the same, my initial thought was to take the train, but if it is likely to be rammed then maybe the bus is a better bet?
This will be on Advances, so if the connections are likely to fail, I don't want that.

It would depend on the weather, sporting fixtures etc.

Also Northern trains on this route could be 2, 3 or 4 carriages and it can be difficult to know in advance what will be allocated.

Can you link to the exact service on RealTimeTrains for the date in question?

The scheduled 1hr 05min for the bus seems tight given Google Maps says 53 minutes to drive it, and the timetable only gives me 10 minutes change at each end.
The Northern stopper train has longer connections at 18/22 minutes.

If arrival time and not missing connections is important for you, go to advanced options and specify additional interchange time.

You can either apply additional time across the board, or specific additional times at stations of your choice.

Any value you specify is added to the minimum interchange time defined for the location in question.

 

[RichardAsh1981]

Can you link to the exact service on RealTimeTrains for the date in question?

Northern train:

Realtime Trains | 1812 Leeds to Manchester Victoria | 31/05/2026

Real-time train running information for 1812 departure from Leeds to Manchester Victoria on 31/05/2026. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

Replacement Bus:

Realtime Trains | 1805 Leeds to Huddersfield | 31/05/2026

Real-time train running information for 1805 departure from Leeds to Huddersfield on 31/05/2026. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

If arrival time and not missing connections is important for you, go to advanced options and specify additional interchange time.

Good point. I mainly don't want to miss a connection and have to explain why the other two Advance tickets are not for the train I am on ...

 

[Watershed]

I mainly don't want to miss a connection and have to explain why the other two Advance tickets are not for the train I am on ...

Your ticket is automatically valid on the next service run by the same TOC if you miss your connection, regardless of whether you have split tickets or a through ticket. It's a very common occurrence; I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[30907]

From Saltaire, I would catch the 662 bus (every 20min on Sundays) to Bradford Interchange and head on from there (via Preston might be an option?). The Co-op at the top of Victoria Road is handy!

Check RTT on 10th/17th to see how long the trains are.

 

[RichardAsh1981]

Thank you for the suggestions. Last Sunday the Northern stopper at 18:12 from Leeds was a 2-car 197: https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:G90682/2026-05-03

662 Bus to Bradford Interchange is a good deal quicker than going to Leeds and back through, it then board the same Northern stopper (probably not quite enough time saving to get the train an hour earlier, given the bus stop is further than the station from where I will be starting). Oddly, the West Yorkshire Metro timetable (https://www.wymetro.com/timetable-pdf?serviceNumber=662) and bustimes.org (https://bustimes.org/services/662-keighley-bingley-saltaire-bradford?date=2026-05-17) don't agree on bus times, the former has ~20 minute interval, the latter 30 minutes! Either way this avoids a long double-back to Leeds on the train, so thank you for the suggestion.

Co-op on Victoria Road (from which the 662 bus should leave opposite) duly noted!

 

[Tetchytyke]

Oddly, the West Yorkshire Metro timetable and bustimes.org don't agree on bus times

The timetable changes on 17 May. Bustimes shows the new timetable. You can also download the new timetable from the WYMetro site.

From Bradford, it will be pot luck as to what Northern allocate to the Calder Valley trains. You'd hope 3-car or 4-car 195s, but I wouldn't like to bet on it. Northern never do things the simple way.

Here's what I'd do:
662 bus - 1724 from Saltaire, arrives Bradford 1747 (or 1749 arrives 1808)
363 bus - 1814 from Bradford, arrives Huddersfield 1900
TPE - 1920 from Huddersfield, arrives Liverpool 2034

 

[RichardAsh1981]

To report back, all went fine. I actually got the 1654 bus from Saltaire, having made the walk quicker than expected (and heat eased). Bus was on time and well used, not a lot of empty seats.

Train from Bradford Interchange (3-coach 195) was pretty full but not too many standing. Buggy / wheelchair spaces were full of big suitcases, presumably on airport runs and changing at Manchester Victoria. I got a seat after a couple of stops and persuaded my hard case into the overhead rack.

The Huddersfield - Liverpool train was predictably lightly loaded when I boarded at Victoria (not the only one doing that change).

Everything ran on time, making me wish I had had the confidence to book my Advance tickets to rely on that, rather than building in slack and spending an hour at Bradford Interchange. Northern were running half hourly on the Calder Valley, but only 1tph from Manchester Victoria to Liverpool meant only one connection per hour, and waiting at Bradford preferable to inside the gate line at Victoria.