Mini-Switzerland - Part 4

Modesty prevents your blogging bloke from revealing whose birthday it is TODAY!

Interested In Interchanges?

In a previous posting in this series, fbb has highlighted the quality and availability of Swiss bus/rail interchange. 

We already also know that possible Interchanges in the Hope Valley fall far short of Swiss style and connectivity. But, if the Ableman report is to be implemented, you might expect transfer from rail to bus (and vice versa) to increase substantially.

That is the aim of mini-Switzerland, surely.

So here is the geography, running from East to West.

We begin with Bamford. 

Some years back the "interchange" was built, being a lay-by used by buses in both directions. It is opposite one of the station entrances which, certainly in the most recent visit by Google, is not very well signposted ...

... in fact not signposted at all. The blue sign directs folk to Bamford village, some distance away.

The immediate access is a ramp opposite the bus shelter ...

... which leads down to the westbound platform for Manchester. 

Walking along the footpath towards the distant village, you next come to steps, again for westbound trains ...

Next north are the steps down for Sheffield trains ...

... both sets of steppage serve as the station footbridge. A little further north is a lane, sort of flat, also leading to Sheffield trains. 

Every effort had been spared to make the interchange easy and attractive.

The station is bereft of facilities with the exception of platform shelters and a ticket machine.

Welcome to the Hope Valley!

And welcome to the station plan!

Next week go to Edale. 

There is a creepy footpath on the north of the tracks leading to the eastbound platform (for Sheffield) ...

... but the main entrance is on the south side.

Needless to say, buses do not venture in to the car park area to get as close as possible to the trains. Buses lurk on the main access road and obviously out of sight of the station exit!

Wot, no footbridge?

Correct. The station has a subway with both ramp and stepped access.

It also boasts some Midland Region replica hot dog shaped station signs.

Apart from those two excitements, the station has the same un-lavish facilities as Bamford.

Finally there is Hope.

It is just off the main road, with buses stopping at te end of the lane. Nothing omnibological venture down the lane.

At the station itself there is a car park, and a footbridge to cross the line. There are no lifts, making it the least helpful station of the three for the less ambulant.

You can see the footbridge hiding in the trees ...

... located about as far from the station entrance as it is possible to get without trespassing on the tracks,

Once again, facilities are "limited"!

The station matches the other two in lack of almost everything.

And here, for completeness is the plan.

Clearly the existing facilities fall way short of anything you might expect in Switzerland.

But Hope might offer some hope!

Tomorrow, fbb will speculate on how bus/rail interchange in the rose+tinted world of the Ableman report ...

... might actually work.

If only somebody had the necessary bags of money!

   Next mini-Switzerland blog : Thurs 26 Feb 

Mini-Swirzerland - Part 3

So What's The Plan?

As with so many of these reports, it's aims are far reaching, noble, and, of course, absolutely superb for the environment. Surely they will also be a contributor to increased social mobility and the revitalisation of the countryside.

fbb once worked for a boss whose opinion was that any proposal that filled more than one side of an A4 sheet of paper was a waste of time as no one would ever read it. fbb thinks those strictures did not apply to reports that the boss himself wrote!

The mini-Switzerland proposal for bus services in the Hope Valley is packed full with noble aims ...

... ideas which are hardly revolutionary.

But the "concepts" flow thick and fast. (click on the panels for an enlargement).

Brilliant.

Odd that nobody has thought of those ideas before!

If more people use the buses, the cost to the public purse will be lower.

It's Mao's red book all over again; but this time, blue with swans! Here are some happy immigrant agriculture workers from the Hope Valley, rejoicing over the Abelman report and the improvement it will bring to their journeys to and from the fields of waving corn.

The picture on the report itseilf is based in a view of Ashopton Viaduct from the road leading to Derwent ...

... but the "Northern" DMU in the contrived picture is on a non-existent track which, in reality, runs about six miles south at Bamford.

Unless, of course, someone has built a railway line across the Snake Pass since fbb lived that way

But we can postpone the excitement no longer. 

fbb can now reveal the details of the mini-Switzerland bus plan. What he cannot reveal is any actual timetables or details of how and where connections will be made.

Such information is not given.

On the following diagrams, routes are colour coded by frequency as follows.

Here are the routes from Sheffield, now ...

... with the 65 from Sheffield and 66 from Chesterfield continuing via Eyam to Buxton and thus not technically "Swiss'! 

Here is the Abelman plan.

The 272 from Sheffield has become hourly rather than an incorrect every 90 minutes. It has been hourly, roughy, for ages!.

The only real change is that the 257 adds a double run to Eyam. The pink shading claims to be a bus every 20 mins - but it isn't!

Next comes the 173, now ...

... and new.

It doubles in frequency to a bus every hour. The 256 between Bradwell and Castleton is from a past timetable. fbb is not sure what it is doing there now. The grand plan appears to withdraw the 272 from Bradwell, a route variant that dates back to an age so old that it predates fbb.

And so to Castleton, now ...

... and proposed.

Today's 62 from Buxton to Castleton is curtailed at Edale station, so a frustrating and retrograde change would be necessary according to the Red Book (whoops, the blue report).

Completely new is an hourly 73/64 link shown on the diagram as running between Hope station, Edale and Castleton via Mam Tor or via Castleton, Mam Tor and Edale.

Sadly the road via Mam Tor was closed permanently in 1977 for reasons which are fairly obvious if you take a stroll that away. Perhaps Mr Ableman is expecting Derbyshire to rebuild it!

The proposed 63 and 64 are almost circulars, as shown by the yellow roads on this map.

The route is via Barber Booth and not Mam Tor!

There is one bit of white road for the 63/64 to use and that is the super smashing and utterly glorious Winnats Pass, shown cartographically above "Peveril Castle".

Wow! That almost looks like a mini-Switzerland!

Is the plan viable?

fbb will offer his modest opinion in tomorrow's  blog.

Spoiler alert : it isn't!

  Next mini-Switzerlabd blog : Weds 25 Feb 

Mini Switzerland - Part 2

It could be that the cheery chappie above is the one has chosen to link Derbyshire's Hope Valley ...

... with Switzerland.

With every milligram of goodwill, fbb finds it hard to justify the comparison, even with the added "mini".

Scanning through the report, it becomes clear that the mini label does not refer to geography, but does refer to public transport. Even then, as we saw in last Friday's blog, there is no comparison!

What Mr Abelman is suggesting is that the Hope Valley should have public transport which could be a microcosm of that in Switzerland.

We all know how excellent public transport is in the land if cheese, cuckoo clocks and lederhosen! Everything runs on time and everything connects!

Both are generally true, but there is a price to pay. Switzerland is an expensive country in which to dwell, an expensive country to visit and a hugely expensive country in which to eat and drink. It's the taxes, innit!

Whilst transport does connect well with itself, that is often at the expense of speed as trains linger longer at interchange stations than, for example, in the UK.

But let us review train services on the Hope Valley line.

Transpennine runs hourly between Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield and Cleethorpes.

Apart from some peak hour stops for commuters between Dore and Sheffield, trains ignore the Hope Valley local stops, as does ...

... East Midlands Railway also running every hour.

It's a long straggly table which fbb has curtailed at Nottingham. Again there are some local calls at peak times.

If this were Switzerland, you would expect the fast services to make at least one call in the Valley itself for the tourist trade.

But all the study area gets is ...

... with an hourly stopping service between Manchester and Sheffield.

It's presentation is a right mess, as is the "printable" timetable.

The layout is made even more complicated because timings are slightly different Mondays to Fridays versus Saturdays,

Such a nonsense would NOT be tolerated in Switzerland.

Wisely, the report is not proposing changes in any rail timetable. The aim is to improve bus services and offer full integration with the Northern stopping service.

In passing, it is worth noting that within living memory (well, fbb's  memory) the ONLY stopping passenger train service via the Hope Valley was an irregular timetable between Sheffield and New Mills with connections (often inadequate) on to Manchester.

Mr Ableman is more interested in the bus services.

Currently these are on offer, in order of "significance".

One bus was branded by First! The 272 was historically joint with North Western Road Car, but more recently with the doomed Hulleys of Baslow.

It runs approx hourly and offers double deck vehicles. 

The replacement for Hulleys is High Peak Buses ...

... which used to be Trent. Former Trent "Skyline" branded single deckers have often appeared. The route is main road all the way to Castleton ...

... with buses diverting via Bradwell either on the outward journey or the return.

Next is the 257. This runs due west from the City as far as the reservoirs, then drops south to Bamford, Hathersage and Bakewell.

Once a very infrequent 44 (later 244) by Sheffield Transport, it was often worked by this vehicle ...

... with conductor, of course. As a nostalgia snippet, the lunchtime departure from Sheffield was STD's first ever one man bus! It carried more staff (inspectors, observers and trainees) than genuine passengers.

The route was developed massively by Hulleys and is now hourly ...

... but with much diversion on Schooldays!

The operator is now Andrews if Tideswell ...

... having taken over from Hulleys.

In a sense, the 257 merely crosses the Hope Valley at Bamford and Hathersage ...

... but, as we shall see, does feature in the Switzerland report.

The 173 ...

... Andrews, formerly Hulleys ...

... is a delightful country route.

Then there is High Peak 62 ...

... not renowned for its frequency.

These two are best examined in conjunction with the Ableman report as, if the plan were implemented, they would see the most change.

So how would Mini Switzerland seek to improve these services?

Tomorrow's  blog will reveal all.

  Next Mini-Switzerland blog : Tues 24th Feb