Central Scotland Rover

[Buzby]

It has been an aspiration to get an ALR before I get too decrepit to use it, and noticed there was one covering my home area - the 3 day Central Scotland Rover, to start the ball rolling. It’s ScotRail only and 3 consecutive days from 0916 (M-F) with no restrictions at the weekend. With the furthest elements being Dunblane, Alloa, Markinch & Fife Circle, Forth Bridge, North Berwick, Tweedbank, Lanark & Motherwell. (I’m excluding Edinburgh and Glasgow as I’ve done them to death).

Rather than reinvent the wheel, has anyone planned a CSR route over the 3 days - how did it work out? Any caveats to watch out for? All pointers welcomed!

 

[boracicLint]

Hi Buzby,

Not sure if it's too late or not but I've just finished a 3 day trip using Central Scotland Rover. I came across your post via Google when doing my own research so thought it was only right to share my experience.

I opted to buy the digital ticket as I was paranoid about it being swallowed by the automatic barriers. I ordered the ticket via the Scotrail website. Once ordered I was sent an email with an activation link. When you click on the link it lets you select the day you want the ticket to start from and then you Activate it. Once it's activated you get another email with the ticket attached as a PDF to download to your phone. I downloaded it to my phone, saved it to Google Drive, made it available offline and then added a shortcut to it to my home screen to make it easily accessible. The email claims that a print out won't be accepted but I never tried that so can't vouch for whether that's true or not. The email also claims that the ticket won't work at the automatic barriers but I decided to give it a go anyway and was delighted to find that it worked just fine.

I had absolutely no issues with the ticket on the trains themselves either. Some of the guards asked where I was going, not sure if they were just being nosy or just wanted to know when I was getting off but no big deal.

I went to Dunblane, Alloa, North Berwick, Tweedbank and ran all the different routes to Glasgow (including via Motherwell). I didn't do the Fife Circle as that's the route I've done to death)

If you have any questions then let me know and I'll answer them if I can.

 

[Buzby]

Thanks for that - most useful! I’m currently using long-distance discounts using the Forum‘s own split-ticketing system, but will use the CSR later this month or next. Unfortunatel, the forum’s ticket supplier don’t currently do rovers, so I may have to use ScotRail. Were you aware they changed the validity from 3 days travel out of 7? The successive days restriction sticks in my craw as it means to get good value you need to keep moving!

Your route seems to echo my planning approach, did you return each night or did you `B&B’ it at the furthest points?

 

[boracicLint]

Thanks for that - most useful! I’m currently using long-distance discounts using the Forum‘s own split-ticketing system, but will use the CSR later this month or next. Unfortunatel, the forum’s ticket supplier don’t currently do rovers, so I may have to use ScotRail. Were you aware they changed the validity from 3 days travel out of 7? The successive days restriction sticks in my craw as it means to get good value you need to keep moving!

Your route seems to echo my planning approach, did you return each night or did you `B&B’ it at the furthest points?

I knew about the 3 days out of 7 change but for me the 3 consecutive days worked better.

I returned each night, partly to keep the cost down and partly for family reasons but also for me it was more about the journeys rather than the destinations to be honest. For the North Berwick/Tweedbank runs I just got the same train straight back to Edinburgh rather than spend time there. If I'd had more time then I probably would have stopped off those places and waited on the next train back (about 1hr for those ones) but because I needed to get back home each night then it did limit what I could do. I also wanted to build enough buffer in to make sure I could handle potential cancellations although I was very lucky that none of my planned trains got cancelled. I would advise doing this because otherwise if one of your trains does get cancelled and you have a packed schedule it will throw everything out.

Day 1 I spent an hour or so in Dunblane visiting the Cathedral then spent some time in Stirling visiting the castle etc
Day 2 I spent around 4 hours in Glasgow
Day 3 I spent around 3 hours in Edinburgh

Other than those stops most of the time at other stops was just waiting on a connecting train.

 

[Buzby]

Having a fallback position always helps! I’ll update the thread once I get back - oh, and welcome to RailForum, it’s quite a friendly place and an absolute mine of information you won’t get elsewhere (easily!). Regards etc…

 

[norbitonflyer]

I'm planning to use a CSR for a track-bash to cover the few remaining lines I have not yet "done", which are all in central Scotland (and re-opened since 1980, hence why they are such a diverse mix). Although, if all goes to plan, I should be able to do the lot in 36 hours, including an overnight stay, the CSR looks to be better velue, as well as more convenient, than buying individual tickets.
The lines are:
the Glasgow- Whifflet line
the Larkhall branch
the Holytown-Wishaw spur (quite rare trackage)
the Maryhill- Anniesland spur
the Glasgow Queen High Level- Springburn spur
the Alloa branch
Glenrothes - Leven
the Tweedbank line

As a bonus, the CSR covers the Glasgow subway, so I'll be able to try out its new trains

The only bits not covered by the CSR are
- the Maryhill line, which I plan to do before 0916 when the CSR isn't valid anyway,
- a bus from Alloa to Dunfermline
- possibly the Leven branch - dioes anyone know if the rover coverage will include it?

If I have time before getting a late train back to London, I would like to do the Airdrie-Bathgate line, as I have only done that line whilst in bed!

 

[morrisobrien]

I had absolutely no issues with the ticket on the trains themselves either. Some of the guards asked where I was going, not sure if they were just being nosy or just wanted to know when I was getting off but no big deal.

I think they do this if you are on a 'request stop' train.

 

[Kite159]

The only bits not covered by the CSR are
- the Maryhill line, which I plan to do before 0916 when the CSR isn't valid anyway,

Remember the CSR will be valid all day when ScotRail start the "off peak all day" trail.

Logically the Leven branch will be included

 

[norbitonflyer]

Remember the CSR will be valid all day when ScotRail start the "off peak all day" trail.

Logically the Leven branch will be included

I wondered about that. What about railcard time restrictions?

 

[Buzby]

I wondered about that. What about railcard time restrictions?

As I recall the CSR is traditionally only valid after 0929 M-F but unrestricted on S & S at the moment. Whether they remember to lift this come October is anyone’s guess but the restriction was still showing when I checked earlier. It’s still a big early to enjoy a trip to Leven or the new Subway trains unless the trip is much later in the year.

Lastly, I was confused by the ‘Maryhill to Anniesland spur’. It’s part of a loop from Queen Street to Anniesland via Ashfield with plenty of connectivity at either end. Only services in the north Clyde area that could be described as such are Milngavie and Balloch.

 

[Kite159]

As I recall the CSR is traditionally only valid after 0929 M-F but unrestricted on S & S at the moment. Whether they remember to lift this come October is anyone’s guess but the restriction was still showing when I checked earlier. It’s still a big early to enjoy a trip to Leven or the new Subway trains unless the trip is much later in the year.

Lastly, I was confused by the ‘Maryhill to Anniesland spur’. It’s part of a loop from Queen Street to Anniesland via Ashfield with plenty of connectivity at either end. Only services in the north Clyde area that could be described as such are Milngavie and Balloch.

The "spur" would be that section from Maryhill to Anniesland which was effectively a siding when it reopened in 2005 with a connection to the other tracks in Annieland only going in when Queen Street was being done up [where the Glasgow - Edinburgh trains would loop at the Glasgow end). The short section of line which has Kelvindale station on.