Serving Alton Towers Theme Park by Rail

[Ianno87]

Took a trip to Alton Towers theme park for the first time in many, many years yesterday.

As we joined the long queue of cars slowly making its way in, we pass the closed Alton Towers station on the former Churnet Valley railway, which got me musing whilst in various ride queues - what (if anything) would make providing a rail-based public transport link to the park/resort feasible. The former station is geographically close to the boundary of the park (if an entrance were provided facing the right way)

Clearly, the park is where it is (middle of rural, hilly Staffordshire, accessed by country B roads) as it is build on the grounds of a former stately home, evolved over the years to be a major theme park - probably one of the leading and most popular ones in Europe.

Public transport access to the site seems to be some limited local bus services, plus once per day-type shuttle buses from Stoke, Uttoxeter etc (which aren't attractive if your entire day out has to be clock-watched around a single return bus). And these buses get stuck in the road congestion (although a long queue, it does steadily move as cars funnel into the car park).

The park's main catchment appears to be roughly the West and East Midlands, Greater Manchester/Merseyside, and Yorkshire.

The first obvious question is where would you connect to?

-Uttoxeter is geographically nearest, but that would mean changing onto the current low-capacity service to reach Crewe/Stoke/Derby and then probably changing again to get to where you actually want to go
-Alternative option would be Uttoxeter, but with a through service towards either Stoke or Derby (or both), changing there for everywhere else
-Alternative would be a direct link to Stoke for "main line" connections. Serves the West Midlands and North West well, but not the rest of the catchment

In infrastructure terms:
-The former line itself is partially used by the Churnet Valley Railway and the National Cycling Network
-The former route to Uttoxeter appears to be heavily built upon in Rocester and Uttoxeter, so reopening as-was does not appear feasible
-The route to Stoke is more intact (except for absence of a direct curve at Leek Brook Jn to get towards Stoke), however the route is somewhat "meandering" and will not offer a particularly attractive journey time
-The former Churnet Valley Railway itself went to join the current railway just south of Macclesfield. Appears generally intact *but* a very long distance of route re-instatement needed, and will only pick up the North West catchment (probably too circuitous for connections from Birmingham). So probably fails a cost vs benefit test.


So that leads me to think, that if you were going to do anything, it would be a new alignment from Alton Towers via Cheadle, joining the existing Stoke-Derby route somewhere in the Blythe Bridge area. The terrain doesn't look particularly favourable between Alton Towers and Cheadle, so some tunnelling would be required. Stoke would have a Derby-facing bay platform and third track, to keep trains independent from the main line. Service level at least 2tph, possibly more at park peak times.

However, the advantage of this would be:
-Giving the service a "day job" of a rail service to Cheadle, and a Stoke "metro" service calling at Blythe Bridge, future Meir station, and Longton. Park demand will be very peaky (e.g. mid-morning on weekends and school holidays), and the main park does not open at all on some or all days out of season
-Offering the opportunity for some sort of Park and Ride off the A50, at a new station if necessary (with a dedicated park shuttle, like the Hong Kong Disney shuttle) to take cars off the country roads to Alton Towers.
-You would not need to be constrained to the former station site at Alton Towers. It could be better located for the park entrance (and away from the local population who may not appreciate the noise/activity)

All probably pie-in-the-sky of course, but would be interested in fellow forummers views! The main challenge (unlike other parks) appears to be the absence of a nearby main line accessible via a short-ish branch or shuttle service, plus the topology of the area in general.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

In the short-term, a more frequent, reliable and well-advertised dedicated bus link should be step one, preferably free for park staff and people with pre-booked park tickets. That might make a slight dent in the queues, but anything more is asking a bit much.
If the railway had never closed, the more environmentally-conscious might well go out of their way to use it, but most families would still be more comfortable using the car. Therefore you'd struggle to justify the expense of rebuilding the railway by the park alone.
By comparison, Chessington World of Adventures does very well for public transport links, having a station on the doorstep and in season extension of the 71 bus. Thorpe Park also does quite well with a dedicated bus link from Staines, but the distance involved is much less. The location of Alton Towers is not so easy to serve by public transport though, being both hillier and far more rural.

 

[Bletchleyite]

You would think that with the younger crowd theme parks tend to appeal to (plus families who will probably drive anyway) that shuttle buses would do fairly well. Must be plenty of teenagers and twentysomethings from the nearby big cities without cars who would go there with their friends if there was a decent public transport option.

As you say, Thorpe Park shuttle buses seem to load well.

 

[Ianno87]

From observation yesterday, the groups indeed seemed to be:

-Family groups (of various ages) who you'd generally expect to drive, unless the rail journey happened to be convenient (I.e. if you lived in Stoke)
-Couples (who might consider rail sometimes)
-Groups of friends (who also might consider rail, especially if they are young and do not drove/don't own a car)
-"Theme Park enthusiasts" (I.e..People who "grice" rides every weekend**), who might find rail flexible.

**I got some new track coloured this weekend, courtesy of Galactica and TH13TEEN (Thirteen). The latter is my first free fall drop in a rail vehicle (obviously hope not to be a regular occurence)

 

[Roast Veg]

I think the answer is obvious - extend the existing monorail that runs between the car park and the main entrance on a new alignment either to Blythe Bridge or Uttoxeter. The former seems most sensible.

 

[swt_passenger]

I think the answer is obvious - extend the existing monorail that runs between the car park and the main entrance on a new alignment either to Blythe Bridge or Uttoxeter. The former seems most sensible.

Could it be extended to Alton station for the unfortunates who end up there?

 

[Bletchleyite]

I think the answer is obvious - extend the existing monorail that runs between the car park and the main entrance on a new alignment either to Blythe Bridge or Uttoxeter. The former seems most sensible.

I think given the target market a bus would work fine, but you would want it in the rail fare system so when you put Alton Towers in a journey planner it comes up correctly. Stoke is probably the best place in terms of connectivity particularly from Manchester.

I am not sure you would need all day frequent service, as people do tend to go for the full day to get the best value out of it - most important is enough capacity arriving when it opens and leaving when it closes.

 

[Ianno87]

At the very least, you'd need a bus via a dedicated route that did not get stuck in the park traffic. Or any easy, flat-ish walking route.

It would depend where a feasible station site could be located - in terms of physical location and site for the station, and how it ties into an alignment to reach Stoke/wherever.

 

[HST43257]

The park's main catchment appears to be roughly the West and East Midlands, Greater Manchester/Merseyside, and Yorkshire.

Put in a frequent, direct bus link from Stoke to Alton Towers, then I feel these rail options are possible.

Merseyside: Extend the Liverpool to Crewe LNWR service to Stoke. Perhaps the same for Northern's Liverpool to Warrington BQ via Chat Moss, if WCML paths can be found.

Manchester: Frequent links already exist to Stoke.

West Midlands: Frequent links already exist to Coventry, Birmingham and Wolves, but maybe if there was a 2nd Trent Valley stopper, it could go to Stoke.

Yorkshire: Send a TPE North East service via Denton towards Stoke AND/OR extend frequent bus link to Derby to connect into frequent XC services.

East Midlands: The bus could extend to Derby (or Matlock or Uttoxeter) in order to connect the East Midlands via public transport.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

So that leads me to think, that if you were going to do anything, it would be a new alignment from Alton Towers via Cheadle, joining the existing Stoke-Derby route somewhere in the Blythe Bridge area. The terrain doesn't look particularly favourable between Alton Towers and Cheadle, so some tunnelling would be required. Stoke would have a Derby-facing bay platform and third track, to keep trains independent from the main line. Service level at least 2tph, possibly more at park peak times.

Interesting ideas. I think the problem with any spur is that it can only be used by people travelling to Alton Towers itself (or any other stations on the spur) - and then only from one direction. That loses one of the strengths of railways - the ability to fill a train by aggregating flows to lots of destinations - and will limit the number of passengers.

I'd therefore be looking for some way to provide a through station. I realise this now becomes the crayonista solution-looking-for-a-problem thing, but with that proviso: How about combining your ideas of spurs to Blythe Bridge and Uttoxeter by essentially building a diversion to the Stoke-Derby line, that runs Blythe Bridge - Cheadle - Alton Towers - Rocester - Uttoxeter.

This would allow you to upgrade the Stoke-Derby line, so you could do something like: Run a half-hourly all stops Stoke-Derby via Alton Towers (maybe with a couple of new stations as well in the Stoke and Derby urban areas), and then speed up the existing Crewe-Newark service by having it stop only at Uttoxeter between Stoke and Derby (presumably, running along the existing track between Blythe Bridge and Uttoxeter).

Roughly speaking, twice the cost of either of the spurs you suggested, but a lot more than twice the benefits.

 

[daodao]

Public transport access to the site seems to be some limited local bus services, plus once per day-type shuttle buses from Stoke, Uttoxeter etc.

There are no longer any regular scheduled bus services to Alton or Alton Towers other than the day-type shuttle buses from Stafford (via Uttoxeter), Stoke, Derby etc. The latter should suffice for visitor access. The area is very hilly for any rail re-openings yet alone new rail infrastructure.

 

[Ianno87]

Interesting ideas. I think the problem with any spur is that it can only be used by people travelling to Alton Towers itself (or any other stations on the spur) - and then only from one direction. That loses one of the strengths of railways - the ability to fill a train by aggregating flows to lots of destinations - and will limit the number of passengers.

I'd therefore be looking for some way to provide a through station. I realise this now becomes the crayonista solution-looking-for-a-problem thing, but with that proviso: How about combining your ideas of spurs to Blythe Bridge and Uttoxeter by essentially building a diversion to the Stoke-Derby line, that runs Blythe Bridge - Cheadle - Alton Towers - Rocester - Uttoxeter.

This would allow you to upgrade the Stoke-Derby line, so you could do something like: Run a half-hourly all stops Stoke-Derby via Alton Towers (maybe with a couple of new stations as well in the Stoke and Derby urban areas), and then speed up the existing Crewe-Newark service by having it stop only at Uttoxeter between Stoke and Derby (presumably, running along the existing track between Blythe Bridge and Uttoxeter).

Roughly speaking, twice the cost of either of the spurs you suggested, but a lot more than twice the benefits.

I did dream up the "nuclear" option of basically re-routeing the entire Stoke-Derby line via Alton Towers via "Uttoxeter North" or something.

One of those lines that "feels" like it's strategic position cannot currently be best taken advantage of (hence being served only by pretty much an hourly DMU)

There are no longer any regular scheduled bus services to Alton or Alton Towers other than the day-type shuttle buses from Stafford (via Uttoxeter), Stoke, Derby etc. The latter should suffice for visitor access.

But they kinda don't. You have to plan the entire day around clock-watching for the departure time home (which is basically to avoid the bus getting home stupidly late). They're really for people who don't have the option of driving.

Plus the whole "Resort" is evolving beyond just the Theme Park - e.g. arrive and stay for a night or two - in which case you may arrive part way through the first day, and leave only part way into the last day.

I'm also not disputing the engineering challenges involved in any such proposition!

 

[tbtc]

If you were planning where to build a new bit of railway then a tourist attraction with millions of visitors a year (as well as presumably hundreds of staff attending each day too) would be head and shoulders above some of the villages of a few hundred people that seem to get so many threads dedicated to them on here - even though there are a few "quieter" days and a few months where the park is closed*, the fact that so many people travel so far to get there suggests that it should be the kind of place that mass transportation could/should be looking at.

I wouldn't be surprised if the average person has travelled thirty miles plus to get there (e.g. Manchester/ Birmingham people outnumbering those who've only come from Uttoxeter, plus the circuitous route that some people have to go to deal with the local roads!)

People do seem happy to queue for the Monorail (even though the walk through the car park is often quicker, especially at busy times), so the idea of a connecting shuttle from a local A-road (A50 or A52) doesn't seem too much of a deterrent - the advantage of the monorail used to be the ability to see the park as you approached it from the Nemesis end, but the last times I've been the windows were covered with contra vision so there was no anticipation of the rides ahead)

The problems are:

1. It's very peak heavy - people arriving in the morning and leaving in the afternoon - it's not a stead "dip drip" of passengers, you'd have to build it to accommodate thousands of people arriving/leaving in a relatively short time period - that's no an unsurmountable problem - the railway obviously copes with rush hours at major cities - I don't think this is insurmountable - just that we may need to build platforms capable of handling long trains whilst accepting that shorter trains (or long trains that are mainly empty) would be the norm during the middle of the day - not an unfamiliar concept to those who've experienced the old Network South East area though

2. There's not one major flow to target - a line to Stoke seems the most obvious (if you could route it without too much of a dog leg, and accept that most of the population of the "six towns" is some way from a train station - Derby doesn't have much in the way of suburban railway stations either - would passengers from the West Midlands be happy with the time penalty of journeying north to Stoke to head south east to Uttoxeter to journey north to Alton Towers (compared to driving directly)? Same with passengers from Yorkshire heading south to Derby to head north west towards Alton Towers (rather than driving through the Peak District)? Presumably direct trains from big cities would be too much to hope for, and any Alton Towers station would only see trains going as far as Crewe/Stoke and Derby/Nottingham? I don't mind changing trains, but it'd be more of an issue with a large family group (and, in fairness, a lot of the cars coming into Alton Towers are pretty heavily loaded - generally three or four people in each car)

3. Presumably any rail based scheme would approach the park from the south - i.e. the old Alton station referred to above - but that'd mean a whole new southern entrance to the Park - maybe that's no bad thing (given how busy it gets at the existing entrance) but you'd presumably be looking to have a station near Cloud Cuckoo Land (which is appropriate for some Beeching-reopenings!)

4. Would you be expecting the Lego Group (owners of the Park) to contribute to it? Or do we see "getting lots of cars off the Peak District roads" as a worthy end in itself, even though this project would clearly benefit one private business?

5. Stoke - Derby had survived with single 153s every hour for most services (until accessibility standards put a stop to such things) - whilst the Crewe - Stoke - Derby - Nottingham axis looks like it ought to sustain more (and, let's face it, if the line had been closed in the 1960s we'd have thread after thread claiming just how busy it would be if only it have been "saved"), it's not a busy link. BUT, I think that the time penalty for going *via* Alton Towers would be too much, so we'd have to make sure that this didn't detrimentally affect the existing services in the area

6. After a long ride there on a 142, the thrill of a rickety rollercoaster would be a bit underwhelming!

(* - the "waterpark" ,hotels, golf, conference stuff etc are open all year round though)

 

[Ianno87]

Put in a frequent, direct bus link from Stoke to Alton Towers, then I feel these rail options are possible.

In good traffic, it's 30 minutes door to door (Stoke Station to Park Entrance) via Google. However there is:

-The Economics of a bus operation that just needs to be frequent at certain times and more "skeleton" at others (and varying this across the year and seasons), for a bus whose only purpose would be serving the resort (effectively bus drivers not needed at all for several months of the year)
-You could divert the bus service to serve other locations along the way, but that starts to hit the journey time, and
-Buses still get stuck in traffic

4. Would you be expecting the Lego Group (owners of the Park) to contribute to it? Or do we see "getting lots of cars off the Peak District roads" as a worthy end in itself, even though this project would clearly benefit one private business?

It would be an "obvious" one to look for some Third Party contribution to the cost (at least the bit between Cheadle and Alton Towers), perhaps as a condition of any further expansion of the resort.

Or perhaps (through some legislation changes), an envoronmental condition imposed on business that demonstrably generate large volumes of car traffic that investment in public transport infrastructure becomes mandatory.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Is Merlin now owned by Lego Group? Nothing on their website suggests it is, though they do operate the Legoland parks.

 

[Ianno87]

Is Merlin now owned by Lego Group? Nothing on their website suggests it is, though they do operate the Legoland parks.

Merlin's Wikipedia page says they are owned by Lego Groups investment arm.

 

[bramling]

Took a trip to Alton Towers theme park for the first time in many, many years yesterday.

As we joined the long queue of cars slowly making its way in, we pass the closed Alton Towers station on the former Churnet Valley railway, which got me musing whilst in various ride queues - what (if anything) would make providing a rail-based public transport link to the park/resort feasible. The former station is geographically close to the boundary of the park (if an entrance were provided facing the right way)

Clearly, the park is where it is (middle of rural, hilly Staffordshire, accessed by country B roads) as it is build on the grounds of a former stately home, evolved over the years to be a major theme park - probably one of the leading and most popular ones in Europe.

Public transport access to the site seems to be some limited local bus services, plus once per day-type shuttle buses from Stoke, Uttoxeter etc (which aren't attractive if your entire day out has to be clock-watched around a single return bus). And these buses get stuck in the road congestion (although a long queue, it does steadily move as cars funnel into the car park).

The park's main catchment appears to be roughly the West and East Midlands, Greater Manchester/Merseyside, and Yorkshire.

The first obvious question is where would you connect to?

-Uttoxeter is geographically nearest, but that would mean changing onto the current low-capacity service to reach Crewe/Stoke/Derby and then probably changing again to get to where you actually want to go
-Alternative option would be Uttoxeter, but with a through service towards either Stoke or Derby (or both), changing there for everywhere else
-Alternative would be a direct link to Stoke for "main line" connections. Serves the West Midlands and North West well, but not the rest of the catchment

In infrastructure terms:
-The former line itself is partially used by the Churnet Valley Railway and the National Cycling Network
-The former route to Uttoxeter appears to be heavily built upon in Rocester and Uttoxeter, so reopening as-was does not appear feasible
-The route to Stoke is more intact (except for absence of a direct curve at Leek Brook Jn to get towards Stoke), however the route is somewhat "meandering" and will not offer a particularly attractive journey time
-The former Churnet Valley Railway itself went to join the current railway just south of Macclesfield. Appears generally intact *but* a very long distance of route re-instatement needed, and will only pick up the North West catchment (probably too circuitous for connections from Birmingham). So probably fails a cost vs benefit test.


So that leads me to think, that if you were going to do anything, it would be a new alignment from Alton Towers via Cheadle, joining the existing Stoke-Derby route somewhere in the Blythe Bridge area. The terrain doesn't look particularly favourable between Alton Towers and Cheadle, so some tunnelling would be required. Stoke would have a Derby-facing bay platform and third track, to keep trains independent from the main line. Service level at least 2tph, possibly more at park peak times.

However, the advantage of this would be:
-Giving the service a "day job" of a rail service to Cheadle, and a Stoke "metro" service calling at Blythe Bridge, future Meir station, and Longton. Park demand will be very peaky (e.g. mid-morning on weekends and school holidays), and the main park does not open at all on some or all days out of season
-Offering the opportunity for some sort of Park and Ride off the A50, at a new station if necessary (with a dedicated park shuttle, like the Hong Kong Disney shuttle) to take cars off the country roads to Alton Towers.
-You would not need to be constrained to the former station site at Alton Towers. It could be better located for the park entrance (and away from the local population who may not appreciate the noise/activity)

All probably pie-in-the-sky of course, but would be interested in fellow forummers views! The main challenge (unlike other parks) appears to be the absence of a nearby main line accessible via a short-ish branch or shuttle service, plus the topology of the area in general.

Simply from a point of view of making use of what's already there, I'd have to simply go with a branch from Stoke. Rather unfortunately this would miss Leek (unless one were to have a stub with reversal), and none of the places passed through are particularly big.

Coming from the east there is essentially nowhere which is going to contribute much extra traffic, so would be relying pretty much entirely on theme park traffic.

I suppose one could re-route the Derby to Stoke line via the Churnet Valley, but at the expense of Blythe Bridge and Longton. That could result in some interesting arguments.

I'd go with a heritage operation from Stoke. Some infrastructure is already there, and a scenic (which the Churnet Valley is) steam train ride could certainly become part of the theme park experience. You'd need a suitable place on route with a massive greenfield car park though, otherwise for those coming by car it would replace one traffic jam with another. Likewise few coming from the east would want to drive to Stoke to essentially come back on themselves by train. Plus the train ride would need to be fairly short to avoid boredom, and no doubt some would see it as abstracting from their time in the park itself.

Or someone could simply find a way of building a road which avoids Alton village, which would possibly be of benefit to more people. In many ways it's surprising this hasn't happened.

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

You would think that with the younger crowd theme parks tend to appeal to (plus families who will probably drive anyway) that shuttle buses would do fairly well. Must be plenty of teenagers and twentysomethings from the nearby big cities without cars who would go there with their friends if there was a decent public transport option.

As you say, Thorpe Park shuttle buses seem to load well.

Thorpe Park is more appropriate for 16+ year olds though, whereas Alton Towers, and certainly Chessington WoA, is more aimed at families and younger children under that age.

 

[30907]

The fact that Alton Towers can only sustain one weekday bus from Hanley and one from Stafford via Uttoxeter doesn't augur well for a railway.
Doing a quick Googlemaps comparison:
Lightwater Valley (much smaller, and also remote) has two northbound journeys (out of only 3) from Ripon divert off the main road.
Flamingoland does much better, because it is served by Coastliner from Leeds, a tourist service in its own right (and IME does pick up passengers there) - but for rural attractions it's the exception to the rule.

 

[Llandudno]

Hulley’s operated a commercial weekend service X71 from Sheffield via Chesterfield and Bakewell to Alton Towers during the last two summers, the service was scheduled to run until October but owing to a shortage of drivers the service ceased early September.

Hulley’s have confirmed that the service will recommence next Easter so presumably it must be profitable, I did read, (maybe on here?) that on one occasion three buses were operated because there were so many passengers! Not sure how you can resource that operationally because as far as I know you can’t prebook your place on the bus?

 

[Ianno87]

Simply from a point of view of making use of what's already there, I'd have to simply go with a branch from Stoke. Rather unfortunately this would miss Leek (unless one were to have a stub with reversal), and none of the places passed through are particularly big.

Coming from the east there is essentially nowhere which is going to contribute much extra traffic, so would be relying pretty much entirely on theme park traffic.

I suppose one could re-route the Derby to Stoke line via the Churnet Valley, but at the expense of Blythe Bridge and Longton. That could result in some interesting arguments.

I'd go with a heritage operation from Stoke. Some infrastructure is already there, and a scenic (which the Churnet Valley is) steam train ride could certainly become part of the theme park experience. You'd need a suitable place on route with a massive greenfield car park though, otherwise for those coming by car it would replace one traffic jam with another. Likewise few coming from the east would want to drive to Stoke to essentially come back on themselves by train. Plus the train ride would need to be fairly short to avoid boredom, and no doubt some would see it as abstracting from their time in the park itself.

Problem is, to avoid detracting from the time at the park, it needs to be high capacity (pack standing passengers if necessary) and reasonably fast and frequent. If you've spent £40 per ticket, you don't want to squander its validity on a gentle tour of the Staffordshire countryside. Even I'd find that irritating!

You'd almost want a shuttle at Stoke pretty much always ready to board in some form.

Or someone could simply find a way of building a road which avoids Alton village, which would possibly be of benefit to more people. In many ways it's surprising this hasn't happened.

If anything, the current roads actually do the park a favour, they regulate the flow of cars into the car park reasonably nicely.

I suspect it's only for an hour or two on the busiest days that there are cars queuing through the villages as everybody arrives for the park opening. Certainly on the way back yesterday, people leave the park more gradually over the course of the evening (and can only get fed out as fast as the car park exit allows anyway)

Thorpe Park is more appropriate for 16+ year olds though, whereas Alton Towers, and certainly Chessington WoA, is more aimed at families and younger children under that age.

That's a deliberate strategy from the owner of the parks. Rides at them were historically rearranged with Thorpe Park being "adult" focused, and Chessington for younger kids.

 

[D365]

Hulley’s operated a commercial weekend service X71 from Sheffield via Chesterfield and Bakewell to Alton Towers during the last two summers, the service was scheduled to run until October but owing to a shortage of drivers the service ceased early September.

Hulley’s have confirmed that the service will recommence next Easter so presumably it must be profitable, I did read, (maybe on here?) that on one occasion three buses were operated because there were so many passengers! Not sure how you can resource that operationally because as far as I know you can’t prebook your place on the bus?

Surprised it took this long to mention the Hulleys bus!

 

[JKF]

The nature of the flows would screw the economics to some extent - heavy flows at opening and closing time and seasonal too. It’d perhaps work with charter trains including admission, so you could fill a rake of coaches from various cities and park them up until kicking out time, but how you would fund the line to get there is the question - maybe get the park to make a sizeable contribution through the planning system next time they want to build a new ride, operate it as a light railway to keep it cheap.

Or maybe the monorail shuttle is a better idea, or some bus/coach priority lanes or guided busways to pass congestion hotspots on the route. Let coaches/buses go right into the park and offload to save the trudge from the carpark and faffing about at the ticket gate, the sort of thing that might attract people to leave the car behind.

it was a shame that they never went ahead with the plan to turn Battersea Power Station into a massive theme park, that would be nicely connected now!

 

[Bletchleyite]

Thorpe Park is more appropriate for 16+ year olds though, whereas Alton Towers, and certainly Chessington WoA, is more aimed at families and younger children under that age.

Having been to all of them, they all get a wide range of custom. Alton Towers is more suitable for families as there's stuff for Old Granny Smith to do if she doesn't like roller coasters e.g. walk round the gardens and drink tea, but there's nothing about any of them that makes them unsuitable to other age groups - they all have lots of rides!

 

[Baxenden Bank]

There is a new road option.

The road from the A50 at Uttoxeter (McDonalds Roundabout) to Rocester is modern - single carriageway but very generously built and with little development alongside. From Rocester to Alton Towers there were proposals to build a road along the former railway and into what is currently the far end of the Alton Towers car park.

Two issues: Alton Towers won't pay and part is on land owned by JCB who won't play. Out of season there is no justification for the road. Plus there is the loss of the walk/cycle trail currently using the trackbed.

There used to be integrated rail/bus tickets via Stoke-on-Trent, not sure when these ceased.

There is a staff bus service, operated by D & G, whose vehicles could be used for visitors too. Staff start to arrive well before opening time, and leave after closing time (and times in between to suit catering outlets and hotel shift times. If sufficiently interested, they can be tracked on openbustimes. The cost of passes to use the buses is exceptionally high, perhaps reflecting operating costs, perhaps the average age of worker employed who would face equally exceptional insurance costs if they were to drive instead.

My preference, at least when they was a decent bus service in the area (every 20 minutes from Hanley to Cheadle plus other less frequent routes), would have been for a frequent (every 20 minutes) or 'on demand' shuttle from Cheadle (Staffs) with a bus always in Cheadle in the mornings and always at Alton Towers in the afternoon - on the same principle that park and ride sites often promise a bus waiting at the car park.

I think any rail solution, other than the long promoted but little delivered Churnet Valley Railway option is out of the question. I fear the OP's brain has been scrambled by his thrill filled day at the park.

 

[Ianno87]

.

. I fear the OP's brain has been scrambled by his thrill filled day at the park.

Speculative ideas section, innit?

The premise of my question was to what would be the best shot at something feasible/viable. I stated as much in the OP that it was almost certainly pie in the sky.

 

[HST43257]

In good traffic, it's 30 minutes door to door (Stoke Station to Park Entrance) via Google. However there is:

-The Economics of a bus operation that just needs to be frequent at certain times and more "skeleton" at others (and varying this across the year and seasons), for a bus whose only purpose would be serving the resort (effectively bus drivers not needed at all for several months of the year)
-You could divert the bus service to serve other locations along the way, but that starts to hit the journey time, and
-Buses still get stuck in traffic

In which case, just run the bus when it is needed, but more than just a single bus service each day.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

I think this is one of those cases where nothing can economically be done until the Government takes more action to discourage driving/ensure that motorists are charged for the damage their journey do to local communities. The Alton Towers owners presumably have no interest making any contribution to reducing the congestion caused by almost everyone driving there because, as far as they are concerned, it's someone else's problem (unless it gets so bad that it causes them to lose customers). Since most people are arriving there in family/friend groups with multiple people in a car, it's going to be hard to make rail competitive with the car on price with petrol prices as they currently are and current levels of Government support for rail vs. roads. From the point of view of sustainable transport (and making Alton Towers accessible to people without cars), something clearly needs to be done. But this ball would seem to lie firmly in the Government's court rather than the rail industry's one.

 

[zwk500]

If you were forced to build a rail link, my suggestion would be to have a branch facing stoke leaving around the former junction at Cresswell (not sure what it's official name was) and then go to the east side of Cheadle for a station on the Oakamoor Road. You might be able to squeeze in a station for Tean if the topography allows. This route would give a shuttle bus option on the correct side of Cheadle, connect a reasonable town to a large rail interchange (including Manchester, Birmingham and London) and give access to the Hanson Quarries (if they wanted it) to provide steady traffic for the line.

However, in the real world I suspect better bus links directly to Derby and Stoke are going to be more cost-effective.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Same with passengers from Yorkshire heading south to Derby to head north west towards Alton Towers (rather than driving through the Peak District)?

If you were going from Yorkshire to Alton Towers you'd use the M1 and A50, rather than a more direct but much slower route through the Peak District... after all, if you're spending the day riding roller-coasters you don't need to make your own!