Useful meeting today with Northern to discuss Rail Rovers. Bizarrely, there was more interest in setting up a new “Borderlands” Rover (for the area bounded by Newcastle – Edinburgh – Glasgow – Carlisle) than there was for extending the Hadrians Wall Country Day Ranger, or the North East Round Robin (main use of which is for Newcastle – Carlisle – Settle Carlisle Line – Leeds – Newcastle on to Morpeth. Given that Morpeth has direct services to both Carlisle and Leeds, we think it’s a no brainer to include Morpeth too – but it needs negotiation with the long distance operators and that is the sticking point. But let’s wait and see what Northern can do.
