[Busman747]

I find it very surprising that you had to wait 45 minutes rockrabbit. As a coach driver, I have often covered rail replacement in other areas down south.

The company involved was Frazer Eagle which is local to this area and they would often pay for up to 40 coaches to be on 12 hour stand-by just in case they were needed! On top of that, they had a fleet of active coaches carrying passengers to their destination.

Each coach had a strict timetable which had to be adhered to even if it meant travelling empty! Many were "express" and travelled directly to the major train stations rather than stop at each individual station.

It seems to me that you were inadvertently boarded on one of the coaches that catered for those that "lived out in the sticks"

Maybe the rail service up here decided on another logistics company rather than Frazer Eagle who I felt actually went over the top in trying to satisfy rail customers.