#speedrunning the national rail west yorkshire metro area
'Metro' is a brand belonging to the West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA), since the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive was dissolved on April 1st, 2014. WYCA, amongst other things, sets regional transport policy, including providing funding bus routes and subsidising rail travel. they also have funded several railway stations in West Yorkshire. Nation Rail within West Yorkshire is divided into 5 zones by Metro (as well as extra zones to Skipton and Harrogate not shown). within these 5 zones day/season tickets are available at a subsized price, with a standard DaySaver (rail-only) ticket is £9.10. with 70 stations on the network, i thought why not speedrun it?
map adapted from pdf via m-card.co.uk (without permission)
attempt 1
on the 16th of April 2024 i made my first attempt at speedrunning the WY metro area, in which i did not complete all the stations.
one of the key difficulties in this challenge is the limited service between Pontefract Baghill and Moorthorpe with just three trains a day. another issue is the off-peak rover i was using is only valid between 0930 and 1600 Monday to Friday. both of these combined leaves a limited amount of time to complete the challenge in before having to sit and wait for off-peak to resume, and one specific train i have to get to ensure i can complete Pontefract Baghill.
i abandoned the run at 14:58, leaving me at 25 stations in 5h25 (36% complete), an average of 4.6 stations per hour. i can identify 1-2 hours of inefficiency in the limited amount of stations i did that could be corrected for:
- starting at the end of a longer branch rather that in the center at Leeds (which could not be done on this ticket)
- if done on a Saturday when the ticket restriction above does not apply, there is a more efficient change that can be done around Pontefract Baghill
- the non-completed sections of the route have less changes involved than the parts i completed, which would result in a higher average stations per hour
overall i believe if reattempted on a Saturday i should be able to get my stations per hour up to 7 or 8, allowing me to complete the run in 8-9 hours. i'll reattempt this on a Saturday soon.
below is my station log. every first visit of a station is listed, as well as the start and end station for any service i rode (e.g. 2V21 lists Ilkley and Kirkstall Forge as i boarded at Ilkley and alighted at Kirkstall Forge, and all intermediate stations had already been visited).
| Service | Station | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 2V18 | Leeds | 09:33:00 |
| Kirkstall Forge | 09:39:50 | |
| Guiseley | 09:48:18 | |
| Menston | 09:52:01 | |
| Burley-in-Wharfedale | 09:54:58 | |
| Ben Rhyddling | 09:59:10 | |
| Ilkley | 10:02:12 | |
| 2V21 | Ilkley | 10:09:47 |
| Kirkstall Forge | 10:31:47 | |
| 2P36 | Kirkstall Forge | 10:48:57 |
| Apperley Bridge | 10:54:39 | |
| Shipley | 10:59:55 | |
| Frizinghall | 11:03:03 | |
| Bradford Forster Square | 11:07:00 | |
| 2K14 | Bradford Interchange | 11:34:58 |
| New Pudsey | 11:45:05 | |
| Bramley | 11:49:00 | |
| Leeds | 11:57:11 | |
| 2A15 | Leeds | 12:31:26 |
| Wakefield Westgate | 12:45:00 | |
| Wakefield Kirkgate | 12:49:07 | |
| Streethouse | 12:57:58 | |
| Featherstone | 13:01:53 | |
| Pontefract Tanshelf | 13:06:26 | |
| Pontefract Monkhill | 13:09:05 | |
| 2Y89 | Pontefract Baghill | 13:46:36 |
| Moothorpe | 13:55:18 | |
| 2B27 | South Elmsall | 14:43:29 |
| Frizwilliam | 14:48:35 | |
| Sandal & Agbrigg | 14:53:40 | |
| Wakefield Westgate | 14:58:11 |
attempt 2
on the April 27th, 2024, i made another attempt which also failed. i made 48 stations (69% complete) in 11h47m56s.
i do these runs by planning about 2-3 hours into the future at any one time, rather than having a specific, thought out root. by the time i got to Headingly i realised i could not finish the run before end of service, and so ended the run early.
the key issues with this run were:
- inefficient start time and location. i tried to make Pontefract Baghill one of the first stations so i didn't have to deal with it later, which turned out to be a bad idea. i could have started up to two hours earlier which would have given me the time to complete the run. i also could have saved time by starting at Walsden, or Knottingly.
- delays. there were delays of upto 40 mins towards york, slowing me down doing the Micklefield branch.
- inefficient routing. i should have got a bus from Steeton & Silsden to Ilkley when doing the Airedale and Wharfedale lines to save me doubling back on myself. i'll attempt again october '24.
below is my log. i forgot to keep track of the service headcode, so instead i've marked out where i boarded and alighted each service. i've also marked my change, as in this run i did change via bus between two stations.
| Change | Service | Station | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Start | Start | Moorthorpe | 8:05:04 |
| End | Pontefract Baghill | 8:14:13 | |
| Walk | Start | Pontefract Monkhill | 8:44:54 |
| Pontefract Tanshelf | 8:47:54 | ||
| Featherstone | 8:52:06 | ||
| Streethouse | 8:55:35 | ||
| Wakefield Kirkgate | 9:06:24 | ||
| Wakefield Westgate | 9:13:18 | ||
| End | Leeds | 9:27:09 | |
| In Station | Start | Leeds | 9:31:49 |
| Kirkstall Forge | 9:38:41 | ||
| Guiseley | 9:46:22 | ||
| Menston | 9:49:59 | ||
| Burley-in-Wharfdale | 9:52:57 | ||
| Ben Rhydding | 9:56:41 | ||
| End | Ilkley | 9:56:45 | |
| In Station | Start | Ilkley | 10:09:55 |
| ... | |||
| End | Leeds | 10:40:38 | |
| In Station | Start | Leeds | 11:12:00 |
| Cross Gates | 11:19:46 | ||
| Garforth | 11:44:18 | ||
| East Garforth | 11:46:41 | ||
| End | Micklefield | 11:50:17 | |
| In Station | Start | Micklefield | 12:10:00 |
| ... | |||
| Bramley | 12:46:23 | ||
| New Pudsey | 12:50:50 | ||
| Bradford Interchange | 13:04:57 | ||
| End | Halifax | 13:15:55 | |
| In Station | Start | Halifax | 13:28:55 |
| Stowerby Bridge | 13:35:27 | ||
| Mytholomroyd | 13:41:02 | ||
| Hebden Bridge | 13:45:22 | ||
| End | Tormorden | 13:51:17 | |
| In Station | Start | Tormorden | 14:20:42 |
| End | Walsden | 14:23:38 | |
| In Station | Start | Walsden | 15:03:16 |
| ... | |||
| Brighouse | 15:34:32 | ||
| End | Mirfield | 15:40:20 | |
| In Station | Start | Mirfield | 15:58:50 |
| Ravensthorpe | 16:02:45 | ||
| Dewsbury | 16:06:11 | ||
| Batley | 16:09:31 | ||
| Morley | 16:15:07 | ||
| Cottingly | 16:18:45 | ||
| End | Leeds | 16:28:15 | |
| In Station | Start | Leeds | 16:36:48 |
| ... | |||
| End | Guiseley | 16:50:56 | |
| In Station | Start (bus) | Guiseley | 17:02:00 |
| (rail replacement) | (bus) | Baildon | 17:10:00 |
| End (bus) | Shipley | 17:14:00 | |
| In Station | Start | Shipley | 17:18:44 |
| Saltaire | 17:21:16 | ||
| Bingley | 17:25:38 | ||
| Crossflatts | 17:28:32 | ||
| Keighley | 17:33:45 | ||
| End | Steeton & Silsden | 17:37:58 | |
| In Station | Start | Steeton & Silsden | 17:46:07 |
| ... | |||
| Frizinghall | 18:09:22 | ||
| End | Bradford Forster Square | 18:13:38 | |
| In Station | Start | Bradford Forster Square | 18:29:42 |
| ... | |||
| Apperley Bridge | 18:44:31 | ||
| End | Kirkstall Forge | 18:51:21 | |
| Walk & Bus (50A) | Start | Horsforth | 19:46:52 |
| Headingly | 19:49:00 | ||
| End | End | Burley Park | 19:53:00 |
