“The perfect rural bus/rail link but how many people use it?”

Saturday 27th June 2026 During last year’s countdown of Britain’s Top 10 Quirky Bus Routes, blog reader Stephen got in touch with an intriguing question…. “Not sure whether this meets the criteria for ‘quirky bus route’ or some other category but next time you’re in Northumberland you might like to check out Chathill station and its two trains a day, both connected with the North Northumberland coast by Borders Buses (NCC contracted) route 918. This, to me, seems the ‘perfect’ rural bus-rail commuter link and I wonder how much used it is?.” I couldn’t resist the proposition to take a ride on both the ‘quirky’ train and ‘quirky bus’ and answer Stephen’s question about usage so a couple of weeks ago found myself in Northumberland to check it out. This bus/rail link is what could be described as a Mini ‘Mini Switzerland’ providing ‘seamless integrated connections’ between bus and train, but the catch is it’s for just two journeys a day – one in the morning around 07:00 and one in the…