Bus service changes due to Whaley Railway Bridge Closure
Posted on January 22, 2023
Reading time: 2 minutes.
To facilitate replacement of Railway Structure, Buxton Road, Whaley Bridge at Railway Bridge between junction with Forge Road and Whaley Bridge Uniting Church will be closed from 2023-01-16 until the end of March. This means that High Peak are making some changes to any bus services that pass through the area and routes 60, 61, 190 and 199 are affected.
Service 60 will operate in two halves. The first operates on a two-hourly basis between Macclesfield and Chapel-en-le-Frith, the latter being an extension from Horwich End for connection with services 61 and 199 for passengers going north of the closure. One afternoon run extends to Dove Holes for Chapel High School pupils to cover for route 199 while most journeys run via Shallcross to cover for route 190. The second half of the route operates between Hayfield and Whaley Bridge with an hourly frequency as albeit to a slightly revised timetable with all buses doing the full Stoneheads loop to turn around.
Service 61 continues to operate as through service with a reduced frequency. This is reduced to every ninety mins from Monday to Saturday and becomes more irregular on Sundays due to the length of the diversion via Chapel-en-le-Frith. Most workings serve Whaley Bridge village centre, turning via a half loop of Stoneheads (Jodrell Road and Hockerley Lane only). Buses then join A6 via Sheffield Road instead of Hayfield Road to avoid a tight left turn. Sunday service on route 61 also ends after January due to low passenger patronage.
Service 190 operates to a normal timetable, but journeys will terminate at Stoneheads like service 61 and will not serve Shallcross. Shallcross Residents can use the revised 60 service.
The timetable for service 199 is unchanged, but buses do not serve Cockyard, Tunstead Milton, Horwich End or the main part of Chapel-en-le-Frith or Whaley Bridge. Buses from Buxton will operate as normal to Market Street, but instead of continuing on Market Street to Cockyard, it will turn right into Hayfield Road at Town End, head north on Hayfield Road, turn right onto A624, then rejoin A6 at Aldi roundabout to rejoin normal line of route at Bridgemont. Buses from Manchester operate in the reverse direction. In Chapel-en-le-Frith, the Old Pack Horse (on Market St), Town Hall, Kings Arms, New Inn and Eccles Fold stops are not served for the duration of the closure and passengers need to walk down to the Town End stop on Hayfield Road (opposite Fosters Fine Food & Flowers) or Burrfields Road stop for travel towards Manchester, or Town End stop on Hayfield Road East (opposite the back of the Old Pack Horse) for travel to Buxton. For Chapel-en-le-Frith High School, there is one morning trip departing Buxton Market Place at 07:40 and will arrive at Chapel High School for 08:08am, where the bus turns around in the grounds and return to A6 using Sheffield Road. In Bridgemont, buses only serve the Crescent Drive stops on the A6.