WEBVTT
Kind: captions
Language: en

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In Britain, the words "rail replacement bus"
are not good words to hear.

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It means the train you wanted to take isn't
going anywhere,

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and instead everyone is going to have to get
on a slow and lumbering bus

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that will take at least twice as long and
be so much less comfortable.

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If you've already left the first station,

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then the rail company is required to get you
to your destination...

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but there's no rule to say how fast.

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Rail replacement buses are the
train traveller's nightmare.

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Which is why I was surprised to learn that,
for just a few days,

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things were happening the opposite way around:

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here, between two remote villages
in the lowlands of Scotland,

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there is a very rare sight:
the bus replacement train.

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The normal schedule here is to run every weekend,
usually from Easter to the end of September.

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The bus replacement service was an idea that
was born out of some discussions

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between some villagers and the volunteers
on the railway,

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and then once we realised there would be enough
volunteers to run this week,

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we devised a timetable, and we've now got
a daily service for this week.

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The B797, the tiny road between Leadhills
in South Lanarkshire

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and Wanlockhead in Dumfries and Galloway,

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is shut for resurfacing. The diversion takes
about 45 minutes by road...

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but by luck, there happens to be a volunteer-run,
narrow-gauge railway between the two.

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There's all volunteers, there are no paid
employees at Leadhills at all.

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We all just give up our time for free.

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Tomorrow, I'll be the guard,
but today, I'm the driver.

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And we cover all of the different roles.

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It's being used by people
going to the doctor's surgery,

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for people commuting to work
at the Museum of Lead Mining.

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And a few other places besides.

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And yes, it looks a little bit ridiculous.

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But you know what? It works.

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And it's not often you'll find that a disruption
to your journey

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can actually make your day better.

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The response has been great so far this week.

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The villagers are enjoying it, and we've also
had a few extra tourists

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that we wouldn't normally get on a weekday
coming to see us.

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So it's good publicity for the line,

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and it helps the villagers!

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Thank you to everyone at the Leadhills and
Wanlockhead railway!

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If you're watching this video on the day or
so after it goes up,

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there may still be time to travel on this
service!

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Details and a link are in the description,

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along with the dates when they're running
steam trains on the track this summer.

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