A bucket conveyor system having at least one station, has a plurality of buckets connected in series to form a train of buckets. At least one of the buckets has a cam member depending from it. A cam follower carried by a bucket drive can engage the cam member of the bucket to drive the bucket train along a conveyor course. At the station the cam follower disengages in such a manner that it slows the bucket train to a stationary position in a progressive manner. Thereafter, the cam follower re-engages the cam and accelerates the bucket from the stationary position. The path of the bucket drive at the station, between the point of disengagement of the cam follower from the cam member, and the point of re-engagement determines the delay of a bucket or bucket train at the station. By adjustment of the path length at the station it is possible to adjust the period of delay of a bucket or a bucket train at the station.