As the WCML & Windermere branch are my local lines I suppose I better wade into this one.....
The north WCML isn't exactly full, it's hardly the bit south of Northampton.
You're correct but unlike south of Northampton where the WCML is 4-track & fairly flat we're talking about a 2-track steeply graded & curvaceous section of line where a class4 75mph freight may have a loco hauling it that's permitted to run at 75mph but is incapable of maintaining that speed on the climbs with the train that it's hauling.
On the down what appears to look like loads of spare capacity by grouping the passenger services into a 30min window every hour is to give at least 1 freight path per hour.
All of this effects when the through services off/onto the branch can be pathed which in turn has a knock on effect on the Oxenholme-Windermere shuttles which is why the Lakes Line doesn't have a clock face timetable.
all trains should call at all stations between Preston and Carlisle. There are only a few of them anyway and it would allow better connectivity, and if they all have the same pattern they won't catch each other up.
I couldn't agree with you more as the skip-stop timetable has over the years served to kill off any commuting between Penrith & Oxenholme not to mention the fact it completely falls apart when there's disruption.
Could someone, with reasonable confidence, tell me how passenger traffic between the Windermere branch and points north (Penrith, Carlisle, etc) compares with traffic towards the south, i.e. Lancaster, Preston, and beyond. Plenty of contributors to this forum will have travelled on through Manchester to Windermere services and hopefully noticed how many people board or alight at Oxenholme. It's reasonable to suppose that most doing that will be passengers on/off the Scottish services - I don't imagine that Oxenholme itself will be much of a traffic source, although I could be wrong on that, I suppose.
Yes, I know the above will give a slightly distorted picture, on average only a third of passengers on/off the Scottish services will transfer to/from the through Manchester - Windermere services, whereas a higher proportion of those travelling to/from the south are likely to travel on the through services, simply because of what they are (i.e. through services).
Even without the Lakes Line interchange and nearby Kendal believe it or not Oxenholme has a massive catchment area encompassing; the Western Dales, south end of the Eden Valley, the Lyth Valley, southern/central Lakes & over into Furness.
(Those from Furness either consider it easier to drive to Oxenholme than the change at Lancaster or don't trust the reliability of NT.)
A private house with land across the road from the station has built a private carpark to serve the station which is usually 75% full on top of the two station car parks.
As for interchange to/from the Lakes Line;
Very few interchange from a Manchester-Windermere onto a Scottish bound service as TPE's services timings are more attractive as they don't have any pathing stops.
There's a very small proportion (manly tourists) who change to/from Edinburgh but most passengers who transit to/from Windermere usually change from/onto services to/from the south.
User groups claim more people travel on the through services but I would argue that collectively the shuttles convey more passengers who have arrived from further south.
If nobody believes me the latest station usage figures were released not that long ago - if I find a link to it I'll post it.
Without going into detail, essentially all Lakes Line stations (Kendal, Burneside, Staveley & Windermere) suffered a drop in passengers but Oxenholme saw a 9% increase…….