Philip
On Moderation
Do you think it would be a good idea if one of the Northern Man Airport-Blackpool services switched to starting from Victoria and thus free up a path through Castlefield, whilst also switching its Salford Crescent, Lostock, Horwich & Buckshaw Parkway calls onto the Northern Man Airport-Cumbria service, to give these stations a wider range of direct connections (so 1tph to Blackpool & 1tph to Lancaster/Cumbria)? The Man Vic-Blackpool could then take the current fast Cumbria service stopping pattern.
This is how it used to be for many years until TPE took over the Scotland services which then ran in the path of the Cumbria service and started skipping Salford and the stations between Bolton and Preston. It would be a lot more useful if the intermediate stations between Manchester & Preston had a direct connection to Lancaster, but currently both the Scotland and the TPE Cumbria services only call at Bolton (with some Cumbria services stopping at Chorley, but not all).
This is how it used to be for many years until TPE took over the Scotland services which then ran in the path of the Cumbria service and started skipping Salford and the stations between Bolton and Preston. It would be a lot more useful if the intermediate stations between Manchester & Preston had a direct connection to Lancaster, but currently both the Scotland and the TPE Cumbria services only call at Bolton (with some Cumbria services stopping at Chorley, but not all).