Bolton to London services

[Bletchleyite]

I thought the Airport to Cumbria services were introduced by North Western Trains, which meant they couldn't have been introduced before 1997.

They were introduced circa 1994-1995 ish (possibly a bit earlier) by Regional Railways well before privatisation, as part of the "NorthWest Express" project involving the green-stripe branded Class 156s. They left Manchester Oxford Road at I think xx07 every 2 hours and ran via Wigan (not Parkside; nothing ran that way back then other than a Parly and diversions). Between the Airport and Bolton they ran joined to the CrossCountry Express service to Scotland (Class 158), splitting there, whereupon that headed off and ran via Chorley.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Back to the Cross Country services. These were trying to do several things at once:
provide a more frequent Manchester-Scotland service than a standalone one warranted;
provide additional Birmingham-Scotland services
replace dividing at Carstairs (IIRC)
serve Piccadilly in preference to Victoria
reduce terminal costs

They also managed to slow the previous separate services by running throughout diesel-hauled trains, to avoid a double electric loco change.

The issue about through north-south services across Manchester as really about capacity of the South Junction line, and the current priorities seem to be to give each corridor 1 or 2tph.
Bolton gets/will get services from Airport/Stockport via Oxford Road to Southport/Blackpool(x2)/Scotland.
Running more services via Bolton would deny through services on other routes (which will henceforth include Calder Valley and Standedge).
Maybe we need the Piccadilly/Oxford Road improvements after all.

 

[30907]

They also managed to slow the previous separate services by running throughout diesel-hauled trains, to avoid a double electric loco change.

I know they were 47s through Manchester, but thought they changed locos at Preston? Minor point though.

 

[Ianno87]

They were introduced circa 1994-1995 ish (possibly a bit earlier) by Regional Railways well before privatisation, as part of the "NorthWest Express" project involving the green-stripe branded Class 156s. They left Manchester Oxford Road at I think xx07 every 2 hours and ran via Wigan (not Parkside; nothing ran that way back then other than a Parly and diversions). Between the Airport and Bolton they ran joined to the CrossCountry Express service to Scotland (Class 158), splitting there, whereupon that headed off and ran via Chorley.

I *think* Airport-Barrow workings were first introduced c. 1994 as portions of Airport-Blackpool trains in some hours, splitting at Preston. Was definitely one mid-morning (back-working of a Manchester peak journey)

Then c. 1995 (as part of NorthWest Express) saw the introduction of a seperate hourly Airport-Bolton-Wigan-Preston-Lancaster path, alternating between continuing to Barrow and Windermere on alternate hours. Was (northbound)
xx45 Airport
xx21 Bolton
xx34ish Wigan NW

A couple of times a day (1245, 1645 off the Airport to Windermere, and the corresponding Up workings ex-Barrow), this did drop the XC 158 at Bolton which continued non-stop via Chorley.

I know they were 47s through Manchester, but thought they changed locos at Preston? Minor point though.

Yes, 86 over the fells, then 47 south from Preston. Were Bolton southbound at 1354 (Sussex Scot to Brighton) and 1554 (Dorset Scot to Poole).

Northbound was mid-morning ex-Bournemouth and mid-afternoon ex-Brighton.

 

[Philip]

I *think* Airport-Barrow workings were first introduced c. 1994 as portions of Airport-Blackpool trains in some hours, splitting at Preston. Was definitely one mid-morning (back-working of a Manchester peak journey)

Then c. 1995 (as part of NorthWest Express) saw the introduction of a seperate hourly Airport-Bolton-Wigan-Preston-Lancaster path, alternating between continuing to Barrow and Windermere on alternate hours. Was (northbound)
xx45 Airport
xx21 Bolton
xx34ish Wigan NW

A couple of times a day (1245, 1645 off the Airport to Windermere, and the corresponding Up workings ex-Barrow), this did drop the XC 158 at Bolton which continued non-stop via Chorley.



Yes, 86 over the fells, then 47 south from Preston. Were Bolton southbound at 1354 (Sussex Scot to Brighton) and 1554 (Dorset Scot to Poole).

Northbound was mid-morning ex-Bournemouth and mid-afternoon ex-Brighton.

When did the loco-hauled XC workings through Bolton become more frequent (2-hourly)?

 

[Confused147]

Bolton to London could be achieved but not via Manchester. They could run to Preston then do a reversal with a voyager, BR ran a Bolton to London this way in the 80s

 

[WatcherZero]

There arent spare paths between Wigan and Preston to encourage more services/ridership, the Warrington-Wigan-Preston stretch is already the most crowded point on the line, going to Preston is also half an hour in the wrong direction.

 

[Ianno87]

Bolton to London could be achieved but not via Manchester. They could run to Preston then do a reversal with a voyager, BR ran a Bolton to London this way in the 80s

In the 80s such a route was only attractive because there weren't 3 trains am hour from Piccadilly to Euston to connect into, unlike today.

When did the loco-hauled XC workings through Bolton become more frequent (2-hourly)?

There was a bit of a step up in May 1998 to have about 4-5 'proper' XC services a day via Bolton. I remember an early 06xx departure to Brighton was added (I think a departure from Piccadilly starting back at Preston), and also the Aberdeen-Plymouth 'Devon Scot' HST was also diverted (Bolton southbound at 1454, northbound about 12-something or 13-something)

The step up to every 2 hours was under Operation Princess in September 2002, generally Edinburgh-Bournemouth every 2 hours. Most Bolton stops didn't surve after May 2003, but were reinstated when the service was split in two at Manchester in December 2004.