Manchester to Sheffield route

[purpletrain]

Hi all

Does anyone know why there is such a big gap between the 05.50 and the 07.08 train from Manchester to Sheffield? There are 3 train companies serving the route (tp express, northern and east midlands) and 2-3 trains per hour the rest of the time so I can't understand it!

Thanks

 

[scrapy]

It's effectively a gap from 05.50 to 07.20 as the 07.08 gets overtaken by the 07.20 en route so is little use for a passenger travelling Manchester - Sheffield.

 

[northwichcat]

The first two Northern services are off-pattern, which is quite normal for Northern services they are 05:50 and 07:08 instead of 05:45 and 06:45. The first ones goes via Stockport, presumably because it is much earlier than the first TPE and EMT services. A lot of lines don't have any service before 06:30, so you should really consider the Sheffield line lucky.