Longer term it seems likely that the only direct service from Wigan to the airport will be from North Western on the future Northern Connect service. Passengers from intermediate stations to Southport, as well as Hindley and Westhoughton, are likely to not only lose all direct trains to the airport, but also find that services to Oxford Road and Piccadilly, if they survive at all, will only run to serve the peak hour commuter market.
(my bold)
On a network that is getting increasingly crowded it seems a touch selfish to expect that fares should be set to encourage this sort of rail use. I remember my early "joyriding" jaunts in the late 1970s when inter-city services were poorly used during off-peak hours and getting a table to yourself was absolutely the norm. But the world has moved on since then. Indeed rail travel "just for fun" is enjoyable these days only on the quietest of routes IME.
On the journeys from Edinburgh to Inverness, we have had the first class coach to ourselves more often than not, with the Wigan to Edinburgh leg half filled at most. Surely in these days when the rail network seems to be moving towards prioritising provision for commuting at the expense of anything else, that there is a gap in the schedule for the leisure traveller. The trains have to be somewhere during the day so why not use them for leisure? It continues to surprise me that there is so little effort made to persuade people out of their cars to go on their holidays. I for one would use the train far more if I didn't need a small mortgage to make use of the network.
You make it sound as though TPE offer the only cheap fares.
Virgin Advances to Scotland are very good value.
It's only £16.50 on early Wigan-Glasgow/Edinburgh services in July.
In any case you can book TPE from Preston with a Wigan add-on, just as I do with a Chester add-on.
I'd expect good fares on the new Liverpool-Glasgow service, but you have to wait till the new stock arrives.
Fares to Glasgow and Edinburgh are indeed quite good, but there is only a certain number of trips one can make to those cities without overkill.
In the opposite direction, I am going to Coventry tomorrow or I could go to Birmingham (if I really wanted) for a decent price, but am not aware of any other destinations offering a decent fare. It seems such a waste. Just think of watching Michael Portillo on TV on those invariably empty trains during the day that are just crying out for holiday makers to make use of them.
I agree that one could add Wigan-Preston, but that can add 50% to the price of the journey. I realise that this is 'how it is', but it's not really a good way to run a railway or to get more people to use it for leisure and have a service that is more than just 2 rush hours a day.
