Could have done with a 195 on the 1035 Airport to Barrow yesterday morning (Sun). People were standing in the gangways on 156455 even leaving Piccadilly. I don't doubt that a fair proportion of those on board would have been heading for Blackpool, but at that time on a Sunday the Blackpool service starts from Oxford Road. Barmy, or what?
I was on that yesterday - it was awful. I don't know if you made it as far as Preston, but it took a good 3 or 4 minutes to unload everyone with their suitcases.
Luckily, I never intended catching it, I just happened to be at Picc when it departed.
Actually, anyone travelling from Piccadilly (or a previous stop) to Blackpool could have changed on to a virtually empty 319 at Oxford Road and finished up arriving in Blackpool on the same train they would have finished up on anyway - but the journey planners say change at Preston, and I think that's what instinct inevitably says, too. That's if they made the connection at Preston, of course - to change at Oxford Road would have been slightly easier, if anything.
From 15 September things get even more complicated. The 1133 (Sun) Airport to Windermere is amended to commence at Oxford Road, so anyone wanting to travel from Piccadilly to Blackpool (which I'm sure they'll still be wanting to do, by that date), who doesn't manage to get the 1054 Barrow, and who holds a Northern-only ticket, will then need to get themselves to Oxford Road on either the 1111 Liverpool semi-fast, 1121 Chat Moss stopper, or 1130 Oxford Road (ex-Stoke) - the next westbound Northern, the 1209 Liverpool semi-fast, does not make Oxford Road in time to connect with the 1202 Oxford Road to Blackpool North. Even with a non-Northern-specific ticket, the only other options would be travelling from Picc to Oxford Road by the 1125 TPE, the 1138 EMT, or the 1156 TfW, the latter involving an uncomfortably tight connection at Oxford Road (but worth a go, if you're stuck).