northwichcat
Veteran Member
I believe that what you've read in other threads about 170s on Calder Valley routes started with a post from me a while back saying something along the lines that I'd heard a rumour that this was a possibility. To my horror this was repeated without any qualification whatsoever by others and now seems to have become an accepted truth. Unless there has been confirmation by someone else, this remains pure speculation. I've heard nothing new since the original rumour.
I've learnt not to post rumours here, it was illuminating how quickly a rumour of a possibility morphed into a "true fact".
The rumour does have logic to it. Northern did say the routes the 170s end up on will be Harrogate and Leeds-Southport (in a digital copy of a staff magazine which uploaded in a way that made it available to all), so Leeds and Victoria crews will need training on 170s and we also know 158s are being removed from some Yorkshire services so they can work Cumbria services which will mean those 158s have to be replaced by something. However, if your post was the one I recall reading which specifically mentioned Chester to Leeds services in the interim then even if that was true at the time it could have changed by now, given we no longer know for certain that Chester to Leeds will start in May 2018. There would certainly be an argument for not extending that service to Chester if Northern are short of DMUs and concentrating on improving services on routes where Northern provide the only service.