The "idiots" thing is me, I said it first however my actual words were that a number of them were inconsiderate both to themselves and others by doing insane things to get their perfect shot. Recently at York some prat was sat with his legs hanging off the edge of the platform where only a few minutes earlier we had all got caught out by an approaching 225 set... On the contrary a fair number are considerate and ensure that they are not in anyone's shot and are a nice bunch. That said there probably are some bad eggs when it comes to non-steam traction but so far I have not met any. I do know that when there are railtours with the likes of a Deltic, Western or Hoover a few idiots turn up in the crowd, just there seems to be a higher proportion with Steam.
For the record I love steam and will be out on Saturday to shoot the two tours.
Back to freight...
Freightliner don't have any booked workings for 90s along the northern section of the WCML, they do operate north of Crewe but only to Ditton and that area south of Warrington. They do however operate 86s in pairs along the northern Section of the line, though there are none booked to run on a Saturday. The 86s run on weekday evenings, quite a few turns too.
DBS 90's also stay south of WBQ as they run as far as Garston, sometimes a 92 will sub in on this working. The Scotrail sleeper is the only booked 90 turn, of which there are a couple per night (I think it's one each way).
90's are a rare thing on the northern section of the WCML, you will see plenty south of Crewe. If Freightliner have a problem on one of their standard FL services then they could sub a 90 in place.
Don't forget light engine moves, these are typically random so are not listed on freight timetables. On a Saturday there is usually an EWS movement northbound though Wigan (I don't know how far north it goes) and DRS have a movement south to Crewe. With DRS they would normally stick the extra locos on the flasks (hence why there are sometimes 4+ locos on the flasks) but should they not run DRS will just send the light engines.
I would recommend taking a day off and heading either north of Crewe (like Acton Bridge) or south of Crewe (no stations till Stafford though) as you will get plenty of traction. I should point out that on a Wednesday the China Clay train heads north behind a 92 and a 92 heads through Manchester on a Wednesday (as well as Monday & Friday), well I say that it normally does as it's a 66 today
Once again though the idiot thing was my fault, my apologies.
Phil