Last Blackpool North to Manchester Airport service

A quick browse on Real Time Trains for today (2nd June) shows a variation to the final Blackpool North to Manchester service, which is diverted via Wigan and Eccles presumably due to engineering works.

This is a much more pleasant stopping pattern. At the moment, the half hourly Blackpool to Manchester service is incredibly slow and stops just about everywhere; the fact that it has a 1Nxx headcode is a joke.

Via the usual route via Chorley and Bolton, do we think we would ever see a service that stops at say only Poulton, Preston, Chorley, Bolton, Salford Crescent, Deansgate, Manchester Oxford Road and Manchester Piccadilly? It would be so much nicer!

Blackpool to Manchester is one of the few services which is slower now despite electrification than it was in the 60s.

deltic said:

Blackpool to Manchester is one of the few services which is slower now despite electrification than it was in the 60s.

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Are we comparing apples with apples, or something completely different?

This is a consequence of removing the historical Blackpool North-Victoria stopper. The semi-expresses has to pick up the slack.
Some services still miss Blackrod and Adlington. We'll add them in for ya lol.
There are two fast services a hour Manchester-Preston in the form of the Cumbria and Scotland services.

deltic said:

Blackpool to Manchester is one of the few services which is slower now despite electrification than it was in the 60s.

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How much slower is it since the 1990s, say, when it was one fast (Airport) and one stopper (Vic I think) per hour with a couple of Scotlands a day and the Windermere going via Westhoughton and Wigan?

Surely the EMUs would speed things up significantly over a Pacer wheezing its way along an all stations run?

Of course it is only Blackpool itself and Poulton le Fylde which have had a slowdown - other stations were either stoppers only (i.e. Kirkham and Layton, and Salwick if that was ever in a Blackpool North train) or are now served by the Barrow/Windermere which now runs via Bolton, or by the Scotland service (which is admittedly often overcrowded, but that's probably easier to fix in terms of lengthening than cramming in more fasts on a 2 track line).

Don't forget when the 156 fleet appeared on Cumbria/Lancs - East Anglia services in the late 1980s they ran limited stop Blackpool-Preston-Wigan-Bolton-Oxford Rd-Piccadilly and then off to Sheffield. A few started at Barrow and they just added Ulverston-Grange-Lancaster

Bletchleyite said:

and Salwick if that was ever in a Blackpool North train)

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I'm pretty sure Salwick did have at least 1 call by a Blackpool North service, mostly served by Blackpool South services

ValleyLines142 said:

Via the usual route via Chorley and Bolton, do we think we would ever see a service that stops at say only Poulton, Preston, Chorley, Bolton, Salford Crescent, Deansgate, Manchester Oxford Road and Manchester Piccadilly? It would be so much nicer!

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Not if you live in Leyland!

Kite159 said:

I'm pretty sure Salwick did have at least 1 call by a Blackpool North service, mostly served by Blackpool South services

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Yes, it was an evening peak service - I remember working it... it was initially a 319 working and then when it changed to a 6 car 331 service it became a problem as the conductors local door in car 4 was off the platform, so we had to lock out the back unit at Preston; until a platform extension was completed.

AMD said:

Yes, it was an evening peak service - I remember working it... it was initially a 319 working and then when it changed to a 6 car 331 service it became a problem as the conductors local door in car 4 was off the platform, so we had to lock out the back unit at Preston; until a platform extension was completed.

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This is only because of Northern's silly policy not allowing the guard to unit hop. If you're going to SDO down to 3 coaches, then logic is that the guard should work it from the rear door of the rear coach that is going to be opened. That money was spent on extending platforms at a barely used station that is fairly likely to close if Cottam Parkway ever gets built is a fine example of classic profligacy on the railway. At least I suppose they didn't pull the stop, but really it is very silly indeed.