ATW Wilmslow - Manchester Airport

[bb21]

Does anyone know whether ATW operates any passenger service over this section?

 

[sonic2009]

They don't operate Wilmslow - Manchester Airport trains, although they may use the Styal branch as a diversionary route.

Sent from my GT-I9000 using Tapatalk

 

[iandelg]

... such as the regularly-planned (around once a month) diversion of the T-F 0338 Chester to Manchester Airport - it's happening this week for instance.

Though it does seem to take the strange route of going via Manchester Piccadilly! Ie Wilmslow - Styal - Heald Greeen - Piccadilly - Heald Green - Airport.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Does anyone know whether ATW operates any passenger service over this section?

FNW used to operate a couple of Chester-Crewe-Wilmslow-Airport services, as a sop for cancelling the through North Wales-London services.
They lasted only a couple of years, and did not make it into the ATW world.
For a lot of that time they could not access P6 at Crewe from Chester (the only one you can reverse for Manchester), so had to run out down the Nantwich line and reverse there to reach the Manchester line.
The M56 won hands down.

 

[PHILIPE]

FNW used to operate a couple of Chester-Crewe-Wilmslow-Airport services, as a sop for cancelling the through North Wales-London services.
They lasted only a couple of years, and did not make it into the ATW world.
For a lot of that time they could not access P6 at Crewe from Chester (the only one you can reverse for Manchester), so had to run out down the Nantwich line and reverse there to reach the Manchester line.
The M56 won hands down.

There is an ATW ECS that goes via the Styal Line(not via the Airport) for route retention purposes but until recent years the 17 30 Manchester to Cardiff travelled that route.

 

[bb21]

Thanks all. I am aware of the ATW service via the Styal line avoiding the airport (which I think have two scheduled journeys on a Sunday morning), and the scheduled journeys between Piccadilly and Airport. Just wondered if that third side of that "triangle" is served, too. Looks like the answer is "no".

Though it does seem to take the strange route of going via Manchester Piccadilly! Ie Wilmslow - Styal - Heald Greeen - Piccadilly - Heald Green - Airport.

I assume that they are trying to stick to the original timings as closely as possible.

 

[Welshman]

FNW used to operate a couple of Chester-Crewe-Wilmslow-Airport services, as a sop for cancelling the through North Wales-London services.

I remember FNW briefly ran some odd Rochdale/ Manchester Airport to London services, but didn't know they also experimented with North Wales to London services.

FNW had been replaced by ATW by the time I arrived in Wales, so can you please remember any of the timings/frequency of the FNW services you mention?

 

[northwichcat]

FNW used to operate a couple of Chester-Crewe-Wilmslow-Airport services, as a sop for cancelling the through North Wales-London services.

I thought the North Wales-London services were operated by FNW on behalf of Virgin, whose crew's didn't sign the North Wales Coast at the time.

On FNW strike days the services ran south of Chester/Crewe whereas the Rochdale/Manchester Airport/Blackpool to London services didn't operate at all.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

I remember FNW briefly ran some odd Rochdale/ Manchester Airport to London services, but didn't know they also experimented with North Wales to London services.

FNW had been replaced by ATW by the time I arrived in Wales, so can you please remember any of the timings/frequency of the FNW services you mention?

FNW never started the North Wales-London services.
They were franchise commitments (along with Rochdale/Blackpool and Man Airport-London, which did start with existing stock).
The intention was that what eventually became the class 175/180 order would work the trains.
FNW (actually it might have been NWT/GWH, before First bought them out) quickly got into financial trouble and decided to concentrate on the NW knitting, and dropped the Euston idea.
OPRAF made them introduce some extra local services in compensation, and the Chester-Airport services were one of these (I can't remember if there were others).
They only ran twice a day from memory, one in the early morning and another early afternoon (which I used a few times), with 142s usually.

The Chester-Airport services were suspended when the WCRM project reduced capacity at Crewe c2002, and never resumed, not becoming part of the Wales & Borders franchise.

 

[Welshman]

Ah, I see.
Thank you for your full reply.

 

[tamesidedepot]

Northern operate a Crewe-Wilmslow-Airport-Piccadilly every hour (2 hourly Sundays)