Going up to Wigan on Friday evening, won't be able to come back until Saturday morning. Is going into Manchester on Friday evening & continuing down to Birmingham from there a valid route?
Unfortunately there isn't an
OPR for this flow. There is an
SVR though. It may be possible to get a cheaper fare by "splitting" (and in some cases starting/finishing short, as there are not many OPRs to/from Birmingham Stns, but OPRs are available for journeys which assume you go via the Trent Valley route, but are in fact valid via Birmingham Stns).
As for the routeing, you want to know:
is via Manchester is permitted on a Wigan <> Birmingham ticket? (the routeing validity is the same in either the Down direction , ie towards Wigan, or the Up direction, ie towards Birmingham)
The answer is yes, Manchester is on a permitted route, but bizarrely only if you go via Rugeley (either via Walsall, Nuneaton or changing at Tamworth).
In practice, however, you are unlikely to experience problems taking the more direct route via Woverhampton.
The Routeing Guide is on the ATOC website, but it is difficult to understand, so you may find this site useful as it will interpret the Routeing Guide for you::
http://trainscanbecheaper.info/perm...&v2=MAN&v3=&v4=&v5=&ShowRoute=N&AnalyseMaps=Y
