There has always been a relevant connection at Blackburn to be fair. However this form of the service is likely to be slightly more efficient
Hopefully a relevant flexible fare on route Clitheroe is introduced from stations south of Blackburn. The previous 'DalesRail CDR' Northern Only tickets were withdrawn a couple of years ago.
There is a direct service from Manchester to Clitheroe. But he was refrring to the fact that when the Dalesrail services ran from Preston they connected with the (Rochdale)-Manchester-Clitheroe services at Blackburn.
Precisely yes.
Advances for the return journey aren't necessarily the most ideal option for walkers. They'd almost certainly prefer a more flexible option.
True, but almost nobody will do that - when I used DalesRail people just took the through journey in the vast majority of cases. Connections onto infrequent services are incredibly risky. The place for a pint will be the lovely little pub in Ribblehead.
Fair point on Clitheroe, though I doubt anyone will want to do it at Blackburn or Bolton!
Are you sure? There is no booked work for Skipton on any diesels other than 158's. They used to.
I'm sure - I was a Skipton conductor until a few weeks ago!
That makes the most sense given their location. Are there separate links at BBN? If not, will the whole depot sign CLH - RHD, or just a portion?
Not a clue about the ops side of it I’m afraid. Blackburn is a relatively new depot and West/Central isn’t my region. It does make complete sense for Blackburn to work it though.
That needs sorting then! There aren't any diagrams for them. I know they used to when 150/2's worked the Lancasters.
To my knowledge they're retained purely for (very rare) 150s coming with a Leeds driver from there to Carlisle - I only worked a 150 once in my three years as a conductor.
My understanding from the discussion at the stakeholder meeting where I first heard about this is that Northern will introduce new return fares from the Manchester/Lancashire area to the S&C stations valid only via Clitheroe, at a price considerably less than the current open return via the longer route. It would make sense to include it in the rover ticket you describe, I agree. But the question did not come up. Advance tickets were not mentioned. They also said the plan was to use a 156. I said that if this service takes off, that will not be enough.
