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Alstom at Blackpool and Barrow CS, 2000s

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Philip

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Did Blackpool and Barrow sidings have Alstom maintenance facilities for class 175s when they worked the Airport-North West services? By this I mean refuelling, cleaning and a service depot since they were on diagrams which were no where near Chester.
 
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themiller

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Barrow had (and still has) facilities for servicing dmus but no maintenance depot. Didn’t 175s go to Newton Heath for maintenance along with other units?
 

4-SUB 4732

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Barrow had (and still has) facilities for servicing dmus but no maintenance depot. Didn’t 175s go to Newton Heath for maintenance along with other units?
I thought they went to Chester from new as they were FNW, who also ran stuff along the NW Coast?
 

Geeves

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All the heavy work was done at Chester and that continues today. I think Barrow and Blackpool was just for light works, cleaning and fueling. They used to swap the units over via the Mid Cheshire lines.
 

PHILIPE

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They just had what was then known as FPE (Fuelling Point Exam). Just as said above, Fuel clean and Water and a look round. The diagrams cycled round via Chester
 

Cheshire Scot

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All the heavy work was done at Chester and that continues today. I think Barrow and Blackpool was just for light works, cleaning and fueling. They used to swap the units over via the Mid Cheshire lines.
Yes maintenance was always at Chester although the outstations would do minor work - replace windscreen wiper etc.
The cycling to / from Chester was on the North Wales services which were part of the FNW franchise - and post transfer of North Wales to 'Wales and West' sets whilst there may have been some adjustments this principle held true.
At least one unit was overnight at Longsight - either off Lancs and Cumbria onto North Wales or the reverse. For a time one of the 175s ran on the 04.xx Chester to Airport via Crewe then onto North West workings.
They may occasionally have run on mid-Cheshire but Warrington BQ was the predominant routes to Chester.
 

PHILIPE

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Yes maintenance was always at Chester although the outstations would do minor work - replace windscreen wiper etc.
The cycling to / from Chester was on the North Wales services which were part of the FNW franchise - and post transfer of North Wales to 'Wales and West' sets whilst there may have been some adjustments this principle held true.
At least one unit was overnight at Longsight - either off Lancs and Cumbria onto North Wales or the reverse. For a time one of the 175s ran on the 04.xx Chester to Airport via Crewe then onto North West workings.
They may occasionally have run on mid-Cheshire but Warrington BQ was the predominant routes to Chester.


There was one which ran from Chester to Manchester Picc in the morning in service via the Mid-Cheshire. I can't recall it's next working now though
 

Philip

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I remember seeing a picture of a 175 at Crow Nest Junction heading towards Westhoughton/Bolton which wasn't the normal route they took...everything ran via Chorley. Did a unit work ECS to Wigan/Blackpool and then to the Airport via Westhoughton?
 

Cheshire Scot

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I remember seeing a picture of a 175 at Crow Nest Junction heading towards Westhoughton/Bolton which wasn't the normal route they took...everything ran via Chorley. Did a unit work ECS to Wigan/Blackpool and then to the Airport via Westhoughton?
Whilst Chorley was the booked route Westhoughton was the diversionary route and did have a handful of booked trains late evening/during the night for route retention but it would also be used e.g. some Sundays during engineering work, and in reaction to on the day incidents.
There was a spell when the North Wales trains diverted via Wigan when Chat Moss was closed on Sundays.
 
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