A lot of the traffic was relatively local day excursions and might even run from closed stations (e.g. my onetime home of Great Harwood had excursions to Blackpool for 7-8 years after closure);
For example there might be a timetabled Llandudno - Warrington path which would never actually terminate at Warrington! Instead it would be extended to wherever had the Wakes week/fortnight ending that day.
Along the lines of (and these are just examples off the top of my head):
Sat 4 July 0930 Llo-Warrington extended to Rochdale
Sat 11 July 0930 Llo-Warrington extended to Bolton
Sat 18 July 0930 Llo-Warrington extended to Accrington
and so on.
Bolton Great Moor Street station and its lines towards Manchester Exchange and Kenyon Junction closed to passengers in 1954 (well ahead of the Beeching cuts).
However the station was re-opened for Bolton Wakes Weeks Specials to North Wales each summer until 1958.
According to Dennis Sweeney's book
A Lancashire Triangle - Part 2, at the beginning of Wakes Week, on Saturday 28 June 1958, the following special trains were scheduled to leave Great Moor St.
Train no. 190 - 06:25 to Prestatyn, Rhyl, Abergele, Colwyn Bay, Llandudno Jn, Conway, Penmaenmawr, Llanfairfechan and Bangor.
Train no. 191 - 07:00 to Prestatyn, Rhyl, Colwyn Bay, Llandudno Jn, Deganwy and Llandudno.
Train no. 192 - 07:38 to Prestatyn, Rhyl, Colwyn Bay, Llandudno Jn, Deganwy and Llandudno.
Train no. 193 - 08:00 to Afonwen and Penychain.
Train no. 195 - 09:24 to Bangor, Caernarvon, Afonwen and Penychain.
Train no. 197 - 11:55 to Prestatyn and Rhyl.
Train no. 198 - 12:14 to Prestatyn, Rhyl, Abergele, Colwyn Bay, Llandudno Jn, Deganwy and Llandudno.
Train no. 199 - 12:44 to Prestatyn, Rhyl, Abergele, Colwyn Bay, Llandudno Jn, Deganwy and Llandudno.
Train no. 194 - 13:30 to Prestatyn, Rhyl, Abergele, Colwyn Bay, Llandudno Jn, Deganwy and Llandudno.
On the same day (Sat. 28 June 1958), there were additional special trains from elsewhere on the fringes of Bolton to North Wales:-
- Train no. 184 - 09:15 Tyldesley and Leigh to Prestatyn, Rhyl, Abergele, Colwyn Bay, Llandudno Jn, Deganwy and Llandudno.
- Train no. 183 - 11:42 Atherton Bag Lane, Atherleigh, Westleigh and Kenyon Junction to Prestatyn, Rhyl, Abergele, Colwyn Bay, Llandudno Jn, Deganwy and Llandudno.
(At this time Atherton Bag Lane, Atherleigh, Westleigh stations had also been closed for about four years).
I never knew there was such a close connection between Bolton and the North Wales holiday resorts that this number of trains seems to suggest!
A bit before my time, but no doubt it would have been interesting to see the collection of freight locomotives and vintage rolling stock pressed into service to provide all these inevitably quite lengthy trains.
The following weekend, 4th & 5th July 1958, must have been "Wigan Week" because Sweeney's book gives an even more eclectic range of destination for the special trains laid on from Wigan North Western and other station in the Wigan and Leigh area.