Wilmslow to Heald Green

[AndyP]

Hello,

There is only 1 service per hour on the above route on weekdays (via Manchester Airport). Is this because of COVID or has it always just been just one?

Thanks

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Service provision on direct Northern services between Wilmslow and Heald Green (via Manchester Airport) was hourly (Mon-Sat) and two-hourly (Sun) in the Winter 2013/14 timetable.

Vague recollection that there were once (in the 1980s) half-hourly direct services between Wilmslow and Heald Green, this before the Airport spur opened in the 1990s. These would have been trains from Alderley Edge to/from Altrincham via the Styal line.

 

[30907]

Vague recollection that there were once (in the 1980s) half-hourly direct services between Wilmslow and Heald Green, this before the Airport spur opened in the 1990s. These would have been trains from Alderley Edge to/from Altrincham via the Styal line.

Correct. Probably from electrification in 1960 or whenever.

 

[43096]

Service provision on direct Northern services between Wilmslow and Heald Green (via Manchester Airport) was hourly (Mon-Sat) and two-hourly (Sun) in the Winter 2013/14 timetable.

Vague recollection that there were once (in the 1980s) half-hourly direct services between Wilmslow and Heald Green, this before the Airport spur opened in the 1990s. These would have been trains from Alderley Edge to/from Altrincham via the Styal line.

The Crewe-Wilmslow-Manchester-Altrincham service pattern as I remember it in the 1980s was:
1tph Crewe-Altrincham via Stockport
1tph Alderley Edge-Altrincham via Stockport
2tph Alderley Edge-Altrincham via Styal

 

[jfollows]

Train service from Altrincham was every 15 minutes off-peak, destinations

• Alderley Edge via Styal
• Alderley Edge via Stockport
• Alderley Edge via Styal
• Crewe via Stockport

as per the attached 1977 timetable, for example.

So Wilmslow-Heald Green services was every 30 minutes and had been since 19701 (conversion of Altrincham line to 25kV AC from 1500V DC).
Prior to this, a similar service ran starting from Oxford Road to Alderley Edge/Crewe with the same template, so every 30 minute Wilmslow-Heald Green then too ( I have a 1969 WTT).

That's history, but back to immediately pre-Covid and I agree there was only an hourly service Wilmslow-Heald Green, which is why I never use the train to get back from Manchester Airport to Wilmslow but always take a taxi.

 

[Foxcover]

Correct. Probably from electrification in 1960 or whenever.

Yes, it was a clock-face local railway on the Styal line before the Airport link came - every 20 minutes in the peaks, and every 30 mins otherwise, no skip-stopping, with only a 5 minute deviation in the morning and late afternoon to allow the Manchester Pullman through, which in those days avoided Stockport.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

So Wilmslow-Heald Green services was every 30 minutes and had been since 1970 (conversion of Altrincham line to 25kV AC from 1500V DC).

Conversion was April/May 1971, but otherwise concur with what you say.

 

[jfollows]

Conversion was April/May 1971, but otherwise concur with what you say.

Thanks, I didn’t start going into Manchester until 1973, I’ll try and get this right in future too!

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Getting back to the OP's original question, anyone able to advise when direct weekday Wilmslow -> Heald Green services were last operated more frequently than just hourly? (And was it ever possible to instead make the journey by travelling on a service from the Crewe/Alderley Edge/Wilmslow direction that terminated at Manchester Airport and then changing there for an onward service calling at Heald Green?)

 

[Rail Ranger]

Getting back to the OP's original question, anyone able to advise when direct weekday Wilmslow -> Heald Green services were last operated more frequently than just hourly? (And was it ever possible to instead make the journey by travelling on a service from the Crewe/Alderley Edge/Wilmslow direction that terminated at Manchester Airport and then changing there for an onward service calling at Heald Green?)

In the past services have operated from Skegness and also from North Wales/Chester to Manchester Airport via Crewe which would have called at Wilmslow. The Skegness service often got no further than Crewe due to late running. The service from North Wales/Chester had to reverse by Crewe Diesel Depot for a time due to a points problem affecting platform 6 at Crewe, the only platform which can be accessed from both the Chester and Manchester lines at Crewe.

 

[CJ]

In the past services have operated from Skegness and also from North Wales/Chester to Manchester Airport via Crewe which would have called at Wilmslow. The Skegness service often got no further than Crewe due to late running. The service from North Wales/Chester had to reverse by Crewe Diesel Depot for a time due to a points problem affecting platform 6 at Crewe, the only platform which can be accessed from both the Chester and Manchester lines at Crewe.

There was also the (short-lived) North Western Trains London Euston - Manchester Airport service (operated by a Class 322 or Class 158), but these services did not call at Wilmslow (most likely due to Virgin Trains competition protection I believe) and called at Alderley Edge instead.

 

[LowLevel]

In the past services have operated from Skegness and also from North Wales/Chester to Manchester Airport via Crewe which would have called at Wilmslow. The Skegness service often got no further than Crewe due to late running. The service from North Wales/Chester had to reverse by Crewe Diesel Depot for a time due to a points problem affecting platform 6 at Crewe, the only platform which can be accessed from both the Chester and Manchester lines at Crewe.

The Skegness service didn't call at Wilmslow and ran fast from Crewe to the Airport. Probably one reason it was hardly used and only ran for a few years.

 

[47827]

For a good while Styal lost most of its services and I think it was for over a decade. Although I recall it had a better Sunday service at one stage too. For a time too there were heritage DMUs covering the only service calling regularly in part of the 90s.

Some of the few XC or Avanti services going via Crewe in recent years have been a good way of doing the bit missing the Airport but if Stockport is ever shut at weekends you can have everything diverted that way. For me the majority of my runs via Styal were dragged IC services ex Crewe via Manchester up to Liverpool or Preston.

 

[43096]

For a good while Styal lost most of its services and I think it was for over a decade.

That would have been after the airport link was built and before the south curve was added. From memory there was almost nothing from Wilmslow via the Styal line at that point; Styal itself was basically a parliamentary service. Essentially the two Styal line stoppers referenced above were diverted into the airport.

 

[js1000]

Hello,

There is only 1 service per hour on the above route on weekdays (via Manchester Airport). Is this because of COVID or has it always just been just one?

Thanks

It's always been hourly for last 30 years since the Airport spur opened. Not sure before that. One to Manchester Airport and the other goes to Alderley Edge/Crewe.

 

[47827]

It's always been hourly for last 30 years since the Airport spur opened. Not sure before that. One to Manchester Airport and the other goes to Alderley Edge/Crewe.

Ah but the South spur only opened a number of years later and for a good while it wasn't served by local trains that frequently called at Styal. In fact the early traffic along the south spur into the Airport were the likes of Derby and Skegness services extended through to there plus an odd weird Birmingham working like the 0237 New St to Manc Airport than ran weekdays/Saturdays for a while. When the 2345 Euston to Wolves had a spell of being a diesel throughout on the nights it was diverted via Nuneaton and Water Orton I used that service umpteen times to get to various stuff the next day.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Anyone on here have a collection of old GB timetables?

 

[D6130]

Anyone on here have a collection of old GB timetables?

I do.....but several of them are stashed away in boxes in the attic which I can hardly lift nowadays!

 

[jfollows]

For a good while Styal lost most of its services and I think it was for over a decade. Although I recall it had a better Sunday service at one stage too. For a time too there were heritage DMUs covering the only service calling regularly in part of the 90s.

One of the few good parts of the May 2018 timetable is that it reinstated the hourly Styal service.
Essentially, in the preceding service, which had indeed been in place by then for a number of years, there wasn't enough time in the schedule for the Styal call. It seems silly, but the service (as now) went semi-fast between Wilmslow and Crewe and then turned round in platform 1 to form a service to Piccadilly via Stockport, and if it called at Styal then the service it formed from Crewe had to be retimed off-pattern by a couple of minutes to allow for its slightly later arrival. The same in the opposite direction working. So this was driven by the timetable rules, and the rules for time between workings at Crewe. The May 2018 timetable eased the turn-round times at Crewe, and so the regular Styal stop could be reintroduced.
Obviously all the timetable rules made sense when considered separately, it was just that cumulatively they prevented the regular Styal call, when the reality was often that the up working arrived early into Wilmslow anyway.
I don't know how the usage has recovered since then; I've used the service to go out to Styal and walk back home on a nice day.

Anyone on here have a collection of old GB timetables?

Working timetables only.

 

[CHESHIRECAT]

amazed the Sunday Wimslow to Lime Street via Airport has survived the last Covid cuts!
it's rather ironic that the last one front Lime Street is later than weekdays which is good as the last Piccadilly/Wilmslow on Sunday is 2300.via Stockport !

 

[47827]

amazed the Sunday Wimslow to Lime Street via Airport has survived the last Covid cuts!
it's rather ironic that the last one front Lime Street is later than weekdays which is good as the last Piccadilly/Wilmslow on Sunday is 2300.via Stockport !

There's a few stations or routes around the country that have faired better on Sundays even before covid, but even more since the cuts as often Sundays are simply left as is due to different staffing requirements etc.