Manchester Area

Manchester Area
Description	A simulation of railways in the Manchester area of the UK in 2024
Country	United Kingdom
Time period	2024
Train Operating Company	Northern, Avanti West Coast, Transport for Wales, Transpennine Express, East Midlands Railway, CrossCountry
Simulation difficulty
Author	RailOS Dev Team
Repository	Manchester Area
Website	Manchester Area
Rolling Stock	Class 150 Class 156 Class 158 Class 170 Class 185 Class 195 Class 197 Class 220 Class 221 Class 323 Class 390 Class 397 Class 769 Class 802 Class 67 + 4*Mk4 “Premier Service”
Collapse Route map Rochdale Mills Hill Moston Newton Heath MPD Guide Bridge Huddersfield Ashburys Ardwick TMD Ardwick Stockport Manchester Victoria Manchester Victoria Turnback Siding Manchester Piccadilly Manchester Oxford Road Deansgate Salford Central Trafford Reversing Siding Salford Crescent Manchester United FC Halt Eccles Clifton Trafford Park Euro Terminal Bolton Trafford Park Swinton Humphrey Park Moorside Urmston Walkden Chassen Road Wigan Flixton Patricroft Warrington Earlestown

The simulation includes Manchester’s main city stations and surrounding areas close to the city.

Timetable

Manchester Area Services
Train Operating Company	Origin	Destination	Frequency (tph)
East Midlands Railway	Liverpool Lime Street	Norwich	1
Transpennine Express		Newcastle	1
		Cleethorpes	1
	Manchester Piccadilly	Hull	1
		Huddersfield	1
	Manchester Airport	Saltburn	1
		Glasgow Central	0.5
		Edinburgh Waverley	0.5
Northern		Barrow-in-Furness	1
		Windermere	4tpd
		Blackpool North	2
		Liverpool Lime Street	1
	Manchester Oxford Road		1
		Southport	1
	Stalybridge		1
	Headbolt Lane	Blackburn	1
	Rochdale		1
		Clitheroe	1
	Leeds	Manchester Victoria	1
		Wigan Wallgate	1
		Chester	1
	Manchester Piccadilly		1
		Crewe via Manchester Airport	1
		Crewe via Stockport	1
		Alderley Edge	1
		Stoke-on-Trent	1
		Buxton	1
		Hazel Grove	1
		Hadfield	2
		Rose Hill Marple	0.75
		New Mills Central	1
		Sheffield	1
Avanti West Coast		London Euston via Stoke-on-Trent	2
		London Euston via Crewe	1
CrossCountry		Bristol Temple Meads	1
		Bournemouth	1
Transport for Wales		Cardiff Central	1
	Manchester Airport	Llandudno	1

Operational Tips

The simulation is best run at half speed for most of the time, with occasional brief periods of normal time and sometimes quarter time when traffic build-up is severe.

Specific platforms are advised in train descriptions for Piccadilly and Victoria, and these should be used unless there is a build-up of delays, when in some cases it might be preferable to use other platforms.

It pays to keep a sharp eye on arrival and departure times because some trains have plenty of excess time whereas others have little. Just because a train enters the railway before another it doesn’t always mean that the first to enter is the first to arrive at a station. Often the first can be held at a signal without it being delayed – the important thing is to keep to or before scheduled arrival times as far as possible.

This is a difficult simulation to operate, especially for traffic in and out of Piccadilly, but there is some useful advice provided in the operational notes.