Today I suggest some of the lines around Manchester in a network style route. I propose setting this route in modern day. These lines include: Manchester - Wigan (Northwestern and WallGate) Manchester - Stoke-on-Trent Manchester Airport line These lines are mainly served by Northern on slow services and Transpennine Express on faster services. Avanti West Coast runs faster services from Manchester to Stoke. Note that Transpennine Express does not run Manchester - Wigan. So what trains do I think should be included on this route? Class 68&Mk5s Transpennine Express operates 14 Stadler class 68 diesel electric locomotives and mk5 coaches (And a mk5 DVT for each set) and these would run on faster services from Manchester Airport to Oxford Road. These locos have a top speed of 100mph (160km/h), and are in Transpennine Express livery. Class 150 Northern operates a Fleet of these two car DMUs. They would operate on slow services across the route. They have a top speed of 75mph and are in northern livery. Only include this if it gets fixed from the West Cornwall 150. Class 185 These 3 car 100mph DMUs operate fast services from Manchester to Stockport and the airport. In Transpennine Express livery. Class 195 These two and three car DMUs were built by CAF in the late 2010s. They run on slow services like the class 150 and are in Northern livery with a top speed of 100mph. Class 390 These 9 and 11 car 125mph tilting EMUs wear avanti west coast livery and run fast services from Manchester Piccadilly Station to Stoke. They would also appear as AI at Wigan Northwestern. Major stations would include Piccadilly and Oxford Road in Manchester, Manchester Airport, Stockport, Stoke on trent and Wigan. There are two stations at Wigan that train would run to: Wallgate and North Western. Both station would be visible from the other. As you can tell, this has incredible potential and if made could be the best tsw2 route to date.
Having more of the network heading south instead of going up to Wigan might be better, as it seems to be a bit random having the line to Wigan but not the lines to Bolton, Preston, Warrington or Liverpool. Instead you could include the lines down to Crewe via Stockport and Wilmslow, along with the Manchester Airport branch, creating a sort of south-of Manchester mini-network with a Class 323 as well.
