I was recently cruising liverpool to crewe in a class 47. I hit 88mph and thought this route needs to go back to the future! What I propose is that dtg give this route the love it deserves and fast forward a few years, mid to late 60s, add electrification. Upgrade the signalling. And extend the route to Birmingham. Around 60 miles. There's a shedload of stock already available to utilise for the route. The jubilee, 8f, 4f, classes 08, 31, 37, 40, 45, 47, 52, 87 and 101. Looking thru hours of archive footage, all the above rolling stock would be seen at points along the route. It would be one of the busiest routes in tsw and of course would be another part of the west coast main line, that seems to be quite popular among the community. If this is to much of a task for dtg to undertake then maybe they could reach out to a 3rd party.
Or JT. Seems almost certain they will capitalise on their new trains for Shap and the forthcoming Class 86 plus stock packs with another section of the WCML. My personal wish would be Rugby to Crewe via the Trent Valley but Birmingham to Liverpool (or more likely Manchester) would work too. Class 304 or Class 310 EMU, please step forward!
I was thinking rugby to crewe or Birmingham to Manchester but that would make the route length quite long. I don't mind longer but long routes seem to be a no go for dtg. Was watching a movie the other night and wondering what the train was, just looked at the 310 and it looks similar but was diesel in the movie?
