A collection of commuter lines in North West England connecting the urban areas of Greater Manchester, Liverpool and Preston.

 

Changelog:

• 14/02/26: Phase 1 released
• 14/02/26: Phase 1.1 released: Patched missing portals (thank you to everyone who helped me correct this)
• 15/02/26: Phase 1.12 released: Removed two WIP scenarios that were accidentally included in the earlier patch..

 

Roadmap:

• Phase 1: Manchester to Preston via Bolton
• Phase 2: Manchester Piccadilly to Manchester Airport (The Styal Line)
• Phase 3: Lostock and Huyton Junctions to Wigan (Liverpool – Wigan – Bolton)
• Phase 4: Bolton to Clitheroe (The Ribble Valley Line)
• Phase 5: Farington Curve Junction to Colne (The East Lancs Line)
• Phase 6: Salford Crescent to Hindley (The Atherton Line)
• Phase 7: Manchester Victoria to Rochdale (The Calder Valley Line)
• Phase 8: Wigan Wallgate to Headbolt Lane (The Kirkby Line)
• Phase 9: Farington Curve Junction to Ormskirk

The order may change.

 

The Manchester to Preston Line

My first journey into serious route building! The first phase of this project extends ATS Chat Moss by 30 miles to Preston via the likes of Bolton and Chorley, joining the West Coast Mainline at Euxton. This line carries important traffic from Manchester to Blackpool, Southport, Blackburn and Scotland, allowing these trains to avoid the WCML by taking a more direct route. The southern section between Bolton and central Manchester is one of the busiest lines in North West England with eight trains per hour in each direction all day.

This line was recently electrified in 2019 and contains some of the newest stations on the network.

New stations:

• Salford Crescent
• Clifton
• Kearsley
• Farnworth
• Moses Gate
• Bolton
• Lostock
• Horwich Parkway
• Blackrod
• Adlington
• Chorley
• Buckshaw Parkway

Scenarios:

A selection of scenarios have been included to cover the breadth of operations on this route.

• 1S40 Manchester Airport – Glasgow Central
• 1Y58 Blackpool North – Manchester Airport
• 1Y81 Windermere – Manchester Airport
• 2P46 Manchester Victoria – Preston
• 2W46 Southport – Stalybridge

 

Notes

• All sections of this route will remain WIP throughout. Detailed lineside scenery and OHLE will be continuously updated to improve accuracy.
• My route building skills have evolved during the course of this project and there are now sections I wish to revamp during future updates.
• Agecroft sidings lack a few crossovers so any scenarios requiring these will not be possible.
• No new custom assets have been created for this route. Certain structures have been improvised with the tools available.  
• This route is designed to look best with the AP Vegetation Enhancement Pack and their recommended graphics settings.

 

Route requirements:

Base Route: ATS Chat Moss

ATS Missing Link 

ATS OHLE Pack

ATS Leeds North West

ATS GEMMA

ATS Kings Cross – Kings Lynn

ATS Leeds Lines

AP MML Enhancement

AP Vegetation Pack

JT MML

DTG Huddersfield Line

DTG Chatham Mainline

DTG Chatham Mainline

DTG WCML South

DTG GEML

DTG North Wales Coastal

DTG Liverpool – Manchester

WCML Trent Valley

 

Scenario requirements:

AP Class 156

Class 156 NORTHERN Reskin

DTG Cross City

Oli Class 323 ARN Reskin

AP Class 800-803

AP Class 319 Vol 2

AP Class 150/1

Class 150/1 NORTHERN Reskin

AP Class 158 

Class 158 NORTHERN Reskin

ATS Class 185

AP Class 150/2

Class 150/2 NORTHERN Reskin

JT Class 153

AP Class 390 

MJW Class 390 Revamp Pack

AP Class 175 2.0

JT Voyager 

Voyager Overhaul

 

Replacements:

• Class 397s are replaced by Class 802s
• Class 195s are replaced by Class 156s and Class 158s
• Class 331s are replaced by Class 319s
• Class 769s are replaced by Class 156s and Class 319s

 

Installation guide: 

Copy the ‘Content’ folder into your ‘Railworks’ folder.

 

Disclaimer: Please do not upload these files anywhere else without my permission.

Download file