Welcome to my attempt at a timetable for Crewe
It's a Summer weekday in 2003 and a unique time in the Northwest's railway history.

PLEASE READ DESCRIPTION WITHIN 'GENERAL' TAB FOR DETAILS ON WORKAROUNDS ETC

Crewe station and was still mostly as-was from the re-signalling in 1985 with the only real loss being the Down Chester Independant. The Majority of express services were still Loco Hauled, though multiple units (both Diesel & Electric) dominated the surrounding local lines to North Wales, Shrewsbury, and Manchester.

This timetable was also a peculiar one, as during this time the lines between Crewe & Kidsgrove were in the process of being electrified under the 25Kv AC System to allow for future diversion work, and as such the lines towards Stoke were closed (apart from engineers trains) all services being operated by Buses departing hourly from the Horse Landing. The Potteries Loop & Main were open for shunting, however. This means you may wish to hold trains for passengers connecting to/from Derby Line services.

Operator-wise, we have:
Virgin trains (VT) who were still mostly using loco hauled stock with classes 86, 87 & 90 + Mk2/3 stock, with a few HSTs and Class 47 Haulage for the North Wales Coast, though the Class 390 'Pendilinos' are starting to be introduced on London - Preston relief and 'runs as required' services, the class 86s giving way to the 390s by May 2004.

Virgin Cross Country (VXC) has now almost switched solely to Class 220 & 221 'Voyagers' though some 2+5 HSTs do appear on Manchester To Birmingham Services to help increase capacity.

The more local operators are:
Wales and Borders (WB) operated almost solely within Wales though did have a few services between Liverpool and London as well as covering the Manchester to South Wales destinations via Shrewsbury. They used 158s for the long-distance services with a mix of 150/153 units for the more Local Services.

First North Western (NW) operates over most of the northwest and in Crewe operates all local services to Manchester and the North Wales Coast, in 2003 we also saw the Birmingham - Holyhead services hauled by either 175s or Class 47s + 5 Coaches, this was the penultimate TT for such services under FNW as Wales and Borders took over this service in September 2003.
The Manchester services are in the hands of Class 323 EMUs

Finally is Central Trains (CT) who in 2003 operated the Liverpool - Anglia services utilizing 170 'Turbostar' Units via Crewe and Stafford

Due to the Stoke lines being out of use in this TT due to electrification works, reminders must be placed on signals CE196 & CE198 with only the white arrows useable for shunts onto the 2 lines for shunting.

Freight was in the hands of 3 Core Operators

Freightliner (FL) was the primary operator, handling bulk containers, and general freight with Class 47s, 57s 86s & 90s

Direct Rail Services was only a small company in 2003 whose main freight flow was handling Nuclear Waste Traffic and the occasional container train using Class 20s, 37s or 47s

Finally is EWS, which mostly handled the postal sectors in 2003 with long-distance mail trains, though these would cease operation in September of this year along with all rail-bourne mail services, they do handle other forms of freight such as coal, scrap, and other assorted goods trains. They also have the biggest fleet of Locomotives in the forms of Class 37s, 47s, 67s, 86s, 90s, 92s & Class 325 'Postal' Units

Enjoy!

Updated 27/2/2024 to correct issues found v1.2
Updated 05/03/2024 to correct issues found v1.3
Updated 14/03/2024 to correct issues found v1.5
Updated 08/09/2024 to coincide with WBQ 2003 Release and Mcr South Preparations
Updated 15/09/2024 to version 2.0 after an overhaul of stock workings and matched with WBQ 2003