Theres about 2-3 Trans Pennine units per hour, about 3 FNW units per hour, plus loads of Virgin 220/221/390 units, make Lancaster extremely plastic-infested. It is almost freight-free in the daytime. Freight is almost non-existant and even in the evening you won't see it in anything above extremely low quantity. It was already 'dead' during the royal mail years. Now that EWS have lost the royal mail contract, it is even more 'dead' !!! Expect plenty of big gaps between loco movements.

The account from Albert is not very good. I was there from 8pm till around 1am and plenty of freight passed through ranging from DRS 37s and 66s to a wide variety of EWS power along with numerous FLT trains mainly 2x86s. The car park is superb to see the trains passing from the comfort and warmth of the car !! They dont check tickets after 5pm so dont buy one if arriving after that. The station manager told me this info.

As you might expect situated on the WCML , Virgin dominates the scene , but Lancaster also sees North Western , Northern Spirit and several daytime freight trains passing through. Like many other stations the freight picks up from early evening onwards and a good deal can be seen.
There are 2 buffets on the station and the city centre is about 10 - 15 mins walk away. If you want B & B then there is a good hotel on the approach road to the north bound platform.(at least it was good earlier this year!)