Train question - Chester to York

Just go to Manchester and pick up the York Train. Liverpool is in the opposite direction to York,

You need to wait.

The fare should eventually come down to somewhere below £20, rather than the full fare £58.20 it is now.

There is no rush what so ever to purchase tickets. The trains can not sell out, and there are always last minute (even on the day) fares cheaper than what is on offer now. On the day you will never pay the fare on offer now.

The fact that only full fare tickets are on sale means that you won't get a seat reservation anyway now- I have just done several sample bookings to confirm that point.

Very often engineering work happens at weekends, and currently parts of the transpennine route are being electrified, resulting in line closures. When that happens trains are re-routed and sometimes replaced with buses. Currently for instance no trains at all are able to run from Manchester Piccadilly to Leeds, being replaced by bus to Huddersfield. They are all running from Manchester Victoria instead.

Such work is rarely being announced 12 weeks early (whatever other sources say), generally it is around 6 to 8 weeks, sometimes as little as 2 or 3 weeks.

You will get there. Very few people who live in the UK would book a journey such as this so far ahead.

Contrary to what Stroudy says via Liverpool is often the cheapest route (going to Liverpool on Merseyrail) and is not "in the opposite direction".

Thanks isn31c! We will just wait until it’s closer to the date.

By the way I have been planning an entirely unconnected trip this morning for me (from the Lake District to Warrington Transporter Bridge).
From that planning I note that the direct train from Chester to Leeds is back (the train passes through Warrington, hence the link). It is only 20 minutes slower than changing to TransPennine at Manchester or Liverpool. That train had been once a day during Covid and Covid recovery.
And that is not affected by the planned June engineering work, as it takes a different route between Manchester and Leeds.
So when advance fares come out that's your best bet. Get on that at just before 1/2 past each hour and settle back for the journey to Leeds.
Change trains at Leeds, have another advance ticket for Leeds to York.
On closer dates Chester to Leeds is £9.50, Leeds to York £3.80, advance fares- an almost £45 saving per person.

Thank you so much! I really appreciate your help, Isn31c!

We now have details of the June Engineering Work-
"On Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 June
There will be no direct TransPennine Express trains between Manchester and Leeds, or between Huddersfield and Leeds. It means that Northern trains around these areas, particularly between Manchester, Bradford and Leeds, may be much busier than usual. Rail replacement buses will be running to replace TPE trains, and we’ll have extra carriages available during this time to help out.
From Monday 19 to Sunday 25 June
Trains will not be able to run through Morley station. Northern trains which normally run between Wigan and Leeds will take a different route, running through Bradford Interchange instead of Dewsbury and Morley. TransPennine Express trains will be running non-stop between Leeds and Huddersfield, with rail replacement buses stopping at Deighton, Mirfield, Ravensthorpe, Dewsbury, Batley, Morley, Cottingley and Leeds."

The advance fares on the direct Northern trains are now open to 18 June, and should be opened for 24 June tomorrow.

Isn31c, thank you for the update! We will be going that route the weekend before, so hopefully it’s running normal on that date.