Bus |
From |
To |
Service |
Operator |
|
MMM120 |
Gladstone pottery Museum |
Stoke Station |
7 |
First PMT (Preserved) |
SAD801 |
Stoke Station |
Gladstone pottery Museum |
7 (relief) |
First PMT (Preserved) |
766 |
Longton, St James Church |
Hanley BS |
6B |
PMT (Preserved) |
DRN116 |
Gladstone pottery Museum |
Foxfield Railway |
104 |
Arriva London (Preserved) |
DRN116 |
Foxfield Railway |
Longton, St James Church |
104 |
Arriva London (Preserved) |
Last Saturday the better half bumped into her dad whilst shopping in Tesco. 'Grandad Dave' told her about a rare visit in town of her aunt Barbara from South Wales, so he told us he would ring us when he knew the details of the visit and arrange to go for a meal. A day or two later he rang and told us the meal would be on Sunday 1st of August, probably in the 'toby inn' in Trentham. It wasn't until after the arrangements had been made that we realised that the meal clashed with the Gladstone running day... Drat. In order to make sure we could attend the meal and give Matthew a good day out we decide that it would be good to go to the rally early, break the day up with the said meal and then go back to the rally for a final trip out later. This was easier said than done as Matthew likes to lie in at weekends and would not usually be up before dinner time.
Matthew was persuaded to go bed around midnight, and surprisingly we had cajoled him out of bed by 10:00. We picked up uncle Dave and were on site by around 10:45. Programme purchased, we quickly worked out a move to get the buses that Matthew wanted, which were MMM120 and DRN 116. The planned move was to first do MMM120 to Stoke station and return, we would then work out the best move in which we could get DRN116 and get to the 'toby inn' by around 13:00.
|
| MMM120 at Gladstone pottery museum early on (Matt) |
Matthew had a quick scout around the Nottingham Transport sales bus, and purchased a DVD and then we stood by the entrance to catch Mercedes Minibus MMM120 on the 11:00 to Station. The bus filled, but was not standing room (luckily). We set off for Stoke station, via The Strand, King Street, City Road and Leek Road. Having seen this bus many times before, I had not realised that this bus did not have any opening windows. It was quite warm in here on this mild Summers day...
|
| MMM120 at Stoke station (Matt) |
When we arrived at the station, the driver called back to say there were no addition passengers waiting for the bus back to Gladstone. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending how you look at it) the relief bus had already set off and was on its way. After sitting at the station a few minutes, Optare Delta SAD801 pulled up behind us. The driver of our minibus asked if anyone wanted to catch the following bus behind. The bus pretty much emptied out instantaneously. Matthew was very pleased to get the bonus ride on this bus having ridden on 3 Delta's the previous week. Return route on the Delta was via Stoke Road,A500,City Road,A50 link and then A50. When we got back we had a wlk around and took a few pictures. Matthew took a picture of DRN 116 prior to its departure to Foxfield.
|
| DRN 116 at the Gladstone Pottery Museum (Matt) |
Just before time we walked onto Uttoxeter Road to wait for DRN 116. On this particular turn was lead up with another bus. It was Beresford liveried PYM 106F. As we waited for the bus we saw the Baresfords bus approach and then go straight past us. This was quickly followed by DRN 116 which also went past and failed to stop! Matthew did however get a picture as it went by.
|
| DRN 116 on Uttoxeter Road |
At this point we had to change our plans. We decided to do a trip to Hanley and mum would follow us down and get us back to Trentham for the meal. The next Hanley bus was PMT Atlantean 766 which we surprising did for the very first time, considering its been in preservation for nearly 30 years! Matthew got a picture of the beast in Hanley bus station.
|
| 766 in Hanley bus station |
We jumped into the car and headed to the Toby Inn in Trentham. We had our meal with mum's dad and brothers and sisters before heading back to Longton to pick up DRN 116 on a later to Run to Foxfield. We got on the bus at the site as the driver (Rob) was getting ready to go. He explained that earlier he didn't know the route to Foxfield and was following the driver in the Berresfords bus, so when he didn't stop he had to carry on as he didn't want to get lost. So we had the bus for an extra 1/4 of a mile or so from the museum onto Uttoxeter Road. When we got to Foxfield we got off and we had a wander around for a few minutes before getting back on DRN 116 for the return journey. When we got back it was time to go home. We drove home and Matthew had a look at his newly acquired pictures and DVDs before settling down for the evening. He then had his bath before going to bed...Mark
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