Saturday 22 October 2011

Trip to Northwich 22-10-2011











































BusFromToServiceOperator

SB23Northwich InterchangeSandiway, Weaverham Road (NW-bound)82GHA
SB02Sandiway, Weaverham Road (SE-bound)Northwich Interchange82GHA
49Northwich InterchangeNorthwich, opp railway45Network Warrington
869Rudheath, o/s Telephone ExchangeNorthwich Interchange2Arriva NW&W




After last weeks trip to Chester, Matthew expressed a wish to travel on a GHA bus. He even pointed to the destination on one of his pictures and so we planned a trip to Northwich. planning consisted of visiting the Cheshire West and Chester council website and printing out a copy of the top half of the Northwich and Winsford bus map, and downloading a selected few timetables. Setting off at just after 12:00, we picked up uncle Dave on the way and we left his house around 12:30. We parked up on the edge of town having done a lp trying to find a good parking space. We parked a good way out of town in a car park opposite Lidl, and we walked back into town to the Weaver shopping centre. We had a quick walk around and found a self service restaurant in which to have dinner. 2 breakfasts, 2 baps and 3 Vimto's came to just short of £15. After dinner we got back to the transport interchange around 14:00. We took a couple of pictures before required GHA SB23 appeared on the #82 service. With the sun being where it was, the best pictures were taken from the back of the bus.


SB23 in Northwich Transport interchange (Matt)

This was not one of the timetables I downloaded, but I remember the buses passed on the other side of Sandiway, so we decided to travel to there. As we got off Matthew got a picture of the bus.


SB23 in Sandiway (Matt)

Not being exactly sure of how long we had to wait, Sandiway must have been where the bus passed with more than 5 minutes so we where here for closer to 15 minutes. When the bus appeared it was required SB02. Matthew mis-timed his picture and didn't get a very good picture. After the short journey back, Matthew took a picture of the empty bus.


Inside SB02 (Matt)

Matthew didn't take another picture of this bus, but I did.


SB02 at Northwich Interchange on a #82 (Mark)

We didn't have to wait long for our first sighting of a Network Warrington bus, in the form of 49 on the #45 service.


Network Warrington 49 about to work the #45 to Warrington (Matt)

Having missed read the timetable I didn't think there was a 15:50 departure, but i was looking on the weekday timetable. I asked the driver when he was due out and he said around 10 minutes. So we booked to the railway station with the intention of coming back on an Arriva service from around the corner. The driver was a really nice man and asked if Matthew want to go back out and take a picture with the destination blind switched on! As the sun was in a bad position we said thanks but declined! We did the service to the the station and alighted as planned. The driver even hung on a few seconds so Matthew could take another picture...


Network Warrington 49 adjacent to the railway station (Matt)

After we got off we crossed the busy road and went over the railway line and to the stop adjacent to the telephone exchange to catch a bus back into town. At this point i was hoping to see 7673 appear, but I had gotten my #2 and #29A services mixed up. We saw 869 head South around 10 minutes before he returned. Still, 869 was another required bus.


Arriva NW&W 869 by the telephone exchange (Matt)

As we approached the interchange, we saw 865 displaying #2. Buses on the #2 and #4 appear to inter work to compensate for the different length of service time. When we got back into town, Matthew photographed the inside of the refurbished Dennis Dart.


Inside 869 (Matt)

We also saw 7647 on a #29A service.


7647 about to work a 29A (Matt)

We then started to walk back to the car stopping to get a few pictures, including 865 about to work on the #2.


Arriva 865 also on #2 (Matt)

We then walked back to the car. Driving back in the late autumn sunshine the roads were relatively clear and we arrived back at Longport just after 17:00 where we filled up with LPG. We had a quick stop a t a local shop to pick up lottery as our Co-op is hut for renovation, and then we got home around 17:30...Mark