Trip to Rawtenstall / Burnley 23-11-2013

Bus	From	To	Service	Operator
2777	Rawtenstall, Bank Street (Stand L)	Burnley BS	X43	Transdev
1069	Burnley BS	Accrington BS	23	Transdev Burnley & Pendle
N375 PNY	Accrington BS	West End, by Percy Street	46	M&M Coaches
N125 YHH	West End, opp Percy Street	Accrington BS	46	M&M Coaches
404	Accrington BS	Haslingden, opp Health Centre‎	X41	Transdev Lancashire United

Today we decided to visit Rawtenstall. We gave Matthew a few options of place we could visit and Matthew said yes to Rawtenstall. research consisted at looking at the Rossobus website and to check the weather which was for cold and sunny weather. Matthew got up around 10:00 and had cheese and oatcakes for breakfast washed down with orange juice. We set off around 11:45 heading onto the A5035. We went down stanley Matthews way and passed former Procters Coaches Van Hool coach HIL 7614 which now operates with Atlantic Travel. We headed onto the A50 and then onto the Northbound A500. We came off the A500 at Shelton New Road and we headed to the garage to pick up LPG. Once we had filled up we got onto the Westbound A53 before carrying on Northwards on the A500. We headed North on the M6 up to the M62 and then carried onto the clockwise M60. We then headed North on the M66 and carried on to the A56. around Haslingden we joined the A682 to do the last mile or so into town. We then parked up in a car park just off Bacup Road. We had planned on eating at a chip shop on Bacup Road but when we got there it was closed! We walked up to the bus station and we saw Rossendale Tranport 203 parked up between duties.

'Rosso' 203 in Rawtenstall bus station

Still a little thrown by the 'Chip shop shut on a Saturday' situation, we carried on past the bus station whilst we went to look where we could go and eat. As we passed the bus station, a couple of Rossendale Transport buses arrived into the bus station. 'Rosso' 334 appeared on a #465 to Todmorden.

'Rosso' 334 in Rawtenstall bus station

Behind this was 149 on a #482 to Bacup. We walked past a corner shop which was closed and passed a toilet block which was also shut. Across the car park / public space we could see a bakery on Kay Street. We walked across to there to see if we could find anything Matthew would eat. Matthew had a bacon bap followed by a slice of cake all washed down with a glass of Coke. Whilst we were there we saw a couple of Transdev's new Witch Way X43 buses. I asked Matthew if he wanted to do Rosso or Transdev and he chose Transdev. After we had eaten we went in search of toilets. This was solved by a visit to local pub The Crown and Matthew having another drink of Coke. We went to the bus station to see where the X43 we from, and the board directed us to stops L & K on Bank Street. As we were about to walk back up to the stops we saw 'Rosso' 221 on a #483 to Bury.

'Rosso' 221 in Rawtenstall bus station

We stood near the stops and we saw a very full X43 heading towards Manchester which we decided to give a miss to. The was a X43 due at 14:03 which we should have seen but hadn't followed by another at 14:18. Around 14:18 a bus arrived and it was required Transdev 2777.

Transdev 2777 in Rawtenstall

We got on this bus which was also quite full and we booked some Transdev Silver day tickets. We sat down upstairs and the bus was quite full. The bus set off out of town along the A682 and it was a straight run. It took around 25 minutes to do the trip. As we headed into town we saw Gibson Direct K70 AYR a set of lights to the right of us. The coach followed us into town and Matthew got a picture of it put of the rear window of the bus!

Gibson Direct K70 AYR in Burnley

When we arrived in Burnley bus station Matthew waited for our bus to empty before getting a picture inside Transdev 2777 too.

Inside Transdev 2777

This was our first visit to Burnley, so we decided to have a quick explore around the bus station. Matthew visited the toilets and then we went out of the bus station and walked around the outside on the path we had spotted when we came into the bus station on 2777. There was a small layover area with space for 3 vehicles. There were 2 vehicles parked up there today. The vehicles were Transdev Burnley and Pendle 1072 and Springfield JH03 HDW. We saw 'Rosso' 204 on a #483 to Bury.

'Rosso' 204 in Burnley bus station

We also saw First West Yorkshire 66790 on a #592 service to Halifax and Transdev 'Starship' MPD dart 715.

Transdev Burnley & Pendle 715 in Burnley bus station

At the far end of the bus station we saw Tyrers 'Pendle Green Line' Solo MX08 DGE.

Tyrer MX08 DGE in Burnley bus station

We walked back into the bus station and then we visited the Information centre to pick up a few timetables. We then spotted Transdev Burnley & Pendle 1066 on a #25 to Keighley which was going even further away. We had also seen Transdev Burnley & Pendle 1069 on a #23 to Accrington which was headed in a similar direction to where we came from, and also somewhere we knew we could get back to Rawtenstall from, so we decided to do this.

Transdev Burnley & Pendle 1069 in Burnley bus station

We got on the bus and we sat near the back. The bus set off through town and then out towards Padiham passing Transdev Lancashire United 1102 on a #152 from Preston. The bus turned into Green Lane and then headed through a housing estate to Hapton. We passed over the M65 and then through Huncoat before heading into Accrington. The bus pulled into town and Matthew waited for the bus to empty before getting a picture inside Transdev Burnley & Pendle 1069.

Inside Transdev Burnley & Pendle 1069

As we had come into town we noticed M&M coaches minibuses parked up in 2 of the side streets. In bank Street was required M&M Coaches N375 PNY between working #46 turns to Blackburn.

M&M Coaches N375 PNY in Accrington

In Bridge street M&M Coaches N201 UHH.

M&M Coaches N201 UHH in Accrington

Back in August, we had mistakenly caught N202 LPN thinking it was a required bus. Today we did the opposite! We ignored doing N201 UHH thinking that it was a bus that we had already done... We did need N375 PNY so we decided to do this up towards Oswaldtwistle. We walked onto Peel Street were we saw N652 VSS on the #1 to Oswaldtwistle. We definitely did not need this bus as we had done it back in September 2013. Whilst we waited for N375 PNY to appear Matthew went to the toilet and we then saw Pilkington Buse S451 WAT on the Dill Hall Circular

Pilkington Bus S451 WAT in Accrington

M&M Coaches N375 PNY appeared from around the corner and we got on the bus. The bus was quite well filled so Matthew wasn't able to get a good picture inside this bus. There was however one empty set of seats.

Inside M&M Coaches N375 PNY

We set of towards Owaldtwistle with the intention of getting a X41 back to Haslingden or a Transdev Hyndburn Circular to Accrington if we missed the X41. We soon passed a X41 so we knew we were unlikely to be on one of those. We got off just before we reached the M65 and we crossed over the road to wait for the next Transdev bus. What I had forgotten about was the fact that there are 2 M&M coaches buses working on the #46. I was sorting out tickets and timetables in the trip bag when we saw an M&M Coaches minibus approaching. It caused me a bit of a kerfuffle but I kne Matthew would want to do this bus and we would have to pay for extra tickets. As it got closer we saw it was required N125 YHH!

M&M Coaches N125 YHH in Oswaldtwistle

We got on the bus and booked to Accrington. This unexpected move meant that we had to give the bus driver a £10 note which never goes down to well. We did this fine bus back into Accrington and when the bus emptied out Matthew got a picture inside the empty M&M Coaches N125 YHH.

Inside M&M Coaches N125 YHH

We checked the time of the next X41 to Haslingden. It was not due for another 25 minutes so we had a bit of time to kill. We went to the shop at the end of Peel Street where Matthew bought Some Coke and Irn Bru and a small selection of Chocolate. Matthew decided to drink the Irn Bru and afterwards we visited the toilets again. We saw for the first time Pilkington Bus step entranced decker E329 MSG, but unfortunately we couldn't do it today. The was also 'Rosso' 200 on a #484 to Helmshore.

'Rosso' 200 in Accrington bus station

Across the road from this was Pilkington Bus VU52 UEJ on another local service.

Pilkington Bus VU52 UEJ in Accrington

Eventually Trandev Lancashire United 404 turned up on the X41.

Transdev Lancashire United 404 in Accrington

We got on the bus and we went upstairs. We had originally thought that we had been on this bus before, but a quick check of the 'Buses I have Travelled on' page revealed that it was 407 that we had done on this service back in August. We set off out of town down the A680 towards Haslingden. We called mum to ask her to meet us there and the bus headed South and across the A56. When we looked like we had got to the built up centre of town we decided to get off. Matthew took a picture inside of Transdev Lancashire United 404 just before we got off.

Inside Transdev Lancashire United 404

After a few minutes mum managed to find us and we got in the car. Here Matthew tucked into his Greggs sausage roll and drank some Irn Bru. We found our way back onto the Manchester Road / A680 and then we headed South on the A56. We did the A56 straight onto the M66 and then we did the anticlockwise M60 around the North end of Manchester. We went onto the westbound M62 which we did onto The M6. We headed South M6 and then we went onto the Southbound A500. went East at the A50 which we did to Longton Z Carz to see what was parked up. There were 3 vehicle parked up on the spare ground. At the back was Mercedes minibus M372 NWN which was too far back to get a picture. In front of this was Volvo coach M534 RSO.

Z Carz M534 RSO in Longton

Nearby was LDV minibus M420 UEH.

Z Carz M420 UEH in Longton

In the Willow Row compound was LDV minibus T408 JUX in the same position as last week. We headed back home via the A50 and Heron Cross. We did Blurton Road through Blurton and onto the A5035. We got home at 18:45. For a late tea Matthew had bangers and mash with carrots followed by cheesecake. Matthew then chilled out on his computer until bedtime around 00:30...Mark