Trip to the POPS bus rally 22-05-2016

Bus	From	To	Service	Operator
53209	Blurton, adj Ladybank Grove	Stoke, railway station	23	First Potteries
506	Stoke, railway station	Britannia Stadium	Special	Midland Red (Preserved)
244	Britannia Stadium	Trentham Gardens, coach drop off point	Special	Coventry Transport (Preserved)
3253	Trentham Gardens, coach drop off point	Britannia Stadium	Special	GM Buses(Preserved)
N555 KLB	Britannia Stadium	Trentham Gardens, coach drop off point	Special	South Staffs
N555 KLB	Trentham Gardens, coach drop off point	Britannia Stadium	Special	South Staffs
757	Britannia Stadium	Rough Close, Common Lane	Special	PMT (Preserved)
757	Rough Close, Common Lane	Britannia Stadium	Special	PMT (Preserved)
DX53 LFB	Britannia Stadium	Hanley, Bethesda Street	Special	JST
DX53 LFB	Hanley, Bethesda Street	Britannia Stadium	Special	JST
128	Britannia Stadium	Wedgwood	Special	PMT (Preserved)
128	Wedgwood	Britannia Stadium	Special	PMT (Preserved)

Today was the Potteries Omnibus Preservation Society bus rally. A quick check of the weather was for mainly dry weather with a shower around 14:00. Matthew got up around 09:30 and had a giant Crumpet and blackcurrant juice for breakfast. A quick check of the #23 timetable revealed that the bu bus left Blurton at 10:38, arriving at the railway station at 10:56. We got ready and we set off to the bus stop at the bottom of Beaconsfield Drive in order to catch the 10:38 #23 departure towards Hanley. We planned to go to Stoke station to pick up one of the free bus service to the bus rally, which was being held at the Britannia Stadium for the third and final time... If it is held on the same site, it will be known as the BET365 Stadium from the beginning of the next football season. The buses were booked to leave the railway station at 20 and 50 minutes past the hour, so we would probably have to wait for nearly 30 minutes. A little after 10:38 the bus came around the corner out of Finstock Avenue, and it was dud First Potteries 53209.

First Potteries 53209 in Blurton

We got on the bus and we booked to Stoke railway station before sitting down towards the back of the bus. We set off along Beaconsfield Drive and we st the end we turned left onto Church Road. We ran to Critchlow's Corner and we veered left onto Blurton Road running through Blurton. We crossed the A50 and at Heron Cross lights we went forwards onto Heron Street. We followed the road around onto Station Bridge Road. We turned left at Christchurch Street and we ran to the end, turning left onto City Road. At the bottom of City Road we saw preserved PMT 604 turn in front of us, working the 10:20 departure from the railway station. We went under the railway line onto the A52 and we crossed the A500 and we ran into Stoke town centre. After a brief stop in Church Street we went around the one way system. We turned right onto Liverpool Road and right again onto Elenora Street. At the end we rounded the corner onto Copeland Street and we turned left onto Glebe Street and under the railway line. We turned left onto Station Road and we got up to get off the bus. As we approached the stop we saw uncle Dave waiting for us on the opposite side of the Road. Once we got off the bus Matthew got another picture of First Potteries 53209 before it carried on towards Hanley.

First Potteries 53209 by Stoke railway station

Across the road was First Potteries 53058 on the #23A to Newstead.

First Potteries 53058 by Stoke railway station

We crossed the road and Matthew sat on the steps whilst we waited for the next bus back to the Britannia Stadium. There was plenty of activity whilst we waited... We saw First Potteries 65727/66302 on #25's, Intercity YK07 NYX and First Potteries 53209 also returned on a #21A to Trentham Gardens. Around 11:20 we saw a Leyland National turned the corner out of Cauldon Road. As it got closer we saw that it was Midland Red 506.

Midland Red 506 by Stoke railway station

The bus loaded up and we set off along Station Road and forwards onto the A52. We went to City Road and we turned right under the railway line and up to the A500. We turned left and joined the Southbound A500 which we did to Sideway. At Sideway we turned left onto the A50 and we ran up the hill before crossing over the A50 and running into the Britannia Stadium. As we came onto the site we noticed that this year there were around 20 buses park along the Western edge of the car park outside the West Stand, as well as the usual area behind the Boothen End of the ground. The bus pulled up around the back of the Boothen, and as they did last year the bus unloaded near to the Sir Stanley Matthews memorial statues. We let the bus empty out and Matthew took a picture inside Midland Red 506.

Inside Midland Red 506

Once we got off the bus Matthew took another picture of Midland Red 506 as it ran off to take it's position in the bus rally.

Midland Red 506 at the Britannia Stadium

We decided to start taking pictures immediately, and opposite to where we got off was one of the two new Dart arrivals from Routemaster Buses after D&G Bus took over a few of their bus routes in Crewe recently. today we saw the other Dart, D&G Bus 163.

D&G 163 at the Britannia Stadium

There were a few short, full size buses parked together in a cluster... There was a Commer bus, which looked like an ice cream van with seats in it and there was this London Transport Guy built bus with an ECW body in green GS 26.

London Transport GS 26 at the Britannia Stadium

Stanton's of Stoke had a few buses on display as usual, with two minibuses, a coach and the open topped bus. on of the minibuses was SO57 OKE which carried a special black livery to commemorate Keith's fathers bus company.

Stanton's of Stoke SO57 OKE at the Britannia Stadium

First also had a few buses on display, with the now standard First Midlands Livery on display carried by First Potteries Scania Omnicity 65037.

First Potteries 65037 at the Britannia Stadium

At the North West corner of the site next to the commercial vehicles was JST school bus DX53 LFB.

JST DX53 LFB at the Britannia Stadium

We spotted a bus that I thought I'd never see on the road again! First Potteries 53155 which caught fire a couple of years ago and seemingly disappeared had now been rebuilt and looked like it was ready to hit the road again, also carrying the new standard First Midlands livery.

First Potteries 53155 at the Britannia Stadium

Another bus in the First Midlands standard livery was new arrival First Worcester Streetdeck 35159.

First Worcester 35159 at the Britannia Stadium

We headed off to the West car park and we walked Southwards down the row of buses. Copeland's Tours had 3 coaches on display... Copeland's Tours Bova bodied coach MIB 614, Plaxton bodied DAF coach MIB 986 and one of their newest arrival Plaxton Bodied Volvo MIB 278.

Copeland's Tours MIB 278 at the Britannia Stadium

Further down the row we saw this rather nicely restored Crosville Leyland Olympian EOG 207

Crosville Cymru EOG207 at the Britannia Stadium

At the very end of the row we saw this rather nice Mercedes minibus... Uni Sprint G572 PRM.

Uni Sprint G572 PRM at the Britannia Stadium

We walked back up to the control bus, which this year was preserved PMT 466. We brought a programme (£3) and we also brought the North Staffordshire Independents & First Midlands fleet books with a combined price of (£7), We also went to MDS Book and brought the 2016 First fleet book at £18.75. Underneath the West stand were a number of stalls, including Dave Spencer's PMP Videos store. Matthew selected 7 titles at a total of £84. Once we had done our shop we went to the bus stop to see what buses we could have a ride on. As we got to the stop we noticed a half cab single decker about to depart. It was required Coventry Transport 244.

Coventry Transport 244 at the Britannia Stadium

We decided to do this bus and we asked the controller where it was going to... After finding out it was going to Trentham Gardens we got on the bus and we sat down towards the back. The bus was full and we had to sit separately. Th e bus set off onto Stanley Matthews Way and we went South. The driver called out to see if anyone want the Hem Heath pub... The buses to Trentham were stopping on Stanley Matthews Way! We could have walked to there and caught a bus to the rally! We turned right onto the A5035 and we crossed over the railway line into Trentham. At the end of the A5035 we carried on straight into Trentham Gardens, and at the first roundabout we turned left and we slowly made our way to the end of the car park before turning around and coming back to the coach drop off point. When the bus stop it looked like most people were straying put, so we couldn't get a picture inside this bus. As we traveled down we saw that the following bus was required GM Buses 3253 so we decided to get off and waited for that. Once off the bus we took another picture of Coventry Transport 244.

Coventry Transport 244 at the Trentham Gardens

The bus we had just done had taken adage to get into the gardens due to a running event. It seemed that Coventry Transport 244 was taking even longer to get out as it was stuck in queue trying to get out of the car park. Whilst we waited for the following bus photographed Inter Choice YR16 BLV which was at the coach stop too. Matthew visited the toilet and we walked up to the top end to look at London Mini Coaches WF63 LVH. We walk back to where we got off the previous bus and we spotted the double decker we wanted approaching. We waited for a short while thinking it would get to us eventually, and we noticed it had cut through the car park and we at the bus stop 200 yards up the road. We ran up towards it thinking that we might end up missing it. We just managed to take a quick picture before we got on board preserved GM Buses 3253 which was in a heritage Wigan livery.

GM Buses 3253 at the Trentham Gardens

We went upstairs and sat down and almost immediately we set off out of the garden, as we left the gardens we passed Southern National 2700 which wasn't in the programme. Half cab Coventry transport 244 which we had into Trentham Gardens was still queuing in the car park trying to get out. We crossed the A34 and we ran up the A5035. In Trentham we passed Select Bus Services double decker J722 GAP. We turned left into Stanley Matthews Way and we headed back to the Britannia Stadium. When we got back to the rear of the Boothen End, we let the bus empty and Matthew took a picture inside GM Buses 3253.

Inside GM Buses 3253

Once off the bus Matthew took another picture of GM Buses 3253 before it returned to its pitch in the car park.

GM Buses 3253 at the Britannia Stadium

We decided to try and cover the rest of the area behind the Boothen End taking pictures. We saw First PMT 30031 resting between duties.

First PMT 30031 at the Britannia Stadium

At the top end we saw DW Coaches Leyland Tiger TCZ 6124.

DW Coaches TCZ 6124 at the Britannia Stadium

We started working our way down the next row... We saw Stagecoach Hull 718.

Stagecoach Hull 718 at the Britannia Stadium

One of the newer vehicles at the rally was Midland Classic Optare Versa 5.

Midland Classic 5 at the Britannia Stadium

Stanway's had their rather nice looking Northern Counties bodied Dart MIG 9497.

Stanways MIG 9497 at the Britannia Stadium

As we were taking pictures we saw South Staffs N555 KLB moving through the site towards the bus stop. We decided to walk down and see where it was going to. Matthew took a picture of South Staffs N555 KLB and we walked over to the control to ask where the coach was going.

South Staffs N555 KLB at the Britannia Stadium

It was bound for Trentham Gardens, so we decided to get on it and go for a ride. It was almost empty, so Matthew took a picture inside South Staffs N555 KLB before we sat down.

Inside South Staffs N555 KLB

For some reason it didn't seem to be a very popular choice at the rally and it ran almost empty. The strange thing was it was probably one of the best rides of the day when it cam down to comfort... It was really smooth comfortable ride and it was air conditioned... It was worlds apart from the journey we had on Coventry Transport 244 which was hot and had very little ventilation. We ran down Stanley Matthews Way and we turned left onto the A5035. We crossed the roundabout on the A34 and we entered the gardens. This time the traffic had subsided and we had no trouble going around the car park. We had checked to see what was on the following journey, ad it was booked to be dud Preserved Northern GSO 90V. So we decided to get of the coach just to get a picture...

South Staffs N555 KLB at the Trentham Gardens

We got back onto South Staffs N555 KLB and we set off out of the gardens across the A34 onto the A5035. we turned left onto Stanley Matthews Way and we ran back down to the Britannia Stadium. We worked out that we had around an hour before the next bus that we wanted to do JST school bus DX53 LFB. We spotted that PMT double decker 757 was about to work so we took a picture and we walked over to it to see where it was going to.

PMT 757 at the Britannia Stadium

We checked with the control, and he told us that it was about to work a Meir circular service. We go on the bus and we went upstairs, sitting down towards the back on some of the proper grey zig-zag moquette seats! The bus set off out of Britannia Stadium and we joined the Eastbound A50 and we ran fast up to Meir where we came off the A50 and turned right onto the A520. We ran up the hill to Rough Close and we turned right onto Common Lane. Just after turning onto Common Lane we pulled up in a small lay-by to the left of the road. We got out and we took another picture of PMT 757.

PMT 757 in Rough Close

We climbed back aboard the bus and we went upstairs and sat down. The bus set off down Common Lane and we turned right onto Lightwood Road. As we ran down towards Longton we were afforded great views of the city to the North. When we got to Florence we turned left onto Belgrave Road and we ran down to the A5035 were we turned left to head towards Blurton. We crossed under the old colliery railway line and by now it had started to hail. At Stanley Matthews Way we turned right and we ran down the last mile or so to the Britannia Stadium. Mum called to say she brought Matthew some food, so we arrange to go to the toilet before heading back to the car. The bus pulled up by the Stanley Matthews monument and we got up to get off the bus. We let the bus empty and Matthew took a picture inside PMT 757.

Inside PMT 757

Once we got off the bus we headed to the West stand and Matthew used the toilet. After Matthew had used the facilities we walked over to the car and mum was waiting for us with a breakfast box for Matthew. Matthew tucked in and and we finished with a few minutes to spare. We set off towards the bus stop and as we got close to the bus we were going for JST school bus DX53 LFB it started to pull off. We ran towards the bus and I put my hand out to try and stop it. Luckily for us it did stop for us. We climbed on the bus and it set off along the car park outside the west Stand. We joined the Westbound A50 which we did up to Sideway and then we went North up the A500 up to Stoke. We came off the A500 and we turned right onto the A52 going under the railway line. We followed the road around to the left and then we went straight onto Station Road. After a brief stop outside the railway station we went forwards to Stoke Road where we turned right. We climbed the hill through Shelton to Snow Hill and we joined Etruria Vale Road. We stopped briefly outside the Industrial Museum and we carried on towards Hanley. We turned right onto Clough Street past the old bus garage and we turned right onto the ring Road and then left onto Bethesda Street. It was raining so we decided not to get off to take a photograph here! After a brief stop we carried on down to Broad Street. We joined the ring road and we ran around to Lichfield Street where we turned right. We ran down the hill to Joiners Square and we went across the roundabout onto Victoria Road. At the top we turned right onto the A50 link road and then we joined the Westbound A50 which we did up to the Britannia Stadium. When we got back to the stadium we ran past the West Stand, and when we got to the Stanley Matthew monument the bus emptied out and Matthew got a picture inside JST school bus DX53 LFB.

Inside JST DX53 LFB

Once we got off the bus Matthew took a picture of JST DX53 LFB.

JST DX53 LFB at the Britannia Stadium

We now had just over 5 minutes to wait fr the next bus that we planned to do PMT Marshall bodied Leyland Leopard 128. We decided to have a quick walk around where we had'nt been before and take a few more bus pictures. We then saw WM Travel Leyland National 1037.

WM Travel 1037 at the Britannia Stadium

Also by the Boothen end was Routemaster Buses Volvo H116 SAO.

Routemaster Buses H116 SAO at the Britannia Stadium

That was a bus we had been on before last June, on The Cheshire Champion bus tour. We saw that the Marshall bodied PMT single decker was on the move, so we walk down to bus stop to get a picture of PMT 128 before we got on it.

PMT 128 at the Britannia Stadium

We got on the bus and we sat down somewhere in the middle... Another familiar face was seen on the bus Johnny Lovatt, A guy that I have know since the 1980's and often to be found anywhere there is a transport related event locally. The bus set off past the West Stand and onto Stanley Matthews Way. At the end we turned left onto the A5035 and we passed nearby to the house. We turned right onto Barlaston Road. We turned right onto Blurton Road and after a short dash through the open countryside we turned right again onto Wedgwood Drive. The driver of the bus wasn't local, and Mr Lovatt told him to take the next right, which was where the entrance to the POPS rally used to be. Unfortunately this road is now a housing estate! We ran to the end and we slowly turned around before heading back onto Wedgwood Drive. We traveled further down the road, and this time we were on the right road to the visitor centre. We had a brief stop, so we got off the bus to get another picture of PMT 128.

PMT 128 in Wedgwood

We got back on the bus and the bus turned around in the coach parking area before we returned to Wedgwood Drive. We ran to the end and we turned left onto Blurton Road. At the end of Blurton Road we turned left onto Barlaston Road and we ran past Newstead to the A5035. We turned left onto the A5035 and we ran through Blurton to Stanley Matthews Way. We ran back to the stadium and we went around the West stand to the Stanley Matthew monument where the bus unloaded. We waited for the bus to empty and Matthew took a picture inside PMT 128.

Inside PMT 128

Once off the bus we decided to take a few last picture before returning to the car. On the way back we saw Southern National 2700.

Southern National 2700 at the Britannia Stadium

We got back to the car and we set off onto the Eastbound A50. We came off the A50 at Heron Cross and we dropped into Fenton to drop uncle Dave off at home. After we left uncle Dave we ran back to Heron Cross and we ran back through Blurton along Blurton Road and we turned right onto Church Road. We turned right onto Beaconsfield Drive getting home around 17:00. We spent the evening watch Matthew's new bus DVD's, captioning photographs and writing the Blog. For tea we had battered fish fingers and home made chips followed by a Angel Layer. Matthew had a bath and we finished writing Saturdays Blog before we went to bed around 00:00... Mark