Bus |
From |
To |
Service |
Operator |
|
| 53041 | Blurton, adj Ladybank Grove | Blurton, adj Ballinson Road | 23 | First Potteries |
| 67642 | Blurton, adj Ballinson Road | Longton TI | 22 | First Potteries |
| 63097 | Longton TI | Stoke-upon-Trent, adj stop Q | 11 | First Potteries |
| 63174 | Stoke-upon-Trent, adj stop Q | Newcastle BS | 11 | First Potteries |
| 137 | Newcastle BS | Tunstall, Adj Stop A | 94 | D&G |
| 32635 | Tunstall, Adj Stop B | Newcastle BS | 99 | First Potteries |
| 32080 | Newcastle BS | Hanley BS | 4A | First Potteries |
| 41521 | Hanley BS | Biddulph BS | 7A | First Potteries |
| 41501 | Biddulph BS | Hanley BS | 7A | First Potteries |
| 65040 | Hanley BS | Newcastle BS | 25 | First Potteries |
Today we decided to stay local. The weather forecast was foor rain showers all afternoon so it didn't seem like it was going to be a very promising day! Matthew got up late around 11:00 today. Matthew got dressed and had toast and ornhe juice for breakfast. Today we decided to go to Stoke via Longton, so we set off on foot to the stop at the bottom of Beaconsfield Drive just after 12:00. The plan was to do the #22 up to Longton. A few miunutes later First Potteries 53041 came around the corner on the #23 to Hanley.
|
| First Potteries 53041 in Blurton |
As I wasn't sure if this was one of the Solo's that we haven't been on, we decided to catch it. We got on the bus and we brought a Smart day ticket at £5.30 before sitting down at the back of the bus. I look at the page with the buses on and it turned out that 53042 was the required one... We had been on First Potteries 53041 severavl time before... We had first had this bus
from Fenton to Stoke back in December 2015. The seat beside us was empty so matthew took a picture inside First Potteries 53041.
|
| Inside First Potteries 53041 |
We set off up Beaconsfield Drive and we passed an unidentified Dart on the #22 to Newcastle. As we look back we could see an Enviro300 behind us on the #22 to Longton. I didn't get a clear view of it, but Matthew saw it and it was required First Potteries 67642... Our last required First Potteries Enviro300! We passed the Sutherland Academy without stopping and as we turned into Church Road we could see that the bus was quite a way behind. This should give us chance to get off the bus and catch the one behind. The plan was to get off outside the shops on Blurton Road, but as someone flagged the bus down by Ballinson Road, we decied to get off there. We got off the bus and we watch First Potteries 53041 carry on towards Hanley. Behind us was required First Potteries 67642 as Matthew had said on the #22 to Longton.
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| First Potteries 67642 in Blurton |
We got on the bus and we flashed the Smart Day ticket to the driver before we sat down towards the back of the bus. We set off down Blurton Road and we turned right into Longton Hall Lane. We climed up the hill and and we ran down to the A50. We ran along the high level before crossing over the A50 and running onto Baths Road. Just before the railway bridge we turned right into Longton Transport Interchange. We let the bus empty out and Matthew took a picture inside First Potteries 67642.
|
| Inside First Potteries 67642 |
The interchange was empty apart from the bus we had jsu got off. A minute or so later we saw a plain Streetlte approaching. On closer inspection we saw that it was a new arrival into the area. It was First Potteries 63101 which had just just been transferred from Leicester, on a #11 to Hanley.
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| First Potteries 63101 in Longton Interchange |
On Baths Road we saw Trisha's travel minibus LX57 EVG go past heading towards the railway bridge. A couple of munutes later we saw another Streetlite come into the interchange on a #11 to Newcastle. It was required First Potteries 63097 and we decided to do this down to Stoke for dinner.
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| First Potteries 63097 in Longton Interchange |
We got on the bus and we flashed the Smart Day ticket to the driver before we sat down at the back of the bus. The bus set off out of the interchange and we turned right under the railway bridge onto King Street. We ran down into Fenton and forwards onto City Road. At the bottom of the hill we went under the railway line on the A52 and we ran into the centre of Stoke. There was a van parked in the bus stop so we had to pull up aftr the bus stop. We got off the bus and Matthew got another picture of First Potteries 63097 before it carried on towards Newcastle.
|
| First Potteries 63097 in Stoke |
Once off the bus we walked along Church Street and into the Stoke Cafe. Matthew went to the toilet and then we ordered breakfast. Matthew had a breakfast washed down with a can of Coke. Whilst we ate we saw Global travel coach HUI 6822 going towards Newcastle. When we had finished eating we went out onto Church Street. Once we had finished eating we walked back along Church street to wait for a bus to Newcastle. We hadn;t seen a Newcastle bus all the time we were in the cafe and there were a few people waiting for a bus. With roadworks in Stoke and Bucknall there was bound to be a few probles with timekeeping on this service today. A few minutes later we saw a couple of buses approaching. At the front was First Potteries 53123 on a #23A to Hanley and behind that was dud First Potteries 63174 on the #11 to Newcastle.
|
| First Potteries 63174 in Stoke |
We got on the bus and we flashed the Smart Day ticket to the driver before we sat down at the back of the bus. We set off along church street, past the roadworks which effectively closed off the eastbound side of Church street to bus traffic. We climbed the hill along Hartshill Road and we passed through Hartshill before dropping down into Newcastle down George Street. We joined the one way system and we turned left on the roundabout onto Barracks Road. As we got to the bus station in Newcastle we saw required First Potteries 32079 pulling out of the bus station on the #99 to Bradeley. When we got into the bus station we let the bus empty and Matthew took a picture inside First Potteries 63174.
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| Inside First Potteries 63174 |
Once we got off the bus we thought about how we might get up to Tunstall to try and get required First Potteries 32079. The solution presented itself as we saw dud D&G 137 which was on layover and about to work the next #94 to Congleton.
|
| D&G 137 in Newcastle bus station |
The weather wasn't very nice so we decided to walk up to the top end of the bus station by the shelters to wait for the D&G bus. On the way up we saw First Potteries 37159 entering the bus station on a #4A to Talke.
|
| First Potteries 37159 in Newcastle bus station |
We also saw Roseville minibus NA56 MWD heading to the taxi rank on Hassell Street.
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| Roseville NA56 MWD in Newcastle bus station |
A few minutes later D&G 137 move off layover on Stubbs Street and onto the Stand. This is bus we had been previously
in it's old number 37 back in July 2013, when we had it from Keele to Hanley. We got on the bus and we flashed the Smart Day ticket to the driver before we sat down at the back of the bus. The bus set off out of Newcastle bus station and onto Barracks Road. We crossed the roundabout onto the A527 and we ran out of town and through May Bank and into Wolstanton. When we got to Porthill the road suddenly become very busy! This was due to traffic attending the Port Vale vs Coventry match. we had worked out that we should have time to get to Tunstall, got the cafe and have a cake and still get out in time to do First Potteries 32079 back to Newcastle. We were booked into Tunstall just after 14:00 and the double decker was due to deoart at 14:19. 14:00 came and went and we still had crossed over the A500. We eventually got across the roundabout and the traffic was a little better. We turned left at Trubshaw cross and we had a free run up the hill to Tunstall. As we turned into the High Street Matthew notice a new warehouse that had gone up behind the pub on the left, on the site of the Johnson's Tile factory. At the top of the High Street we got up and got off the bus. Matthew got another picture of D&G 137 it carried on towards Congleton.
|
| D&G 137 in Tunstall |
We walked down to The Tunstall Cafe and Matthew went to the toilet and I ordered him the cheesecake and a can of Coke. They had reverted back to the old style of cheescake, but Matthew didn't seem to mind one bit! Once we had finished eating we went outside and we crossed over to wait for First Potteries 32079. It was arounf 14:30, but we hadn't seen it go past. It must have been around 20 minutes late going towards Bradeley, so it should be here soon. Time passed quickly, and there was another #99 to Newcastle due soon. Going North we saw First Potteries 32080 on a #3 to Talke. We turned down First Potteries 63099 on a #3 to Hanley, and then we saw required First Potteries 32635 going towards Bradeley running nearly 30 minutes late. Almost immediatley after that was the following #99 to Bradeley, first Potteries Caetano Dart 41495 running on time. We also saw the following #94 to Congleton, which was required D&G 33.
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| D&G 33 in Tunstall |
14:49 came and went, but we knew that bus wouldn't be on time as we had just seen it going towards Bradeley in the form of First Potteries. It began to dawn on us that First Potteries 32079 was probably not coming back :( Having turned down dud First Potteries 65705 on a #3 to Hanley, just after 15:00 required First Potteries 32635 turned up on the #99 being the first First bus in that direction for over an hour.
|
| First Potteries 32635 in Tunstall |
We got on the bus and we flashed the Smart Day ticket to the driver before we went upstairs and sat down. The bus was reasonably well filled as you would expected it to after being the first one for over an hour. We set off down the High Street and we stopped at the bottom before joining Brownhills Road. Matthew took a picture out of the window of the new warehouses. We ran down the hill to Trubshsaw cross and we continued straight through Longport and over the A500. Traffic was much better now it was after kick-off, so we went up Porthill Bank and we followed the A527 through Wolstanton & May Bank and into Newcastle. We crossed the roundabout onto barracks road and we entered the bus station. We got off the bus and we looked for a Hanley bound departure. A couple of minutes later we saw a double decker approaching. It was dud First Potteries 32080 that we had seen in Tunstall around an hour ago on the #4A to Hanley.
|
| First Potteries 32080 in Newcastle bus station |
We got on the bus and we flashed the Smart Day tickets to the driver and we went upstairs. The back of the top deck was empty so matthew took a picture inside First Potteries 32080.
|
| Inside First Potteries 32080 |
The bus set off out of the bus station and onto Barracks Road. we crossed over the roundabout and we climbed the hill into Basford. We then dropped down the hill into Etruria and we crossed over the A500. We ran towards Cobridge And we turned left byby the Bet365 office and we ran up Forge Lane and back down Festival Way. Outside the Mosthouse Hotel was an unidentified maroon Chandlers coach. We crossed under the A53 and we ran up the hill into hanley along Etruria Road. At the top we crossed over Marsh Street into Trinty Street. We turned right into Stafford Street and we passed the town hall and ran along Bagnall Street and into the bus station. As we pulled into the bus station we saw required First Potteries 32079 on an adjacent stand again. We got off the bus and Matthew went to the toilet 32079 pulled of the stand and then drew back in again... It was on the #7 to Kidsgrove. It departed before Matthew came out of the toilet. As we had lost 30 minutes or so in Tunstall, we didn't have time to go up to John Street car park to take pictures. Luckily the next bus to Biddulph was in and it was required First Potteries 41521!
|
| First Potteries 41521 in Hanley bus station |
We got on the bus and we flashed the Smart day ticket to the driver before we sat down towards the back of the bus. The bus waited for time before setting off out of the bus station. We went down John Street and onto Bethesda Street before we went across onto Marsh Street and then we turned right into Trinity Street. We turned left into Stafford Street and we continued forwards to Quadrant Road and we left Hanley along Town Road. We traveled through Sneyd Green and over Smallthorne roundabouts to Chell. At the roundabout we turned right and we ran down the A527 through Brindley Ford. We turned left to run through Brown Lees. We then passed required First Potteries 43875 which was on a #7A to Hanley. We crossed over the A527 at Knypersley and we ran around through the housing estates of Biddulph before running into town via St John's Road, Colliers Way and up Wharf Road to the bus station where we got up and got off the bus. Matthew took another picture of First Potteries 41521. before it carried on back to Hanley.
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| First Potteries 41521 in Biddulph bus station |
usually we went to the toliet, but as Matthew had just been we headed straight to the kebab shop for a portion of fries and some cans of pop. We walked back to the bus stop and we sharded the fries. Matthew then drank a can of Fanta Orange. The was just time to go to the cash machine around the corner before the buses arrived. We turned down dud D&G 159 which was on the 17:10 to Hanley. Matthew wanted to waited for the following First bus which was due to depart at 17:09. We bus came up the road from the roundabout and as we got closer we saw that it was dud First Potteries 41501
|
| First Potteries 41501 in Biddulph bus station |
We got on the bus and we flashed the Smart Day ticket to the driver. The bus was empty at this point so Matthew took a picture inside First Potteries 41501 before we sat down at the back of the bus.
|
| Inside First Potteries 41501 |
The bus set off onto High Street and we turned left onto Well Street. We ran around the estate and we crossed over the A527 at Knypersley We ran through Brown Lees and we rejoined the A527 by the industrial estate. We ran down through Brindley Ford and to Fegg Hayes where we caught up with D&G 159 on the Nines service. We ran up the hill to Chell and we turned left onto High Lane. We ran back through Smallthorne & Sneyd Green into Hanley. Once we got off the bus we quickly looked for a bus heading towards Newcastle. Almost immediatly we saw dud First Potteries 65705 on a #4 service. Matthew decided he wanted to turn this down and wait a few minutes for the #25 to Keele. We also saw D&G 142 on a #41 Birches Head service. The #25 was going to be dud First Potteries 65040.
|
| First Potteries 65040 in Hanley bus station |
The driver left for a quick comfort break and returned just before the bus was due to depart. We got on the bus and we flashed the Smart Day ticket to the driver for the final time today. As we were first on Matthew got a picture inside First Potteries 65040.
|
| Inside First Potteries 65040 |
We sat down towards the back of the bus and the bus loaded quickly and departed almost immdiately. We set off through the bus station where we saw dud First Potteries 65039 on layover between #101 servies, and dud (to Matthew) Arriva Midlands 3695 on a #164 to Market Drayton. We ran down John Street and left onto Bethesda Street before we crossed over the ring road. We passed the fire station and we joined Regent Road before contiuing down onto College Road through Shelton. We passed the railway station and we continued onto the A52. At City Road we turned righ under the railway line. We saw D&G Solo 140 running out of service and we passed required First Potteries 53124 on a #23 service. We passed through Stoke without stopping ans we ran up Hartshill Road through Hartshill. We turned left into THe vaenue and then left again into Albany Road. Albany Road became Hilton Road and then we turned right into the hospital. We passed through the hospital grounds before we turned right onto the A34. At the 'Baer Pit' roundabout we crossed over onto Barracks Road and into the bus station from the South. We got off the bus and Matthew got another picture of First Potteries 65040 before it carried on towards Keele.
|
| First Potteries 65040 in Newcastle bus station |
We set off towards Hassell Street wehere mum was parked and on the way we saw dud First Potteries 65039 which we had just seen in Hanley on layover, now on the #101 to Stafford.
|
| First Potteries 65039 in Newcastle bus station |
We crossed Barracks Road and we met mum in the car park who was waiting with a wrights pie sausage roll and a small bottle of Irn Bru for Matthew. We set off down barracks Road and on the A34. We passed Jubilee WMC AK52 LXC parked up at the side of the road. We ran down to Trent Vale and we stopped atth chip shop fpr some chips. Once had picked them up we ran along the A34 to The A500 and we went North to Sideway. We went East along the A50 and we travled up to Longton where we came off to see what was parked up at Z Carz today. In the front row was their new Citroen minibus Z Carz LV59 DZC.
|
| Z Carz LV59 DZC in Longton |
Also in the first row was Z Carz silver LDV minibus CN57 HWA.
|
| Z Carz CN57 HWA in Longton |
Next to the silver LDV was Z Carz white Ford minibus FP06 WTW.
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| Z Carz FP06 WTW in Longton |
The nearest bus in the first row was another white Ford minibus, Z Carz BN03 OVS.
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| Z Carz BN03 OVS in Longton |
In the second row was Z Carz white Ford minibus YS09 LWV.
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| Z Carz YS09 LWV in Longton |
We turned left into Willow Row to see what was parked up in Willow Row. There were a couple of minibuses parked outside the depot. The nearest one was Z Carz YJ61 GYZ.
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| Z Carz YJ61 GYZ in Longton |
Behind that was A carz white Iveco minibus YJ53 WPD.
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| Z Carz YJ53 WPD in Longton |
In the compound itself was Z Carz white Ford minibus from the Airport Division MJ03 DPU.
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| Z Carz MJ03 DPU in Longton |
We got back onto the A50 and we went West to Heron Cross. We ran through Blurton along Blurton Road and we followed the road to the right onto Church Road. We turned right onto Beaconsfield Drive and we got home around 19:00 just as it was going dark. For a late Matthew had bangers and mash with carrots followed by a millionaires shirtbread. Matthew then chilled out on his computer until bedtime around 00:00... Mark
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