| Bus | From | To | Service | Operator |
| 40026 | Ladybank Grove, Blurton | Church Street, Stoke | 23 | First Potteries |
| 116 | Church Street, Stoke | Hanley BS | 41 | D & G |
| 116 | Hanley BS | Church Street, Stoke | 41 | D & G |
| 30 | Church Street, Stoke | Hanley BS | 41 | D & G |
| 60194 | Hanley BS | Clough Hall, Forth Ave (opp) | 20A | First Potteries |
| 60128 | Clough Hall, Forth Ave (adj) | Hanley BS | 20A | First Potteries |
| 65732 | Hanley BS | Newcastle BS | 34A | First Potteries |
With it being the last weekend of D&G's North Staffordshire operation running before the impending take over by Wardle Transport, I decided to cover the #41 service with Matthew. Firstly because of the fairly frequent service, and secondly because there are sometimes step entranced buses on this service. We set off from home around midday, and we caught the 12:11 #23A service from Blurton. Unusually it was a Solo, and better still it was required! 40026 appeared from around the corner.
40026 in Blurton (Matt)
We did the bus to Stoke and with it being a Solo it filled up pretty quickly especially with two prams in the front.
40026 in Stoke (Matt)
When we arrived in Stoke we had around 5 minutes to wait for the 12:30 #41 service to Hanley, the Clayton bound #41 was D&G 30. Matthew indicated that he wanted to catch this bus later. Eventually the Hanley bound #41 appeared and it was Marshall bodied Dart 116.
D&G 116 in Stoke on the #41 to Birches Head (Matt)
When we got to Hanley, Matthew took a picture of the interior of this bus.
when we arrived in Hanley, Matthew took a picture of the inside of this bus.
Inside D&G 116 (Matt)
This bus has the same strange interior as D&G 14 that we saw last week. We saw the Clayton bound bus in Hanley bus station and it was D&G 14! We let the bus go and Matthew got a picture of D&G 14 as it departed.
D&G 14 in Hanley departing for Clayton (Matt)
At this point we decide to have a short chip break. I went down to get two portions of chips from Tony's to share between the three of us, whilst Matthew watched the buses. it didn't take long to get the chips and we soon polished them off. They were washed down with cans of orange Fanta. After around 30 minutes the next Clayton service turned up and not surprisingly it was D&G 116 again. unfortunately, we needed to do this in order to get D&G 30. In the mean time we spotted D&G 132 heading towards Birches Head on the forth and final diagram. we went down to ground level and boarded D&G 116 which we did to Stoke.
D&G 116 in Hanley departing for Clayton (Matt)
When in stoke we didn't have to wait for long before D&G 30 appeared. Matthew got a picture before we boarded.
D&G 30 in Stoke (Matt)
We did this to Hanley and Matthew got a picture of the inside of this bus, before we alighted we noticed an Arriva plaque on the drivers door. From the files in the staffordshire and merseyside yahoo group this bus came to D&G via Quantock and was previously with Northumbria Coaches as YD02 RGY.
Inside D&G 30 (Matt)
whilst going up to the balcony, D&G 132 left so we did not get chance to do this bus. At this point we had no plan. Matthew wanted to go to Crewe or even to Alton Towers, but we knew that we would not have today. Eventually we down to catch a #20 and it pulled off. Matthew was reluctant to move so a couple of minutes later when 60194 came in on a #20A we got on it. It was not required but it was virtually empty and it was a bus we could catch out of Hanley. As we were first on Matthew got the interior shot
Inside First Potteries 60194 (Matt)
We did this bus up to Kidsgrove and it was virtually empty all the way. this was because two #20's had left Hanley only a few minutes before. when it pulled up at Tunstall, one passenger at the stop asked "Why isn't anyone getting on?" before he boarded the bus. As I wanted to alight somewhere quiet, we got off two stops out of Kidsgrove at forth avenue, where Matthew got a picture as it pulled off.
60194 powers away in the Clough Hall area of Kidsgrove on it's #20A service (Matt)
Not sure of the frequency, we waited for the bus back to Hanley. we didn't have to wait to long before 60128 appeared.
60128 on a #20A to Hanley (Matt)
We did this back to Hanley and as t emptied Matthew got a shot of the interior.
Inside 60128 (Matt)
When we got back to Hanley we needed to think about getting home. we gave Matthew a few choice of places to go and he chose Newcastle. So we went down to stand where the #34A and #17 services depart from. We didn't have to wait long before required 65732 appeared on a #34A. As we were once again first on Matthew photographed the empty bus.
Inside 65732 (Matt)
Whilst on the bus mum called to ask where we were. this was lucky because my phone had run out of credit. We then arranged to meet at the bus station a few minutes later. When we got to Newcastle Matthew was unable to get a good picture of 65732. We went to the bottom of the bus station to wait for mum. On stand was a 40145 which was about to do a #72 clayton.
40145 in Newcastle bus station (Matt)
Also seen was 40153 on an inbound #99A service.
40153 in Newcastle bus station (Matt)
As we were leaving we saw an Arriva midlands bus 3468 N168 PUT, but we were unable to get a picture. We then went Home via Aldi and we picked up some bottle of lager shandy...Mark
