Trip to Stoke / Newcastle 06-02-2012

Bus	From	To	Service	Operator
1450	Blurton	Abbey Hulton	Charter	Wardle Transport
1451	Abbey Hulton	Blurton	Charter	Wardle Transport
40003	Ladybank Grove, Blurton	Newstead	23	First Potteries
40003	Newstead	Stoke railway station	23	First Potteries
66840	Stoke railway station	Newcastle Town Centre, adj Alma Inn PH	25	First Potteries
60136	Newcastle Under Lyme, adj Seagrave Street	Church Street, Stoke	26	First Potteries
40028	Church Street, Stoke	Stoke railway station	23	First Potteries
66849	Stoke railway station	Church Street, Stoke	25	First Potteries
66852	Church Street, Stoke	Stoke railway station	25	First Potteries
2406	Stoke railway station	Stanley Matthews Way	500	Wardle Transport

Today Matthew had an extra trip out, in order to help to train up a new PA. He started the day on his usual college transport, Wardle Transport 1450.

Wardle 1450 in Blurton

He did to Abbey Hulton and back 1451. As arranged, the PA turned up at 20:00 and we walked all the way to Ladybank Grove. As we had just missed the 19:56 to Hanley, and it was a freezing cold evening, we decided to wait on the other side of the road and do the bus out to Newstead First. The bus turned up and as it is most of the time, this turn was worked by First Potteries 40003.

First Potteries 40003 in Blurton

As we passed through Newstead, I got up to book ticket back to Stoke station. The journey ent to plan and we alight outside the railway station we he got a better picture of 40003.

40003 outside Stoke railway station

We crowssed the road and in a matter of minutes we could see a Volvo single decker approaching. It was required 66840.

First 66840 outside Stoke railway station

We decided to do this to the outskirts of Newcastle and to do the #26 back into Stoke. As we went through Stoke town would could see the Scania we would have on the #26 heading into Newcastle, We also passed another Volvo heading towards Hanley which we would probably ride on later. We got off in George Street Newcaslte and Matthew attempted to get a better picture of the bus.

66840 pulls away on George Street

We crossed the road and headed into Newcsatle, going to the stop opposite The Rigger. We only had to wait a few minutes and we could see our bus approaching. It turn out to be required 60136.

First Potteries 60136 approaches...

We got on and found a seat near the back. A few people got off on the way to Stoke so Matthew was able to get a picture of the inside of this bus.

Inside 60136

In Stoke town centre we got off, and Matthew was able to get a much better picture of 60136 under the bright street lights in town.

60136 on Church Street, Stoke

As we had not seen the other #23 diagram we crossed the road in the hope that we might not have missed it. A minute or two later, 40028 turned up on this turn.

First 40028 on Church Street, Stoke

At the railway station Matthew was able to get a better picture.

40028 outside Stoke station

All was going well. We hadn't passed the #25 so we crossed the road in anticipation of this and sure enough after a couple of minutes required Volvo 66849 appeared. We arrived in the town centre and we could see a Hanley bound #25. We were abel to cross the road and get a picture of 66849 before looking at our next bus.

First Potteries 66849 on Church Street, Stoke

After getting his picture of 66849, we turned to see required 66852 and he got a picture of this too!

First Potteries 66852 on Church Street, Stoke

Back at the railway station, Matthew was able to get another picture of 66852.

First Potteries 66852 outside Stoke station

It was now time to wait for the last bus of the day, the #500 to Stanley Matthews Way. As we waited we saw 40028 returning back towards Blurton. After around 10 minutes Wardle Transport 2406 appeared on the #500. It was quite well loaded today, but everybody else got off at the DHL warehouse or before. We did the bus to the end of Stanley Matthews Way where Matthew was able to get a reasonable picture of this beast.

Wardle Transport 2406 on Stanley Matthew Way

When then had a short walk home and we said our goodbye's to the PA. I think secretly he quite enjoyed this hectic evening of bus travel...Mark