Trip to Rochdale 31-03-2012

Bus	From	To	Service	Operator
40677	Rochdale BS	Littleborough, o/s 191 Todmorden Road/Ferrand Lodge	589	First West Yorkshire
40675	Littleborough, o/s 191 Todmorden Road/Ferrand Lodge	Rochdale BS	589	First West Yorkshire
40407	Rochdale BS	Kirkholt, nr Open Land Baldestone Road/Hill Top Drive	6	First Manchester
34295	Kirkholt, nr Open Land Baldestone Road/Hill Top Drive	Rochdale BS	6	First Manchester
511	Rochdale BS	Castleton, o/s Shops Manchester Road/Church Inn	17	JPT
37287	Castleton, opp Church Manchester Road/Church Inn	Rochdale, Drake Street/Fleece Street (NW-bound)	17	First Manchester

Today Matthew wanted to go to Rochdale. He chose this destination after last weeks trip to Bolton, pointing at the LED display of a bus that he had photographed last week. As usual a period of research was taken including asking a question on the Dennis Dart forum with regards to buses in Rochdale. With information gathered I also visited the Transport for Greater Manchester site to download timetables and maps to my phone. Also researched before we left was a place to eat. Mm found a cafe about a mile off route in Castleton called Mighty Bite. The weather was cool and cloudy, having just come out of a week of warm unseasonable weather. Today we set off around 12:20. We picked up mum's friend in Blurton and then we headed onto the A50. We headed north along the A500 and then North onto the M6. We took the motorway route via M62, M60, back onto the M62 after the ring road and then the A627(M). At the end of the road we turned left and headed into Castleton.The cafe wasn't hard to spot and after we had seen it we turned around and parked up. We ordered 2 breakfasts, a pastie and a drink and it came to £7.60. The breakfast was really nice and it set us up nicely for the day ahead. Before we left Matthew spotted a sink behind the counter, and so he insisted on photographing it! You can take the boy out of Stoke but you can't take Stoke out of the boy...We set off to Rochdale, and we parked in the town centre not far from the bus station around 14:30. We walked around the corner to the bus station and we walked up the outside taking pictures of the vehicles parked on these stands. You can get some nice pictures of buses from around these stands, but it became apparent that a lot of the interesting stuff goes from inside under the canopy. We carried on walking around the bus station and we noticed all the double deckers parked along the other side. As we walked around, 30806 arrived to join the other vehicles.

First Manchester 30806 arrives in Rochdale

We carried on walking around and the other interesting bus in this row we could photograph was 30803.

First Manchester 30803 in Rochdale

Whilst we were wondering what bus we could catch when an ALX200 Dart came into the bus station on a #589 which was 40677.

First West Yorshire 40677 arrives...

I had been told that these services were sometimes Darts and so I thought that this would be a good start to the afternoon. As it was a Halifax based bus and we had never been on any First West Yorkshire buses both the out and the back were certain to be required. Matthew was keen to do this move too and so we looked up and then waited at the relevant stand. Sure enough, just before 14:55 the bus came onto the stand. we brought our System One bus tickets which did prove a little tricky for a Halifax driver until he worked out how to do it. The journey Eastward out of town was swift. The bus emptied quickly and by the time we reached Littleborough most of the passengers from Rochdale had disembarked. We passed 66790 on the #590 service, and we had worked out that if we went just the other side of Littleborough that we would have an approx 15 minute wait. As we got off in the Gale area of town, Matthew got a better picture of this fine beast.

40677 in the Gale area of Rochdale...

With a bit of time to wait and with another bus towards Rochdale we decided to cross the road and sit on the grass until closer to the due time. The sun had now come out and it was nearly warm. We had seen that the other service the #457 was being worked by Mercs so we would be OK chilling on the grass and maybe we could even get a picture. The Merc sailed past which was if I recall correctly 60245. As we got closer to the time we crossed back over the road to wait for the #589. We could see in the distance that it was another ALX bus, and as it came closer we could see it was required 40675.

Return Power...First West Yorkshire 40675

We boarded the bus and sat near the back. It was another swift journey and bizarrely the bus also empty out as it headed into town. When we got back into the bus station Matthew took a picture of the empty ALX200 bus.

Inside 40675

As we were getting off I was sure I saw a NC double decker in the gloom of the middle stands. Matthew however spotted a Wright bodied Dart, and as it was on a #6 and I planned on covering this service I thought it was an excellent idea. No photographs of this from the bus station as we just leapt straight onto it. we set off and as we left Rochdale we passed another vehicle from this batch in the shape of 40411. The sun had gone in again and it was now quite grey overhead. As we went around the bus emptied out as you would expect. The bus didn't completely empty, but as this was a circular and there were few passengers on the bus I suggested that he took a picture of the inside of the bus at that point.

Inside First Manchester Dart 40407

We carried on a little further, and I saw a point on the route that was a nice open space so we decided to get off there. As we got off Matthew was able to get a good picture of the bus.

40407 on Balderstone Road Kirkholt

With a 10 minute frequency we knew there would be a bus quite soon, the 10 minutes passed quickly and we were both surprised and pleased to see a NC double decker coming towards us down the bank. As we had only ever been on Bury based examples of these it was bound to be required and we weren't disappointed. 34295 rolled down the back towards before coming to a stop where Matthew got his picture.

Nice surprise! First Manchester 34295

Apart from a couple of people at the front of the bus, the top deck was empty and so Matthew took a picture of the empty rear of the top deck.

Inside 34295

The journey back was quite bouncy as we returned through an estate with plenty of potholes and speed humps. We passed 40426 on another #6 circular as we headed back into town. When we got back we wondered if we could get one of the 2 NC double decker we had seen on the #17 operated by JPT and First Manchester. The First buses were low floor with some of the buses been hybrid's too. Whilst we waited for a JPT bus. Matthew got a bit hyper running up and down from stand to stand in the middle section of the bus station. We had to sit him down for a bit and we had a quick drink whilst he calmed a little. Then a JPT NC double decker bus appeared and it was JPT 511. We had to wait a few minutes before it cam on stand as it appeared to have been blocked out by on of the competing First Manchester buses. After a lap of the bus station and a bit of horn honking 511 eventually pulled up on stand C. We got on and went upstairs where Matthew got a shot of the then empty top deck.

Inside JPT 511

We did the bus to castle as we had seen them here earlier in the day and we knew the route and layout of this area of town. Just after the Co-op store we got off and Matthew got a picture of this fine beast.

JPT 511 in Castleton

It had now gone 17:00 and we knew that the next bus would be the last ride of the day. We had passed a JPT single decker before we got to Castle ton and so we knew the next bus was most likely to be First Manchester example. With both hybids and buses in the new First livery seen working this service, we saw that our bus was in standard livery. Having only been on Bury examples of these we knew it would also be required. It came closer and matthew got a picture of required 37287.

First Manchester 37287 in Castleton

As the route of the bus was going slightly closer to the car than the bus station was to the car, we decided to get off at the bottom of the hill as we got to the centre of the town. As we walked back to the car an interesting coach came to a stop across the road and Matthew got a picture of this coach.

Interesting sighting...Healings G25 WNF in Rochdale

We had a quick toilet stop before we set off home around 17:40. The sun had forced it's way out again and we had a very pleasant journey home. We saw the Almin Travel garage through the trees as we passed the Heywood area on the M62 and then we returned back via the same route as we had come. On the A500 we stopped for LPG in Longport an surprisingly the forecourt was empty. The panic buying of fuel must have slowed for the time being. Having dropped off mum's friend again, we got home a little after 19:00...Mark.