Trip to Leigh / Wigan 28-07-2012

Bus	From	To	Service	Operator
37305	Leigh BS	Wigan BS	600	First Manchester
31946	Wigan BS	Pemberton, o/s House 563 Ormskirk Road/Enfield Street‎	628	First Manchester
4102	Pemberton, o/s House 563 Ormskirk Road/Enfield Street‎	Wigan BS	375	Arriva NW&W
31934	Wigan BS	Leigh BS	598	First Manchester
7676	Leigh BS	Lane Head, Newton Road/Travellers Rest (SW-bound)	34	Arriva NW&W

Today we decided to go to Leigh. I though it would give him a choice of buses to do, but still be linked to St Helens if he decided he wanted to cover some of their buses before the new Solo SR's were deployed. Matthew had a late night and didn't go sleep until after 03:00. After such a late night he didn't get up until 11:00. The weather forecast for today was for a cooler day with the chance of the odd shower. After a quick breakfast we set off around 12:15. We headed North on the A500 and onto the M6. He saw Z carz V690 EBC. The M6 to junction 18 was slow due to an earlier accident. We got on Winwick Lane at junction 22 and then turned right at Lane Head onto the A572. We decided to follow this road into town as opposed to going on the quicker A579 route so we could see what buses were on the #34 service. As we headed into town we passed required Arriva NW&W 2346 on what would have been the 13:20 off Leigh to St Helens. As we pulled up into town we could see an Interurban liveried Pulsar about to work the 13:40 off Leigh. We parked by the Spinning Gate shopping centre and walked into town via the market. After using the toilets in the bus station we decided to eat at the burger van by the corner of the bus station. Matthew had a sausage and egg barm and a bottle of Coca Cola. We then walked down to the end of the bus station to see what was working. We saw 40386 arriva on a Higher Fold bound #658 service.

First Manchester 40386 in Leigh bus station

We the decided to wait to see what the 14:20 #34 was. We waited patiently until about 14:15, when required Arriva NW&W Cadet 2489 appeared to work the service. Matthew decided not to do this and instead decided to do a newish required double decker, First Manchester 37305.

First Manchester 37305 in Leigh bus station

We got on and booked 3 System One bus only tickets, as once again mum was coming with us. We went upstairs and Matthew took a picture of the empty top deck of this bus.

Inside First Manchester 37305

We sat down on the front seats to enjoy the journey. I wasn't sure how far we were going on this service so I had booked Matthew ticket to Wigan just in case. As we set of in a South Western direction out of town it started to rain. We passed required Arriva NW&W Scania 1055 on the next #34. I asked Matthew if he wanted to get off and waited for it and Matthew said no. As we went further along through Lowton and then towards Golborne I asked Matthew if he wanted to get off to cover the #360 service and Matthew once again said no. A group of 3 lads got on in Lowton as the bus headed Northwards toward the top end of Golborne. The lads who where already drunk got on the bus and sat at the back. They carried on drinking, swearing talking very loudly about how they had beaten this person up and about their sexual exploits. They were "on the way to Blackpool to get wasted" as they were "currently on bail and they were likely to go back to prison anyway". Before get off at Wigan North Western railway station they dropped a glass they had taken from a pub and it smashed. I think everybody on the bus let out a collective sigh of relief when they got off. As we were getting off the bus in Wigan we spied required First Manchester 31946 on a #628 Kitt Green circular on the opposite stand and it was bout to start loading. We pretty much got straight off the one double decker and got straight on to 31946, with Matthew stopping briefly to say hello to someone before we got on. We went straight up to the top deck and Matthew got a picture of the empty bus.

Inside First Manchester 31946

We sat down at the front to enjoy this trip around Wigan. We also saw Arriva NW&W 4105 which would be working out towards Southport later. We had been on this circular before last time we came to Wigan, so we knew exactly what we were going to do. The plan was to do the service around the circle until we got back onto the main road at Pemberton, and then to do something else back into town. The rain had now stopped and we were in bright sunshine again. As we left Wigan we past a #395 service going into Wigan. As we went around the circular route we passed 3 Excels on the #621. These were First Manchester 60146, 60148 and 60141. We also went past a Co-op with Matthew got a picture of. As we got back onto the main road we got off the bus and Matthew got a picture of this beast as it headed off towards Wigan.

First Manchester 31946 in Pemberton

We checked the time and it was 15:53. A quick consultation of the bus stop timetable said the next bus was due at 15:53 and it was a #375 service. We looked up and we saw it was a double decker and bang on time. As it got closer we could see it was required 4102.

Arriva NW&W 4102 in Pemberton

We got on to do the short journey into town. When we got into Wigan Matthew took a picture of the empty top deck.

Inside Arriva NW&W 4102

When we got into the bus station, we visited the facilities before making a choice of what we were going to do back to Leigh. There were at least 2 #360's to Warrington / Golborne which were turned down including required Arriva NW&W 2454. We also turned down a Volvo's on the #600 to Leigh which was 60397. We also saw Arriva 2680 on a #575 service. He also turned down a #658 to Leigh. We had a bit of a wandered around and Matthew took a picture of Arriva NW&W Pulsar 2679 which was stabled up between #362 services.

Arriva NW&W 2679 in Wigan bus station

Just when we were thinking that we were never going to leave Wigan we saw required First Manchester 31934 Arriva on a #598 from Leigh. It dropped it passengers off and then drove around about as it tried to get onto stand H. There wasn't a space and so it did a lap of the bus station. Eventually it parked up on stand H behind another bus. I checked the timetable to see what what going on. If it was going to work out on the #598 then it would be on the 16:38 to Leigh in about 6 minutes time. The bus in front moved and then Matthew took a picture from the front.

First Manchester 31934 in Wigan bus station

After a driver change to bus drew fully onto stand H and changed it's desination to Leigh. We got on the bus and Matthew took a picture of the empty top deck.

Inside First Manchester 31934

After a couple of minutes we set off. As we left town we hit a bit of a bump in the road and mum dropped her Kindle! One of the downside to riding on the older vehicles is that they are often a little less comfortable when it come to ride quality. We had never done the #598 before so it was an interesting ride through Hindley and Hindley Green. We hit familiar territory when we reached Tamar as we had done the #658 service last time we visited Leigh. We passed a variety of vehicles on the opposite workings including 2 Darts, newer Volvo and a Volvo B10 on the #658. When we got to town it was just past 17:00. Matthew used the toilet and had us walk around the corner into town. The shutters were down on Greegs so we knew we couldn't get sausage rolls today. The was a butcher and delicatessen on the corner which sold gigantic cooked sausages and spiced chips for £2 a portion. We decided to have 2 portions between us. As we walked back we saw a shearing coached parked up by the side of the road. It was Shearings 540 (MX03 AEW) a Volvo B12M coach. Matthew didn't like the spicy chips much. which me and mum shared, but he did like the sausage which he ate, as well as eating some of Uncle Daves too. He turned down Arriva NW&W 2489 again on the 17:20 to St Helens.He did however get a picture of Newtwork Warrington 56 on a #28A service to Warrington.

Network Warrington 56 in Leigh bus station

He also turned down 60397 which was on a #600.

First Manchester 60397 in Leigh bus station

We asked Matthew if he wanted to wait until. 17:40 for the #34 service, which we though would be Arriva NW&W Scania 1055. He said yes to that. We thought we could get off at the pub The Travellers Rest and have a drink on the seats at the front of the pub like we had done before. Mum would drive the car down to meet us to take us home afterwards. When the bus turned up it wasn't 1055, but was required Arriva NW&W Dart 7676.

Arriva NW&W 7676 in Leigh bus station

He stilled wanted to do the same move to the traveller rest, and so that is what we did. We usually avoid doing bus at this time of the day because they are too crowded. There were only about 6 people on this bus as it left Leigh and it was a very pleasant ride. The bus was nice and cool. As we left town we passed Arriva NW&W 7563 on an inbound #34 service We got off as planned but when we got to the pub we found that the table at the front of the pub had been removed. We decided to wait for mum at the bus stop. Whilst we were waiting we saw Arriva NW&W 2314 on another inbound #34 service. When mum turned up we told her about the table predicament and we decided it would be better to go to the local Co-op for drinks and lottery tickets. We drove back towards Leigh and stopped at the Texaco Petrol station / Co-op on the A580. He used the facilties here to. We brought some Coca Cola and few other bits and pieces and then we head homewards. We set off along the A580 towards the M6. Before we got there it started to rain. We got onto the M6 and then the heaven opened. It was quite an heavy shower and the road was under a cm of water of so. The rain had stopped by the time we reached the M56 junction and then the sun came out again. As we drove past a couple of cars we were driving through rainbow coloured spray as the sunlight defused through the fine water droplets. We reached junction 15 and then turned off onto the A500. we then went onto the A50 at sideway before turning off at Longton to go passed the Z Carz depot. As we were about to turn onto the road past Z carz Matthew batteries ran out in his camera. I drove back and forth between 2 rounadbout whilst uncle Dave changed the batteries on his camera. We then when passed the depot where Matthew got his picture of the 2 buses parked up. D104 XAN and YN03 HJC.

Z Carz YN03 HJC in Longton

we also. We then headed home. After a short sit down we had sausages and mash before bedtime...Mark