Trip to Wigan 29-09-2012

Bus	From	To	Service	Operator
34291	Wigan BS	Beech Hill, nr Off License Shaftesbury Street/Beech Hill Avenue	625	First Manchester
34291	Beech Hill, nr Off License Shaftesbury Street/Beech Hill Avenue	Wigan BS	625	First Manchester
31923	Wigan BS	Pemberton, o/s House 563 Ormskirk Road/Enfield Street‎	628	First Manchester
60160	Pemberton, o/s House 563 Ormskirk Road/Enfield Street‎	Wigan BS	628	First Manchester
40394	Wigan BS	Lockett Road, Bryn	610	First Manchester
40394	Lockett Road, Bryn	Rose Hill, Wigan Road/Eddleston Street (N-bound)	610	First Manchester
60147	Rose Hill, Wigan Road/Eddleston Street (N-bound)	Wigan BS	610	First Manchester

Today we had planned on going on a fairly local trip, but Matthew had some unexpected news and we thought we would cheer him up with a longer trip on Friday we decided to go to Leigh. We checked the weather for Saturday the night before and the weather for the North West was for cloudy and sunny intervals. Mathew got up around 10:30 and had some breakfast. As we got ready to go out we asked Matthew if he was sure he wanted to go to Leigh or did he want to go to Wigan. Mum had thought that if we went to Leigh we would probably end up in Wigan anyhow as we often do! So Matthew now chose Wigan. We made sure that we had the Wigan South map in the bag as well as all th other stuff we tend to take with us. We set off around 12:00 and we called into the LPG place in Etruria to pick up some LPG. We headed North up the A500 and then onto the Northbound M6. Traffic was quite heavy going, and we averaged around 50 mph until we reached the A556 junction and then we able to go a little faster. As we came up the A49 into town we passed 34291 on a #610 Bryn circular service. We got into Wigan around 13:30 and we parked up on street close to the bus station. We went to the cafe on Hallgate that we went into on our first visit to Wigan. Matthew had a breakfast, mum had soup and some chips to share with everybody, I had a bacon barm and Uncle Dave had a sausage barm. With 3 drinks the food came to just over £13. After diner we walked across to the bus station and Matthew used the facilities. As we came out we spotted an old double decker on stand and so we went over to investigate. It was 34291 again but it wasn't on the correct stand for Bryn. Matthew got a picture of this beast before we walked over to see where it was going.

First 34291 about to work the #625

We asked Matthew if he wanted to do this bus and he said yes. We had already looked up to see if we had been on this bus before and we had. closer inspection of the Blog revealed that we had done it to Prestwich from Bury back in March. It was doing a 625 to Beech Hill. We got on and got our system one tickets before going upstairs on this bus. The top deck was empty and so Matthew was able to get a picture of this bus straight away.

Inside the top deck of First 34291

We had never been on this service before so we looked at the timetable to see how long it took and how frequent the service was. It was a service that took only 20 minutes to do a complete circle and ran a t a 20 minute frequency. We set off in a North Westerly direction. It didn't take long to get to the Beech Hill area, nd before we knew it we were on our way back into town. I asked Matthew if the bus was doing the #610 next did he want to do it again and he said yes. When we pulled into the bus station it looked like 34291 was going to do something different from the #610. We also noticed a Dennis Arrow on the Kitts Hill stand. We got off 34291 and pretty puch walked straight onto the other double decker. It was 31923. I looked it up on his buses I have travelled on page and we saw it was required. When we got on the top deck it was empty again and Matthew got a picture of this bus.

Inside the top deck of First 31923

We settled down to enjoy the journey. It was now quite sunny and at the front of a poorly ventilated Arrow it was warm! As we have been on this service before we asked Matthew if he wanted to do it to Pemberton where we could get off and then catch one of a number of services back into Wigan. after a journey of about 25 minutes we rounded the corner onto the main road and then we got off. Matthew didn't get his camera out quickly enough to take a picture of this bus. The was a #385 due i a few minutes which is what we thought we would be on. However, the First Manchester Excel 60160was on the following #628 and when it turned up Matthew decided he would like to do this bus.

First Manchester 60160 in Pemberton

We got on the bus and looked it up. It was required! This is no big surprise as we had only been on 2 before. After around 15 minutes on the bus we arrived back in the bus station. The bus emptied, there wasn't many people on the bus anyway, and then Matthew got his empty bus picture.

Inside First Manchester 60160

At this point we didn't have a plan, and so we had a bit of a photographic break at the west end of the bus station. One such bus was Bolton allocated 2623 on a #362 to Chorley.

Arriva NW&W 2623 in Wigan bus station

This was followed by St Helen allocated 2712 on a #320 St Helens service.

Arriva NW&W 2712 in Wigan bus station

We saw a Dart arrive on a '#610 service. as we had only previously been on one of the Wigan Darts we knew there was a good chance that it would be required. It was First Manchester 40394 and it was required. We decided to do this down to the depot and then back out so that we could do a different bus back. It is quite a long journey, and we set off through the South end of Wigan heading towards Bryn. The journey was fairly uneventful, and by the time we got to the A49/M6 junction there was only ourselves and bus drivers left on the bus. In the depot we were surprised to see large number of new Enviro 400 bus waiting to start in service with First Manchester. One such bus that I can remember was 33743. There was also a few withdrawn buses to be seen such as 30586,40338,40339,34028 and 34262. We then headed off Northwards and we decided to get of just north of Bryn so that we could have a choice of buses back to Wigan. As we headed north we were the only people on the buses with the exception of a driver at the front. Matthew got a picture of the empty bus behind us as we went to get off.

Inside First Manchester 40394

We got off and it was now just after 16:10. There was a 600 due and then a #610 at 16:30. We saw required 60147 heading Southwards on a #610 so we decided to wait for this bus instead of catching the busy #600. When the #600 turned up it was 66925 so it was nothing exciting! After around another 10 minutes which were quite busy with southbound #600's and empty First and Strawberry buses, 60147 reappeared as expected.

First Manchester 60147 on Rose Hill, Bryn

We did the bus back and we had another uneventful journey. The bus was quite loud and was a little diesely, but that's what makes these Excels good buses for enthusiasts if not the travelling public. When we got Wigan, Matthew got his empty bus picture. We really like this orange and red squared Moquette!

Inside First Manchester 60147

We then headed back to the car whilst taking a few pictures. I managed to get a picture of 31923 which we had been on earlier.

First Manchester 31923 in Wigan bus station (Mark)

We then walked down the steps to Hallgate and then Richmond Street and onto Dorning street. Between duties was Arriva NW&W 2998 which was going to work a #362 Chorley service.

Arriva NW&W 2998 on Dorning Street

We carried on around the corner on Dorning Street and we saw a few more buses go past. One such bus was Wigan Buses SF55 GXL.

Wigan Buses SF55 GXL on Dorning Street

We got back into the car and then set off home. As we were about to go we saw Arriva 7621 on a #360 service. Which must be new to Bolton as we had not seen this before. We then headed out of wigan and under the railway bridge. We rejoined the Northbound A49 near Wigan Pier and then went around it to head back South. We then headed out of town and then onto the M6 South. Back in Staffordshire we headed down the A500 and onto the A50. We went passed Z Carz where we saw the usual coaches and T408 JUX which we hadn't seen for a while. It has a '408' service sticker in the front window. We decided to go past Longton bus station and we were surprised to see East Yorkshire Coaches DC54 EYC in there. We then headed home and we got home around 18:30. After having sausage potatoes and carrots for we tea we settled down for the evening before bedtime...Mark