Trip to Cannock 10-11-2012

Bus	From	To	Service	Operator
2328	Cannock BS	Chadsmoor, adj Church Street (Unmarked) failed	26	Arriva Midlands
2390	Chadsmoor, adj Church Street (Unmarked)	Cannock BS	26	Arriva Midlands
3602	Cannock BS	Hednesford, Tesco N1	31	Arriva Midlands
3741	Hednesford, Tesco S2	Cannock BS	25	Arriva Midlands

Today we decided to head South for a change, to fit around mums plans. We had been through Cannock on the 20th of October whilst on the trip to Bath. It looked quite a good place to go and also we saw Arriva Midlands DAF ALX400 decker 4791 on a #26 service. Research for this trip consisted of looking at the timetables and the Cannock day rover area map on the Arriva Midlands sitecked up. The map was downloaded to my phone so we could refer to it on the move. We checked the weather and the night before it was down as a cool day with sunshine and showers. As mum at to meet up her friends around 15:00 we decided to go early. Matt before 10:00 and he had some toast and orange juice for breakfast. We set off around 11:00 and picked uncle Dave on the way. We got on the A50 at Heron Cross and then headed South on the A500. I nearly went North out of habit but Matthew corrected me at the last moment. We then got on the M6 and headed South. When we reached the A5 we turned east and then joined the the A4601 to travel into Cannock. We sould have researched route and parking but I thought Cannock was a small place and there was no way we would miss the bus station. We spent about 30 minute circling the town to first find the bus station and then to find parking. We did eventually park in a multi-storey car park that had different rates and stayping times on different floors. We parked up and then went the wrong way around so we ended up walking 3 times further to the bus station than we needed to. We then vivted the toilet in the small shopping centre by the bus station before having dinner at The Copper Kettle cafe by the bus station. It had a great view of the bus station and we were able to look at some of the buses that we might decided to catch later. Mathew had an 8 item breakfast for £3.20 in it was great value and well cooked to boot. It was very busy though and by the time we had eaten it was close to 13:00. from what we had seen far the most interesting buses we had seen were on the #25 and #26 circulars. The next #26 in was Arriva Midlands Centro 3738 which Matthew didn't really fancy doing.

Arriva Midlands 3738 in Cannock bus station

The next #25 was dud Arriva Midlands 2328 which Matthew decided to do.

Arriva Midlands 2328 in Cannock bus station

This was Matthews 3rd trip on this bus having done it as D&G 30 just before selling there North Staffordshire operation to Arriva Midlands, and just after it had been taken into the Wardle Transport fleet. We got and and purchased our cannock day saver tickets at £4 each. This was the first time we had seen this bus since being repainted in Arriva Interurban colours. It had also been refurbished with the latest moquette as it used to look like this.

Inside Arriva Midlands 2328 back in D&G days

We sat down near the back pf the bus and settled down for the journey. As we sat down we noticed Arriva Midlands Plaxton Pointer Dart 2330 on a #32 Hednesford service. The plan was to do a complete circuit of the #26 and to view Hednesford 'bus station' with a view to possibly doing a move to there later. We set off Northbound out of town towards Hednesford through a quiet residential street. We had done around a mile when we pulled up in the street to let a passenger off. As we were just about to stop the engine cut out dead on the bus. The driver let he passenger off and then attempted to re-start the bus. The engine turned over but it would catch. After two or three attempts the lady driving the bus phoned the garage for assistance. Arriva Midlands 3604 went the other way on a #25 service. We waited for around 15 minutes and then the following #26 pulled up just in front of us. It was Arriva Midlands Dart 2390, a bus which we had travelled on back in July 2009 when it was a Burton allocated vehicle. Matthew got another picture of Arriva Midlands 2328 as we walked up to get on 2390.

Stricken Arriva Midlands 2328 in Chadsmoor

And I got a picture of 2390 as we walked up.

Arriva Midlands 2390 in Chadsmoor

We got on the bus and settled down towards the back. As there were 2 buses worth of passengers on this dart it was a little cosy to say the least. There 3 pushchairs and a couple of shopping trolleys on the bus and at certain stops people had to get off and back on again to let the pushchairs off. We eventually got back into Cannock around 14:00. When we got off Matthew waited for the bus to empty so he could get a could shot of the inside of this colourful bus.

Inside Arriva Midlands 2390

There seems to be flurry of activity in Cannock bus station on the hour. Volvo B10BLE 3610 with it unusual interurban/standard livery mix was seen on a Wolverhampton bound #70 service.

Arriva Midlands 3610 in Cannock bus station

I decided that we could probably fit in a quick trip to Hednesford and back if we didn't hang around. Arriva Midlands 3738 was on the next #26 and Matthew didn't fancy that. As we were wondering what to do we saw Arriva Midlands B10BLE 3602 on a #31 to Hednesford. We decided to do this having never been on one of these despite there being one at that often does the We waited for the driver to ready the bus and Matthew got a picture as he waited.

Arriva Midlands 3602 in Cannock bus station

We got on and sat near the back. The journey up to Hednesford was different than the #26 and it went via the hospital. The journey didn't take more than about 20 minutes and then we got off and Matthew got another picture before it carried on to Rugeley.

Arriva Midlands 3602 in Hednesford bus station

Once we were off the bus we had to consider which bus to catch. We saw Midland 2559 across the road which departed almost immediately.

Midland 2559 in Hednesford

We also saw Arriva Midlands MPD Dart 2290 going back on a #31 which we could have done if we were quicker. Whilst we were there matthew took a picture of the new Tesco that is being built. According to local press it will be open on the 26th of November. There was a #26 due at 14:30 but it didn't seem to turn up. maybe this was a knock on effect of 2328 failing earlier. We decided to cross the road to see when the next #25 was due. There was one at 14:42 and there was a #32 at 14:45. We saw 3741 appear and we thought that it was on a #26 but it was on a #25 so we stood at the appropriate stop and Matthew got a picture.

Arriva Midlands 3741 in Hednesford

As we got on Arriva Midlands 2330 made an appearance again on the #32. Had we had known what we were doing we could have done this bus instead. We travelled down to Cannock on 3741 which was virtually empty as you would expect on an inbound bus at this time of day. When we got back, the bus emptied out and Matthew got his empty bus picture.

Inside Arriva Midlands 3741

As we got off the bus we saw Atrriva Midlands 2328 in the bus station. This must have been restarted and therefore it was only something minor which caused the failure earlier. We then went to the toilet in the shopping centre and matthew and mum whet to buy some sweet from a shop opposite. We walked back to the car and Matthew had a sausage roll and a drink of Cherryade. We put on the car radio to listen to the stoke match and then set off back towards home. We got back on the #4601 which we did down to the A5. mum had arranged to meet her friends at a pub near two truck stops on the A5 and we stopped to let her out. I didn't actually check to see if she got in the other car safely, but as I didn't get an irrate phone call I assumed all was well. We then carried on along the A5 to the M6 which we did Northbound to Junction 15. Matthew was a little unsettled so we asked him if he wanted to pass the Z Carz depot as it was still light. We did the A519 and Whitmore Road to Trentham. We then did the a34 and the A5035 to Longton. We passed the depot which was quite full and he got a few pictures. First was Mercedes minibus BV51 BNO.

Z Carz BV51 BNO in Longton

Further down the row was coach V690 EBC and an airport minibus DL03 HHU.

Z Carz V690 EBC & DL03 HHU in Longton

We then carried on passed Longton bus station. There were a flurry of PMT scania's on #6 and #25 services. These were 60058/073/176/61553. We then down Victoria Road to Hanley and past the bus station we saw 41495 and 41514 woking and 2 of the 3 Bakerbus hybrid double deckers. We went down to Bucknall and on to Adderley Green. in the First garage was 53830 which has yet to receive a fleet number. We then saw Tyrers coach TYR 4R outside a pottery on Sutherland Road. We then headed back on the A5035 to Blurton. We stopped at the McColls shop for a drink and some chocolate before getting home before 17:00. He then had sausages and potatoes for tea and settled down for the evening before bedtime...Mark