Trip to Newcastle / Hanley 01-06-2013

Bus	From	To	Service	Operator
40146	Magdalen Road, Blurton	Newcastle BS	22	First Potteries
32627	Newcastle BS	Keele village	25	First Potteries
33	Keele village, nr Sneyd Arms	Hanley BS	85	D&G
32639	Hanley BS	Newcastle BS	25	First Potteries
21	Newcastle BS	Audley, outsied Council Offices	94	D&G
60189	Audley ,os Council Offices	Wereton, Westfield Avenue	34	First Potteries
60189	Wereton, Westfield Avenue	Newcastle BS	34	First Potteries

Today mum was attending a wedding, so we decided to have a local trip to fit around this. No research was done other than to check the weather for today which was for fine sunny weather! Matthew got up around 10:00 and had toast and orange juice for breakfast. We decided today that we would head towards Newcastle today so we walked to the stop Magdalen Road just before 11:30 to catch the next #22 bus. As we set off we saw 40017 heading towards Longton on the #22. A couple of minutes late First Potteries 40146 appeared from around the corner.

First Potteries 40146 in Blurton

We bought our SmartDay ticket and sat down near the back. It was a required bus for me, but Matthew had been on this bus before when in respite back in February 2012. We went onto the A5035 and then turned into New Inn Lane. We passed 40148 on the third #22 turn and then we headed down onto the A34. We turned onto Harpfields Road and then went through the hospital and then back onto the A34. When we got to Newcastle the bus emptied out an h got a picture of the inside of the bus too.

Inside First Potteries 40146

When we got off the bus the first thing we noticed was First Potteries Volvo Olympian 31518 on layover.

First Potteries 31518 in Newcastle

We decided to wait around for a short while to see if it was going to work. After around 20 minutes we decided we would do the first double decker that we saw, as we have only been on one of the First Potteries B7TL buses. Unfortunately the first double decker saw was dud First Potteries 32627.

First Potteries 32627 in Newcastle

We decided to do this anyway as we hadn't been to Keele for a long time. We had been on 32627 before back in February. We got on the bus and went upstairs and sat down at the back. We set off out of Newcastle and onto the A34 and turned onto Orme Road. At the top off Orme Road the bus turned onto the A525 and we climbed up the hill and turned into the university. After traveling through the University the bus terminated in Keele Village. We stood up and Matthew photographed the inside of this bus.

Inside First Potteries 32627

We got off the bus and then we got a picture of the outside of first Potteries 32627 too.

First Potteries 32627 in Keele

The bus stop has been improved greatly since our last visit here. There is now a shelter and the road in the bus waiting area has been changed to block paving. We decided to cross the road to see if there was another bus due other than the returning 32627. We crossed the road and then found the stop on nextbuses.mobi for the stop stadtawg and we found there was #85 from Crewe to Hanley due at 12:45 in ten minutes. Incidentally, 3G on Vodafone didn't work here...The phone dropped into GPRS and took ages! After a short wait the appeared from in the distance, and we could see it was one of there MCW eVolutions and therefore it was going to be required. As the bus got closer we saw it was D&G 33.

D&G 33 in Keele

We sat down near the back of this reasonably well filled bus. As we got on we picked up one of the new D&G timetable leaflets. As we rode into Newcastle we ad a quick read of the new timetable. From the 3rd of June D&G operate a knutsford town service. We went through the university and straight down the A525 to the edge of Newcastle. After going around the town we entered the bus station from the Southern end. pretty much everybody got off the bus, and a few people got on. The bus waited until 13:00 before departing, heading down Hartshill bank. The bus waited tie again in Stoke and left around 13:15 before heading onto Leek road and then passed the railway station. We headed up through Shelton and then into the bus station past the fire station and the library. when we arrived we waited for the bus to empty and then he got a picture inside this bus.

Inside D&G 33

We got off and Matthew went to use the toilet. afterwards we decided to look for somewhere to eat. Since he new bus station opened we weren't sure if any of the cafe's in old old bus station were open. We knew that our favourite cafe Tony's had closed, but last time I had been the other cafe was still open. We saw Bakerbus 194 parked up in the bus station. Also parked up was required Wardle Transport 4896 parked up. It was 13:30 and we thought it might work te #61 but it hadn't moved by this point. We came out of the bus station and we saw Wardle Transport 1495 on driver shuttle duties.

Wardle Transport 1495 in Hanley

We walked over to the old bus station and along the balcony. Matthew took a picture of the old bus station and then we came down off the balcony to discover that one had now closed too. We walked back and went to a burger and pizza place we saw as we went over. Matthew had a large burger and regular fries washed down with Coke. There were a few seats inside so we had our dinner there. Whilst we were the we could see in the distance all the route that travel down Bucknall New Road and the #6 buses. We saw Arriva Midlands 2356 on the #16 to leek. This bus is currently to loan to Wardle Transport. After eating the food we walked back to the bus station. Wardle Transport 4896 and Bakerbus 194 had both gone by the time we got back, so we decided to do the next #25 towards Newcastle. It came in and we saw it was required First Potteries 32639.

First Potteries 32639 in Hanley

We got on the bus and went upstairs. As it was nearly empty took a picture of the inside too.

Inside First Potteries 32639

Whilst we waited to depart we saw Wardle Transport 2038 on the #350. We set off past the Hind Street layover where we saw wardle transport 4650 & 2963, Scraggs Blue Buses 56 and Bakerbus 217. We headed down through Shelton, past the railway station and into Stoke town centre via Leek Road. We stopped in stoke and the bus cut out. we sat in silence for around 2 minutes and thhen the bus was restarted again and we carried on up Hartshill Road into Newcastle. We got off the bus and Matthew visited the toilet. first Potteries 31518 still hadn't worked off anywhere and didn't look like it was going to any time soon. We had to decided on what bus we were going to do next and Matthew chose the #94 to Audley. Whist we waited for the bus we took a few pictures. One we saw was required First Potteries 60081.

First Potteries 60081 in Newcastle

D&G 21 rolled up to work the 15:15 to Audley and Matthew got a picture.

D&G 21 in Newcastle bus station

We got on the bus and sat down at the back. We set off towards Silverdale and through Park Site. We carried on through Miles Green and to Audley where the bus terminated. We then took a picture of the inside of this bus.

Inside D&G 21

We sat down at the bus stop to wait for the next Newcastle bound bus. We had around 10 minutes to wait in theory for the next bus. As we had not been to Audley for a long time we did not know that the council offices was not the terminus of the #34 bus. Required First Potteries 60170 came around the corner. Matthew got a picture but the bus went straight past.

First Potteries 60170 in Audley

We decided to cross the road to see when the next bus was due the other way. We saw another bus approaching immediately. It was required First Potteries 60189. We decided to do this to the end and then back to Newcastle. It only took a few minutes to get to the terminus in Wereton. We asked the driver how long we had before the bus was due to set off back to Newcastle and he told us about 12 minutes. So we got off and took a picture of the bus in sunshine.

First Potteries 60189 in Wereton

We got back on and Matthew took a picture of the inside of the bus too.

Inside First Potteries 60189

We sat down near the back and waited for the bus to depart. The engine had been switched off and it took 3 attempts to fire it back up again. The bus set off back through Audley and then in and out of Wood Lane. I called mum to ask if she could meet us in Newcastle around 17:00 ,which is how long I thought the bus would take. We carried on down through Chesteron and we went through the industrial estates and joined onto the A34 just north of Milehouse. We continued on into Newcastle past the First bus garage. Visible today as we went passed were 30033,34158,34288,40144 and 65728. We got to the bus station quicker than anticipated getting there just after 16:40. First Potteries 31518 had now disappeared form the bus station. Matthew went to the toilet and then we stood at the top of the bus station and took a few pictures. One of the buses we saw was Wardle Transport 2301 on a #41 service.

Wardle Transport 2301 in Newcastle bus station

We stood at the bottom of the bus station barbecue that is where mum would arrive. We saw her sailing past so we walked up towards the top again. When she had parked up she called to say she was in the Ironmarket, so we walked around to her. We got in the car and we set off up George Street and onto Shelton New Road. We joined the A500 and then we did the A50 up to Longton so that we could have a look at what was parked up at Z Carz. There were 3 vehicle there. First in the row was Scania coach D104 XAN.

Z Carz D104 XAN in Longton

next to that was the Lightning Travel Mercedes minibus bus on loan to Z carz FD53 UNX.

Z Carz FD53 UNX in Longton

In the distance was X599 WDY. We went past the willow row compound which had no buses in it today and then we headed back to Blurton via Longton Hall Road. We got hoe around 17:20. For tea we had chicken and potatoes followed by cake. Matthew then chilled out on his computer until bedtime around 00:30...Mark