Trip to Southport 26-02-2011

Bus	From	To	Service	Operator
2144	Esplanade Park & Ride	Southport, Lord Street (Market St) Stop BE	PR1	Arriva NW&W
2801	Southport, Lord St, Duke St (adj)	Ainsdale, Ainsdale Village	49A	Arriva NW&W
7652	Ainsdale, Fairfield Road	Southport, Monument	49A	Arriva NW&W
2291	Southport, Monument	Birkdale, Birkdale Station	49A	Arriva NW&W
7651	Birkdale, Birkdale Station	Southport, Monument	49A	Arriva NW&W
2143	Southport, Monument	Esplanade Park & Ride	PR1	Arriva NW&W

Slightly longer trip out than usual today, so we left just after 11:30. Stopping at Longport for LPG, we made good time except for a few minutes delay passing through "Historical market town", Ormskirk. Note to self...as you take the first left to go past the supermarket in town, you can use the right hand lane to go straight on. As we had been to Southport before, we decided to eat in Southport today as opposed to taking a pack lunch. We arrived at the Esplanade Park & ride site around 13:30. After a quick toilet break we did the next P&R which was mileage machine 2144.

2144 on arrival in Southport town centre (Matt)

Anyway, as we drove through town mum spotted a suitable cafe for us to have dinner in. Cleveland's Cafe in Lord street as mentioned here. Cleveland's boast home cooked foods so we decide to eat here. Matthew had a breakfast and a portion of chips, and the rest of us had home-made meat & potato pie and gravy. The pie was a quarter of a 9" pie and at £1.95 was excellent value. The gravy was nice and dark, but was not too thick or salty, and the pie was delicious! The only two minor criticisms of the place were the chips were frozen and not real, and the beans weren't the best quality. All the other items on the breakfast were cooked to perfection. we all ate and drank for under £15. Unusually Matthew didn't take pictures of the dinners but in this case we wished that he had! whilst we ate Matthew watched the buses on Lord Street so we could see what we were going to catch. The 375 Wigan was mainly Alexander bodied double deckers, Stagecoach's services were Enviro 400's and Optare Solo's and Comfybus ran Solo's and 'Goldfish bowl' C13 MFY was out on service #40. As we had seen a couple of Marshall bodied Dennis Darts out on the #49A Crossens to Wood Vale, we decided to ride up and down on this service. After we left the cafe, we crossed the road and waited for the first Wood Vale bound #49A. After a short wait, Arriva NW&W 2801 turned up.


Arriva NW&W 2801 about to work a #49A to Wood Vale (Matt)

We decided to do a very similar move to last time so we caught this bus to Ainsdale. Unlike last time, there was a bus opposite and we did not have time to get pictures and catch it. So Matthew took a picture of Marshall 7655 before we slowly walked across to the opposite side of the road.


One that got away...7655 in Ainsdale on a #49A to Crossens (Matt)

After effectively letting 7655 go, we had a 12 minute wait for the next bus. We weren't sure if we were going to get 2801 again back into Southport. Eventually another bus appeared, another Marshall and definitely not 2801. The bus pulled up and was Marshall 7652. We got onto a completely empty 7652 and Matthew took a photo of the inside of this bus. The seat covers appeared to be virtually new possibly having been completely replaced.


Inside 7652... (Matt)

So we did the first Marshall of the day back to the monument in Southport, We crossed the road and and had about a 5 minute wait before Plaxton bodied Dennis Dart 2291 made an appearance. Like last time we did this to Birkdale, and once again like last time there was a bus already at the stop across the road. It was a modern VDL so we decided not to rush and we let this go in favour of Matthew getting a good photo of 2291.


2291 on a #49A to Wood Vale (Matt)

After about 12 minutes and having seen Stagecoach double decker 15468 on a Liverpool - Preston X2, another Marshall rounded the corner 7651.


7651 in Birkdale on a 49A to Crossens (Matt)

So back towards Southport, and we called mum to see if she could get sausage rolls for the journey home. it turned out that the shop that sold sausage rolls was at the other end of Lord Street and that was never going to happen! never mind... When we got back we decide to sit and wait for the other bus on PR1 so that Matthew could get another new bus in for the day and in the meantime Matthew took some more photographs.


19038 on a Preston bound X2 service (Matt)

After letting 2144 go, eventually 2143 turned up on the esplanade park & ride. When we got to the terminal we ran around to the end to take a picture, and then went back into the building for a toilet stop before we went home.


2143 outside the environmentally friendly Esplanade park and ride terminal (Matt)

Matthew was a little disappointed not to have a sausage roll waiting for him in the car but was appeased with a bottle of Ben Shaws shandy. Another reasonably event free free return to Staffordshire with a couple of exceptions. Passing through Ormskirk a suicidal lady cyclist decided to do a right turn from the left hand side of the road. Both of us being first at the lights with the junction of the A570 and the A59. As the lights change she pedalled furiously to get ahead and then without signalling swooped across the front of me. Luckily I did not hit her and mum had a few choice words for her. Then just before we reached Keele services on the M6 we passed ex First Eastern Counties Dennis Dart 40256. A photo of the bus can be seen here. After a bit of research I found that this had been donated to the SELNEC preservation society from FEC. One of the reasons we travelled to East Anglia last year was in the hope of seeing one of these buses in Ipswich. By the time we went, they had been withdrawn from service. It seems ironic that in a one in a million chance that we would see one so close to home... (Mark)

Trip to Southport 04-12-2010

Bus	From	To	Service	Operator
2144	Esplanade Park & Ride	Southport, Monument	PR1	Arriva NW&W
2287	Southport, Monument	Ainsdale, Ainsdale Village	49A	Arriva NW&W
2288	Ainsdale, Fairfield Road	Lord Street, Stop B	49A	Arriva NW&W
3044	Lord Street, Stop B	Birkdale, Birkdale Station	49A	Arriva NW&W
7656	Birkdale, Birkdale Station	Southport, Monument	49A	Arriva NW&W
2144	Southport, Monument	Esplanade Park & Ride	PR1	Arriva NW&W

Despite the bad weather, Matthew had not been out on a trip for 3 weeks and we knew it would be at least another 2 weeks before he could go out again if we did not go out today! Snow and ice lay all around in these parts, but we hoped that the coastal towns would be milder and hopefully free from ice and snow. Matthew had indicated to us before that he wanted to go to Southport, but previous plans to travel here were always changed and he ended up somewhere different. Research for this trip consisted of printing out the Arriva network map for Southport, plus the Southport area map from the Mersey Travel site. From the Sefton local government site, we also learnt that Southport had no bus station as such and was all on street bus stops. The weather was checked the night before, and it said there would be heavy rain all afternoon! We discussed on whether we should divert to Chester because of the predicted weather. On the day of the trip, we checked the weather. The situation had now improved to fog and drizzle! we asked Matthew again if he want to go to Chester or Southport and he was adamant we were going to Southport. We departed at around midday. As we left Staffordshire most of the ground was covered in ice and snow. Travelling North along the M6 and then onto M58, by the time we reached the A570 there was virtually no snow anywhere, just fog and light drizzle. Our route took us through Ormskirk, where we saw a taste of thing to come passing a Comfybus Optare Solo and an Arriva double decker. On entering the town centre, it looked fairly busy and I could not spot anywhere obvious to park, so I decided to drive through town and follow the signs for the park and ride. Just the other side of town was the Esplanade park and ride site. on arrival we ate some of our packed lunch and toiled before getting on a bus. First arrival was Arriva Enviro 200 2144, which we promptly did back into town.


Arriva North West & Wales 2144 on P&R service PR1 by the Monument in Lord Street (Matt)

The usual thing for us to do on arrival in any new town is to stand and watch the buses for a short while whilst we try and learn what kind of services run and what type of buses work on them.
The first bus that we saw was a wrinkly dart 2287 on service #49A to Woodvale, which pulled up right behind us and had a driver change. Whilst this was going on I looked at the map and decided that this would be a good bus to start riding on, and also it was freezing cold and damp outside! I checked with the driver what the service frequency was to which he replied "15 minutes". Tickets purchased, We decided to go to Ainsdale which was just before the loop end of this service.


2287 on a service #49A to Wood Vale (Matt)

On arrival at Ainsdale, we crossed the road and waited for the return journey into Southport. At this point we weren't sure if we would get the same bus back, or a different one. A few minutes later, a wrinkly Dart appeared from around the corner. Expecting it to be the same bus, we were most surprised when it turned out to be 2288!


Arriva North West & Wales 2288 on service 49A to Crossens seen here at Ainsdale (Matt)

So on we went back to Southport. When we in town, we had previously neglected to check out the local landmarks so we could tell if we were back at the same stop. When we got off in Lord Street this time we were a stop further down, and we were opposite a bandstand instead of the monument. On the previous journey we had passed a couple of different Marshall bodied darts, which we knew Matthew would welcome travelling on, so plan the was to go back in the same direction, but this time we were only going to travel as far as Birkdale. The next #49a to turn up was 3044. A bit on the new side, but we decided to it anyway because there was a good chance of something interesting coming back. As wet got off, Matthew photographed the bus as it disappeared around the corner...


Arriva North West & Wales 3044 on the service 49A to Woodvale departs from Birkdale (Matt)

Crossing the road, we had about a 10 minute wait for the bus back. Matthew was kept amused by the scrolling advertising in both of the town bus stops. As expected Marshall bodied Dennis Dart rounded the corner,


Inside a busy 7656 (Matt)

We did the short journey back to town. During the journey we contacted mum so that she could get some food and we could meet up. She explained she would be about 5 minutes and then she would get some hot food to take back to the car. This time we went to the monument bus stop in Lord Street. Matthew photographed the bus as we left.


7656 in Lord Street on a service #49A to Crossens (Matt)

So whilst we waited, Matthew and I were able to take a few more photographs in the fading light of an early December evening. By this time, the rain had all but stopped so we had barely gotten a drop of rain on ourselves during this dismal afternoon. Most photographs at this time were taken of still buses, leaning against street furniture to steady the camera
.

Arriva North West & Wales 2287 seen on a 49A to Woodvale (Mark)

After letting 2 very full P&R service go waiting for mum, she turned up with chips which we sealed up in our rucksack. after a short wait, 2144 turned up and was once again or transport back to the park and ride site. On arrival, we went around the outside of the building and took a distant photograph of the bus and terminal, steadied on a metal fence post.


Arriva North West & Wales 2144 at the Esplanade Park & Ride site (Mark)

Back to the car, we ate chips before an uneventful journey home. Despite only minimal planning and bad weather, this turned out to be a good trip and we will definitely return here again in the future... (Mark)