Trip to Stafford 11-06-2011

Bus	From	To	Service	Operator
181	Blurton, Selby Walk (adj)	Stoke Station	350	Bakerbus
218	Stoke Station	Barlaston, Orchard Place (adj)	X1	Bakerbus
181	Barlaston, Whitethorn Avenue (adj)	Walton, Ambulance Station (opp)‎	350	Bakerbus
24	Granville Square, Stone	Chell Road, Stafford	X1	D&G

Today we decided to stay fairly local and cover the #350's. This is a service which is almost always worked by step entranced buses, and Matthew had only been on 3 of their collection of Mercedes minibuses that usually work this service. I went out at 10;30 onto the A5035 to try and view 2 of the 3 buses, only I didn't go out quite early enough and only saw 1; 182 was working the 10:10 Hanley - Stone. This bus works past every hour even hours towards Stone and Odd hour towards Hanley. At 11;30 I saw both buses... 183 working towards Newport and 182 working towards Hanley. Originally, we had planned to do the 12:10 off Hanley towards Stone, but we now knew that 182 was going to be on this service (not required). The only unknown bus on the 350's at this point was the 11:20 Newport - Hanley. We decided to go North on the #350 and then to return South on the X1. Apart from printing out various timetables, we packed emergency rations of Shandy, Tizer and sausage rolls. We planned on getting to Stafford just after 15:00, so we arranged to meet up with mum then. Just before time we walked across to the stop on the A5035 near Newstead. After a short wait Bakerbus 181 turned up which was very much required!


Bakerbus 181 on the #350 to Hanley (Matt)

We worked out that if we got off at the station we would have around 5 minutes to wait for the X1 to Stone. So that's exactly what we did.


Bakerbus 181 Outside Stoke Station on the #350 to Hanley (Matt)

We crossed the road and waited the 5 minutes. In the Interim 40383 was working a 23 to Blurton, 66842 was on a 25 to Keele and D&G 132 was on a #41 to Clayton. We were expecting a big silver route branded bus, which we haven’t been on before. Instead we got Volvo B6 218 which we also required.


Bakerbus 218 on the X1 to Stone (Matt)

I contemplated whether to do this bus to stone or get off at Barlaston and get another run on Bakerbus 181. We decided to get off in Barlaston. The reasoning behind this is that we might be able to get chips here, it's would be quiet and we would get more step entranced miles. A few minutes later we alighted in Barlaston.


Bakerbus 218 in Barlaston (Matt)

When we got off, It had started to rain so we went straight to the bus stop for the Stone bound #350. When Matthew and Uncle Dave settle in the bus stop, i went for a short walk to try and find a chippy. It turns out that there isn't a chippy in that part of Barlaston, so I went to a shop and picked up a few Kit Kats. Whilst I was away Matthew photographed the Northbound #350 with 182 in charge.


Bakerbus 182 in Barlaston (Matt)

We worked out that we could have done 182 North probably as far as Newstead to catch the bus we were waiting for. Either that or meet up with the next X1 at stoke station. The plan when we got on 181 again was to do the bus just south of Stone and catch the 13:20 Newport back into Stone. After about a 30 minute wait, Bakerbus 181 appeared.


Bakerbus 181 on the #350 to Newport (Matt)

The bus headed south and then joined up with the A34. When we eached Stone, we saw another couple of D&G bus duties. D&G 95 was working a #3 stone town circular service, and D&G 90 was on a 352 Stone - Yarnfield shuttle. The bus was running due to a road closure at Cold Meece and the diversion of the 490 Stone - Stafford. Just South of Stone town centre there appeared to be some kind of carnival. traffic was at a near standstill and it looked unlikely we would catch the #350 going North with Bakerbus 183. just as we turned into the Walton Road, the other 350 went in front of us. Bowled out!


Bakerbus 181 in Walton on the 350 to Newport (Matt)

We walked back up into Crown Street fighting our way through the crowds. just as we reached the Crown Street stop Bakerbus 183 appeared at the stop. We had to decide whether to do this for one stop around the corner. In the end we decided not to, at least this leaves us at lest one bus to come out on the #350's for in the future. We used the facilities in Crown Street and then set off towards Granville Square. As we turned the corner towards the square, the X1 from Hanley appeared with Bakerbus solo 200


Bakerbus 200 on the X1 (Matt)

Seconds after that, we saw a non-Scania Omnicity on a Northbound 101 service, ex Chester 61554.


First Potteries 61554 working a #101 to Hanley (Matt)

When we got to Granville square, Bakerbus Optare Solo 200 was awaiting time before returning to Hanley. You can still see where the 77 sunset strip vinyl’s used to be.


Bakerbus 200 in Granville Square on the X1 to Hanley (Matt)

We had about 15 minutes to wait before the D&G X1 Stafford service, so we sat under the tree and ate sausage rolls. I t had now stopped raining but it seemed to be wetter under the tree than outside it. I was expecting a Dart or maybe even a Mercedes minibus. I was surprised when a full length single decker DAF appeared!


D&G in Granville Square, Stone about to work the X1 to Stafford (Matt)

As we boarded the bus another D&G appeared on a service 249. It was probably either 106 or 107 as it had a turquoise seat moquette. Matthew also photographed the empty DAF.


Inside D&G 24 (Matt)

The journey to Stafford was quite speedy, with the only thing that made the journey longer was the direction of travel. heading off towards Rugeley before heading back into Stafford via the university and hospital. at around 15:18 we arrived in Chell Road Stafford.


D&G 24 in Chell Road, Stafford on the X1 (Matt)

As we came into stafford from the South East, we past a few buses on the stops around the corner from Chell Road. 2 of the buses there were out of Matthew's favourite Arriva Midlands batch P--- FEA Plaxton bodied Darts, First to follow us around the corner was Arriva Midlands 2306


Arriva Midlands 2306 in Chell Road Stafford (Matt)

After we crossed the road to Sainsbury's, 2307 made an appearance.


Arriva Midlands 2307 in Chell Road Stafford (Matt)

After sighting for around 25 minutes we met up with mum and got in the car to go home. On the way back we stopped just North of Stafford for a few chips to share between the four of us. After we set off north we passed 61554 coming into Stafford on the #101 service. We also saw D&G 39 on a #432 service. We got home around 16:30... Mark

Trip to Stafford 05-06-2010

Bus	From	To	Service	Operator
2306	Chell Road, Stafford	Baswich	1	Arriva Midlands
2306	Baswich	Gatehouse Theatre, Stafford	1	Arriva Midlands
65033	Chell Road, Stafford	The Crown, Stone	101	First PMT

We promised matthew a short trip out today if the weather was favorable. From a few suggest local destinations matthew chose to go to Stafford. we drove down to stafford and we took up our usual position on the wall outside Sainbury's. We sat and took a few pictures...


3737 in Chell Street Stafford (Matt)


D&G 3699 in Chell Street Stafford (Matt)

Eventually matthew chose to do 2306, I think he likes this batch of darts because of the dark red moquette.


Inside of 2306 in Stafford,(Matt)

We did this circular ended service out to baswich and then straight back again. the return stop was outside the gatehouse theatre, so we walked back through the town centre to Chell street.


2306 in Gatehouse Theatre, Stafford (Matt)

We sat and took some more pictures for a while until we headed homeward.


D&G 110 in Chell Street Stafford

We agreed with mum to meet outside the crown in stone as we jumped onto 65033 on a service 101 to Hanley. What we didn't realise is how long this service takes! By the time we got there mum had arrived, driven round the town and parked up again and was about to give up! The 101 running via the back of Stone and pastthe industrial estate adds another 15 minutes onto the journey. eventually we met up and sped off Northwards towards home...

Trip to Shrewsbury 17-10-2009

Bus	From	To	Service	Operator
2098	Tesco, Harlescott	English Bridge, Shrewsbury	26	Arriva Midlands
2353	Pump House	Shrewsbury BS	24	Arriva Midlands
6001	Shrewsbury BS	Pump House	544	Arriva Midlands
2275	Pump House	Shrewsbury BS	25	Arriva Midlands
2308	Shrewsbury BS	The Mount, Copthorne Road	1	Arriva Midlands
291	The Mount, Copthorne Road	Shelton Hospital	75	Tanat Valley
2308	Shelton Hospital	Shrewsbury BS	1	Arriva Midlands
2248	Shrewsbury BS	Tesco, Harlescott	26	Arriva Midlands

Matthew had indicated in the week that he wanted to go to Shrewsbury. Mum had been to college on the Thursday to see Matthew using an iPod Touch and software as a communication aid. When asked where Matthew would like to go, he typed "pub" into the iPod. Mum said he go go the a pub on saturday, and he typed "Sat town". Mum reeled off a list of some of the places he usually goes to and when mum said "Shrewsbury", Matthew repeated it back to her. Having made that decision on Thursday, I did some research on buses and times and also to see if Shrewsbury Town were playing at home. Shrewsbury were at home to Dagenham & Redridge, so I knew there would be few extra buses around on the Prostar Stadium park & ride services. Setting off a fraction before 12:00, first stop was to be a pub in order for us all to have lunch. We choose the Elephant and castle pub in Shawbury, just a few Miles north of Shrewsbury. After dinner we continued South to the Harlescott Park & Ride car park where we parked up. Today we decided to catch a service bu rather than do the Park and ride service. We walked down to the back of Tesco which was the Terminus of the #26 service. After a short wait, a required step entranced bus appeared which was Arriva Midlands Dennis Dart 2098. We all got on the bus and booked to Shrewsbury town centre. We did the bus into town and stopped in Castle Street. At this point we were expect the bus to go around town and into the bus station. What we didn't know at the time is that this service doesn't call in the bus station in this direction! As the bus headed down toward the English Bridge we started to realised that this was the case and we decided to get off. Matthew got a picture as the bus carried on it's journey.


2098 on the English bridge (Matt)

At this point we decided to cross the bridge and catch a bus back towards Shrewsbury. We headed out of town and under the railway bridge. As we could not see a stop straight on we decided to turn right. We couldn't see a bus stop here either, but as we passed a road on the right we could see a stop adjacent the river back underneath the railway. At the stop dud Arriva Midlands 2353 after a short while so we decided to do this back to the bus station anyway.


2353 by the pump house (Matt)

Back at the bus station we saw Tanat Valley 291 which intended to do later. Whilst we waited for the bus to work, Matthew took a few pictures. One picture was of Arriva Midlands 2307. Matthew likes this particular batch of buses because of the dark red seat moquette.


2307 in Shrewsbury bus station (Matt)

As we still had more time to wait, we decided to do a quick out and back across the English Bridge again. Matthew decided we were going to do Shropshire CC liveried Arriva Midlands Optare Solo 6001 which was on the #544 to Little Lyth. Back on the other side of the bridge, Matthew took a picture of Arriva Midlands 2308 on a #1 service.


2308 by the pump house (Matt)

After a short while, required Arriva Midlands 2275 appeared, and we did this back to the bus station. The plan was to now get on Tanat 291, but Matthew had spotted that required Arriva Midlands 2308 was still in the bus station. We worked out that we could do this bus up to Copthorne and do Tanat 291 forward to the hospital. As we boarded 2308 Matthew got a picture inside this bus.


Inside 2308(Matt)

We did 2308 over the Welsh Bridge to the Barracks and then got off. After a short while, as expected Tanat 291 appeared on service #75.


Tanat Valley 291 opposite Copthorne Barracks (Matt)

We got on and did this a few stops up the road up to the hospital. We then crossed the road to wait for a bus back to shrewsbury. We weren't sure if the next bus back would be 2308, but as we were near the end of the route we knew that there might be a good chance. Sure enough after a few minutes, 2308 reappeared.


2308 Shelton Hospital (Matt)

We did the short trip back to the bus station and then we decided it was time to go home. We met back up with mum and we waited for the #26 to Harlescott. The bus back was required Arriva Midlands 2248. When we got back to Harlescott, Matthew gt a good picture.


2248 Behind Tesco Harlescott (Matt)

back at Tesco we returned to the car. On the way back we listened to the Stoke vs West ham match in the car. We stopped in Shawbury for chips on the way home, arriving back around dusk...Mark