Trip to Newcastle-under-Lyme 15/04/2011

Bus	From	To	Service	Operator
40152	Wolstanton	Newcastle BS	99	First Potteries
40145	Newcastle BS	Wolstanton	99	First Potteries

Havimg had a day's break doing something in the countryside, Matthew was back out on the buses today. Having seen 40145 going away from Newcastle, first bus of the day was 40152.


Inside 40152 (Matt)

in Newcastle Matthew waited in town until 40145 turned up again...


40145 in Newcastle bus station (Matt)

Matthew photographed the inside too.


Inside 40145 (Matt)

Back to Wolstanton for a final time...Mark

Trip to Tittesworth 14-04-2011

Bus	From	To	Service	Operator
40139	Wolstanton	Hanley BS	17	First Potteries
41070	Hanley BS	Leek BS	18	First Potteries
MIB 246	Leek BS	Tittesworth Reservoir	Charter	Copelands Tours
MIB 246	Tittesworth Reservoir	Leek BS	Charter	Copelands Tours
41070	Leek BS	Hanley BS	18	First Potteries
40148	Hanley BS	Newcastle BS	34	First Potteries
40149	Newcastle BS	Wolstanton	99A	First Potteries

Today Matthew was taken out to Tittesworth reservoir. Not to sure about the details because he never tell me anything! He still wants me to write about these things though, which makes thing very difficult. Seen out and about were 40139 on a #17 Hanley - Newcastle via Wolstanton, and Ex Chesterbus Marshall bodied Dennis Dart on a #18 Hanley - Leek service. When he got to Tittesworth Matthew visited the cafe and took several photographs of the place. lots of other buses and coaches were seen. Copelands Tours MIB 246 was one of them.


Sheep near Tittesworth (Matt)

After spending a few hour here, Matthew returned to the respite unit. 40148 and 40149 were seen on Newcastle bus diagrams...Mark

Trip to Newcastle-under-Lyme 13/04/2011

Bus	From	To	Service	Operator
40153	Wolstanton	Newcastle BS	99B	First Potteries
40153	Newcastle BS	Tunstall	99B	First Potteries
40151	Tunstall	Newcastle BS	99	First Potteries
40153	Newcastle BS	Wolstanton	98	First Potteries
F39 ENF	Crewe BS	Burford	X19	Stanways
F39 ENF	Burford	Crewe BS	X19	Stanways

Matthew Whilst in respite, they took Matthew out on a bus. First bus of the day was 40153 on a Newcastle bound service. When he got to the bus station he took a picture.


40153 again, in newcastle bus station (Matt)

Matthew decided D&G 137 Dennis Dart with Marshall body to go straight out again on this bus. when he got on he took a picture of the inside of this bus.


Inside 40153 (Matt)

He decided to do this up to Tunstall. At Tunstall he caught the next Newcastle bound bus which happened to be 40151. Back in Newcastle he photographed the inside of this bus too.


Inside 40151 (Matt)

At this point Matthew took a bit of a break from the buses. When he returned to the bus station he waited for the next Wolstanton bus. Also observed today was 40145. The next bus just happened to be 40153 again! Matthew was then able to take Arriva 7647 in Crewe.A few more picture before we departed for respite. Later Matthew was taken out to on service X19 Crewe - Burford - Malpas - Tarvin - Chester Stanways F39 ENF returning later he photographed the inside of this 53 seat Leyland Tiger Ex Heartlands bus. D&G 157 to Crewe. In Crewe he saw D&G 25 waiting to do it's next service and First PMT 40147 on a #20. Hanley - Tunstall. Afterwards back to Wolstanton and then had a walk to respite...Mark

Trip to Newcastle-under-Lyme 12/04/2011

Bus	From	To	Service	Operator
40153	Wolstanton	Newcastle BS	98	First Potteries
40153	Newcastle BS	Wolstanton	98	First Potteries

Matthew was in respite nad he was taken out by someone on the bus to Newcastle and back. the First bus to turn up was 40153 which they did to Newcastle. not before he got a photograph of the bus as he boarded.


40153 In Wolstanton (Matt)

When they arrived in Newcastle Matthew photographed the inside of the bus.


Inside 40153 In Newcastle Bus Station (Matt)

Whilst in the bus station Matthew saw step entranced First Volvo 31519. Whilst in Newcastle Matthew walked around town, stopping at the cake shop where Matthew photographed some cakes in the shop window.


Honeybuns Chocolate Shortbread (Matt)

After his walk around town, Matthew returned to the bus station to catch a bus back. He was unfortunate that it was the same bus back. At least Matthew like these ALX200 buses...Mark

Trip to Ellesmere Port / Chester 02-04-2011

Bus	From	To	Service	Operator
2443	Ellesmere Port BS	Chester BS	401	Arriva NW&W
41074	Chester BS	Newton, Ethelda Drive (E-bound)	53	First Manchester
40683	Newton, Ethelda Drive (E-bound)	Chester BS	53	First Manchester

Set off today at around 12:00. Filling up with LPG at Longport on the way out of town, we arrived in Ellesmere Port around 13:15. Matthew chose to eat in the market again having a full breakfast with extra toast. After dinner we went to the bus station for a wait of around 15 minutes which seemed quite busy.


CA07 GHA on a service #36 arrives in Ellesmere Port bus station (Matt)

Eventually the 401 Chester arrived with Cadet 2443. Matthew took the picture and then we legged it to stand 1!


2443 approaching Ellesmere Port bus station on a service #401 to Chester (Matt)

We swiftly boarded the bus and noticed that the seats weren't standard for a cadet, so we guessed it had been refurbished. Reading on Tom Harrison's Blog it can be seen that this was definitely the case.


Moquette on the refurbished 2443 (Matt)

Arriving in Chester we didn't have to wait long before 30077 made an appearance. Unfortunately it didn't work, it just seemed to come in and then leave.


30077 making an appearance but not working (Matt)

We decided to do things a bit differently after a few minute we took a walk around. Going North around the ring road to the wall, we than walked to the Northgate so that we could take a few pictures from different positions.


2629 approaching Northgate (Matt)

Afterward we walked back around and up Hunter Street. The new bus stops and island have seats so we sat there and took a few pictures.


61541 in Chester bus station (Matt)

We decided to go to kingsway on the next #53. The next one that appeared was ex Chesterbus 41074.


41074 arriving in Chester bus station about to work the #53 (Matt)

A short ride out of town and along the kingsway.Matthew took a picture of the co-op here. We got off and crossed the road to wait for the return.


41074 empty on Kingsway (Matt)

When we looked at the information its said that "this stop is no longer in use". Since the last time we did a 53 we, the route has changed and instead or turning in triangle on the end of Kingsway, the end now has a circular section! So we crossed back over the road to wait for the bus back. In the distance we saw 41074 appear from around the other side of the Co-op. About ten minutes later 40683 appears along kingsway and we do this back to Chester.


40683 in Chester bus station (Matt)

Whilst waiting for mum to Appear from Ellesmere Port, Matthew took a few more pictures. A lady stopped to speak to Matthew as she must have worked out about his disability, She asked if we needed any miracles performing and if we did then turn up at the Guildhall later that night. I told her that we would be out of town by then. She asked me if I wanted a miracle performing there and then to which I replied "Nah, I'm good thanks" If I'd been quick I could have asked for Stoke to beat Chelsea or even the market car park to suddenly empty! Perhaps I'll send an e-mail to see if they do a miracle by e-mail service...


2609 in Chester bus station on a service 84 Crewe (Matt)

When mum turned up it was back to the car for sausage rolls. There followed a fairly uneventful journey home other than hearing that Stoke had drew with Chelsea, and that Crewe had beaten 'Nam by 8 goals to 1... (Mark)

Trip to Blackbrook Zoo 27-03-2011

Bus	From	To	Service	Operator
FJ10 BJX	John St, Hanley	Blackbrook Zoo	Charter	Aiming High
FJ10 BJX	Blackbrook Zoo	John St, Hanley	Charter	Aiming High

As often is the case Matthew picked a trip out with Aiming High as the trips are favorite activity. As the clocks had gone forward the night before, getting up to take matthew out today was the equivalent of getting up at 07:00 on a Sunday morning! Not being sure eactly how prompt the 10:00 start would be, we took Matthew out a bit early. This would also give Matthew a chance to take more bus pictures whilst he was waiting. We arrived on the empty John Street car park around 09:20, passing a couple of plain white Wright bodied single decker on the way to Hanley. as they were near the Railway station I assumed they were rail replacement buses. Tomorrow they start work on the new bus station.


City centre bus station coming Autumn 2012 (Matt)

We had a good 30 minutes around the entrance to the current bus station and it was surprisingly busy for that time of day on a Sunday, Matthew took 20-30 pictures including the 2 Wright bodied buses seen earlier which turned out to be Alton Towers staff buses along with another Alexander Strider bodied M425 UNW.


ATT Volvo B10B M425 UNW approaches Hanley bus station (Matt)

There were also buses from Scraggs, D&G and First

61237 was on a service 6B into Hanley.


61237 approaching Hanley bus station (Matt)

Just before 10:00 we walked round to John Street were the bus was already waiting as it had come in from the other end.


Aiming High FJ10 BJX outside the Victoria Hall in Hanley (Matt)

After Matthew had boarded they asked him were his camera was. We'd taken it off him as we always do on these trips. Last time Matthew had accessed a trip via his respite he had accidentally taken the camera with him. This time Matthew was allowed to take his camera as official trip photographer!


Pink Flamingoes at Blackbrook Zoo (Matt)


Penguin swimming at Blackbrook Zoo (Matt)


The Meerkat on the left has darker eye's...Matthew comparing Meerkats at Blackbrook Zoo (Matt)

When we collected him at 15:00 staff reported that he had been good as gold Coach MIB 246 was also there :-) (Mark)

Trip to Bury 19-03-2011

Bus	From	To	Service	Operator
164	Bury BS	Walshaw, Church Street/Moyse Avenue (N-bound)	481	Easyride
40371	Bury BS	Walshaw War Memorial	510	First Manchester
34019	Bury BS	Unsworth, Parr Lane/Castlebrook High School	137	First Manchester
34263	Unsworth, Hollins Lane/Parr Lane	Bury BS	137	First Manchester
40356	Bury BS	Walshaw War Memorial	510	First Manchester
40371	Walshaw War Memorial	Bury BS	510	First Manchester

Matthew had decided we were going to Bury on this day a few weeks ago... He likes to keep a full social calender. He was a bit lethargic today so we did not set off until nearly 12:30. It appeared to be a fine sunny spring day. An uneventful journey followed although it did seem a bit cloudier the further north we went. We parked as usual by the library. Arriving around 13:30 we had dinner in the Corn Market fish and chip restaurant today. The adults had pie peas and gravy, and Matthew had jumbo sausage chips and gravy. With drinks it came to around £18, although they did try and charge us £22 for the food! As we left I realised I could not find my phone, so I went back to the car whilst Matthew and UD stood at he end of the bus station taking bus pictures and mum called my phone...


Maytree Travel MX08 MYR enters Bury bus station (Matt)

The phone turned up in the footwell and must have fallen out of my pockets. When I returned to Matthew it seemed as if we had to wait around 20 minutes before we saw anything worth doing. Whilst I was away a NC's double decker had left on a 98, but we knew that it would not return for at least a couple of hours.


Easyride 164 Bury bus station on a 481 Ramsbottom (Matt)

We decided to try and catch a 510 to start, but there was a different bus on stand. luckily, GMPTE provide diagrams with services and the towns they visit, we saw that the 481 Ramsbottom goes via Walshaw. We decided to do this bus and, it was going to be our first journey on Easyride. We boarded 164 and purchased a system one day ticket. Whilst on the bus, we decided to go a stop further than usual and then walk back as we had a bit of extra time before the returning #510. I thought this would mean we would get a better picture of the bus and if photographed from the rear it would not be taken into the sun. As we left Bury we passed 2 NC's double decker coming into Bury and 60338 which I assumed was on the next 510. As the bus went through Walshaw it turned right, right again and the left. When we got off the rear picture was taken as the bus went off into the distance.


Easyride 164 Walshaw, Church Street on a 481 Ramsbottom (Matt)

There was a short walk back to the stop for the 510 and around a 15 minute wait. Whilst waiting a 510 towards Bolton came past with 40356, meaning 60338 must have been on something else! Eventually our bus turned up, 40371. This bus is right in the middle of the batch that were transferred to Adderley Green, with this bus and a couple of the others being exceptions. When we arrived at Bury, Matthew photographed the inside of the empty bus.


Inside 40371 on it's First arrival at Bury (Matt)

This time at Bury we didn't have to wait long for a NC's double decker. Required 34019 turned up on a 137 Manchester. There was a short layover whilst there was a driver change, and then we got on it.


34019 awaits time before working a #137 to Manchester (Matt)

As per usual, we did this to Parr Lane, Unsworth. On the way down Market Street we saw Copelands MIB 236 which we could have done this morning had we booked on it. Hopefully we'll get this one soon...
As we got off I could see another NC's double decker on the return. We did not have time to get a picture, as we had to quickly cross the road to get it. 34263 turned up.. Dud, but a NC's decker is always welcome.


On arrival at Bury, insude the top deck of 34263 (Matt)

When we got back it was gone 16:00, so there only time to go Walshaw and back. We knew we missed a 510, so the next bus was the 16:15 480... The time was closing in on 16:15 and the bus still hadn't turned up. the was a 98 on stand J and the next 510 arrived and Went straight past it went around again and by the time it did stand J was clear, the bus was 40356, oldest Dart on the #510 today. This bus is not as smart as the others we have seen in the P... LND batch, as some of the seats have been replaced with First purple and green ones. We did this up to Walshaw as usual and we were wondering what would be the return. I was hoping for 40404 which I'd seen early, but if I'd thought about it, I would have realised that it could only be 40371, which had passed 40356 in the Walshaw area earlier! So we did this back into Bury. After we returned Matthew photo graphed a couple more NC's Volvo Olympians...


34260 departs Bury bu station on a 98 Manchester (Matt)


34023 arriving in Bury on a 137 from Manchester (Matt)

Back to the car at around 15:45, just in time to here that Stoke had won 4-0 against Newcastle! One the way back we past quite a few coaches on the M6 and A500 from the North East. Back in Staffordshire we stopped for lottery tickets and Filled up with LPG in Longport. We were back home before it went dark (Mark)