Trips by Bus and Coach: Your reports

[Temple Meads]

Great report. As you say very similar to a trip @TheGrandWazoo made earlier in the year. I have done all of this route but not in quite the same way. I fancy doing it again, starting with Taunton to Dulverton, but it is a very long day. It is really encouraging to hear how well the Exmoor Coaster has done this year. I hope the financial bottom line has been as good as the upper deck loadings and it comes back as strongly next year. I also like the Scanias in the Stagecoach fleet, they seem to have more 'go' about them than the AD E400s and the current MMCs seem very low spec compared to the ex-Gold Scanias. You would have thought the 346 would connect better with the 155 for regular passengers, although for a one-off trip there's nothing wrong with half an hour in South Molton. It did of course run through not long ago and the views from double deckers were good. Do keep travelling and posting.

Well @Temple Meads.... clearly great minds think alike Your trip is exactly what I would have done had I not stumbled across the 678 accidentally. Like you, I was impressed by the loadings to Ilfracombe on the Coaster, and would like to think that they will again be running in 2024. The 155/346 is a bit of a bind to change but at least there's some margin built in rather than it being tightly timed and connections missed. Also, the loss of a through route is sad but the busy bit is the 155. The 346 is pretty thin territory though I know what you mean on the views from a decker; I did it one Saturday a few years ago on a glorious sunny morning north of Tiverton and the views were superb. Not so great in a Solo but economics rule! Thanks again for sharing, and I'd echo @RELL6L in asking you to keep sharing. Really enjoyed it, even if it was a bit eerily similar!

Thanks for the kind words - I will certainly try to get some more reports in!

A decker does occasionally make an appearance on the 346, but you would need to be very fortunate to get one at random.

 

[RELL6L]

Thanks @Cymroglan for your post. Not seen any 1980s comedy stars when I've been out travelling!

****************************************************************************************

Time for a last trip report of 2023, and the day began with torrential rain but I wasn’t going to miss a bonus opportunity to have a day out. It was the chance to have a trip out and fill in some rather egregious gaps in my travelling pleasure having been ages since I’d been to Nottinghamshire for a day out, though I've been to neighbouring counties in recent years. Also, as @Ken H mentioned in aI hope you enjoy reading the travelogue.

The day started in darkness as I drove to Toton Lane. My first bus would be a tram…and a first trip on the NET. I’ve been to Nottingham for several work meetings usually involving car or rail but not the tram. I was pleased to get out of the rain and into a tram that I had to myself for the first two stops. However, it soon began to fill up as we sped through the suburbs and into central Nottingham. I’d bought a Robin Hood ticket that provides unlimited bus and tram travel in Nottingham but not across Nottinghamshire. My first impressions of the tram were favourable and it really does mark out Nottingham as an enlightened modern city.

View attachment 148507
Early morning at Rise Park

After leaving the NET, it was a short walk to the Victoria Centre, and a chance to experience Nottingham City Transport. You can see why NCT gets the plaudits as a leading operator. I’d chosen the Brown Line 16 to Rise Park and had a four year old CNG powered Scania with e400 city bodywork, nicely appointed with good marketing internally. It was noticeably quieter (fewer rattles) than the similar examples that First use in Bristol and we carved our way through the city terminating at a small rank of shops where a number of other NCT routes also call in. The 20 min journey was well covered by Next Stop Announcements and visual displays that does help the tourist. I left the terminus and walked through some affluent 1970s suburbia where I expected Bob and Thelma to be polishing their Vauxhall Viva (a cultural reference from a different age) before heading across the city boundary and into wooded Bestwood Country Park. This is the site of a former colliery (a theme for the day) that closed in 1967 where the colliery engine house and headstocks remain a feature. After a visit to the lovely Dynamo café where you get tea and cake at a ridiculously cheap price, I walked the two mins to the stop where the 141 stops.

The 141 is another example of Stagecoach extending its tendrils in the UK, seizing on TrentBarton’s relinquishing of the service to take this route and consolidating its grip on the Mansfield area routes. Running hourly, it heads through Hucknall and serves several attractive villages as it winds its way through a rural hinterland before arriving in more former mining villages such as Rainworth where it runs in parallel with other Stagecoach services. My e200 was looking rather faded internally so perhaps not getting a midlife refresh but we did attract quite a few passengers. We arrived on time into the modern bus station at Mansfield, a facility I’ve not visited before and representing a real upgrade on the old one. It was very impressive though whilst it has a shop, a café would’ve been good for punters.

View attachment 148517
The delights of Mansfield bus station in the rain

I didn’t have long to wait for my next bus as timings were all important. I was heading north on the 11 to Warsop on a 6 week old 73 plate e400mmc. This has the now standard Stagecoach interior that is best described as bright and airy, though it is really a sea of anaemic grey bereft of colour. However, it was good to see investment in the local fleet and it was a nice trip as we left Mansfield splashing through large puddles, testimony to the heavy rain that had dominated the day thus far. Warsop is a small town that was home to an East Midland depot at one time but not a natural destination. However, the logic was to get around a surprising gap in the local bus network in that two major centres of Stagecoach operation in Worksop and Mansfield don’t have a direct link these days. Instead, there is the two hourly 209 from Edwinstowe to Worksop that passes via Warsop and so another e200 duly arrived (but it was better internally) whilst the rain began to abate. The 209 splashed through some very rural territory with a load dominated by pass holders reflecting the community requirement but that it isn’t great territory.

View attachment 148508
New bus in Warsop

View attachment 148509
Worksop depot

View attachment 148510
A fine bit of pub architecture in Worksop

Worksop didn’t have a bus station before 2013. It now has a good one that includes a café where I enjoyed a sausage baguette. I also had plenty of time to have a walk around the town that can readily described as having some beautiful buildings on Bridge Street but beset by local retail and wider economic decline. It’s also a rare example of a town centre bus depot, again probably reflecting the value of the site/attractiveness of the town centre. Worksop’s bus network is orientated to the North (Rotherham and Doncaster) and West (Chesterfield). . One route that doesn’t follow that wider rule is the Sherwood Arrow, a longstanding Stagecoach route that runs from Nottingham to Ollerton every hour, splitting to provide projections to Retford or Worksop every two hours. The SA is split for drivers hours legislation and this is reflected in the digital displays stating New Ollerton rather than Nottingham. My midlife e400 arrived on stand at departure time with about a dozen punters as we headed off four minutes late to Ollerton on a fast and scenic run covering the short distance to Ollerton. Ollerton consists of the “Old” village, and then the “New” part that is a model village that was built around the large colliery. The mine went in 1995, replacing well paid mining jobs now replaced by lower skilled, lower paid warehouse roles.

I had 20 mins to wait having left the Sherwood Arrow at Ollerton, waiting for the half-hourly service to Mansfield. Expecting something older, it was pleasant to have a 2016 e400mmc though possessing the “IrnBru” orange and blue seating that is rather overpowering. Unlike the SA, this loops through Old Ollerton after passing the massive police station; was/is Ollerton crime-ridden? The weather was now gorgeous, bright and sunny with blue skies, as we traversed open countryside. The route to Mansfield almost singlehandedly charts the Nottingham coalfield demise, leaving Ollerton for Thoresby Colliery that was the last locally to close in 2015, and then past the impressive former Clipstone mine (closed 2003) that retains the Grade 2 listed headstocks that were (apparently) the tallest in Europe in their day. Less impressive was the state of some of the roads that we had to endure with potholes aplenty, with one particularly jarring as we hit it on the entrance to Mansfield.

View attachment 148512
The Sherwood Arrow after its loop around Ollerton

View attachment 148513
The headstocks of the former Clipstone Colliery

Back in Mansfield, it was a quick change onto the frequent Pronto service to Nottingham that runs every 15 mins. Formerly a joint service with TrentBarton, it’s been solely a Stagecoach route since 2020. Again, it was another IrnBru spec mmc but wearing the attractive purple Pronto livery. We left with a decent load thought this quickly filled up as several different groups all boarded heading into Nottingham. We passed the former Sherwood tramshed (still partly used as a bus depot by CT4N) and arrived into Nottingham slightly late because of traffic. Given the proactive local authorities, there seemed to be little bus priority that I could see. Arriving back into Nottingham, I was able to hop onto another NCT gas bus and headed on the Orange Line 36 to Beeston before again leaping on the tram to return to Toton.

My observations were that it would’ve been good to have a multi-operator ticket across Nottinghamshire as well as the city. Instead, I paid for two tickets (though maybe I missed something). Derbyshire has the Wayfarer but I appreciate that not everyone requires such a ticket. NCT is a quality operator and that comes across in spades. However, I thought that Stagecoach was also pretty competent though I was surprised to see several ALX bodied Tridents still working hard in Worksop plus a few in Mansfield. Also, lots of timetable leaflets were available for Stagecoach routes in the excellent Mansfield and Worksop bus stations. However, I recall TrentBarton being much more a player in Mansfield and they do seem to have retrenched noticeably. I did find it interesting to see how thin some of the cross-country links were, and genuinely surprised that Worksop and Mansfield aren't linked. I was fascinated by the amount of mining regeneration. The mining heritage dominates probably as it's a recent demise (the last 30 years or so) and they were very big collieries. In between, there was some quite pleasant rolling countryside especially around Ollerton. Worksop was also a lot nicer than I perhaps expected. However, the decline of the high street and overall economic health of the area was apparent both here and in Mansfield. As for Nottingham, it was a picture of vibrancy and the tram does make it feel like a proper European city. I did wonder why cars are so readily entertained even in the city centre but I guess that the local authority feels that they can only go so far, or that get the transport provision right, then you can progress. However, bus lanes did seem a bit piecemeal.

All in all, a really good day travelling and at least the weather did improve as the day went on.

Thanks for posting another interesting report. I’m not sure I would start a trip in torrential rain, as you know I prefer sunshine! An interesting area to visit though. I know and like Nottingham and agree that NCT and the tram are both good operations. I’ve not sampled the 141 or 209 but have been to both Mansfield and Worksop. There are things to see in both, perhaps not in Mansfield in the rain but I liked the area around the Market Square and, as you say, there’s quite a bit in Worksop although the shopping area is a bit sad. There isn’t a bus between the towns but there is a direct train. I’ve not stopped at Ollerton but have done the Sherwood Arrow, surprised to see deckers on it. Ollerton to Mansfield to Nottingham is on my agenda for 2024.

I did visit Gainsborough and Worksop in the spring, my report will be somewhere on this thread, and there were plenty of Tridents running around then, especially in Gainsborough. it looks like the new batch of E400s had seen off the oldest of these too. Shame, they had character!

A very happy Christmas to everyone and hope we can all get about even more in the New Year!

 

[ChrisC]

Thank you @TheGrandWazoo for your recent trip report from Nottinghamshire.
I always enjoy reading reports in this thread and often get ideas from it for days out when I am holiday in different parts of the country. It was a bit different with this review reading about an area that I know well. In fact I live in one of the 'attractive villages' you passed through on the more rural part of the 141 route. You passed within 50m of my house!

A few comments on your report especially concerning the 141 route:

The lack of any multi-operator ticketing has always been a problem for me when travelling by bus in Nottinghamshire. The Robin Hood Ticket is excellent for travel within the Greater Nottingham area, but if you live outside the area covered, or want to travel from the within the city out into the county, bus travel involving more than one operator can be extremely expensive. So many journeys in the central part of the county involve travel on a mixture of routes operated by Stagecoach or Trent Barton. With a Stagecoach Gold Day Ticket now costing £8.50 and Trent Barton ZigZag costing £7.60, a day out can cost around £16 without having to also pay to use smaller operators or Nottingham City Transport. After many years trying to plan days out using just one operator, I have just enjoyed my first year of having an ENCTS pass.

I always wanted to try to remain loyal to Trent Barton, as although being part of the larger Welglade Group, it isn't really like one of the larger national companies. However, the way Trent Barton ran down the 141 route during the last few years they operated it, I really welcome how much things have improved since it was taken over by Stagecoach last September. Trent Barton were cancelling so many buses and it just couldn't be relied on. People stopped using it and I regularly saw buses going through the village with very few or even no passengers. People were not going to keep standing at bus stops on a rural route with no shelter, and no real time information, waiting for an hourly bus which regularly didn't turn up. There have been very few cancellations since Stagecoach took over the 141 and passenger numbers are rising quite significantly with some buses being quite busy. The £2 fare will have helped, the local parish councils also were encouraging people to use the route or lose it. I'm not sure how many would continue to use it if the £2 single fare was withdrawn. Fares on these rural routes through Nottinghamshire were very high. From where I live the £8.50 day ticket would be the cheapest return fare to either Nottingham or Mansfield. It's the same from the villages on the Stagecoach 28/29 route between Mansfield and Newark, and its a lot to pay one return trip into town.

The main problem currently on the 141 route is time keeping. There are no problems throughout the morning and into the early part of the afternoon with buses running more or less on time. It's from around 3pm onwards that the delays begin with the 1630, 1730 and 1835 buses from Nottingham regularly running in excess of 30 minutes late. The heavy traffic in Nottingham and in the Mansfield area and sometimes Hucknall is the reason for this. Stagecoach Pronto and Trent Barton Threes all suffer the same problem, but as they run at 15 minute and 10 minute frequencies, it is not the problem that it is with the hourly 141. Buses on the 141 route after around 4pm are often very lightly loaded as people are not prepared to wait day after day for extremely late buses and have probably made other arrangements to get home from work. The last time that I used the 1730 departure from Nottingham it departed Nottingham 35 minutes late and was 50 minutes late by the time it reached the villages. There are the occasional days when it’s not so bad and I notice that this afternoon the buses are currently not running any more than 15 minutes late on the route.

I think the 141 route needs splitting at Mansfield as some of the problem is buses coming into Mansfield late from Sutton in Ashfield and beginning their journey towards Nottingham already late. Many years ago the route was just Mansfield to Nottingham but the cross Mansfield extension was added to provide direct buses from Blidworth and Rainworth to Kings Mill Hospital. Now it's run by Stagecoach, one of the shorter routes like the 27 from Rainworth could be extended to provide the cross Mansfield journeys. This could also allow the 141 to have slightly longer turn arounds at both ends of the route.

Parts of the 141 route is through lovely countryside and attractive villages. I'm sorry that you didn't see that part of the route in sunny weather. Stagecoach are doing the best they can, most of the buses on the route are a bit tired, but they are usually clean, fairly comfortable and have been warm in winter. When Trent Barton pulled out of the route it was very much thought that parts of the route, especially between Hucknall and Blidworth, would be lost. There were big campaigns by local councillors and petitions and it got lots of local media coverage. Nottinghamshire County Council, after lots of pressure, agreed to subsidise it on a one year trial, and Stagecoach agreed to take it on running the same time table as previous. It has been quite a success and passenger numbers have risen and the County Council have now agreed to continue the subsidy on a more long term basis. It would be good to have some buses in the evening and on Sundays but I can't see that happening.

Stagecoach are now very much the dominant operator in the Mansfield area and I agree that Trent Barton have retrenched considerably. This has been very much the case in many parts of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire. When I used to use a ZigZag day ticket I found it quite limiting in many areas where Trent Barton do still operate. The Trent Bus Company inherited a huge number of routes between Nottingham and the towns along the Nottinghamshire/Derbyshire in the 1970's when they took over Midland General and this included a number of routes including the 141 into Mansfield. It's the original Midland General routes that over the years Trent Barton have cut back. They have done exactly the same with many of the ex Barton routes out to the villages from Nottingham. Like many parts of the country so many rural areas of Nottinghamshire now have no useable bus services. Unexpected gaps like Mansfield to Worksop exist with also no buses from Nottingham to Grantham or Nottingham to Melton Mowbray. There are very few buses running east of Newark into Lincolnshire. If you haven't travelled on the Stagecoach 28 from Mansfield to Newark that's a lovely route which really shows the Nottinghamshire countryside and its villages at its best. The 29 runs a similar route but misses out a few of the more attractive villages.

Bestwood Country Park is a nice area and so close to the City of Nottingham. Quite a few of the Nottinghamshire Country Parks, often in the ex mining areas have really welcoming cafes selling drinks and food at ridiculously cheap prices. There's a nice country park not far from the headstocks at Clipstone called Vicar Water leading to an extensive network of trails along old railways that served the mines. You can walk through from there to Rainworth or Blidworth on the 141 route or to Bilsthorpe or Farnsfield or even on to Southwell on the 28/29 routes.

I didn't mean to write that much! I could go on but I'd better stop. Thanks again for a report on your trip to Nottinghamshire and areas that are rarely reported on.

 

[Welshman]

Thanks @Cymroglan for your post. Not seen any 1980s comedy stars when I've been out travelling!

****************************************************************************************

Time for a last trip report of 2023, and the day began with torrential rain but I wasn’t going to miss a bonus opportunity to have a day out. It was the chance to have a trip out and fill in some rather egregious gaps in my travelling pleasure having been ages since I’d been to Nottinghamshire for a day out, though I've been to neighbouring counties in recent years. Also, as @Ken H mentioned in aI hope you enjoy reading the travelogue.

The day started in darkness as I drove to Toton Lane. My first bus would be a tram…and a first trip on the NET. I’ve been to Nottingham for several work meetings usually involving car or rail but not the tram. I was pleased to get out of the rain and into a tram that I had to myself for the first two stops. However, it soon began to fill up as we sped through the suburbs and into central Nottingham. I’d bought a Robin Hood ticket that provides unlimited bus and tram travel in Nottingham but not across Nottinghamshire. My first impressions of the tram were favourable and it really does mark out Nottingham as an enlightened modern city.

View attachment 148507
Early morning at Rise Park

After leaving the NET, it was a short walk to the Victoria Centre, and a chance to experience Nottingham City Transport. You can see why NCT gets the plaudits as a leading operator. I’d chosen the Brown Line 16 to Rise Park and had a four year old CNG powered Scania with e400 city bodywork, nicely appointed with good marketing internally. It was noticeably quieter (fewer rattles) than the similar examples that First use in Bristol and we carved our way through the city terminating at a small rank of shops where a number of other NCT routes also call in. The 20 min journey was well covered by Next Stop Announcements and visual displays that does help the tourist. I left the terminus and walked through some affluent 1970s suburbia where I expected Bob and Thelma to be polishing their Vauxhall Viva (a cultural reference from a different age) before heading across the city boundary and into wooded Bestwood Country Park. This is the site of a former colliery (a theme for the day) that closed in 1967 where the colliery engine house and headstocks remain a feature. After a visit to the lovely Dynamo café where you get tea and cake at a ridiculously cheap price, I walked the two mins to the stop where the 141 stops.



I didn’t have long to wait for my next bus as timings were all important. I was heading north on the 11 to Warsop on a 6 week old 73 plate e400mmc. This has the now standard Stagecoach interior that is best described as bright and airy, though it is really a sea of anaemic grey bereft of colour. However, it was good to see investment in the local fleet and it was a nice trip as we left Mansfield splashing through large puddles, testimony to the heavy rain that had dominated the day thus far. Warsop is a small town that was home to an East Midland depot at one time but not a natural destination. However, the logic was to get around a surprising gap in the local bus network in that two major centres of Stagecoach operation in Worksop and Mansfield don’t have a direct link these days. Instead, there is the two hourly 209 from Edwinstowe to Worksop that passes via Warsop and so another e200 duly arrived (but it was better internally) whilst the rain began to abate. The 209 splashed through some very rural territory with a load dominated by pass holders reflecting the community requirement but that it isn’t great territory.

View attachment 148508
New bus in Warsop

View attachment 148509
Worksop depot

View attachment 148510
A fine bit of pub architecture in Worksop



I had 20 mins to wait having left the Sherwood Arrow at Ollerton, waiting for the half-hourly service to Mansfield. Expecting something older, it was pleasant to have a 2016 e400mmc though possessing the “IrnBru” orange and blue seating that is rather overpowering. Unlike the SA, this loops through Old Ollerton after passing the massive police station; was/is Ollerton crime-ridden? The weather was now gorgeous, bright and sunny with blue skies, as we traversed open countryside. The route to Mansfield almost singlehandedly charts the Nottingham coalfield demise, leaving Ollerton for Thoresby Colliery that was the last locally to close in 2015, and then past the impressive former Clipstone mine (closed 2003) that retains the Grade 2 listed headstocks that were (apparently) the tallest in Europe in their day. Less impressive was the state of some of the roads that we had to endure with potholes aplenty, with one particularly jarring as we hit it on the entrance to Mansfield.

View attachment 148512
The Sherwood Arrow after its loop around Ollerton

View attachment 148513
The headstocks of the former Clipstone Colliery

Back in Mansfield, it was a quick change onto the frequent Pronto service to Nottingham that runs every 15 mins. Formerly a joint service with TrentBarton, it’s been solely a Stagecoach route since 2020. Again, it was another IrnBru spec mmc but wearing the attractive purple Pronto livery. We left with a decent load thought this quickly filled up as several different groups all boarded heading into Nottingham. We passed the former Sherwood tramshed (still partly used as a bus depot by CT4N) and arrived into Nottingham slightly late because of traffic. Given the proactive local authorities, there seemed to be little bus priority that I could see. Arriving back into Nottingham, I was able to hop onto another NCT gas bus and headed on the Orange Line 36 to Beeston before again leaping on youtram to return to Toton.

If you expected to find Bob & Thelma in Rise Park you'd also probably see Terry chatting up a barmaid in Clipstone!

 

[JD2168]

Thanks for posting another interesting report. I’m not sure I would start a trip in torrential rain, as you know I prefer sunshine! An interesting area to visit though. I know and like Nottingham and agree that NCT and the tram are both good operations. I’ve not sampled the 141 or 209 but have been to both Mansfield and Worksop. There are things to see in both, perhaps not in Mansfield in the rain but I liked the area around the Market Square and, as you say, there’s quite a bit in Worksop although the shopping area is a bit sad. There isn’t a bus between the towns but there is a direct train. I’ve not stopped at Ollerton but have done the Sherwood Arrow, surprised to see deckers on it. Ollerton to Mansfield to Nottingham is on my agenda for 2024.

I did visit Gainsborough and Worksop in the spring, my report will be somewhere on this thread, and there were plenty of Tridents running around then, especially in Gainsborough. it looks like the new batch of E400s had seen off the oldest of these too. Shame, they had character!

A very happy Christmas to everyone and hope we can all get about even more in the New Year!

Deckers appear regularly on Sherwood Arrow, mainly at weekends & I would think also during the Robin Hood Festival. Weekdays tend to be the Scania E300 or Dart E300.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Thanks to @ChrisC for his comprehensive response. I did remember that it was your local route and when splashing through the villages, I did wonder if I would be inadvertently sharing my journey with another forum member. I think you're right that there's scope for tweaking the 141 and cutting it short so it doesn't run to Sutton. I'm sure it is much nicer in the summer but you have to take these opportunities when you can. When I used to live in the East Midlands (about 20 years ago), I enjoyed TrentBarton extensively. That would've been when they were moving to having Excels with distinct route identities, though I remember doing the 2 from Nottingham to Melton, as well as various trips to Mansfield and Chesterfield. Their presence in both towns seems markedly less now.

Thanks for the pointers on the parkland near Clipstone too. Thought Bestwood was lovely and will try to explore the area again so perhaps Clipstone or Gedling if I'm continuing the reclaimed colliery theme. As I said before, it's an area I've neglected in recent years but you can't go everywhere, all the time; job, family and other competing interests get in the way. It was great to finally return there and see a few things that I've not seen as well as some familiar sights in Nottingham city. There was a countywide bus ticket in their BSIP submission and they did get funds allocated so you'd hope that Multi Operator Ticketing (MOT) will appear across both the shire and the city area.

I can thoroughly recommend the 141 and 209 to @RELL6L and I think a return visit is required to experience Retford and Newark as well. Whilst I appreciate that Mansfield to Worksop is linked by train, it did seem strange that the villages in between were linked by a service from Worksop to Edwinstowe! Looks like you've got the Sherwood Arrow in your sights, and I think that might well feature in the future. Perhaps Nottingham to Retford, then to Newark, and following @ChrisC recommendation back towards Mansfield?

And yes @Welshman, I can imagine Terry there (and he did have the surname Collier too)

Glad the report has generated some interest. It is a little self-indulgent posting these reports but it's really good to hear that it does prompt people to head out themselves and try similar trips.

I always appreciate reading other people's trip reports and wish you all a safe and happy Christmas

 

[RELL6L]

Thanks to @ChrisC for his comprehensive response. I did remember that it was your local route and when splashing through the villages, I did wonder if I would be inadvertently sharing my journey with another forum member. I think you're right that there's scope for tweaking the 141 and cutting it short so it doesn't run to Sutton. I'm sure it is much nicer in the summer but you have to take these opportunities when you can. When I used to live in the East Midlands (about 20 years ago), I enjoyed TrentBarton extensively. That would've been when they were moving to having Excels with distinct route identities, though I remember doing the 2 from Nottingham to Melton, as well as various trips to Mansfield and Chesterfield. Their presence in both towns seems markedly less now.

Thanks for the pointers on the parkland near Clipstone too. Thought Bestwood was lovely and will try to explore the area again so perhaps Clipstone or Gedling if I'm continuing the reclaimed colliery theme. As I said before, it's an area I've neglected in recent years but you can't go everywhere, all the time; job, family and other competing interests get in the way. It was great to finally return there and see a few things that I've not seen as well as some familiar sights in Nottingham city. There was a countywide bus ticket in their BSIP submission and they did get funds allocated so you'd hope that Multi Operator Ticketing (MOT) will appear across both the shire and the city area.

I can thoroughly recommend the 141 and 209 to @RELL6L and I think a return visit is required to experience Retford and Newark as well. Whilst I appreciate that Mansfield to Worksop is linked by train, it did seem strange that the villages in between were linked by a service from Worksop to Edwinstowe! Looks like you've got the Sherwood Arrow in your sights, and I think that might well feature in the future. Perhaps Nottingham to Retford, then to Newark, and following @ChrisC recommendation back towards Mansfield?

And yes @Welshman, I can imagine Terry there (and he did have the surname Collier too)

Glad the report has generated some interest. It is a little self-indulgent posting these reports but it's really good to hear that it does prompt people to head out themselves and try similar trips.

I always appreciate reading other people's trip reports and wish you all a safe and happy Christmas

Interesting to hear about some of these parts of Nottinghamshire that I don't know. All noted on the 141 and 209.

I have done Southwell to Mansfield a few years ago and that went through Blidworth and Rainworth, as does the 141. I very much recommend Southwell as a place to visit, most attractive around the shops and the minster. I have done Nottingham to Southwell and Newark to Southwell also, good sections. I've been to Retford twice, going to/from Newark, Worksop, Doncaster and Gainsborough. Newark is a lovely place to stop off at, castle, river, market square, very dominant church, in fact I have started two trips there. Hucknall, Bestwood and the colliery villages - not yet.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

The weather's blowing a gale and don't fancy leaving the house, let alone travelling by bus. So thought I'd share a vintage one though unlike @TheSel, I will have to use third party photos from Flickr (appropriately acknowledged and hopefully dating from the correct period) and I hope you enjoy reading this during the Twixtmas break.

I was still living in North East England and many of my trips involved getting an Explorer ticket and heading to Teesside, Tyneside or Northumberland. However, at this time, United Automobile (now Arriva NE) still had a depot in Ripon and a network of North Yorkshire services. Fair to say that a number of those routes have disappeared as successively United and Arriva retrenched, and the tepid support from North Yorkshire County Council has been withdrawn. So I'm glad that I had the chance to explore when I had the chance. I must have been off work and using up holiday when I ventured out on 28th December 1989 - a mere 34 years ago. I began the day with a journey into Darlington on the Catterick Garrison service. This service was half hourly (and after frequency enhancements in recent years have recently been Covid casualties) still is. It was typically operated by ageing Bristol VRs so I must have been surprised to see the pride of Richmond depot. This was 1303, a Leyland Tiger with Plaxton Paramount 3200 body. One of six bought, they were known for their rather spartan interiors and being unique in having sliding windows. I recall it being a warm vehicle though. This deposited me into Darlington bus station - a combined bus station and depot complex now demolished and known for being a grim place to wait, fume filled and foreboding.

I didn't have a long wait fortunately, and my next journey was a real oddball. It was the 23 from Darlington towards Richmond but via the Cowtons. It was really just a couple of schools journeys, reflecting the fact that despite their proximity to the large Hurworth comprehensive on the other side of the Tees, kids in Croft, Dalton and the Cowtons were in North Yorkshire and so had to go to Richmond - I think it finally got axed in the mid 1990s! Even more bizarre was that it operated in school holidays. Even the rolling stock was strange as, rather than one of the regular ECW LHs, it was an ex Western National Plaxton Supreme bodied example in 1803. United had a trio of these and they were renowned for being underpowered as they carried the heavier coach body. This took me to North Cowton where there was an official connection with the 73 to Northallerton, which was my target, and lo, there it sat waiting for me. The driver must've been shocked to actually have a passenger.


1803 heading to Richmond on a different but equally circuitous route - photo from the late and brilliant Mark Harrington on Flickr

Now people do complain about bad vehicles and design these days, bemoaning lightweight vehicles and other such observations. My 73 to Northallerton was a Leyland Leopard of Darlington depot, 1144, allocated to the Northallerton outstation. It was fitted with Willowbrook 003 bodywork which was terrible - anyone who knows these machines knows they were iceboxes, rattled, and had really uncomfortable "coach seats". Thankfully, I only had it for 20 mins; the 73 is now the 72 and still operates two hourly but has had a number of operators including incumbent Hodgsons.


The joys of a Willowbrook Leopard - looks inviting (Stephen Day on Flickr)

The day must've been a Thursday (checked and it was!) as my next journey was another strange confection. United operated a number of services built around schools flows and they interworked with a number of market day services that, naturally, changed from day to day. So a bus would do the same peak journey each day but then do something different to serve a different small market town. The 170 was one such service, and operated on Thursday (Ripon market day) from Northallerton to Ripon. The route followed the main A684 but then went via RAF Leeming - in fact, it was one of those odd services that actually entered the air base, did a turning manoeuvre, picked up some RAF wives, and then left again. Despite a lack of schools traffic, the regular vehicle was still employed and was one of Richmond depot's older VRs in 672 - a vehicle that apparently still exists as a cafe in Italy. It seemed ancient then but it was only 13 years old though I'm sure that it would've been quite cold (esp upstairs) and leaking water through the wheelarches. I struggle to recall the route but I think it must've headed down the A1 before heading into serve places like Pickhill and Baldersby. Still, it was a handy route and got me into Ripon bus station for just after 10. The current bus station is built on the same site though it was a large and unkempt affair that was awaiting redevelopment - a bleak place.

Next up was the 36 to Leeds. Now for those who like to criticise Transdev, this highlights why I'm a little less charitable to those views. It is well known that Blazefield bought United's Ripon depot to secure the single 36 board that they operated. Not only did it cause compliance issues with the competition authorities, it was a nightmare as United's contribution was always the weak link, and so it proved. Amongst the nearly new Harrogate and District Lynxes that operated the hourly service (yes, hourly) from Ripon, United had 3609, a 15 year old National that began life with Devon General, coughing and belching its way through the countryside. I'd had chance to steel myself and embarked on the 80 minute trip - that's right, it takes an extra 18 mins nowadays!


3609 pictured in Ripon having operated the fast X36 Harrogate express; the Leopard is on city service - photo from John Carter on Flickr

This would've taken me into the old Vicar Lane bus station that would close a few months later as the rump of West Yorkshire Road Car was sold to Yorkshire Rider. Evidently, I didn't have a brilliant plan as to where to go and ended up across to the old Central Bus Station (a windswept affair in a semi circular array of stands on the site of the current bus station) and onto a West Riding vehicle for a trip to Garforth. I have no reason other than it wasn't far to go and I must've fancied travelling on some West Riding as they were the owners of United and I was checking out future cascades! I remember little of the journey except it was on 594, an Olympian that apparently spent all 19 years of its life at Selby depot. So it was a 402 to Garforth as the Olympian would do the laborious route via Sherburn in Elmet, Selby and onto York. I do recall literally crossing the road and getting straight on another Olympian, but a Roe bodied example (5054) of Yorkshire Rider on the 83 to take me back to Leeds.



West Riding 594 on the right route and at the old Central bus station in Leeds - photo from Simon Turner on Flickr

The Garforth excursion over and done with, it was back to Vicar Lane and back on the 36. I had the chance of a trip on a Lynx - I really enjoyed travelling on Lynxes. They were absolute flying machines though they definitely had their issues with rattles especially the ceiling coving. I loved getting a Lynx on the 36 though these were bus seated; some 1990 ones had high backed seating and they were lovely to sit back on and watch the Yorkshire countryside flash past. I'd clearly decided that I'd enjoy the darkening Harrogate bus station and get off, rather than do the 36 in one go (again). The plus point was less of being in Ripon, but I would be reacquainted with my plodding United National that duly arrived an hour later and took me to Ripon.


Harrogate and District 1207 (but later as 377) on the 36 - photo from Daniel Stazicker on Flickr

The next succession of journeys were a pattern that I perfected. Good in the summer but, of course, this would be in the midwinter darkness. The 149 is now the 70 and has passed from Arriva to Dales and District, and more recently to Reliance. For a period, it has Merc minis though their 20 seat capacity was deemed too small so it gained 25 seat Dodge minibuses of which 2518 E518HHN was one of four outbased in Thirsk. These were terrible machines - slow and plodding, their automatic gearboxes were fine for trundling around Darlington but not great on country routes. However, the 149 was reasonably timed and we weaved our way out through a succession of attractive (in the light) villages such as Copt Hewick, Dishforth, Skipton on Swale and past the Busby Stoop Inn - a place with a haunted chair where death would befall anyone who sat in it....eventually.



Sister to 2518, 2516 seen operating the 149 in the height of summer - photo from the late Mark Harrington on Flickr

Thirsk is a pleasant town with a large market place that serves as the main bus terminus. Unlike the current 70 that runs to Northallerton, my trip home necessitated a change. As the Thirsk based driver was finished on his return, a late arrival was seldom an issue, wringing out the last bit of performance from the Alexander bodied Dodge. We arrived and my next bus was waiting, and it was a bit of luxury. Not unexpected as the nature of Northallerton outbase workings meant that this would usually be a Leopard coach and it was a Plaxton bodied one in 1142. Again usually part of Darlington's allocation, it was often found working in Northallerton and was a world away from the awful Willowbrook that I'd had earlier that day. In fact, for a period, 1142 had operated in National Express white as 6515 and been a fully fledged part of the United coaching fleet before regaining red and white colours on local bus work.
So it was a relaxing trip on the 155 from Thirsk to Northallerton on the main route to Northallerton via South Otterington.



1142 in its usual Darlington home but probably in 1988 when it still carried 6242 - photo from Martyn Hearson on Flickr

I was dropped off at the Buck Inn terminus in Northallerton, the former bus station having closed earlier that year. I had a 6 minute connection but I was relaxed as I knew it was guaranteed. Mainly because the 155 driver would arrive, then have to drive back to the outstation near the rail station and swap vehicles. He would be my driver to Darlington too. Northallerton outbase had no fuel facility and so vehicles were carefully routed via depots in Richmond, Darlington, Stokesley and Ripon. The problem was the Merc mini that operated Northallerton locals so my 155 driver had a job to do.... go and get the Merc, then go into Northallerton, pick up any passengers (just me) and then drive non stop to Darlington in just 30 mins. That's 16 miles in 30 mins on a bus! It was always a spirited trip especially as the driver had to fuel the Merc and get his break in too before heading back to Northallerton. A Merc 608 at breakneck speed was always fun and we arrived on time in 2453. I then had 40 mins to kill before I again boarded my Tiger 1303 and go home.


My express Merc in an earlier picture - it was part of the Thirsk fleet before being replaced by larger Dodges. The location is the former Northallerton bus station and depot that closed earlier in 1989 - photo from Knox Family on Flickr

After a few days of indulgence, I hope this wasn't too much of the same from me and was generally interesting. It was definitely an interesting period as the first new vehicles began to appear in the dereg era though sadly, change was coming in North Yorkshire and many services wouldn't survive. The main ones have (and are generally the ones I enjoyed here) but there were many like the 170 around Northallerton, Thirsk and Ripon that I wished I bothered to sample when I could. To be honest, they were the preserve of many non-driving older people and that's a demographic that has changed massively.

Enjoy the remainder of 2023 and happy travelling in 2024.

 

[Cymroglan]

Thanks so much for this fascinating account from an area and era I don’t know.
It was a real pleasure to read, you bring a touch of Alan Bennett to the forum in the way you bring your travels to life with deft interweaving of fascinating detail within the overall story of the day. A joy to read!

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Thanks so much for this fascinating account from an area and era I don’t know.
It was a real pleasure to read, you bring a touch of Alan Bennett to the forum in the way you bring your travels to life with deft interweaving of fascinating detail within the overall story of the day. A joy to read!

Thank you for the kind words - here's to more travelling in 2024

 

[Ksp]

Hello all. I want to share a story of my long trip to Norway which took me from Glasgow Buchannan Bus Station at 23:00 (21st of December) to Laerdal Fodnes Ferjekai at 4:30 (23rd of December).

GLASGOW TO MANCHESTER AIRPORT First things first, I got on a National Express coach at 2300 towards Manchester Airport which was a rather long journey for me because of the amount of stops we had inbetween with the blinding light whenever we reached a stop. The coach itself was rather good with a mad-fast driver navigating narrow strets of towns we stopped at. Manchester seems to be a party capital of the UK because despite getting there at 4am, people were still partying like there was no tomorrow. I arrived at Manchester Airport around 4:30am and was very relieved to get off with everything after a long and grueling journey. With almost 8 hours to spare I decided to go exploring the airport and take a few pictures.



Manchester airport T3 is not a bad place, and me being me had to go to duty free and try the free perfumes as staff had to watch, and of course Blue De Chanel had to be a one I had to try. It always makes you wonder how cabin crew always smell of Chanel and other luxury brands, this is probably the answer. The flight was around half an hour late but we managed to take off shortly after and arrived on time in Oslo Torp by around 1500 where I managed to take a picture of this plane and of the coach.




OSLO TORP TO CITY CENTRE My coach for the journey was this Scania who was simply great. The seats were very comfortable, it was very warm inside with even a temperature indicator, a thing I found common on norwegian coaches but who can blame them after what I wll show next. The coach itself left the airport at 1545 and arrived in oslo around 1715-30 when it was fully dark so I was very lucky indeed to get any shot at least of the coach. My coach to Laerdal was due at 2200 so I had a lot of time to spare, in most cases I would of went out of my way and explored the city centre but after 24hours of almost no sleep, and carrying a heavy backpack and luggage with gifts for family I was not in the position to do that, but certainly next time I am visiting I will certainly explore the city as best as I can. Norwegians overall are very nice and speak very good english, something that very much suprised me. I went to get a pizza in a mall that was connected to the train station and what I found was that pizza was cut in squares. I heard that it's quite a common thing, but other then that weird thing I thought the pizza was very good.



OSLO TO LAERDAL After sitting for ages at the bus station the time came to get on and god bless, I was not ready for what came next. 15 minutes before departure, a Volvo 9700DD pulled up to take me as far as Laerdal, a journey of 6.5 hours. The coach was operated by Vy, which is the equivalent of our National Express Franchise given to the other operators to run their coaches on their brand. The coach looked very new and I found the seat allocation very weird. When I was getting on the coach my first thought was to go upstairs to the front as there was no apparent seat allocation, but instead I got told to go downstairs where I was seated next to other people. What they were doing seems to be that they want to keep people closely packed together despite there only being about 20-25 people getting on that coach. The seat was extremely comfortable, the interior was very cozy and warm, a very warm welcome for harsh climates ahead. The coach left on time and after passing Gardermoen Airport and Honefoss at 2am we arrived in Gol a small town where a different Volvo 9700DD was going to Oslo. Vy was really clever because the driver from Oslo would swap with the driver going to Forde, thus allowing the drivers to get home without overnight accomodations required. After arriving at Gol, I learnt that we had a half an hour break so me being me decided to go out and take a few pictures and oh my, -16 degrees certainly is cold! Around 2am we left with our new driver where I mostly dozed off and woke up everynow and then not because the coach was uncomfortable but because whenever we stopped, the rear doors behind me would open and the cold would flow into the cabin very quickly! These coaches were really well designed because as soon as the doors were closed the coach would reheat very quickly making it nice and comfortable inside again. around 4am and approaching the town of Laerdal, the driver slammed on the brakes and looking ahead I saw an deer the size of a small car just standing next to the road completely undisturbed by incoming double decker, these animals are extremely dangerous not because of their agression or sudden movements but because of their lack of fear towards people and vehicles as they likely grew accustomed to their neighbour humans over the years. I got off the coach just at Fodnes Ferjekai which is a ferry that runs 24/7 according to the traffic, whenever theres a need the ferry takes vehicles to the other side of a big lake and at peak time the ferry operates every 20 minutes despite being located in remote mountains. The rest of the journey I continued by car, where my uncle had to pick me up and drive me the remaining half an hour to Ovre Ardal where I was able to finally after 3 days of travel and almost 48 hours of no sleep finally relax after an epic journey.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Hello all. I want to share a story of my long trip to Norway which took me from Glasgow Buchannan Bus Station at 23:00 (21st of December) to Laerdal Fodnes Ferjekai at 4:30 (23rd of December).

GLASGOW TO MANCHESTER AIRPORT First things first, I got on a National Express coach at 2300 towards Manchester Airport which was a rather long journey for me because of the amount of stops we had inbetween with the blinding light whenever we reached a stop. The coach itself was rather good with a mad-fast driver navigating narrow strets of towns we stopped at. Manchester seems to be a party capital of the UK because despite getting there at 4am, people were still partying like there was no tomorrow. I arrived at Manchester Airport around 4:30am and was very relieved to get off with everything after a long and grueling journey. With almost 8 hours to spare I decided to go exploring the airport and take a few pictures.

View attachment 149828View attachment 149829

Manchester airport T3 is not a bad place, and me being me had to go to duty free and try the free perfumes as staff had to watch, and of course Blue De Chanel had to be a one I had to try. It always makes you wonder how cabin crew always smell of Chanel and other luxury brands, this is probably the answer. The flight was around half an hour late but we managed to take off shortly after and arrived on time in Oslo Torp by around 1500 where I managed to take a picture of this plane and of the coach.

View attachment 149830View attachment 149831


OSLO TORP TO CITY CENTRE My coach for the journey was this Scania who was simply great. The seats were very comfortable, it was very warm inside with even a temperature indicator, a thing I found common on norwegian coaches but who can blame them after what I wll show next. The coach itself left the airport at 1545 and arrived in oslo around 1715-30 when it was fully dark so I was very lucky indeed to get any shot at least of the coach. My coach to Laerdal was due at 2200 so I had a lot of time to spare, in most cases I would of went out of my way and explored the city centre but after 24hours of almost no sleep, and carrying a heavy backpack and luggage with gifts for family I was not in the position to do that, but certainly next time I am visiting I will certainly explore the city as best as I can. Norwegians overall are very nice and speak very good english, something that very much suprised me. I went to get a pizza in a mall that was connected to the train station and what I found was that pizza was cut in squares. I heard that it's quite a common thing, but other then that weird thing I thought the pizza was very good.

View attachment 149833View attachment 149834

OSLO TO LAERDAL After sitting for ages at the bus station the time came to get on and god bless, I was not ready for what came next. 15 minutes before departure, a Volvo 9700DD pulled up to take me as far as Laerdal, a journey of 6.5 hours. The coach was operated by Vy, which is the equivalent of our National Express Franchise given to the other operators to run their coaches on their brand. The coach looked very new and I found the seat allocation very weird. When I was getting on the coach my first thought was to go upstairs to the front as there was no apparent seat allocation, but instead I got told to go downstairs where I was seated next to other people. What they were doing seems to be that they want to keep people closely packed together despite there only being about 20-25 people getting on that coach. The seat was extremely comfortable, the interior was very cozy and warm, a very warm welcome for harsh climates ahead. The coach left on time and after passing Gardermoen Airport and Honefoss at 2am we arrived in Gol a small town where a different Volvo 9700DD was going to Oslo. Vy was really clever because the driver from Oslo would swap with the driver going to Forde, thus allowing the drivers to get home without overnight accomodations required. After arriving at Gol, I learnt that we had a half an hour break so me being me decided to go out and take a few pictures and oh my, -16 degrees certainly is cold! Around 2am we left with our new driver where I mostly dozed off and woke up everynow and then not because the coach was uncomfortable but because whenever we stopped, the rear doors behind me would open and the cold would flow into the cabin very quickly! These coaches were really well designed because as soon as the doors were closed the coach would reheat very quickly making it nice and comfortable inside again. around 4am and approaching the town of Laerdal, the driver slammed on the brakes and looking ahead I saw an deer the size of a small car just standing next to the road completely undisturbed by incoming double decker, these animals are extremely dangerous not because of their agression or sudden movements but because of their lack of fear towards people and vehicles as they likely grew accustomed to their neighbour humans over the years. I got off the coach just at Fodnes Ferjekai which is a ferry that runs 24/7 according to the traffic, whenever theres a need the ferry takes vehicles to the other side of a big lake and at peak time the ferry operates every 20 minutes despite being located in remote mountains. The rest of the journey I continued by car, where my uncle had to pick me up and drive me the remaining half an hour to Ovre Ardal where I was able to finally after 3 days of travel and almost 48 hours of no sleep finally relax after an epic journey.

Well that's a trip report with a difference. None of this e400 nonsense or grinding around Wigan - a real expedition in the frozen North. Really enjoyed reading this - thank you for posting @Ksp

 

[RELL6L]

It’s been good to read some interesting current and historical reports over the Christmas period.

It’s been ages but finally I was able to get out and about myself on a cold sunny day last week. My destination was the Southampton area, starting in Whitchurch, with a view to covering some routes I had not done. Whitchurch is a small town, quite pleasant with a small mill which attracts visitors. I started with the Stagecoach South 86 to Winchester. This does not track on BusTimes but by looking at the map of all Stagecoach South vehicles it is possible to see what is happening. My journey had come from some western parts of Basingstoke and was headed to the college in Winchester, but actually on arrival at Whitchurch most of the existing schoolchildren passengers alighted, presumably this journey serves both the school here and the college. Plenty more boarded here in Whitchurch and South Wonston with the majority, but not all, alighting at the college in Winchester. The bus was a 57-plate early E400 and was reasonably full, visibility was poor as the windows were misted up.

Winchester is a lovely place and I have in the past explored the city centre reasonably thoroughly. I did not have so much time today and was heading south to Eastleigh on the Stagecoach South 61. The bus station is ancient and surrounded by rubble from the demolished depot and ongoing works, the 61 shares a stop with the 66 and the bus, an E300, came in blinded for the 66, arriving late from Romsey. It would be easy to be confused and let this go as a 66 is due to depart around the same time. The traffic had been heavy coming into Winchester, the driver only had time for a few quick drags and then we set off through the city centre and out of the city via a fairly roundabout route. The were more delays near the M3 and dreaded 3-way traffic lights in Colden Common but we had made up all our lateness by the time we arrived at Eastleigh. Not a busy journey but a few boarded in the outskirts of Eastleigh as it was now after 9.30 and passes could be used.

I had never been to Eastleigh before. I hadn’t missed much but there is a decent green space near the town centre and some attractive Victorian style awnings on some of the shops. I had time here to stock up with a bacon roll and coffee and a leisurely look around. The principal operator in the town is Bluestar, having largely seen off Xelabus with just Stagecoach coming in from Winchester and a couple of community bus routes. The predominant type of bus here was the Scania Omnidekka. My next leg was on one of these on the hourly 5 to Romsey. Surprisingly there were quite a few passengers alighting, more joining and several boarding en route to Romsey. Delayed again by 3-way traffic lights in North Baddesley but again we arrived at Romsey on time.

I had been to Romsey before and it is a most attractive town. The town centre is largely free of traffic with some attractive buildings and a short walk to Romsey Abbey. I have been further, to the river and mill area, but not this time. I had planned to spend 40 minutes here before heading for Southampton on the Bluestar 4 but I noticed that the preceding journey was running quite late so I might get that. However it was so late by the time it arrived at Romsey it was about five minutes behind the following journey. Both buses had new drivers with supervisors overseeing them, but the driver of the later one, which I got, was clearly more experienced and drove very competently. The first one left first as we had a 10 minute layover, although we started boarding immediately, but we overtook it quite quickly and stayed well ahead even though it carried virtually no-one. As we had the load of two journeys our bus, an E200, was reasonably full, although no-one stood or was turned away. Back through North Baddesley and over the M27 overlooking Rownhams service station then into Southampton with plenty of blue buses everywhere – First having almost vanished from the area last year.

In the centre of Southampton there were more roadworks, with a road closed forcing everyone to turn right past the station but with no changes to the traffic light phasing, causing delays to all buses. Crazy with a green light for ages in a direction where the road is closed! I had planned to take the 9 to Hythe but the Bluestar website apologised for delays and mentioned missing journeys while my intended bus was not tracking on either BusTimes or the Bluestar website, so I stayed on at the station and continued into the centre of the city – only to pass the bus which was operating! The plan had been to take the bus to Hythe and then the ferry back but I decided to swap this round as the website showed where the vehicles on the 9 were so I was reasonably confident that I would get back OK. So I alighted at West Quay and walked down to the waterfront area to get the Hythe ferry. This was threatened with closure about a year ago but fortunately someone stepped in with some subsidy, It would be great shame to lose this route as it is by far the quickest way to the peninsula and the crossing provides great views of Southampton and the various shipping going on around the Solent. I had been on the ferry before – then heading on to Lymington on the infrequent 112 – but was happy to take it again followed by the rickety train along Hythe Pier.

Hythe is a pleasant but unexciting small town on the Solent and it was warm enough now to eat my lunch sitting by the shoreline. I knew where the buses were on the Bluestar 9 to get back to Southampton, a new route for me, so I was back at the bus stop in good time. The majority of the buses are E200s but mine was an E400 MMC. Even though this was a mid-afternoon inbound journey there were plenty of passengers coming and going. After leaving Hythe the route is quite fast, bypassing Marchwood and Totton and then running into Southampton on the main road and missing out some of the stops that other services use. We had a spirited run until the same roadworks by the station, arriving back in Southampton about 10 minutes late.

There was one more part of Southampton I wanted to visit and that was Ocean Village. This is an upmarket waterfront area with a marina, hotels and apartments pretty close to the city centre. The only route that goes near is the Bluestar 19, formerly the First 3. Due to the roadworks buses on the 19 was pretty bunched up and none was imminent, so I walked, much better for me and taking me through some reasonably interesting streets and areas. It only took about 15 minutes. I had a brief wander around before heading to the bus stop and taking a 19 back to the city centre. This was an ex-London DOE, a 58-plate Dennis Trident. A busy journey but there had been a long gap before it.

That was it for me, it was beginning to get dark and I returned to Whitchurch by train via Basingstoke. A walk in the dark down residential streets from the station to the town centre where I had parked and home.

Some photos, but it’s winter so not of the highest quality.


Whitchurch Silk Mill


The King Alfred statue in Winchester


Eastleigh


Romsey


Southampton from the Hythe ferry


Activity in the Solent from the Hythe ferry


Hythe


Southampton


Ocean Village

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Happy new year to @RELL6L and his first trip report of 2024. I'm sure it'll be of particular interest to @Flange Squeal as it is adjacent to his patch (and may well have several familiar spots), as well as to many others.

Being the self-centred egotist that I am, I usually look for those elements and places that I am familiar with and have done. Truth be told, it's been a while since I headed to Hampshire. With the impending bus service cuts (I won't quote the full article as it's not really appropriate to trip reports but here's the link and summary)...

Hampshire is next to plot bus support cuts because of budget woes - routeone

Hampshire County Council is a further local authority to propose severe cuts to its support of bus services because of financial pressures.

www.route-one.net

Hampshire County Council (HCC) is a further local authority in England to plan swingeing cuts to its support of bus services because of a mounting financial crisis.

HCC has a budget shortfall of £132 million that must be met by April 2025. Its Future Services Consultation proposes the withdrawal of all remaining funding for passenger transport that it is not required by law to provide.

The consultation runs to 31 March. If adopted, the plans would see all subsidised bus service funding removed, along with that for community transport services, dial-a-ride, and taxi shares.

...we might have to get in quick to sample some of the simpler delights of the county.

I've travelled to many of those places (not always by bus), have cycled around the New Forest into Hythe and getting the very across. Definitely recommended. Don't know if I've been to Whitchurch (feel like I might have). In fact, most are places that I've driven to yet rarely got the bus there.

Good friend of mine lives in Winchester so been there many times, though not recently into the centre, and I'm intrigued to know what's going on with the bus station. Last time I bussed it was about 5 years ago. The depot had been razed to the ground, the old bus station cafe/office was still there, and some rudimentary sawtooth stands created. It looked pretty tidy so don't think the rubble is the old depot; suspect it was the old medical centre that's been an eyesore for a bit. A bit of research indicates that it was due for demolition and in time, the bus station will be relocated to a new bus hub near where the buses exit the site. Hopefully, a bit of an improvement as the current bus station is rather tired and basic.

Romsey is a delightful little town, and my most recent visits to Hampshire seem to have included a trip there. The bus station does seem to be almost unchanged over time, and you feel that wait for a minute, and a Solent Blue Line or Wilts & Dorset VR will turn up, with a W&D Metrorider on the town service!

As for Eastleigh.... I know you pride yourself on finding the best in a place, and it's to your credit. I find Eastleigh nothing more than dreary, sadly. Nothing of interest or character leaps out at me. Again, the bus station there is another place caught in time. I think they enclosed the stands about 20 years ago but otherwise, it's not much different to the day in 1991 when I first visited.

The Hythe ferry is a joy. Think it's something that everyone should experience. Thanks for the observations and the photos - up to your usual high standards.

 

[RELL6L]

Happy new year to @RELL6L and his first trip report of 2024. I'm sure it'll be of particular interest to @Flange Squeal as it is adjacent to his patch (and may well have several familiar spots), as well as to many others.

Being the self-centred egotist that I am, I usually look for those elements and places that I am familiar with and have done. Truth be told, it's been a while since I headed to Hampshire. With the impending bus service cuts (I won't quote the full article as it's not really appropriate to trip reports but here's the link and summary)...


...we might have to get in quick to sample some of the simpler delights of the county.

I've travelled to many of those places (not always by bus), have cycled around the New Forest into Hythe and getting the very across. Definitely recommended. Don't know if I've been to Whitchurch (feel like I might have). In fact, most are places that I've driven to yet rarely got the bus there.

Good friend of mine lives in Winchester so been there many times, though not recently into the centre, and I'm intrigued to know what's going on with the bus station. Last time I bussed it was about 5 years ago. The depot had been razed to the ground, the old bus station cafe/office was still there, and some rudimentary sawtooth stands created. It looked pretty tidy so don't think the rubble is the old depot; suspect it was the old medical centre that's been an eyesore for a bit. A bit of research indicates that it was due for demolition and in time, the bus station will be relocated to a new bus hub near where the buses exit the site. Hopefully, a bit of an improvement as the current bus station is rather tired and basic.

Romsey is a delightful little town, and my most recent visits to Hampshire seem to have included a trip there. The bus station does seem to be almost unchanged over time, and you feel that wait for a minute, and a Solent Blue Line or Wilts & Dorset VR will turn up, with a W&D Metrorider on the town service!

As for Eastleigh.... I know you pride yourself on finding the best in a place, and it's to your credit. I find Eastleigh nothing more than dreary, sadly. Nothing of interest or character leaps out at me. Again, the bus station there is another place caught in time. I think they enclosed the stands about 20 years ago but otherwise, it's not much different to the day in 1991 when I first visited.

The Hythe ferry is a joy. Think it's something that everyone should experience. Thanks for the observations and the photos - up to your usual high standards.

Thanks for your comments.
Bad news on Hampshire bus cuts but I don't think there is a great deal of truly rural routes left in the county, the funded routes are more the low density urban areas.
I agree on Eastleigh, very little to commend it. You may be right on Winchester bus station, it wasn't obvious what was being done. Yes, there's about 7 sawtooth stands all heading south to north.

 

[Kite159]

Thanks for your comments.
Bad news on Hampshire bus cuts but I don't think there is a great deal of truly rural routes left in the county, the funded routes are more the low density urban areas.
I agree on Eastleigh, very little to commend it. You may be right on Winchester bus station, it wasn't obvious what was being done. Yes, there's about 7 sawtooth stands all heading south to north.

Andover wise I can see some potential cuts on the rural services which extends outside the town centre, they already axed the 'Cango' routes. Probably even cuts to some of the town routes which are a bit infrequent (2 hourly)
----
As for Winchester - Eastleigh, I always forget that it got changed at some point last year from an E1/E2 to a standard pattern 61.

 

[Citistar]

I'm sure the Andover network (particularly those town services) is mainly supported by developer funding from the astonishing number of houses that have sprouted up around the town. I don't know whether there is any scope to merge some of town services in to longer loops as tends to be more common over the border on some town services in Wiltshire. The 15/17/77/87 routes out towards Stockbridge and Salisbury could probably do with some simplifying.

 

[RELL6L]

After having not been out for some time I suddenly found myself able to go on two trips within 8 days. Another very cold day last Friday but not quite as bad as earlier in the week, and again very sunny. This time I started even closer to home, in Didcot, to explore an area which has seen sizeable growth in bus services in recent years with a number of new and improved routes. The day all went wrong with the first bus as I had intended to take the Thames Travel 94 from Didcot to Harwell Campus. However this journey comes in as a 94A school run and I had seen that the main road into Didcot from the east had road works so I thought it might be a little late. I was wrong, it was horrendously late, what should have taken 5 minutes from North Moreton to Didcot Aldi took 50! The bus then had to drop the school children off and by the time it was ready to pick up the next journey it should almost have been back at Didcot. Shame no other returning school bus was able to take up the journey.

Having seen this playing out on BusTimes I was long gone, taking an alternative route. I took the Thames Travel X34 to Harwell on a 68 plate Volvo B5TL. Surprisingly this only cost £1.50 and went through the large Great Western Park Development where there was custom on and off. I thought it would be worth stopping off at Harwell Village rather than Harwell Campus to look round as I had spare time. First we went to Didcot Parkway Station where I counted over 30 people waiting at the stop to take passengers to Milton Park, with no buses having left for some time and then two buses due shortly after 9.00. It is good to see this section as clearly being popular with rail commuters but perhaps there should be some management to avoid long gaps at popular commuting times. So I wandered around Harwell village, pleasant but nothing special, and it appeared that the next bus to Harwell Campus, an X35, was not running, so I was not at the bus stop when it was due. It did however appear, an E200, I think it was 452 which hasn’t tracked for some time. I waited another 15 minutes and avoided getting off at Harwell Campus altogether, as I wished to continue to Newbury. This was an older Volvo B9TL, the X34/X35 routes being roughly 50-50 with double and single deckers. Quite a few on board who alighted at the various stops in the campus, where we passed a small white driverless vehicle – I hesitate to call it a bus. One other person boarded at the campus to join me for the run down the A34 to Newbury. This section of route is pretty new and is targeted at the Harwell commuter market so perhaps not surprising there were only two of us on this section, a busy road but quite scenic through the Berkshire Downs. I recall the joint Oxford and Alder Valley 112/312 service being hourly here too in the 1970s with VRs running down through East Ilsley and the villages.

I alighted at the Wharf terminus in Newbury. I didn’t have very long in the town and just went down to the adjacent canal with a few boats present despite the cold. In the adjacent park the lake was entirely frozen. My next leg was on a Newbury and District Streetlite on the 4 to Lambourn. This is an attractive route up through the Berkshire Downs and I was encouraged that we left central Newbury with 12 aboard. However many alighted in Speen and only five remained as we actually left the town of Newbury. One alighted and one boarded before we got to Lambourn. The second half of the journey, after Great Shefford, was not along the official route but along the parallel B-road and then into Lambourn from the south. It looks like it ran that way for a couple of weeks, perhaps due to flooding, although there was nothing mentioned on the website.

Lambourn is an attractive small town, the economy mainly built around horses and racing, and there was a busy small market in the centre. I had about half an hour to wander around before moving on to Swindon. For some reason the bus, service 47 run by West Berkshire Community Transport, sits in the town for half an hour between journeys. I expected to be the only passenger but in fact there were nine of us leaving Lambourn, all headed for Swindon, with about three more joining during the journey, all on a 16-seater. More attractive downland scenery and picturesque villages all the way to the edge of Swindon with some decent views to the north in places.



I’ve been to Swindon a few times and am satisfied I have seen all I need to around the town centre. This time there were major road works and the Fleming Way area was entirely closed, I didn’t work out exactly where all the buses had gone instead. From what I saw the mainstays of the local fleet now are relatively new E200s, with a handful of Scania deckers and Wright Solars also in evidence. I didn’t stay for long, taking the first Stagecoach S6 out of town, a Scania/E400 decker bound for Oxford. This kept up a good pace but I chose to alight at Shrivenham to spend the interval until the next bus looking round the centre of this pleasant village. I moved onwards on the next bus which was a Scania/E300 single decker, unusual on the route and one of three at Swindon. The road from Shrivenham to Watchfield was closed and we took a roundabout route, then going a short way into Watchfield to pick up a few military guys by the base.

I left the S6 at Faringdon, another attractive small town. Again not too long here and onwards on another new route, the very recent Pulhams 68 to Wantage via the villages. This took an attractive route, in places along the bottom of the open downland area and through the decent village of Uffington, which had not had any form of bus service for many years until the 68 was introduced a couple of months ago. I was alone on the bus until we reached Childrey, where one more passenger joined, followed by another two in Letcombe Regis, all travelling through to Wantage. The section through Letcombe Bassett was probably the most scenic. It would appear that the Wantage end of the route is the better for passengers and I hope that the service builds up a customer base before the money runs out.

At Wantage it was now past school end time and the bus stops round the market place were surrounded by children. A couple got on the 68 to head home but far more were waiting for the S9 and X35 routes. I had a few minutes here, finding an attractive street to walk up. The market place has a statue of King Alfred but is dominated by cars parking in the centre while road works did not help the traffic. My final leg back to Didcot was on the Thames Travel X36 on another Volvo B9TL, this route going through new housing in Grove to East Hanney and then across a section which never historically had a bus service to Steventon. This is a most unattractive road where it is proposed to site a new reservoir amid much local opposition. We carried around 10 passengers along this stretch. The X36 seems to be predominantly run with double deckers, I am not sure why. After Steventon the bus went through Milton Park back to Didcot. Having seen the passengers waiting at Didcot station in the morning I was not surprised that a decent number joined the bus as we went through Milton Park, where parking seems at a premium, and alighted at Didcot station. Others were waiting to head in the other direction towards Abingdon and Oxford.

Oxfordshire, and no doubt local property developers, have put quite a bit of money into extra bus services around Didcot. Given how awful the road system is I hope that this takes a decent number of people out of their cars. Certainly Milton Park and Harwell do seem to attract some passengers as does the residential area of Great Western Park. Not, I suspect, enough to be self-supporting but let’s hope it builds up.

Back at Didcot it was now nearly dark so I just went back to my car and headed home. A decent sunny day, cold in the morning but warming up, and some interesting new routes.

A few photos:
Harwell Village


Newbury


Lambourn

Ashbury


Shrivenham


Shrivenham


Faringdon


Berkshire downs near Letcombe Bassett


Wantage

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

You evil cad @RELL6L - I was hoping to do some of that soon and you beat me to it TBF, some of those places are very familiar to me - I have spent many hours on the A420 between Swindon and Oxford! Faringdon's centre is lovely though the town is growing at a ridiculous rate, as is Shrivenham/Watchfield. Interesting to hear how the route south to Newbury is doing; the route from Newbury to Lambourn is one I've fancied doing, as are either of the Faringdon to Wantage routes. In fact, Oxfordshire is one county I've massively overlooked but you can't go everywhere, all the time, and still have a job and a wife!

Lovely photos and good to see you're out and about. You never know... I might have something to report soon.

 

[RELL6L]

You evil cad @RELL6L - I was hoping to do some of that soon and you beat me to it TBF, some of those places are very familiar to me - I have spent many hours on the A420 between Swindon and Oxford! Faringdon's centre is lovely though the town is growing at a ridiculous rate, as is Shrivenham/Watchfield. Interesting to hear how the route south to Newbury is doing; the route from Newbury to Lambourn is one I've fancied doing, as are either of the Faringdon to Wantage routes. In fact, Oxfordshire is one county I've massively overlooked but you can't go everywhere, all the time, and still have a job and a wife!

Lovely photos and good to see you're out and about. You never know... I might have something to report soon.

Don't let my trips stop you going where you want to go! Newbury > Lambourn > Swindon works pretty well for the connections, better than the other way round. And there isn't anything else at Lambourn now, I did Lambourn to Hungerford once but that no longer runs. Yes, there's been - and continues to be - massive development in the area south of Oxford from Faringdon round to Didcot, including the enlarged and public transport positive employment areas at Harwell Campus and Milton Park. The infrastructure is really creaking and public transport should have a role to pay - Oxfordshire are trying and I hope it isn't a short term wonder and then gone!

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

It seemed like an eternity since my last trip out but hey, that’s January for you. It was only about 7 weeks since my trip around Nottinghamshire – an area I’d not sampled for a long time. However, January afforded me the chance to visit somewhere much more familiar with a trip around the South Wales Valleys though, like Nottinghamshire, it was dominated by former coal mining areas and has Stagecoach as the predominant bus operator. I was using the day to also pursue my photographic hobby. I dropped my camera early doors and having taken loads of photos in various spots, discovered that the impact had dislodged the memory card. Therefore, I can only share images from the latter part of the day but I hope you enjoy the journey…

The day began with a car journey. I chose the free car park adjacent to the bus station in Nelson, just off the A470, as a suitably safe place. The valleys are home to a selection of pitiful bus stations and Nelson is essentially two bus shelters. I had a choice in which bus to take me to Pontypridd, and Harris Coaches won the race and my money for a Network Rider – the all operator ticket in the Eastern Valleys. The Harris fleet has been dominated by Optare Solos are various origins but they have been buying e200s in recent times. Of more interest, they have purchased four short e200mmcs. One duly arrived so I had the pride of the fleet in a 72 plate example and a very friendly driver. The 7 takes a circuitous route to towards Pontypridd, serving the smaller town of Treharris. It also has a turning circle proclaiming itself as a bus station, with the mmc looping around the town and through some narrow streets with 20 mph limits much in evidence. We arrived in Pontypridd with the Transport for Wales offices prominent – the large logo looking a bit Eastern Bloc if I’m honest. I left the adequate Ponty bus station on one of the Scania based e300s that Stagecoach use in the valleys (with a bit more grunt that the ADL version) on a 120 to Tonypandy though the high backed seats are a bit basic. This follows the rail line, affording good views of the electrification and other work being undertaken as part of the SW Metro scheme; suffice to say that I doubt the 120/130 will retain its 15 min headway when the enhanced train service appears.

We arrived into Tonypandy on time. This is a busy location with 6 stands but, aside from the shelters being replaced, the bus station is still as dispiriting as ever with minimal facilities. Money can be found for rail infrastructure with some fairly big spending on lifts at the relatively small Dinas Rhondda station but not for buses. I wandered back along the road to the centre of Tonypandy and had a long overdue breakfast. Now full of food, I retraced my steps, finding a Mercedes minibus still in beachball colours acting as a crew ferry between Porth depot and Tonypandy. Stagecoach Wales have four of these ex Ashford machines, with two on crew work and two usually allocated to the 121 which was was my next route. Now I know this is heresy but there is a place for small vehicles such as Sprinters and the 121 is one such route though it felt like DRT with just myself enjoying the exploration of the upper Rhondda. I was going to head further to Treherbert but elected to bail out early in Treorchy. I really liked Treorchy – unlike many other towns in the area, it seemed quite busy and vibrant. I took lots of photos (or thought I had) though one on my phone illustrated the surprising energy of Treorchy! I’ll just have to return (not to the Flamingo) but it was a surprisingly nice town.


My next bus was the 130, and it was a step back in time. The 120/130 trunk route gained new e200mmc in 2017 to Gold spec. It was a surprise as the services aren’t exactly the Gold middle class target customer base, and less of a surprise when the vehicles were moved to Blackwood 18 months later. However, those services have had headway reductions since Covid and so this vehicle had been redeployed and had returned to the same routes from which it had been banished. However, it still had it’s branding for the 26 Blackwood to Cardiff, internally and externally, despite having been at Porth depot for nearly a year. Not very good. However, the bus itself was comfortable and I was feeling good. I seen that the 172 and 130 pass near Ystrad Rhondda hospital but I’d miss the 172 by four mins if it was on time. It wasn’t and so I’d be able to head to Aberdare with the 172 being a good ten mins late (as I thought it might be).

I’ve mentioned it before but the 172 is one of the best bus routes in the UK. Having not done it for decades, I’ve been on it four times in six years, and on a clear dry day, it’s gives you stunning views and it was another Scania/e300, being a sister bus to the one I’d had earlier. We first had the punishing climb to Penrhys and we were soon in crawler gear though getting views across the southern Rhondda Mawr – the Rhondda splits into two valleys at Porth and the 172 links both via Penrhys. After reaching the summit, it’s a drop down into the Rhondda Fach and through some very depressed places like Tylorstown and Ferndale. Then you hit Maerdy and after passing the former colliery site (it closed in 1990), you have another harsh climb up Maerdy mountain before traversing an open area of moorland before approaching Aberdare. The views span across to the Brecon Beacons as well as the Cynon Valley, and the decent is a wonderful experience as the e300 negotiated armco protected switchbacks as it you drop down 1 in 5 slopes in places.


The e300 tackles the climb of Maerdy mountain


The views of Aberdare, the Cynon Valley and the Brecon Beacons

Now the 172 had historically linked Aberdare and Tonypandy though it had operated to Porthcawl for many years. The section between Bridgend and Porthcawl has now been relinquished but it has now been extended to Merthyr. This was a new experience for me on two levels; I’ve done Aberdare to Merthyr but always via Hirwaun (not this route) and I’d not been to Merthyr since it gained a new bus station at the expense of the awful, dirty, dangerous old one. I stayed on the Scania which was now quite full as we left late and headed to Merthyr. The service Aberdare and past the site of the old bus depots (now Tesco). We passed through Llwydcoed where a couple were having a glass of wine outside in the cold! Then another punishing climb before we hit the roadworks associated with the upgrade of the Heads of the Valleys road. Then we passed via the big retail park and annoyingly, got caught up in a queue of traffic. I suspect this is fairly regular and it would be beneficial for some bus priority but buses are definitely not the priority.


Heads of the Valleys Road being rebuilt at Merthyr

We arrived into Merthyr bus station. A very big improvement on the old site, and pleasingly, there’s plenty of room for vehicles to layover. Arguably, it’s a bit much but let’s not complain. The bus station has two retail units for cafés but looks like both have now folded sadly. I never take time to wander around Merthyr but I thought I’d have a wander about and enjoy some of the faded grandeur. Unlike Treorchy, Merthyr is a town that is suffering from retail blight – having a huge out of town retail park has done it no favours.


Interesting mural at Merthyr


Bus station at Merthyr - huge yard compared to most modern ones

Bus station with TrawsCymru B8RLE

My next journey involved the T14 express to Pontypridd, and is perhaps one of the more depressing declines of a service in recent years. It used to be a flagship service running from Cardiff to Merthyr every 15 minutes. Half continued onward to Brynmawr (with one every hour heading to Hereford via Abergavenny), one every hour extended north to Brecon as a T4 and one terminated in Merthyr. That has now been downgraded with only a half hourly Cardiff to Merthyr route as part of TrawsCymru T4/T14 and it seems every other one heads to Brecon and either Hereford or Newtown. The Brynmawr and Aber section was tacked onto the slow Merthyr to Pontypridd service 78 but only hourly. The T4/T14 is operated by Stagecoach for TfW as part of TrawsCymru, and so we had one of the MCV bodied B8RLEs that arrived in 2019. Decent enough machines and quite comfortable though the Covid era notices inside showed a lack of focus and, dare I say, the whole TC ethos is something that the enthusiast will enthuse about… network identity, connectivity, etc. My challenge is if that so important if core headways are now 50% of what they were, long established links lost, and that marketing is so limp and functional. Still, we belted down the A470 for a speedy trip to Pontypridd. Having spent time there earlier, I simply hoped onto my final bus and it was as standard as you get… a Stagecoach e200 on the 78 to Abergavenny and a very friendly driver to take me back to Nelson.


Tonight we're gonna party like it's 1999 2020 - still Covid-ish on TrawsCymru

So observations of the day, aside from my T4/X4 mini-rant. There’s so much emphasis on the rail network. One wonders about the cost of installing bridges and lifts at lesser used stations, yet somewhere like Tonypandy bus station is a busy interchange and receives little love or attention. I could say similar about Aberdare and Pontypridd (though these are better), and at least Merthyr is a welcome replacement. It's disappointing to see how bus services seem to have declined since Covid, and I can only think that this will be exacerbated by SW Metro though I’m actually positive in that happening. However, there’s so little bus priority in the area. Buses are so important and yet stuff like publicity is so poor, which is important when services move to wider headways.

My travels were almost universally Stagecoach, though with one Harris bus and seeing plenty of Adventure Travel fleet in Pontypridd. The two main operators seem to have taken an extended holiday on new fleet. Stagecoach’s fleet has very little old rubbish in it, to be fair. However, it seems to have a lot of fleet from the 2011-2017 period. Aside from the TC B8RLEs, there’s been nothing in recent years and even the latest orders are confined to a handful of Solos destined for Cwmbran to oust the oldest examples so if not new, it probably needs some reasonable aged cascades. I will commend Stagecoach for the base quality of the operation – everything turned up nearly on time (except the 172) and vehicle repaints have been prioritised, even if it’s the awful 2020 livery.


Pontypridd bus station

Most importantly, I was charmed by the people and the area. Drivers were friendly and drove sympathetically, whilst it was fun to explore some bits of the valleys that were new to me. As ever, I’d recommend the 172 from Tonypandy to Aberdare; stunning in either direction. Perhaps folks might not appreciate the rows of ribbon terraced houses, but the views across the valleys are epic. Within the valleys, it’s good to travel up on the 120/130 and see the different communities, and the Network Rider is a great ticket. Hope you found this interesting.

 

[iantherev]

It's all change after Easter as a result of a big retendering exercise. Operators were asked to identify services which could be operated without subsidy (not many) and the rest were put out to tender. Results are beginning to trickle through but the big losers so far seem to be Adventure Travel (which is ironic seeing as so much of their work came from aggressive tendering in the past). All Pontypridd work has been lost leading to the impending closure of the depot at Taffs Well.

 

[RELL6L]

It seemed like an eternity since my last trip out but hey, that’s January for you. It was only about 7 weeks since my trip around Nottinghamshire – an area I’d not sampled for a long time. However, January afforded me the chance to visit somewhere much more familiar with a trip around the South Wales Valleys though, like Nottinghamshire, it was dominated by former coal mining areas and has Stagecoach as the predominant bus operator. I was using the day to also pursue my photographic hobby. I dropped my camera early doors and having taken loads of photos in various spots, discovered that the impact had dislodged the memory card. Therefore, I can only share images from the latter part of the day but I hope you enjoy the journey…

The day began with a car journey. I chose the free car park adjacent to the bus station in Nelson, just off the A470, as a suitably safe place. The valleys are home to a selection of pitiful bus stations and Nelson is essentially two bus shelters. I had a choice in which bus to take me to Pontypridd, and Harris Coaches won the race and my money for a Network Rider – the all operator ticket in the Eastern Valleys. The Harris fleet has been dominated by Optare Solos are various origins but they have been buying e200s in recent times. Of more interest, they have purchased four short e200mmcs. One duly arrived so I had the pride of the fleet in a 72 plate example and a very friendly driver. The 7 takes a circuitous route to towards Pontypridd, serving the smaller town of Treharris. It also has a turning circle proclaiming itself as a bus station, with the mmc looping around the town and through some narrow streets with 20 mph limits much in evidence. We arrived in Pontypridd with the Transport for Wales offices prominent – the large logo looking a bit Eastern Bloc if I’m honest. I left the adequate Ponty bus station on one of the Scania based e300s that Stagecoach use in the valleys (with a bit more grunt that the ADL version) on a 120 to Tonypandy though the high backed seats are a bit basic. This follows the rail line, affording good views of the electrification and other work being undertaken as part of the SW Metro scheme; suffice to say that I doubt the 120/130 will retain its 15 min headway when the enhanced train service appears.

We arrived into Tonypandy on time. This is a busy location with 6 stands but, aside from the shelters being replaced, the bus station is still as dispiriting as ever with minimal facilities. Money can be found for rail infrastructure with some fairly big spending on lifts at the relatively small Dinas Rhondda station but not for buses. I wandered back along the road to the centre of Tonypandy and had a long overdue breakfast. Now full of food, I retraced my steps, finding a Mercedes minibus still in beachball colours acting as a crew ferry between Porth depot and Tonypandy. Stagecoach Wales have four of these ex Ashford machines, with two on crew work and two usually allocated to the 121 which was was my next route. Now I know this is heresy but there is a place for small vehicles such as Sprinters and the 121 is one such route though it felt like DRT with just myself enjoying the exploration of the upper Rhondda. I was going to head further to Treherbert but elected to bail out early in Treorchy. I really liked Treorchy – unlike many other towns in the area, it seemed quite busy and vibrant. I took lots of photos (or thought I had) though one on my phone illustrated the surprising energy of Treorchy! I’ll just have to return (not to the Flamingo) but it was a surprisingly nice town.

View attachment 151573
My next bus was the 130, and it was a step back in time. The 120/130 trunk route gained new e200mmc in 2017 to Gold spec. It was a surprise as the services aren’t exactly the Gold middle class target customer base, and less of a surprise when the vehicles were moved to Blackwood 18 months later. However, those services have had headway reductions since Covid and so this vehicle had been redeployed and had returned to the same routes from which it had been banished. However, it still had it’s branding for the 26 Blackwood to Cardiff, internally and externally, despite having been at Porth depot for nearly a year. Not very good. However, the bus itself was comfortable and I was feeling good. I seen that the 172 and 130 pass near Ystrad Rhondda hospital but I’d miss the 172 by four mins if it was on time. It wasn’t and so I’d be able to head to Aberdare with the 172 being a good ten mins late (as I thought it might be).

I’ve mentioned it before but the 172 is one of the best bus routes in the UK. Having not done it for decades, I’ve been on it four times in six years, and on a clear dry day, it’s gives you stunning views and it was another Scania/e300, being a sister bus to the one I’d had earlier. We first had the punishing climb to Penrhys and we were soon in crawler gear though getting views across the southern Rhondda Mawr – the Rhondda splits into two valleys at Porth and the 172 links both via Penrhys. After reaching the summit, it’s a drop down into the Rhondda Fach and through some very depressed places like Tylorstown and Ferndale. Then you hit Maerdy and after passing the former colliery site (it closed in 1990), you have another harsh climb up Maerdy mountain before traversing an open area of moorland before approaching Aberdare. The views span across to the Brecon Beacons as well as the Cynon Valley, and the decent is a wonderful experience as the e300 negotiated armco protected switchbacks as it you drop down 1 in 5 slopes in places.

View attachment 151583
The e300 tackles the climb of Maerdy mountain

View attachment 151584
The views of Aberdare, the Cynon Valley and the Brecon Beacons

Now the 172 had historically linked Aberdare and Tonypandy though it had operated to Porthcawl for many years. The section between Bridgend and Porthcawl has now been relinquished but it has now been extended to Merthyr. This was a new experience for me on two levels; I’ve done Aberdare to Merthyr but always via Hirwaun (not this route) and I’d not been to Merthyr since it gained a new bus station at the expense of the awful, dirty, dangerous old one. I stayed on the Scania which was now quite full as we left late and headed to Merthyr. The service Aberdare and past the site of the old bus depots (now Tesco). We passed through Llwydcoed where a couple were having a glass of wine outside in the cold! Then another punishing climb before we hit the roadworks associated with the upgrade of the Heads of the Valleys road. Then we passed via the big retail park and annoyingly, got caught up in a queue of traffic. I suspect this is fairly regular and it would be beneficial for some bus priority but buses are definitely not the priority.

View attachment 151572
Heads of the Valleys Road being rebuilt at Merthyr

We arrived into Merthyr bus station. A very big improvement on the old site, and pleasingly, there’s plenty of room for vehicles to layover. Arguably, it’s a bit much but let’s not complain. The bus station has two retail units for cafés but looks like both have now folded sadly. I never take time to wander around Merthyr but I thought I’d have a wander about and enjoy some of the faded grandeur. Unlike Treorchy, Merthyr is a town that is suffering from retail blight – having a huge out of town retail park has done it no favours.

View attachment 151585
Interesting mural at Merthyr

View attachment 151586
Bus station at Merthyr - huge yard compared to most modern ones
View attachment 151588
Bus station with TrawsCymru B8RLE

My next journey involved the T14 express to Pontypridd, and is perhaps one of the more depressing declines of a service in recent years. It used to be a flagship service running from Cardiff to Merthyr every 15 minutes. Half continued onward to Brynmawr (with one every hour heading to Hereford via Abergavenny), one every hour extended north to Brecon as a T4 and one terminated in Merthyr. That has now been downgraded with only a half hourly Cardiff to Merthyr route as part of TrawsCymru T4/T14 and it seems every other one heads to Brecon and either Hereford or Newtown. The Brynmawr and Aber section was tacked onto the slow Merthyr to Pontypridd service 78 but only hourly. The T4/T14 is operated by Stagecoach for TfW as part of TrawsCymru, and so we had one of the MCV bodied B8RLEs that arrived in 2019. Decent enough machines and quite comfortable though the Covid era notices inside showed a lack of focus and, dare I say, the whole TC ethos is something that the enthusiast will enthuse about… network identity, connectivity, etc. My challenge is if that so important if core headways are now 50% of what they were, long established links lost, and that marketing is so limp and functional. Still, we belted down the A470 for a speedy trip to Pontypridd. Having spent time there earlier, I simply hoped onto my final bus and it was as standard as you get… a Stagecoach e200 on the 78 to Abergavenny and a very friendly driver to take me back to Nelson.

View attachment 151574
Tonight we're gonna party like it's 1999 2020 - still Covid-ish on TrawsCymru

So observations of the day, aside from my T4/X4 mini-rant. There’s so much emphasis on the rail network. One wonders about the cost of installing bridges and lifts at lesser used stations, yet somewhere like Tonypandy bus station is a busy interchange and receives little love or attention. I could say similar about Aberdare and Pontypridd (though these are better), and at least Merthyr is a welcome replacement. It's disappointing to see how bus services seem to have declined since Covid, and I can only think that this will be exacerbated by SW Metro though I’m actually positive in that happening. However, there’s so little bus priority in the area. Buses are so important and yet stuff like publicity is so poor, which is important when services move to wider headways.

My travels were almost universally Stagecoach, though with one Harris bus and seeing plenty of Adventure Travel fleet in Pontypridd. The two main operators seem to have taken an extended holiday on new fleet. Stagecoach’s fleet has very little old rubbish in it, to be fair. However, it seems to have a lot of fleet from the 2011-2017 period. Aside from the TC B8RLEs, there’s been nothing in recent years and even the latest orders are confined to a handful of Solos destined for Cwmbran to oust the oldest examples so if not new, it probably needs some reasonable aged cascades. I will commend Stagecoach for the base quality of the operation – everything turned up nearly on time (except the 172) and vehicle repaints have been prioritised, even if it’s the awful 2020 livery.

View attachment 151587
Pontypridd bus station

Most importantly, I was charmed by the people and the area. Drivers were friendly and drove sympathetically, whilst it was fun to explore some bits of the valleys that were new to me. As ever, I’d recommend the 172 from Tonypandy to Aberdare; stunning in either direction. Perhaps folks might not appreciate the rows of ribbon terraced houses, but the views across the valleys are epic. Within the valleys, it’s good to travel up on the 120/130 and see the different communities, and the Network Rider is a great ticket. Hope you found this interesting.

Great report, thank you for sharing. An interesting area bus-wise, although perhaps not how it was many years ago with all the small municipal and independent operators -and local pride- of earlier days. The 172 across from Maerdy to Aberdare is one of the great routes of the area and the run onwards across the top to Merthyr is good too. Of course some of the best scenery is north of Merthyr but that's more challenging to explore. I have not been up the valley from Tonypandy to Treorchy and Treherbert, that is about the only section left in urban South Wales that I want to visit. I agree entirely on the mismatch between rail and bus spending, it seems crazy that a little station must have its new lift at £millions while bus services disappear across Wales. I agree also on what used to be the trunk routes, they have been cut back badly, such as the T4/X4 to Merthyr, the X4 on to Abergavenny across the heads of the valleys, the route up to Brynmawr from the south, cutbacks in First South Wales land too.

It will be interesting to see what happens with the retendering. Its certainly been noticeable in parts of Gwynedd and there must be a lot more in this area. Probably not going to be good...!

 

[CBlue]

Pontypridd's scene has changed a lot since I was last there in 2012 or so. Back then it was a sea of Veolia liveried tat alongside the new E300 fleets Stagecoach had just got for the X4.

Remember having a trip on the Edwards 400E from Cardiff later that day and bagging their Ex-Cardiff Optare Excel of all things (R209 DKG if remember right) - happy days.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Thanks to @RELL6L @iantherev and @CBlue for their responses. It's looking fairly bleak for bus services in South Wales (as elsewhere); I fear for so many routes and whilst I applaud the investment in rail, the disparity is just so great.

Pontypridd was always one of those areas that seemed a real melting pot. The Veolia era was interesting yet disturbing time as we saw initial optimism founder as a Frankenstein business grew and imploded. That and the various Clayton Jones firms... and the entirely unconnected Alison Jones operations Only really Thomas and Harris seem to fly the old indie flag? Interesting that Adventure Travel are losing out - it's a basic operation and lots are still in the old colours, so be intrigued to see who's taking that work on.

My first trip was in 1994 to South Wales, and what an eclectic mix of vehicles. 9 vehicles, 8 chassis types, and even the two Tigers had different bodies including a Duple Laser. I may have shared details before

 

[Flange Squeal]

Just a very short two-leg trip today, but thought I'd do a little write up anyway. Dropped my car off at a garage for some work and used the bus to get home again.

Leg one consisted of a journey on Stagecoach South's hourly Aldershot - Farnham - Bordon & Whitehill route 18, between the garage in Sleaford and my first destination of Whitehill, through the growing town of Bordon, all in Hampshire. The route requires two vehicles, however the Aldershot to Farnham leg operates alongside hourly routes 17 (to Shortheath) and 19 (to Haslemere) which interwork with one another, the three routes offering a 20 minute frequency over that section. Due 1240ish to arrive at Whitehill 1249, the bus was running 10 minutes late, which was rather annoying given the pouring rain with only a grass verge next to a puddle on a busy road to wait on(!) The fare for this 3.5 mile journey came in at £1.60 though, so under the current single fare cap. The vehicle was one of Stagecoach South's Aldershot-based fleet of Gold Enviro 400 double deckers, 10776 reg SN66 VYX, branded for the Aldershot - Farnborough - Frimley - Camberley - Old Dean route 1. It's now just a month shy of four years since Covid saw frequencies slashed, but while route 1 has over time been increased back up to every 12 minutes Mon-Sat, the buses still proclaim "every 10 mins mon - sat daytime". The circular symbols for free Wi-Fi have been updated though, instead now advertising contactless payment. One assumes these 66-plate vehicles may be coming up for repaint soon so this is perhaps the reason the branding hasn't been amended, however acquiring some number '2' digits to replace the '0' on the frequency each side surely wouldn't be too difficult, given that four years on you'd assume it's not intended to go back to 10 minutes? The surplus vehicles not required by the frequency reduction do seem to crop up on the 18 on a regular basis, with other regular haunts being the Alton town circular 9, Farnborough town circular 9, and Farnborough to Fleet route 10, as well as interworked Farnborough college routes. That said, the vehicle was well presented and comfortable.

Leg two saw me travel from Whitehill to Alton. The roughly ten minute delay saw me with a five minute connection at Whitehill turning circle, rather than my planned 16 mins, with my route 18 pulling in behind older swoops liveried Basingstoke-based Enviro 200 26300, reg SN69 ZJK, which way laying over waiting to work the 1305 Whitehill to Basingstoke route 13 I'd be boarding. Also on the turning circle was an AMK (name of operator) minibus which soon drove off. The driver of the laying over 13 hand gestured to the 18's driver to make them aware that a passenger was obscured behind the minibus and making their way down to them. I boarded the 13 and the driver was an exceptionally friendly and jovial man, and when I asked for a single to Alton he informed me that I had just missed the minibus which was apparently on its way to Alton via as much of the 13's normal route as possible. You'll struggle to find any information whatsoever about this online though... The 13 is another hourly route, this time running between Bordon & Whitehill and Basingstoke on an interurban route via Alton, Odiham and Hook. The Bordon/Whitehill to Alton section is currently on a lengthy diversion though, which has required and extra 20 or so minutes to be added to each round trip, due to long term works closing the Bordon to Alton road. Buses are still serving all roads on the usual Bordon/Whitehill loop, but entering/leaving the loop at the south (6 o'clock position) rather than north (12 o'clock position). Buses then head south to Greatham village then heading north through the narrow village of Selborne to enter Alton from the west rather than south. The Greatham - Selborne - Alton section largely parallels infrequent route 38 (Alton - Selborne - Greatham - Liss - Petersfield) which I wrote about in post #692. This gives Greatham and Selborne an hourly service to/from Alton, in additional to its usual mere four buses per day. The diversion is not non-stop, with the temporary timetable having timing points in Greatham and Selborne. It's a not a bad route to be diverted over, with Selborne being a narrow village and some fields of purple lavender to view. Sadly the weather today saw heavy rain and misted windows. Between Bordon and Alton, buses would usually run via Kingsley and Worldham.

There are often some double deck workings on the 13, as some journeys cater for Alton College times, so if you're using the route between now and October (baring a month period in I think June when the road closure is lifted to coincide with exam times) then you may be lucky enough to get a decker over this quite pleasant route. I've already mentioned the driver was very pleasant upon boarding, but his particularly safe driving and explaining why we were stopped in random places (awaiting time) saw me actually go as far to write in a compliment email to Stagecoach. On final approach to Alton we were running around 5 mins early, so the driver stopped at the stop prior to the timing point in Alton High Street (again, explained to passengers) outside the Conservative Club. This was because Alton High Street is about 2.5 vehicles wide, with the bus stop on one side and parking on the other, so had he continued to the High Street he'd have blocked the road for five minutes as there are always cars using he parking spaces. He therefore decided to hold back and proceed to the High Street a few minutes later and departing there bang on time. I'm unsure if this is an instruction or him just using his initiative, but his general demeanour makes me think the latter is a good possibility. It's a shame the industry can't bottle drivers like this gentleman. Patronage along the route were three passengers already on the bus who all alighted at stops around Bordon (having presumably travelled in from Alton or beyond on the inbound trip), with two passengers picked up along the way. Not high loadings on this southern section on this particular journey, but the 13 does have some very strong flows at certain times and over certain sections of its current 1.5 hour length.

 

[cambsy]

On Thursday 22nd Feb, I did the 06.40 916 Glasgow-Uig and 14.40 Uig-Glasgow for a very scenic day out, as part of a 3 day Scottish Citylink explorer pass, which turned out to be more interesting than expected, so I’ll do report on it all.

The day started good with West Coast Motors YT23 HYH Irizar, which was a great coach. It was very smart, duly left on time, and made steady progress to Fort William,. There was some lying snow but not any problems. A driver being trained on the route took over for another very scenic run to UIG, with some more lying snow, but no problems. We arrived bang on time.

Now for all the fun. It started with leaving 13 mins late due to late ferry arrival, but we got back on time from Portree, due to 20 mins spare time there. As we climbed up on to the passes, we started to encounter some blizzard conditions, with tricky driving conditions, which the driver handled well. There was an on time arrival into Fort William, where another trainee driver took over.

We left about 5 mins late, and things started well enough until we climbed onto Glencoe passes, where the trainer was advising the trainee to slow to 20mph and just plug away. The conditions were very challenging, with thin covering of compacted snow with ice underneath. With the coach slipping around a bit, we had cars overtaking us and even a lorry. There are some idiots out there, but the driver was coping admirably, poor sod, until a lorry had jack knifed and other stuck on a hill, so we ground to a halt. Now it was looking like we might be stuck for the a good few hours. Various lorry drivers were all trying to tell each other what to do, and it soon became chaotic, so our drivers looked and saw we could just about get past stranded lorries.

We set off and gingerly trying edge past lorries, but soon we were sliding and got stuck., We sat for while, with our drivers trying get lorries to move so we could extricate ourselves. One of our tyres were slightly off road, and in a very good move the trainer took over, so we inched back on to the road and started to inch pass the vehicles on other side. With some hairy and very close to touching moments, we crept past the vehicles with the trainee driver going ahead on foot to suss out if we could get past them, which we did by deed of some great driving and eventually we got clear of all the vehicles.

With no stops to Glasgow and hard nosed quick driving by the trainer driver we arrived only 85 mins late, which thanks to the drivers having a not give up attitude, and some great skills, we had achieved this great outcome. It had sure been a baptism of fire for the unlucky trainee driver, and he was going to get a well deserved break.

This whole thing to me shows what great skills coach drivers have, and how they can turn around a really bad situation by just not waiting and giving in. I praised them a lot and had good chat with them as I was up front.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Really interested to read the accounts from @Flange Squeal and @cambsy

I think I did some of that Hampshire stuff a few years ago when I visited Guildford and elsewhere in the dying days of Arriva. However, that day was best remembered by me for a woman in a cafe who was sat at a neighbouring table with her back to me. She asked if I had received my Covid jab; I hadn't - I was waiting to be summoned but she got up and left immediately on learning this. Very odd! That aside, I found Alton to be a charming town and the whole area very nice.

The Citylink trip looked like a real adventure in so many ways. Very "exciting" and a bit different from the usual

 

[RELL6L]

Two interesting reports here. Sounds hair-raising trying to get past jack-knifed vehicles in Glencoe! Not sure I would fancy going out on a day like that...
Interesting the diverted Stagecoach South 13. The 38 through Selborne is also mainly double deckers and this is an attractive area.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Sad to say, a trip report with fewer jack-knifed vehicles and winter scenery. However, I hope you enjoy it just the same.

I've done a few Devon trips, and in Cornwall in recent years. However, it's been a while since I'd been out to the western part of Devon, probably in the early days of the SW Falcon (2016?) and a trip that wended its way from Plymouth via Dartmouth and Torbay back to Exeter. This time, I had to head to Devon and then with the day to myself, could explore.

I began in the lovely town of Totnes - a town I've been too many times and is well recommended. Once home to a Western National garage and a First outstation, this is now firmly Stagecoach Devon though Tally Ho! still operate to Salcombe. My first bus was the Stagecoach GOLD service - it's no longer a Gold service, and in fact, the buses now interwork in Plymouth so it's definitely standard Stagecoach fare, and so I bought by Devon Bus ticket and relaxed on an e400mmc new to Plymouth depot. It wasn't a great day with heavy cloud and drizzle but a pleasant enough trip through rolling Devon countryside, passing through the town of Ivybridge; I'd not been there before and didn't seem to have much to attract me off the bus. We had a decent load regularly picking up punters. We arrived into Plymouth on time - last time I was there, it was the old Bretonside bus station but that's thankfully gone and all buses now serve a range of stops on Royal Parade.


Plymouth city centre


Less good Plymouth - Poundshop, TUI, Charity Shop, H Samuel, Charity Shop

Plymouth was extensively bombed during WW2, illustrated by the bombed out Charles Church on Exeter St. The area around Royal Parade is the 1950s reconstruction, though a 1970s shopping centre was also built at Drake Circus. That was replaced in 2006 with a larger swankier structure and so Royal Parade is now home to lots of lower end stores with many empty units, showing the decline of the high street but also how the city centre shopping offer has shifted. I had chance to grab breakfast and then wander back out for a short hop to Milehouse and the Plymouth Citybus depot that is ironically home to a First outstation for local contract work. A ten year old e400 was my steed, driven by a man still enjoying his Bee Network attire from a secondment to Greater Manchester. I have to say that the Plymouth fleet is quite peachy, with a 56 plate e200 belching black smoke and a number of quite old Omnidekkas and e400s; feels like the new vehicle investment has been pointed towards the Cornish tendered ops rather than Plymouth.


First vehicles in Go Ahead territory

Tamar Bridge in the mist

Soggy Saltash

This was a short break as I then caught the 2A to Saltash. This is a main Stagecoach corridor though Go Ahead still operate through with their Go Cornwall operations. The gloom was descending as we headed on our modern e200mmc through St Budeaux and then to the Tamar Bridge. The bus has a dedicated route to the bridge but then has to take its turn with the regular traffic. I had time to have a look round Saltash - it doesn't take long, and I'd not recommend it as a tourist spot. Fortunately, my next bus was on its way, albeit a bit late. It was the 12 to Callington that was historically Western National's 76. It was a very mature machine - an ex London e400 (06 plate) that was a bit basic internally. By now, the mist had closed in and the views were not brilliant. Oh, and I had to pay £2 - I was solely in Cornwall now, and we had a few passengers heading North. We arrived into Callington on time and I had chance to wander around. It's a tiny town and not exactly kicking on a wet day as it was by now. However, Callington had been a late recipient of post war bus infrastructure spending when Western National had built a brand new depot and associated offices nearby in 1961. The depot is long gone, demolished and a supermarket on the site. However, the offices that constituted a sort of bus station. The old travel office is a newsagent, and the drivers welfare/inspectors offices are now a cafe. On vacating the depot, Western National had a compound which lasted til First days who then closed it. However, it reopened under Go Ahead and so a couple of e200s were sat in there. A third one duly arrived - it was my 79 to Tavistock. Now this could well have been an incredibly scenic run and I'm sure it is around Calstock and Gunnislake but the mist was now fog and only tantalising glimpses of viaducts and estuaries could be gained. I shared the bus with a couple who knew the driver of old, an old boy, and a teenage goth who reluctantly disentangled herself from her boyfriend. Surprising, all but the young girl stayed on, and we picked up a few others en route so a surprising load of about 8/9 into Tavistock on a wet afternoon.


Callington and my e400 plus the offices that were once Western National


Tavistock bus station - oversized and a bit crap


A wet Tavistock and the rail viaduct in the background

Tavistock bus station was also once home to an adjacent bus depot (again long gone) and the facility is both too grand for what it is, but also a bit duff. The information cases are a bit haphazard and it's not a great place to wait for a bus with the shelters now exactly providing much shelter. I wandered into town and bought one of the worst sausage rolls I've ever had. Two bites and in the bin! There was also a glimpse of the viaduct that rail enthusiasts think will once enable an inland route across Dartmoor to be resurrected. The train might be extended to Tavi from the south but no more. Stagecoach has the majority of the bus services in the area, despite the Go Cornwall and Dartline vehicles visiting. Stagecoach, I think, still maintains an outstation (despite closing others) locally, and one of the regular e400mmc allocated duly arrived. I have to say that whilst Go Ahead's fleet in Plymouth is a bit elderly, Stagecoach's is better though again, it probably needs some investment as not much has arrived in the last 4-5 years. My final bus of the day would take me across the southern edge of Dartmoor, passing through Yelverton, and enjoying the atmospheric gloom of the mist. We headed into one of the Plymouth Park and Rides and then via Derriford Hospital whilst the route enjoys commendable amounts of bus lane though it resulted in a lot of waiting time. I got off just near Plymouth station, and was then relieved of £9 for the train back to Totnes.

Devon CC do a good job of supporting buses, and Plymouth City Council seems decent too. The two main operators are pretty competent but they do need to start investing in the Devon operations. Stagecoach has 10 new Solos heading for Torbay/Exeter (?) but otherwise, much of the fleet is getting on a bit. Go Ahead is even more challenged and the image for them seems confused. Still, everything operated and was generally fine - just a shame on the weather. Hope you enjoyed the read