Trips by Bus and Coach: Your reports

[TheGrandWazoo]

New trip report!

Last Monday, I travelled across to see a friend of mine in Skegness from Chesterfield using only service buses.

Leg one: Stagecoach East Midlands - Pronto

Still sporting the Trentbarton-esque Pronto livery, 10979 was my chariot between Chesterfield and Nottingham. Running every 10 minutes between Nottingham and Mansfield, with half-hourly extensions to Chesterfield, the Pronto service connects places such as Winsick, Glapwell, Pleasley, Ravenshead and Daybrook. Arriving into Nottingham roughly 10 minutes late, I grabbed some breakfast and got some quick photos whilst I had time.

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Leg two: Central Connect - 93

The 93 had just been extended to Nottingham, originally running between Bingham and Grantham. It has also been upgraded to an hourly service.

I'll be honest, being crammed into a bread van for an hour-long journey isn't pleasant. I was the only passenger between Nottingham and Bottesford; and at an assumption, the only passenger sub-65 years old at all!

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Leg three: Stagecoach East Midlands - 1

A fairly straight shot upwards from Grantham towards Lincoln aboard ex-North East Trident2 19201. There's some lovely scenery between the two locations.
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Shown is Wellingore All Saints Church in, you guessed it, Wellingore!
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Leg four: Stagecoach East Midlands - 56

I didn't manage to get a photo of the vehicle, but Skegness' 11737 was my noble steed from Lincoln, through Horncastle and into Skegness. Being used to Stagecoach Yorkshire's next stop anoucements being a recorded voice, the text-to-speech announcements on board this vehicle seemed lower quality. Direct and clear however, so no complaints there.

Thanks for sharing - I imagine that Grantham to Lincoln service is pleasant but that the e400 is showing its age, having been hammered around the streets of Newcastle.

I really must get a trip to Lincolnshire in. A county I really don't know so thanks for the info.

As I reported earlier, last Wednesday I was in Yorkshire overnight and able to take a further trip for the morning. I had a route in mind to head for which I am sure I have been advised of some time ago, quite possibly by @TheGrandWazoo, but I can’t find any record of this on the forum. This tied in well with another couple of routes I had not previously done. So I started at the East Yorkshire depot in Elloughton on the way into Hull. A number of vehicles inside the depot, all looking pretty smart, mostly heading out on school services while my 55 to Hull, a Volvo B9TL, arrived from an earlier return trip to Hull. The 55 route operates west of Elloughton as far as Goole but there is no peak service from any of these villages towards Hull which seems quite a gap. The bus took us through Brough and a couple of smaller villages, then a business park alongside the A63 where some passengers alighted, and then headed into Hull. All was going well, indeed we were early, until we hit a very slow moving queue just before we got to Anlaby Road in Hull. Anlaby Road itself was OK as there is a bus lane all the way along but the other traffic was moving incredibly slowly. After the hospital the road ahead was closed so I alighted here to walk straight on into the city centre. Police had closed a number of roads with ambulances and fire trucks also in evidence and some places were even not accessible by foot, notably the junction of Anlaby Road and Ferensway, and I had to divert through the station forecourt and cross central flowerbeds in Ferensway, although there were no cars here. It was clear that buses from all directions were very badly delayed, our bus actually being least affected although it missed out all the town centre stops. I learned afterwards that a man had threatened to throw himself from a roof and the city was paralysed until mid morning. This was not looking good for my onward journey – I had researched what it did previously and it was already 25 minutes late. There was nothing I could do now though so I bought some breakfast and enjoyed a short wander round the city centre, devoid of cars and largely devoid of people too.

I arrived back at the Interchange in time for my next bus which was showing as ‘on time’, although I did not have a great deal of faith in this as I knew the planned bus was now about 45 minutes late heading to Hymers College. I was hoping that East Yorkshire would have someone ‘in control’ who would prioritise departures and swap buses round to maintain key services – classing my chosen one as key of course! It seems they did just that, as shortly after the scheduled arrival time a driver turned up at the stand and said that he had driven the inward journey, been relieved at the bus station, there was a problem with the bus as well as the traffic and another bus was on its way for him. A couple of minutes later he revised that to say that he had been given authority to take another bus from elsewhere in the bus station. Unfortunately this meant a single decker Volvo B8RLE MCV Evora for my next two journeys instead of the scheduled B9TL double decker but that was better than no bus at all!

So, about 10 minutes late, we departed the bus station on the 24 to Hornsea. I was right about key services, being a sunny day there were many people who wished to take the bus to the coast and we picked up in the city centre and at many stops heading out of town. Some were making local journeys, as the local services were in greater chaos, but many were taking a longer journey. We did not quite have standing passengers but a good load and we were still about 10 minutes late as we arrived at Hornsea. I have been to Hornsea before, previously I arrived from Withernsea and departed to Bridlington, spending all my time in the sea front area, this time I wanted to see the area around the market place and this worked well with the timetables. As my 24 would travel 10 minutes each way to the old depot before turning round and heading back as a 25 I knew I should have at least 20 minutes or so here. This gave me time to head over to close to Hornsea Mere and look around the quieter bits of the centre of town before moving on.

The same Volvo B8RLE, with the same driver, then retraced our steps virtually on time as far as Leven before heading out on the 25 to Beverley. It was market day in Beverley and this journey was also very busy, we did have standing passengers arriving into Beverley, slightly delayed by a level crossing. I have been to Beverley a couple of times before but I enjoyed a decent break here exploring some of the side streets and also visiting the famous Beverley Bar, in years gone by some East Yorkshire double deckers were especially bodied to fit through this – it has long since been bypassed by other roads and now shows a height limit of 9’9”!

From Beverley I was able to take the main route I had come here to travel. This only runs on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays with one or two trips a day. Had I been an hour later coming up from Hull and Hornsea I would have missed it. This was the East Yorkshire 143 back to Elloughton, run exclusively by double deckers, on school days between school contracts but also on other days, as this is pretty much all that Elloughton depot has. Loading up we took on about 25 passengers, which was impressive for a market day service. We headed west out of Beverley through the pretty but clearly wealthy village of Walkington and then into the real East Yorkshire Wolds, turning north to go to the village of North Newbald. Very rural stuff, about 7 or 8 passengers alighted here and in the nearby and even smaller village of Hotham. Fabulous rolling scenery here. Then we turned south and joined up with the 55 route west of Elloughton, dropping off a number of passengers in North Cave and South Cave and one even at the prison between them. After South Cave we headed off the main 55 route to visit Ellerker and Brantingham, two other small pretty villages. No-one got off here but one passenger joined at Ellerker, where this route is the only bus service. Then we were back at Elloughton, where I alighted and headed home.

A slightly disjointed day with the disruption in Hull, but credit to East Yorkshire for making some decisions and keeping services running. Very easy to say ‘chaos in Hull, various services not running’, but the shoppers heading into Beverley would not have been impressed. And I strongly recommend visiting the 143 route, great Wolds scenery!

Some photos of the day:
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Hull

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Hull

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Hornsea Mere

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Hornsea

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Beverley, showing the Beverley Bar archway

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East Yorkshire wolds near North Newbald

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North Newbald

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South Cave

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Ellerker

It was me, I think, that recommended the 143 @RELL6L I did it on a cold and clear day in December 1994 when you could see from the Wolds across to the power stations at Drax, Eggborough and Ferrybridge. As in those days, it was a market day service and used a decker from Elloughton depot (though it was a 1981 VR then).

It's a cracker of a route on a sunny day - in fact, EY has a good few lovely routes to enjoy. Not been on that operator for a few years but can't fit them all in!

ps Hull city centre is looking much better these days. I was there with work (c.2017) and it was much improved. Sadly, I then had to go up Hessle Road to see a potential customer...not so good.

 

[GusB]

Thursday last week was MOT day for my trusty chariot, so I decided that it'd be nice to have a day out courtesy of Stagecoach. Drop-off time for the car was 11.30 and I set out around 10.30; travel time from home is only about 20 minutes, but I wanted to pay a visit to Harry Gow's for a coffee and a bacon roll beforehand.

Feeling a little less hungry, I dropped the car off and headed to the nearest bus stop. I had no real plan about where I wanted to go, but I was advised that I'd receive a call from the garage around 15.00. How could I do the maximum number of journeys within the time available and which ticket would be best? I opted for the Moray DayRider and the next bus was the Aberdeen-bound 35; I decided that I'd plan my next move while on the move.

The bus turned up and I hopped aboard. I do quite like the Enviro 400s (it's a bit of a novelty to travel on a decker these days) but it seems to me that they're missing a gear; they're fine for town, but not quite suited to country work. At that point I began looking at timetables - I knew that I wanted to sample one of the new Yutong electrics at some point through the day and tried to figure out how I could make it work. I thought that it would be a good idea to alight in Fochabers and use the time to grab a meal deal from the Co-op while I waited. My heart sank slightly when I realised that the M96 bypasses Fochabers!

Plan B! There was a 10 due and it'd get me to Keith in time to catch the M96 leaving just after 13.00, in theory... As it turned out, everything that was coming from Inverness was delayed at Nairn by around 40 minutes. The M96 service from Aberdeen that I had intended to catch back from Keith was showing as on time and I knew that there was no way I'd make it.

Plan C? The timetable said that I'd probably missed the next Aberdeen-bound M96, but if the delays were so severe there might be a chance of making it. So I decided to hoof it to Baxter's (of beetroot fame) where the service does stop. 10 minutes walk, I told myself... 20 minutes later, I arrived at the stop and the bus had disappeared from the Stagecoach app. Surely I couldn't have missed it? I'd have seen it go past. By then, the Inverness-bound bus that I had originally intended to catch from Keith was getting closer and I considered giving up and heading back to Elgin. Unfortunately, it appeared in the distance and I knew that there was no way I'd be able to cross the road and leg it down to the stop on the other side of the road in time. Eventually, the late runner turned up and I was on my way.

I have to say that I have mixed feelings about the Yutong TCe12. It was very smooth while accelerating and it made short work of the climbing lane coming out of Fochabers. The interior was nice enough and the air conditioning was absolutely spot on (it was a rather warm day). The seats were okay, although I wouldn't want to be any bigger. My main gripe was the transmission - these coaches are doing the full Inverness to Aberdeen run and I really wouldn't want to be doing an end-to-end journey. There's a high-pitched whine while it's under power and that could easily drive me mad; fortunately I was only doing a short hop. The other issue I had was with the automated announcements; I hate them with a passion but I understand why they're there but they really don't give enough warning when approaching a stop.

Anyhow, having arrived in Keith and in need of a comfort break, I was pleased to see that there are still facilities available at Reidhaven Square. I was also pleased to note that there was a 10 due from Aberdeen and it arrived bang on time. My return steed was one of the 2017 Elites that I've grown rather fond of and I wasn't disappointed to discover that the driver had a rather heavy right foot! Volvo 2, Yutong 1! Arrival back in Elgin was bang on time.

Next was a hurl "roon the toon" on X25HBS, an Enviro 200MMC. I'd never done the Elgin part of the 33A/C route before and I hadn't realised that it went round that many houses! My final journey of the day was on another Elite on the 10, on the way back to the garage to pick up the car that I was assured was ready (it actually failed the MOT and wasn't ready, but that's another story...).

All in all, it was a fairly enjoyable day. My biggest regret is not having a better plan to start with, although traffic delays would have buggered that up anyway. What is really frustrating is that late-running journeys disappear from the Stagecoach app once they're beyond the due time. When you're standing at a stop that has real-time information that says a bus is due and the app says something different, it just creates confusion.

Next time, methinks I'll go west with an Inverness Zone 4.

 

[RELL6L]

Thanks for sharing - I imagine that Grantham to Lincoln service is pleasant but that the e400 is showing its age, having been hammered around the streets of Newcastle.

I really must get a trip to Lincolnshire in. A county I really don't know so thanks for the info.

It was me, I think, that recommended the 143 @RELL6L I did it on a cold and clear day in December 1994 when you could see from the Wolds across to the power stations at Drax, Eggborough and Ferrybridge. As in those days, it was a market day service and used a decker from Elloughton depot (though it was a 1981 VR then).

It's a cracker of a route on a sunny day - in fact, EY has a good few lovely routes to enjoy. Not been on that operator for a few years but can't fit them all in!

ps Hull city centre is looking much better these days. I was there with work (c.2017) and it was much improved. Sadly, I then had to go up Hessle Road to see a potential customer...not so good.

Thank you, I thought it was you - good call. Still a cracking route and well used. I agree on central Hull, this is now a pretty decent place to look around.

Thanks @GusB for your report from the Elgin area. I would just love to have a sunny day exploring the towns and villages along the 35, as well as the route itself. Could spend a whole day doing just that...

Surprisingly I was able to take a third trip within eight days last Tuesday. This time I chose to visit Manchester for my first visit since the full implementation of the Bee Network. I started in Stagecoach territory using the park and ride at Hazel Grove, a free and useful but very underused facility, hopping straight onto a 192 for the short ride into Stockport. My bus was a modern ADL E400 City from the huge batch Stagecoach took last year. It was school holidays back home and I had assumed it would be in Manchester also, but it wasn’t and we started hitting traffic but I was early enough into Stockport that it wasn’t yet bad.

I have only been to Stockport once before and I knew that within the heart of the city centre was a decent area of narrow streets, few cars, shops and a market hall. After buying some breakfast I headed into this area in the early morning light and it is indeed very attractive, not what one would expect for a large metropolitan town. The market hall is charming but looks slightly fragile. Well worth a wander round here. My next leg was a marathon journey of 1hr 45 minutes for a journey which would take little over 15 minutes on the train. This was also with Stagecoach and was the 11 to Altrincham. My bus was a 12-plate ADL E400 and we started slowly, taking over 5 minutes to exit the bus station; the traffic lights were red for ages on the bus station exit but there was pretty much no other traffic either – what about some bus priority here? The route heads out through middle class areas such as Cheadle and Gatley before hitting Wythenshawe, where it winds all over the place around the town centre and hospital. There is a bus station in Wythenshawe town centre and another one at the hospital, plenty of Metroline vehicles around these parts, many still in Stagecoach colours with Bee Network stickers. The hospital bus station had notices warning that this was for buses only but even in the short time we paused there two cars arrived, stopped in the bus stop area, the drivers got out, new drivers got in and they drove away, clearly these were Metroline staff cars for driver changes. Most noticeable on the lengthy route 11 was how few passengers there were, most of ours took relatively short journeys while the ones we passed seemed to have very few passengers at least upstairs. Although the traffic in Stockport was heavy due to roadworks we had to wait time a few times as we were early and we arrived at Altrincham interchange 4 minutes ahead of time. I thought there were a notable number of buses running ‘Not in Service’ in this part of Greater Manchester – is that a feature of the distance between depots and routes or of the way the operators choose to run their services?

Altrincham is a more middle class town than Stockport but also has an attractive market hall, this one more substantially built, and some attractive streets in the town centre and I had time for a short stroll here, including to Goose Green, which those of us of a certain age remember as a location of military significance in the Falkland islands but here is a cobbled square with cafes. From Altrincham I took the Metroline 263, which largely parallels the Metrolink tram up through Sale to Stretford. There were a decent number of passengers all the way, either because it was cheaper or simply more convenient. I alighted briefly in Stretford but soon continued my journey into Manchester city centre on a Metroline 256, my bus being an ADE class ADL E400 EV. This was the first time I had been on one of these electric double deckers and it seemed pretty refined, not full of rattles and pretty smooth. We passed Old Trafford and the area of Hulme approaching the city centre close to Castlefield. I alighted here as one of my main plans was to visit parts of the canals around the Castlefield Basin area. Many years ago I passed through here in a boat but the change since then has been huge, the whole canalside area has been reinvigorated and it is now very attractive and popular for leisure including canalside pubs and cafes. I then walked up past the Peterloo Massacre memorial, the library and the town hall, although the town hall is annoyingly still wrapped in plastic. I passed through St Peters Square to the Piccadilly Gardens area from where I continued my journey.

The next leg was to Oldham on either the 83 or 84 with Stagecoach. The lack of places for buses to wait time while terminating in central Manchester affects the services here, as a bus late arriving will invariably mean it is late leaving. An 83 came first, this being an older 08-plate E400 in Stagecoach stripes. Although we left on time we were nearly 10 minutes late heading through Failsworth with more slow traffic due to a road closure in Oldham town centre. At Failsworth I noted a batch of double deckers in Bee Network yellow parked up in an area north of the main road – could these be the unloved Scanias? I am pretty sure they were. Several of the ex-Oxford Volvo B5LHs were working in the Oldham area and these looked pretty smart. I didn’t have long at Oldham as I was now heading for the highlight scenic journey of my day, the Diamond 356 out into the Pennines. For some reason all the Diamond routes had vanished from BusTimes although on the map the buses themselves still showed and I could see that my incoming vehicle, a Mellor Strata, was pretty much on time. We set off on time and headed off going round an estate on the east side of Sholver and then on to Denshaw. After Sholver this is real hilly Pennine country with the scenery to match and it was stunning on a sunny April day. Denshaw was lovely and then it was into Delph before more diversions and deviations and more cracking scenery around Uppermill and Saddleworth Moor. A great bit of the Pennines within Greater Manchester. The hourly 356 seems to be a route that knits together lots of uncommercial sections, visiting well-to-do Dobcross, a less glamorous estate in Diggle, a very narrow estate in Greenfield and another one in Mossley. I understand that there is a further deviation not currently covered because sometimes it is necessary to use E200s on the route and they cannot go that way, but I am not sure where this is. We were held up by a few road works and were a little late by the time I alighted in Mossley Market Place, this area being referred to as Top Mossley as opposed to the area by the railway station which is Bottom Mossley.

My next leg was another Diamond Bus and I could see this was running late from the map on BusTimes so I had a few minutes in Top Mossley. I had been here before one freezing early morning in December 2022, this time it was now quite warm with people enjoying the sunshine. In due course my bus arrived, another E200 on the Diamond 343 towards Hyde. This is another route sticking together some more uncommercial sections with a long loop around Brocklehurst before a double-run to Carrbrook and then to Stalybridge and the edge of Dukinfield. I had never been to Dukinfield before and I alighted here, walking to the very attractive town hall. Not much else in Dukinfield though and I then took the Stagecoach 330 to Hyde on an E400 MMC. The town hall at Hyde is good too but, being on the west side of the road, did not photograph as well at this time of day. I continued two buses later on a Wright Streetdeck, unusual buses for Stagecoach, on the 330 to Stockport. The first journey was pretty busy but the second one was quiet. We had been delayed slightly by roadworks in Dukinfield but were much more delayed by further roadworks on the approach to Stockport with the actual route, along Carrington Road, being closed. I alighted at the edge of the town centre and wandered back to the market hall area which was much busier in the early evening than it had been in the early morning. Heading back to the Mersey Square area I had just missed a 192 back to Hazel Grove but a High Peak Citaro on the 199 to Buxton appeared, running around half an hour late, so I took this back to Hazel Grove to grab my car and head home.

Thoughts on the Bee Network? Well, some of the routes are very frequent and I am not sure there are enough passengers for them all, while several less frequent routes, eg the 356 and 343, had plenty of custom. A bit more bus priority would be helpful, in some places the traffic lights seemed timed to help the cars get through but not the slower buses. And the roadworks – for goodness sake get a grip on the roadworks and the companies given free rein to dig up roads where and when they like! I didn’t see much of Go North West in the phase 1 area, Stagecoach in phase 2 and Stockport are getting there with most buses in yellow, while phase 3 Metroline still have some way to go with lots of buses still in Stagecoach colours, although of course they have been going for a much shorter time.

Scenically, Central Manchester by the canal is great on a sunny day, Stockport and Altrincham have great town centres and the Saddleworth area of Tameside is glorious in good weather. A most enjoyable day.

A selection of photos from the day:

Altrincham market hall


Altrincham Goose Green


Canalside in Manchester near Castlefield


Manchester library


Pennines, near Denshaw


Saddleworth, near Mossley


Dukinfield town hall


Stockport, a back street


Stockport market hall

 

[ChrisC]

@RELL6L I had a few days in Manchester last September and endured the number 11 between Altrincham and Stockport. I’d been walking around the National Trust Gardens and Parkland at Dunham Massey just to the west of Altrincham and arrived at the Interchange, saw a bus just about to depart for Stockport, and got on it. I hadn’t realised it was such an indirect route and I was so bored by the time I‘d been around almost every housing estate in Wythenshawe. If only I hadn’t made such a spur of the moment decision I would have realised there there were quicker options. I also had a good explore of those interesting old streets up the hill in the older part of Stockport. I found the area quite fascinating and also had a very good pizza in a restaurant on that street in your photo just under the bridge.

I really like the area around Uppermill and Saddleworth Moor. It’s an area that I explored years ago by car but must do it again by bus. On another of my days out whilst in Manchester I got the number 84 out to Uppermill. After a walk around Uppermill and along the canal I continued my journey on the 184 Huddersfield bus up over the moors and down the other side as far as Marsden. I then enjoyed a drink in the Riverhead Brewery Tap before doing the short walk over the railway and along the lane to Tunnel End at the eastern end of the Standedge Tunnel and then returned along the canal.

 

[RELL6L]

@RELL6L I had a few days in Manchester last September and endured the number 11 between Altrincham and Stockport. I’d been walking around the National Trust Gardens and Parkland at Dunham Massey just to the west of Altrincham and arrived at the Interchange, saw a bus just about to depart for Stockport, and got on it. I hadn’t realised it was such an indirect route and I was so bored by the time I‘d been around almost every housing estate in Wythenshawe. If only I hadn’t made such a spur of the moment decision I would have realised there there were quicker options. I also had a good explore of those interesting old streets up the hill in the older part of Stockport. I found the area quite fascinating and also had a very good pizza in a restaurant on that street in your photo just under the bridge.

I really like the area around Uppermill and Saddleworth Moor. It’s an area that I explored years ago by car but must do it again by bus. On another of my days out whilst in Manchester I got the number 84 out to Uppermill. After a walk around Uppermill and along the canal I continued my journey on the 184 Huddersfield bus up over the moors and down the other side as far as Marsden. I then enjoyed a drink in the Riverhead Brewery Tap before doing the short walk over the railway and along the lane to Tunnel End at the eastern end of the Standedge Tunnel and then returned along the canal.

Agreed on the 11. I knew what I was letting myself in for with the long journey but other options, eg 370/371 or the train, are much quicker.

Uppermill is delightful by the canal. I have also taken the 184 ‘over the top’ to Huddersfield, stopping at Marsden and Slaithwaite on the way, also great canal villages.

And the old part of Stockport is charming!

 

[ian1944]

Stockport was of course North Western Road Car territory, with the company's HQ and main garage in Charles Street among classical terraced housing. At the time of posting, Google Streetview has a continuity oddity as you go eastwards. You see the garage ahead empty and to let as you approach, then when alongside there is modern so-called affordable housing.