Trivia: Historically longer bus routes

[Open top 80]

Rochdale to Matlock Bath (460)
Huddersfield to Crich Tramway museum (901) on Summer Sundays and bank holidays during the 90s

 

[Russel]

Transpeak used to run Nottingham-Derby-Matlock-Bakewell-Buxton-Manchester. It was cut back to Derby, then withdrawn from Manchester to Buxton alongside the Northern timetable uplift in 2018. Today it runs Bakewell-Buxton with some journeys to Derby

All journeys except the first and last run all the way through from Derby to Buxton.

Bustimes.org is your friend...

 

[gnolife]

Transpeak used to run Nottingham-Derby-Matlock-Bakewell-Buxton-Manchester. It was cut back to Derby, then withdrawn from Manchester to Buxton alongside the Northern timetable uplift in 2018. Today it runs Bakewell-Buxton with some journeys to Derby

All TPs seem to run Derby to Buxton, except the first and last on Mondays to Fridays, which run only as far as Matlock

(Sorry, hadn't seen post 62 when I wrote this)

 

[Springs Branch]

In 1977, there was a hourly 39 bus between Liverpool and Tyldesley with two hourly extensions to Manchester during Merseyside PTE and Greater Manchester PTE days

In the same era, there was a two-hourly 32 between Wigan and Manchester, which was timed with the 39 to provide an hourly service on the Atherton - Tyldesley - Manchester common part of the route. The vehicle arriving into Manchester (Greengate) on a 32 then departed as a 39, and vice versa.

In GM Buses & First days the 32 was improved to become half-hourly on the full route between Wigan and Manchester and was part of the Express (= Limited stop) network. Then it went into decline - the 32 was cut back to Wigan-Ellenbrook after the Leigh Busway opened, then was axed completely.

Anyone who has ever endured a slow, tedious end-to-end bus ride along the narrow, winding and always-congested roads of Hindley, Atherton and Tyldesley would understand why any sensible person travelling between Wigan & Manchester takes the train.

Nowadays you have to change at St Helens and Leigh if you wanted to travel between Liverpool and Manchester.

Similarly there are now no direct buses between Wigan and central Manchester. You need to change buses in Leigh or Atherton / Tyldesley for the Leigh Guided Busway, or take your chances with jams on the M60 and go via the Trafford Centre.

The other former bus route between Manchester and Wigan was the ex-LUT 38, which ran half-hourly via the A6 to either Westhoughton, Hindley or all the way through to Wigan. The 38 was steadily pared back post-deregulation. At one stage it was just a couple of peak-hour trips between Daisy Hill and Manchester - I'm not sure if the 38 disappeared completely for a time.

Today, the Bee Network 38 follows the majority of the old LUT/GMT route along the A6, terminating at Logistics North industrial estate at Little Hulton.

 

[chiltern trev]

Back in NBC days Crosville had the C84 between Chester and Newcastle U L later extended to Hanley. Now Stagecoach operate between Chester and Crewe as 84 and D and G operate a 85 between Nantwich and Newcastle via Crewe but it uses a different route between Nantwich and Crewe.
In Wales Crosville ran a Chester to Barmouth service now cut back to Wrexham and Chester to Rhyl services are now split at Holywell with Arriva. Others may be able to expand on those services.

At one time there was the L1 Chester to Caernarvon. Now multiple splits. Caernarvon to Llandudno, Llandudno to Rhyl, and the Rhyl Chester split as mentioned. In parallel to the L1 was the A1/A2 Caernarvon to Chester.

Also X95 Carlisle Hawick Galashiels Edinburgh - thanks to the successful Borders railway it now runs as Carlisle Galashiels and Hawick Edinburgh.

 

[daodao]

Other long Crosville routes that spring to mind and are now split into shorter ones include:

E29/30 Manchester - Alderley - Macclesfield No longer possible to travel directly from Manchester City Centre to Macclesfield by one bus.

The North West Road Car Company (NWRCC) used to run a large number of outdistrict services from several central Manchester termini/bus stations (Chorlton Street, Lower Mosley Street, Piccadilly and Stevenson Square), typically jointly with local municipal operators. Those few that survive have mostly been truncated to start in the ring of towns surrounding Manchester, and partly re-routed. Examples that I recall particularly include:

• 27 Manchester Lower Mosley Street to Buxton via Stockport and Disley: still extant as High Peak 199 between Stockport and Buxton, and now extended to the Airport
• 28 Manchester Lower Mosley Street to Hayfield via Stockport: still extant as Stagecoach route 358, but curtailed to run from Stockport only
• 29/30 Manchester Lower Mosley Street (29) and Chorlton Street (30) to Macclesfield via Birchfields Road/Kingsway (29) and Longsight/Parrs Wood Road (30): still partly running as D&G route 130 from Macclesfield to Handforth, but now diverted to Wythenshawe and the Airport.
• 31 Manchester Piccadilly to Woodford: still extant as Stagecoach route 42B (awarded to Comfort del Gro for the forthcoming franchise)
• 32 Manchester Lower Mosley Street to Higher Poynton/Middlewood via Princess Road and Cheadle: completely withdrawn
• 36/37 Manchester Piccadilly to Warrington via Altrincham and Little Bollington: most journeys were curtailed to start at Altrincham before the demise of NWRCC, but still runs as Warrington route X5 between Altrincham and Warrington and now extended to the Airport. The route was suspended entirely for a period and only revived recently with closure of the alternative route via Dunham Massey to large buses.

The creation of SELNEC (which became GMPTE and subsequently TfGM) destroyed the NWRCC and led to major changes as illustrated above; I included former routes 31 and 32 as examples of completely retained and withdrawn routes, although they don't meet the OP's criteria.

 

[Typhoon]

The 192/X92 actually operated later on from Ludlow to Leominster and Hereford as well, replacing part of the 435 Shrewsbury - Ludlow - Hereford service.

Thanks for that. I thought it had gone to Hereford at one stage as I was pretty sure I had used it to get to Hereford and meet up with some people, we were going to Brecon (pretty certain the fare was £2.97 issued as 3 99p tickets) but wasn't 100%. Maybe after Ludlow garage closed?

 

[Deerfold]

Rochdale to Matlock Bath (460)
Huddersfield to Crich Tramway museum (901) on Summer Sundays and bank holidays during the 90s

They're withdrawn routes, though, which isn't what this thread asked for.

 

[LUYMun]

That was before even my time. I remember it existing as the 200 (Basingstoke-Camberley only) but there was a separate 201 during the same era going from Basingstoke-Alton.

I wonder if the 70s version of the 201 (above) is some kind of descendant of the Aldershot and District 1, which was something like Aldershot-Egham and is shown in the 1969 Timetable World timetable? (No trace of anything like this exists now, nor did it even in the late NBC era in the 80s).

It was indeed A&D's 1, which ran from Aldershot to Egham. As part of the late 1970s MAP network revisions, the 201 route was totally revised to run from Basingstoke to Heathrow Airport. I'm unsure of the 201's history thereafter, but the "short route" variants of the 1 (by then the 202 and 203) eventually became Stagecoach South's Gold 1 route, reinstating the historic number in 1997. The 1 nowadays goes as far as the Old Dean estate (or Yateley prior 2003), which at first glance may seem to be the original A&D route, whereas it's not the case historically.

 

[nw1]

It was indeed A&D's 1, which ran from Aldershot to Egham. As part of the late 1970s MAP network revisions, the 201 route was totally revised to run from Basingstoke to Heathrow Airport. I'm unsure of the 201's history thereafter, but the "short route" variants of the 1 (by then the 202 and 203) eventually became Stagecoach South's Gold 1 route, reinstating the historic number in 1997. The 1 nowadays goes as far as the Old Dean estate (or Yateley prior 2003), which at first glance may seem to be the original A&D route, whereas it's not the case historically.

Interesting: I don't remember the 202 or 203; "in my day" (late NBC/early privatisation Alder Valley) the 202 was Alton-Petersfield via Selborne and the 203 was the Alton town service. In general, the routes in the range 200-216 were centred on Alton, aside from the 200 Basingstoke-Camberley (which was also operated by Alton garage).

The Aldershot-Farnborough-Camberley axis was the 22/422 every 20 mins: the 22 terminating at Yateley (which then became the "modern" 1 as you say) and the 422 extending every two hours to Reading. I didn't travel on, or even observe, this route until 1987, so not sure what it was in the years immediately preceding deregulation. I'd hazard a guess at all journeys being numbered 422, Reading or not, as sub-100 numbers only really came back post-deregulation.

• 36/37 Manchester Piccadilly to Warrington via Altrincham and Little Bollington: most journeys were curtailed to start at Altrincham before the demise of NWRCC, but still runs as Warrington route X5 between Altrincham and Warrington and now extended to the Airport. The route was suspended entirely for a period and only revived recently with closure of the alternative route via Dunham Massey to large buses.

There was definitely a 37, operated variously by the "new" NWRCC or Warrington Transport, as late as the mid-to-late 90s, from Altrincham to Warrington only. Don't think there was a 36, but there was also a 38. One went via Dunham and the other went direct via the A56, I think the 37 was the direct one and the 38 was the Dunham one but don't quote me on that.

 

[LUYMun]

Interesting: I don't remember the 202 or 203; "in my day" (late NBC/early privatisation Alder Valley) the 202 was Alton-Petersfield via Selborne and the 203 was the Alton town service. In general, the routes in the range 200-216 were centred on Alton, aside from the 200 Basingstoke-Camberley (which was also operated by Alton garage).

The Aldershot-Farnborough-Camberley axis was the 22/422 every 20 mins: the 22 terminating at Yateley (which then became the "modern" 1 as you say) and the 422 extending every two hours to Reading. I didn't travel on, or even observe, this route until 1987, so not sure what it was in the years immediately preceding deregulation. I'd hazard a guess at all journeys being numbered 422, Reading or not, as sub-100 numbers only really came back post-deregulation.

When A&D merged with Thames Valley to become Alder Valley, a lot of route numbers were repeated across the company, so in 1974 it was decided that the Aldershot side would be entirely remembered. They were mostly increased in digits by 200, but when MAP was introduced the 202 and 203 were renumbered as the 442 and 443. I think it may have been closer to deregulation when the 422/22 numbers came around, presumably as Alder Valley South registered a number of existing routes to become commercial.

 

[py_megapixel]

The 130 from Macclesfield to Manchester was at one point one of Arriva's flagship "Sapphire" routes, but has experienced a gradual decline, first with the removal of the designated Sapphire vehicles, then with being cut back to East Didsbury. I believe Arriva then gave up on it entirely and were replaced by D&G Bus - they run an even shorter route, going the same way from Macclesfield as far as Handforth but then running through Heald Green to terminate at the Airport, instead of heading to Didsbury via Cheadle Hulme.

 

[PaulWC]

There was definitely a 37, operated variously by the "new" NWRCC or Warrington Transport, as late as the mid-to-late 90s, from Altrincham to Warrington only. Don't think there was a 36, but there was also a 38. One went via Dunham and the other went direct via the A56, I think the 37 was the direct one and the 38 was the Dunham one but don't quote me on that.

As you remember, it was the 38 that went via Dunham, which with the 37 gave a bus every half hour or so between Warrington and Altrincham. That carried on under North Western, Arriva, Warrington BT and Warrington Coachways. Arriva gave up and Warrington BT extended the 5 to Altrincham competing with Warrington Coachways on the 38 route. When Warrington Coachways ended, the 37 was replaced by a 35 with the whole thing run by Warrington BT.

Under Crosville, the 37 and 38 also extended across Warrington up to Sankey and Lingley Green from around 1986, maybe earlier. Crosville eventually replaced the Sankey extension with a Mini Lynx bus betweeen Sankey and Woolston in 1989.

At one time there was the L1 Chester to Caernarvon. Now multiple splits. Caernarvon to Llandudno, Llandudno to Rhyl, and the Rhyl Chester split as mentioned. In parallel to the L1 was the A1/A2 Caernarvon to Chester.

And in the late 80s, the L1 was renumbered X1 and for a while ran Wrexham - Chester - Llandudno - Bangor - Carenarfon - Porthmadog, with an alternate X4 which after Bangor went to Holyhead. They also tried an X5 which went past Chester to Manchester Airport. None very succesful and it was eventually cut back to its original route and shortened before eventually ending mid 90s.

 

[Statto]

20 Liverpool - Tower Hill & 21 Liverpool - Northwood, were much longer back in the day, they used to be 20 Aigburth - Tower Hill & 21 Aigburth - Northwood, via Liverpool City Centre, & at one time extended to Speke replacing the 82, after a few changes the 20 became Garston - Tower Hill, 21 was withdrawn but replaced by the 1 which was renumbered from F1, the 20 / 21 became today's routes in the 2006 Stagecoach network recast with the 21 being rerouted via the old 2 (formerly F2), the southern part of the route is now 82 Liverpool One Bus Station - Liverpool South Parkway.

 

[nw1]

When A&D merged with Thames Valley to become Alder Valley, a lot of route numbers were repeated across the company, so in 1974 it was decided that the Aldershot side would be entirely remembered. They were mostly increased in digits by 200, but when MAP was introduced the 202 and 203 were renumbered as the 442 and 443. I think it may have been closer to deregulation when the 422/22 numbers came around, presumably as Alder Valley South registered a number of existing routes to become commercial.

Interesting. I started noticing Alder Valley buses in detail around 1984, but I am aware now that the 2xx numbers for the Aldershot part of Alder Valley had a long history going back to the 70s. The 4xx numbers were always there in my memory, for example my earliest memory of the Aldershot-Guildford route was as the 452, before it reverted to the 20 at deregulation. Presumably it went through a phase of being the 220 before it was the 452.

A good example of the "adding 200" rule would be the 19 (Aldershot-Midhurst) becoming the 219. While some of the original numbers came back at deregulation, the 219 remained the 219 until May 1993 when it reverted to the 19 again. Didn't seem to happen in every case, though, for example the 34 (Guildford-Camberley) was the 284 by 1984, and the 21 (Guildford-Chiddingfold) became the 271 by the same time. Perhaps in the 70s these routes were numbered 234 and 221 respectively, for a time?

I'd assume the 22 came in at deregulation as a good number of routes took on sub-100 numbers then. Not sure about the 422 though.

 

[Roilshead]

Used to be a Yorkshire Woollen service 2 Ossett-Dewsbury-Brighouse-Halifax-Denholme-Keighley. It was running in 1966. Now there is a Halifax - Keighley 502 run by Transdev Team Pennine.

Round about 1968 (I'm away from home, so can't check sources) the hourly YWD 2 was combined with the hourly Hebble 2 (Halifax-Denholme-Bingley, which for much of the day just ran as a Cullingworth-Bingley shuttle, connecting with the YWD service) as 2/2A Ossett-Dewsbury-brighouse-Halifax-Denholme-Keighley/Bingley on alternate hours. The services were split at Halifax in the 1971 changes surrounding the dismemberment of Hebble. Halifax-Keighley/Bingley became Halifax JOC 2/1, whilst Ossett-Halifax became YWD 2. There was also YWD/West Riding 3 Wakefield-Ossett-Dewsbury-Brighouse-Hipperholme-Queensbury-Denholme-Cullingworth that at the same time was split at Brighouse, with a shortened Brighouse-Queensbury service becoming YWD 35 (hopelessly uneconomic, but presumably maintained to keep the rights to the lucrative Brighouse/Hipperholme/Shelf-Queensbury schools traffic) and the Wakefield-Brighouse section joined with YWD's Brighouse-Elland-Upper Edge operations as 79(?), with Yorkshire Traction and Halifax JOC replacing West Riding as joint operators. Under West Yorkshire PTE the 79 was diverted at Brighouse to take over the 35 (or 547 has it had become under WYPTE) - WYPTE as successors to Halifax JOC dropping out - whilst the 2 was diverted between Brighouse and Halifax to run via Elland, becoming 278, with Yorkshire Traction dropping out in favour of West Riding.

 

[JonathanH]

There were a number of routes between Reading and Aldershot. The 411 and 412 ran via Spencers Wood, Hartley Wintney, Fleet and Crookham. The 444, later 422, ran via Arborfield, Yateley, Camberley and Farnborough.

These days, the routes from Reading and Aldershot don't meet in the middle, with Reading Buses sending the 3 (on the 444 axis, later 422, 144) to Wokingham after Arborfield, and the 600 reaching Riseley on the 411 axis.

Reading is a fairly insular place in terms of bus services these days, particularly to the south, with only really the X40 to Oxford, 800/850 to High Wycombe and 4 to Bracknell linking it to other places of note.

The 2 route ends at Mortimer, stopping short of Tadley or Baughurst where it once ran as the 143/148/149, breaking any opportunity of a change for Basingstoke. The 127 only reaches Maidenhead on a Saturday.

 

[joieman]

Arriva Midlands East 29/29A used to run from Burton-Leicester. It now only runs as far as Swadlincote and some journeys I believe split at Coalville.

When I rode the 29A going to a church in Coalville on Sundays, I remember the 29/A was split at Coalville, with onward journeys continuing to Burton running as the 9/9A/9E.

The 126 used to run every half-hour from Coalville to Leicester via Loughborough during the daytime, but sometime during the mid-2010s the daytime services of the 126 were axed, being replaced by the service 16 which formerly ran from Coalville to Thringstone but was extended to Loughborough. Last month, the evening services of the 126 were also given the chop, being replaced by extra services on the 16 and 127 (Leicester - Loughborough - Shepshed), while the one morning 126 running towards Leicester only was renumbered as a 127.
Evidently, there was a coach service run by Midland Fox under their Foxhound brand called the X99, running between Birmingham and Nottingham via Tamworth, Ashby-de-la-Zouch and Loughborough. This by the 2000s morphed into the service 99 running between Coalville and Nottingham only, and eventually Arriva pulled the plug on their only regular bus service in Nottingham. This far happened before I can remember.

The section between Loughborough and Nottingham was taken over by Kinchbus as their service 9, but Nottingham-based Premiere ran a competing service, the X9 or Red 9, which terminated on Ashby Road in Loughborough, near the bottom end of the university campus. Kinchbus backed down, but hastily reinstated service between Loughborough town centre and Nottingham when Premiere suddenly went under in 2013.

The X9 wasn't the only example of an Interurban service terminating in a random place in the suburbs rather than in Loughborough town centre. Loughborough's own Paul S. Winson Coaches ran the service X27 between Loughborough and Rothley; at a time, it terminated at Thorpe Hill, presumably for school services; likewise, Centrebus's service 8 was similarly extended to Thorpe Hill at one point for school runs, but the plug seems to have been pulled on that, come 2020.

Lastly, Kinchbus's decades-old service 2 from Loughborough to Leicester via Quorn, Barrow-upon-Soar, Sileby and Cossington was truncated to Sileby in 2022, leaving the larger villages on the eastern side of the Soar Valley with public transport provision that I can only describe as pathetic, with absolutely no public transport provision on Sundays immediately afterwards. Nowadays that area is served by a rather non-cohesive network of bus services including only a handful of through journeys from Loughborough to Leicester run by Vectare as the 2X, only two buses every approximately eighty minutes to Loughborough during weekday daytimes (Kinchbus's service 2 running every 80 minutes and Centrebus's pre-existing service 27 which is similarly infrequent and less direct) and a bus service from Barrow to Leicester which in its present form is an odd appendage of Centrebus's service 22A between Birstall and Evington.

 

[Enthusiast]

Some of the London truncations have been mentioned. Thinking back to my "Red Rover" days, I recall a couple that haven't.

No 9 ran Monday - Saturday from Mortlake to Liverpool Street. However, on Sundays it was extended to Becontree Heath, more than doubling its route length. Today it runs from Aldwych to Hammersmith.

The 73 (my local route which I used daily to get to school) ran from Stoke Newington (with some garage runs from Tottenham (AR) garage) to Hounslow. But Mon-Saturday it operated in two parts: Stoke Newington to Richmond and Hammersmith (Kensington on Saturdays) to Hounslow. Living in Stoke Newington I only saw the RTLs from Tottenham and Mortlake (M) garages on weekdays. But on Sundays we were treated to the RTs from Hounslow (AV) that had made the long trip through the West End to North London. I think I'm right in saying that at that time the 73 was the only route to run the full length of Oxford Street.

Today it doesn't even manage that and is less than a shadow of its former self, running only from Stoke Newington to Oxford Circus.

An interesting feature struck me when I mentioned the garage runs from Tottenham. Back then, buses running off route to get to and from their garages usually carried passengers. Today they all run "Not in Service". Even many buses travelling along their line of route do this, usually during the peak-off peak transition period.

I used to live in North London. I can remember route 2 that ran from North Finchley to Crystal Palace. The 84 from Arnos Grove to St Albans and the 279 from Waltham Abbey to Smithfield Market. There were probably others including the 29 that ran to Victoria but I'm not sure from where.

In the 1960s the 29 ran from Victoria to South Mimms in Hertfordshire, with a peak hour extension to Borehamwood. Today it runs from Trafalgar Square to Wood Green.

Mustn't forget the Green Line coaches. The 715 springs to mind Hertford to Guildford.

There were some extremely long Green Line routes (bearing in mind that many of them traversed London and went through its busiest districts). The 715 was certainly one of them. I used to see coaches on that route at Finsbury Park and Manor House. I recall writing to London Transport asking which was the longest Green Line route (they had a "Public Relations Office" at 55 Broadway back then and the staff there were happy to respond to all manner of odd enquiries). They kindly sent me a list of the top ten longest routes (which I have lost) but I recall the 715 came in at a little shy of 60 miles. The winner, however, was the 713 which ran for 66 miles from Dorking via Epsom, Clapham, Victoria, Hyde Park Corner, Baker Street then out via Hendon, Elstree, St. Albans all the way to Dunstable. I cannot imagine how long such a journey would take today!

 

[Busaholic]

I think I'm right in saying that at that time the 73 was the only route to run the full length of Oxford Street.


In the 1960s the 29 ran from Victoria to South Mimms in Hertfordshire, with a peak hour extension to Borehamwood. Today it runs from Trafalgar Square to Wood Green.

Actually, the 8 ran the whole length including New Oxford Street in both directions.

I don't think the Borehamwood buses ever came near to Central London, unlike South Mimms buses. The 134 also ran from Pimlico, Dolphin Square to Potters Bar, with a through service working all day every day throughout the route.

I seem to remember the longest bus route in the 1960s though was the Sunday 133 South Croydon Garage to Hendon Central Station, with just the one garage allocated to run it, and all journeys from Hendon Central plying the whole route apart from the last ones.

Enjoy your memories and suggestions, please feel free to post more.

 

[bathbuses]

And a raft of West Country ones based on retaining the same number...

184 Bath to Frome - now Midsomer Norton to Frome
162 Wells to Frome - now Shepton Mallet to Frome
21 Taunton to Burnham on Sea - for a brief period, it was extended to Weston super Mare but thankfully unpicked
D1 Bath to Salisbury - now Bath to Warminster
271-3 Bath to Urchfont/Easterton - now Bath to Devizes
87 Salisbury to Andover - now curtailed at Middle Wallop
X3 Salisbury to Poole - now curtailed at Bournemouth
X53 Bournemouth to Exeter - now only runs Weymouth to Axminster
155 Barnstaple to Exeter - now runs only Barnstaple to South Molton
398 Tiverton to Minehead - now runs Tiverton to Dulverton
99 Taunton to Yeovil - now runs as First 99 Taunton to Chard, and SWC 96 Chard to Yeovil

635 Chippenham to Marshfield used to run through to Bristol. It was then separated into two halves (both numbered 635 but tendered by different local authorities) and operated by First (Bristol to Marshfield) and Faresaver. Faresaver then won the other half and it resumed as a through route, but later reverted to two halves with First regaining what was then the 35. 635 still runs as Chippenham to Marshfield but the 35 now only runs to Kingswood but is now run by Faresaver again!

There are countless examples I've missed, plus plenty of other long routes in the mists of time that have been dismembered and are now covered by an array of different services, all with different numbers

To add another from that area, 19 Bath to Bristol Parkway used to go to Cribbs Causeway until recently

 

[Zamracene749]

note that GNE X21 is actually a continuation of former OK 700 that latterly reused the 724 number

Sort of. IIRC the OK 700 didn't serve Durham city, operating direct from Framwellgate moor to Nevilles Cross. At that time, there was a Northern 724 From Newcastle Marlborough crescent to Bishop Auckland that did run via Durham city, but I think that one had an unusual routing Newcastle to Chester le Street, via Bensham? That version of the 724 died soon after dereg, not long afterwards the 700 became the 724 and diverted via Durham city initially evenings only. The 700 was one of the last conductor crewed services in the northeast, along with the 441 Ashington Blyth and the 263 Middlesbrough Eston Redcar services (unless you count the odd routemaster operated 21 a few years ago).
A couple of others up here that are same number but shortened-
99- Spennymoor to West Auckland now Spennymoor to Shildon
X30- Newcastle to Lanchester now Newcastle to Stanley
725- Newcastle to East Hedley Hope now Chester le Street to Langley Park

 

[hst43102]

Stagecoach Midlands -
X4 used to be Milton Keynes-Peterborough, now Northampton-Peterborough.
X6 Milton Keynes-Leicester, now Northampton-Leicester
(The MK section was replaced by X6, originally at the same half hourly frequency but now operating once an hour)
X46 Northampton-Thrapston, now Northampton-Rushden
D1 Northampton-Rugby, recently split at Daventry
96 Bedford-Birmingham, split many times and now Northampton-Rugby

 

[Statto]

22 Chester - West Kirby used to traditionally extend to Meols Railway Inn, before being cut to West Kirby (going long back to the days when it was numbered C22 & C23), then Avon extended the 22 to Moreton Cross, Stagecoach took over the route after Avon went bankrupt & extended the 22 as a loop through Sandbrook Estate, before cutting it to Chester - West Kirby, the 22 has been operated by Al's Coaches since 2021.

 

[Deerfold]

Stagecoach Midlands -
X4 used to be Milton Keynes-Peterborough, now Northampton-Peterborough.
X6 Milton Keynes-Leicester, now Northampton-Leicester
(The MK section was replaced by X6, originally at the same half hourly frequency but now operating once an hour)
X46 Northampton-Thrapston, now Northampton-Rushden
D1 Northampton-Rugby, recently split at Daventry
96 Bedford-Birmingham, split many times and now Northampton-Rugby

The X6 briefly continued from Leicester to Notttinghamevery couple of hours, though I think for less that a year (a corridor that has been tried a few time by different companies, but difficult to compete with the train for those that want fast and frequent (50 on a typical day) and National Express for those who want cheap (there's 27 of those next Tuesday) and not many potential passengers on the way.

Talking of X6s, the Leeds - Bradford X6 used to continue to Brighouse and Huddersfield, but only ran half hourly (up to every 15 minutes in the peak), not at all on Sundays. From next week the remaining part of the route will run the rather peculiar every 14 minutes (every 15 on Sundays) and has run as often as 8 an hour.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Another one from West Yorkshire, what is now the X1 Holmfirth Explorer (Holmfirth to Wakefield) from Team Pennine was previously the 435/436 under first Arriva then Yorkshire Tiger... but prior to being changed to the 435 was the 484/485 which extended beyond Wakefield to Leeds bus station.

 

[joieman]

Stagecoach Midlands -
X6 Milton Keynes-Leicester, now Northampton-Leicester
(The MK section was replaced by X6, originally at the same half hourly frequency but now operating once an hour)

Do you mean the X7?

 

[Enthusiast]

Actually, the 8 ran the whole length including New Oxford Street in both directions.

Ah thanks! The dear old No 8. I'd forgotten that.

I don't think the Borehamwood buses ever came near to Central London, unlike South Mimms buses. The 134 also ran from Pimlico, Dolphin Square to Potters Bar, with a through service working all day every day throughout the route.

I think you're probably right. Borehamwood was a bit out of my way and I never saw a 29 headed there. Looking at some old timetables, it seems the number of runs was very limited and those there were seemed to start from Turnpike Lane.

I seem to remember the longest bus route in the 1960s though was the Sunday 133 South Croydon Garage to Hendon Central Station,

I think you're probably right (again!). Looking again at timetables, the 133 took 2 hours to complete its trip. I thought the Sunday No 9 (Mortlake to Becontree) would be longer, but the journey time is only 1h 45mins. Not very scientific I know, but provides a guide.

 

[JD2168]

There was the 239/X39 from Sheffield to Huddersfield via Penistone, it was gradually cut back to now be a 29 mainly running from Chapeltown to Penistone with peak only extension’s to Sheffield centre & a couple of journeys to Holmfirth.

 

[hst43102]

Do you mean the X7?

Yes, the X7. My apologies. I believe it started with B10Ms in the early 2000's.