Some months ago, both the Lincolnshire & East Yorkshire Transport Review Editors, had devised a plan which, as Baldrick in Blackadder would say, was "As cunning as a fox who has just been appointed professor of cunning at Oxford University." The idea was basically, to travel to Scotland to photograph the remaining vehicles in the Strathtay fleet before they were repainted into Stagecoach corporate livery, as the company, along with Lincolnshire Road Car, had been taken over as a part of the Yorkshire Traction Group by Stagecoach on December 14th, 2005. To ensure as comfortable a journey as possible, this was to be done using one of the National Express Neoplan double deck coaches, but these were temporarily withdrawn at the time so the plan was shelved. Their reintroduction into service meant the plan was back on, although this time was amended slightly include a visit to the annual Open Weekend at the Scottish Vintage Bus Museum.
The original idea, involved a rather complex run via Peterborough, Milton Keynes, Northampton and Gatwick Airport and overnight to Birmingham and Manchester, was ditched to save a day and allow a nice late start using the more direct National Express 664 (Butlins to Preston) service from Butlins to Manchester. Graham similarly dropped his ambitious plan to make his way to Stockport using local bus services, and opted to join me on the 664, travelling down on from Cleethorpes using local buses and, thanks to late running, had a very tight connection!
Skegness was in chaos as in the early hours, a serious fire had taken place on the seafront destroying several buildings. It also meant the road along the seafront was closed and bus services were diverted. This made Roman Bank (the A52) even busier than normal.
By way of a change, we opted to catch the coach from Butlins, so travelled on Stagecoach in Lincolnshire's service 5 at 1328, on which was Volvo Olympian 16394 (N394 LPN). A good start to the trip, having a vehicle with dual-purpose seating, and also saved having to negotiate security at Butlins as it dropped us off inside the complex. We'd spotted our coach on the 664 heading up earlier, so knew it was reasonably on time - quite unusual as the 664 is one service which tends to regularly run late.
We made our way to the coach departure point where only a few passengers were waiting as, at this time, the main changeover day at the camp was on a Saturday. As we arrived, Clynnog & Trefor's Volvo / Plaxton KSV 361 departed on the 662 National Express service to Liverpool, the driver giving me a friendly wave as I took a photograph!
Our coach, Traveller's Choice, Volvo / Plaxton PN06 KLJ was parked up next to Rowell (of Prudhoe) Bova, T234 SBB, which was working the 663 service to Newcastle.
Boarding our coach, we were surprised to find it seated around 70 passengers - using a 3+2 arrangement, but at the expense of reclining seats and a toilet - hardly an ideal vehicle for National Express work!
With only some 20 passengers on board there was plenty of room so, we chose our seats towards the back - although moved closer to the front later as I could here music being played from someone's mobile phone from the back of the coach, something I did not wish to listen to for hours on end. We departed on time at 1440, but thanks to heavy traffic along Roman Bank again, progress was extremely slow. We turned off at the town centre, as the driver was hoping to reach the coach stop at Skegness via the sea front, unfortunately not being aware that road was closed due to the aforementioned fire, we ended up doubling back and rejoining Roman Bank, albeit a little closer to the coach stop! As we arrived, Rowell's T234 SBB was just departing - despite the fact this departed from Butlins 20 minutes before us! With no passengers to pick up at Skegness, we called at the coach stop and departed immediately at 1510, 20 minutes late. Making our way out of town by the A158, we encountered another hold up at Burgh-le-Marsh where a new by pass is being constructed and single-lane working was in force at the new junction. We made our way to the M180 by way of the A1028, A16 and the A18, passing Humberside International Airport at 1625, and, on the M18 running immediately behind Rowel's T234 SBB. This left us at Ferrybridge at 1713 where the 663 service is booked a refreshment stop, leaving us to continue along the M62. There were a few comments from passengers at the back puzzled as to why we didn't follow, but another passenger told them we'd be stopping at another services. We then found ourselves in heavy rush hour traffic on the outskirts of Leeds, which luckily did not last long.
We reached the Hartshead Moor services at 1741 for a refreshment break, departing there at 1800.
After returning to the M62, we were a little surprised to find ourselves leaving the motorway only to turn off at junction 22 onto the A672, and pulled into a slip road where we stopped at 1819. No announcements being made, left us wondering if the coach had broken down - fortunately, it transpired that this was the point where the drivers changed, the other driver arriving by car. We eventually got under way with the new driver, leaving the other to go drive off in the car, at 1833, although quite why this changeover couldn't have more sensibly been done at Hartshead Moor, is a mystery.
Continuing along the M62 we passed the well known landmark of Stott Hall Farm which famously stands between the east and westbound carriageways. A well known myth is that this was due to the original farm owner refusing to sell their land, but in reality this was partly due to the land beneath the farm being unsuitable and also that it could more easily be bypassed using this method.
Leaving the motorway, we made our way to Oldham, and Graham looked at me in disbelief when I told him there was a railway station there called Mumps! At the very modern and smart Oldham bus station, we were definitely very much in First Bus territory judging by the number of their vehicles present. We dropped off a few passengers and departed at 1852, 32 minutes late, and progressed towards Manchester's Chorlton Street coach station where we alighted at 1917, still 32 minutes behind schedule.
Making our way to Piccadilly where some live musicians were playing, we walked around several minutes trying to find the bus stop for the service 192, which would take us to the hotel just the other side of Stockport. We were not waiting long before Stagecoach in Manchester's Alexander Dennis Trident / Alexander Dennis Enviro 400, 19002 (MX06 XAA), arrived. A large number of people boarded, so we opted to let this one go, only waiting a few minutes for sister vehicle 19003 (MX06 XAB), departing at 1942. We caught up with 19002 not long after, only to be overtaken by it again as we collected more passengers. Eventual arrival was at 2026, the stop conveniently being outside our hotel.
Two single rooms at £29 each was very reasonable, and they were clean and comfortable, although not en-suite. This didn't matter a great deal as the bathroom and shower rooms were just down a corridor and we would be leaving early in the morning. Downstairs, a wedding reception was taking place, so we went to the adjoining bar where I enjoyed three pints of Robinsons beer, brewed in Stockport. As it was too late for food at the hotel, I was getting rather hungry. There were no takeaways nearby, so I left Graham to retire to his room whilst I nipped over the road to a garage and purchased an all day breakfast sandwich at £3.19! I returned to the hotel, and had another pint before returning to my room to have my sandwich and watch some tv.
PW
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