The World's Our Bus Stop (1996)
42 Buses in 5 Days (Page 2)
Contents:
Wednesday 10th July 1996
- 346: Dukinfield - Ashton-under-Lyne (Stagecoach Manchester);
- 219: Ashton-under-Lyne - Tameside College (Stagecoach Manchester);
- 232: Tameside College - Ashton-under-Lyne (Mayne of Manchester);
- 346: Ashton-under-Lyne - Dukinfield (Pennine);
- 40: Dukinfield - Ashton-under-Lyne (Pennine);
- 401: Ashton-under-Lyne - Bury (GM Buses North);
- 461: Bury - Rochdale (Rossendale Transport);
- 400: Rochdale - Ashton-under-Lyne (GM Buses North);
- 346: Ashton-under-Lyne - Dukinfield (Pennine).
Once more, nothing to do, and another wasted journey for my Constellation expandable briefcase. In this case, I returned home, dropping my briefcase off, before returning to the bus stop for the 40 into Ashton.
The first place I had in mind was Bury. This posed a potential excuse to visit the East Lancashire Railway or its award winning market. This meant the 401 and a trip through Middleton and Heywood before reaching Bury Interchange.
For the railway, Bury always meant so much to me: the visit in 1984 when there was only Bolton Street railway station and the transport museum; and a then more recent visit on the 5th July 1996 for its Diesel Week celebrations.
As usual, I looked around both indoor and outdoor markets, saw the rare Pointer Sisters album I could never afford at Save Records and called at Chadwicks' stall for a Black Pudding butty. On the way back, I caught the 461 into Rochdale. I was bored with the arrow style straight route of the 471 and enjoyed the more circuitous ride through Darn Hill and Bamford.
Following a refreshment stop in Rochdale, I returned to Ashton on the 400, and returned home on the 346. Single fares alone, this journey would have been a straight £11.
Thursday 11th July 1996
- 346: Dukinfield - Ashton-under-Lyne (Stagecoach Manchester);
- 219: Ashton-under-Lyne - Tameside College (Stagecoach Manchester);
- 34: Tameside College - Ashton-under-Lyne (Pennine);
- 346: Ashton-under-Lyne - Dukinfield (Pennine);
- 40: Dukinfield - Ashton-under-Lyne (Pennine);
- 401: Ashton-under-Lyne - Oldham (GM Buses North);
- 58: Oldham - Rochdale (GM Buses North);
- 409: Rochdale - Oldham (GM Buses North);
- 400: Oldham - Ashton-under-Lyne (GM Buses North);
- 346: Ashton-under-Lyne - Dukinfield (Pennine).
As with Wednesday, another wasted journey for the briefcase. Result: another jolly, Oldham and Rochdale again. This time, I used the journey to visit Oldham Art Gallery before boarding the 58 to Rochdale from Mumps Bridge.
Friday 12th July 1996
- 346: Dukinfield - Ashton-under-Lyne (Stagecoach Manchester);
- 219: Ashton-under-Lyne - Tameside College (Stagecoach Manchester);
- 235: Tameside College - Stalybridge (Mayne of Manchester);
- 388: Stalybridge - Hyde (GM Buses North);
- 346: Hyde - Dukinfield (Pennine);
- 40: Dukinfield - Ashton-under-Lyne (Pennine);
- 400: Ashton-under-Lyne - Bury (GM Buses North);
- 469: Bury - Rochdale (GM Buses North);
- 409: Rochdale - Oldham (GM Buses North);
- 400: Oldham - Ashton-under-Lyne (GM Buses North).
Another fruitless day at Beaufort Road - and a further excuse to get a bus somewhere semi random within Greater Manchester. The only problem was that 'somewhere semi random' turned out to be Bury Interchange.
Unlike my usual journeys, I went via Stalybridge railway station to enquire about train fares to Scarborough (where I would later embark on my family holiday) and to pick up a timetable. From Stalybridge, I caught the first bus in the station, and it just happened to be one of GM Buses North's Leyland Atlanteans on the 388 route via Yew Tree Lane and Newton up to Hyde.
With all three Dukinfield buses out of bounds from Stalybridge, I caught Pennine's 346 home, dropping off my case and a train timetable. Due to the novelty of boarding one of Pennine's yellow minibuses, I continued my journey to Ashton on the 40 service.
At the other end of the scale, I later caught the 400, operated with coach seated MCW Metrobuses bodied by Northern Counties, all the way to Bury. Once more, looked around the market, had a look at the East Lancashire Railway and returned via Rochdale, this time on the 469 route through Jericho. Predictably, I returned home on the 409 and the 400 routes (Oldham, then Ashton).
