|
2016
Bus Tour weekend: |
|
Friday 29 April 2016
Visit to the West Lancashire O Gauge Group in Bootle.
|
|
Photos:
Charles Roberts/Online Transport Archive
Saturday 30 April 2016
The
40th LUPTS Bus Tour: Saturday 30 April 2016
Download the
day’s itinerary from here.
Report and
pictures by Jonathan Cadwallader.
|
We left Liverpool as intended on an Alexander bodied Volvo Olympian of
Springfield Bus & Coach. Now registered F20
HOW, it was originally S903 JHG,
being fleet number 16669 in the Stagecoach Ribble
fleet. |
Departing via the M62 we joined the M6 before making a brief stop at Keele
Services. Shortly afterwards we left the motorway on the A500,
before a lengthy run along the A50 took us to
Junction 24 of the M1. Heading north for 5 miles,
we then turned east along the A52, which at this
point is known as Brian Clough Way. A short time later we pulled in at the Toton
Lane terminus of one of the new branches of the Nottingham Express Transit
system. Our tour was originally planned to take place in 2015, but a serious
delay in completing the 2 new lines of the NET led to a postponement. On
alighting from the bus it was clear that something was amiss. A growing
number of passengers were waiting at the stop but there was no sign of a
tram. It turned out that one had failed en route, causing
disruption to the timetable. I asked our bus driver to remain at the stop for
a while in case we needed the bus to reach Nottingham city centre, but
fortunately the difficulty was resolved and we made our way on a somewhat
delayed tram. |
|
|
|
Unlike many of the new generation of tram systems in Britain, there
are two types of tram running in Nottingham. Fleet numbers 201-215 were built
by Bombardier in Derby in 2002-2003 from their Incentro
range, whilst 216-237 were constructed by Alstom in Barcelona in 2013-2014
and come from their Citadis family. Time was
allowed to photograph cars in a somewhat damp city centre and for brief
visits to cafes and pubs as desired by the various tour participants. |
|
I had arranged special access for our bus to collect the party from
the Clifton South tram stop, being the terminus of the other recently opened
branch. Situated south-west of the centre it has a large park and ride
facility, complete with an on-site security man. Unfortunately a further
problem on the tramway led to several of our group not having arrived at the
appointed time of the bus departing. This was of considerable concern as we
needed to be at our next destination in time to catch a train at 14.00 and
time was running out. |
|
Photos:
Charles Roberts/Online Transport Archive |
An express transit of our own was made to the Ruddington
station of the Great Central Railway - North, where the train was held back
for a few minutes to allow us to join. A Class 47 provided the power to take
our service the 8.5 miles to a point alongside the works of Brush Traction in
Loughborough, just east of
the Midland main line. It is hoped that the installation of a new bridge
across the MML will soon lead to the GCR-N being
joined to the line from Loughborough to Leicester North. |
|
|
On our return trip we alighted at Rushcliffe Halt, travelling back to Ruddington from there on a former Nottingham City
Transport AEC Regent III, part of the collection of the Nottingham Area Bus
Society. NABS have their base on the same site as the railway at Ruddington with a collection of approximately 20 buses in
various states of restoration. There was time then to inspect the collection,
chat to the society members, visit a model railway and have a cup of tea
before leaving Ruddington at 16.30. A few of our
party had managed to travel on a miniature railway which was not scheduled to
be operating on that day. |
|
|
|
A major consideration when planning tours is the availability of
public toilets once off the motorway network. Most of our journey home was to
be via A roads through the Peak District. Only Baslow
offered the possibility of a toilet stop once in the area but, sadly, it had
no chip shop. So our traditional chip stop break had to be taken at the less
than scenic Tibshelf Services before leaving the M1 |
|
|
|
A pleasant ride through Derbyshire followed, leading to a return to
Liverpool at 20.30. A few more
passengers on board would have helped the finances and we could have done without
the drizzle in Nottingham and the disruption to the tram schedules, but, all
in all, it was a good day. |
Sunday 1 May 2016
Sunday lunch
at Trattoria 51 Pizzeria, Southport.
Return to Bus Tour Weekends
page
Last updated:
01 May 2017
© Charles Roberts/LUPTS 2016/2017