Road A19 : Transport Has-Been
It turns out that these services (excluding the Doncaster local 412) run to either Selby (405) or Pontefract (408 and 409) and were once in the hands of West Riding but now Arriva.
The hourly 405 runs pretty much straight along the A19 with a little wiggle north of Askern.
The timetable is straightforward.
From Askern, the 408 and 409 (two hourly each) cut across to Pontefract serving various communities via some wiggly bits.
In the absence of a good map, fbb can only obtain his route knowledge from the timetabled point times for the 408 and 409.
The 408 goes via Thorpe Audlin and a stop for Wentbridge but on the A1 ...
... whilst the 409 operates via Kirk Smeaton and Womersley. Both routes come back together at Darrington.
Note the village of Cridling Stubbs in the top right hand corner of the map. It was an obvious move to use that village name for two previous owners of fbb mansions, namely cats Cridling and Stubbs.
Obvious!
In passing there was a third bus route between Doncaster and Pontefract operated by the gorgeously independent South Yorkshire Road Transport Limited, also from North Bridge in Doncaster. 
It ran to or via Cutsyke ...
... which is a suburb of Castleford, due west of Pontefract. The route was given 410 in the South Yorkshire PTE numbering scheme and the above is one vehicle that actually showed it!
Also of note is that the 405 and 408/9 are timed at Eden Drive Askern having wiggled via the Norbreck Estate to the east of the village centre.
Having wiggled (and here is a 405 wigglin ...
... all thee routes terminated at Eden Drive, map below top right.
Here South Yorks PTE has given then a little bus shelter but no stop flag!
So Norbreck estate and Eden Drive had two buses an hour on the 405 and 408/9.
Then came October 2022 with massive Arriva cits.
405 : Selby – Askern – Doncaster
This service is withdrawn as we have been unable to secure enough funding to continue running the route. We would like to thank all our customers over the years who have travelled with us on this service.
Arriva says a courteous thank you, but, tough cheese, you'll have to walk!
408/409 : Pontefract – Askern – Doncaster
This service is substantially reduced as we have been unable to secure enough funding to continue running the route in its current form.
In this case a bit of the 408/409 is retained at the Pontefract end.
Basically this short 408/409 serves the same villages as before but only for links to Pontefract - so, again, tough cheese if you wanted to go to Doncaster!
But Arriva had a cunning plan.
It aimed to mitigate the loss of service along the A19 from Doncaster; to continue the Norbreck estate wiggle and to get folk to the pulsating hub of Yorkshire life called Norton ...
... which has TWO pubs and the locally renowned ...
... Baps and Apps plus Attic Antiques.
Arriva's stunning development will be revealed in tomorrow's blog with apologies for a slight change of plan.
But it is quite hard on your noble blogger's 28856 day old brain.
OK the brain did work for a few months before fbb was "untimely ripped" at the Barratt Maternity hospital, Northampton - but we do not need to be too picky!
fbb Has Bought One
... and it should be arriving tomorrow.
Talking Of Lights On The Top ...
... the top oif Peterville tunnel!
The luxury Nissen Hut holiday let and the camping Routemaster are now "posed" with lights working in their future location, pending full landscaping and additional arboriculture. Peterville Castle has moved an imaginary mile or so to the north.
A better twilight view will materialise when the surrounding scenery is more complete. There's a log cabin and some low relief yurts to come!
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Please Note
It didn't last. After a brief burst of efficiency the gremlins at blogger/Google are back on the loose. Prising pictures out of the depths of the Googlesphere is proving frustrating and slow - one reason why the rest of this? A B C blog is delayed.
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Next Easy A B C blog : Wednesday 28th Feb
A few points:
ReplyDeleteThe bus station at the north end of North Bridge in Doncaster, used by South Yorkshire Motors and West Riding, was named Marshgate.
Service 405 between Doncaster and Selby was a truncated version of a through service to York - it was still running through in the 1980s and may have continued until later.
South Yorkshire Road Transport Ltd only adopted that title in 1973; previously the company was South Yorkshire Motors Ltd. They were based in what became West Yorkshire in 1974.
RLT