Feeble Cheers For Bees Please (3)

Take A Drive With the 615.

By now, our readers will be thirsting for full details of Andy Burnham's gargantian effort to bring new and innovative bus services to the worthy burghers of Great Manchrester. From all the on-line and press "hype", we should expect something truly transformational.

It isn't.

It isn't really new, as in totally new; it is a comeback route.

And it isn't really transfomational.

The 615 runs fairly "normally" between Wigan and Aspull alongside the 575 ...

... which continues via Blackrod and Horwich to Bolton. Here is one doing it at Aspull!

The 815 skirts the hot spots of Aspull and takes the Bolton Road which, ultimately takes it to Middlebrook.

Bolton Road is not heavily populated ...

... but lost its bus service four years ago with the withdrawal of the predecessor of today's 615, of which more is to follow. But with just a little wiggle we are soon at Middlebrook.

The 615's first call is at Horwich Parkway station ...

... where minimal facilites (one shelter and one small seat) ensure waiting passengers can wait in discomfort whilst enjoying a view of the milti-named stadium.

Needless to say, taxi custoimers have a much better cover but have to share it with the bins!

The tour of the shopping areas reveals much the same as usual; a stop for the arena, then next Next ...

... and the massive retail park.

No buses here!

But there are no stops close to any of this, just a fast dual carriageway leading to a massive car park as we have seen before. The nexy stop is north of the arena adjacent to MacD!

Is it now truly wonderful that planners of retail parks seem oblivious to the needs of the bus passenger with those approving the plans adding to the poor infrastructire for the bus.

The final stop on the loop and the "terminus" for the 615, is at Tesco.

Once again, the bus stop is hardly close to the store entrance!

After grazing briefly at Tesco the 615 sets of back to Wigan via the main deHaviland Way, but some peak Monday to Friday journeys nip into the the "business park" section of Middlebrook, joining the 516 to service the few working "commuters" who don't come by car.

It is called "Parklands" because of the fairly obvious lack of any park!

When Streetview passed by, there were still plenty of posh business pads available. 

Here is the PTE network map extract for our readers' delectation.

And here is an extract from the 615 timetable to further whet the appetite for enjoying the new but not new effort from the Bee Network.

One piece of good news, however; the PTE does show the loop properly and emphasises the (lack of) buses to Paklands.

As a further bonus, you do appear to get shiny new(?) yellow buses ...

... so, all together now, you really can ...

... and offer a feeble cheer or two.

fbb looks forward to reporting on further Network developments in Manchester if he lives long enough!

But, keep it to yourself, fbb may have solved the mystery of the former bus route whuch was re-instated by the new 615. It is not as straightforward as some accounts (including previous mutterings by fbb) might suggest.

Of course fbb's detective work could be wrong.

 Next Detective OR Defective blog : Sat 30 Nov 

Go-Op The Co-Op ...

 ... So Cop A Load Of This (mini blog)

Running a railway is no easy matter and the worst bit is getting started. Ian Yeowart (boss of Grand Union) is a keen upstart; but a good offer from First seems to have persuaded him to give up.

His South Wales project is also struggling ...

... after initial optimism.

The problem here is obtaining suitable trains. It takes a long, long time to buy new,  costs loadsamoney and, apparently, no acceptable deal could be done for ex East Coast coaches and locos.

So up pops a co-op called Go-Op.

Unlike all the rest, this upstart startup is not looking to muscle in on a lucrative main line "intercity" business. Go-Op aims to run a rural service which will be partly in competition with First's GWR, but on what are very much secondary routes.

The biggest place it will serve is Swindon!

And then only "some" journeys ...

... on top of the core.

The launch map seems to show more stops.

In granting access rights DaFT (or whoever does the granting) seems to be doing a bit of bet hedging!

Finding suitable trains looks like the same old problem at a slightly reduced financial level. The company seems to know what it is doing ...

... but they could hardly say anything else.

To use the honourable phrase from Yes Prime Minster's Sir Humphrey, the project seems very courageous.

Bluntly, can you carry enough people in a well loaded class 153 ...

... to pay the huge bills. And would the trains be well loaded?

The co-operating "partners" would be ill-advised to hope for a bag of pennies from either HMG or the cash-strapped local authorities.

Very courageous, indeed!

For comparison, we can see an extract from the First GWR network map showing the existing routes.

The Go-Op route stretches from Swindon (upper right) via Chippenham and Westbury to Taunton, then a reverse to get to Weston super Mud.

Will Go-Op hurt First GWR?

A bit, but not much.

PTO -Peterville Terraforming Operation

The Bill Bodge and Fred Fudge Quick Guide to Scenery

The fence certainly looks better in grey!

But painting it sent the railings all wibbly and wobbly as the wet paint softened the card.

Maybe paint it before planting it?

It still went wibbly and wobbly and worryingly weird! It was less than straight even after detaching the lengths of fence from their card frame.

But, hooray and hurrah, after leaving to dry out completely overnight, the wibbles and wobbles are gone and flat fences are finally fantastically formed.

Time for a bit more fence.

Note the diddy drops of No More Nails supporting the "Grow More Rails" installation.

Nearly finished.

 Next Middlebrook blog : Friday 29th Nov 

Feeble Cheers For Bees Please (2)

By Car Or Bus : Don't Make A Fuss

The biggest Middlebrook car parking area is at the main retail park ...

... which includes ASDA. Then the huge Tesco has its own parking "lot" ...

... as does the footy stadium.

And there is more at the opposite end.

Many moons ago the fbbs stayed at a hotel that is built into the stadium - indeed the restaurant has a view of the footy pitch itself. Back then it was called the Reebok Stadium. But now it carries the utterly memorable name of ...

... and fbb really has no idea!

One thing is very clear; bus services are very much a minority interest. Apart from the 615, there are two others.

Route 127 runs hourly to Adlington and Chotley ...

... following the railway line.

It is not what you might call frequent!

There are more journeys on Saturdays but nary a one on Sundays.

A previous 127 ran from Eccles and was completely different.

Route 516 runs from Horwich to Leigh ...

... via a fairly convoluted "local" route also via Westhoughton.

Again it only reaches the dizzy heights of hourly ...

... but does manage an hourly Sunday service but for  much shorter span of the day.

Once upon a time the 516 was used for just a few journeys on Diamond's 516/517 timetable.

Way back when, a 516 was operating in the Atherton area.

These two services (127 & 516) do indicate that Middlebrook, with its vast array of retail opportunity, is not regarded as good bus territory.

But now the 615 has joined the fray, maybe we will see some dramatic improvements.

Erm, no!

P.S. A Numerical oddity! Middlebrook is now served by routes 516 and 615. Can any blog readers come up with other locations anywhere in GB where a route number is joined by that route number reversed?

fbb will return to the excitement of the 615 on  Friday .

Tomorrow, a "different" railway line?

  COMING SOON  

A full and frank account of the fbbs trip to the Isle of Wight, all the way by public transport ...

... and return not quite all the way by public transport.

Ann Lewin is a former teaching colleague of fbb from his days on Sheffield. From station to noshery was c/o Ann's limo.

But there were other excitements on the return journey!

 Next Co-op blog : Thurs 28 Nov