It's All Happening
The fbbs have a fortnight of frantic "fun", starting tomorrow. It goes like this ...
Tue 28 Jan - To Sutton Coldfield
Wed 29 Jan - John's funeral
Thu 30 Jan - Back to Seaton
Sun 2 Feb - Fellowship meeting
Mon 3 Feb - Fellowship meeting
Fri 7 Feb - Travel to "Do"
Sat 8 Feb - Joint Birthday "Do"
Sun 9 Feb - ditto
Mon 10 Feb - Travel back
fbb is wary of internet access at the Premier Inn Sutton Coldfield and has no idea what quality will be on offer at the AirB&B. The consequences for successful blog posting could be problematic.
The funeral overnights are at Premier Inn, Sutton Coldfield were internet access is likely to be dodgy. The joint "Do" for the fbb and Mrs significant Birthdays (ditto No 1 son) is at an airbnb which is firmly on the ground and offers no b but does have comfy bs! The internet quality at said residence is also unknown.
So, who knows what the blogging consequences might be?
In a revision to the recently revised revision, fbb will, perversely, start the week with Wilmslow Road.
41, 42, 42A, 42B, 42C, 43?
It is hard to know where to begin but there always have been plenty of buses running via Oxford Road and Wilmslow Road; going right back to Manchester Corporation Transport days.
But, alas, we must leave detailed history behind and to the Manchester experts as fbb is reviewing the situation immediately prior to the arrival of Tranche 3 of the Bee Network on Jan 6th.
For reasons which may become obvious, fbb will concentrate on routes numbers in the 40s.
41 Sale
The 41 was the exception. It was the only route run by GoAhead amidst a sea of Stagecoaches. It was unusual as it was a rare cross city service.
It followed the main drag as far as Withington ...
... and then via West Didsbury and Northenden to Sale.
42 Stockport
The route then strikes off north east to make its way to Reddish.
42B - Woodford
In many ways the 42 was the core of competitive services ...
... leading on to the Magic Bus development for which this blog is part of a sad farewell. The competitive situation was typified by a Finglands 42, above!
The Stagecoach 42 ran all the way along the Wilmslow Road to East Didsbury as outlined in Friday's blog ...
... continuing thither eastbound to Stockport.
Monday to Saturday the frequency is a modest every 30.
It would be nice and easy if the next bus to examine were the 43, but it is more complex than that. fbb does not know why the 42 attracted so many "suffix" routes, but here goes.
42A - Reddish
This, too runs via East Didsbury like the 42, with a 30 minute frequency.
This is advertised with the 42C - Handforth Dean ...
... but their ultimate destinations are very different.
The scale of the map is also VERY different from the others with East Didsbury appearing at the very top.
Woodford (42B) is a former Cheshire village ...
... later absorbed into Greater Manchester; whereas Handforth is still very much in Cheshire. Handforth Dean might also have been a sleepy village, but it is, in fact ...
... a retail park. But being in Cheshire, it is a somewhat superior retail park!
By todays's standards, these are very long routes!
43 - Airport
The 43 has the honour of being the only Manchester bus route historically to run (hourly) on Christmas Day. Who knows what Andy Burnham might do in the future?
In normal operation it is frequent.
This route, like the 41 above, operates via the Oxford Road Wilmslow Road rat race, but then veers off ...
... at Withington to run via West Didsbury and Northenden to the Airport. Latterly, under Stagecoach ownership, the 43 was equipped with electric buses, hence the sort-of green livery.
Once upon a time there was a service 45 to Stockport ...
... but that route number no longer exists.
But these "normal" services offer 16 buses every hour (Monday to Friday) via Wilmslow Road.
You might think that was enough?
Next Wilmslow Road blog : Tues 28 Jan
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