A Day Out to Burnley and Blackburn
by Richard Lomas Added to website 10 August 2010
On Saturday 7 August I went to Burnley and Blackburn with a friend who can remember Blackburn's trams. We arrived in Chorlton Street,
Manchester on veteran TrentBarton
Trans Peak coach 61 bang on time, having taken yet another route through central Manchester. We then crossed the road and boarded the 11:00
Burnley & Pendle double decker on service X43 to Nelson. We were disappointed that the interior was slightly shabby, there was lots of litter
and our feet kept sticking to the floor because of yesterday's spilt fizzy drink. The driver also looked very suspiciously at our
pensioners' passes (aliens from Derbyshire?).
In Burnley I took a few photographs and incurred the wrath of a bus station security man before catching the 12:50 Lancashire United
service 152 to Blackburn. Here I took a few more pictures and we had a drink in a pub that CAMRA would describle as 'unspoilt' and Roger
remembered the layout of the tram tracks outside the station at right angles to the present bus shelters. We then caught 15:06 Lancashire
United X41 back to Manchester which was just like a TrentBarton bus except with harder seats. Both Lancashire United drivers would have
benefitted by TrentBarton's customer care training. After eating as much as we could in a Chinese buffet, we waited for coach 61 to take us
home again. As we stood outside the bus station we wondered would it arrive from the left or the right? Both were wrong - it came in by
yet a third route. It took a familar route out of Manchester but then fooled us with an unknown (to us) alternative in Stockport.
BUSES IN BURNLEY
1. Long established Pennine of Gargreave with a livery we both remembered.
2. Three different TransDev liveries.
3. A Starship aka an Optare Versa.
4. An attractive MAINLINE livery that reminded us of Sheffield.
5. Sadly it appears this guy is being paid to stop old age pensioners from taking photographs of buses (but better news in image 9 below).
6. This is the picture I wanted. I hadn't seen multicoloured destination displays like these before. I think they are great and look forward to seeing more of them.
7. This is the type of bus we had travelled on from Manchester - we were now standing just outside the bus station.
8. Another Starship
9. When we returned to the bus station to catch the Blackburn bus the security guy told me that I could take bus pictures after all!
10. Another multicoloured destination and reflections of the flowers in the bus window.
11. I know nothing about Tyrer's operations.
BUSES IN BLACKBURN
12. This is the bus we travelled on from Blackburn. We suspect that 152 is the old Ribble service number.
13. A route branded 152.
14. Transdev seem to be operating local services in Blackburn and Accrington as SpotOn. We remembered green and red/blue buses respectively.
15. We saw a few Rossendale buses in Rawtenstall and this one in Blackburn.
16. Another SpotOn.