And then there was one

A further product of the new Blackpool Transport network is the removal of the last two Metroriders from conventional service work. Solos are now allocated to Lines 10 and 15. 515's last Line 15 duty was on on Sunday 25 July and it then spent Monday acting as a route learning bus.

Line 10 livery 518 is now dedicated to the Department of Work and Pensions shuttle bus service from St. Annes (Moorland Road) to Peel Park offices. This half hourly shuttle runs Monday to Saturday and started in January 2008. It has previously used low floor Excels and more recently Solos. 518 has lost the route branding and now carries the standard BT logo.

First Volvos arrive; Deltas off and Open Top Olympians get new home

The first two of the five second hand Volvo B7RLEs have now arrived - AU06BPF and AU06BPK. Ten Deltas have been confirmed as withdrawn - 104 - 109, 112-114  and 116 - all but the latter from Line 6. They join 103 in store and leave 101, 102, 115, 118/9, 122/3, 125-127, 132 and 133 in use.

Meanwhile Richard Hughes has kindly sent this picture of City Sightseeing open topper 844 in its new home with Alpine of Llandudno. They also collected 813 but have swapped this for 849 which just awaits new lettering prior to entering service.

Blackpool's Multi Coloured Swap Shop

Today, Monday 26 July, has seen the start of the much vaunted new bus network in Blackpool. Out goes Metro Coastlines, some major links are broken and new ones made. Line 6 is retired as are the claret Deltas. The low floor guarantee is a thing of the past it seems with a virtually 100% record low floor turn out on the 14 from May 2003 ended abruptly this morning with no less than 7 Optare Deltas providing the surprise package.

So what did today bring. Well firstly little change on the 1, 3, 4 and 5 which - by and large- ran with their previously allotted branded buses mostly still lettered. An extra bus runs on Line 1 and today black Trident 317 put in an appearance alongside the venerable Olympian 403. No sightings have been received of the repainted buses.

Line 2/2C needs seven buses and was strongly rumoured to be receiving Deltas. Instead it was their newer sisters the Optare Excel which took over from the green Solos - though 249 refused to bow to tradition and worked the 0932 from Knott End - the final Line 2 bus from Depot (0750 at Poulton). The six Excels were 216, 224 and 226 in purple and 218, 223, 224 in black. The Excels should be unduly taxed on this service with 14 minutes layover at Corporation Street; 12 at Knott End and 16 at Poulton!

Line 7 is now Solo operated mainly with long wheel-base examples taken from Line 2. 244 loads for Cleveleys at Corporation Street.

Line 7 now extends to Wesham all day taking over the Lytham to Wesham section of Line 2. This requires Solos - even for the alternate shorts to Saltcotes Road which interwork with the Wesham trips. All buses seen were former Line 2 ones with  240-242, 244-247, 286, 294 and 296 noted. Scrolling blinds for "Lytham Saltcotes Road" are used on the newer Solos though 246 fails to display the service number - arguably not a problem when it was restricted to Line 2!

Volvo Olympian 377 - a familiar feature of Line 11 was today restricted to the northern section, now Line 9.

New route 9 takes the Blackpool to Cleveleys section of Line 11 and uses double deckers. 7 were Tridents, 2 were Olympians. 310, 314 and 315 stood out in their dark green 14 livery not previously regularly seen on this corridor. Turquoise 322, 328 and 329 were more familiar as was black livery 318 and the reliable old stand-ins Volvo Olympian 377 and Leyland Olympian 371. 371 stayed out onto the evening service.

310 and 307 provide a uniform feel with the former on new Line 9 and the latter heading for Fleetwood on its familiar Line 14 duty.

Line 10 saw Solo 273 in place of its regular Metrorider 518 which surprisingly saw use on the normally low floor contract service for the Department of Work and Pensions. Line 15 had three black solos (261/3/4) and probably another as Metrorider 515 was out on route learning duties.

Familiar bus, familiar route, strange destination - one time 6 branded bus 118 heads to Grange Park on diverted route 11. With a 2 now on the stop almost continuously, the 11 and 15 loading here congestion is already apparent.

The heavily truncated Line 11 which now provides four buses per hour rather than eight along Lytham Road and heads to Grange Park has been spared the rumoured Excel allocation which would certainly have led to capacity problems. Deltas 118, 132 and 133 added an air of normality with Trident 327, 332, Olympians 373 and 376 together with less common Line 14 liveried 303, 305 and 308 also seen.

Trident 305 put gave a green feel to Line 11 heading for Lytham

The biggest surprise was the appearance of 126 in Fleetwood on Line 14, followed by four more and one Olympian on consecutive workings on this previously low floor route. The 17 workings comprised 7 Deltas 115, 119, 122, 125, 126, 127 (L11 liv) and 123 in pool/advert livery; just six familiar green Tridents 301/6/7/9, 312/6, Turquoise Tridents 323/4/31 and Olympian 374.

Line 16 now needs seven Solos and although some of the four remaining light blue ones were out so were pool liveried 277 and 278.

With the five second hand Volvos still awaited 101 and 102 have had a stay of execution and both worked new line 17 at the somewhat inconspicuous new terminus outside Argos on Albert Road - a one time unloading point for former route 11C on this corridor

New Line 17 - the Blackpool to Lytham part of the 14 had a mixed bag. Its first departure at 0646 from St. Annes to Blackpool was Excel 210 with sister 212 and Solo 274 assisted by 20 year old Deltas 101 and 102 - the former looking somewhat out of place on the narrow estate roads of Heyhouses. An evening service is being provided under contract to Lancashire County Council from Lytham to Blackpool to serve South Park and North St. Annes - the first ever evening service for Heyhouses estate roads and the first evening service on Heyhouses Lane itself since the 1970s. Coastal Coaches will provide a Sunday Lytham to St. Annes service on this section. The evening service used two Solos - 277 off Line 16 and 284.

All in all an interesting day with some surprises and some buses looking decidedly out of place!

Thanks to James and Shaun for filling in a few gaps in the allocations and also to James for the photos

The Last Day in the Life of....

Sunday 25 July marked the final day of Line 6. Not all of the branded buses survived through the final week. Nine out of the ten buses required on Friday were observed as pool fleet 101 and 123, branded 106-109 and 112, Excel 220 and Olympian 371. On Saturday, six branded Deltas 104, 106, 107, 108, 109 and 112 were joined by all three pool liveried examples 101, 102 and 123 and Solo 281. For the record Line 11 saw Deltas 115, 118, 122, 125, 126, 132/3 with 2 Solos, 7 Tridents and and 6 pool Olympians making up the allocation.


The Sunday Line 6 service required five buses and fittingly all five were branded Deltas. First bus out at around 0700 was 104 heading to Corporation St to start service to Grange Park followed 20 minutes later by 107. Around 0730 106 left via Yeadon Way to form the first bus from Mereside at 0740. 109 left depot at 0750 empty to Corporation Street for the 0755 to Grange Park and finally 112 left around 0750 empty to Mereside. The five buses then spent the morning and afternoon on a 20 minute frequency service. Two buses ran in at tea time, 109 finishing at Mereside at 1712 and 104 at 1812 both running back to depot via Yeadon Way. This left 106, 107 and 112 to provide the half hourly evening service. Their last three round trips were:

106 2200 Mereside - 2241 Grange Park - 2323 Mereside and depot
112 2230 Mereside - 2311 Grange Park - 2353 Mereside and depot
107 2300 Mereside - 2341 Grange Park - 0001 Market Street and depot.

So 107 performed the last rites for Line 6. It was, perhaps, fitting that first two Blackpool Deltas to enter service back on 5 March 1990 - 106/7 - signed off in style.

Monday is a new day; with a new network and a new image. Deltas will continue - in coats of turquoise or black but probably not claret.

The end of Stability - the 6 bows out after 84 years

Blackpool's service 6 has been the epitome of stability. After the initial flurry of changes took place as the route developed in the 1920s it has only seen two fundamental changes the extensions to Mereside in 1954 and Grange Park in 1986 and had only three main vehicle types since 1934 - Titans, Atlanteans and Deltas - with others providing just a supporting role.

In February 1926 Blackpool Corporation started a new circular service from Adelaide Place via Central Drive, Grasmere Road to Condor Square then via Condor Grove, Whitegate Drive and Palatine Road back to Adelaide Place. The Whitegate Drive half was soon dropped leaving a basic Town Centre to Condor Square service which took service number 6 during the summer. From 1928 it was extended along Grasmere Road, Bloomfield Road, Hawes Side Lane and back to town via Watson Road, St. Annes Road and Central Drive with route 12 used for journeys in the opposite direction. This too lasted only a few months with the 6 now turning off Hawes Side Lane via Daggers Hall Lane to the junction with Vicarage Lane. A 20 minute service was provided off peak and 10 minutes at peak times.

Limited journeys continued along Vicarage Lane to the Welcome Inn from 1931 and by the mid 1930s all journeys terminated there. Double deck operation had been experimented with in 1927 with a Karrier and a Guy double decker but regular double deck operation commenced in 1934. 1939 saw a short extension to Cherry Tree Gardens and the following year saw the town centre terminus relocate to Corporation St. Service 6A was started during the war as a short working and later grew into a stand-alone service operating from Grange Park to Midgeland Road

The 6A and 6B developed from short workings of the 6 and did, prophetically, link Grange Park and Marton following the 5 route to Town then the 6 to Hawes Side in the 1950s and 1960s See this article for more about the 6A and 6B

The post war period saw the development of the large council housing estate at Sandham's Green - better known now as Mereside. Route 4 was introduced via Condor Square, Park Road, Penrose Avenue to Mereside in 1951, with the 6 extended from Cherry Tree Gardens in 1954 initially to Langdale Embayment (Mereside Shops) reaching Branstree Road in the 1960s. The development of the estate caused much friction between the Corporation and Ribble. The latter used Preston New Road for its Preston services and wished to protect this and capture the estate travel. License applications were therefore fraught, not helped by the poor roads initially and a restriction on double deck operations.

Although a simple short route, the 6 had a complicated operating pattern. In 1964 a 12 minute frequency was provided with a 48 minute round trip. At Corporation Street buses interworked with the 4 and 13. The 4 ran every 24 minutes, the 13 every 12 - co-ordinated with the 6 to Spen Corner before heading via Marton Drive to Lindale Gardens. 10 buses were needed, 6 of which worked a 6-4-13 cycle and 4 of which worked a 6-13 cycle. Blackpool for years helpfully arranged its route number blinds with 4, 6 and 13 in order!

Incidentally as if the 6 minute service 6/13 to Condor Square and Spen Corner wasn't enough, the 6A ran every 16 minutes (Fulwood Square-Midgeland Road via Common Edge Road and School Lane) and the 11C (Blackpool to St. Annes) every 20 minutes which was clearly impossible to co-ordinate!

The 6 settled in to stable mediocrity - by 1970 it was down to every 15 minutes but was put back to every 12 minutes in 1976 when the 13 ceased. Crew operated Leyland Titans held sway from 1934 to 1980 - with OPO AEC Swifts on Sundays from 1973 and some crew operated Atlanteans in the late 1970s but in December 1980 it was converted to full OPO operation using Atlanteans. During the 1970s - presumably before 1973 a turning circle was constructed on land adjacent to Clifton Road to replace the previous reversing manoeuvre.

The 1980s saw transport operators begin to consider different ways to promote their services. Fares promotions started on route 6 in January 1985 with a maximum fare of 40p between 9am and 3pm and after 6pm, with a 30p maximum Sunday fare - this compared to the then 53p maximum from Mereside to Town Centre.

February 1985 saw the introduction of the "SHUTTLE SIX" identity and the a new a "Saverstrip" ticket. These multi journey tickets were similar to the well known Manchester 'Clipper Card' scheme and allowed users to purchase 12 journeys for the price of 10 provided they travelled between the same two points - this even applied to the off peak 40p maximum. Five Atlanteans were dedicated to the service with their standard fleet livery adorned with a green skirt, two orange and one lemon stripe and large Shuttle Six lettering. 302, 303, 316, 317 and 321 were so treated and these five, plus conventionally painted Atlanteans 301, 351 and 352 were equipped with Saverstrip cancelling machines. The experiment ended after six months - the buses retained their livery but saw general service use before becoming early recipients of the new livery in spring 1987.

Deregulation of local bus services took place on Sunday 26 October and this involved the most significant change to service 6 in its life. The Mereside to Talbot Square service was extended via the route of service 5 to Grange Park (Easington Crescent) via Caunce St, Layton Road, Westcliffe Drive, Poulton Road, Chepstow Road, Gateside Drive and Dinmore Avenue. Buses ran every 15 minutes in the day and every 30 in the evenings and on Sundays. 7 Atlantes were required. This brought back memories of the 6A/6B which shared this route from the edge of Grange Park to Hawes Side Lane until their withdrawal in the 1970s.

Route branding returned to the service in September 1987 when the daytime frequency was increased to every 10 minutes (10 buses) and a Superman inspired "Super 6" identity was coined. Atlanteans 301/5/6 received a blue, white and red based livery and 309,322 and 360 received broadside adverts with the same branding. Matching timetables were produced, though the image ended in April 1989 with the withdrawal of the Atlanteans.

Little Marton Mill provides a suitable backdrop to many a Mereside photo and here Atlantean 317 passes Branstree Road junction in June 1988 as it heads towards the turning circle.

This improvement was not enough to ward off the attentions of Fylde, who were using there growing fleet of double deckers between school duties to irritate Blackpool Transport on its core services. March 1988 saw the introduction of a half hourly service 6 Monday to Friday off peak, Saturday and Sunday daytime which used various vehicles from the ubiquitous Atlantean to the odd Leopard and Bristol RE with minibuses preferred on Sundays. In addition their 11C - which followed the 6 from Hawes Side Lane to Blackpool was extended to Grange Park to compete on this corridor. Fylde's interest on the 6 ended in April 1989 when the two operators scaled back their competing actions.

Fylde's brief incursion on the 6 included the delights of new to Lytham Atlantean 77.

July 1990 saw the opening of a large Tesco superstore across Clifton Road from Mereside and several bus services were duly recast. Surprisingly only one bus per hour on the 6 was extended the short distance to the store - the other five still terminated on the turning circle. June 1991 saw an unusual northern extension. During the day one bus every 30 minutes was extended from Grange Park via Carleton and Castle Gardens to Poulton replacing the recently withdrawn 53 service. This added an 11th bus to the roster and lasted until March 2000

The November 1994 network change left the 6 alone - though the new Volvo Olympians initially saw regular use alongside Atlanteans and sometimes the older Olympians too. 6 February 1995 saw a change to Optare Delta operation  - releasing the double deckers to allow the 22/22A to revert to larger buses. At the same time the evening journeys were extended the short distance to Collegiate High School following regrettable problems caused while laying over at Easington Crescent.

March 2000 saw an increased evening and Sunday service with a bus every 20 minutes and then in April 2001 the Metro network was launched. The 6 became Line 6 but was barely changed, other than the introduction of a single direction loop at Mereside - buses now arriving via Poulton Road and turning onto Dinmore Road to wait at Pilling Crescent, then bypassing Easington Crescent and leaving the estate on Chepstow Road. The evening buses also followed this route and no longer went to Collegiate. All journeys now ran to Tesco. 

Dedicated Delta 114 passes the now rarely used turning circle to turn onto Clifton Road and into the Tesco store behind the photographer

June 2001 saw the allocation of dedicated bus to each Line route and Deltas 108-110, 112-117 were given Line 6 stickers to provide 9 out of the 10 workings. Repaints into the Metro livery of maroon and yellow commenced with 116 entering service so painted on 30 June. 115 then 116 followed. There was then a hiatus as 114 was undergoing refurbishment which saw the high backed seats replaced by bus seats and this did not return to use in Line 6 livery until January 2002. 113 and 112 followed in February and March; 108 in June (without bus seats), 110 in August and finally 109 in October.

A change in policy to brand the full PVR saw 118 transferred from Line 7 in March 2004. A further change saw 115-118 move onto Line 11 in May 2005 and 104-107 were then painted in Line 6 colours between May and August with 108-110/112-114 treated to full repaints in October and November. Finally in February 2009 103 was painted maroon to replace 110 which was withdrawn.

February 2010 saw the evening service reduced to every 30 minutes, however little did people realise that after service on 25 July the service would be withdrawn entirely with Line 11 replacing the Grange Park leg and Line 14 replacing the Mereside leg. The final working is the 2300 from Mereside to Grange Park and the 2341 Grange Park to Market St.

Haddle House Estate

Twiddling the destination blind of preserved PD3 529 brought up "HADDLE HOUSE ESTATE" on the front and both "HADDLE HOUSE EST VIA WARBRECK DRIVE & BISPHAM VILLAGE" AND "HADDLE HOUSE ESTATE VIA WARBRECK DRIVE, BISPHAM & NORBRECK" squeezed into the side blinds. You would struggle to find Haddle House Estate on a map; nor people who could easily identify it. Haddle House was an old farmhouse in the Anchorsholme area - and became part of the 1950s housing development in that area.

At the time Bispham was served by a number of bus routes from Blackpool - the 7/7A circulars via Devonshire Road/Warbreck Drive; the 15A via Warbreck Hill Road and Bispham Road and the 22 via Layton and Bispham Road with just route 9A/9B extending beyond Bispham to Cleveleys via Devonshire Road (9A) or All Hallows Road (9B) and Fleetwood Road.

This all changed in October 1959 when the 22/22A took over the 9A/B routes to Cleveleys and the 9 later reappeared as a Blackpool to Bispham service into the new Ingthorpe Estate (Ingthorpe Avenue/Ashfield Road area). The 7/7A was joined by new service 7C which ran via Dickson Road, Gynn, Warbreck Drive, Red Bank Road then as the 22A via All Hallows Road and Fleetwood Road turning up Valeway Avenue, North Drive and Luton Road to the junction with Anchorsholme Lane East - Haddle House terminus, This ran every 30 minutes - rising to every 20 minutes during Blackpool's odd peak of 12noon to 6pm.

Norbreck was served from 1965 when alternate 7C journeys were diverted Bispham Library via Devonshire Road, Guildford Avenue, Norbreck Road, Russell Avenue, Fleetwood Road to rejoin the 7C route. Rather than 7D (which wasn't on the blind) this used the now vacant 8 number. Norbreck was now also served by route 25A so the 8 ended in 1967 - at the same time the 7C was diverted into Ingthorpe alongside the 9s serving Ingthorpe Avenue, Ashfield Road, Fairfax Avenue, Whiteholme Road back onto Fleetwood Road and then into Cleveleys - removing Haddle House from Blackpool's blinds for ever - the new blinds for the Swifts showed "Cleveleys via Ingthorpe Avenue and Luton Road"

In 1969 the 7C was one of the first two routes converted to OMO operation with AEC Swifts and in 1973 was diverted away from Fleetwood Road to run past the new College along Ashfield Road and Warren Drive.

Whiteholme appeared on as the terminus of the 7C from 1975 as shown here on Swift 560 passing the Supermarket building under construction on the site of North Station.

In  March1975 it was cut back following the extension of route 9 to Cleveleys and for a few months terminated at the College of Technology but from 30 June it was extended to "Whiteholme" - another transport department name for Anchorsholme Lane/Luton Road junction. Initially alternate journeys ran via Sevenoakes Drive or North Drive to reach the terminus (as 7B or 7C) before a standard route via North Drive, Anchorsholme Lane to the terminus and back via Luton Road was adopted in 1982 along with new route number 8.

At deregulation Blackpool chose not to register service 8 and Fylde won it on tender retaining the same hourly timetable. It soon realised that it could - just - reach Cleveleys centre and back in an hour so Fylde duly registered the service commercially and extended it there in April 1987, later doubling the frequency and eventually extending it to Lytham as part of trunk route 11. Today the link is maintained through Line 3 every 20 minutes just like the peak 7C back in 1959.

Swift 584 passes another lost bus terminus (Cavendish Road to the left of the bus) on its way from Whiteholme to Blackpool in 1984

So Haddle House Estate terminus lasted from 1959 to 1967, Whiteholme from 1975 to 1987. The terminus today is no longer served - Line 3 now penetrates the housing estate and Line 11 runs via Anchorsholme Lane East - the nearest stop is known simply as "Duck Pond".

Repaint Progress

Prior to the launch of the new network on 26 June the paint shop has been busy repainting buses into the new livery. So far six have been treated in order of completion:

Trident 341
Trident 342
Excel 214
Trident 340
Solo 290
Solo 289
So far only 342 is understood to have received the vinyl 'swoops' and 289 has not yet been released from paint.

Excel 211 is now also in the paint shop though its not known if this is for a full repaint.

Meanwhile several buses have now received new destination blinds to accommodate the service changes. Many of the Dennis Tridents have been treated - previously the blinds only covered destinations for Lines 11 and 14. Interestingly Deltas 115 and 133 have also received new blinds and have lost their route branding.

New Network [update 28 July]

updated with type allocations 28 July

With most of the new timetables on Traveline, further details of the new network can now be summarised:

Line 1 - Airport to Fleetwood every 20 minutes (day), 30 minutes (eves)
One additional daytime bus added to the operating cycle to make 8. Route re-timed with additional 13 minutes running time Airport to Cleveleys and 6 between Bispham and Airport. Orange Tridents allocated with support from pool buses. 

Line 2/2C Blackpool to Poulton every 15 mins M-S days, 30 mins eves/Suns with alternate journeys to Knott End (2C)
Will now terminate at Corporation Street (C1 - the current Line 6 stand) and operate via Abingdon St and Church Street in both directions. It will no longer serve the Railway Station. This will be subject to revision in August/September when St. John's Square closes to traffic. 7 buses are required with the 2/2C inter-working at Corporation Street. Additional layover is provided with 14 minutes at Corporation St, 16 at Poulton (2) and 12 at Knott End (2C). Sunday services use 3 buses. Excel operated - Solos as spare buses.

Line 3 Cleveleys to Mereside Tesco every 20 mins M-S days, 60 mins eve/Suns
No change to timetable. Route revised in Mereside with Tesco to Cleveleys buses operating via Clifton Road not Langdale Road. 6 buses required - 2 evenings/Sundays. Line 3 liveried Solos allocated

Line 4 Cleveleys Park to Mereside Tesco every 20 mins M-S days, 60 mins eve/Suns
No change to timetable apart from minor change to evening times - but now runs via Whitegate Drive instead of West Park Drive. 7 buses required, 2 evenings/Sundays. Line 4 liveried Solos allocated.

Line 5 Hospital to Halfway House every 10 mins M-S days, 30 mins eves/Suns
No change to route or timetable apart from an earlier morning journey. 9 buses required, Line 5 liveried Solos allocated.

Line 7 Cleveleys to Lytham Saltcotes Road every 15 mins M-S days, 30 mins eves/Suns with alternate journeys to Wesham.
Service extended from Lytham Square to Saltcotes Road via Hospital. Alternate journeys then via Warton, Freckleton, Lower Lane Estate and Kirkham to Wesham. Existing evening/Sunday services to Wesham also now serve Lower Lane Estate. 13 buses required daytimes, 7 evenings and 6 Sundays. Solos allocated usually green/yellow ones.

Line 9 Blackpool to Cleveleys every 10 mins M-S day, every 20 mins Sunday daytimes, every 30 mins eves/Suns
Northern section of Line 11 using 9 buses M-S, 3 eves, 4 Sunday daytimes. Green/Black/Blue Tridents allocated with back up by Olympians.

Line 10 Blackpool to Midgeland Road every 60 mins M-S days
No change - 1 bus required, now operated by Solos.

Line 11 Lytham Square to Grange Park every 15 mins M-S days, 30 mins eves/Sundays
Requires 11 buses during the day, 6 evenings and Sundays. 8xgreen/black/blue Tridents and 3 Deltas allocated with back up by Olympians.

Line 14 Fleetwood to Mereside every 10 mins M-S days, 20 mins Sunday days, 30 mins evenings
17 buses required during the day, 5 in the evening and 8 on Sunday. 12xgreen/black/blue Tridents and 5 Deltas allocated with back up by Olympians and Deltas

Line 15 Staining to Poulton every 30 mins M-S days; Staining to Bispham every 30 mins Sunday days, Staining to Blackpool every hour evenings.
Will now operates via Devonshire Road between Talbot Road and Newton Drive, rather than via Layton. 4 Solos required daytimes, 3 Sundays, 1 evenings.

Line 16 Blackpool to Cleveleys every 30 mins M-F days, 60 mins Saturdays and Sundays. No evening service
Starts from North Station via current 2 route (Whitegate Drive, Waterloo Road, Bond St) to Clifton Drive then Harrowside, Highfield Road and existing 16 to Norcross, Fleetwood Road, Victoria Road to Cleveleys. 7 buses required M-F 4 Sat/Sun - uses Solos normally light blue or black ones.

Line 17 Blackpool to Lytham every 30 mins M-S days hourly every evening, Blackpool to St. Annes every 30 mins Sunday daytimes.
Starts from Albert Road (Argos) and as 14 to St. Annes Square then as current 2 route to Ansdell and via Forest Drive and South Park to Lytham Square. 5 Excels needed Monday to Saturday, 3 on Sundays. Daily evening service is operated on behalf of Lancashire County Council and uses two Solos

The above requires 104 vehicles with 119 low floor buses available once the recent purchases are ready. This compares to the previous 113 vehicles required, of which 89 are allocated as low floor buses from a fleet of 111. Metrorider 518 is now dedicated to the DWP contract.

Open Toppers Move on

Two of the withdrawn City Sightseeing Olympians - 813 and 844 - have moved to Apline Travel, operator of the Llandudno & Conway tour. 849 remains in store.

Ex Anglian Volvo single deckers

A post on East Anglia Buses news group confirms that the five Anglian Buses Volvo B7LRE single deckers are being painted into Blackpool Transport's new livery ahead of delivery. Two were observed on a depot visit linked to the East Anglian Transport Museum's Bus event.

The five vehicles are AU06BOV,  AU06BPE,  AU06BPF, AU06BPK and AU06BPO of which BPF and BPK are confirmed in Blackpool colours. They were new in March 2006 and carry 44 seat Wright Eclipse bodies.

Pictures of the two repainted vehicles are here:
http://sam-wickham.fotopic.net/p65906966.html
http://sam-wickham.fotopic.net/p65906950.html

PD3 goes to Glastonbury

The annual Glastonbury Music Festival sees various shuttle bus services in operation. Chepstow Classic Buses is one of the operators and amongst its Bristol VRs this year, turned out ex Blackpool PD3 518 (HFR518E). This was one of the final ten PD3s in operation in 1988 and was withdrawn with its sisters in November. A year later it headed to Scotland after a repaint into original livery having been purchased by Michael Roulston - remarkably at Christmas 1989 it was putting in a turn on Magicbus service 19 in Glasgow!

By 1994 it had moved to Chepstow Classic Buses and while there it has seen further PSV use - including spells on tourist services and it is now in the Chepstow hire fleet.

Thanks to Sean for the pic, his Bristol VR South West News site has pictures of the Bristol VRs used at the festival while for local interest he maintains an Optare Excel page

Branding Goes

The removal of the route branding from various Metro liveried buses has commenced. All vehicles except the doomed Line 6 Deltas and the pool liveried buses are expected to lose their lettering over the next few weeks. Today, Delta 115, Excels 215 and 224, Trident 312 and Olympian 379 were all noted with the place names removed from their sides and a 'tower and waves' logo where the route number was.

New line stickers have appeared on bus stops, so far for Lines 1, 2, 3 and 4 only. These feature the black and yellow wave of the new fleet livery; the tower and waves logo; route number and destination. Note that the Metro logo remains on this example together with the old style sticker for Line 15.

Trident 340 has been joined by Solo 290 in the paint shop while the stored open top Olympians are beginning to depart with 844 leaving on 30 June and 813 expected to follow next week. Metroriders 503 and 513 have been sold to Totally Transport CIC for spares.

Fleet Update

June has proven to be the calm before the storm with little in the way of fleet changes prior to the major service changes at the end of July. The ex South Lancs Trident 342 has been fully repainted into the new livery (without vinyls as yet) while 340 is now in the paint shop. Excel 214 is the first single deck so painted, and to correct an earlier post, has yet to depart for its engine overhaul. 214 therefore becomes the first bus to lose Metro livery.

The same fate awaits Metrorider 503 as befell the fire damaged Yates building in 2009

Metrorider 503 is expected to depart for scrap shortly. Sister buses 506, 511, 513, 517 and 593 remain in store at Jackson's Coaches yard in Marton along with withdrawn Olympians 365/6. Delta 103, Olympians 367, 813, 844 and 849 remain in store at Rigby Road. 

One of 364's last conventional service workings - Line 7 September 2009

  
Blackpool Transport's last Atlantean 364 (B364UBV) has been relicensed and was displayed at totallyTransport on Sunday 27 June - its first use since withdrawal at the end of October 2009.

News Round up

Blackpool Transport Optare Excel 214 (T214HCW) is the latest Excel to be refurbished and is now ready for its engine change - the 11th to be completed. The Excels have had their Euro 2 Cummins B-series units replaced by Euro 3 ISBe units and various other modifications including new CCTV and revised panel fixings. The new engines deliver peak torque at a lower engine speed. 214 is currently in the paint shop to receive the single deck version of the new fleet livery. Trident 341 - the first double deck repaint - is now out of the works but has not yet received its vinyls to complete the livery. A recent Bus and Coach Buyer article reports that Blackpool Tridents 309 and 326 received new engines during autumn 2009 at Cummins in Leeds. These were the first two buses treated under a new "ECO" programme developed by Cummins which provides remanufactured engines for existing buses. Both retain their Euro 3 ISCe units and have delivered improved fuel consumption since their return.

Two Lancashire County Council contract servcies into Blackpool are changing shortly. On Monday 28 June, Kirkby Lonsdale Mini Coaches takes over three evening journeys from Lancaster to Blackpool on otherwise Stagecoach operated service 42. On Sunday 27 June service 74 will lose its evening service from Blackpool to Pheasants Wood due to low usage.

Despite its name Kirkby Lonsdale Mini Coaches is based in Carnforth. It operates a small number of local bus services in the Lancaster and Carnforth areas and mainly uses Merecedes Vario minibuses.

Happy Birthday Line 11 - 75 years young

Bought for new route 11 in 1935 this ex demonstrator Lion (Lytham 24 TJ6760) is now privately preserved and nearing the completion of its restoration

On Friday 7 June 1935 at 0800 a Lytham St. Annes bus - probably Leyland Lion 24 - set off from Dicconson Terrace, Lytham on the first scheduled municipal bus service to Blackpool, having started at Halfway House at 0742. A Blackpool single decker - probably also a Lion - departed Central Station at 0800 with the first working from there to Lytham.

The new service 11 was born. A fast journey time of 29 minutes was offered with just one minute layover time at each end. Buses ran along Central Drive and St. Annes Road to the Halfway House and over the boundary into Lytham St Annes along Blackpool Road, Headroomgate Road, Church Road, Worsley Road, Commonside, Church Road, Seafield Road and West Beach to Lytham Dicconson Terrace. A half hourly service ran with one bus from each operator. Duplication was soon required and by the autumn a 15 minute afternoon and evening service was running.

Surviving Gearless Lion 34

Lytham's trams provided a more frequent service between the two towns via Clifton Drive - and also served St. Annes. These closed in two stages - St. Annes to Lytham in December 1936 and St. Annes to Blackpool in April 1937. The replacement bus service was the 11A which initially ran from Lytham to St. Annes but from the closure of the tramway ran every 12 minutes from Lytham Meadow Lane via Lytham Square, Fairhaven Hotel, St. Annes Square, Airport, Lytham Road, Bloomfield Road and Central Drive to Central Station. Unlike the trams, Blackpool ran certain workings on the service with the annual route mileage split in proportion to the length of route in each borough.

At the same time a short lived summer 11B from St. Annes to Blackpool started while in 1939 the 11C was used for shorts on the 11 as far as Lindsay Avenue. February 1940 saw a serious snow storm cut off Blackpool Road and saw plans to commandeer the road for airfield expansion brought forward. The 11 was diverted to run via Squires Gate Lane, Clifton Drive, St. Annes Square to rejoin its established route at Victoria Hotel - with an extension to Meadow Lane. Blackpool to Lytham was now done in around 40-45 minutes. The 11C suffered several war time diversions before becoming a stand-alone service in its own right using Ansdell Road and Hawes Side Lane in Blackpool and entering St. Annes via Division Lane and later Queensway. Today this route is largely covered by Line 14.

As the war progressed the 11/11A settled into a co-ordinated ten minute service - 20 minutes on each - though only the section from Blackpool to Bloomfield Road, Squires Gate to St. Annes and along Church Road in Lytham were common. This pattern lasted until 1976 when the frequency reduced to every 15 minutes (30 each). There was much duplication - the 11B used to denote extra shorts on the 11A, the 11X tended to be used for extras on the 11 route. During the summer local route 1 (Lytham Square to St Annes) would be extended to Blackpool to provide an extra three buses per hour. This complicated the mileage allocation and although more often than not there were 9 Lytham to 2 Blackpool buses used (plus four Blackpool ones on the 11C) sometimes Blackpool had to take on an extra working to balance out the summer duplication by Lytham. Revenue split was initially quite simple yet awkward at the same time. Blackpool kept the revenue taken in Blackpool, Lytham St. Annes did likewise in their area - those who travelled across the boundary paid twice - having to be re-booked as they crossed the boundary! In 1958 this was replaced by an allocation of the pooled revenue in proportion to the mileage.

Preserved Lytham Titans 10, 19 and 70 were all bought new for the trunk 11/11A routes

Lytham initially used now preserved Leyland Lion 24, soon joined by the Gearless Lions and then double deck Gearless Titans when the 11A started. Blackpool generally used its newest centre entrance buses - single deckers initially on the 11 - almost always Titans on the 11A. Post war with the reduced frequencies both operators standardised on Leyland Titans until 1970 when Lytham's first three Leyland Atlanteans took to the roads - albeit still with conductors

The 1970s saw some structural changes to the routes - particularly in the Lytham area - most took place after Lytham St. Annes Corporation morphed into Fylde Borough Council in 1974. These were quite complex but can be summarised as:

1973 - one journey per our on each 11 and 11A diverted to Saltcotes Road as 31/31A rather than Meadow Lane either via Mythop Road or Preston Road
1975 - 41/41A variants introduced also to Saltcotes Road. 11A/31A/41A now operated by OMO Atlanteans (Fylde only), 11/31/41 remains crew operated
1976 - reduced to half hourly on each route, combined 15 minutes. Daytime service terminates at Lytham Square every 30 minutes and Saltcotes Road every 30 minutes. Virtually all Fylde workings now OMO
1977 - Blackpool Atlanteans start to appear alongside Titans.
1980 - Meadow Lane no longer used as a terminus - buses to Saltcotes Road instead
1982 - all Saltcotes Road journeys now use Preston Road both ways. Route numbers 31/31A and 41/41A dropped.
1983 - daytime 11 withdrawn and replace by extended 22A. 11A runs half hourly using four buses (all from Fylde). 11 and 11A run hourly in the evenings and on Sundays - both now using Lytham Road.

Blackpool's Atlantean 310 overtakes Fylde 77 (on local route 1) and Ribble 1425 on the occasional 172 route in Lytham Square in 1982 during a short-lived one-way system round the town centre

Fylde 79 showing its short lived stripy livery operating the 41 variant from Saltcotes to Blackpool

Deregulation
October 1986 saw Fylde run an hourly 11 and 11A every day, supplemented by daytime only limited stop variants 21 and 31. From January 1987 the limited stop routes ended and the 11 was increased to half hourly with a new 22B running via St. Annes Road between Blackpool and the Airport - but otherwise as the 11A. In 1988 the 11 was extended to Cleveleys, incorporating a short lived service 8 (Cleveleys to Lytham) and the 11A/22B were later similarly extended. By the 1992 the routes had evolved to the following pattern:

11 Cleveleys to Lytham Square via College, Bispham, Gynn, Blackpool, Lytham Rd, Airport, St. Annes and Ansdell every 30 minutes using 5 buses
11A Cleveleys to Lytham Square via College, Layton, Blackpool, Lytham Rd, Airport, St. Annes and Fairhaven every 30 minutes using 5 buses
In the evening and on Sundays an hourly service ran on each from Blackpool to Lytham with the 11A carrying onto Wesham.

Fylde 72 - one of six refurbished with modern front ends between 1991 and 1993 (Keith West)

A mixture of refurbished Atlanteans and Fylde's three Deltas of 1991 were regular perfomers - as for a while was the batch of four single deck Atlanteans - though these proved to be too small. When Blackpool took-over Fylde in 1994 the timetable was co-ordinated with Blackpool's 12 (Cleveleys to St. Annes via the 11A route) and initially used double deckers though Deltas were subsituted on 8 out of 10 workings from 1999.

The Metro network of April 2001 saw the 11, 11A, 12, 22 and 22A swept away by a new Line 11 which ran Cleveleys to Lytham Saltcotes Road via College, Bispham, Layton, Blackpool, Lytham Rd, Airport, St. Annes, Ansdell, South Park and Lytham Square with a 7/8 minute service to St. Annes and 15 minute service to Lytham. 21 buses (later 22) were used with a mix of Deltas, Olympians and Atlanteans allocted. 2003 and 2006 saw Dennis Tridents replace the older double deckers and today they (322-332) remain allocated along with one Olympian (379) and 10 Deltas (115/6/8/9, 122/5-7, 132/3). During the Metro era no less than 40 buses (and Twin car 673+683) have carried Line 11 livery of turquoise and yellow

Deltas: 115-119, 122, 125-133 (15)
Tridents: 322-332 (11)
Leyland Olympians: 368-373, 401, 406 (8)
Volvo Olympians: 374-379 (6)
Deltas 101-103 and Olympians 402-405, 407-410 carried small Line 11 stickers during 2001 but were transfered to other duties before they could be repainted.

Delta 115 loads at Cleveleys Bus Station in the dedicated Line 11 livery

July 2010 sees major service changes and Line 11 will enter a new era reduced to a 15 minute frequency between Lytham Square and Blackpool before heading to Layton and Grange Park. Optare Excels are likely to be the main vehicle type allocated with the Tridents cascaded onto new Line 9 - replacing the Blackpool to Cleveleys section.

Trident 331- from the latest batch of double deckers bought for the 11