Stan Drews
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Not sure if buses on Orkney have ever had the wonderfully named Twatt as a destination?
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Strangest bus destination screens?
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ANDREW_D_WEBB
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Croydon Airport was a strange one on some blinds in recent years, the name outliving the airport by many years.
Whisky Papa
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Departing from Halifax (592) or Rochdale (589) showing Portsmouth sometimes seemed to bemuse a few of the locals.
daodao
Established Member
Some Manchester bus routes terminate at Southern Cemetery, which was previously a tram terminus (up to 1947).
Geordie driver
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I have lived near both, indeed my son now has a house near Wide Open, but both it and Pity Me seem normal to me. They are about 20 miles apart.
TheGrandWazoo
Veteran Member
Been through Pity Me many times. Most (all?) routes that head from Chester le Street to Durham so they tend to pass through and always did.
There is the Arnison Centre (a sprawling retail park with a large Sainsbury) nearby and the local services to Newton Hall and Brasside that loop around the large housing development (rather than head to Pity Me) were extended there in the early 1990s but the services continue to stop short of Pity Me.
@Geordie driver might recall if journeys ever did run TO Wideopen. I can remember it being served by the slow Morpeth stopper, but don't know if any local services terminated there or if all continued to Brunswick/Dinnington?
Glenn1969
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Do any buses run to Snoring, Dull or any of the Wallops?
Alex 2901
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Nope, only thing that climbs Bell End is the 14 between Dudley and Halesowen, though the X8 does have "Next Stop: Bell End" on its PIS.
Yet "Fighting Cocks" isn't used on the 1 in Wolverhampton...
Following the removal of the Halifax to Oldham service, there was a service a few times a day from Halifax to Cunning Corner (also a common destination before the 80s). There is still a local service from Halifax to the hamlet of Commons. In the mid-80s it was often seen as the only line on the 508 services from Leeds where it was not clear it was the fastest route to Halifax (as few were familiar with a hamlet 20 miles away).
Even though I lived on its route for over 20 years, I only visited it by bus once - and that was to show the driver how to get there.
In the late 90s there was a regular Sunday service terminating at Portsmouth. I can't remember if it ran from Todmorden or Walsden.
Geordie driver
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I grew up in the area so Wideopen doesn't seem strange to me. You are right, it's never been a terminus, it's one of those places on the way to somewhere else.
arbeia
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Didn't know that Twatt was moved from Shetland to Orkney! They may be a tad disappointed.
I believe there are Twatts in both Shetland and Orkney.
Whisky Papa
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Actually it would have been a little earlier than that. From deregulation until the new Halifax Bus Station opened (April 89?) the 592 (Halifax-Todmorden-Burnley) evening and Sunday service ran Halifax-Todmorden-Portsmouth, with Burnley being served by a Walsden-Todmorden-Burnley short working of the 589, plus the third side of the triangle, Halifax-Todmorden-Rochdale on the 590.
When the 590-3 services were extended to the new bus station (they had been terminating at George Street in Halifax), the retiming was used to change the evening and Sunday 592 to run through from Halifax to Burnley. In order to maintain two buses per hour in the Todmorden area, the 589 ran Walsden-Todmorden-Portsmouth on an hour round trip. Despite it being very easy work, most of the drivers hated it as time dragged, particularly on one long Sunday aftrnoon stretch (5 hours I think!). The last bus to Walsden at 2310 extended just over the boundary to Summit, turning by swinging across the road as buses from Rochdale had done in the past.
I can't say off the top of my head when the evening and Sunday part of the the 589 service was withdrawn, but I would guess around 1992/3 at the latest.
Busaholic
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I've met one or two of them
Many newcomers to Nottingham (ie Trent Poly students) were bemused by buses with Gotham emblazed on South Notts destination blinds (which is pronounced Goat-ham rather than Goth-am) . Pretty sure some also mistook those going to Thrumpton Lane End as going to Trumpton (as in Camblewick Green) especially as one working was the last bus.
For some reason this reminded me of the (surely apocryphal) story of the National Express customer who, having missed their coach to Northampton, decided to catch the service to Southampton and was most put out on arrival to find the two weren't close to each other!
The last bus at night from Halifax still terminates at Portsmouth.
A few others (mostly of historic interest now as I've shown the former operator)
Babes-in-the-Wood Yorkshire Woollen District
Tea House Barrow Corporation
Two Ball Lonnen Newcastle Corporation
Spittal Tongs ditto
Sea Beach Aberdeen Corporation
Bleak House Burnley, Colne & Nelson Jt Committee
Bleachworks Wigan Corporation
Water Rawtenstall Corporation
Battery Morecambe & Heysham Corporation
Bare ditto
Barming Maidstone Corporation
Clock Face St. Helens Corporation
Growing up in Bristol I never found Sea Mills or Fishponds odd but some visitors find them amusing.
A few others (mostly of historic interest now as I've shown the former operator)
Babes-in-the-Wood Yorkshire Woollen District
Tea House Barrow Corporation
Two Ball Lonnen Newcastle Corporation
Spittal Tongs ditto
Sea Beach Aberdeen Corporation
Bleak House Burnley, Colne & Nelson Jt Committee
Bleachworks Wigan Corporation
Water Rawtenstall Corporation
Battery Morecambe & Heysham Corporation
Bare ditto
Barming Maidstone Corporation
Clock Face St. Helens Corporation
Growing up in Bristol I never found Sea Mills or Fishponds odd but some visitors find them amusing.
Yes, it was likely 1992 or 1993 (it wouldn't have been before Christmas 1992 because of who I was travelling with when I visited Portsmouth).
306024
Established Member
Doing red bus rovers as a kid in London it was good fun to see a number 11 going to World's End (in Chelsea).
One day many moons ago we were out planning rail replacement services. Arranged to meet our double deck bus in Ilford and a brand new vehicle arrives with 'Surveying' on the blind.
One day many moons ago we were out planning rail replacement services. Arranged to meet our double deck bus in Ilford and a brand new vehicle arrives with 'Surveying' on the blind.
Busaholic
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Barming lay at the other end of the trolleybus route from Loose: no-one ever asked, though, if Barming had a Women's Institute!
"Sea Beach" was still a destination in Aberdeen when I lived there in the 90s. I'm happy to be corrected, but I think it was the no.14. It (and the 15) started at Woodend and the destination alternated between there and Balgownie Drive. The westbound journeys were numbered 15, regardless of where they originated.
Statto
Established Member
There's a Twatt Village on Shetland too, but buses most likely go through both villages without showing the via point on blinds.
I was once astonished to see a Bury Corporation bus going to Jericho trundling along Edleston Road, Crewe one Sunday afternoon.
It was either preserved or very, very lost.
Is it possible to buy a return ticket?
Actually, I think "Cemetery" or "Cemetery Gates" was the terminus of several municipal bus/tram routes in the past, as they usually just ran to the town boundary, and the cemetery was usually located on the edge of the town.
Here in N. Wales you may find a Clynnog & Trefor service Schooldays only 5A with "Nasareth" on the boards ["s" rather than "z" unfortunately], and if you're in need of healing, look for the Llew Jones 76 with "Bethesda" up front.
My favourites in the old Halifax Transport days used to be "Steep Lane" which could have been anywhere in West Yorkshire! [it is now incorporated in Yorkshire Tiger's Sowerby/Hubberton circular] and "Beehive" [see folks swarming on to that bus], which I think was a remote pub above Ripponden, but you had to know that when you saw it on the blinds!
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I know somebody who represents that area on the local authority.
He is genuinely an Idle Councillor.
I've always found the destination Halfway intriguing and also on a Sheffield theme, the alluring sounding Crystal Peaks. I even got the bus to Crystal Peaks when I was bunking off from attending a conference in Sheffield. Sadly the reality was a rather nondescript out of town shopping centre...
Which reminds me that Booth & Fisher, who used to run to Halfway, also had a route to a place near Sheffield named Wales.
When some of their vehicles (after passing to SYT) were sold to Silver Star, near Caernarfon they were delivered with their blinds set to WALES.
shopbford
Member
Using the old grey matter in the times when Durham District Services were in existence I seem to remember:
Auton Stile - in Bearpark
Running Waters - now in the middle of nowhere, think there might be a pub there
Blackie Boy - a stop on a roundabout near Durham College in Framwellgate Moor
Auton Stile - in Bearpark
Running Waters - now in the middle of nowhere, think there might be a pub there
Blackie Boy - a stop on a roundabout near Durham College in Framwellgate Moor
The latter reminds me of Trumpington in Cambridge which gets a Park and Ride service - which always reminds me of the current US President.
Park and Rides in general are a good source of names. Whether it be the mysterious sounding Odd Down in Bath, or the bucolic Pear Tree in Oxford, they seem to have more than their fair share of interesting names.
Stan Drews
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A few others (mostly of historic interest now as I've shown the former operator)
Bare Morecambe Corporation
Morecambe never used route numbers and just showed the destination with local adverts on the front above the destination. A classic was advertising a a beauty contest (remember them?) and the bus screen was 'Bare' so the advert read "Come and see Miss Miorecambe! - Bare" I believe it made it into the local papers!
Bare Morecambe Corporation
Morecambe never used route numbers and just showed the destination with local adverts on the front above the destination. A classic was advertising a a beauty contest (remember them?) and the bus screen was 'Bare' so the advert read "Come and see Miss Miorecambe! - Bare" I believe it made it into the local papers!
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