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Ribble existing bus depots
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Statto
Established Member
Ribble didn't have a depot in Cheshire,, think only routes Ribble operated in Cheshire was the Southport-Warrington route, Cheshire was Crosville plus the municipals, & LUT.
Anyway, Hawthorn Road Bootle is still in use for Arriva North West, Preston, & Chorley, Stagecoach Lancashire, Ribble's Aintree depot has long gone, however the offices for the former Aintree depot are used for Arriva North West HQ
Anyway, Hawthorn Road Bootle is still in use for Arriva North West, Preston, & Chorley, Stagecoach Lancashire, Ribble's Aintree depot has long gone, however the offices for the former Aintree depot are used for Arriva North West HQ
Seems to be Stagecoach's "thing" to do that, e.g.
Cambridge = Cambus Ltd
Warwickshire = Midland Red (South)
Manchester = GM Buses (South)
Cumbria = Cumberland Motor Services
Etc...
He said ‘not use’
Basically when Stagecoach in Lancashire had the reorganisation and was split between Merseyside and Cumbria, the southern part ended up folded into Glenvale Transport Limited
Whisky Papa
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Burnley depot on Centenary Way is now the site of the Tesco megastore.
Manchester depot on Hulme Hall Road is now part of the St George's Island apartment development. This was formerly North Western Road Car territory, I'm not sure how much involvement Ribble had before NWRCC was split up in 1972. I recall it being listed in the first edition of Fleetbook #4 as "Hulme Hall Lane", which resulted in a fruitless trip to an entirely different part of the city!
Manchester depot on Hulme Hall Road is now part of the St George's Island apartment development. This was formerly North Western Road Car territory, I'm not sure how much involvement Ribble had before NWRCC was split up in 1972. I recall it being listed in the first edition of Fleetbook #4 as "Hulme Hall Lane", which resulted in a fruitless trip to an entirely different part of the city!
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Statto
Established Member
Funnily enough, mentioning Burnley, Ribble had buses outstationed at the Burnley & Pendle depot, mostly vehicles for the 743, now X43, not sure when the Ribble Burnley depot closed
TheGrandWazoo
Veteran Member
From North to South (ish) with disposal.....
Bowness - private use https://www.google.com/maps/@54.953...4!1s763TBwFNRT2xsAC95rcFqg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656
Carlisle - still in use with Stagecoach
Penrith - demolished (now Booths supermarket but was used as a furniture store)
Ambleside - demolished (retail units)
Kendal - still in use with Stagecoach
Ulverston - Ford dealership
Appleby - demolished
Morecambe - demolished (now an Asda)
Lancaster - demolished (flats)
Garstang - demolished (housing)
Preston - still in use with Stagecoach
Fleetwood - demolished (housing)
Blackpool TR - timber depot
Blackpool DR - demolished (housing I think)
Blackburn - closed; private use (?)
Burnley - demolished (Tesco)
Skipton - private use (was Pennine MS)
Clitheroe - demolished (housing)
Chorley - closed - don't know current status
Bolton - still in use Arriva
Manchester - demolished (flats)
Bury - use as garage workshop
Southport - demolished (Morrisons)
Ormskirk - tyre depot
Liverpool - demolished (student accom)
Skelmersdale - pallet firm
Wigan - private use (?)
Aintree - demolished (but offices still use with Arriva, as said)
Bootle 1 - demolished
Bootle 2 - still in use with Arriva
Man of Kent
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And the northern part is "Stagecoach (North West) Limited", not Cumberland Motor Services Ltd (although the former is the latter renamed).
KendalKing
Established Member
Blackpool DR, became a car showroom, before becoming an Lidl store.
TheGrandWazoo
Veteran Member
Thanks
Does anybody know where the following Ribble Depots listed were actually located:?
Ambleside
Ulverston
Appleby
Lancaster
Blackpool TR
Blackpool DR
Bury
Ormskirk
Liverpool
Wigan
Bootle 1
Blackburn
As for Southport I thought were Morrisons is wasnt a bus depot but where the other Railway Station used to be.
Ambleside
Ulverston
Appleby
Lancaster
Blackpool TR
Blackpool DR
Bury
Ormskirk
Liverpool
Wigan
Bootle 1
Blackburn
As for Southport I thought were Morrisons is wasnt a bus depot but where the other Railway Station used to be.
TheGrandWazoo
Veteran Member
Southport depot was combined with the bus station and it was located in the old railway station on Lord Street after it ceased to be a train shed
Ambleside - Compston Road
Ulverston - The Ellers
Appleby - Station Yard
Lancaster - Owen Road (near Skerton Bridge)
Blackpool TR - Talbot Road
Blackpool DR - Devonshire Road
Bury - Millett Street
Ormskirk - Knowsley Road
Liverpool - Skelhorne Street
Wigan - Wallgate
Bootle 1 - Hawthorne Road (about 300m along the road from the Arriva depot)
Blackburn - Manor Sutton Street
robertclark125
Established Member
Skipton became a carpet showroom I believe.
TheGrandWazoo
Veteran Member
Thanks for the update.
To correct myself, Appleby is actually still standing and it's Station Road (not Station Yard)
David Verity
Member
The site of Southport garage is now a Travelodge, the Morrisons supermarket having relocated to a bigger site on what was the Pleasureland coach park.
Ribble had two garages in Blackburn. Foundry Hill which came with the Pendle Motors business was used for coaches plus the double decker allocated to X3 running. A newbuild at George Street East was used for the stage carriage vehicles.
Foundry Hill was demolished to make way for a Morrisons supermarket. George Street East passed through Stagecoach into Transdev hands when it was renamed Manner Sutton Street.
After Transdev acquired Blackburn Transport the fleet was consolidated at their Intack depot and Manner Sutton Street was closed but the building is still in use.
Pub trivia - there was also a George Street West in Blackburn which housed the garage and offices of Ribblesdale Batty Holt.
TheGrandWazoo
Veteran Member
Some extra detail that I was unaware of and thanks for clarifying Southport.
I believe that Bury depot was similarly acquired with Auty's Tours (?) and was also used as a coach depot primarily.
David Verity
Member
That's correct - Autys had originally been associated with Spencers but they went their own separate ways. Ribble saw the acquisition of Autys as an opportunity to gain more picking up points for their Extended Tours which they rebranded Kingfisher. Drivers from Manchester and Bolton were transferred over for the summer to assist with the tours.
A couple of other observations - Manchester depot in Hulme Hall Road was inherited from North Western. Ribble's own Manchester garage was in Trumpet Street behind Lower Mosley Street Bus Station. It's now under the Jurys hotel.
And for the avoidance of any doubt Ribble's Appleby out station was the former goods shed at Appleby East (LNER) station. By coincidence Stagecoach now outstation a vehicle in the former goods yard of Appleby West (MR) station. Penrith also had outstations at Kirkoswald (Lace's garage) for two vehicles and Kirkby Stephen (Johnstone's garage) for one.
Thanks to all for helping to build this store of knowledge.
David Verity
Member
Centenary Way Burnley garage opened in 1958 replacing Trafalgar Street (AK-buses) and Olympia (CA-coaches) It had a working life of 30 years, by which time the Pendleside stage carriage operations had been decimated by deregulation and the former Ribble/Standerwick coach operations had been sold to Amberline. By the time Stagecoach took over only the vehicles for the 743 were based in Burnley at Queensgate. For all other purposes Burnley had become an out staion of Clitheroe.
Statto
Established Member
Wasn't other Bootle depot used as the Liverline depot, think it became the Arriva body repair shop before closing
TheGrandWazoo
Veteran Member
And thanks to you too. I've long been fascinated by the depots/stations/offices rather than just the buses and so know a bit but you've filled in a few gaps.
I'd forgotten about Kirkoswald but once you said... Don't think I knew about Kirkby Stephen though. Another little shed, albeit inherited from United, was Henderson's Garage in Alston.
I think I went to Burnley c.1992/3 and the depot had been vacated in favour of the B&P one, and was being used by Harcros Building Supplies (later sold to Jewsons). Obviously, the site was later sold for the retail temple that now sits there.
It was. Ribble vacated the site as it was considered antiquated, building and moving to the current one in the late 1970s. Not certain what it was used for but Liverline took it on and then they were subsequently purchased by British Bus (owners of North Western).
randyrippley
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One site thats been overlooked: when Lancaster City Transport closed, Stagecoach took over the former Morecambe Corporation bus and horsetram depot on Heysham Rd before moving to White Lund. Its now housing. Ribble also had a piece of land at The Battery which was used as a turning circle and occasional bus park, thats now a GP surgery
Whisky Papa
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There is indeed now a Travelodge in the Lord Street frontage and a new block behind it, which I gather would have been on the site of the former station and Ribble garage. The Morrisons store is behind the left-hand side of that frontage and starts at roughly the end of the Travelodge's new block, so would presumably also be on part of the site? For a town I used to visit a lot with my parents, the Ribble presence seems to completely escape my memory!
The entrance to Morrison's large car park is from the seaward side (either Esplanade or Victoria Way) so I assume this is the area that was used as a coach park after its railway use was over?
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David Verity
Member
The street plan shows the Morrisons address as "Winter Gardens" which had been the site of the original bus station whilst the CLC line into Southport was still open. With the railway going the site outside of the station building was redeveloped for coach parking and there was also a Model Visage. It's a nice touch that the clock tower still stands - I assume that the frontage to the station has listed status.
David Verity
Member
Ingleton had been an outstation of Lancaster depot. The property was owned by Pennine Motor Services who were Ribble's joint operators on the Skipton-Lancaster group of services. Joint operation was outlawed under deregulation and the relationship faded away, especially after Pennine shrank its service to operate between Skipton and Giggleswick only. Stagecoach still have a limited presence in Ingleton on school and college contracts. The current fleetcard shows two buses outstationed at Ingleton although I confess to not knowing exactly where the location is.
The building on the A65 appears to have been sold. Could they be stabled overnight at Bibbys Coaches?
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