Round The Corner ...
... from The Circus you will find Darwen's Market Hall and Market Square. In the square was a small bus station, originally with just one posh shelter.
An extra stand was added with inappropriate concrete shelters.
The original quality rain protector peeps in to the above picture on the far right.
And today?
Some buses leave from the nearby street.
Buses to Pothouse ...
You will find a couple of open shelters and little else, such is progress.
... left from the traditional Circus stops.
Pothouse's Past Provision
When fbb first looked at the above picture he suspected that Darwen was the location, but confirmed it by the Lancashire registration.
A further search revealed an eponymous pub ...
... and an eponymous lane ...
... and third eponymousness, (but tatty!) bus stop.
fbb thinks that the Corporation bus would have turned round by the pub.
On the Open Street Map extract, Darwen Circus is bottom left ...
... with Pot House Lane top right.
So now you know!
Fortunately, the Internet has a full copy of a Darwen bus timetable for 1970 ...
... priced in preparation for decimalisation. The index reveals ...
... that the Corporation Transport department saw no need of route numbers although they appeared after the merger with the Blackburn operation.
Readers may be surprised to see the 1970 frequency!
In 1970, most Darwenians travelled by frequent and reliable Corporation bus.
Pathetic Present Provision!
We start with a Rochdale and Darwen route diagram.
It would appear that three routes provide buses to or near Pot House (Pothouse?). The 33 (BROWN) is the "nearby" route and takes folks to Blackburn via back road run.
The route does go "near" Pothouse Lane ...
... and offers an hourly frequency ...
... although there us no time point given for Pothouse. The route is operated by "Moving People" aka Travel Assist ....
Which leaves the TA05 and TA07 circulars.
These do serve the traditional Pothouse stops. The direct (BLUE) TA05 ...
... doesn't quite match the 1970 frequency! The TA07 (PINK - the long way round) is twice as frequent!
Indeed Travel Assist has posted a sweet little video which, sadly, does not really make things better.Pretty graphics but it is a drastic reduction!
But next month there is better news for the poor, pushed-away public transport people of Pot House.
All will be revealed, in glorious tecnicolor (?), as part of tomorrow's "bits and pieces" blog.
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Peterville Progress
fbb has bought another Metcalf card kit. This time it is for four "workers' cottages" 
But their "sitz im leben" is going to be a bit of a bodge. They will sit here, on top of the door frame that surrounds the under eaves storage at fbb mansions.
A bit of a challenge!
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Next Variety blog : Saturday 31 Oct
Interesting to see how much local bus provision has changed over the years. The comparison with Darwen’s 1970 timetable really highlights how important frequent services were for residents. For journeys beyond the local bus network, pre-booked chauffeur airport transfers london can offer a practical option when timing and direct travel matter, especially for airport trips with luggage or tight schedules.
ReplyDeleteThe above comment from "vignaair..." is an example of "AI"-generated spam. On initial inspection, it looks plausible - "Darwen" is spelled correctly - but the rest of the comment is the predictable spam. I would suggest that FBB should adjust the settings for comments on the blog, so that any comments including a website link (URL) are held for moderation, rather than being published immediately and automatically. FBB can then delete the comments of this nature at his leisure.
ReplyDelete"We start with a Rochdale and Darwen route diagram." Rochdale? I don't think so!
RC169
Well done to RC169 for spotting AI, but dear old FBB is becoming more and more inaccurate. For example, Moving People Ltd is an established Accrington based PSV operator, with no connection to the non-PSV Travel Assist.
ReplyDelete