Strathern, Stirling, St Ninians, Springkerse, and Strathmiglo
A good day out today. I had some stuff to do, postponed from Tuesday, was well as moving one that I have for next Friday, up to today – well, I was going to be passing anyway, so would be rude not to (and not cost-effective either!) I’ve got some more in similar, but different, areas for Tuesday coming too. I started by taking Stagecoach Strathtay former 167 Mercedes on the 54 from Dundee to Perth, then Stagecoach Perth Volvo/PS 20151 on the 15 from Perth to Crieff.
In-between my trips in and out of Crieff, I had a bit of a walk-around. I went down to the site of the former Strathtay Scottish (Alexanders Midland before that) Crieff Bus Station & Depot. Use as a station/depot ended in 1993 when Strathtay was privatised. When I was looking for it last in Summer 1997, it was still the original building, but a "Penny Lane" supermarket.
In-between my trips in and out of Crieff, I had a bit of a walk-around. I went down to the site of the former Strathtay Scottish (Alexanders Midland before that) Crieff Bus Station & Depot. Use as a station/depot ended in 1993 when Strathtay was privatised. When I was looking for it last in Summer 1997, it was still the original building, but a "Penny Lane" supermarket.
Finding it yourself is easy - from Crieff High Street, go down Church Street (see the road has been cut away - presumably to allow bus access in years gone by), and follow to the junction of Church Street and Pittenzie Street. On the other side of the road, is a new housing development. On the left hand side, it's now a Co-Op supermarket! From the Pittenzie Street side, it still resembles an SBG property, but some of the windows (may?) have been bricked.This next picture is at Church Street. This used to be the front side of the bus station. This part has ben partially rebuilt (it would appear) and has also been resurfaced.Where the line of cars are parked up against the side of the building, I am sure that there used to be a canopy here, for when the bus station was in use. These were the pickup stances. This final picture shows a bit of the slope involved.
After this, I came back along the High Street, had a look around the Library end of town (managed to stay away from the sweet shop - this time!) I went back up to James Square/High Street, and saw Volvo/PS 20173 arriving in Crieff from Stirling. This was also my bus in that opposite direction – well, at least as far as Dunblane.
The bus stop northbound at Dunblane Perth Road has a “CALEDONIAN EXPRESS/NATIONAL EXPRESS” logo still on the lamp-post, from the late 80’s/early 90’s. CALEDONIAN was all in Blue, but NATIONAL was in alternate colours – so, the red was N T O A. Unfortunatly, given seventeen years or so of time, the red appears to have faded, and now shows only A I N L EXPRESS….
I then had a look “upwater” on the Allan water – which we’d already crossed near Greenloaning, and we’d cross again at Bridge of Allan. To get to Stirling, took another Perthshire bus, with Docherty’s Solo YN 04 XZC on Service 20 from Dunning, via Dunblane to Stirling. When we arrived at the new university roundabout, we turned and headed back towards Bridge of Allan, before cutting through a few streets, the Pavillion, and then onto Cornton Road.
After that, had First 65717 on the 38 from Stirling to St Ninians, then 65714 back on the same. Crossing the road, I know I sometimes “black out” and momentarily lose concentration – once or twice a year. This time I was fully concentrating. I was crossing behind a car that was waiting to move, but I was crossing across a “keep clear” zone. Some sad motorist screamed the horn at me, insisting he wanted that bit of the road – oblivious to it being a “keep clear” zone – and I bet he lives closer to it than I do!
Had a go to the Springkerse Retail Park on the new Stirling Park & Ride, using Harlequin’s new Optare Solo YJ 06 FKZ in both ways. No pics, as it was facing the sun at the Park & Ride, but the route itself is interesting. You go through a restricted road, passed a military truck depot, and then passed the sewage works, before getting to the far side of the retail park. The other one was doing the same, in reverse. The service is advertised as running from 0630 every 12 minutes – so you’d think it would be 06, 18, 30, 42, 58 past the hour – no, in fact, at 00, 12, 24, 36, 48 past the hour from P&R! Never mind, still plenty of time for each trip. There appears to be another car park, with similar building, along the route at Forthbank too – maybe something for the future. This was my first ride on one of the 37 seater “stretched” Solo’s, which appears to be a bit big from inside! You can see the rest of the pics here.
On the way home, I had two more PS types - 20328 on the 23 from Stirling to Cupar (via Strathmiglo - hence the last of my comments in the list above!), and then 2030? (303 I think) on the 42 from Cupar to Dundee. After a quick look in the bus station, I headed home. I feel like I’ve had a crash course in SMF, SQL, as well as my monitor/display drivers playing up once more, all this week! The problem with the users on board not showing as online, could be (according to their site) be fixed with a code change – and it was! They were most impressed, especially when I told them that just one word being out of place had caused the problem…
The bus stop northbound at Dunblane Perth Road has a “CALEDONIAN EXPRESS/NATIONAL EXPRESS” logo still on the lamp-post, from the late 80’s/early 90’s. CALEDONIAN was all in Blue, but NATIONAL was in alternate colours – so, the red was N T O A. Unfortunatly, given seventeen years or so of time, the red appears to have faded, and now shows only A I N L EXPRESS….
I then had a look “upwater” on the Allan water – which we’d already crossed near Greenloaning, and we’d cross again at Bridge of Allan. To get to Stirling, took another Perthshire bus, with Docherty’s Solo YN 04 XZC on Service 20 from Dunning, via Dunblane to Stirling. When we arrived at the new university roundabout, we turned and headed back towards Bridge of Allan, before cutting through a few streets, the Pavillion, and then onto Cornton Road.
After that, had First 65717 on the 38 from Stirling to St Ninians, then 65714 back on the same. Crossing the road, I know I sometimes “black out” and momentarily lose concentration – once or twice a year. This time I was fully concentrating. I was crossing behind a car that was waiting to move, but I was crossing across a “keep clear” zone. Some sad motorist screamed the horn at me, insisting he wanted that bit of the road – oblivious to it being a “keep clear” zone – and I bet he lives closer to it than I do!
Had a go to the Springkerse Retail Park on the new Stirling Park & Ride, using Harlequin’s new Optare Solo YJ 06 FKZ in both ways. No pics, as it was facing the sun at the Park & Ride, but the route itself is interesting. You go through a restricted road, passed a military truck depot, and then passed the sewage works, before getting to the far side of the retail park. The other one was doing the same, in reverse. The service is advertised as running from 0630 every 12 minutes – so you’d think it would be 06, 18, 30, 42, 58 past the hour – no, in fact, at 00, 12, 24, 36, 48 past the hour from P&R! Never mind, still plenty of time for each trip. There appears to be another car park, with similar building, along the route at Forthbank too – maybe something for the future. This was my first ride on one of the 37 seater “stretched” Solo’s, which appears to be a bit big from inside! You can see the rest of the pics here.
On the way home, I had two more PS types - 20328 on the 23 from Stirling to Cupar (via Strathmiglo - hence the last of my comments in the list above!), and then 2030? (303 I think) on the 42 from Cupar to Dundee. After a quick look in the bus station, I headed home. I feel like I’ve had a crash course in SMF, SQL, as well as my monitor/display drivers playing up once more, all this week! The problem with the users on board not showing as online, could be (according to their site) be fixed with a code change – and it was! They were most impressed, especially when I told them that just one word being out of place had caused the problem…
posted by Suzy Scott @ 23:17
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home