The first full working week of 2010 was a hectic affair after the previous weekend’s snowfall and that during the early hours of Tuesday morning. Many a website was being hammered in the search for travel information during the disruption and this one was no exception with it getting as many hits in a week as it normally does in a month. The past week has seen things calming down though there have been problems in places. One of these has been the A537 between Macclesfield and Buxton and the 58 was being diverted even as lately as today because of snow drifts and troublesome road conditions. However, the Cat and Fiddle webcam shows a clearance from the way that things were not so long ago. Hopefully, the run of normal Atlantic weather will continue to normalise things even it means getting wet from time to time (or was that nearly all of the time?). The sad part might be having to find another talking point but anything’s better than seeing people getting hurt on ice.
Posts Tagged ‘Derbyshire’
10, 130, 27, Arriva, Bowers, Buses, Buxton, Cheshire, Derbyshire, England, Knutsford, Macclesfield, Manchester, National Rail, Northern Rail, Road Conditions, Weather, Wilmslow
A manic week
In Buses, Happenings, Journeys, News, Observations, Site news, Timetables, Trains on January 17, 2010 at 8:34 pm10, 11, 130, 21, 27, 4, Bollington, Buxton, Cheshire, Derbyshire, England, Kerridge, Knutsford, Macclesfield, Manchester
Still waiting on complete clearance
In Buses, News, Observations, Timetables on January 15, 2010 at 11:56 amHeavy rain might have been visiting Macclesfield this morning but bus travellers between Macclesfield and Buxton still are being diverted around by Whaley Bridge. Of course, what is rain at lower levels can become sleet and snow up higher on those hills. With that there was last night, you wouldn’t have imagined that heavy rain lay ahead but such is the British weather that big changes like that often happen quickly. What does take a while is the melting of any ice that has formed and the rain only makes it more slippery in the interim period. The result is that I have tended to walk on the carriageway where the footway looks very suspect. Speaking of roads, buses are able to travel and the usual complement of buses serving routes 4, 10, 11, 21, 27 and 130 were out and about. So, while the snow hasn’t departed us yet, milder (and wetter) weather lies ahead. Quite where all the water locked up in snow and ice is going to go is anyone’s guess but rivers and streams could get very full and the next complaint that we get to hear could be about flooding. Well, there’s always something but we have little choice but to get through it.
Arriva, Éire, Bowers, Buses, Cheshire, Derbyshire, England, Ireland, Macclesfield, Road Conditions, Trains, Weather
Thaw?
In Buses, Happenings, Journeys, News, Observations, Timetables, Trains on January 12, 2010 at 10:22 amSince Sunday, there has been a very noticeable thaw. That’s not to say the snowy blanket is in marked retreat but that any that is lying on Macclesfield pavements is reducing and roads are staying clear or are clearing. The lack of severe frosts over the last few nights only can have helped. Bowers is providing an ever more complete service over its routes (amyone travelling between Macclesfield and Buxton needed to go around by Whaley Bridge when I last looked) and Arriva’s services around Macclesfield seem to be running OK from what I can see. The same statement applies to train services too.
More snow is forecast but this will be of the Atlantic variety so there is a chance that it will not stall what is a slow thaw; there may be disruption like what affected Ireland in recent days (bus services around Cork and Kerry were affected) but that may be part and parcel of things generally warming up. With all the snow that is lying, it is best not have a fast rise in temperature or we will have transport disruption due to flooding. So, it might be better to have a slow clearance than a fast one, especially in hill country where places are heavily plastered with the white stuff. I, for one, will be taking things as they come and it is looking as if places may be slippery on the way to our more usual maritime mix of weather.
130, 58, 61, A537, A6, Arriva, Bakewell, Bowers, Buses, Buxton, Cheshire, Derbyshire, England, Journeys, Macclesfield, Manchester, Northern Rail, Road Conditions, Trains, Transpeak, Trent Barton
Still ongoing
In Buses, Happenings, Journeys, News, Timetables, Trains on January 10, 2010 at 3:01 pmYesterday saw me travel over to Derbyshire to see how things were over there. The hills between Macclesfield and Buxton were thickly plastered with snow but the A537 was clear on the way over though drifting snow was starting to cover it and cut down on visibility at the same time. It must have disimproved after that because the return journey on Bowers service 58 went around by Whaley Bridge on the return journey that evening. It was the 17:05 that I was using and doubts surfaces were surfacing regarding the running of the service and an enquiry of the helpful driver of the inbound service 61 from Glossop set things to rights after she rang the depot for information. That’s not to say that there weren’t confused passengers on board when the bus started to go a different to what was expected. Even so, we all got back to Macclesfield intact and that’s what’s important.
After spending some time enjoying the sunny snowscapes around Buxton, I popped over to Bakewell on the Transpeak service (the return wasn’t cheap at £5.80, it has to be said). Whiteness remained pervasive and the bus stuck to the A6 apart from serving Ashford-in-the-Water. Having come all the way from Manchester, it was running 10 minutes but that can happen on any day.
In general, there was a good supply of buses running in both Buxton and Bakewell but the story doesn’t look so good today. The only Bowers service running is the 61 between Glossop and Buxton so road conditions mustn’t have stayed as they were after more snowfall. Even trains running between Manchester and Buxton have been affected and drifting snow has been the given cause. A combination of more snow and it drifting about cannot be easy conditions within which to be working.
Around Macclesfield, there seem to be signs of a thaw and the 130 was out when I braved the conditions when I tried out my bike (most places were fine but I learned to keep away from steeper cambers and to keep a good tyre footprint on the road; any sliding was arrested by placing a foot on the ground so there was no bump of any kind). As I write this the sky is full of cloud and there has been the occasional flake of snow but tonight and tomorrow may tell tales yet. The cold spell is far from over so it’s a case of taking things day by day.
10, 130, 27, 4, 58, Bollington, Buxton, Cheshire, Derbyshire, England, Knutsford, Macclesfield, Manchester
Calming down?
In Buses, Happenings, News, Observations, Site news, Timetables, Trains on January 8, 2010 at 11:15 amYesterday proved to be a very busy day on this part of the web with the site statistics showing it was the busiest day that it ever had. In contrast, it is a much quieter place this morning with visitor numbers being more usual. It would seem that the same could be said for buses around Macclesfield. There was a very late 130 but that can happen on any day with Knutsford, Bollington and Macclesfield town services being out and about. Only for the snow that was on the ground in places and the need to clear and grit some areas, it could have been any other day. Of course, another dump of snow could change things and the A537 between Macclesfield and Buxton remains shut, resulting in a diverted service 58 (it’s not the only alteration to Bowers services in Derbyshire). A weekend foray into the hills remains tempting but transport considerations come into play as does the need for items like snowshoes. We’ll see what comes next.
Update @15:40: Service 58 between Buxton and Macclesfield now seems to be running as usual so the A537 must have been cleared to facilitate this.
10, 11, 130, 27, 4, A537, Arriva, Bollington, Bostocks, Bowers, Buses, Buxton, Cheshire, Delays, Derbyshire, England, Kettleshulme, Knutsford, Macclesfield, Manchester, Rainow, Road Conditions, Weather
Subject to delay
In Buses, Happenings, News, Timetables on January 7, 2010 at 10:55 amFrom what I have seen this morning, buses are running around Macclesfield though there are delays. For one thing, I had a longer than expected wait for my bus to work but the 130 (Manchester) is running as are the 4 (Upton Priory), 10 (Bollington), 11 (Kerridge) and 27 (Knutsford). All of them were sighted around Churchill Way while I was waiting. As I write this, fog is cutting down on visibility and the air is cold enough to freeze the ears off you but you can move about with a spot of due care and attention. Saying that, it seems that the A537 between Macclesfield and Buxton is impassable with the 58 being redirected to connect with the 60 at Whaley Bridge, even though the road around by Kettleshulme and Rainow has its own problems according to the information that I have.
Update 1: You’ll find updates on Bowers bus services and the same for other Centrebus operations on Twitter and Facebook. Seeing the effectiveness of this, it might be an idea for Arriva to do the same with the current sluggishness of their bus company website. Being a multi-regional operator means that they are under siege from all directions when we the sort of weather than we are having.
Update 2: On the way home, things seem to be going like the sort of weekday with no snow about. Yes, there were delays with the 130 but the 27 ran near enough to time so travelling was no ordeal.
130, 27, 58, Arriva, Bollington, Bowers, Buxton, Chapel-en-le-Frith, Cheshire, Derbyshire, England, Knutsford, Macclesfield, Manchester, Weather
Disruption
In Buses, Happenings, News, Timetables on January 4, 2010 at 11:35 amThis morning, the first 130 from Macclesfield to Manchester of which I know was the 09:45; anyone waiting for anything due after 08:00 (and maybe before that again) was in for a very cold wait even if the real-time bus tracker suggested otherwise. It’s at times like these that you get to question a company’s choice of bus depot location; the 130 is run from Manchester. Last night was so cold that ice could be seen on the inside of that bus! Bollington buses (Arriva service 10) had ice on the outside but noting ice on the inside and it thawing on top of you is something else.
No Bowers service is running and that includes service 27 between Macclesfield and Knutsford (the bus tracker might suggest otherwise, though) along with cross-boundary services like the 58 between Macclesfield and Buxton. Having been on one of those on a very snowy day before Christmas (the A537 looked forbidding in the snow and the fog), it looks as if it must be atrocious over in Chaple-en-le-Frith. A full thaw is more than a week away so it’s hard to see things moving much before then but I am open to pleasant surprises.
All in all, these are the effects of an arctic Christmas and New Year so it’s a case of getting out sensible footwear and taking it easy. Others may want to ignore nature and remove the white stuff while it still is grippy but my outdoors sensitivities don’t play to that gallery and anything that you can grip is better than a smooth icy surface. It’s only when there’s a freeze-thaw cycle in operation or a serious danger of elderly broken bones that you’ll find me taking evasive action like breaking ice or heading for the grit container with a shovel. Some say that modern buses are not so tolerant of cold weather but they run well much of the time in adverse conditions. It’s only extremes that cause the sort of disruption that I experienced this morning and more snow is due this evening.
Update: The 27 and the 300 (Knutsford town service) were supposed to be running in the afternoon but I cannout vouch for that myself.
Delays, Derbyshire, Edale, Hope Valley, Manchester, Northern Rail, Sheffield, Timetables, Trains
Blame it on the Happy Mondays…
In Happenings, Observations, Timetables, Trains on December 14, 2009 at 12:41 pmNot wanting to waste a weekend that promised some decent weather had me out on a Sunday trip to Edale. All was going swimmingly until the driver of the Northern Rail service that was to take me the last stretch of the outbound journey had to tell us that there was a delay due to not having a conductor. For safety reasons, one has to be present and I suppose that it helps with revenue protection too. That delay was to be 15 minutes and all passengers that were on board had to disembark until a train conductor arrived. Overheard conversations revealed that there had been a night out and that someone was feeling rough after it. Was that the reason for the delay? That question remains unanswered but there is another: how do railways staff have lives involving going to live gigs at the same time as having a job that involves weekend working? Well, it doesn’t make getting out to see the Happy Mondays and their like any easier.
