Some of these photos would have been better in colour but still wearing it's NBC striped local coach livery a Ribble Duple Laser bodied Leyland Tiger heads for Manchester Airport on what must have been an extension of the former X43 from Burnley and at one time to Ribble's only significant operation in Yorkshire at Skipton. In BET times the X43 used to terminate at Lower Moseley Street but then moved to Chorlton Street Bus Station. No longer anything to do with Ribble I haven't seen any X43's in the centre of Manchester so maybe it's been abandoned or terminates elsewhere. No I don't really know what goes on these days, I know it's a bit sad but when it comes to buses I prefer the past.
If my addled memory is working correctly, by the early-80s Ribble had split the X43 corridor into X43 and 743, with the X43 running via the motorway and the 743 serving somewhere else en route (Rawtenstall, perhaps? I get lost north of Bury!)
ReplyDeleteAmazingly enough it is still running today, one of the few NBC "local coach" routes to survive, albeit it's now run with double-decker buses - Transdev call them coaches, but I'd call them DPs as they're just coach seats in a bus shell.
The route's still numbered X43 but branded as "WitchWay" and has been extended back to start at Skipton, through the more traditional terminus of Colne and at the south end terminating in Manchester outside Chorlton Street Coach Station. On Sundays it extends even further north into the Yorkshire Dales...
One of these years I shall finally get round to riding on it!
Ross for me to ride upstairs on a double-decker tick the box every time for me. The old Ribble X43 used to go through Bury, Ramsbottom, and Rawtenstall on it's way to Burnley, I did it once on one of the 'white lady' Atlanteans. Thanks for the info.
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