Route History

[MTL0201]

RE: Route History

(15/05/2019 12:52)Gillmoss 0324 Wrote:  Yes it was interesting how North Western merged their routes with some of the former Crosville ones in 1989-90 although some of these routes must've been absolute monsters with their lenghth and driver requirements etc.

I know they altered their former minibus 401/402 routes around the end of 1988/early 1989 too. Part of them became a new 402 which got extended from Huyton to St Helens and not 100% but wasn't another one of their 'cross city' services that went along one of the South Liverpool bus corridors, Allerton Road rings a bell there. Didn't last long as North Western changed it into a competing 10A by early 1990. The other change was to create the 54/54A which ran from Huyton to Kirkby Admin via Swanside, Broadgreen, Wavertree/Edge Hill, City Centre, Kirkdale/Bootle (perhaps not the direct Stanley Road route?), Litherland, Netherton, Fazakerley, Westvale/Southdene etc. Did it a couple of times and it was a monster think it took nearly 3 hours end to end and not even sure they did a driver change at Bootle either.

Again hard to imagine these routes today.

54/54A was operated by minibuses as well because of a weight restriction on one of the bridges on Wango Lane, he 54 after d-reg was Bootle-Kirkby before it got extended to the monster circular route.

My 1990 Liverpool bus map has the 54 Page Moss-Kirkby via City Centre, from Page Moss the 54 went via Woolfall Heath-Huyton-Rupert Road-Pilch Lane-Thingwall Hall Drive then via 61 to City Centre, out of the City Centre via Vauxhall Road & Love Lane, then Sandhills Station-Stanley Road-Linacre Road-Church Road-Old Roan-Aintree Village-Fazakerley Hospital-Kirkby, did a circle route in Kirkby from Civic Centre via Brewley Drive-Bracknell Avenue-Broad Lane-Wellfield Avenue

402 was Aigburth Vale-St Helens via City Centre, 402 went via 10B to Huyton, then Huyton Lane, & via the 10 to St Helens

North Western at this time had a depot at Love Lane, this was the old Crosville depot, which Crosville closed after the strike winter 87, north Western moved in shortly afterwards.