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Does anybody remember the differences in route the St Helens-Wigan services used to take back in Northwestern days (in the late 90s I think) as I think you had 342,352,362 and I'm sure there was a 372 as well

Thete have been various variations - the 342 at dereg went direct from Billinge over Windy Arbour ommitting Billinge Hospital but was eventually re-routed via Winstanley College. The 352 was via Orrell direct (omitting the Station). The 362 was as per the current 352 and the 372 was an irregular diversion via Tontine.

(21/12/2014 10:03)St Helens Rider Wrote: [ -> ]Thete have been various variations - the 342 at dereg went direct from Billinge over Windy Arbour ommitting Billinge Hospital but was eventually re-routed via Winstanley College. The 352 was via Orrell direct (omitting the Station). The 362 was as per the current 352 and the 372 was an irregular diversion via Tontine.

To add to this, the 352 stayed as it was until 2006 - possibly along with the 362 too (I think it was either March or May - I definitely remember 2006 but it may have been 2005...) when I started to follow its current route down Sandy Lane via the station, and the 362 was curtailed to run between Wigan and Chorley.

A couple of years later though, the road by Orrell Water Park was closed for roadworks for a few weeks and the 352 returned to its old route, which was a nice trip down memory lane!

The 372 followed the 352/362 but it went via Oxhouse Road, Upholland High, Tontine Road and Sefton Road before rejoining both routes at the Orrell crossroads. I think the route was withdrawn in 1998/99, however up until a few years ago there were bus stop flags along the route still showing 372 on them - they might still be there but I wasn't looking for them when I last went down that way.

Does anybody know how often the 372 used to run? and better still, does anybody have old timetables for the 342/52/62/72 routes?

I think the 352 changed to the current route in the July 2006 when Arriva completely altered all the St Helens routes. All the local routes were renumbered into the 30s.

The 372 ran roughly every 2 hours (may have took the place of a 352 on some hours). I think the general frequency was every 15 minutes over the whole route comprised of - 362 every 30 minutes, 342 every hour, 352 every hour (some hours being a 372).

(21/12/2014 11:30)St Helens Rider Wrote: [ -> ]I think the 352 changed to the current route in the July 2006 when Arriva completely altered all the St Helens routes. All the local routes were renumbered into the 30s.

The 372 ran roughly every 2 hours (may have took the place of a 352 on some hours). I think the general frequency was every 15 minutes over the whole route comprised of - 362 every 30 minutes, 342 every hour, 352 every hour (some hours being a 372).

Thanks, the frequencies you've mentioned sound about right now you mention it.

Also there has been competition on the route. Merseybus started a 57 between Billinge and St Helens no long after Dereg. This was eventually replaced by the 76 which ran between Billinge and Liverpool (using a long circuitous route betweem St Helens & Liverpool). In December 1989, this was replaced by the 42,52 & 62 which basically copied the North Western routes. They eventually plumped for the 62 although also the 510 wad introduced beywren Wigan - St Helens - Liverpool which I think ran va Orrell direct (as per the then 352). Also GM Buses at on point ran a half hourly 362 which I dom't think lasted too long.

Just looking at this https://www.flickr.com/photos/dmc1947/84...6/sizes/k/ got me thinking what was the reasoning behind the KirKby area renumbering scheme, most of the changes look like changes for the sake of changing, some numbers weren't even changed, & all the numbers were changed at D-Reg reverted back to single or double digit numbers with the odd suffix letter ?

i can only remember the the 62 and 510 operated by Lancashire travel/mtl etc oddly people still to this day dont use the 352 because of the bus wars back in the day i know people even around the age of 30 that won't use the scouse company "Arriva" until i tell them there German lol Northwestern still has to this day some brand Loyalty in Orrell. Merseybus and Lancshire travel/MTL North are seen as those from outside our area stealing our jobs

As much as i dislike Arriva SH i still use them when i have to although today i did use Southport over SH as the 352 ran 3 early past Orrell station so walked to Orrell Post and caught the 375

I'm Sure the 372 was Hourly?

My Ribble timetable book for 76, the 352/362/372, 372 only operated 1 journey each way Monday to Friday, the 362 was hourly with the 352 20 to 40 minutes, i remember the 372 being every couple of hours after d-reg.

The original Ribble 125 went Preston-Wigan via Chorley, the 126 was Preston-Bolton, at d-reg, Ribble diverted the 125 to Bolton, the new company North Western extended the 352/362/372 to Chorley via Wigan to cover the withdrawn section of the 125, the through route lasted for quite a few years think well into the 90s before they ended up being split at Wigan, may have been the Skelmersdale Plus era that saw the route split at Wigan.

Just to add when Crosville moved there Liverpool depot to Love Lane, they gave up there share of the 89/89A St Helens-Speke/Halewood to Ribble, Ribble operated the route from Wigan depot but interworked the 89 with the 352/362/372, only couple of late night journey's ran dead from Speke/Halewood to Wigan.

One of my friends used to live in the Billinge area and he told me that the vehicles would run in service through to/from Wigan displaying 89/89A - sounds like a fantastic through route.