A rare opportunity to photograph two buses together in Huddersfield Bus Station, both going to Oldham but by very different routes. Metrobus 5306 is on the summer extension of the 180 and will return to Manchester via Holmfirth and Greenfield whilst Kingfisher Mercedes 2245 is operating the Sunday 365 service which takes the more direct route over Standedge. Photo courtesy Jon Brierley.

Standard Metrobus 5060 makes an unusual appearance on the summer extension to Huddersfield and is seen arriving in the bus station there. Photo courtesy Mark Amis.

Coach seated Metrobus 5310 unloads at Huddersfield and looks very smart, unlike the bus in the previous picture. This vehicle was one of the original repaints into this livery and ran at first without the blue bands. I photographed it thus only to find I'd not wound on the first two frames which were washed out completely in loading the film in the camera! Photo courtesy Jon Brierley.

Metrobus 5311 is on Woodhead Road, Honley on a dull day towards the end of the first season of the extended 180 to Huddersfield.

5318 climbs above the Ford Inn towards Harden Moss with the distinctive and elegant form of Emley Moor transmitter in the distance and a good view across a large part of Yorkshire on such a clear day.

5318 has reached the top of the climb and is running across the moors on what I believe to be the highest of all the Pennine crossings in this area. The height, together with the fact that the road stays so far up for quite a distance, means that this is one of the first roads to be blocked when there is any snow. This photograph (together with the previous one) was taken on the last day of operation for the 1995 season.

5305 coasts past the entrance to Binn Green car park as it approaches Greenfield on the return from Huddersfield.

5186 leaves Greenfield Paper Mill on the morning journey (described in the other 180 collection).

5201 leaves the sylvan setting of Greenfield Paper Mill. The private road up to the mill was (and is) a tranquil and verdant route and the benign, paternalistic presence of Robert Fletcher's in the village of Greenfield is difficult to describe. The factory closed around 2002 and the future of the site is uncertain, but it is difficult to envisage a future that will be an improvement.

A not-quite-sharp photo of Metrobus 5301 on the way back to Greenfield Clarence on the road from the Paper Mill.

In the period when the 183 extended to Greenfield a bus arriving as a 183 would depart as a 180 and vice versa. Both left at similar times and therefore two buses could often be seen together at the terminus. 61149 was originally at Leicester and its fleetnumber there (501) can just about be discerned on the front dash. It is heading for the junction to turn round to work a 180 to Manchester whilst Volvo B10B 60349 will soon carry out the same manouevre to work a 183.

The length of the hair on the young crew of former Manchester PD2 3715 gives some clue as to the date of this photograph outside the Clarence Hotel.

GMT 8211 turns round in the road junction at Greenfield Clarence. More recent years have seen the introduction of a mini-roundabout at this location which not only calms traffic on the entry into the village but also makes turning a bus somewhat safer. Photo courtesy Paul Wreghitt.

5316 was one of a batch of six Northern Counties-bodied Leyland PD2s bought by Oldham in 1957. Although it is has its SELNEC fleet number it was still carrying the Oldham pommard and cream livery (in fact none of this batch received the orange livery). It waits at the Clarence next to a North Western bus stop.

A Stockport collection at Greenfield Clarence as North Western Marshall-bodied Bristol RE rounds the corner arriving from Ashton on its way to Uppermill. Working from Oldham garage is SELNEC 5939, numerically the last of the batch of Crossley-bodied PD2s new to Stockport. The 154 could have offered a connection in Greenfield but as far as I know there was never an official one and the 154 would sometimes follow the 10 through the village.

On this day everybody not on Manchester 3655 (by this time with SELNEC) would be struggling with the new decimal currency, as this was the day of the big change over. Except on the buses, where old currency remained in use for another week. It was good to see that you could get your chunky tumblers free with National Benzole at Dene Garage, once a coach operator.

66804 is in classic pose outside the Clarence Hotel in Greenfield. Photo courtesy Mark Amis.

Dennis Arrow 31950 waits at Greenfield Clarence, ready to work the 0731 journey to Manchester.

5205 leaves the terminus on a crisp winter’s day.

37385 is on Chew Valley Road in Greenfield, framed by trees and a snow-covered wall.

5301 is seen again, about to pass the King William IV (otherwise known as the King Bill) public house.

Also at the King Bill is one of the two original Dennis Dominators. This one (1438) was fitted with a Maxwell gearbox and gave a good snorting performance is it proceeded through the village - one of the characteristics of the Maxwell gearbox. The bus stop at this time was in a rather hazardous place (the previous photo shows that there was little protection for the pedestrian). It has since been moved to a safe refuge a short distance towards the Clarence. You can just make out the marks on the wall where the North Western timetable case used to be.

Whilst the railway bridge (over Chew Valley Road) on the Micklehurst Loop line was being demolished the road was closed and buses on the 180 were diverted via Well-i-hole and Dacres. What made this diversion different from all subsequent ones is that buses continued from the Clarence round to Road End where they terminated in the same junction as had been used by North Western as their King William IV terminus for occasional short workings. 7195 is parked at the end of Kinders Lane waiting to return to Manchester.

Another view of 7195 shows Brown's Stores in the shop which has now been an off-licence for many years. As the blind reveals, this was originally one of several J. T. Sykes stores scattered around Saddleworth and they also had a warehouse at Tame Water. The Chatterbox cafe is now Pure hairdressers.

This rear view shows 7366 during the same diversion, which extended over several Sundays as I recall. The King William IV pub has a Bass Charrington sign outside which was typical of the period and looks very austere compared to its current state.

Manchester 3688 heads through Greenfield in a scene that has changed surprisingly little. Michael Chadwick can be seen in his white coat outside his chemist's shop, more recently sold to the Co-op.

Former Manchester PD2 3715 heads through the centre of Greenfield village. To the left is Butterworth's garage, at the time still selling petrol at roadside pumps in the traditional way, although I believe even then the main use for the pumps was to fill up the lorries of the haulage fleet, which is still based there. It is a long-established operation and even has a picture of a charabanc on display in the office. The shop, which sold bicycles and spares, only closed in recent years.

Not a very good bus photo, but I included it due to the chance and unusual presence of a SELNEC parcels van. Manchester Corporation had established a large parcels delivery service which worked from a yard adjacent to the Hyde Road bus garage. On the formation of SELNEC this service was inherited and, not surprisingly, renamed SELNEC parcels. It continued for a little while after this shot, which is taken looking up Greenbridge Lane toward Chew Valley Road. The bus is 5282, returning to Manchester on the same day as the shots shown in the Manchester to Greenfield collection.

5007 only remained in Manchester a few years before being sold to London as a non-standard variant. It was one of the first ten of the type in Manchester and had not been in service two months when seen on Chew Valley Road.

On a fine spring evening ex-Stockport PD3 5889 stops at the end of Wellington Road in a scene that at first glance has not changed much. Closer examination does reveal some changes though, particularly Iredale's bakery which was to the left of the bus and still very much open for business at the time. The building with the gothic windows above the maroon Marina was originally a toll house for the Standedge-Oldham Turnpike trust and was built in 1827. It worked as a toll house until 1885 when the turnpike acts expired (the cause of much local celebration). It has more recently been sympathetically extended and restored.

A distant view, taken from near the station, of Dennis Dominator 1439 at the Wellington Road stop.

Optare Prisma 60430 looks a lot brighter in the new "Barbie 3" livery as it works the same "184" journey as 66796 (see slightly further on). These vehicles are now unusual on the 180 but have made appearances with the temporary summer timetables of 2006.

Metrobus 30333 started life as Ensign 283 prior to passing through First subsidiaries in London and was originally dual-door. These ex-Ensign Metrobuses differed from the others at Oldham in having a split-step entrance. 30333 is on Chew Valley Road in Greenfield on a very pleasant evening.

34037 (P537 HMP) was new as East London VN37. Originally built, like most London buses, with a centre exit it has now been rebuilt to single-door configuration for use in the "provinces". At the time of the photograph it had just arrived at Oldham from the closed schools unit in Knowsley and judging by the board in use as a number blind, would have benefitted from a bit more preparation. It made a stark contrast to the new Geminis which had only appeared on the service a week or so earlier.

5314 passes Knoll Spinning and the Wimpey development "The Ridings" which became Lower Frenches Drive. The end house in this development is not a house at all, but a sub-station dressed up to look like one!

66796 pretends to be 184 as it works the 1803 journey from Greenfield to Hollinwood. This and the 1753 from Uppermill are the only journeys to terminate at Hollinwood and it seems that initially someone considered it was not worth programming both into the electronic blind display. As a consequence this journey always worked as a 184, but in reality it didn't cause any confusion. Since re-programming with "scrolling" intermediate displays the correct display has also been added so the situation doesn't arise any more. The bus is passing the closed Knoll Spinning mill, a site destined to become a Tesco supermarket.

Manchester 3680 passes the entrance to Knoll Spinning on its way to Manchester and is followed by a North Western Bristol RE on the 154. 3680 is from a batch of PD2s which had only just appeared on the service since the closure of Rochdale Road garage and the transfer of work to Hyde Road. They were to become regular performers on the 10 and 180.

7788 heads back to Manchester in snowy conditions. The Hyde Road driver is taking no chances with road conditions and is signalling right to turn off route up Chapel Road ("Frenches") which gives an easier climb, but at the expense of an almost-impossible turn back towards Oldham. I don't know how he did it, but the photograph later in the collection shows that he did!

The shots in the Manchester to Greenfield collection showed the canal bailey bridge but not the one over the river. This view shows 5304 returning and climbing onto the river bailey bridge, which was removed three days later.

This view illustrates the scale of the work. 5304 is now crossing the canal on the second bailey bridge.

5324 crosses the Huddersfield Narrow Canal as it leaves Greenfield. The canal bridge culverting had just been completed, you can see the earthworks still looking very neat. Undoing the culverting was a much bigger job, as the previous photos show!

The new canal bridge has been half-completed and parapet stonework is progressing well as 5314 crosses, returning from Huddersfield on the first day of the extension there.

The 0831 journey from Greenfield is worked by a bus which works to Uppermill as a 184, delivering pupils to Saddleworth School, and then travels 'dead' to Greenfield to work back to Manchester. It is normally worked by a double-decker to provide additional capacity on the run into Uppermill and provides the only regular Oldham garage double-deck working on the 180. 30225 is crossing the canal on a colourful autumn morning.

Canal bridge restoration is yet to start as 3225 swings round the corner of Chew Valley Road to attack the hill up past the station. 3225 was the last bus (as opposed to coach) seated vehicle in Express livery, having been (I believe) one of the original batch repainted for working the Trans-Lancs Express. The others were soon restored to normal livery. 3225 survived in this livery some years longer and has displayed a continuing survival instinct as it is now preserved by the SELNEC Preservation Society.

Metrobus 5058 is seen against an almost industrial backdrop of Wellington Mills and various lorries in Barrett's yard. Photo courtesy Paul Wreghitt.

5336 approaches the corner.

PD2 5298 is washed out a little in the winter sunlight, whilst the haze makes clear that it wasn't only smokeless fuels being used to warm houses at this time! The houses to the right of the bus face onto the canal and the second from the right was once a public house called the Mechanic's Arms (or colloquially as t'Seaside Inn). It closed at the end of 1924.

The driver heaves on the steering wheel as 66796 enters the sharp bend on the climb up the hill. Power-assisted steering makes his job much easier. On the side of the bus can be made out a large bow which I think was unique to this vehicle. It was First's concept of "wrapping up" the gift of these new buses to Manchester, which first appeared on the 180 and 184. Photo courtesy Mark Amis.

Oldham PD2 5339 is seen from a viewpoint that is not feasible today.

A year later and no longer carrying its bow, 66796 is ready to swing round the hairpin bend, making lighter work of the climb than earlier buses did!

The first of a sequence of similar shots taken over the years shows 5305.

3040 was at Oldham garage for many years, but Metrobuses were more common in the area and latterly Olympians were rarely to be seen. Refurbishment of the buildings has been completed and the shop on the corner is for sale.

3660 swings into the corner halfway up the steep climb at Greenfield station on 29th December 1972, by which time red Manchester buses were getting quite rare in Saddleworth. The repaired wall on the right is evidence of a vehicle failing to make the turn when descending.

The Titans were a commercial disaster but an excellent passenger's bus. 4009 makes its refined progress up the hill.

On only its second day in service, 66800 is seen from above. It had not yet received route branding.

3686 is illuminated by lovely late winter sun in an archetypal Saddleworth scene of the era. Like many photos taken on this corner, the apparent imminent conflict of two vehicles poses the question "What happened next?".

30315 was a Metrobus Mark II which came from First Glasgow and is on its last run of the day, returning to Oldham.

The Glasgow Metrobuses were regular performers in Saddleworth. 30305, shown here on the bend halfway up the hill, was new as Strathclyde Buses MB49 and became First Manchester 5404 before being numbered in the First national numbering scheme.

Optare Prisma 943 is caught in the low winter sun on the last day of 2001, with snow on the hills. These Scottish Prismas had the dark blue skirt panels carried up higher than normal and most of the remaining space up to the bottom of the windscreen was used for the magenta fade-out. As a consequence these buses always looked very dark and dull, especially at the front. This livery variation made them readily distinguishable from the Leicester ones. Subsequent repainting (into the Barbie 3 scheme) has much improved their appearance but they are now rarely seen in Saddleworth, although still allocated to Oldham.

The winter weather has not done much for the presentation of 5315, but the buses kept going, snow or not.

5312 makes a similar turn in somewhat better weather.

3720 had the distinction of being the last open platform bus delivered to Manchester in June 1964 and was a familiar vehicle in Saddleworth for most of its life as it was new to Rochdale Road garage and transferred to Hyde Road along with the operation of the 10/180.

In 1978 renovation of the very complex group of properties on the hill had yet to start and the former shop on the corner is blocked up and has not been cleaned. 7323 was a typical vehicle on the 180 at the time.

5304 is in the plain dark orange livery (relieved only by a blue stripe) as used by First Manchester before the introduction of the corporate colour scheme on older buses.

North Western 224 recreates a scene from the past as it slogs up the hill on a bright November day.

A more modern North Western vehicle making the climb in 1972 was this Alexander-bodied Dennis Loline. These were fun vehicles to travel on as the overdrive gearbox combined with the power of a Gardner 6LX engine gave them a good turn of speed, not that they had chance to use it on this service....... It's difficult to imagine that I took this photograph having been preparing preserved buses for the Trans Pennine Run. By this time it was owned by SELNEC Cheshire and the logo can be made out on the lower panels. The advert on the side is a reminder that North Western's fares were relatively expensive and one of the benfits of the takeover by SELNEC was reduced fares.

5140 whines its way round the bend and up the hill. The advert on the side is for Christmas shopping at The Spindles in Oldham - but it is still only early November!

This shot I find very satisfying as it combines one of my favourites buses and locations with excellent lighting and a well-laden bus leaning on the corner giving it life. 5336 was originally Oldham 436 and looked superb when new as the crimson and white livery was fully lined-out in poppy red. It is seen here in its last year of service, after which it ended up at the Greater Manchester Museum of Transport but sadly was only used for spares. It is on the 5 o'clock departure from Greenfield and the healthy load reflects the significant number of people still working in the village at that period and using the bus to return home. Nowadays departures at that time are lucky to see more than one or two passengers.

5007 was one of the first ten Metrobuses in Manchester. They incorporated non-standard braking and had a short life in Manchester, moving to London. They had an even shorter life in Oldham as the five there were moved after a few years to Altrincham to join the five other similar vehicles. Photo courtesy Paul Wreghitt.

Whilst setting up for 224's appearance, old friend 5304 appeared, freshly repainted in the startling GM North Express livery.

5339, seen earlier in the collection, is seen again from a more head-on position. The tarmac on the road is so worn as to reveal the stone setts underneath.

Another shot of 5298 which can now be seen from the nearside as it swings round the corner. The high viewpoint makes more obvious the areas that the bus wash misses!

66796 needs most of the road to complete the negotiation of the corner.

5166 taken from an elevated and now inaccessible viewpoint. Behind is the Saddleworth Rangers Rugby League ground, but I don't think they were playing that day!

34251 puts in a very rare appearance on the 180. For some reason this bus worked all day on the 180 and 184s this day instead of the usual Volvo B7RLE, but in fact when this shot was taken was heading back to Oldham out of service, as it is scheduled to do. The destination display showed "Haydock Races" but it doesn't show up on the photo.

Dennis Dominator 1439 (which has been seen in an earlier, more distant shot) plods up the second half of the climb. The small orange sign on the lamp to the right of the bus is a route marker for the 355. Tameside depot put these up for most of their routes, although as far as I am aware they never actually worked the 355.

A rear view of former Oldham Atlantean 5166 as it climbs up the hill. At the time of this photo it still had a destination blind in the nearside indicator box and was the last to do so, all others having had route number blinds fitted.

A rather odd photo of a bus, but one that the passage of time has made more interesting. 5324 climbs the hill whilst in the background one of the Swindon-built "Trans-Pennine" DMUs passes on a Hull to Liverpool working. The picture is taken from what is now the beer garden of the Railway Hotel.

This was a day of unusual weather conditions, with a mist hanging in the valley late on an autumn afternoon, which is not a common occurrence here. I had hoped to get an orange ball of the setting sun in the background for this shot, but was not in luck. 5301 has already acquired a small queue of other vehicles behind it.

The Daimler Fleetline was a very succesful chassis. Leyland continued production at Leyland when the Daimler factory closed and these vehicles were badged as Leyland Fleetlines. 8044 is one of GMT's later examples which were Leyland Fleetlines and is climbing past the Railway Hotel at Greenfield station in what was a very ordinary scene at the time. This bus was one of many of the type withdrawn at deregulation due to the sudden reduction in vehicle requirements and went on to work for Yorkshire Rider in Halifax. Photo courtesy Paul Wreghitt.

The last day of 1996 sees Metrobus 5061 climb the hill after a light covering of snow with a lot less fuss than a car would!

Cummins-engined Metrobus 5208 only spent a short time at Oldham when new and is passing the station. This bus returned to Oldham in its later years and is now preserved by the GMTS at Boyle Street.

5061 is seen again from the station footbridge.

The 0731 from Greenfield to Manchester must have been unique in big fleet operation in Manchester at the time as it was worked almost invariably by the same bus and driver. The only working from Dukinfield it brought welcome (if at that time consistent!) variety to the route. 30228 was almost at the top of the hill and had its origins with Capital Citybus in London, at the time owned by Citybus in Hong Kong. In that Far Eastern dependency 888 was considered a lucky number and as a result there were quite a few buses in the fleet with that number in the registration (there are other examples to be found elsewhere in this gallery).

Park Royal-bodied Atlantean 7114 is about to turn into Oldham Road with the valley in the background. Manchester Road crosses in the background at the top of the photo.

66887 has got full lock on as it waits to make the sharp turn onto Oldham Road.

30303 is a former Glasgow Metrobus which is at the top of Shaw Hall Bank Road waiting to turn into Oldham Road. Repeated encounters with trees have removed the First corporate livery from the nearside front dome, revealing the orange underneath. What is not clear is whether it is First Manchester orange or First Glasgow orange!

Metrobus 5133 and the brown, orange and white livery were both quite new in 1982.

37381 is on its final revenue-earning trip on its first day in service.

A close-up of 7114 as it pulls onto Oldham Road.

Manchester 3616 retained Manchester red livery until withdrawal not long after this photo was taken.

Olympian 3255 was unblemished after only a short time in service. This bus is also now preserved.

5314 is in an almost identical position to 3255 in the previous shot.

A more difficult picture to position accurately is this one, which is actually two combined as it is the same ex-Manchester PD2 visible negotiating the bend and reaching the top of the hill. Hopefully this panoramic view from across the valley will give those not familiar with the area an idea of the terrain around Greenfield station. The original station buildings are still standing at the time of the photo. Below them is a partially demolished building which used to be much taller and was known as the lighthouse.

7788 approaches the top of Station Brow from the Uppermill direction, having gone the long way round as described earlier. The snow warning light is flashing, one of the first occasions it had been used since being put up several years previously.

Metrobus 5090 has taken the same course of action, although on this occasion the conditions really warranted it.

61151 was one of the Optare Prisma-bodied Mercedes O405s which formed part of a very large Mercedes fleet at Oldham at the time. The high-level viewpoint shows very clearly the air-conditioning unit fitted on the roof of these vehicles. However, since the roof light and hopper vents are all open, one can surmise that it was either not working or not being used very efficiently.

5318 was a former Oldham Corpration Northern Counties-bodied PD2 and is seen partially framed by rhododendron bushes as it crosses the railway. The large maroon enamel Greenfield running-in sign can be seen in the station below.

Oldham 460 leaves the bus stop at Greenfield station and heads on to Manchester. This bus, along with 471 which was new to Bolton, were the only two postwar open-platform Oldham buses to go for further service. They both ended up with Paton's at Renfrew where 460 received a blue and cream livery.

Olympian 3085 is on a short working to Oldham Town Square at the end of the morning peak. It carries the final GM North livery of orange, black, grey and white which was not applied to that many vehicles before First adopted the much simpler “tomato soup” livery.

Overtaking cars are a nuisance to the bus photographer. In this instance I had to take the picture much earlier than intended to avoid having the bus obscured by the car which I think is an Austin Maxi. 3714 was another example from the last batch of Manchester PD2s which was often seen on the Saddleworth services.

8653 heads for Manchester as the snow turns to slush. The Northern Counties-bodied Metrobuses were arriving at this time and went on to dominate the 180 service for over fifteen years. Atlanteans such as this one then became a rare sight on the 180.

Still looking like a Manchester bus, 3715 is seen in the early days of SELNEC and is leaving Greenfield station on its way back to Manchester. The grilles for the modified Cave-Brown-Cave heating are clearly visible.

5090 is seen again in much better weather passing the top of Oaklands Road.

A week earlier Daimler Fleetline 7327 is in almost exactly the same place. Although these buses now look relatively old, it should be remebered that they were quite a step forward at the time, albeit not revolutionary. I certainly remember their effective heaters and comfortable seats!

5305 was another former Oldham PD2 and had the distiction of being one of the last two buses painted in Oldham colours before the adoption of the orange SELNEC livery. The fleet number was used again by GMT on a Metrobus which can be seen near the beginning of this collection.

5060 spent its whole life working from Oldham garage and is just about to pass the Farrar's Arms in Grasscroft on a beautiful autumn day.

3041 was one of six former Salford PD2s which were transferred to Oldham. I suspect the front entrance arrangement made them unpopular with the crews (as Oldham's own PD3s were) for they certainly seemed to see less use than the former Stockport open platform Titans. 3041 is approaching the junction at the Farrar's Arms.

37384 passes the Farrar's Arms. Note the tyre tracks of an unusual maneouvre just carried out by a car!

Whilst this scene at the Farrar's Arms has changed relatively little in the years since this photo was taken, there have been many detail changes. The pub itself proudly displays its Watneys ownership, with a red barrel sign and the bulbous white lettering which was the corporate style of the time. Shaw Hall Garage was still open and selling Shell petrol and also open was the small antique shop at the end of Mossley Road. This very small shop had served that function for many years, but was hardly ever open and cannot have done much business. It has now been amalgamated into the adjoining house. PD2 3496 was one of the batch with Burlingham bodies which were less common, but not unknown, in Saddleworth.

Atlantean 8207 passes the Farrar's Arms and heads up Oldham Road. The temporary traffic lights would have caused a lot of irritation in this location. The hand-crafted sign leads into Shaw Hall Garage (now offices) which had one of the first power washes in the area and the owner was determined not to let the road works reduce custom!

One of my earliest efforts with a 35mm camera, when I mistakenly thought that with a reasonable camera I could get a photograph whatever the conditions. The light is failing early on this January day as 3568 heads towards Lydgate from the Farrar's Arms. This bus, along with many later examples from the batch of 100, were withdrawn relatively young only later that year as they became due for overhaul. They were by no means the oldest buses in the fleet but the rapid implementation of one-man operation made them obsolete. The white mark on the side of the bus is fogging due to my poor early attempts at processing - I did try to correct it in Photoshop but the cure was worse than the fault, so I've left it alone!

I’d forgotten until scanning this slide just how bad First had let standards drop at Oldham, typified in this shot of two buses, neither of which is able to display more information than a route number. Happily standards are now much improved. It hardly helped endear us to these imported vehicles. 30337 in front is a Metrobus which came from Ensign whilst behind is former Leicester Optare Prisma 61247. This photo also illustrates the rather inefficient service pattern which existed before the major revision of 2004, resulting in two buses following one another. Whilst bunching still does occur, at least the current timetable provides a regular interval service on this road.

66798 passes Parkfield Road as it climbs Oldham Road, Grasscroft.

399 has been shorn of all its Oldham insignia but is otherwise still in pre-SELNEC condition. It is on Oldham Road in Grasscroft. The structure on the left is another warning sign for snow conditions (see the earlier shot of 7788 avoiding the hill at Greenfield station). However, the sign itself has been removed - I can't remember now whether this was once done every summer.

3519 was one of the half-dozen Leyland PD2/34s which came from the Manchester fleet and is showing a full and correct destination display. The intermediate blind on the Saddleworth services always showed 'Limited Stop', but this is a more modern blind with smaller, lower case lettering. Only the number blinds feature that distinctive Manchester octagonal typeface, the rest being in a much more modern style.

Atlantean 8197 climbs Oldham Road, Grasscroft and has just passed the top of Clough Lane. Grasscroft Post Office used to be on the right, just beyond the junction, and that was the name of the fare stage. It moved in the 1970s to its present location in Lydgate.

SELNEC has just been formed and Oldham 400 displays no sign of its new owner. It is stuck on Oldham Road in Grasscroft in traffic caused probably by icy roads on the descent from Lydgate - traffic jams are not normal at this location.

5343 was the PD2 of this batch in most original condition at this time, as it had been overhauled at Stockport who were more sympathetic to the original interior than Oldham were. It is seen on Oldham Road, Grasscroft just after the route was renumbered and this is, I believe, the only photo I have of a bus in Oldham livery working as a 180. The distant shot was a result of a camera fault which did not allow me a fast shutter speed, so a closer shot would have been blurred. The bus has black fleet numbers which do not show up very clearly on the pommard background.

Titan 4009 purrs up towards Lydgate with the impressive bulk of Wharmton behind, long before traffic calming measures intruded into this dramatic stretch of road.