tenthofjune

Expect fun and games in the next few weeks as Blackrod Bypass will be closed northbound from the junction with Manchester Road into Blackrod and the junction with Station Road (see map).

Bolton Council’s roadworks bulletin is currently listing the closure dates as Monday 26th September to Friday 11th November.

The diversion is through Blackrod which already struggles to cope with traffic in the morning and evening. Southbound traffic is unaffected.

The closure is required to complete the resurfacing work that has already been carried out on the section of bypass to the north of Station Road.

You will have probably seen the following image forwarded by email, with a caption about ‘stupid builders’ or ‘lack of forward planning’.

A number of forum discussions have placed the image in various cities but this is in fact in Manchester, UK at the junction of Quay Street and Lower Byrom Street, and the accusations of stupidity are unfounded as the following pictures show – the bollards are removable. The key can also be seen in the second photo.

Following my posts on Blackrod Station being treated as a poor relation to Lostock Station, it now appears that, as a category E station, Lostock could be set to lose its ticket office.

Oddly, a category E station is classed as one that is staffed and handling more that 250,000 passengers per annum. By contrast, Blackrod is classified as category F1 (unstaffed with fewer than 250,000 passengers). With 388,000 passengers served, this classification justs makes the lack of a ticket office even more ludicrous.

A full list of stations and their categories can be seen here.

A new website has launched today, from the creators of TheyWorkForYou and FixMyStreet, comes FixMyTransport which as well as letting you report issues, allows you to open up an issue for wider support/discussion.

Further to my post about how Blackrod Station is treated as Lostock’s poor relation, I have created a page about the lack of service and amenities at Blackrod Station.

If you feel the same way, please support it.

We have a Coleman Unleaded-1 camping lantern. While camping I needed to replace the gas mantle; no problem, there’s a spare one in the box, except there wasn’t; it presumably fell out at some point.

Since we were heading to Keswick today, it shouldn’t be a problem to get a spare, or so I thought.

As anyone who has visited Keswick will know, it’s full of outdoor shops. Unfortunately, many of these have gone the same way as the ‘sports’ shops on the high street that wouldn’t know a piece of sporting equipment if you hit them over the head with it, because they are just selling ‘sports fashion’ clothes. I lost count of the number of blank looks I got when asking for a mantle in the outdoor shops around Keswick.

Fortunately, someone pointed me in the direction of C & CA Holmes, a small shop with high shelves and a knowledgeable gentleman who immediately reached under the counter and produced the exact replacement mantle for my model. Not surprisingly, their website states “We stock those hard to find items, that can ruin your holiday when you leave them at home”. A proper shop!

It’s Blackrod Scarecrow Festival this weekend. There are a handful of my photos from yesterday here. If you are a Flickr user, please feel free to add your photos to the flickr group. There is also a photo competition – details here. The festival is still on today (Sunday 3rd July)

More pictures here.

The Greenwood Arms on Chorley New Road, Horwich could be demolished and replaced with new houses and shops according to a planning application submitted to Bolton Council.

The application proposes the demolition of the Greenwood Arms public house; erection of twelve four bedroom houses (ten semis and two detached), roughly on the site of the existing bowling green; and four retail units, one of which appears to be a Spar, on the site of the current pub building.

UPDATE: according to the Bolton News, the pub is only currently trading to avoid vandalism to the building.

Three dates for your diaries on the next three weekends if you live in Horwich or Blackrod.

Horwich Festival of Racing – 19th June

Following last year’s event taking place on a different weekend to the Horwich Carnival, Horwich Carnival Races has changed its name to Horwich Festival of Racing and will be be held this year on Sunday 19th June.

According to the new website, the change in title “reflects that it now takes place on a different weekend to the Carnival and further embraces both sporting excellence and community participation across a range of events and activities.”

Various running and cycling races for different ages and abilities, both serious and fun are held on the streets of Horwich and this year’s timetable is here. A handful of photos from a few years ago are here. A number of road closures will be in place for the races.

Horwich Carnival & Parade – 26th June

Horwich Carnival Parade will be held this year on Sunday 26th June from 12pm.

Blackrod Scarecrow Festival – 2nd/3rd July

Blackrod’s annual Scarecrow Festival will be held on Sat/Sun 2nd/3rd July. Scarecrows are scattered around the gardens and businesses of Blackrod; you can pick up a map on the day.

I see that Blackrod Station is finally getting better access to both platforms, but I can’t help feeling that this is only being done because they are obliged to under DDA regulations.

Below are the passenger figures for Blackrod, Horwich and Lostock for the past six years¹.

Can someone please explain why, when Blackrod handles almost double the passengers handled by Lostock, Blackrod Station has no ticket office (or even a simple ticket machine) and no live information signs yet Lostock has both of these and enjoys twice as many calling services as Blackrod.

[1] Office of Rail Regulation – Station Usage Data