100 British Bus Routes: Route 55
Chippenham to Swindon
2 September 2023
ABOVE: Stagecoach West 15345 (YP67 XBU), a Scania N250UD ADL Enviro400 MMC, is seen on the A3102 Calne Road, near the Lyneham Scout & Guide HQ, whilst working route 55 towards Chippenham. All pictures in this article were taken on Friday 12th August 2022, unless otherwise stated.
Operator: Stagecoach West
Runs: Daily
Weekday daytime frequency: Every 20 minutes
Estimated Vehicle Requirement: eight buses
Off-peak journey time: approx. 77-80 minutes
Estimated route length: 22 miles
Runs: Daily
Weekday daytime frequency: Every 20 minutes
Estimated Vehicle Requirement: eight buses
Off-peak journey time: approx. 77-80 minutes
Estimated route length: 22 miles
I often go from A to B the long way round, as you can discover something that even the direct bus would not show you. But sometimes the direct route can provide a delightful ride in its own right.
So I'm in Chippenham, Wiltshire, a market town of around 36,500 people that is surrounded in all directions by countryside, farms and small villages - such is the nature of very rural Wiltshire.
There are believed to have been settlements in the area since before Roman times. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records the town as Cippanhamme. Other sources (according to Wikipedia) variously refer to it as Cippanhamm, Cepen, Cheppeham, Shippenham, Chippyngham or just plain Chipnam. The bus driver who brings me here offers me a single to "Chips". Another variation in local use, maybe, or perhaps it's lunchtime.
So I'm in Chippenham, Wiltshire, a market town of around 36,500 people that is surrounded in all directions by countryside, farms and small villages - such is the nature of very rural Wiltshire.
There are believed to have been settlements in the area since before Roman times. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records the town as Cippanhamme. Other sources (according to Wikipedia) variously refer to it as Cippanhamm, Cepen, Cheppeham, Shippenham, Chippyngham or just plain Chipnam. The bus driver who brings me here offers me a single to "Chips". Another variation in local use, maybe, or perhaps it's lunchtime.
ABOVE: Chippenham Market Place, with the War Memorial prominent and St Andrew's Church behind it
The Town Centre is self-contained and straight-forward. The pedestrianised High Street starts by the River Avon and runs through to the Market Place, with the Bus Station at the other end.
The bus station, it must be said, is rather spartan. I'm there now, eyeing up the seemingly endless supply of double-decker buses on Faresaver route X31 from Bath; a route I have just arrived by on a single-decker. I'm also struck by the similarities of the liveries of Faresaver and Coachstyle, two independent bus companies that, as far as I know, are not connected in any way.
ABOVE: Chippenham bus station - on stand are Coachstyle Optare Solo SR YJ14 BWE and, behind it, Faresaver BJ11 DVO, a Volvo B9TL Wright Eclipse Gemini 2. The latter was new to First London as its VN 36129; it later passed to Tower Transit
I’m here to catch Stagecoach West route 55 to Swindon. This is a direct service through the Wiltshire countryside, and has been treated to the Stagecoach Gold premium brand, currently using a batch of Scania N250UD ADL Enviro400 MMCs dating from 2017.
The service starts from Chippenham Railway Station, just under half a mile away as the crow flies, and the one important amenity that isn't contained within the otherwise-compact town centre.
ABOVE: An unidentified Enviro400 MMC on route 55 loads up at Chippenham Bus Station on Monday 7th March 2022
It’s a scorching Friday afternoon, but there aren’t that many people about. The 1400 departure arrives from the railway station, having carried mainly empty air thus far.
This is normally a pretty busy route – I have seen 30 plus people boarding here on previous visits. But not today; we pick up half a dozen passengers; only one other ventures upstairs at this point.
It doesn't take long to get out of town and onto the main route out to the south-east, through Studley and on towards Calne.
ABOVE: Fields and houses beside New Road, Studley
At the time of my trip (August 2022), the 55 is running half-hourly, with extra buses between Royal Wootton Bassett and Swindon. Previously the service has run every 20 minutes throughout (and I see that this frequency has since been restored).
ABOVE: New houses are being constructed in Studley village. Just beyond, the Black Dog pub is actually a Nepalese restaurant!
The 55 is clearly the major route in this area, dominating the bus stop flags, with other services demoted to a footnote:
ABOVE: This bus stop flag in Calne gives prominence to route 55 over all other services. The drawing effectively resembles an Enviro400 (though the buses on the route have since been replaced with the MMC version)
The first town on the route from Chippenham is Calne, a market town on the Bristol to London road, possibly already fulfilling that function as long ago as 1086. In the 18th-Century the town had a significant woollen broadcloth industry and some listed buildings from that era remain, including almshouses.
ABOVE: Curzon Street, Calne
Buses do a double-run into the town centre, passing the Town Hall and then turning round to come back to stand there for a few minutes.
Just past the Town Hall, on New Road, is an historic pump, which has been commemorated by the Calne Civic Society. This notes that New Road was built in 1801 by the Calne Turnpike Trust, and that the pump was used to "lay the dust" (keep the dust down while the road was constructed).
We're running down the side of the River Marden; it's visible here but it seems to pass through the centre of town underground.
ABOVE: Calne Town Hall (right, beyond the traffic lights)
We have a few minutes' stand at the Town Hall. There's someone on the bus using the time to try to contact Wiltshire County Council - he has the call on speaker phone. It's typical of any organisation these days - lots of annoying music with occasional messages to say that the call "is important", and then trying to persuade that important caller to "try the website" instead.
ABOVE: Stagecoach West 15970 (YP14 GYZ), a Scania N230UD ADL Enviro400, seen from the Calne Town Hall stop on the town centre double-run
There's also 'someone' having a lie down on nearby Church Street:
This is "The Head", a sculpture created by Rick Kirby that won a millennium competition initiated by the mayor of Calne in 2000. According to a description on the "Statues - Hither & Thither" website, the front of the head is complete - that represents the past, whilst the back is unfinished - that represents the future.
Back on the road, after a broadly south-easterly drive from Chippenham to Calne, the 55 now turns sharply north. As we leave the last sign of life in Calne behind (a Tesco superstore!), we are well-and-truly into the country, with a run of about a mile-and-three-quarters to the next bus stop, in the village of Hilmarton.
There's a little more to see in the larger village of Lyneham. The former RAF Lyneham is here - this is where the repatriation of British personnel killed in Iraq and Afghanistan took place, with bodies transferred to the town of Royal Wootton Bassett (coming up shortly).
ABOVE: Pound Close, Lyneham
On the outskirts of Royal Wootton Bassett is a significant junction on the Great Western Railway from London, where the lines towards South Wales branch away from those heading for Bath and Bristol. It isn't quite possible to capture both diverging routes in one photo (even though the two bridges are only about 100 yards apart at this point), because there's a huge range of foliage creating a natural barrier between the two.
ABOVE: This is Skew Bridge, on the outskirts of Royal Wootton Bassett, looking eastwards towards Swindon, on the line from Bristol. Less than a quarter of a mile ahead, the South Wales main line will join from the left; at this point it is on the other side of the trees. The line to the extreme right is a siding that doesn't actually go anywhere - it stops at the bridge.
And so into Royal Wootton Bassett itself. There are only three English towns (as distinguished from boroughs or counties) to have been granted Royal patronage (the others are Royal Leamington Spa and Royal Tunbridge Wells).
Wootton Bassett's honour is a recent one; it was bestowed by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in 2011. When brave soldiers' bodies were repatriated to Britain via RAF Lyneham, the funeral processions passed through Wootton Bassett, witnessed by ever-greater numbers of people. By the end of the period during which this happened (2011), many hundreds were gathering at every procession to pay their respects.
ABOVE: In the High Street of Royal Wootton Bassett is the Royal Wootton Bassett Town Hall Museum. Formerly the Town Hall, it was built in 1695 by Lawrence Hyde and has served as a meeting room, courthouse, school and library.
The town itself had a population of 13,570 at the time of the 2021 Census. Until 1832, it was was a parliamentary borough which elected two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons, until it was classified as a 'pocket borough' and abolished by the Great Reform Act.
Pocket boroughs were boroughs which were considered to be controlled by (or "in the pocket of") one person. As a result, Parliament was controlled by the landed gentry, and seats were filled by representatives who wanted to please their patrons rather than their constituents. Reforms passed in 1832 and 1867 ended this practice by widening the franchise and redistributing parliamentary seats to reflect the population shift from rural areas to the industrial towns (source: Britannica).
Sir Joseph Porter, a major character in Gilbert & Sullivan's operetta HMS Pinafore, was sent by a pocket borough into Parliament - "stick close to your desks," he said, "and never go to sea, and you all may be rulers of the Queen's* Navee"!
(*Queen Victoria in this case!)
ABOVE: Further along Royal Wootton Bassett High Street
Back to route 55 (remember that?!), and, despite having left Chippenham in a south-easterly direction, we're now 10 miles north-east of our original starting point. Swindon now lies just five miles to the east.
ABOVE: Stagecoach West 15347 (YP67 XBW), another Scania N250UD ADL Enviro400 MMC, near the St Bartholomew's bus stop on Royal Wootton Bassett High Street, at the junction with Lime Kiln
At the time of my journey, Stagecoach West also ran a route 54 between Royal Wootton Bassett and Swindon via the Link Centre (a leisure hub). As far as I can tell, this route no longer runs.
ABOVE: Immediately behind the previous bus is 15857 (VJ62 CZK), a Scania N230UD ADL Enviro400 on now-withdrawn route 54 from Swindon
We run through some residential streets in Royal Wootton Bassett before enjoying a final burst of rurality. Then we reach the Spittleborough Roundabout, at junction 16 of the M4 motorway; the bus stop before the roundabout is just called "M4 Roundabout". This huge roundabout marks the start of Swindon - the town that gave Britain "the Magic Roundabout" (which this isn't):
ABOVE: The very complicated Spittleborough Roundabout. Note that traffic wishing to turn right here, from the A3102 onto the B4005 towards Wroughton, is spared having to circumnavigate the entire roundabout by the special lane ahead
We are now firmly in the outer reaches of Swindon. The striking Weighbridge Steakhouse & Bar on Penzance Drive backs onto the Great Western Main Line:
Swindon is an important historical railway town, of course. It sits on the original Great Western Railway route from London to Bristol, as engineered by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Swindon Railways Works was opened by the Great Western Railway in 1843 and served as the principal West of England maintenance centre until closed in 1986. It was then redeveloped, retaining the exterior of the building, into what is now a Designer Outlet.
ABOVE: The Old Swindon Works (ahead) is now a Designer Outlet! Meanwhile Swindon Bus Company 2772 (HF67 ATN, "Western Enterprise"), an ADL Enviro200 MMC, comes around the corner whilst working town route 1 from the Great Western Hospital to Middleleaze via Swindon
Opposite the main Swindon Works building is the old Pattern Store, a Grade-II listed building constructed in 1897 to hold the drawings and papers for the designs associated with the railway. It incorporates a cast-iron water tank on the roof that can hold 1.1 million litres. The building is now in use as a church, and has been named the Pattern Church in honour of its former use.
ABOVE: The old Pattern Store, now the Pattern Church. We cross the railway line again here, under the bridge ahead
And finally, we're reaching the end of the journey. Near Swindon station, we catch up with one of the short workings from Royal Wootton Bassett, which should be a quarter of an hour ahead of us.
Swindon railway station is historically-significant, but it's not much to look at from the street. For me, the most significant change at the station in recent years, apart from the line's electrification, is probably the construction of the 'new' Platform 4 on the southern side of the station; constructed to avoid westbound trains on the main line having to cross the eastbound through tracks to get to the island platform.
ABOVE: The words "Swindon Station" can just be made out on what looks like an office block on the left, and platform 4 is just visible behind. Directly in front of us is Stagecoach 10984 (SN18 KUR), an ADL Enviro400 MMC. Branded for route S6 (Swindon to Oxford), which serves Swindon but not this stop, it is actually working a 'short' on route 55 from Royal Wootton Bassett, which should have arrived about 15 minutes earlier.
A final step brings us to the bus station in Swindon Town Centre. A little more sheltered than Chippenham's equivalent, but 'functional' at best.
ABOVE: Journey's end at Swindon bus station. All four of the buses in view are operated by Stagecoach West, despite their many varied liveries. 15738 (VX61 FKM, left), is a Scania N230UD ADL Enviro400, as is 15971 (YP14 GZA) next to it. Alongside that is 18450 (VU06 KFO), a Dennis Trident Alexander ALX400, and finishing the set is Stagecoach West 15648 (VX10 FRK), yet another Scania N230UD ADL Enviro400, in an all-over wrap for Cirencester College.
If, like me, you enjoy a fast run through the rural British countryside, then route 55 will appeal to you. And when you get to Swindon, jump over to the 49 to Trowbridge, for another delightful ride through Wiltshire.