ABOVE: On Wednesday 30 April 2025, Stagecoach Cumbria & North Lancashire 10027 (PX12 DNJ), an ADL Enviro400, is seen on route 55, on its way from Carnforth to Lancaster. All pictures in this article were taken on either Wednesday 30 April or Saturday 3 May 2025 (marked accordingly).
A Less Brief Encounter than Planned
24 January 2026
My regular reader knows that, when I arrive somewhere at the start of a bus riding trip, I like to drop off my case at the hotel and squeeze in a quick evening trip on that first day.
And that is what has brought me to Lancaster Bus Station in the evening rush hour. Having arrived in town at around 14:05, and had a decent lunch before checking into my hotel, I am now ready to start the bus rides!
And you can certainly tell it's the evening rush hour from the number of people around! Some of the queues in this constrained site are spilling into one another. No surprise on a typical Wednesday evening in a University city.
The bus I am taking is actually rather quieter than some. I'm doing a "there-and-back" to Carnforth - out on route 55 and back on route 49. Both services are operated by Stagecoach Cumbria & North Lancashire (SCNL).
The 55 is broadly hourly, but steps up in the evening peak (only) to half-hourly. My 17:30 service pulls out right on time. It's an ADL Enviro400; unfortunately with one of SCNL's customary dirty upper front windscreens...
ABOVE: As my bus pulls off the stand at Lancaster Bus Station, a chance to survey other vehicles on site - SCNL 22611 (PX08 CTZ), a MAN 18.240LF ADL Enviro300, is on route 49; ADL Enviro400 SCNL 12210 (MX13 FLW) is probably working route 100 towards Morecambe, whilst Lonsdale Buses 211 (BV73 MHJ), a Volvo B8RLE MCV Evora, awaits departure to Kirkby Lonsdale on route 81 (30th April).
We cross first to the northern side of the River Lune, and head along what becomes the Slyne Road. The resort of Morecambe lies to the north-west, but we're heading due north.
We reach the suburb of Skerton. Formerly a township and chapelry in its own right, it was subsequently incorporated into Lancaster itself.
We share this part of the route with the 555 (Lancaster to Keswick), which I have previously featured (I wonder whether that explains the similar route numbers)?
The Slyne Road develops into the Lancaster Road as our city of origin fades into the distance behind us.
We diverge off the main road to dig deep into Slyne-with-Hest.
ABOVE: We leave the main road at Slyne-with-Hest, to the left (30th April).
This civil parish consists of two villages - Slyne, on the main road, and Hest Bank, which takes us close to the coast (although not close enough to see it at this point). The boundary between the two is not obvious, but we do venture into Hest Bank, which is a pretty, tree-lined village.
(30th April)
The best-known building in the village is the "Hest Bank Hotel" (previously named the "Sands Inn"). It is hundreds of years old and once served as a coaching station for traffic crossing the sands of what is now Morecambe Bay. Maps still show the right-of-way across Morecambe Bay, from Hest Bank to Grange-over-Sands, and many walkers still enjoy guided walks across the bay at low tide.
(30th April)
We return to the main Lancaster Road at Bolton-le-Sands, where we are joined by route 5 (Carnforth to Overton via Morecambe). This route seems to hug the coastline all around Morecambe Bay but I somehow manage to omit taking a journey on it at any time during my stay in the region!
ABOVE: Somewhere in the Bolton-le-Sands area (I haven't been able to pin it down!) finds SCNL 15699 (PX60 BFE), a Scania N230UD ADL Enviro400, on its way to Overton (30th April)
Referred to as Bodeltone in the Domesday book, the village of Bolton-le-Sands was known as Bolton until the arrival of the railways, when the name was changed in order to differentiate from similarly named towns on the same line, such as Bolton (Greater Manchester) which was then a part of Lancashire and was called Bolton-le-Moors.
ABOVE: SCNL 12206 (MX13 FLN) is an ADL Enviro400H (hybrid). It still seems unusual to find hybrid vehicles outside the metropolitan areas, but this bus was new to one of the Stagecoach Manchester companies (30th April).
As we head closer to Carnforth, there is the briefest of hints of the coast in amongst the rolling hills.
ABOVE: A thin sliver of the coastline can just be picked out, if one uses one's imagination (!), towards the centre left of the picture, between the hills and the more distant coastline beyond it. That sliver might be the mouth of the River Keer, which separates our part of the land from the Warton Coastline to the north (30th April).
A moment later, near Dertern Lane (which is a road, not a place), we are almost in touching distance of the West Coast Main Line, and, right on cue, an Avanti West Coast Pendolino zips through, heading, presumably, for London. More of that coastline can be seen now.
(30th April)
The bus reaches its terminus, at Carnforth Railway Station, on schedule at 18:00.
(30th April)
Carnforth Station was opened, with a single platform, by the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway on 22 September 1846. Given its strategic position as a gateway to the Arnside, Grange and Barrow-in-Furness areas, it's no surprise that the station expanded rapidly as new railways opened.
In 1857, the Ulverstone and Lancaster Railway (this spelling of Ulverstone, with an "e" on the end, still being used in legal documents after it had been dropped in common usage) arrived from the north-west; in 1880, it began receiving trains from the Midland Railway, following the commissioning of a south-to-east direct curve to the Furness and Midland Joint Railway, creating a triangular junction. A major rebuilding project brought the platform count to six by 1939.
The 'fast' platforms were closed in 1970, and subsequently demolished. This gives us a decent vantage point of those tracks, in close-up (although no trains passed by during my brief visit). Access to the remaining two platforms is via a subway under the main line.
ABOVE: The West Coast Main Line tracks through Carnforth. The current station platforms are to the left, behind the buildings. The station entrance is to the right, behind me (30th April).
The station has an important claim to fame, of course. The 1945 film "Brief Encounter", starring Trevor Howard and Celia Johnson, was partly filmed at the station, which was transformed into "Milford Junction" for the occasion. The signage for Milford remains in situ.
ABOVE: Milford Junction, adjacent to the southbound platform (on the left) at Carnforth Station (30th April).
I must confess that I have never seen the film, but "Brief Encounter" tells the story of two married strangers living in pre-World War II England, whose chance meeting at a railway station leads to a brief yet intense emotional affair, disrupting their otherwise conventional lives. An emotional farewell scene is set here, and has been acknowledged in subsequent film and television programmes, such as in the "Dad's Army" episode "Mum's Army" (an episode which, very unusually, does not end with a gag).
"Brief Encounter" has received numerous accolades, and was voted as the Second-Greatest British Film of the 20th Century in 1999 (losing out to "The Third Man"). With 2025 being the 80th anniversary of the film, commemorative plaques were on display in the station, and, at the time of my visit (April), planning was underway for a "1940s Weekend", to take place later here in the year.
I must confess that I have never seen the film, but "Brief Encounter" tells the story of two married strangers living in pre-World War II England, whose chance meeting at a railway station leads to a brief yet intense emotional affair, disrupting their otherwise conventional lives. An emotional farewell scene is set here, and has been acknowledged in subsequent film and television programmes, such as in the "Dad's Army" episode "Mum's Army" (an episode which, very unusually, does not end with a gag).
"Brief Encounter" has received numerous accolades, and was voted as the Second-Greatest British Film of the 20th Century in 1999 (losing out to "The Third Man"). With 2025 being the 80th anniversary of the film, commemorative plaques were on display in the station, and, at the time of my visit (April), planning was underway for a "1940s Weekend", to take place later here in the year.
(30th April)
My own "brief encounter" here has indeed been brief, but it has also been unexpected (I wasn't sure if I would see the station at all, or of there would be anything to see). But I now need to head back to Lancaster, and I am doing so on route 49. The bus is due at 18:32, and I need to find the "War Memorial" stop, which turns out to be just across the road, in a small, pretty square adjacent to the Fire Station.
(30th April)
It's a glorious, hot evening. I don't even have a jacket on - not bad for the end of April! A route 5 service towards Overton pulls out while I am waiting. It's one of the fading breed of Dennis Tridents:
ABOVE: SCNL 18356 (MX55 KPG), a Dennis Trident Alexander ALX400, passes the War Memorial stop in Carnforth (behind me). The railway station building is in the background (centre). On the left is the 19th-Century Royal Station Hotel. This bus, 19-and-a-half years old, was withdrawn in July 2025, based on data at BusTimes.org (30th April).
A quirk of the normally-hourly route 55 timetable sees two departures in under a quarter-of-an-hour (18:10 and 18:23). These have both left when rumours start to circulate (amongst the people in the Square) that the 49 service has been cancelled.
I'm not sure where they are getting their information from but I have nothing to corroborate this rumour. The bus, which should be the same one that I saw in Lancaster Bus Station earlier (picture above), should have left Warton at 18:23. The two pieces of evidence that might support the rumour are that (1) no bus is tracking on BusTimes.org and (2) no bus has turned up.
I have to say that the locals are concerned for me. The 18:32 is the last bus of the day on route 49. When I tell them that I am heading for Lancaster, they and I are both reassured, as there are other services available - there will have been places en route on the 49 where I would have been left high and dry.
But it's not great. It's the last bus on the 49, and it has been cancelled. It's the second time in five days that a last bus has failed to turn up for me (see the earlier article when I got stuck in Ongar).
At this point, having just arrived in the region, I'm not aware that a potentially-faster route out might be available if I take a relatively short walk to the Lancaster Road, where the 555 service is available. So I wait around until the 19:23 departure of route 55 turns up to take me back from whence I came (a single-decker Enviro300 on this occasion). Why two departures in such quick succession and then an hour's gap? No idea!
Three days later, I find myself back in Carnforth, and I decide to give the 49 another go. I am here in time for the 15:32 departure, which arrives empty, at 15:30, from Warton. That's more like it!
It's an Enviro300 and we start by diving into the residential streets to the east side of town, before we cross over the M6 motorway to reach the village of Over Kellet.
ABOVE: Over Kellet (3rd May)
My notes record that, during the course of the journey, we cross the motorway a further three times. And it's certainly worth the ride, as we head through some delightful countryside:
(3rd May)
A hint of the sea in the distance (3rd May)
(3rd May)
We make a double-run into the large village of Halton, on the north bank of the River Lune. Halton was the centre of an important Anglo-Saxon manor held by Earl Tostig, the brother of King Harold, before the Norman Conquest. It's easy to see what he liked about the place:
ABOVE: The bus stop at New Street, Halton, looking broadly south. The river is down there somewhere but not visible from this angle (3rd May).
One thing I don't realise at the time is that Halton village is less than a mile from my hotel - albeit on the opposite side of the river! So when the bus passes over a canal, I don't appreciate that it is the Lancaster Canal, which crosses the River Lune on an Aqueduct just a few hundred yards from my current location.
It's an interesting view, as it almost looks like a T-junction of water. But it isn't - the section to the left in the picture below is just a little bay - it doesn't go much further than we can see from the bus.
(3rd May)
A right turn into Aldrens Lane brings us back into Skerton, and onwards into Lancaster itself.
(3rd May)
We cross the river and reach Lancaster Bus Station, either on time or three days late (depending on your point of view) at 16:14. The ride has been well worth the wait - it's a lovely route to show what's just off the Lancaster Road - very scenic and away from the hustle and bustle.
A quick footnote: Back to the Wednesday, and, after my near-one hour wait in Carnforth for the last 49 of the day, I'm rather surprised to find one pulling into Lancaster Bus Station when I eventually get back there. However, a check reveals that there is a final, short-working journey from Halton at 19:48, arriving into Lancaster at 20:05. So I did get to see the last bus of the day after all - kind-of!
ABOVE: SCNL 15820 (PX62 CBV), a Scania N230UD ADL Enviro400, arrives at Lancaster Bus Station at around 20:05 on the actual last journey of the day on route 49 - a short-working from Halton (30th April).
Still very poor, though, for anyone who was waiting for that last 49 north of Halton. At least they could have enjoyed the scenery, I suppose.
BELOW: An approximation of the routes described in this article, including the section of route 49 to Warton that I did not cover.
