Issue 194
(OBP-409)
Monday
18th
September 2006
next update week ending 30th
September 2006
Visit the "OXFORD & CHILTERN BUS PAGE " Archives from October 2002
Visit
the "OXFORD BUS PAGE" Archive 1998 - 2002
Please note that any
comments made in this news page are those of the Editors' and in no way
constitute
any official points of view from the bus companies
mentioned, or indeed any other official body.
As a news page we
reserve the right to make valid comments as seen from an editorial point of
view.
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To see the pictures full size just click on the small one
An obituary - Chris Moyes OBE 1949 - 2006
It is with sadness that we record the untimely death of Chris Moyes OBE, who was until recently Chief Executive of The Go-Ahead Group. Chris had been seriously ill with a brain tumour since May and passed away peacefully last week.
Chris Moyes OBE (born 1949) was Chief Executive of Go-Ahead Group plc, a major UK transport group between 1st January 2005 and 10th July 2006 when he resigned due to an undisclosed serious illness. He was made an Officer of the British Empire in the 2006 New Year Honours List for services to transport.
He had been the Chairman of Durham University Council since 2001, but his illness also forced him to resign from this position and his chairmanship of GoSkills, the transport Sector Skills Council, a body he had been instrumental in founding in 2004. His resignation from both positions was announced at the end of July 2006.
Chris had a lifetime in the bus industry and I first came to know him during my time as a researcher for Corgi's OOC range of buses. He was also on the same panel and we enjoyed a number of pleasant meetings, often with an overnight stop when there was time for a pint, and plenty of time to talk.
He will also be remembered for his collection of vintage buses, the AEC open top Regal which was refurbished and returned to pristine condition in the workshops of Oxford Bus Company at Cowley Road. The bus was featured in these pages at the time.
I am sure that he will be sorely missed at Go-Ahead and I am sure everyone joins me in wishing his family sincere sympathy in their sad loss.
Stokenchurch Local Accessibility Action Planning
Today saw the first of a number of similar meetings planned throughout Buckinghamshire in the coming months, designed to involve local people in the future of their local accessibility needs assessment.
The agenda for the meeting included existing public resources and potential for the area by John Hodgkins, Transport and Accessibility Service Manager for Bucks County Council and other presentations by County Council Officers. This was followed by two workshops designed to gain an insight into what local people found important for services in the future and how the County Council and local interests and resources could best interface for the overall good of the community.
It was interesting to learn just how much it cost to provide certain types of service such as the Taxibus to Lewknor which connects with the Oxford Tube. The county assessment was that based on cost and usage each passenger from Stokenchurch cost in the region of £40 per head which is obviously unacceptable but some interesting ideas for alternatives on a more cost effective basis were floated by the various attendees at the meeting.
The first impressions of the meeting content and results were encouraging and we look forward to further developments as they become available. I understand that a report will be posted on the Bucks County web site in due course and a link will be given on these pages when it is available.
An answer about that Atbus Metrobus
Following my comments about the Metrobus M975 seen last week Stuart Turner writes "Just to state the ATBUS fleet is based in Thorpe (Sullivan Buses yard?) and there fleet is of ex London Metros M22, 975, 1264 being ex Thames Valley Training and M1100, 1272, 1351 ex Carousel Buses. (list from LOTS TLB504).
The last three will feel at home, as the yard is shared with Country Bus who have M57 and Lynx F558NJM. I see the yard over the fence of Location Facilities, whom still have their Titans and Dominators (out of use?) for film work, when delivering Lays Transport next door."
High Wycombe town centre - getting around gets easier!
With the opening of the new bus station on Bridge Street and the surrounding “sea of cranes” the exciting new Wycombe Eden development is certainly beginning to take shape. Inevitably though, a project of this scale poses challenges in getting around the site and to the town centre. Everyone agrees that the new bus station is a massive improvement on the old one and when Eden is completed it will be directly connected to the heart of Wycombe’s retail centre. Peter Cartwright, Wycombe District Council Cabinet Member for Transport and Employment commented “we are keen to help commuters and shoppers get about during this time, so extra efforts are being made to make travel to and around the town centre as easy as possible”.
As part of these efforts, it is now possible to travel across the town centre for free on the distinctive green liveried park and ride buses that operate every fifteen minutes travelling anti-clockwise round the town centre. There will be no charge for travel between bus stops on Queen Alexandra Road outside the Hospital, Queen Victoria Rd by the library, Crendon St and Castle St by the rail station, Oxford St and the bus station.
Valerie Letheren, the County Council Cabinet Member for Transportation commented “This initiative is being trialled by the District and County Councils and I hope many people the advantage of it to make their trips across High Wycombe town centre as easy as possible during the construction period”
NOTE: Other fares for park and ride remain unchanged, and can cost less than a pound per trip.
Amersham Heritage Day - report by Mike Cooke
Last Sunday in glorious sunshine was Amersham Heritage Day, when the main street through Old Amersham was closed to allow a display of vintage cars and other historical 'booths' showing the history of the town. Stepping up to add to the ambiance of the day, was a running of the 353 route to local towns. RML2412 and GS13 could be seen running the route together with local coach operator Michael Wootten at the helm of one of his immaculate Bristol VR's. More Buses will be seen in this area on October 1st when the successful Amersham Running Day takes place.
Running from Amersham to Chesham, RML 2412 makes a fine sight near Amersham Met
Station.
RML 2412 again, this time close to the old Amersham & District garage in old
Amersham.
Carousel Dart 109 in a similar location to the RML pictured above.
Woottens turned out this ex Southdown Bristol VR for the 353 and it did look
very smart indeed.
Newbury on a visit by Chris Maxfield
We mentioned last week that Newbury Buses, a subsidiary of Reading Buses, has devised a new livery for its Newbury fleet. Chris Maxfield passed through last week and took some interesting pictures. Newbury has a varied allocation including some old Metrobuses once used in the Heathrow area.
Newbury 458, a MkII Metrobus which could once be seen around Heathrow.
Not all the buses in the Newbury fleet are elderly and the Enviro 300
on Vodafone work
pictured above is no exception.
This N registered DAF has now gained a revised livery which looks quite smart.
Developments in and around Milton Keynes by Glenn Knight
Glenn Knight sent some interesting pictures taken in Milton Keynes last week.
As mentioned before on these pages the VC registered Volvos on the Virgin
contract have regained their original registrations.
Normally to be found on the 38 in Dunstable, this Scania//Wrights was some
distance from home on the X66 in MK.
Showbus 2006
A reminder about Showbus 2006 which takes place on Sunday 24th September is that it is now only one week away. There is a good turn out from our area and this year Plastow's have an entry and no less than eight of Woottens 2006 fleet will be present.
Once again we hope to have an Oxford Tube Neoplan at the event.
Again my thanks to all my contributors, both old and new.
Malcolm Crowe - Monday 18th September 2006
Visit the "OXFORD & CHILTERN BUS PAGE " Archives from October 2002 to date
News of the local companies – 18th September 2006
Nigel Peach writes " I notice that Plaxton Derwent bodied Volvo B10M, 3080 (F152 KGS), is still parked at Cressex, but now it has a red band painted round it. I believe that this denotes that it has been sold.
Simon Oliver writes "Recently I've been driving around the High Wycombe area and taking some pictures of Arriva buses. I've attached one that I thought perhaps you might like to use on your webpage at some point. The picture was taken by the pond in Penn early September 2006
Ed Maun writes "With reference to last week’s news page (No. 193), I have attempted to unravel the recent service changes affecting High Wycombe. Reading “between the lines” they appear to herald increased competition between Arriva and Carousel!
From 3rd September:-
Red route 34 is a new Evenings and Sundays service running Castlefield – High Wycombe Town Centre – Micklefield Estate but following a different route to service 32/326 (see below) in Micklefield.
The 326 has been replaced by new service 32 although this runs Micklefield Estate – High Wycombe Town Centre – Booker – Lane End, i.e. the 326 extended from Booker to Lane End. The 32 only runs through to Lane End in the evenings and on Sundays (Replacing service 315). Service 30 appears to still run between Lane End and Flackwell Heath.
Service 35 appears to be a new evenings and Sundays service between High Wycombe and Bourne End replacing the eastern half of service 315, which is withdrawn.
This local operator keeps going from strength to strength with new vehicles and routes. Their web page has also undergone a facelift and looks very swish ! You can find it at the following link: http://www.carouselbuses.com/
Ed Maun writes :-
From 6th September:-
Service 339 has been merged with Line 1 to form a new Line 1 running Lane End – High Wycombe Town Centre – Bourne End.
A new Line 2 has been introduced between High Wycombe and Marlow.
Carousel appear to have taken over service 393 from Magpie which they are calling “Campus Link”. This links the various Buckinghamshire University College sites and presumably runs from the start of the college term.
Charlton Services
Ken MacKenzie, Oxfordshire Small Operators Sub Editor for the PSV Circle writes regarding two recently acquired coaches saying "They are: Holder, Charlton
5373 PO Vo B10M-60 028171 VH 30934 now AIG 8835 4/06 ex J245NNC
6709 PO Vo B10M-60 027652 VH 30914 now BIG 5013 4/06 ex J223 NNC
Both coaches came from P&O Lloyd of Bagillt, North Wales but were new to Shearings.
Heyfordian Coaches
Ken MacKenzie, Oxfordshire Small Operators Sub Editor for the PSV Circle writes "On your page 191, you asked for the previous reg of Heyfordian 4078 NU - well it was T725 UOS -June 06.
Also re-registered:
L740 YGE is now 7845 LJ - July 06.
L743 YGE is now 8252 MX - June 06.
T723 UOS is now 2622 NU - May 06.
Thanks to Zoe Smith from Heyfordian for this information.
Several readers including Alan Gelson have reported on the Bus Driver of the Year event in Blackpool and the Oxfordshire contribution was from Oxford Bus in the shape of a Citaro which is pictured below in Blackpool by Alan Gelson.
Alistair Liddle writes "As you probably know an Oxford Citaro was being used by some of the BDoY finalists this year, which was held in Blackpool on the 10th. of September.
I was there and photographed some of the buses used including the Citaro and these are now on my fotopic page: http://alistair268.fotopic.net/ "
(I am sure readers will browse the link above Ed.)
Adrian writes to attach the picture below that readers might find interesting of Solent Blue Line 626 K126 BUD on route X27 at The Hard in Portsmouth last Friday. Unusual that its not the branded vehicle or a double deck which seem to be the usual fare on the X27.
On the 11th September Volvo B10BLE 816 was seen operating the X3 and Citaro 824 was unusually on the 300 to Redbridge.
Volvo B10BLE 807 is the last refurb seen at this stage. It appears that low floor buses may now appear on the 35 following the removal of humps in Kennington.
Red Rose
A Dart MPD was seen on the 275 last week registered VU02 TPZ. Does anyone have any further information on this bus?
Marcus Lapthorn has sent his first pictures after purchasing a digital camera.
Marcus says this bus was in service on the 66 when the picture was taken.
Confusing for intending passengers !!!!
Volvo B10M 52150 on an X5 working last week parked on an appropriately numbered
stop at Oxford Rail Station last week.
Terry Wong also sent a picture with a local interest.
Olympian 16517 started life at Witney where it was a regular performer on the
100.
I wonder what the 100 regulars would think if this bus turned up at their stop
now?
Woottens Coaches
Michael Wootten writes "Things
have been busy at Woottens and I am pleased to include our latest fleet news
below:
Former COMS Leyland Lynx C66 HOM is now in service. This bus joined the fleet
from Oxford Bus Company last October where it had been in use as a driver
training vehicle. Acquired with a defective engine, this Lynx was originally
intended for spares. However, it was later decided to return the bus to service
and the vehicle has benefited from a complete engine rebuild and thorough
overhaul.
C66 HOM joins
sister vehicle C64 HOM, which has been in use here since 2004. Also still in
service is former COMS Leyland Leopard / Willowbrook Warrior ABW 310X (VUD 33X),
which also worked as a driver trainer with COMS before joining the Woottens
fleet in January 2002.
A further double-decker acquired for school services is Bristol VRT / ECW HSV
673 (JWV 272W), which has joined the fleet from Taylors Coaches of Aylesbury.
This bus was new to Southdown before becoming part of the Brighton & Hove fleet
in 1986. It joins sister Bristol VRT JWV 273W, which has been in use with
Woottens since leaving Brighton & Hove in 2000.
The company will be supporting Showbus again this year with all the
latest Volvo B12B / Plaxton Panthers YN06 MXS-Y and Volvo B7R / Plaxton Profile
YN06 MXR entered. One of the Bristol VRTs will be in service at the Amersham
Running Day on Sunday 1st October and both YN06 MXY & ABW 310X will be
attending the Oxford Bus Museum Rally on Sunday 15th October.
Enthusiasts can find further fleet information and photographs at
www.woottens.co.uk.
I hope
this news is of interest to you and your readers. Please keep up the good work
with your page!
PHOTO CORNER
If you have a digital camera and wish to submit photos for
this page please send them to the me at
malcolmhc@aol.com
Vikki Lee writes "On Monday of last week, there were a lot of filming vehicles in the coach park. I took a photo of an ex-Yorkie Traction Leyland Olympian which was being used as a mobile canteen for this filming."
Our very first "56" reg for the page, taken at Oxpens Coach Park last week by Vikki Lee.
HISTORY IN PICTURES AND WORDS
Ian White wrote to say that he had not seen any older pictures on the page recently and thought readers might like to see the selection below.
Various double decks were
painted in overall advertising liveries by COMS in the late '80s and early '90s.
Pictures by Ian White.
Coming events & models
Duxford - Showbus - 24th September 2006. http://www.showbus.co.uk/
Running Day as advised by Peter Cartwright, Running Day Organiser Amersham & District Motorbus Society
Sunday 1 October 2006 - the 18th Running Day at Amersham.
As route 724 is 40 years old this year, apart from the feeders, I want to schedule a service between Watford and High Wycombe via Amersham - the original route south of Watford. This will be 29 years to the day since MA Garage took over duties from HE - High Wycombe Garage which closed the previous day, 30 September 1977.
This year should see the brand new bus station at High Wycombe open by this date and this would be the ideal place to terminate. More on this Running Day in due course.
It is hoped to celebrate 40 years since RMLs took over route 363 Totteridge - Holtspur in February 1966. Weather permitting it is hoped to have RML/RMLs running over the route on Sunday 19 February. Likewise a month later to run over the full length of Route 347 Hemel - Uxbridge which received RMLs on 20 March 1966. Anyone else interested in joining us?
Please feel free to contact me by phone 01494 437750 or by e-mail - Peter_Cartwright@wycombe.gov.uk - or post at 54 Guinions Road, HIGH WYCOMBE, HP13 7NX.
DVD s by Robin Clare
The full details of DVDs available from Robin Clare may be found at his web site :- http://www.robinclare.co.uk/
Latest Citaro models revealed
Dave Rogers sent the following press release.
CREATIVE MASTER NORTHCORD - PRESS RELEASE
Mercedes-Benz Citaro - ukbus 5004 Arriva Manchester - ukbus 5007 Oxford Bus
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Creative Master Northcord Limited is proud to release two brand new liveries on its well known Mercedes-Benz Citaro casting. Both models have received significant, yet different, modifications to the tooling in order to represent, as close to 100% accuracy as possible, the real buses on the roads.
ukbus 5004 represents fleet number Arriva North West’s 2851 (CX55 EAA). This Mercedes Citaro is one of three such vehicles with dedicated route branding for service 700 and with the destination set to Manchester. The model features a redesigned interior layout that includes the reduced seating capacity and luggage racks.
Starting on 29th October 2005, Arriva North West’s service 700 runs from Manchester’s Piccadilly Railway Station to Liverpool’s John Lennon Airport. For the service, 3 Mercedes-Benz Citaro buses were purchased and numbered 2851-3. They were painted in the same style and colours as the Scania OmniCity buses that already operated between John Lennon and Liverpool city centre.
ukbus 5007 represents fleet number 830 (X13 OXF) of Oxford Bus Company. 830 entered service in December 2003, to upgrade the X3 & X13 Oxford – Abingdon services. The bus was painted in a new and distinctive livery designed by Best Impressions.
ukbus 5007 features the smooth, curved windscreen with the destination display set behind the windscreen glass rather than the protruding destination found on the Park & Ride Citaros in the fleet. This feature is one of the standard specifications on other Citaros that the Go-Ahead Group has purchased.
Mercedes-Benz Citaro ukbus 5004 and 5007 models are each a one-piece casting whose clean lines accentuate the square-mounted, double-glazed windows and the livery application on which all logos and lettering are clearly legible. Another main feature on both models is the extensive portrayal of handrails. The headlight / indicator units at the front and indicator / tail light units at the rear are made of individual components to look more realistic.
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The brand new single-door Mercedes-Benz Citaro bus models will be distributed by John Ayrey Die-Casts Limited (UK), Porte Publishing Company (Japan) and Concorde Hobby Shop (HK) respectively. The ukbus 5004 and 5007 models are limited to 1700 pieces worldwide respectively.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Model Buses for Sale
prices revised with immediate effect
I have a revised deal on Models for your readers...
Each of the following models are available for the following price :
Each Model = £10.00
Postage is £4.00 regardless of the number of models.
UKBUS 1014 - CREATIVE MASTER OXFORD P&R TRIDENT
UKBUS 5002 - CREATIVE MASTER OXFORD P&R CITARO
UKBUS 2012 - CREATIVE MASTER BROOKES BUS TRIDENT
CORGI ORIGINAL OMNIBUS OXFORD ESPRESS EXCALIBUR
Once again this offer is only available by emailing me direct at modelsmk@aol.com
More models are for sale on my eBay store, http://www.modelsmk.co.uk/shop
Thanks! James
Would readers who respond to the above please quote my site when doing so.
If you wish to be included on a mailing list where
I will advise of any mid week news & when
each News Page is posted
please let me know on malcolmhc@aol.com
Visit the "OXFORD BUS PAGE" Archive 1998 - 2002
Visit the "OXFORD & CHILTERN BUS PAGE " Archives from October 2002 to date
Links
These are three most interesting sites which I do recommend
Mike Penn's photo page with much from Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire as well as Buckinghamshire
Chris Lowe's Photo page - mainly North West UK
|
A web site which has paintings of buses.
|
|
http://www.britishbuspublishing.co.uk/
The latest handbook from BBF was
on sale at Cobham and was the ever popular Stagecoach edition now in its 13th
year. As in earlier editions it includes the 2006 new bus orders. |
Links
Bus Services in Buckinghamshire
Where are the Chilterns?
Visit this informative site through the link below.
Visit the "OXFORD BUS PAGE" Archive 1998 - 2002
Visit the "OXFORD & CHILTERN BUS PAGE " Archives from October 2002