Editorial

Issue nr 279
Thursday December 7th, 2023

From the Editor

There was an article in The Bucks Free Press about missing workings by Carousel during the past week which must be frustrating for the company, however one comment from me was the use of a picture Citaro 869 to head the piece. Sadly this bus is no longer with us !!!!

In this issue

Ensignbus Running Day

Things to come in Oxford

Ciaran Bird is in Bristol now

Coach Visitors to Oxford from David Beynon and James Freeman

Fleet News & Developments

London Operations

Times of Old by Paul Dudfield

Ensignbus Vintage Running Day 2021 - Ensign Bus Company

Route Map

A number of contributors have provided pictures and comments.

Gavin Francis with additional pictures from Nigel Eadon Clarke and Bob Stanger

On Saturday 4^th December Ensign operated their annual bus running day based around Lakeside Shopping Centre. Earlier in the year there had been doubts whether it would operate this year due to Ensign being taken over by First but I am pleased to say it was as comprehensive as ever.

4 routes were operated.

X21 Upminster to Brentwood

X55 Upminster to Gravesend

X54 Lakeside to R.A.F. Hornchurch Heritage Centre

X81 Shenfield to Tilbury Ferry

Services ran approximately from a very cold 09.00 to 19.00 and carried good loads throughout the day.

Below are my pictures taken throughout the day of as many buses as I could. Missing is T 986 which I understand broke down early in the day.

I was not able to get pictures of all the buses involved so Nigel Eadon-Clarke has supplied some more.

And finally Bob Stanger completed the set.

Overall a great effort by all those concerned in organizing the effort and appreciated by the many who came along to have a very enjoyable day.

Whilst at The Ensign Running Day on Saturday I took a trip on RT 1499 to Bluewater Shopping Centre.

This has a busy bus station and whilst I was there Arriva 6528 arrived in Maidstone & District livery.

This bus was new to Hemel Hempstead Garage and used to be seen from time to time on Greenline route 758 in Bulleid Way, Victoria.

Andrew Webb also sent pictures

Ensignbus held the annual running day for the 16^th time on 2 December, the first since the company was purchased by First earlier in 2023. The extensive fleet of heritage vehicles has been retained by the Newman family and many were out on the network of four routes. The running always includes a couple of 'surprise' vehicles to keep an element of surprise for passengers and photographers alike.

The 2023 surprises included Seaford and District's former Maidstone and District Willowbrook Leyland Leopard OKO816G which first appeared at the 2018 event.

RML2396, now part of the Ensignbus fleet, was the second surprise, proudly wearing branding for London route 12 as it works route X55.

The Royal Albert Hall destination is somewhat random, not featuring on either route!

What an excellent selection of an interesting event. Thanks to all. Ed.

Things to look forward to in Oxford
by Richard Sharman & Wrightbus

Take a look behind the scenes at the bus build for Go-Ahead Oxford Open Top Electroliner buses, as they progressed along our main build lines in the Wrightbus factory. We are extremely proud of the standards of excellence and quality of product being delivered by our expert teams, who are amongst the best in the world in the bus manufacturing industry.

These buses are part of the order for 104 zero emission Electroliners placed by The Go-Ahead Group plc with Wrightbus earlier this year and will support the company’s popular City Sightseeing tour route with City Sightseeing Oxford City Sightseeing Worldwide Head Office

The Wrightbus Electroliners are the world’s most efficient battery electric double deck buses and the new open top buses will allow tourists in Oxford to visit the city in comfort, as they enjoy a smoother and quieter journey with zero environmental impact.

The Wrightbus StreetDeck Electroliner is the world’s most efficient battery-electric double deck bus,
part of our fleet of battery electric and hydrogen fuel cell single and double deck buses.

When 701 arrived it carried the wrong fleet number 713. Ed.

I work for Stagecoach Bristol on the Park & Ride route 9. Aside from the traffic on Bath Road around Brislington, it's a very nice route to drive with lovely scenery along the Portway and under the Clifton Suspension Bridge. I commend Jack Cooper for showcasing this in last week's edition of the page. I can still remember the first time I left Hotwells in the dark, turned the corner and was greeted by the bridge all lit up!

Here are a few photos of my bus for today's duty (03/12/23), 11236 (SN69 ZDT). When I was at the depot, a controller tried to get the GPS to work and appear on bustimes but was sadly unsuccessful. On the plus side, he managed to get 11233 to track so that now works, along side 11234.

The first set of photos are at Portway Park & Ride on the turning loop, with Cheltenham's 10750 in the background.
I suspect this, along with sister vehicles and the batch of five from Swindon will all be returned within this month.

Arriva Enviro 200 3153 with the L4 local at Leighton station on November 29th 2023. |
The popular free fares on the L services sadly ends in December....

6149 UUI2907 (FJ56OBL) Volvo B7TL Wright Gemini has in the last few days transferred from Maidstone to High Wycombe.

Seen here approaching High Wycombe Bus Station on the X80 from Reading yesterday evening (06/12/23).

Bustimes indicated that ex London DOE13 was working the 35 on December 2nd, but what turned up was City-branded DOE3! Why are GoAhead borrowing or transferring aged and worn out looking buses when 21 new electric buses are coming by the end of this year?

DOE3 and DOE13 have been out in service this week. From what I know they only have blinds for the 6, 8, 15 and 35.

Passed briefly through Oxford yesterday (02/12/2023) and caught this unusual working at the rail station, thought may be of interest.

COMS Brookes Bus 603 on an X1 to Wantage (despite the inbound blind still displayed)

The Sprinters are for the new route 68 that began on Monday, only needs one bus but need a spare so that’s why we’ve got two.

Elite I 68 pressed into service in the first days of December 2023 seen in Gloucester Green.

Pulhams now work one of the football routes to OUFC Kassam with PU10HAM on December 2nd.

Several changes have occurred being 926 and 927 are working out of Cowley House for 45 road.

511 and 512 remain with Carousel whilst 520 and 521 remain at TT. I uunderstood these two were for Carousel.

I was in High Wycombe yesterday, and was lucky to see one of the new Redline Volvo / MCV single deckers, now painted red, but without any fleet names / branding.

Here is BV73MTK, arriving in Wycombe, and shortly later departing Wycombe bus station with the return service 130 to Aylesbury.

11248 SN69 ZFG
11249 SN69 ZFH
11250 SN69 ZFJ
11251 SN69 ZFK
11252 SN69 ZFL
11253 SN69 ZFM

11747 YX73 OYS
11748 YX73 OYU
11749 YX73 OYV
11750 YX73 OYW
11751 YX73 OYY
11752 YX73 OYZ
11753 YX73 OZA
11754 YX73 OZB
11755 YX73 OZC
11756 YX73 OZD
11757 YX73 OZE
11758 YX73 OZF
11759 YX73 OZG
11760 YX73 OZH
11761 YX73 OZJ

Passed briefly through Oxford yesterday (02/12/2023) and caught this unusual working at the rail station, thought may be of interest.

Stagecoach 12012 on a 14, not a regular haunt for these, normally ops by E200, and not much longer for this world I imagine.

The nearside can is seen on Metroline's LT641 as it turns from Buckingham Palace Road into Grosvenor Gardens
at the start of another journey to Archway on route 390.

Reconstruction work at Victoria bus station means revised stand arrangements for services which usually terminate there.

Also awaiting departure on route 390 is LT762 which is one of a trio (so far) of Holloway buses treated to this wrap for Ginori 1735.
Whilst not immediately apparent to the passer by, Ginori 1735 is an Italian porcelain company owned by Gucci.

LT759 illustrates both the offside of the advert and the other route on which the buses see regular use,
as it pauses at St Paul's Cathedral on route 17.

Go Ahead WHV82 promotes the TfL daily bus fare cap of £5.25 as it rounds St George's Circus on 2 December.

It previously carried a very similar advert for the £1.75 Hopper fare, seen in the same location on 30 September.

French cognac producer Rémy Martin has teamed up with Grammy award-winning musical artist Usher and A.I. technology to reveal the invisible, the taste of 1738 Accord Royal presented in a rare limited-edition version.

Stagecoach LT362 is one of five New Routemasters wrapped in this advert. It is seen at Oxford Circus at the start of another lengthy trip to Walthamstow.

Arriva's LT837 shows the nearside as it waits on the stand at Mornington Crescent.
Roadworks on Eversholt Street mean that route 253 is currently curtailed here instead of continuing to Euston.

I know you like the occasional historical picture for OCBP so enclose photos of COMS Fleetlines 368 (WJN 368J) and 380 (GHJ 380L).

These buses came from Southend but when I took the photos (in April 1985 and December 1985 respectively) I had moved away from Oxford so I do not have personal experience of using them. It would appear from the position of the stairs that these buses would have been built with dual doors, but did they retain them during their time in Oxford? I would be interested to know if any other buses of this type came from Southend. I can recognize that 368 was in St Aldates when I took its photo but I am not sure about where the photo of 380 was taken, though it looks like it may have been at a Park & Ride site. Perhaps Grahame Wareham may be able to enlighten us.

I look forward to reading OCBP every week as I still like to keep informed of bus developments in the Oxford area, especially as the complete fleet electrification is beginning to get underway.