Following the news that Arriva will be closing their High Wycombe and Aylesbury depots after the last service on Saturday 27th July 2024, we are pleased to advise that we will be stepping in to provide replacement services in and around Buckinghamshire from Sunday 28th July 2024. Many of the routes are the same as Arriva, but some timetables and route numbers will change.

You can see the main details below and download the new timetables. To see where each bus goes, please click here to download a detailed map of our town routes in the High Wycombe area, valid from Sunday 28th July 2024. The new Carousel network map is available here.

From the same date, Carousel service 4 will be renumbered 34, with no change to the route or timetable. 

Well, there are a significant number of changes which will provide much interest for the enthusiasts in the coming weeks. Ed. 

https://www.redlinebuses.com/timetable-updates-july-2024

More interesting changes to Redline including updates regarding the 130 service. 

Farewell Arriva South Bucks by Gary Seamarks

For the record 3580 was my last Wycombe shot, and 3731 was last Aylesbury and ironically last off the depot I needed to photo that's still running.

 

All Wycombe unless on caption, note the happy driver of 3007 ! 

     

At Leighton Buzzard

 

Carousel preparations.

A lot of driver training going on with Carousel 979, seem more like route learning, did see one driver with a Plymouth Citybus bag. 

Changeover weekend could be interesting as assume Arriva will want to hold onto drivers till bitter end then next day's Carousel will be needed a lot of them, are they doing inductions etc in advance was my though ?  Yes no schools, but peak hoilday weeks when changeover comes. 

Grahame Wareham recalls 309's in our area

H309 LWL304 was part of a batch of twenty five AEC Regent II's with Park Royal H30/26R semi-utility bodywork delivered in 1946. In 1953 it was renumbered to H843 to separate the high-bridge and low-bridge buses into a recognisable series.

 

H843 lasted in Oxford service until April 1958 when it made its way up to Bedlington & District via Deacon (dealer) Dorchester, where it stayed until August 1960 where it was sold to Fleet Car Sales of Dunchurch and it ended up scrapped in a quarry near Broadway, Worcs. Bedlington & District were a large user of former Oxford buses which sometimes only lasted a short time but their operating territory was very hard ferrying colliery workers to some of the more remote areas of the Northumberland coast. 

        

309 309MFC, a 1961 AEC Bridgemaster with Park Royal H43/29F low-height forward entrance body was part of the first batch of ten similar buses which featured integral construction and air suspension on the rear axle giving a constant height ride. My memories of them were that indeed they did provide a very comfortable ride with a bit more pitching and bouncing on uneven roads.309 was the first Bridgemaster to be painted in the new two colour BET red and Duck Egg Green  simplified scheme in 1970, one of only five in the batch so treated 309 was initially used on some of the longer country routes whilst based at Cowley Road Garage when new but later used on City routes once agreement had been settled to use 72 seaters within the City.309 was the final Bridgemaster to run in Oxford service up until October 1973 and was the only Bridgemaster to carry NBC Oxford South Midland fleet names, which by that time were being applied to the Oxford fleet.

309 was purchased by TPE Macclesfield, and I remember driving it in to their Macclesfield yard
and rushing back to the station to catch the train back to Oxford!

In November 1973 309 was resold to Goldsmith Coaches of Sicklesmere where it was used as a school bus in and around the Bury St. Edmunds area complete with its Cheltenham & Gloucester Building Society's Oxford Branch offside illuminated advertising panel. It lasted with Goldsmith until 1983 when it was replaced by West Midlands PTE 6300, the Foden NC ROC300R, one of only 7 built.

 

309 ended up scrapped at Trevor Wigley's yard at Carlton, Barnsley in September 1983. 

309 HJ11OXF was the last bus to carry this number in the Oxford Fleet. Part of a batch of seventeen ADL Enviro 400H Hybrid buses with Alexander H47/31F bodies purchased in 2011 for Park & Ride services. In 2016 309 was repainted into a burgundy red based livery route branded for City 35 services to Abingdon. In 2018 it went to East Yorkshire Motor Services at Hull for conversion into a full diesel powered bus with ZF Auto gearbox as did the whole batch. With the oncoming replacement of diesel buses operating within the confines of Oxford's Smart Zone 309 and its sisters were transferred to Go South West/Plymouth City Bus where it now carries fleet number 5033 and was re-registered by OBC to OE11YNP prior to departure. 

     

My thanks to Gavin Francis for filling in the gaps with the hybrids. 

Low-ish Floor Running Day 2024 by Nigel Eadon-Clarke 

The North London Collection presents their third running day based around Godstone and East Grinstead with the theme of low-floor buses or anything rear-engined.

On Sunday there was a Running Day of a different kind to the usual. This time it was made up of buses from a relatively recent period, no half cabs or under floor engine single deckers. The service ran between East Grinstead and Godstone with all buses carrying correct blinds. Nigel Eadon-Clarke was there to record the buses and reported a very enjoyable well organised day.

     
     
     
     
     
     

An unusual and interesting event. Ed.