Issue nr 316
Thursday September 5th, 2024
Past Issues : https://www.oxford-chiltern-bus-page.co.uk/
From the Editor
After a rather longer than usual run of weekly issues, I will be taking a well earned break for two weeks with issue 317 now to be published on Thursday, September 26th.
I will be away from my desk but welcome any updates you may wish to send.
The electric buses for Stagecoach appear impending and we await news of their arrival.
In this issue
Buses Festival 2024 in pictures
Reading Festival 2024 bus services
Grahame Wareham's memories of OBC 316
Oxford Bus services cancelled due to noise vibrations
Aylesbury area - buses on demand
Oxford Bus X15 service launches
Thornhill Park & Ride update
SHOWBUS reminder
Readers Write
Fleet News
Red Rose fleet renumbering
Buses in Lichfield
Adrian Small from Cambridgeshire and Suffolk
Gordon Scott at ADL
Tony Bungay reports
Buses magazine 'Buses Festival' today, which
was blessed with good weather and a good attendance.
There were to my mind some stand out
vehicles, such as an Enviro 400mmc for Delaine looking superb in that
livery, and a good what might have been Volvo/Northern Counties in a
form of early London Country livery.
Photos are self-explanatory, and as you may well get several
contributions, you have a selection to choose from.
Last year's festival featured an air display by a Spitfire and
Hurricane. While this did not feature this year, visitors were still
treated to a take-off and landing by a resident Spitfire. A Mark XIV, I
think!
2024 -
Sywell Aerodrome, Northamptonshire
Buses Festival
| Buses Magazine (keybuse)
which was severely damaged along with the loss of other vehicles as a
result of an awful fire late last year.
A
PU74HAM to buses festival on its very first outing and won the award for
best modern coach
I can appreciate how Charles felt having had my own success many years ago with an Oxford tube. Ed.
by Martin Dowling
The Reading Festival
took place as usual on the last weekend of August. Reading Buses
ran special services to take festival goers to and fro and also a
service for staff.
The main route is 98 from the north side of the station to the festival site using about seven double deckers as a shuttle service. This is very well organised with staff supervising the queuing and loading of buses. Photos show one of the signs in the subway under the station to send passengers to the stop and 211, 1211 and 755 waiting at the station.
Single deck gas buses
run the staff shuttle, route 99; 419 and 420 are seen in photos also at
the station.
A third service, 97, runs from the festival into Friar Street in the town centre. 806, which is nearly 20 years old and likely to be withdrawn soon, and 1202 are in Friar Street.
The final photo shows a shuttle bus for Thames Valley Park operated by Stewarts. This is an electric BYD Enviro 400, LG73FME. This alongside a second similar bus means that the TVP operation is now fully electric. The full size buses
are used mainly morning and evening with electric minibuses used outside peak times.
Grahame Wareham with recollections of COMS 316
H316 LWL311 was an AEC Regent II with
Park Royal H30/26R semi-utility body new in 1946. It was part of a batch
of twenty-five buses delivered immediately after WW2. In 1952 H316 was
renumbered H850 as part of the effort to keep high-bridge and low-bridge
buses in a separate series . Withdrawn in March 1958 and sold to Deacon
(dealer), Dorchester it was resold to Bedlington & District, Ashington
in April 1958. It lasted here until 1961 when it was sold to Laverty of
Burscough as a non-psv.
(I have no images of LWL311 unfortunately)
316 316NJO was numerically the first of the second series of AEC Bridgemaster's delivered in 1962 with Park Royal H40/25F body, different from the first 1961 batch owing to their shorter wheelbase, and these were the only forward entrance examples built in this way, presumably to
avoid any union problems which led to the first batch being unpopular. Allocated along with 317 to Witney garage when new they were drafted into the City and operated from Cowley Road when OMO was introduced at the country depots from 1969. None of this batch of AEC Bridgemasters received the revised two colour livery as their withdrawal preceded the previous batch. 316 was withdrawn in April 1972 and sold to TPE (dealer) Macclesfield and repainted by the company for its new operator which was to be Premier Travel, Cambridge as their 230, entering service in June 1972 Premier purchased ten ex. COMS Bridgemaster's including a non-runner for spares and 230 lasted in their fleet until November 1974 when it was sold to local scrap dealer Smith of Thriplow.106 NUD106L was a Bristol VRTSL2 with ECW
ultra low CH41/27F body to dual purpose specification with semi-coach
seats. Part of a batch of nine they were used primarily on London
services and Outer Circle routes for their first couple of years and
then 106 was transferred to Witney depot for use on Oxford-Witney,
Carterton, Burford routes. In September 1982 106 was renumbered 316 and
repainted into bus livery. In July 1984 316 was transferred to the South
Midland division which by then consisted of former COMS Country depots
and by Jun 1986 it had been renumbered 606 and by September 1986 had
been converted to O41/27F and renumbered again to 905. In August 1987 it
was withdrawn and sold to Ensign Bus who resold it to Ryan of Bath in
1989. . In August 2012 NUD106L left Ryan's and was exported
to Garden of Eden Garage, Ghaxaq, Malta for Oasis Tours in Malta but was
not allowed to operate and ended up being scrapped on site.
316 HS11OXF is an ADL E400H Hybrid with
Alexander H47/21F body which was new in 2011 as part of the Company's
contribution to Transform Oxford Bus Initiative . Part of a batch of
seventeen metallic green duotone hybrid buses for Park & Ride services
316 was a diesel electric hybrid bus developed between Alexander Dennis
and BAE Systems. In 2016 316 was repainted into City red livery for use
on normal City routes and later in 2018 was converted into diesel
mechanical mode as the rising cost of replacing the battery packs was
not cost effective.
316 was reregistered OE11YNC before
departure to Plymouth where it received fleet number 5037 on 17/4/24.
I do appreciate Andy Dyer's comments regarding the histories but I am not as old as he obviously thinks I am. I did not photograph any of the Regent II's with COMS! I was only eight when they went!
Littlemore-bus-services-cancelled-due-noise-vibrations-cancelled-due-noise-vibrations
I seem to remember that at a bususers meeting Herschel Crescent often came up. Ed.
by Tony Bungay
The delayed Aylesbury DRT service has now started, originally to be
operated by Arriva who later withdrew from the scheme, before it
started.
A report of the operation has appeared in Bus
and Rail user. It would be interesting to hear what readers think of
these DRT Initiatives. To my mind they seem to be very much a 21st Century
version of the Dial a Ride projects of the 1970's, that were attempted
in Harlow and Milton Keynes amongst others.
Seen at Aylesbury Rail Station is a specially liveried Mercedes vehicle.
Whether it was waiting for a booked journey or had just completed one is
unknown.
and in Hemel from Gavin Francis
https://www.intalink.org.uk/hertslynx
Herts Lynx YE73RBU in Hemel on August 29th.
X15
by Richard Sharman
X15 - Oxford Rail Station to Wantage (X1) or Witney (X15) | Oxford Bus Company and Thames Travel
Going full circle is a term that we are
seemingly using a lot for COMS at the moment, it is very quickly
returning to the kind of network that it had in the 1990s. It is almost
like someone at Cowley House has found a box of old timetables and is on
a mission to bring the old network of 'country' routes back. At this
point all we are really missing is an X50 to Stratford-upon-Avon!.
It has been a long long time since COMS itself
operated any buses into Witney, but the revised X15 service has once
again made this possible by extending the former Pulhams X15 service
beyond Abingdon to Oxford.
StreetDeck 670 is seen operating a late evening short working to
Southmoor on the first day of operation,
the 2nd of September. During the daytime the X15 provides an hourly
frequency between Oxford, Abingdon and Witney.
Comments by Bob Chalmers
This new service was introduced on Monday and apart from a few tracking
issues on the first day - seems to be operating well. Basically the
previous X1 from Oxford to Wantage via Abingdon and Marcham has been
'amended'. A new service (X15) has been introduced with the X15 going to
Witney via Southmoor, Standlake replacing the Pulhams 15 service. The
X1's and X15's alternate every 30mins (approx) during the day giving
much better options of getting to Millets Farm and Witney (hourly). The
two services interlink at Oxford Station (during the main part of the
day) - an incoming X1 becomes an X15 to Witney and an incoming X15
becomes an X1 to Wantage. The routes now use 7 buses instead of 6,
as previously and there is a big 'layover' time in Wantage for the X1. I
believe this is to try and combat the regular late running of previous
services leaving Oxford via the traffic 'chaos' outbound in Abingdon
Road, Oxford. With the uncertainty of the Botley Road situation, I would
say fair play to OBC for trying to address the problem which is no
making of theirs. Hopefully 'return' workings to Oxford will stand more
chance of being able to keep to the timetable now. Will be interesting
to see how things go when the schools fully re-open.
More from Bob under Readers Write. Ed.
Thornhill Park & Ride
9th Aug 2024 onwards
Due to resurfacing works, the Thornhill Park and Ride Main Building along with the stops around it will be temporarily suspended from 12:00 09/08, for the next 4-6 weeks. Passengers, are advised to use the temporary stops which have been provided within the car park on the right side of the Main Building as you enter the Park and Ride.
Thornhill Park and Ride Refurbishment by Gavin Francis
Back in
2007 it was decided to build a brand new Park and Ride Facility at
Thornhill. Before then it was not much more than a brick shelter which
served The Oxford Tube and Oxford Bus Company coaches and open bus stops for
The Park and Ride bus into the City and Stagecoach hospital service 600.
In 2007 construction started on a new Park and Ride facility at Thornhill and this was to include covered waiting areas both inside and out, toilets and eventually a coffee shop. The old brick shelter can still be seen in some of the pictures.
After 17 years
Thornhill is having a new road surface installed and is closed for 2 months
until 1st October. To allow buses and coaches to still access the
site a temporary bus station has been built immediately on the right on
entering the site. It is a large area occupying a greater space than the
normal site. All the facilities inside the terminal are still available but
it is a bit of a walk to where the buses park.Insert
pictures 1-19
Plenty of room for buses and coaches to move around with limited shelter
provided for waiting passengers.
Current operations by Richard Sharman
Thornhill Park & Ride is currently undergoing
extensive resurfacing works around the passenger terminal until 01/10. A
temporary bus station is in operation.
SHOWBUS 2024 is taking place at the
Bucks Railway Centre on Sunday September 29th
https://www.showbus.com/subind1.htm
SHOWBUS REMINDER
Just a reminder that SHOWBUS now only seven weeks away. Entries are
not only strong, but include some impressive buses and coaches. They
are already in excess of 100, which bodes well for numbers on the day and we
hope you might be amongst them. Apologies if this email is duplicated but I
occasionally go boggle eyed cross checking the addresses!
Obviously arrangements are a little different to previous events with the
heavy organisational involvement of the Bucks Railway Centre. None
other than Mike Sutcliffe, the Leyland Bus Man, and well known author is
writing the programme this year and lead times are expected to be longer
than usual, so please try and get your entry in before the end of the month
to be sure to be included. Of course we appreciate that not everyone
can be sure that far in advance, you will be welcome to enter after that
date and whilst your vehicle will be included on our web listing, it may not
make it into print!
We will be operating various trips for visitors as usual. There will
be an hourly bus service to and from Aylesbury by Red Rose connecting to
buses and London trains, similarly an hourly service to Bicester serving the
Shopping Village and connecting with the Oxford BV1 electric shuttle to
Bicester North. Arriva will be operating an excursion from Milton
Keynes and another is available from Luton.
We also plan a shuttle, using double-deckers to Waddesdon Village for the Manor and to Claydon House via Hogshaw Farm and Wildlife Park with single deckers. Assuming your insurance is valid if you would like to volunteer for one or more trips please email me at rally@showbus.com
Bob Chalmers about Oxford Bus Company operations
Just saw bus 757 on a 45 service in Abingdon heading towards Oxford (been on
it all day) - strange that the only 2 other main services in this area X1/15
& X3, are still only operated by diesel buses. Wondered what the reasoning
for this is - as even the new 280 to Thame is now Electroliners - so can't
be to do with distance.
Seem to be some issues with the OBC tracking service since the weekend - several buses not showing (X1's/X15's) and even showing an X3 in Standlake going to Barton and and X15 in Stert Street, Abingdon going to Oxford (not possible as it's a 'one-way' street going 'the other way') - technical problems I guess - but could be confusing for some.
Charles Powell
YX18LKA with school's back seen in Wroxton, Glos. on September 4th.
Fleet News and developments
Gavin Francis in Hemel Hempstead
Hemel is still a home to Arriva as seen on August 29th.
Tony Bungay
Andy Millwood with a bus at Lichfield
Arriva M 3760 working the X65 in Lichfield on August 8th.
Gavin Francis from Hemel on August 29th
The company operates the 46 as seen by the two pictures above.
Operations update from Luke Marion.
(a reply to Bob Chalmers under Readers
Write)
On the tracking points, there was an outage on
the Ticketer system which affected many operators on Monday and sadly we
were impacted by this, meaning many of our buses did not track on that
morning.
Following the news on the extended closure of
Botley Road, this has prevented us putting in a number of network
improvements that we were hoping to bring in to coincide with the proposed
introduction of the "traffic filters" scheme by OCC.
Given the sizeable delay to the re-opening of
Botley Road we needed to re-review our vehicle allocations to ensure we are
making good use of our electric vehicle fleet in the meantime, as we had an
excess of EVs compared to what is required to run the smartzone-area routes
only. As a result we have now allocated EVs to the 35, 45 and 280
services meaning we now have the X1, X3, X15, 11, 46, 108 and ST1/ST2 as
diesel bus routes operating out of Cowley House, plus of course the coach
routes.
The E200MMCs ex Thames Travel (451-454) are now regulars for the 850.
Gavin Francis
859 is a real credit to the operator, looking pristine in Hemel on August 29th.Jack Cooper
80475 with the 275 on August 16th in Oxford.Keaton White
Latest additions to the Carousel fleet are ex-Thames Travel 451-454;
two of
which are seen here in the Carousel Buses yard tonight ready for service
tomorrow (01/09/24)
Kevin Fuller
80826 gleams in the sunshine as it reaches journeys end of route 37 at
Maidenhead Frascati Way, on 17th August.
Similar vehicle, but displaying the livery of its former owner, 80828 is seen
in Maidenhead High Street,
at the start of its return journey to High Wycombe,
also on 17th August.
Ex-First bus Enviro 200 MMC 80477 pauses in Oxford Road, Marlow on its trip
from Reading to High Wycombe on 24th August on route 850.
Sanjay Baker
#after a few weeks using an ex First Glasgow E200MMC on September 5th 521 was used seen in St Aldates.
Jack Cooper
Oxford Bus variety during August with some changes.Richard Sharman
Meanwhile, the Electroliners continue to stretch their electric legs on the
35 and 280.
Charles Powell
599 is currently at Pulhams as shown ready for the 855 on August 30th.Nigel Peach
A trip to The Cotswolds on Saturday 31st. Picture attached of Pulhams 805 in Stow on the Wold.Sanjay Baker
UK22PUL seen in central Oxford on August 29th.
Charles Powell
622 with a Football special OX5 on August 31st.Jack Cooper
681 and 692 in St Aldates on August 16th.Richard Sharman
StreetDecks 651 to 654 have undergone one of the quickest branding changes ever! Following the grand launch of the 280 and its own dedicated livery, it seems these StreetDecks did not find favour on this country run and have been rapidly debranded and moved to Thames Travel.
Sanjay Baker
Now with TT, 80952 (290824) and 80954 (310824)
Gavin Francis in Hemel
red eagle variety in Hemel on August 29th.
Gavin Francis in Thame on September 3rd.
The latest X20 livery is now appearing as seen above on September 3rd. More variety working the X20.Sanjay Baker
Redline Buses BF67 GJY, the second B5TL Gemini 3 they
have, works the X20 this morning
Tony Bungay
You possibly already know Malcolm, or indeed had photos contributed. Today
in space of 5 minutes I observed 2 Volvo/Wright StreetDecks, ex University
of Wolverhampton working the X20. Still in their formers owners livery.
Indeed I have as included in this issue. Ed.
There appears to be a renumbering of the fleet using the registration number doe reference. It is not clear what is developing. This refer to the www.bustimes.org list.
Gavin Francis
Red Rose BU05HFZ r H10 Hemel Hempstead on
August 29th.
Tony Bungay
By Aylesbury Railway Station also on 30/8/24 is Red Rose Mercedes E11 RRT on Service 16 to Marsh Gibbon
and probably oldest vehicle working in Aylesbury,
Dennis Dart/East Lancs Y358 LCK.
Unfortunately, the destination which was fairly
faint anyway was not captured, the service being worked was the 50 from Halton
Camp.
Update on ADL EVs for Oxford
SK74AYZ | AD E40EV SFD211AR1PGD10007 | AD N453/7 | H46/23F | 9/2024 | Thames Transit | 80007 | Intended as SK73CZM and SK24XRK |
SK74AZA | AD E40EV SFD211AR1PGD10015 | AD N453/8 | H46/23F | 9/2024 | Thames Transit | 80008 | Intended as SK73CZN and SK24XRJ |
SK74AZB | AD E40EV SFD211AR1PGD10013 | AD N453/9 | H46/23F | 9/2024 | Thames Transit | 80009 | Intended as SK73CZO and SK24XRL |
SK74AZC | AD E40EV SFD211AR1PGD10018 | AD N453/10 | H46/23F | 9/2024 | Thames Transit | 80010 | Intended as SK73CZP and SK24XRM |
SK74AZD | AD E40EV SFD211AR1PGD10014 | AD P414/1 | H46/23F | 9/2024 | Thames Transit | 80011 | Intended as SK24CXS |
SK74AZF | AD E40EV SFD211AR1PGD10017 | AD P414/3 | H46/23F | 9/2024 | Thames Transit | 80013 | Intended as SK24CXU |
SK74AZG | AD E40EV SFD211AR1PGD10011 | AD P414/4 | H46/23F | /2024 | Thames Transit | 80014 | Intended as SK24CXV |
SK74AZJ | AD E40EV SFD211AR1PGD10016 | AD P414/2 | H46/23F | /2024 | Thames Transit | 80012 | Intended as SK24CXT |
SK74AZL | AD E40EV SFD211AR1PGD10012 | AD P414/5 | H46/23F | /2024 | Thames Transit | 80015 | Intended as SK24CXW |
SK74AZO | AD E40EV SFD211AR1PGD10021 | AD P414/7 | H46/23F | /2024 | Thames Transit | 80017 | Intended as SK24CXY |
SK74AZP | AD E40EV SFD211AR1PGD10020 | AD P414/8 | H46/23F | /2024 | Thames Transit | 80018 | Intended as SK24CXZ |
SK74AZR | AD E40EV SFD211AR1PGD10022 | AD P414/9 | H46/23F | /2024 | Thames Transit | 80019 | Intended as SK24CYA |
SK74AZT | AD E40EV SFD211AR1PGD10027 | AD P414/10 | H46/23F | /2024 | Thames Transit | 80020 | Intended as SK24CYC |
James Lambeth
An Oxford based Enviro400EV made it on to route 14 for the first time
yesterday, 80005 SK24 XRF as seen in Old Marston.
Nice vehicle and a world away from the E200s we're used to having in "the
village"
Jack Cooper
SC selection in Oxford last August.
Gavin Francis
50452 seen in BPR on August 31st.Richard Sharman
A destination not often seen, unless you are about early morning or late
evening, is the limited stop Oxford Express journeys.
50422 swings into Gloucester Green with a late evening arrival.
Richard Sharman
Monday the 2nd of
September saw the revised megabus network launched, without the use of any
Stagecoach vehicle in England and Wales- with the exception of the M11 and
M20 Scotland to London service's.
Part of the changes saw
the M17 Glasgow to Southampton service being incorporated into the new M84
service from Glasgow to Portsmouth, the exceptionally long way around!.
Departing Glasgow at
0610hrs, the M84 then goes across to Edinburgh, then along the East Coast to
Newcastle, then goes cross-country to Manchester via Leeds and finally makes
progress South via Birmingham, Coventry and Oxford before arriving in
Portsmouth via Southampton at 2145hrs.
Parks of Hamilton are operating the service with
megabus and CityLink-liveried Panorama's.
The inaugural southbound
journey arrived in Oxford 1h 41mins late at 2041hrs due to traffic issues on
the route, Tuesday's southbound journey faired a little better at just
38mins late.
For decades Oxford city centre enjoyed a daily Scotland service under Scottish CityLink, Caledonian Express and National Express, but the 539 between Edinburgh and Bournemouth ended a good few years ago.
The new M84 service looks set to do well, with the first days
journey carrying a good amount of passengers.
Parks of Hamilton's LSK 807 is seen passing Pear
Tree Services,
some 13 plus hours after leaving Glasgow on the second day of
operation of the M84 service.
Gavin Francis in Thame
Z&S MK63WZV working the 113 in Thame on
September 3rd./span>
London operations
AirSym have an interesting fleet of coaches.
Metroline have a nice selection.
TOOTbus LS66OLT BPR 310824 G Francis
Andy Millwood
Buses at Lichfield
Why a Bristol MW came to be in Lichfield, Select are popping up in several
places and finally an Arriva Bus. Feel sad they are no longer at High
Wycombe but glad to know Carousel have taken over.
Select YJ65EWA in Lichfield on August 8th.
Adrian Small
Cambridgeshire & Suffolk last week, and attached are some views that may be
of interest. There is definitely an independent bias to the operators out
there, with only Stagecoach Cambus in Cambridge of the 'big three' in
evidence.
Photos:
1 - MX73 GBV - Whippet, Swavesey Mellor Sigma 12 on route X3 in Cambridge.
2&3 - YJ23 EKN - Mulleys, Ixworth Optare Metrodecker on route 355 again in
Mildenhall.
Mulleys have two, the other being YJ23 EKO. These
were both registered in March 2023.
4 - LW51 ZHJ - Mulleys, Ixworth Volvo B7TL/Alexander also on route 355 in
Mildenhall.
This bus was originally Dublin Bus AV215 (01-D-10215) registered
in September 2001.
So we have a relative new (1 and a half years) bus (Metrodecker) and a 23
year old one (Volvo) on the same route.
5 - YR10 AZT - Mulleys, Ixworth Scania N230UB on route M22 in Bury St
Edmunds. New to Menzies, Heathrow
6 - CN56 FDU - Mulleys, Ixworth Optare Solo on route M88 in Bury St Edmunds.
New to Bebb, Llantwit Fardre
7 - CX14 EMS - Stephensons, Rochford 610, Scania N280UD/Alexander Dennis on
route 11 in Newmarket.
New to Jones (Express Motor Services), Penygroes
8 - EU24 LWT - Stephensons, Rochford 801, Brand new Alexander Dennis E40D/AD
on route 16 in Mildenhall.
9 - BV55 UCW - Stephensons. Rochford 649,
Scania N94UD/East Lancs Omnidekka
on route 16 in Bury St Edmunds. New to Blue Triangle, Rainham
10 - BJ60 BYX - Coach Services, Thetford, Volvo B7RLR/Wt on route 201
in Mildenhall.
11 - CS63 BUS - Coach Services, Thetford, Volvo B9TL/Wt on route 86 in Bury
St Edmunds.
12 - CS72 BUS - Coach Services,Thetford, Alexander Dennis E40D/AD also on
route 86 in Bury St Edmunds.
13 - AN61 LAN - Chamber 455, Scania K230UB Omnilink not on service in Bury
St Edmunds. New to Anglian, Ellough
14 - YN55 PZF - Chambers 804, Scania N94UD/East Lancs Omnidekka on route 753
in Bury St Edmunds,
New to Metrobus
15 - KX59 GOC - Star Travel, Haverhill, Alexander Dennis E200/AD on
Newmarket town circular route in Newmarket.
New to Guiddeissue, Knypersley
16 - YX72 OMY - Simmonds, Diss, Alexander Dennis D20D/AD on route 338 in
Bury St Edmunds
17 - B21 DCT - Dans Travel, Stowmarket, Volvo
B10BLE/Wt on route DB1 in Bury St Edmunds.
This bus was originally T125 OAH,
was new to Ambassador Travel, Great Yarmouth and also operated for
Lancashire United.
So the only other operator from a large group is Chambers (owned by
Go-Ahead), but looking like an independent anyway.
A very interesting area.
Gordon Scott
Excellent news letter as always put to together by yourself great
work.
I had a trip to ADL at Falkirk today not much movement
only one of the new ADL
Enviro EV's for Transdev
Harrogate & District SK74 AYO.
I counted eight Stagecoach
Oxford ADL Enviro EV,s behind the fence and one I could not identify parked
further back. I have listed seven registration numbers of the ones I could see
behind the fence listed below.
SK24 CZM - SK74 BCX - SK74 BDU - SK74 BDV - SK74 BDX