Issue nr 318
Thursday October 3rd, 2024
Past Issues : https://www.oxford-chiltern-bus-page.co.uk/
From the Editor
Due to a prior commitment, I have had to finish this before I went out today.
The electric buses for Oxford (OBC) have been launched and (SCO) are now in process of delivery.
Also some interesting events such as ShowBus
There much to read and some items are held over to the next issue.
In this issue
ShowBus 2024 in pictures
Kevin Fuller reports from Slough
O&CBP Issue 318 by Grahame Wareham
Some interesting memories
Services from times past
Coaches for the OUFC v Burnley match by James Freeman
Kingsbridge Vintage Bus Day
Stagecoach Oxford ev update by Adam Harber
A date for your diary
Readers Write
Buses in the Landscape
Fleet News and Developments
London wraps
George Candelin from Weymouth
Tony Bungay was in
Oxford Bus Company completes electric roll out - Oxford Bus Company and
Thames Travel
The final zero-emission vehicle in Oxford Bus Company’s new electric fleet has gone into service, representing a significant milestone for the city.
It means Oxford Bus Company has rolled out 104 electric vehicles onto the road as part of its groundbreaking commitment to sustainability and its efforts to reduce its carbon footprint in Oxford. The vehicles are used on its city fleets, BROOKESbus service and City Sightseeing Oxford open-top tours.
Oxford Bus Company phased in its electric vehicles across a nine-month period, after the first of the fleet went into service in November last year. Oxford Bus Company also installed an electricity substation at its Cowley depot to support the rapid charging of the electric buses. EV fleet specialist Zenobe installed 104 chargers into the depot. A full charge takes three to four hours and each vehicle can travel for up to 200 miles on a charge.
The Go-Ahead Group, the parent company of Oxford Bus Company has a target to reduce emissions by 75% by 2035 and become a net-zero company by 2045. The 104 electric buses will save more than 4,000 tonnes of carbon emissions per year in Oxford and are currently travelling an average of 70,000 zero-emission miles every week around the county, preventing more than 35,000 litres of diesel from being burned each week.
To mark the electrification milestone Oxford Bus Company held a public engagement event at Bonn Square, Oxford, to showcase the vehicles, share information and answer questions.
Luke Marion, Managing Director of Oxford Bus Company, said: “This groundbreaking investment and rollout of our all-electric city fleet is already delivering lower emissions, quieter and smoother journeys, and better air quality for our city.
“It has been a tremendous achievement to roll out so many buses over such a short space of time, along with all the charging infrastructure to support this, and I’m very proud of everyone who helped deliver this ambitious infrastructure project on schedule.”
Councillor Andrew Gant, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Transport Management, said: “I’m so thrilled to see these beautiful vehicles gliding noiselessly around our city instead of the diesel vehicles they have replaced, making the air we all breathe significantly better. Their presence demonstrates how the county council is backing its ambitions with political and financial capital, alongside our partners, to deliver a safer, cleaner, greener, better county for residents and visitors. Together with policies such as traffic filters to hugely increase bus efficiency, we are delivering on our vision of a better future.”
Last year Oxford Bus Company, owned by the Go-Ahead Group, in partnership with Oxfordshire County Council, Oxford City Council and Stagecoach signed a deal to collectively introduce 159 electric buses into service. The County Council was awarded £32.8M from the government’s Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas (ZEBRA) scheme and contributed £6M directly, while bus operators invested £43.7M.
The charging hub at Cowley House was installed by Zenobē, the UK’s leading fleet electrification specialist, and is powered by EDF Energy’s Oxford Superhub network. In addition to designing and installing the charging infrastructure, Zenobē signed a 15-year Battery-as-a-Service Agreement with Oxford Bus Company to cover the initial, up-front cost of the bus batteries as well as any battery replacements required over the lifetime of the contract, long after construction is completed.
Steven Meersman, Co-Founder Director of Zenobē, said: “Our work with Oxford Bus demonstrates with the right approach to financing and partnership between the public and private sector, bus fleet electrification can be achieved at speed and scale to deliver a more sustainable public transport system and improved air quality.”
In 2020, Oxford Bus Company introduced the first electric bus to Oxford via its City Sightseeing Oxford fleet. It now has three retrofitted electric vehicles in its fleet, which were delivered in partnership with Oxford City Council.
An Oxford City Council air quality report recently revealed that NOx emissions from buses have decreased by half since 2013. Buses now contribute less pollution than cars in Oxford city centre.
Each electric bus delivers significant environmental benefits, primarily through zero tailpipe emissions. It means they do not emit harmful pollutants like nitrogen oxides and particulate matter, which are common in diesel buses. By reducing these emissions, electric buses contribute to cleaner air and a healthier environment.
Bob Chalmers
Electroliner 786 on a 45 service working in Abingdon on Tuesday afternoon
(had been on that route all day)
- quite a rare working for one of these buses.
A nice record of a very special event. Ed.
SHOWBUS 2024 took place at the
Buckinghamshire Railway Centre on Sunday September 29th
https://www.showbus.com/subind1.htm
Tony Bungay reports
Have just enclosed mainly general views of
the event which may be of use to you in giving an overall view of the
event.
It is correct to say that the first
resurrection of Showbus at its new venue seemed to go reasonably well,
despite probably the undoubted concerns after extremely heavy rain a few
days earlier with some areas locally still under water.
In addition, HS2 struck by closing the A41 outside Waddesdon, while this
did not directly affect the route to the site, a lot more through
traffic was also using the same narrower back roads.
At least the rain stayed away even if a moderate wind and being generally overcast made it a bit chilly.
Jack Cooper pictures
Rob Lanham
Apparently a number of coaches got stuck in the mud at Quainton on
Sunday including this Motts coach,
when the recovery truck then got stuck !!
Kevin Fuller reports from Slough
I was in Slough on Tuesday
24th September, and took a few photos to capture the variety of vehicles and
liveries to be seen there.
All photos were taken
around the Wellington Street area in the town centre.
These first three are all
Carousel buses in different liveries.
An informative update from Slough by Kevin. Ed.
O&CBP Issue 318 by Grahame Wareham
H318
LWL313 was a 1946 AEC Regent II with Park Royal H30/26R
semi-utility body. In 1952 it received revised fleet number H852 and
lasted in service at Oxford until April 1958 when is was withdrawn and
sold to Deacon (dealer) Dorchester in May 1958 and was resold on to
Worth's Enstone where it lasted until August 1960. It was then sold to
Salmon, Shaw (dealer) in February 1962.
318 318NJO was a 1962 AEC Bridgemaster 2B3RA with Park Royal H40/25F
forward entrance body. 318 spent most of its early life allocated to
Bicester depot but had migrated back to Cowley Road Oxford for non omo
City services by 1968. Sold to Premier Travel Cambridge in June 1972
being repainted at Oxford as their 228. It stayed with Premier Travel
until June 1977 when it was withdrawn and sold to Smith, Thriplow for
scrap.
108 NUD 108L 1973 Bristol VRTSL2 with ECW CH41/27F dual purpose body
with high back seating. When first delivered this batch on nine double
deck coaches were put to work on London services but lasted a mere 2
years as they were not suited to the long Chiltern hills which with wide
ratio gearboxes made heavy work of the journeys.108 was transferred to
Witney depot for duties into Oxford and became part of the South Midland
fleet in June1984 and being renumbered 608 in June1986. It was further
transferred to Ribble Motor Services as their 2041 in Se[tember1986 upon
withdrawal from Oxford. .It lasted
with Ribble until February 1990 when it was sold back to Martins Bus &
Coach and resold for export to Chicago Motor Coach Company USA as their
544 by October 1991.
There was no recent 318 as the Hybrids stopped at 317. Ed.
Services from times past
Mick Payne responds to the article by Thomas Walker-Werth
The first two scans show the publicity leaflet produced for launch
day Saturday 27 March 1982 which includes a timetable of four
Monday to Saturday journeys between Milton Keynes and Reading and
a fifth that ran between Milton Keynes and High Wycombe only.
Jointly run by United Counties (Bletchley Garage before Winterhill
opened) and by Alder Valley (Wycombe Garage) the X15 served an
anticipated need for a fast link between the major towns of Milton
Keynes, Aylesbury, High Wycombe and Reading and operated as a long
distance limited stop service permitted under legislation contained
within the 1980 Transport Act. The publicity leaflet is a little
misleading as coaches did not convey a joint Alder Valley United
Counties branding, each company supplying their own vehicles.
With the Arriva acquisition of Aylesbury Bus and Wycombe Bus the 325 was
withdrawn but there seemed to be an opportunity to revive the X15 in
full but sadly it was not to be.
Coaches for the OUFC v Burnley match by James Freeman
Away coaches from Burnley.
YG67FZO was an ex Heyfordian coach
an someone advise the original registrations of RRZ 1675 and 1676. Also who is the contractor for Burnley. Ed
Kingsbridge 24 Details | Tvagwot
September 21st at The Bus Station, The Quay
by Nigel Eadon-Clarke
About the Event
Each year, on the third Saturday in September, vintage buses and coaches converge on Kingsbridge and its small but perfectly formed bus station on the Quay giving free rides to surrounding countryside and coastal villages. Small vehicles are well suited to the narrow lanes, with larger vehicles operating trunk routes to Salcombe, Slapton and Totnes (with its mainline rail connections), giving the event a distinctive character. Known with affection locally as 'the bus day’, visitors will be assured of an enthusiastic welcome as the town comes alive to the throb of the bus engines, a reminder of the continuing importance of bus travel in the rural area today. Our 2024 theme is 'then and now – progress and change’ comparing the modern scene with the context for a bus in the same spot 20, 40, 60, 80 or…. years ago.
Gavin Francis forwarded these saying
Nigel spent a few days in the West Country last weekend and has sent me a whole
load of pictures. His main reason for going was the Kingsbridge Vintage Bus Day
which will take me sometime to sort out.
This piece evokes memories for your Editor, the Bristol marque were everywhere 50-70 years ago and interested me as a youngster. How great to see such buses still running. Ed.
Plymouth
Attached is a picture of OBC 305 in Plymouth and a couple in Oxford
and SC 18397
in Paignton, we had this one at Oxford when new.
Also a couple of pictures of former PVL 227 now operating the Rail River Link in
Torbay.
Oxford ev update by Adam Harber
As you
have probably noticed, Stagecoach West have still not introduced the majority of
the EVs at Oxford depot. This is due to further delays with the charging
infrastructure at Network Oxford. We are now expecting the chargers to be
connected to the grid on Friday 4th
October, with the first few buses coming out of storage over the next week or
so, and into service on SmartZone route 10 on Monday 14th
October. After that, we expect about 5 buses per week to come out of storage and
enter service, allowing the demand on the charging infrastructure to be built up
slowly and monitored.
At
time of writing (Sunday 29th
September) the EV fleet are at the following locations…
80001 on display at ShowBus!
80002-5 in limited service at Oxford depot.
80006 in storage at Chesterfield depot.
80007 in storage at Cheltenham depot.
80008-80037 in storage at Chesterfield depot
80038-80041 in storage at Cheltenham depot
80043-80045 in storage at Chesterfield depot
80046 not delivered, at Falkirk
80047-80049 in storage at Cheltenham depot
80050 not delivered, at Leyland en route to Swindon
depot for storage
80051 in storage at Swindon depot
80052 not delivered, at Leyland en route to Swindon
depot for storage
80053 not delivered, at AD24 Service Centre South Anston
80054 in storage at Swindon depot
80055 not delivered, at
Leyland en route to Swindon depot for storage
As noted elsewhere, most of
the stored buses have been reregistered with “74” plates, while all those
delivered in September have arrived with “74” plates already fitted. The only
exception to this are 80001-80006 and 80029, which still have “24”
registrations.
Attached are a few photos taken at Chesterfield depot
last week.
Allan Hollis reports from Grayson's, Birmingham.
80037 at Grayson's on October 1st having
arrived from storage at Chesterfield.
Andrew P. Churchill
Latest news from Stagecoach Oxford is that two EVs have been collected from cheltenham depot today 02/10/24 and a further few will be collected from stagecoach East Midlands Chesterfield depot on Sunday 06/10/24 the plan for these is still to allocate them to route 10 and another thing is that wheel trims are now being fitted to all the EVs which will enhance their appearance no doubt that the EVs will now oust the last two remaining E400H Hybrids 12002/12008 , it seems that things are beginning to come together.
Alexander has a question to be answered
Bob Chalmers with local observations
Thames Travel's 80953 on a 33 service to Henley on Thames on Tuesday
afternoon (1st October) in Abingdon Bridge Street.
I went over to
Bicester on Sunday 29th September and noted the Bicester Village Park & Ride
was using Electroliners - not sure if this is a regular practice now as this
service doesn't seem to 'track' the same as others.
On Saturday/Sunday
28/29th the A34 northbound was closed between Hinksey Hill and Peachcroft
roundabouts - this brought absolute chaos to Oxford including most bus
services with much late running. I caught an X15 into Abingdon Town centre
(about 1 hour late) - destination screen showing Southmoor instead of Witney
- in an effort to 'get back on time' for the return working. I suspect
similar happened on many other routes.
With the closure of Weirs Lane/Donnington Bridge the traffic in Abingdon
Road, Oxford has become so much better - however Iffley Road is 'paying the
price' for that! Many of the 'outbound' X1/2/3/15/32 services are running so
early they often have a 5/6 minute 'layover' time at Redbridge Park & Ride'
as this 'time delay' has been built in to their timetables. Highlights even
more the chaos caused by the Botley Road situation - will it ever end??
Grahame Wareham with a reply to an item in Issue 317
Chris
Huntingford commenting about Oxford Bus Electroliners
"One of the (many) nice features of Oxford electrification is the diesel
StreetDecks are now appearing on more country routes, bringing a touch of
class to the sticks. However, a small issue I find sitting near the engine
on the fast A roads is that noise levels can be a bit high. The other
evening, I used Harwell-painted bus 623 on the X40. It felt like the gearbox
was different, preventing very high revs, and the engine itself was far
quieter. Anyone out there know the difference? I ran into a friend on the
bus, and we could both easily have a conversation at the back."
Grahame writes
The Wright
Streetdeck Ultraliner is powered by a Mercedes OM934 5.1 litre 230hp diesel
engine and drives through a Voith D854.6 DIWA auto gearbox.
Thames Travel's
621-623 are Volvo B5TL's with Wright Gemini 3 very similar to Streetdeck
style and are powered by Volvo's D5K 5.1 litre 240 hp engine through a ZF
Ecolite 6AP1003B 6 speed auto gearbox.
These small
4 cylinder engines do have to work very hard on some of the country routes
and the engines have a much shorter working life as a result!
James Freeman was at M40 Wheatley Services this morning
Metroline-WSE2932-LV74CBO-on-delivery at M40
Wheatley on October 3rd.
Paul Hawkins answers the question from the last issue about the coach on the A34
MoD roof of MOD TF94AB on the A34.
The
Coach is used as the support vehicle for Trident Missile convoys from
Aldermaston to Coulport on the Clyde there would have been usually 2 or 3 trucks
carrying the warheads and
up to 20 other vehicles.
Good question regarding DRT, not really easy vehicles to see unless by
chance or one has actually requested it! Most sightings I have seen of one
are parked up in various laybys, the couple of times I have seen one on the
road, only on one occasion so far have I seen a passenger. The only personal
comment I can add is, that some of the villages that are within its
catchment have not had a bus service at the best for probably 50 years or
more in some cases! In addition, many of these places are extremely affluent
so not good bus operating territory other than perhaps a socially required
school bus.
As I added when I submitted an earlier photo, Roger French on his Bus and
Train user web page has sampled a number of these in various places and
reported on the actual journeys requested and usage.
It seems that in many cases the cost of operation against passengers carried makes sustaining these services should we say difficult to say the least! Again, as I originally stated to my mind these are the modern version of the Dial a Ride experiments of the mid 1970s, which even then had the same bottom line in respect of costs against numbers.
Tony Bungay with the perfect picture
Enclosed is I think a good one for Bus in landscape or is it townscape!
Showing an Arriva X5 Enviro 400 mmc and unidentified Redline vehicle near
Aylesbury Town Centre.
The photo was actually taken from top floor of Buckinghamshire Councils
County offices,
which was holding an open day as part of the open doors
Heritage weekend.
Fleet News and developments
Tony Bungay
As mentioned, a few weeks back, the Arriva X5 to some extent is subject to a
form of competition on its route between Aylesbury and Tring from Red Kite
services 61/61A/X61/62. Note these services generally only run once an hour on
average between them, although ironically the 61 was at one time a former Arriva
service! The X61 for anybody interested was a number originally used by Luton
and District for a speeded up service to Luton from Aylesbury for about a year
from 26/10/86.
To illustrate the close running of services near Aylesbury Rail Station on Aylesbury bound journeys, former Aylesbury Enviro 400 5462 followed by Red Kite Enviro 200 YY67 HBK new to Manchester Community transport.
Andrew Simmonds
Andrew has kindly agreed that I may use recent photos taken in Wycombe which gives a nice indication of the fleet status at present. Current liveries feature and there are not so many buses to require a repaint. Ed.
Gavin Francis
520 seen in Tetsworth with the 275 on October 2nd.
432, 461 and 80955 in Oxford Street on September 30th.
521, 80480 and 80829 in Bridge Street on September 30th.
80474 in the Eden Bus Station on September 30th with the 1C.
Gavin Francis
Pride 721 working the 280 in Thame on October 2nd.
738 working the 280 in Thame on October 2nd.
Jack Cooper
A selection of pictures from Jack taken in August 2024.
James Lambeth
662 in St Aldates on October 3rd.
Luke Marion MD with new coach details
The chassis numbers
for these are the following:
The 80*** are the fleet numbers
Volvo B8R |
Plaxton Leopard |
80133 |
GB24 PUL |
YV3T7U526RA216325 |
Volvo B8R |
Plaxton Leopard |
80134 |
GL24 PUL |
YV3T7U522RA216323 |
Volvo B8R |
Plaxton Leopard |
80135 |
UK24 PUL |
YV3T7U528RA216326 |
Volvo B8R |
Plaxton Leopard |
80136 |
PU24 HAM |
YV3T7U523RA216329 |
133, 134 and 135 are 72 seats with 136 being
59 seats.
Jack Cooper
A selection of pictures from Jack taken in
August 2024.
Jack Cooper
Double deck variety in Oxford on August 16th.
including Courtney, Newbury & District &
Thames Valley
Martin Dowling
Two more E200 single deckers have been bought to
augment the fleet. They are YX17NTU and YY67HBH which will be fleet
numbers 646 and 647. Another eight gas buses are going to be acquired
from Stagecoach North East which will become 444 to 450 with the eighth
being converted to a trainer number 308.
The earlier E200s 648 and 649 are now in service on
the 500 Park and Ride to and from Winnersh Triangle along with 1009 which is
on loan from Dawsons. All three are in plain white with fairly minimal
branding. I have attached photos of 649 and 1009 taken in Minster
Street.
With students back at university, a new route 20 has been introduced from the town to the main Whiteknights campus. This replaces route 21A which was a short working of route 21. Buses 211 to 213 are branded White Knights for route 20 and after serving town centre stops they run non-stop to Christchurch Green, just outside the campus, and then the university itself. Route 21 continues to run as normal as a 24 hour service beyond the university to Lower Earley. Here are two photos of 212 taken at the station.
Andrew Simmonds
Redline variety including the last remaining
Volvo to await X20 branding - September 27th.
Gavin Francis
Arriva VLW 118 now with Redline seen in Thame with the 110 on October 2nd.
YY64GWP seen in Thame with the X20 on October 2nd.
BF67HJV seen in Thame with the X20 on October 2nd.
BV73MME, the latest to be branded seen in Thame with the X20 on October 2nd.
Redline BF62UYN with the 300 in Bridge Street on September 30th.
This bus was with Golden Tours seen on April 4th 2014 and at the
yard on the 29th.
YX12AZN with the 130 in Oxford Street on September 30th.
Sanjay Baker
Latest double deck is ex Golden Tours BF62UYN
seen in Oxford with an X20.
The before and after of buses from other operators with one repainted.
BV73MTF on its first outing after branding - September 29th.
Andrew Simmonds
Red Rose E8RRT with a 40 in Eden Bus Station on September 27th. This was
OU07FKH.
Gavin Francis
E12RRT seen in Thame with the 121 on October 2nd.
Jack Cooper
A selection of Jack's pictures from August 29th in Gloucester.
hybrids 12002 and 12008 are still active with 08 in use this week
Jack Cooper
A selection of Jack's pictures from August
16th in Oxford.
Jack Cooper
50439 in St Aldates on August 16th in Oxford.
Gavin Francis at Lewknor with some past pictures on October 2nd.
Pictures of Stagecoach 19798 and 19799 now with Vale.
Vale BYZ 6521 was originally with City Bus Belfast.
London operations
Andrew Webb
A variation of the White Fox advert is
carried on Stagecoach's 11383, seen here leaving Stratford bus station
on 28
September bound for Ilford on route 425.
A brand new campaign is Swedish skiing
company Peak Performance, promoting a new store in Covent Garden.
The
north end of Tottenham Court Road is the setting for Metroline's LT811 to show
off the striking blue design on 28 September.
The same location is where Arriva's
LT476 shows off a subtle change in appearance being rolled out across the LT
class.
Traditional wing mirrors are replaced by rear facing cameras
feeding two displays in the driver's cab.
George Candelin from Weymouth
I spent an interesting hour in Weymouth
photographing some of the First fleet and a quick trip into Bridport to
check the garage there.
Note there is one where I was photobombed by an enthusiast who was taking photos and numbers!
Weymouth
A great selection of what Weymouth has to offer. Ed.
Tony Bungay was in
If you have room on the Newspage a couple of general items. Had a weeks
holiday in Barmouth the week before last, which in contrast to last week was
generally dry warm and sunny.
In the past Crosville and later Arriva had a large presence here, but again
though happening about 10 years ago Arriva lost ground and pulled out, a
process they have since done elsewhere, the latest of course in Aylesbury
and High Wycombe.
A couple of photos of
Volvo/MCV vehicles working the Traws Cymru T3 service to Wrexham via
Dolgellau - Bala and Llangollen wearing Traws
Cymru Livery seen leaving Barmouth Town Centre. To contradict the statement
made above Sunday 22nd of
September was wet, but not as wet as further East. The T3 if I recall
correctly in Arriva days was numbered X94.