Issue nr 321
Thursday October 24th, 2024
published October 26th 2024
Past Issues : https://www.oxford-chiltern-bus-page.co.uk/
From the Editor
Firstly, my apologies for the late publication of this issue which has been due to personal problems at home.
There is much you to enjoy, including reports on recent events and local developments.
As ever, my thanks to contributors without whom this publication would not be possible.
In this issue
Pictures from Brooklands - Sunday, October 20th by Nigel Eadon-Clarke
SC Oxford ev fleet goes live at last
Pulhams has 15 electric buses on order from Wrightbus
COMS 321 by Grahame Wareham
Time on the island with Jack Cooper
A view from Watford by Kevin Fuller
Stagecoach NE 30th anniversary retro liveries by Paul Hawkins
Buses in the Landscape
Coach visitors to Oxford
Fleet News & Developments
London operations
Gordon Scott and Nick Ross from north of the border
Pictures from Brooklands Sunday, October 20th by Nigel Eadon-Clarke
A g00d turnout, especially of London's buses. Ed.
ev fleet goes live at last
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New ev's ready for service on October 20th by Adam Harber.
Adam Harber
Good news! Network
Oxford is finally live and able to charge EV buses. The cables were
connected at the end of last week, with the power switched on at around
lunch time today (Wednesday 23rd
October). Obviously, it will take a while to move over to the new
system, but expect the bulk of EVs to start entering service from
Monday. Of the 55 buses, all but 8 are now either in service at Oxford
or in storage at Oxford or Witney depots.
Andrew Churchill on Tuesday October 22nd
News
to report that is the switch on at Excel is expected to be this coming Thursday 24/10/24 hopefully this time (keep fingers crossed ) and the sole
remaining Hybrid 12008 still remains active and has been in use on route 10 and
the next departure from the fleet is being prepared and is MMC10676 (SN16OYY)
and is expected to head north again to Scotland it Seems that the cascade plan
has changed from the original and the EVs in use today 21/10/24 is :
80004/80005/800016 on route 10
80002/80009 on 2/2A
80001/80003/80006 on route 1.
Three new ev's 8000,8, 80009 and 80010 during
their first days in service.
The 18th of October saw 80008 and 80009 on their first day in passenger carrying service.and 80010 first day in service on the Banbury Road.
Picture from Brooklands Sunday, October 20th by Nigel Eadon-Clarke
Adam Harber took 80007 to Brooklands as seen
above.
In other news, a colleague and I took 80007 to
Transportfest at Brooklands Museum on Sunday. Compared to last year when
we took a Tube coach, it was very quiet so most of the merchandising I
took along to give away is now back in the cupboard in Gloucester. I’ve
attached a few photos from the day. I’ve also attached a few photos of
the new Solos that entered service at Stroud depot on Monday.
Pulhams Coaches has announced that it will receive 15 electric buses as part of parent company Go-Ahead’s order supported by the second-round of the Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas scheme (ZEBRA 2).
The new vehicles, which will include nine single-deckers and six double-deckers from Wrightbus, will be introduced on routes in Gloucestershire and the Cotswolds over the next 12 months.
Envevo will be employed to install charging infrastructure at Pulhams’ depot in Bourton-on-the-Water.
Alex Chutter, Area Director for Pulhams, says: “This is a significant investment in clean technology that will help improve the environment of the communities we serve, in terms of improving air-quality, reducing noise pollution and enhancing our customers’ overall experience. We’re looking forward to introducing the vehicles in due course.”
The buses are part of Go-Ahead’s £500 million investment in up to 1,200 new zero-emission vehicles, announced earlier this month. All apart from 43 hydrogen fuel cell-electrics will be battery electric.
All apart from 43 hydrogen fuel cell-electrics will be battery electric.
by Grahame Wareham
H321 LWL316 1946 AEC Regent II with Park Royal
H30/26R semi-utility body. It was renumbered to H85o in the 1952 renumbering
scheme and lasted until May 1958 when it was withdrawn and sold to Deacon,
(dealer) Dorchester and resold to Bedlington & District, Ashington where it
lasted until April 1959 when it was withdrawn and sold to Fleet Car Sales of
Dunchurch during August 1960. Apologies I
have no images of this bus.
321 321NJO 1962 AEC Bridgemaster 2B3RA with Park
Royal H40/25F body. It was allocated to Witney depot from new finding its way
back to Cowley Road depot from 1968 for non-omo City duties. In August 1972 321
was withdrawn and sold to TPE(dealer) Macclesfield passing to local Oxfordshire
operator Cannings of Kings Sutton near Banbury. In August 1973 Cannings sold 321
back to TPE who then resold it to Tally Ho of Kingsbridge the same month. It
later passed to EF Language School in Torquay during September 1977 where it was
looked after by Devon General in Torquay depot. In April 1979 I purchased 321
for possible preservation as part of Oxford Bus Preservation Syndicate. It had
some structural body issues and a sick engine which in the end sealed its fate
but it did provide many spare parts for 312 and 324 which had also been
saved.321 was sold to Rollinson (scrap), Carlton, Barnsley in August 1986 after
being used at an Oxford Bus Museum open day by the Oxford Bus Company recovery
team to demonstrate recovery of an overturned bus.
The engine and gearbox still exist with Cherwell Bus
Preservation Group!
Stagecoach West Scotland is first to unveil the Enviro100EV
Gordon Scott writes
New for Stagecoach West Scotland ADL 100 EV Electrics at
Bridgeton Bus Museum taken by my friend
Mark
Shillinglaw who is letting you use them if you want hope they
are of use to you.
46006 by Martin Shillinglaw on October 13th
at Bridgeton Bus Museum.
| YX74OHT | AD E10EV SFD111AR1PCK10005 | AD P101/1 | B??F | 9/2024 | Western Buses | 46002 | Intended as YX24OXW |
| YX74OHU | AD E10EV SFD111AR1PCK10006 | AD P101/2 | B??F | 9/2024 | Western Buses | 46003 | Intended as YX24OXZ |
| YX74OHV | AD E10EV SFD111AR1PCK10007 | AD P101/3 | B??F | 9/2024 | Western Buses | 46004 | Intended as YX24OYA |
| YX74OHY | AD E10EV SFD111AR1PCK10008 | AD P101/4 | B??F | 9/2024 | Western Buses | 46005 | Intended as YX24OYB |
| YX74OHZ | AD E10EV SFD111AR1PCK10009 | AD P101/5 | B??F | 9/2024 | Western Buses | 46006 | Intended as YX24OYC |
Stagecoach West Scotland has installed 21 new electric charger at its Kilmarnock and Ayr depots.
With 354kW/h of battery capacity providing up to 285 miles range, the “big small bus” has a certified efficiency of 0.54kWh/km which is claimed to be world-leading.Alexander Dennis says the new vehicle’s size means it is equally well-suited to narrow town streets as winding country lanes.
Stagecoach West Scotland Managing Director Fiona Doherty says: “Today’s launch demonstrates that we are delivering on our commitment to decarbonise our fleet across Ayrshire. These 12 new EV midibuses are an important addition to our service and they will serve communities in Ayr, Irvine and Kilmarnock in particular with zero-emission transport.
“This £5million investment comes on top of the £15.7million invested in the transition to electric in 2023, making bus travel in Ayrshire one of the greenest forms of transport available.”
The introduction of the Enviro100EV means Stagecoach has 60 electric buses in operation in Ayrshire.
Alexander Dennis President and Managing Director, Paul Davies, adds: “This is a really proud moment for the team at Alexander Dennis as the very first Enviro100EV is officially launched in partnership with Stagecoach here in West Scotland, supporting routes across East, South and North Ayrshire.
“The Enviro100EV is our brand-new battery-electric small bus that has been engineered to feel just like a big bus.
“We’ve packed a significant amount of power into our ‘big small bus’ making it the best-in-class by some distance, with its 354kWh of battery capacity and up to 285 miles of range, alongside its future-proof battery system and the next generation of aftermarket support from AD24.
“We know this fleet of small buses will enjoy a long, productive working life supporting Stagecoach West Scotland with their targets for a zero-emission bus fleet by 2035.”
Time on the island with Jack Cooper
Gavin and myself have enjoyed trips to the island and these pictures evoke some good memories. Ed.
A view from Watford by Kevin Fuller
I was in Watford on Thursday 17th October, and managed a few pictures outside
Watford Junction rail station - hope that they are interest for this weeks
newsletter:
A wide variety of operators. Ed.
Stagecoach NE 30th anniversary retro liveries by Paul Hawkins
Some all over ads from Newcastle round Haymarket and Eldon Sq Bus Stations
Other operators
Nice variety Ed.
Jack Cooper caught Southern Vectis-1992 with The Needles on
October 14th.
Coach visitors to Oxfordshire
David Beynon
The attached were some of the coaches at The Kassam earlier.
The team coach, not shown, was an ex Kings
Ferry Van Hool and supplied by
Incidentally, in answer to
your question in OCBP 318, the Burnley team coach
Bakers MB74WTC in St Giles on October 21st.
Richard Sharman
Golden Tours took delivery of a batch of the revised styled MCV EvoTor-bodied Volvo coaches during the summer, these have now started to reach Oxford in place of the 19--plate examples
Fleet News and developments
Gavin Francis
47688 with an X74 service in Eden BS
on October 22nd.
63304 with an X74 service in Oxford Street
on October 22nd.
Gavin Francis
938 hqas been transferred from Thames Travel to Hedingham becoming their
540.
Picture from April 19th 2023.
218 and 227 (with branding removed) seen in The
Eden Bus Station on October 22nd.
402 and 403 seen in High Wycombe on October 22nd.
453 and 454 (both with branding removed) seen in
The Eden Bus Station on October 22nd.
532 seen in The Eden Bus Station on October 22nd.
891 in Oxford Street and 892 seen in The Eden Bus
Station on October 22nd.
983 seen in The Eden Bus Station on October 22nd.
80482 still to be repained seen in The Eden Bus
Station on October 22nd.
80822, 80825 and 80829 seen in Wycombe on October
22nd.
Keaton White
213 with the 607 at Chalfonts Community Centre on
October 23rd.
Nigel Peach
Wycombe today (22nd Oct).
Three pictures taken from the first floor of M & S showing off the autumn
colours. While I was sizing up the first picture I saw 612 go past, so my
hasty picture of that is a bit fuzzy. 612 only re-entered service yesterday,
being the fifth bus to receive Flightline 102 livery (Two more to come!).
The "One" branded Citaro is 892.
613, 210 and 979 at the depot. 210 moved to Carousel from Thames Travel a
week ago. It has not seen service since June!
612 again, looking very shiny at the depot.
80953 is seen in St. Aldates with an X3 on October 20th.
Richard Sharman
674 is seen showing off its revised X1/X15
service branding, with Witney now added.
This service takes 1hr 50mins from Oxford to
Witney via the scenic route!
Of all the strange things you thought you would
never see in service in the centre of Oxford
is a nearly fully liveried National Express West
Midlands E400 on the X3. 80958 is one of two currently with COMS.
Gavin Francis
938 and 933 have been transferred from Thames Travel to Hedingham becoming their
540 and 529.
Taken June 12th 2018.
Richard Sharman
Showing of the updated branding 665 is seen in St
Aldates on October 18th.
Richard Sharman
Recent weeks have seen the National Express-owned Lucketts depot in
Bournemouth provide PSVAR-compliant
Mercedes-Benz Tourismo's in Kings Ferry and NXTS livery on the 160 service
to Birmingham.
BF68 ZFN is seen on the 27th of September.
Gavin Francis in Wycombe on March 20th
Serving the 130.
Graham Mildenhall
A rather uninspiring colour scheme but interesting to see Red Rose
using a
newish vehicle on the 25 Bicester to Lower Heyford service today.
They had a mishap last week when E7RRT had a mechanical failure and ended up
going off the road whilst in service so this maybe as a result of that.
Dave & Deric
We have the Stagecoach West Fleet Card for Period 6
dated 11/10/2024. There is only one change on there (which doesn’t affect
Oxford). Optare Solo 47735 has been reinstated at Cheltenham from Reserve.
There are also three brand new Switch Mobility/Optare
Solos delivered to Stroud depot, which don’t yet appear on the Fleet Card. These
are 48172-4 (YJ74 DAA/O/U) and will mainly be used on services in the
Cirencester area.
Andy Churchill
MMCs 10671-10673 have been transferred to stagecoach at Arbroath depot leaving Oxford today 18/10/24
Oxford depot has a temporary Diesel powered generator to
provide extra charging power to the increased number of new EVs that are being
slowly introduced into service.
Further transfers to Scotland from Oxford are MMCS 10674-10676 which have begun their journey today 22/10/24.
.
The chargers at Excel have now gone live so
charging of the EVs is beginning from tonight and route 10 will be fully
allocated it’s EVs from 28/10/24 and fleet movements elsewhere in stagecoach
has now meant that the cascade of buses has began earlier than expected and
at least 14 of the MMCs will move to Scotland and 4 MMCS will move to the
south with the remainder staying at various depots within stagecoach west ,
things are at last beginning to come together.
Richard Sharman
A rather autumnal view of E400MMC 11246 loading at St.Giles on a 2A with
Cornmarket Street in the background,
and the 'Golden Arches' sign that is soon to be moved much closer to the
subject of this photo after being in the same location for decades.
Veteran E200 36448 is currently looking slightly strange due to having a
light blue panel
on the rear due to its advert being removed, bar this corner.
E400H 12008 is still clinging on in service as the last example,
ironically the last one standing is in standard 'beachball' livery rather
than the green version, which most of this batch carried
10674/5 and 6 are seen on Friday 18th of October prior to their withdrawal
on Monday the 21st and transfer to Stagecoach East Scotland on the 22nd.
The Stagecoach in Oxfordshire crew shuttle has gone electric with a Vauxhall
Vivaro e.
Sanjay Baker
80006 made its first appearance in passenger service this morning working the 10
and 80958 on its second day of service on the X3
50445 has been repainted into tube livery, it would appear that 50449 is away for repaint as well.
Graham Mildenhall
Seen in Gloucester Green, Oxford Saturday evening. A bit off it's branded route,
was on a service to Portsmouth!
London operations
Andrew Webb
The north end of London Bridge on a gloomy 19th October
is the setting for Go Ahead's LT873 advertising the sunnier environs of Costa
del Sol.
Battersea Park hosted London's Affordable Art Fair between 16 and 20 October.
Underground passengers could use a free shuttle bus from Sloane Square, operated
by Beaconsfield based Gustsi with specially branded EVM bodied Sprinters.
One is seen at Sloane Square on 19 October.
London Day Out 16th
October 2024
Last week I had another day in London mainly to catch up on the latest wrap advert buses.
I started at Holloway Road and Metroline LT 762 is seen turning from
Holloway Road into Camden Road advertising Costa Del Sol holidays.
Just
around the corner is the Nags Head terminus for several routes and Arriva LT
432 is wrapped for the Samsung Galaxy Z flip 6 phone.
A programme has started to replace the conventional wing mirrors on LTs with
camera mirrors and these are shown by LT 830 also at The Nags Head,
Holloway.
I then moved on to Finsbury Square, Moorgate and the Route 21 operated by
Go-Ahead had a series of wraps on it.
LT868 adverting Dolce and Gabana, LT 857 Barclays Bank, LT 881 E.L.F. Skin
Care
and LT 849 for Peak Performance. Also passing through was Arriva’s LT 438
wrapped for Red Bull.
Finally a short walk to Shoreditch High Street and the Route 149 operated by
Arriva.
Firstly LT 215 advertising Wagamama and then a little later LT 494 wrapped
for UGG boots.
Gordon Scott from Edinburgh.
Ember Yutong three axle Electric SG24 UJC on E1
Edinburgh to
They are expanding on routes Glasgow to
Dundee
Lothian 1104 - SJ19 OXZ - Volvo B8L ADL Enviro 400XLB
this batch
their Edinburgh crest
applied when they were new. It is seen on route 11.
Lothian 711e - SF74 YMK Volvo ELZ MCV EV seen
crossing Princess
Nick Ross
A famous name from the past West Coast Motor's Enviro 200 SK 22 BTV loads up on
the 001
Soroba - Dunollie local service at Oban on October 9th 2024