From the Editor

 

The electric buses for Stagecoach Oxford continue the process of delivery with nearly thirty in service at the time of writing.

In this issue

Lord Mayor's Show with Andrew Webb

Kent Fastrack by Gavin Francis

Henley-on-Thames by Michael Wadman

Old Bus Finds by Gavin Francis

Grahame Wareham with history of 324

Bucks buses and HS2 by Tony Bungay

St. Albans with Kevin Fuller

North West Vehicle Restoration Trust Nocturnal Running Day

Reading & Bracknell with Derek Dawson

Readers Write

Coach Visitors to Oxford

Fleet News & Developments

London with Andrew Webb

Readers visits to the North West and Bristol

 

Lord Mayor's Show with Andrew Webb

The annual Lord Mayor's Show took place on 9 November to mark the 696th Lord Mayor of London, Alderman Alastair King of the Queenhithe Ward.  Eleven buses were part of the parade providing transport and publicity for a diverse range of organisations across the Square Mile. 

Over half the buses were Routemasters including RMC1510 which was used by the newly formed City St George's university,
formed by a merger of City University and St George's medical school. 

China, now a major global economy, has a growing presence in the city. 
Yongan Futures is just one Chinese company to do business in the capital and applied this modest branding to RML2713. 

Clear photos of buses in the parade can be a challenge as pedestrian members of the parade often walk alongside them. 

RML2697 illustrates this as it is escorted by members of The Mason's Company.

A final open top Routemaster was RM1159 which was hired to carry members of The Royal Company of Security Professionals. 

Two closed top Routemasters also found employment in the show. 

RML2750 took a break from its usual afternoon tea tours to take members of the City Parent Carers Forum around the parade route. 

RM1933 added a splash of colour to the already colourful parade, although is somewhat coy about who is on board. 

The Art Bus is a stalwart at the show and 2024 was no different.  This Olympian started life as E226WBG with Merseyside PTE.

A second Olympian in the show was promoting the Army Cadets. 
It's open top format was created in Dublin where it started life as RV342 with Dublin Bus. 

Another sightseeing bus to gain an advert specifically for the show was this Ayats Bravo Volvo which started life showing off the splendour of Bath to tourists. 

Now with Ensign in the slightly less scenic Purfleet, it was promoting YPO, a global leadership community of chief executives. 

Compared to the Routemaster the DMS is under represented in the ranks of classic and preserved buses. 

One survivor is DMS1304 which was festooned with bunting for the occasion. 

Recalling some of the earliest buses to serve the capital was this horse drawn bus
in the livery of the London General Omnibus Company. 

The considerable number of participants in the parade, many from across the UK, means a good number of coaches can be found around Smithfields awaiting the return journeys. 

This new Higher Touring Scania from the Readybus fleet
carries the livery of The Coach Travel Group, a merger of seven independent coach companies formed earlier this year. 

Many military personnel are carried on anonymous Plaxton bodied Volvos. 
This example is from Babcock, whilst others were from facilities management company Sodexo.   

When Dews celebrated 70 years of trading in 2023 they applied this special livery to this Mercedes Tourismo

 
Linburg and Fords of Althorne both sent double decker coaches. 

Another long-established operator is The Travellers Choice from Carnforth.  The Poppy branding is appropriate on the eve of Remembrance Sunday. 

 
Holmeswood have been the UK dealer for Barbi Galileo coaches.  Mounted on a MAN 18.360 chassis,
this example has found its way into the operating arm of the company.

 a VERY INTERESTING DISPLAY. Ed.

Kent Fastrack by Gavin Francis
Many thanks to Nigel Eadon-Clarke who supplied the pictures. 

Last Sunday 10^th November Go-Ahead took over operating the Kent Fastrack service from Arriva. It is a 15 year contract and will use 28 Irizar Ie trams. At the moment it will be at least the Spring of 2025 before the power is available to run these trams so in the meantime Go-Ahead have cobbled together a fleet of diesel buses from a variety of sources much as they did in the same way at Carousel in High Wycombe at the end of July this year.

Most of the buses are SE class and are available because of route losses earlier in the year, the balance of the fleet is made up of buses from various other operators.

    \
SE 96, SE 99 and SE 145 pictured in Gravesend.

   
SE 97, SE 103 and SE 147 pictured at the Go-Ahead Garage at Dartford.

   
SE 98, SE 101 and SE 102 pictured at Greenhithe Station

   
SE 101, SE 133 and SE 135 pictured at Bluewater Shopping Centre.

 Buses from other fleets included:

Former Abellio 8861 awaits attention in the Dartford Garage.

 
Former Metrobus 6003 outside Dartford Garage and 6013 in Gravesend.

Insert pictures of SEN 61, SEN 63 and SEN 64

Six MMCs have come from the former Sullivan Buses fleet.

   
 SEN 61 and SEN 63 are pictured at Greenhithe Station and SEN 64 is on the left in the Dartford Garage.

2 Citaros have come from APCOA Parking at Luton Airport. BX64WHL has become MEC 73 and I suspect BX64WHK will become MEC 72.

Henley-on-Thames by Michael Wadman

Some shots from a visit to Henley-on-Thames on 24^th September, mainly to photograph TK Coaches on the Henley town service but also to see the situation on the Henley – Reading corridor following Arriva’s withdrawal. 

 
TK coaches were running LR70 TKT on the town service, a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter with Mellor body.
Unfortunately the revised road layout in Henley since I was last there many, many years ago made it difficult to get a good angle on the bus. 

Following a period on the Reading corridor when both Carousel and Reading Buses were running via Caversham, things have now settled down with Carousel running service 850 via Twyford through to High Wycombe every 20 minutes, and Reading Buses running a more direct but less frequent half-hourly service 28 via Caversham. 

   
Carousel were using a variety of buses on the 850, including Enviro 200 no 452 (YX69 NVJ) transferred from Thames Travel,
Optare Versa no 431 (YJ65 EVM) new to Courtney Coaches, and Scania no 218 (GF10 OXF) transferred from Oxford. 

Conversely, Reading’ service 28 appeared to be correctly worked by Enviro 200’s in the new Aqua branding,
such as no 443 (YR14 CGX) acquired from Busways.

Reading

 
Also seen in Reading were Enviro 400 no 213 (SN11 BVU) in the new White Knight livery for service 20 to the University;
and  First Beeline no 25105 (YR24 OXE), one of the new Irizar i6 coaches for the Railair service to Heathrow. 

And some 1994 historical photos of Henley: 

For several years the town service was run by Spiers, whose AEC Reliance / Plaxton TRK 9F,
new to Silverline of Hounslow, was photographed thereon by Keith Newton. 

 
Margaret's Minibus on service 134 to Russells Water on 26th March 1994.
D214 GLJ was a Freight Rover / Dormobile new to Shamrock & Rambler for their Charlie’s Cars operation in Bournemouth. 

Execubus Travel Iveco Daily / Carlyle G80 TBM, formerly an Iveco demonstrator, on service 356 on 24th March 1994. 

 

Horseman Coaches’ Toyota Coaster / Caetano Optimo  L207 BPL on 24th March 1994.
I’m afraid that I don’t know much about Horseman’s services. The bit of paper in the windscreen appears to say 87,
so I’m guessing that this was a bus service? 

Motts’ Leyland Leopard / Plaxton SUR 283R on service M36 on 24th March 1994. 

Another Motts vehicle, Mercedes-Benz L310 / Williams Deansgate A859 TCA on 26th March 1994.

Motts had three services in Henley in the early ‘nineties, based on routes originally operated by House of Watlington. As this was a Saturday A859 TCA was either on the M24 to Watlington or the local M36 to Russell Water. 

And finally Chiltern Queens Leyland Leopard / Plaxton OJO 835M on 26th March 1994.

A FASCINATING PIECE WITH THE CHAMGES HIGHLIGHTED FROM 20 YEARS AGO. Ed. 

Old Bus Finds by Gavin Francis

Whilst on my travels a few days ago I came across a couple of survivors of buses which had been local to our area at one time.

   
Insert pictures of M57 at Wisley Airfield, Green Man, Putney and as it is now.

M57 was new in 1979 and allocated to Fulwell Depot, then in 1983 it was repainted in London General style livery and the following year repainted back to red. It was withdrawn in 1999 and after passing through White Rose Travel and Sullivans it came to Carousel at High Wycombe, by now it had been repainted back into London General livery. It was sold again in 2004 and by 2011 it was with Marshopper, New Romney painted in their 2 tone green livery. The pictures show it at Wisley Airfield on 4^th April 2004 whilst owned by Carousel, at the time Carousel were helping operate the 185 route in London, then in service at Putney Heath (Picture from Paul Bateson) in 1984 and finally as it is today.

 Parked nearby was CCG296K which was originally new in 1971 to Aldershot & District as its 651.

 
Paul Bateson's picture in Guildford and mine at more recently.

By 1972 it had become part of the Aldershot and Thames Valley fleet then in 1983 it was sold to Redbridge Council who used it for many years until it passed into preservation. The pictures show it when new in 1971 in Guildford (Picture from Paul Bateson) and over 50 years later not looking quite so good.

One never knows what is round the corner. Ed. 

Grahame Wareham

CBP Issue 324 

H324 LWL319 1946 AEC Regent II with Park Royal H30/26R semi-utility body. Renumbered H858 in 1952 In May 1957 H858 was withdrawn and passed to Deacon (dealer) Dorchester being sold the same month to Edwards, Lydbrook, Glos, where it lasted until December 1961 when it was sod to Contract Bus Services of Tredegar. It was later sold for scrap to Way, Cardiff Docks in March 1962.  

   
   

324  324NJO was a 1962 AEC Bridgemaster 2B3RA with Park Royal H40/25F forward entrance bodywork. It was the odd man out in this batch of thirteen buses as it featured offside illuminated advert panels but with push-out top deck front vents to the windows (as per 316-323.without illuminated advert panels). 324 was initially allocated to Cowley Road garage for country area routes but later was to be found relegated to non-omo City services. 324 was withdrawn in March 1972 after only ten years COMS service.

     

324 was sold to TPE (dealer), Macclesfield and soon resold to Dolling of Hiilingdon in April 1972, passing to nearby Clansman of Uxbridge soon after. 324 migrated northwards to Davies of Leeswood, near Mold in North Wales the following year before returning locally to Motts Coaches who were then based at Upton near Aylesbury in January 1975. 324 was still in COMS livery at this time and this was to change with new ownership in 1976 with Sampson Coaches of Cheshunt. The following year in 1977 324 was sold to Davian Coaches of Enfield ending with sale back to Ensign Bus in 1979. After a brief period on hire to Blatchley at Stevenage, known as Contractus, in 1979 I became the owner of 324 as a future preservation project and brought 324 back to Oxford. In 2003 I was approached by the Blackman family from Halifax with their intention to restore 324 along with 340 and 345, but although I parted with the buses regretfully only 340 got dealt with and 324 became a spares donor for another Bridgemaster in the fleet. Fortunately Graham Hobbins,a Yorkshire preservationist, took up the mantle and carried out a few jobs on the bus and I provided many of the missing parts that had been removed whilst in Halifax.

To date 324 has moved on again and was going to be part of a heritage fleet in Stourport with Wyvern Omnibus but from what I gather it has now been sold on to another preservationist so hopefully after a busy second life and a lot of owners 324 may see the light of day once more. I sincerely hope so! 

A bit more of a story this week Malcolm! Indeed much more. Ed 

Bucks buses and HS2 by Tony Bungay

For something a bit different have enclosed a few photos in respect of Bus operation and the changes brought about by HS2. 

The photo of Arriva Enviro 400 5461 is included as to show the new bridge for the realigned A418. This photo which you featured back in August was taken on the penultimate day of Arriva operation and the last day they would operate over this section of road. 

 

As HS2 had appeared to have readjusted the boundaries it was not possible as such to get an identical perspective. Here shown on what would be the penultimate day of any bus operation of this section of road is Redline Wright Streetdeck ex University of Wolverhampton vehicle heading for Aylesbury. 

Possibly the same vehicle or similar leaving Aylesbury for Oxford on an altogether on a much more drab day!

As the sequel so to speak from the previous e-mail, a series of photos showing Redline vehicles working the X20 on the now open A418 realignment.

The realigned road was open to traffic from 4/11/24 which as mentioned
and can be seen has a new overbridge as HS2 will cut straight through the original road alignment.

The construction of this involved mainly in school holidays but also a number of weekends and indeed this coming weekend total closure of the A418, requiring a lengthy diversion for all traffic, but especially inconvenient for  Red Rose and Red Eagle whose depot is some 4 miles or so distant the wrong side of this closure for Aylesbury and eastwards worked services.

The building that appears just in front of Volvo/MCV  BV73 MTF shows the course of the original road. 

 

Lastly a photo from the overbridge of the course of HS2 on the London bound side. As can be seen in all the photos the weather though dry was very dull and possibly not the greatest for photography! 

As a further comment HS2 is now doing the landscaping along this road which will feature many trees and plants, so the rather desolate scene will soon change. 

Fascinating. Ed. 

St. Albans with Kevin Fuller

I had a trip to St Albans on 7th November, and enclose a few photos which hopefully are of interest for the next newsletter.

   

     

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