Issue nr 358
Wednesday. July 30th, 2025
Past Issues : https://www.oxford-chiltern-bus-page.co.uk/
From the Editor
An interesting page to Edit with a lot of variety and plenty of pictures.
In this issue
Carousel's 25th Anniversary
Arriva X5 history from Tony Bungay
Euro 2025 Victory parade by Andrew Webb
Grahame Wareham remembers COMS 358
Orbit Coaches by Keith Briant
Brislington Bus Rally 2025
London update by Gavin Francis
RMs move 10,000 in four days
Morebus by Jack Cooper
Readers Write
Fleet News & Developments
London promo campaign by Andrew Webb
25th Anniversary event
I was invited to a reception at the Carousel
Buses depot at Hughenden Avenue, High Wycombe to celebrate the 25th
anniversary of Carousel Buses.
The event reflected on the achievements the
business and its partners have made over the past quarter of a century;
commemorate the reaching of this milestone; and allowed the opportunity
to say thank you to all the partners who have helped us along the way.
The event will include some light refreshments
and the opportunity to view some of the improvements that have recently
been made at the depot, to support the major growth in the business seen
since summer 2024.
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Versa 431 and 432 have been sold to Arriva Shrewsbury !!
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We were treated to a round trip to the bus station by Steve Burns by his Metrobus
A well organised event with much to see. Ed.
The Arriva X5 history by Tony Bungay - Part 1 contd.
The X5 was mentioned recently in a House of Commons question by the aforementioned MP, to the Transport Secretary in respect of joining him in asking Buckinghamshire Council if it would use it's powers as a result of the Bus Services Bill to introduce franchising of Bus Services in it's area.
Enviro 400 5461 navigates Hemel Hempstead roundabouts within a roundabout on an Aylesbury bound X5 in October 2024.
Before the New Town was built and up until 1960, a railway viaduct went through
this area taking the line from Hemel Hempstead station on the branch from Harpenden to the line from Euston. There was a theoretical connection which had
an acrimonious history. It however was never used for passengers who could only
Anybody interested can see some photos on Herts memories, which amongst shows a roof box RT on the 301 going under the rail bridge that used to span the A41 just before reaching the old London Transport/London Country Two Waters Bus Garage
Enviro 400mmc 6527
leaves Hemel Town centre behind as it
heads towards Aylesbury, in
Sister Enviro 400mmc 6525 still with route branding, also Aylesbury bound in early May 2025 has just exited the multi roundabout system.
This area is roughly where Heath Park Halt was located. The large building behind was originally offices for Kodak, who was a very large employer locally up to the mid 1980's. They ceased using the building as offices just after the turn of the 21st century, after which the structure was heavily refurbished to become apartments.
Arriva Enviro 300 wearing Herts Connect livery having crossed the Grand Union Canal, heads towards Hemel Town Centre
a few weeks before the withdrawal of the X5. The vehicle could possibly be 3566.
VDL SB200/Wright 2676 crosses the Grand Union Canal as it heads towards Hemel Town Centre in late April 2025
Sadly the destination did not register on this photo of 2676 as it passes resplendent spring blossom
heading out of Boxmoor as it works towards Aylesbury on the X5.
It is passing the base of the Boxmoor Trust. Which manages grazing and amenity land.
although not seen in the photo, such land can be openly seen to the left of the bus.
Where a herd of cattle may be found nestled between London road (the old A41) and the newish A41 with the West Coast Main Line behind
.After Hemel Hempstead heading west on the now former X5 route is the small village of Bourne End,
just westwards of the junction for the A41 Dual carriage way
A delightful contribution with more to follow. Ed.
England Women's Senior national football team | Lionesses | England Football
Following England's nail biting win over
Spain on 27 July the Lioness paraded the trophy along The Mall in
central London on 29 July. Two former London Tridents from Banbury
based The Bus Business were suitably adorned in commemorative wraps for
the occasion.
X10ROP started life 20 years ago with
Stagecoach London as 18458 carrying registration LX55EPE.
Even older is 200XJJ which was delivered to
Connex London as TA3 registered V303KGW a quarter of a century ago in
2000.
Whilst the wraps appear the same, 200XJJ
carries additional branding for EE at the rear.
The nearside shots were taken as the players made their way along The
Mall, whilst the offside views were taken as the buses left empty along
Constitution Hill after the event.
Carrying the team to and from the event were
two coaches from Ellisons based in St Helens, a company well known for
high profile football team work.
Both are seen heading empty
along The Mall towards Buckingham Palace having dropped the players off
at Horseguards Parade.
Grahame Wareham and
O&CBP Issue 358
L358 MWL992 1948 AEC Regent III with NCB L27/26R low-bridge body, renumbered
L134 in 1952. Withdrawn January 1963 and sold to TPE (dealer), Macclesfield and
resold to Smith, Nottingham in February 1963.
358 CFC358C 1965 AEC Renown 3B3RA with Park Royal H37/28F low-height forward
entrance body. 358 was allocated to Oxford depot from new as a City bus
operating mainly on routes 6 & 7 along the western side of the city.
transferring to Bicester depot from 1970. It was converted to OMO in late 1971
and later transferred to Witney depot in 1975. It was withdrawn in June 1978 and
sold to Ensign (dealer) Grays by July 1978. It was subsequently sold to Beckett
(dealer) Carlton the same month for scrap.
358 R8OXF (OE62ZRU) 2013 Volvo B5LH / Wright Eclipse
Gemini 2 low height H45/27F body Part of a batch of 19 similar parallel hybrid
double-decker's with full electric power technology on 1st gear. A smaller 5.1
litre Volvo 4 cylinder engine was used to power these buses and using a ZF 4
speed manual gearbox actuated by servo's through Volvo's i-shift system, this
was about as far as full electric power had reached on buses by the time these
were introduced. However once they started to age they weren't the cheapest
buses to keep on the road. In 2024 they were cascaded to Stagecoach Manchester
by way of franchising arrangement by the new Transport for Manchester policy and
358 became 13186 and was subsequently repainted into the standard TfM canary
yellow livery. The R8OXF registration plate was retained by OBC with the
re-registration being OE62ZRU.
The registration number R8OXF originally adorned 1998 Volvo B10M / Plaxton
Excalibur coach 8 and upon its withdrawal was transferred to Dennis Dart SLF /
Wright Crusader 408 in November 2003.It was then transferred to 908 a Dennis
Trident / Plaxton President registered NK51UCX originally delivered to Go Ahead
North East in 2001 lasting with OBC from July 2007 until October 2009.
Midland Interlude with Keith Briant
By kind invitation I
visited the depot of Orbit Coaches in Peckleton, Leicestershire this
week.
MUI 7939 is a Scania N113
with East Lancs Cityzen bodywork, a rarer sight these days.
This was new to the
well known operator Mayne, Clayton as P101 HNC.
Similar former Brighton & Hove
R879 PCD was also present, but not in a good position to photograph.
DEZ 9717 is a similar bus,
still in the livery of its previous owner Stanway Coaches of Stoke-on-Trent.
It
was new to Coombs of Weston-Super-Mare as W372 PHY. It operated Stanway's last
school run before they closed on 4 April 2025.
Six former Metrobus Scania
East Lancs OmniDekkas are owned, all now re-registered. Here are KIG 8950 with
IIL 8585 behind and CNZ 3828 with CNZ 4060.
D22 ORB is a
Van-Hool Astromega new to Stagecoach Bluebird as SC62 BCZ and used on Megabus
duties.
I illustrated Van-Hool Astromega B14 ORB on the move last week and here it is in close up. The former
Stagecoach 50235 (CN61 FNK)
that operated on the Oxford Tube for a while in its
later life.
OO07 ORB is a 73 seat
Scania 340 OmniExpress.
Flagship of the fleet is
Van-Hool Altano D18 ORB, new to Eavesway of Ashton-in Makerfiekd as YJ08 EAK.
Volvo Olympian P411 SWC is
a well-known bus used for special events. It has recently been used at Liverpool
Pride, London Pride
and previously in the Queen's Platinum Jubilee parade as
well as the victory parades for Leicester City Football Club
when they won the
premiership in 2016 and gained promotion back to the Premiership last year.
It
was new to Dublin Bus and was then operated by Warrington Transport (later known
as Warrington's Own Buses) where it was converted to open top.
A brief history of the
company which is currently celebrating its 30th anniversary can be found here:
https://www.route-one.net/features/orbit-coaches-moving-around-but-with-family-at-the-heart/
A most interesting company. Ed.
David Gray with the Brislington Bus Rally 2025
https://bvbg.co.uk/event/bristol-bus-show-2025/
This
really is a superbly organised event and it was noteworthy that a lot of the
older vehicles were used in service, which was very much appreciated. The
services were mainly to the City Centre but others operated to Keynsham and
Bitton.
It is interesting that there were preserved vehicles from the post war era
but also some more modern vehicles e.g. Darts.
The big rally event of the year, held on the Brislington Park & Ride site. Stagecoach continue operating their timetabled service 9 and we are grateful to the company for allowing us to operate alongside them.
There was a line up
of 60+ buses and coaches spanning the period from the 1940’s to the
present day.
A number of short, free bus trips were
available on a variety of buses.
There was a small number of stalls selling photographs, models, books, clothing and other bus memorabilia.
2025 is the 150th anniversary of the start of operations of the Bristol Tramways Co Ltd (later becoming Bristol Tramways & Carriage Co Ltd and later still Bristol Omnibus Co Ltd), the 100th anniversary of a motor coach service between Bristol and London and the 70th anniversary of the Bristol KSW, several examples of which will be in attendance.
Your Editor finds looking at the entrants fascinating as I remember so many of these buses and coaches in their hay day.! Ed.
London update-
Weds 23rd July 2025
For the
first time in nearly 8 weeks following a period in Florida and then catching
up on many appointments when I got home I was able to spend a day in London
. For a change I started at Lewknor and caught The Airline Coach to Heathrow
arriving at 09.00. I cannot use my concessionary pass until 09.30 so spent
30mins taking a few pictures.
Heathrow is very busy in both the Coach Station and Bus Station in
fact they have to have a Marshall at the entrance to the coach parking area
to stop coaches entering when it is already full. This means they have to do
a circuit of the bus parking area waiting for availability.
National Express coach BV73ZTU waits in the bus parking area for access to
the coach station.
Chalfont Line operate several Flixbus routes shown by, YH25EZU, BV67JZC and
YG25FCN
Even 2 of the big 4 operators supply coaches for Flixbus, First YH25EZU,
Go-Ahead YG25AEC and also Newport Transport CK24AWC
A surprise arrival was First Streetlite 47422 still in full Solent livery,
presumably a recent arrival at Slough Depot.
Uxbridge are due to have a big intake of electric buses in the future and
buses like will be a thing of the past.
Transport UK Route 111 has for sometime now been fully electric,
previously it was operated by New Routemasters and LT 985 made a rare return
to the route.
Arriva 724 has been recently converted to MMC operation as shown by 4112
From Heathrow I boarded an SL7 to Kingston to have a look at the new
bus station.
The bus station has in all honesty not changed much after refurbishment,
lots of buses stopping in the street outside,
still the saw tooth departure bays inside, at least the buildings have been
freshened up a bit.
Falcon have a strong presence in Kingston operating several routes.
White Buses and Reptons have a much smaller presence.
Wrapped buses are mostly found in Central London but First BCE 47052 was on
Rte 65 advertising Jo Malone.
Then it was back on the next SL7 to Sutton.
On the 29th November Rte S1 transfers
from Go-Ahead to Transport UK and the S4 goes in the opposite direction.
The S1 was solidly SE class buses except Optare MetroCity OM13 appeared.
This is a reminder of when new it was one of a batch owned by Quality Line
who were running the S1 at that time.
When I was last in Sutton Rte 151 was still operated by DOE class buses due
to clearance difficulties at Worcester Park
but it is now operated by Wright Electroliners as shown by DEL3 in Throwley
Way.
Metrobus have started running Hydrogen buses on Rte 420 between Sutton and
Crawley. 6413 is going to Crawley,
the destination has not been reset. The next bus however was Streetlite
6106.
The original SL7 buses which had previously been the X26 were single door
with large luggage racks on the offside,
but when the frequency was increased and more buses were required additional
WVLs were sourced but they stayed dual door.
WVL 343 is pictured at Sutton Police Station and WVL 490 in Croydon.
It was then back on the SL7 to Heathrow and Airline Coach back to Lewknor.
I noticed when sat down stairs just how long dwell times at stops were on
the single door buses pax having to struggle through the lower deck with
luggage often past standing pax and boarding pax having to wait whereas on
the dual door buses luggage was quickly removed from the racks and out of
the centre doors whilst new pax were boarding. It took even longer when at
Worcester Park a wheel chair using pax wanted to board and she had to wait
for pax and luggage to come off, then new pax and luggage boarding and
finally the wheel chair ramp was deployed, she boarded and the ramp returned
to its travelling position. Add this to the fact that it seemed the whole
route was subject to a 20mph speed limit and progress appeared very slow at
times. I think this route will get new electric buses soon but I am assuming
they will still be single door.
In contrast the SL9 approaches Heathrow from the opposite direction but
seems to get by with dual door buses
and no special luggage racks. BCE 47105 is pictured in Harrow Bus Station.
This was Gavin's first London day for a number of weeks. Ed.
Routemasters move 10,000 in London event by Peter Edgar
Routemasters return in force…… well for four nights only in July to assist
in transporting around 10,000 guests to an event at the Natural History
Museum.
Morebus delight by Jack Cooper on July 17th
Bournemouth, Swanage and Swindon
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Michael Wadman
I was very pleased to see in Gavin Francis’ report in OCBP 356 that the Stevenage Farmers Market bus is still running on the 2nd Saturday of each month. This service deserves to be much better known, but there is very little information about it on the web.
I attach the timetable from 2018
which as far as I know is still current.
Fleet News and developments
Nick Ross
Arriva Evora 3201 flying along the A505 by pass near Stanbridgeford
with a mid
morning X2 from Milton Keynes to Luton Airport on July 21st 2025
Nick Ross
Centrebus's 5019 arrives at Leighton Buzzard Rail Station on a local service on
July 21st 2025
Nigel Peach
First Bus StreetLite 63313 newly painted in the new standard livery.
This is one
of four branded for the X74 some years ago and has worn different liveries since
then.
Gavin Francis in Wycombe on July 26th
80207 and 80209.
80214 and 80218.
80409
80441 and 80442.
80453 and 80454
80461
80474 and 80482
80494
80533.
80595
80537 in STOKENCHURCH on July 28th.
80538 in STOKENCHURCH on July 29th.
An interesting record of buses, routes and locations. Ed.
Nigel Peach
Another fine update this week. A lot of people go to a lot of effort to put
together all their bits - I particularly enjoy Grahame Wareham's contributions
each week. Thanks as always for painstakingly sorting it all out each week.
I expect you have seen that three of Thames Travel's remaining Scania Enviro
400s have transferred to Carousel (80205 80206 and 80224) in exchange for three
of the ex London Citaros (80877 80878 and 80882). This only leaves 80231 at
Thames - and that has been out of service for six months!
Four pictures attached from a rare journey in to Wycombe on Wednesday (23rd).
Thames Travel taking over in High Wycombe! 80206 on its first day in service in
Wycombe followed by 80209. I am puzzled as to why 80209 still has TT fleetnames,
despite transferring to Carousel many months ago. The same goes for a number of
that batch. The first ones to transfer this time last year all had their
branding replaced with Carousel logos, but those that transferred a month or so
later still have Didcot Connector branding. I find it irritating and it must
confuse passengers!
Enviro 200 MMC 80482 in Easton Street followed by a First Solent StreetLite.
80482 has its fleet number large and white.
I wish the whole fleet had their
fleet numbers in this size and font!
My comment about the three Citaros swapping with the three Scanias has been superceded! I expect you are now aware too that the move was just a temporary swap, so that the Citaros could be used at Truckfest at the weekend. The buses have all now returned to their original homes.
Jack Cooper
80706 working the X3 on July 22nd.
Gavin Francis in Wycombe on July 26th
Serving the 130 and 300.
Gavin Francis
Ciaran Bird
Stagecoach Gloucester's 15966 (YN14 PKZ) seen at Hereford Rail Station last night, on a 33 to Gloucester.
