From the Editor

A delay to this week's issue but plenty to read.

 

In this issue

Imberbus another photographer's view

The Arriva X5 history by Tony Bungay - Part 4.

Celebrating Swanley’s 100th anniversary in fine style by Andrew Webb

Midland Interlude with Keith Briant

COMS buses that have carried the fleet number 362. from Grahame Wareham

London Update Monday 25^th August 2025 by Gavin Francis

Reading Festival by Andrew Webb

The X34, but not as we know it! by Keith Briant

Go-Ahead acquisition Growth by Newman Morgan

Coach Visitors to Oxford by David Beynon

Fleet News & Developments

London Advert update by Andrew Webb

with Jack Cooper giving a differnet variety

Imberbus | Providing a classic bus service across the Salisbury Plain to the lost village of Imber

     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

A different photographers view from last issue. Ed 

The Arriva X5 history by Tony Bungay - Part 4.

Hemel bound Enviro 300 3567 wearing Hertfordshire Connect livery, makes it's way along Tring High Street. The High Street.

while smaller than Berkhamsted, again can provide a selection of individual shops. restaurants etc. The Rothschild's have had major influence on the town,  the Walter Rothschild collection of natural specimens later becoming part of the Natural History Museum. Other items in which they were involved are the large Tring Park and at one time the large Tring Park Mansion, although the large house had been there for some time before their presence.

Viewers may note that the pavement area has obviously been modified for more comfortable pedestrian use. Even though Tring had a bypass from 1973, some 20 years before it was extended to become the new A41, traffic levels to and through the town have increased considerably in recent years, and as the writer witnessed the day this photo was taken, a lorry unloading soon caused a large build up of traffic, as mentioned about Berkhamsted this can soon affect time keeping reliability 

Enviro 400 5461 the other former Aylesbury based 400  transferred to Hemel Hempstead that still appeared in Aylesbury.
climbs up the High Street in Tring on an Aylesbury bound X5. 
The street to the right of 5461 is Akeman Street, where the now branch of the Natural History Museum is located.

In actual fact the course of the A41 in places follows the course of the old Roman Road known as Akeman Street.

The third time VDL SB200/Wright has appeared in this article! 
Working a Hemel bound X5 it is a little further down the street than the previous photo of 5461,
which was Aylesbury bound. The Brown sign post by Costa points the way to the Natural History Museum.

 2949 returns from Aylesbury, apologies for what seems to be the same selection of vehicles shown working the X5 in it's final weeks.
But not having all day, I could only capture those being used! As part of this article is to show different locations,
which was not always easy! This photo has been included as the road leading off to right of of 2949
leads down to what was for many years the London Transport/London Country Tring Bus Garage.
Closed in April 1977 it later was used by Unigate.
A later change of use has seen the former Garage modified and it's present occupants are Royal Mail and a Gym.

To illustrate the previous statement. in 2017 Amersham and District Motor Bus Society as part of their Hemel Hempstead running day,
were able to incorporate some journeys to the former Tring Bus Garage, by if I recall correctly kind permission of Royal Mail,  f
rom whence some local journeys were provided on Tring Local route 387.
GS 13 stands in front of what would have been one of the former Garage entrance doors.

Interestingly after the closure of Tring Garage, London Country still worked the 387 from it's Hemel Hempstead (Two Waters Garage). They however lost operation of the route to Aylesbury independent Red Rover in 1985 in a very early example of Council route tendering, full deregulation was still a year or so away. The 387 number is still in use, and for many years now has been operated by Red Rose.

A somewhat less common vehicle to appear on the X5 was the Optare Versa, here 2957 picks up a fare opposite the popular Aston Clinton pub 'The Bell'
with a week of Arriva operation of the X5 left to go. Being a hot sunny day the trees provided welcome shade for the passenger,
 and maybe the pub opposite welcome refreshment for any passenger who may have just missed this journey! Being a Saturday the X5 was now hourly.

No prizes for guessing the location, given the previous caption! Enviro 400mmc 6525
still wearing full Route Branding heads for Hemel on the last day of operation of the X5;

The pub behind is a grade II listed structure. On the day of the photo a large number of early 20th century cars were running along this road, as part of an event to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the Last Aston Hill climb. Many older readers will no doubt be aware, while perhaps younger readers less so. That the name Aston in the top end Car maker Aston Martin derives part of it's name from taking part, when this event was a regular event from 1904 to 1925. 

Like most of the places on the X5 route, Aston Clinton is close to a canal, but in this instance the canal is on the section known as The Wendover Arm. This section has long been closed to traffic for many years, although a trust is gradually restoring and reopening sections of this long abandoned canal.   

Part 5 follows in a further issue. Ed. 

Celebrating Swanley’s 100th anniversary in fine style by Andrew Webb

Swanley bus garage celebrates its centenary this year with the main event being an open day and bus rally on 23 August.  Opened in 1925 by the East Surrey Traction Co it is today operated by Go Coach who have restored many of the art deco features. 

The garage open day featured an impressive line up of vehicles representing the last 100 years of bus operation. 

Predating the garage by 5 years is K502 - am AEC K Type delivered to the London General Omnibus Company. 

Just 5 years younger than the garage is T219, a Duple bodied AEC Regal which served the Green Line network. 

Today the garage is home to more modern buses including Optare Solos. 
This example has been associated with Kent throughout its life, having been new to Arriva Kent Thameside. 

The company has also shown interest in electric buses and currently operates this rare Mellor Sigma 7.

Go Coach also operate demand responsive services under the 'Go2' brand
- including converting some conventional routes during the Covid pandemic. 
Ford Transits and an electric Renault Master are used on these services. 

~The Bus Doctor is part of Go Coach and maintains both the home fleet as well as offering a range of services to other operators.   
RML2516 from Ghost Bus Tours was on site receiving attention. 

The company is one of the very few bus operators to still have a recovery vehicle on the books, most having long since left recovery and towing of vehicles to specialist companies.  This Iveco is over 25 years old and once work for RNW Recovery in Birkenhead.

Alongside the open day at the garage Go Coach organised a bus rally of approximately 30 vehicles at West Kingsdown 5 miles south east.  A frequent shuttle service linked the two main sites, with most rally entrants performing at least one rounder on the service.  A second shuttle linked the garage with Swanley town centre and railway station. 

After wearing London Country livery for several years this Enviro 400 has been turned out in the attractive livery of Kentish Bus - an operator whose identity was subsumed into the corporate Arriva image.  The bus started life legendary independent Epsom Coaches when they took over TfL routes 406 and 418 linking their home town with Kingston. 

It is seen here approaching the garage whilst working the town service. 

NV171 is another former London bus having started life with London General.  Transfer to its commercial fleet
saw the roof removed and it is preserved in this condition. 
Late summer sunshine made this a popular choice for passengers arriving at the garage from West Kingsdown. 
When working part-time for Oxford Bus your Editor remembers doing a private hire to Derby Day with this fine bus. Ed.

 
Traditionally Swanley was in the 'green' part of London Transport and would have seen many RTs and RFs in that livery. 
RF28 and RT3491 evoked memories of this era when operating the shuttles. 

The site at West Kingsdown provided lots of space to display vehicles and accommodate movements of vehicles coming on and off duty on the shuttle service. 

     

RML2699 is part of the Go Coach fleet, albeit presented to represent an earlier period in its career. 

More modern members of the fleet were represented by a relatively rare Optare Metrocity and the ubiquitous Enviro 200MMC.  Both have served the company from new.  

 

The Leyland Titan is arguably under represented in preservation having, for many years, been the last bus design specifically developed for London.  Many of its features can be traced back to FRM1, the solitary rear engine Routemaster, and the model was later simplified to form the basis of the best selling Olympian. 

T961 flies the flag for the type as it would have appeared in the 1980s.

Midland Interlude with Keith Briant

Time to catch up with news and developments on my home patch, Stagecoach Midlands this week and Arriva next.  Nuneaton depot has now had a second delivery of Yutong E12s and the type are now widespread across a range of services.  

In the first photo, one of the second batch, 73124 (YK25 OKP) is seen at Hollycroft Grange, 
the terminal point of Hinckley town service 11.  

I should call the second view "Electric Avenue", but Eddie Grant got there many years ago with a song with that title!

A slightly different view of 73024 (YK74 PJJ) and a sister vehicle,
both on service 56 from Nuneaton to Coventry via Bulkington, seen in Mill Street, Bedworth.
The traffic cleared and I managed to get this shot seconds before the first bus pulled away.  

Not Stagecoach, but while we're in Bedworth, Flexibus (A&M Group) of Harbury operate a number of Warwickshire County Council contracts designed to provide access to shops and healthcare services. This includes Bedworth town services B1, B2 and B3, all linked and provided by one bus.

Here Optare Solo SR YJ66 AMX operates the town service.  

Bedworth is a town with a population of 31,000 situated 3 miles to the south east of Nuneaton. In its heyday it was one of the centres of the local coal mining industry and had its railway station reopened comparatively early in 1988 after it was closed in 1965 during the Beeching cuts. 

Enviro 300 27219 (SK15 HBZ) built to Gold specification is seen in Nuneaton bus station on layover.
This was one of a batch of 15 transferred south from Scotland in 2023 and shared between Nuneaton and Leamington depots.  

Since the photo was taken this bus has been transferred to Stagecoach Merseyside and South Lancashire along with others from the same batch, ousted by new Yutongs. 

A few contract changes have occurred in both Warwickshire and Leicestershire in recent weeks which has seen some services introduced as a result of BSIP funding. Unfortunately, one service in the area was largely withdrawn. Service 7 operated by Stagecoach ran from the village of Fenny Drayton through Atherstone to Measham a handful of times a day and served both counties. From 2nd May it was replaced by the Leicestershire Country Council contracted LC14 and reduced to one return journey a day operated by Arriva Midlands, to a slightly extended route at the Warwickshire end. 

Here Stagecoach  36583 (YX16 LGD) a short Enviro 200 is seen at Fenny Drayton on one of the last days of service 7.
This bus was transferred from Scotland last year.  

In contrast, Nuneaton and Rugby have been linked by the first regular bus service to ever run between the two towns. Stagecoach Midlands service 84/84A  started on 26 July with eight journeys from Monday to Friday and seven on Saturdays. It also serves both town's hospitals,

 
Here Enviro 200 36750 (KX62 BNF) is seen at Nuneaton's George Eliot hospital on an eastbound journey.  

Stagecoach Midlands operate a small number of TfWM services in Coventry. Some of these serve the Arena Shopping Park to the north of the city and University Hospital. A few others provide evening services on routes operated by National Express Coventry during the day.  All are operated from Nuneaton depot.  Coventry is to be included in the first phase of the TfWM franchising scheme in 2027. Originally the contracts operated by Stgaecoach were due to be excluded from this first phase of franchising as agreements already exist under the Coventry Electirc scheme, but this plan has now been changed.

Here recently repainted 36749 (KX62 BLZ) waits time at Arena Shopping Park
 on service 703 to University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire.  

The Coventry contracted services also see the only three double deck vehicles operated from Nuneaton depot. Enviro 400s 10729/31/33 are only used on these services and when transferred to Nuneaton were the first double deckers to be allocated there for over 30 years.

In the first photo newly repaired 10731 (SN66 VWX) is seen at speed out of service on the A444 dual carriageway
between Coventry and Nuneaton. I overtook it and managed to stop in a lay by just in time. 

The second photo sees 10733 (SN66 VXA) entering the bus terminus area at the rear of the Arena Shopping Park in Coventry.  

Stagecoach Midlands also operate TfWM contracts for a number of routes that link Coventry and Solihull (Nuneaton depot buses) and a small number of Solihull/south Birmingham contracts (Rugby depot). The latter have recently slightly reduced in number as a couple of services have been merged into other services following route revisions. One that remains is the A9 which links a number of south Birmingham communities with Solihull.

Enviro 200 36217 (KX60 LJA) is seen in Solihull.  

Finally, with the arrival of Nuneaton's Yutong buses, the 67 plate Enviro 200 buses have now been transferred away. This has eliminated both the Gold and distance liveries from Warwickshire depots.

26222 (SN67 XDR)  26221 (SN67 XDP) have both been transferred to Stagecoach South
and the former bus has already been pained blue. 

An excelent update. Ed.

COMS buses that have carried the fleet number 362. from Grahame Wareham

L362  NWL710 1949 AEC Regent III with NCB L30/26R lowbridge body. L362 was renumbered L136 in the new divided series in 1952.  L136 spent its life at most of the country depots to the west of the City and was withdrawn in January 1963. It was subsequently sold to Transport (Passenger Equipment) Ltd.,Macclesfield(dealer) in March 1963. It was not traced but believed sold to Hoyle, (Wombwell Diesels),Wombwell(dlr) for scrap..

362  DFC362D 1966 AEC Renown 3B3RA with Park Royal H38/27F forward entrance low-height body. 362 spent its early life as a Oxford Cowley Road based bus used on Country routes. Kidlington being well outside the City boundary was classed as Country and 362 plied the 93's to and from what is now 2 road territory. In 1968 the City and Country routes amalgamated where journeys overlapped the majority of the route out of the City and COMS operated the 2's until a further dividing up of routes by Oxfordshire CC in January 2022 saw Stagecoach and Oxford Bus solely in charge of 2's and 3's respectively with both starting from the City Centre.362 however stayed on 2 road and occasionally 1 road until withdrawal which took place in 1973 when its seven year recertification was due. As neither 362 or 364-366 had received the OMO conversion their future was compromised and the OMO converted Renown's were not able to operate as such on City routes as operational agreements prevented this. So this rendered 362 surplus and with its sisters 364-366 they were sold to TPE, a dealer in Macclefield which had purchased many redundant vehicles from Oxford over the years. 362 was soon sold on to Lewis Bros, Glyne, South Australia (O-AUS) 10/73, re-registered SGH.736, 7/74 (it continued to carry fleet number 362 but was officially No. 2); Quest Tours, Glynde, South Australia (O-AUS) -/80; Rollercoaster Tours, Cowandilla, South Australia (O-AUS) -/86;     Ambassador Coachlines, Holden Hill, South Australia (O-AUS) -/87. For auction -/89; Rosenburg Winery, Clare, South Australia (O-AUS) by 11/90. Withdrawn -/92; Stanley Bridge Tavern, Verdun, South Australia (O-AUS) by -/00.  

     

   

362  K1OXF  2013 Volvo B5LH with Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 low-height H45/27F body. It featured  Volvo parallel hybrid technology using battery power when available to move the bus up until the first gear change into second gear where the engine automatically starts and the bus proceeds as a normal diesel bus. 362 was originally delivered in red City livery and operated mostly on service 2. In 2018 it received a livery change for route 2 and pale blue became the route colour. In 2022 the route 2 buses were rebranded as route 3's and 362 pliedthis route until February 2024 when it was despatched to Stagecoach Manchester to run the franchised services on behalf of Transport for Greater Manchester becoming 13185 in that fleet, It was reregistered OE62ZRT prior to departure and has since been repainted in the TFGM canary yellow.

     

London Update Monday 25^th August 2025 by Gavin Francis

Bank Holiday Monday so I decided to catch up on a few changes in London.

Started at Elephant & Castle to get some pictures of Arriva EE13 which has been wrapped to commemorate 25 years since the formation of Tfl. It features some notable achievements since its formation in 2000.

       
Arriva EE13 is pictured on Route 196 in Southwark Bridge Road.

I took the opportunity to get some pictures on the Elephant & Castle roundabout nearby.

   
Go-Ahead Ee225 wrapped for Patterson Book, Travel UK LT19 wrapped for Emirates and the same operator LT 710 wrapped for Borderlands 4.

I then jumped on a Rte 196 to Vauxhall Station, here I wanted to get some pictures of buses on Rte 36X which only runs on August Bank Holiday Monday for the Notting Hill Carnival a location I have use several times before.

   
On Monday it was bright sunshine and clear blue skies all day and not suitable for getting pictures of northbound buses there
as shown by EH250 on the 36 however southbound buses coming over the bridge
it was great for as shown by Emirates wrap LT501 on the 87 and EH 270 on the 36.

I soon moved on and caught 2 Rte 2 to Marble Arch. As it was now lunchtime the sun was moving around into a very favorable  position.

Insert picture 1687

I have commented on this page before about the number of Emirates wraps there are in London, I cannot remember this many since the Adidas wraps at the time of the 2012 Olympics. It is therefore inevitable that it will be possible to get 2 in a picture at the same time but at Marble Arch 3 arrived together. Arriva’s LT 729 and LT 513 on Rte 137 and Metroline’s LT 645 on Rte 189.

 There are additional routes and curtailed routes due to the Notting Hill Carnival.

   
First Bus OME 46029, 46010 and 46017 showing buses terminating at Harrow Road.

   
Having missed pictures of the 36X at Vauxhall I was able to get some at Marble Arch instead.
G0-Ahead EH 283, EH 204 and MHV 55 also going to Harrow Road.

     
The 148X was a short version of the 148 running between Victoria and Shepherds Bush.
It was operated by BCE class buses including 47011 (wrapped for Patterson Books), 47173,
7029, 47171 and 47006.

Oxford Tube were not serving their Notting Hill stop instead leaving London via Baker Street and Westway to get to their Shepherds Bush stop.

Other buses and coaches passing through Marble Arch.

     
Flixbus now have a wide range of routes all over the country as these 4 pictures show.

 
National Express still also operate many routes.

 
Since I was last at Marble Arch Rte 30 is now terminated at Euston and instead Rte 205 is diverted at Baker Street
and instead of going to Paddington now comes to Marble Arch.

 
Finally 2 more wraps to finish the day, Lt 717 for Borderlands 4 and LT 47 for I love New York

A nice article full of interest. Ed. 

Reading Festival by Andrew Webb

https://www.reading-buses.co.uk/festival

The Reading Festival takes place at Little John's Farm in the town on 22-24 August, with an influx of revellers arriving on site the day before.  To cope with this influx  and their camping gear Reading Buses run two shuttle services to the site.  Service 97 serves the town centre, whilst service 98 links with the main railway station. 

On 21 August the company fielded a range of double deckers to operate both services. 

   
     

 
80227 back from paint shop ex Didcot Connector seen on August 25th.

Yesterday At Thames Travel. PSV Barnsley were collecting 80849 ready for its final journey!
R&S Recovery were returning 80606 to the yard !
80683 was just happy in the middle, ready to go out on a duty !

15976 & 15986 (Swindon - Banbury)/div>