From the Editor

This issue has been delayed due to domestic requirements.

Plenty of interest for all with interesting happenings but no news from Stagecoach or Thames Travel

In this issue

25 years of Carousel Buses

Fastrack - 20th Anniversary Running Day

RYDABUS Running Day

David Allen was at Windsor for the Classic event

Grahame Wareham with COMS 391

Overseas Interlude from Berlin

RM125 Follow Up by Gavin Francis & Zero 2 Museum

Readers Write

Fleet News & Developments

London Operations

 

 

NEW BOOK - '25 YEARS OF CAROUSEL BUSES'  a fully illustrated A5 laminated cover glossy 64 page history of  Carousel compiled by Frank Brown.

Contains a comprehensive history and appendixes on both routes and all vehicles owned and operated, correct to January 2026. 

Available from F.M. Brown, 24 Beaumont Way, Hazlemere, High Wycombe, Bucks, HP15 7BE for £10 including P&P (cheques payable to F.M. Brown).  

Review by your Editor, Malcolm Crowe.

Having watched this company grow from day 1 and having driven a  couple of shifts when the Citaros were new, I was looking forward to seeing this book in print.

It is a comprehensive work lavishly illustrated with excellent couloir photographs throughout.  

The fleet was always interesting and my memory of a shift on the 336 with aMetrobus will remain with me in times to come.

The pictures of the  short liived use of Volvo/Elite I Panoramas working the 102 was a highlight.

It is an excellent publication for a  modest price. 5 stars ! 

 
Fastrack - The Award Winning Bus Rapid Transit System

20th Anniversary Running Day

 

 

Gavin Francis writes "On Saturday 16^th May to celebrate the 20^th Anniversary of the Fastrack bus network in the Dartford area a Vintage Bus Running Day was held. Both the Service A between Bluewater and Dartford and Service B between Datrtford and Gravesend were operated using a range of buses."

 

Nigel Eadon-Clarke made the trip to the area to record the event.

 

     
       
Pictured at Greenhithe Station are RM 9, SE 234, Arriva 1628, Chaseside 102, Ensign Bus 129, MEC 8, MEC 46 and RF 226

 

     
     

At Bluewater Shopping Centre shown are Arriva 3814, EBD 1, Ensign Bus 368, Go Bus 6515, iE 22, RM 9, RMA 48, RML 2348 and RML 2617

 

Overall an interesting and unusual Running Day.

Home | Rydabus | Isle of Wight Bus and Coach Museum

with David Gray at the Rydabus event on the Isle of Wight last weekend. 

I was fortunate to be in the right position in Ryde, to see Bristol K5G CDL 899, new in July 1939 heading back to the Isle of Wight Bus Museum passing 1305 HW26 FEO, a Wright StreetDeck Electroliner new in March this year.

     
     
     
     
     
     

Daviod Allen was there taking some nice pictures

 

       
     

 

Grahame Wareham O&CBP Issue 391.

 

H391  OFC391 1949 AEC Regent III 9612A with Weymann H30/26R high-bridge body.  From new H391 was allocated to Chipping Norton depot spending its entire COMS operational life there.

In 1952 H391 was renumbered to H890. H890 was sold to Fleet Car Sales (dealer), Dunchurch in December1961 passing to  AEWRE, Aldermaston in April 1962. It was withdrawn in 1974 being sold to Allen (dealer), Abingdon on Thames and then scrapped by Anderson, Iver, Bucks. 

 

391 MJO391H 1969 Daimler Fleetline CRG6LX  with Northern Counties H41/28D low-height body. Part of an initial batch of  fifteen these were used on newly converted OMO operated duties, mainly 2 road for the first few months of their lives and then spread out to most City routes with some migrating to Witney and Wantage to operate into the City on cross City services. 391 was allocated to Cowley depot  and finally Wantage depot in 1981. Because of window supply problems there were two types of window fitted, some with slider units, as in the 1968 batch, and some with full length hoppers. the vehicles were delivered as follows: Slider windows  382,385,387-389,395,396. Hopper windows:  383,384,386,390,391-394. Also 383,385,387,389,393-396 had a ventilator in the front dome as per the previous batch, but the remaining vehicles were not fitted.383-385,388,389,391,393-395 all received the simplified two colour red and green livery from 1971 onwards, the first being treated 394 in 8/71. The remainder were repainted into NBC corporate poppy red which eventually covered the whole batch during overhaul in 1976/7. The overhaul of this batch was completed at Midland Red Carlyle Works and the vehicles had their rear engine shrouds removed at the same time.391 lasted in the COMS fleet until November 1981 when it was sold to Ensign Bus (dealer), Purfleet in July 1983 and exported to Geographical Tours, Victoria, Australia in September 1983. It later passed to Rockleigh Tours, Diggers Rest, Melbourne, Australia and re-registered CFX339 in October 1999. 

391  GUW458W  Leyland National 2 NL10AL11/2R  B41F. Originally new to London Buses as B36D Red Arrow LS458 in 1981, it was transferred to Cenrewest as LS458 when privatisation forced a split in the operations of services in London. It was converted  to B41F by OBC and was eventually transferred through the Go-Ahead Group to Oxford for Wycombe Bus duties in April 1996. By then LS458 had received a TL11 engine in place of its naturally asprirated L11 (Leyland 690) unit and it ran in High Wycombe until the advent of low floor bus replacement in February 1999. It was withdrawn and sold to Nash (dealer), Thames Valley Bus Sales at Chertsey in April 2000 and later resold to local operator (Harrison) Surrey Buses of Guildford in January 2001.

( I have no images of 391 or LS458)

Matt Cooper provides pictures

WBC 391 - All six National 2s were used on a variety of work during their time at Wycombe. 391 was working the busy cross town route 326 and was awaiting some passengers at Booker Asda. The route was once worked jointly by Alder Valley and London Country a relationship which continued under subsequent owners until July 1995 when COMS-owned WBC would become the sole operator. 

WBC 391a - The interiors of the Uxbridge trio was quite appealing and replaced the bus seats and dual door configuration fitted from new.

A handful of Lynxes which also worked the 607 at Uxbridge were similarly treated. 

WBC 391b - The same bus operating an unusual route 232 journey in Thame.
COMS had worked peak hour journeys between Thame and High Wycombe until 1994.

Wycombe Bus kept the 2xx series route number and used it on two peak hour journeys in a similar fashion. The town service in Thame was also operated when this scene was recorded having last been ran by The Shires. This was a short loop around Cromwell Avenue which was tagged on to the end of the Wycombe journeys after their trip from HW.  

with Graham Low in Berlin

I was in Berlin last week and saw some of the 200 impressive British-built ADL Enviro 500s running on high-frequency M series routes. They have Mercedes Benz OM 936 engines and are quiet inside and outside. 

I took quite a number of pictures of buses and trams in Berlin but they are a bit outside the usual areas of interest for the page.

   

Pleasing to see British buses abroad. Ed. 

RM 125 Follow up

by Gavin Francis

I was interested to see Andrew Webbs 2 pictures of RM 125 taken at the Bus & Coach Show at the N.E.C.

 

 

 

 

  

The last time I saw this bus it was not looking particularly healthy in Binders Yard in 2011 and I must admit I thought it had reached the end of the road.

In 2015 it was bought by The Bus Business, Witney and has been used on many promotional tours since.

 

 

A picture of RM 125 taken in London when in its prime on Rte 27 operated by Turnham Green Garage probably in the mid 1980s. 

LT779 from the Transport UK fleet is 1 example. Seen arriving at Victoria with a trip over route 3 from Crystal Palace on 16 May