860 Has recently been repainted into carousel route one branding on January 30th.
I have also included a photo of it from September last year in Thames Travel livery.

Many thanks for some excellent pictures.

Malcolm Crowe

Ex PickMeUp 979  is seen working Staff Bus duties at the depot on January 21st.

Scania 216 is seen alongside Solo MX58AAJ which was 712 taken on January 21st.
712 is now with Chiltern Bus on schools work.

The sun in the morning makes photography quite a challenge as seen above on January 21st. 218 with 859.

link40 Citaro 886 was having a day off on January 21st when seen at the depot.

Wrights 940 is seen between duties at the depot on January 21st. There was an intention to convert these buses to single door !

Check above for some updates on fleet happenings by Phil Southall.

Daniel Harwood

I attachd a photo of an Oxford Bus Company City6-branded Mercedes Citaro which I spotted in a car park in Harwell Campus on last Wednesday, it was still parked there this morning at around 0800.

Can anyone advise the purpose of this bus being at Harwell? 

Jack Cooper

902 in Abingdon heading for Barton with an X3 service on January 26th.

Seen on Abingdon Bridge, ex Carousel Optare Tempo 963, now a driver trainer with OBC, started life with Wilts & Dorset.

Hybrid 303 is seen in Abingdon with a 4 road service from Oxford on January 28th.

StreetDeck 674 is also seen in Abingdon with an X3 to Barton. The repainting of some these P&R buses should see
the end of liveried buses being off route in the coming weeks.

 

69 the depot showing Amazon contract display on January 1st 2021 by James Freeman. 

Check above for some updates on fleet happenings by Phil Southall.

Jack Cooper

This week there have been some interesting allocations, with 251, 840, 848 appearing on 41/45s.

   

  

   

Variety on the 33, 41 and 45 during January 25 to 28.

 I had also got a glimpse of a Brighton OmniDekka - 1666 , hopefully that isn't the closest I get to the beach this year!

Also on the A34 was this E20 MMC 452 with an ST1 heading for Oxford on January 28th. 

Other buses seen are below.

621 seen at Ock Street with an X2 heading for Oxford on January 27th.

 

 

Ashley Toms

   
This was taken at the depot around November time possibly earlier it’s being used for Brackley town football club ! 

Was seen on TV driven by me on the night Brackley Town played Tranmere Rovers on the 27th of November and more recently been taking Stevenage Town under 21’s for their games !  

Charles Powell

Thought you’d like this of our YJ65EUY. Taken while I was on the X9 on Saturday 23rd January just outside of Chipping Norton. 

 

Jack Cooper

Pulhams had YX69 NZE on the 15 on Monday, however on Tuesday CC70 BUS was back on the road.

January 25th 2021.

 
including Courtney, Newbury & District & Thames Valley

In an article below on buses in south west London you may be interested in an ex Milton Park decker working the 194.  

Changes to the Redline fleet continue to provide much interest.

Gavin Francis

 
YX08MDV heads to Aylesbury on January 27th and Gavin's other picture shows it in its original area with London United on March 3rd 2016.

 
YX08MDY is seen in High Wycombe with a 130 whilst the second shows it with London United on March 3rd 2016. 

Nick Ross

Red Rose's E3RRT tops the summit of a wintry Wing hill with a 100 M.K-Aylesbury service on January 25th 2021. 

Apart from changes to local bus services not too much to report from Oxford. Still no repaints into the new liveries and one has to wonder if this will ever happen ?

From Monday, February 1st  Stagecoach 3A services will be temporarily amended to provide a daily link to the new mass vaccination centre at Kassam Stadium. The services will also be extended to serve Oxford Rail Station and Cowley Centre via Greater Leys / Blackbird Leys.

Jack Cooper

 
Gold 10781 is seen in Abingdon with an S8 service on January 28th.

Gary Seamarks

X5 - heard from Sunday its going to be extended as far as Bicester, still hourly with connections onto the S5 I expect ? looks like they are using MMC's on the route at present and the 905, with Elites on the 99, though today ( Wednesday) nothing is tracking for 99, but would look likes Elites still on it, assume because they have seat belts fitted ??,  

Heard a report that 53704's brief visit is over and is moving on.  

Martyn Sacaloff

E200's lined up at Northampton depot on January 28th.

These Canterbury E400s now seem to have moved to Northampton, presumably on loan
and Martyn has posed an excellent picture of 10063, 4, 5 & 6 during his night shift.

Nice to see everything so beautifully lined up, it makes things look ship shape and Bristol fashion !!! 

Further news on the Astromegas in Scotland is from Kilmarnock as seen under SCWS and picture below. 

 
First of the Astromega tube fleet to gain the new X76 express livery is 50283 having just been repainted by Linwood Coachworks-January 27th.
When I spoke to Kilmarnock Depot they advised there are three more way for repaint and 50283 had just retunred. 

Can anyone further enlighten us please?

With services suspended the picture below by Mark Wakefield shows the impact on the fleet

Rugby depot on January 25th. Of course with no schools work even less to find work for this fleet. 

Michael Wadman/Keith Newton show Royal Blue coaches working for Thames Valley & Aldershot 1974-1975

Alder Valley’s Southern division

During 1974/5 they had several Royal Blue coaches on loan from Western National. All were Bristol MW6G / ECW and altogether as far as I’ve been able to tell a total of 26 vehicles were involved, although not all at the same time. 

These four photos were taken by Keith Newton: 

2244 (623 DDV) in Chiddingfold in May 1974 

2244 again leaving Guildford Onslow Street bus station for Chiddingfold. 

2266 (55 GUO) in Wonersh on service 23 

2244 again on service 21 in New Road, Wormley 

Finally, history almost, nearly, sort of, repeating itself. For a few years around the turn of the century, Memory Lane Travel of West Ewell had the contract for the Sunday service on route 32 (Guildford – Redhill) and occasionally they used their Royal Blue coach on it. 2250 (617 DDV) had been one of the vehicles on loan to Alder Valley twenty-five years earlier and here it is back in Guildford on a local bus service on September 12^th 1999, waiting to leave from the Commercial Road stops outside the Friary Bus Station which had not been built in 1975.

Thanks to Michael and Keith for an interesting piece. 

PAUL BATESON TRAVELS THROUGH THE MANCHESTER AREA IN 1968

 This week’s contribution to the briefing is in celebration of Malcolm Crowe’s birthday last week.  Malcolm is very fond of his association with the Manchester area.  It was at the last moment, and too late for the previous briefing, that I remembered taking a few bus pictures as I travelled through Stockport, Manchester, Salford, Bury, Accrington and Blackburn on October 6th 1968.

       

My first stop was in Stockport where I was able to picture five buses in the attractive livery of Stockport Corporation Transport.  These were 84 (KJA 884F), Leyland PD3/14; 25 (BJA 925B), Leyland PD2/40; 18 (BJA 918B), Leyland PD2/40; 56 (HJA 956E), Leyland PD2/40 and 82 (KJA 882F), Leyland PD3/14.  All five buses carried East Lancashire bodywork.

Stockport had a lovely fleet of buses always well maintained and favoured the Leyland PD types right up to the end before SELNEC took over.

 
(01737)  When I took this photograph of North Western 666 (KDB 666), Leyland PD2/21 with a Weymann L30/26RD body,

LIttle did I realise that I would see this bus again a few years later in Canada.

(01738)  North Western 306A (KJA 306G) was a Bristol RESL6G with Marshall B43F bodywork and also photographed in Stockport.
This bus was brand new at the time!

 
(01739)  I just had to photograph another Stockport bus!  31 (FDB 331C) is another East Lancashire-bodied Leyland PD2/40.

 
(01740)  Finally into Manchester and the Corporation’s 3677 (3677 NE), Leyland PD2/37 with Metro Cammell H37/28R bodywork,
seen in Manchester, Lower Moseley Street Bus Station - now long gone!
Little did companies realise that painting the rubber window surrounds with red was a mistake as they would perish later.

  
(01741/42)  The Mancunian Atlanteans were very impressive looking buses in my view. 
I was pleased to take these pictures of 1019 (HVM 919F) and 1042 (HVM 942F),
Leyland Atlantean PDR1/1 Mk. II with Park Royal H45/28D + 23 standees.
These buses made a terrific impact on the street of Manchester.

 (01743/44/45)  Next stop was Salford and three examples of buses operated by Salford City Transport.

 
These were 106 (TRJ 106), AEC Reliance with Weymann B45F bodywork;


180 (WRJ 180), Leyland PD2/40 with H36/28F bodywork by Metro Cammell;

219 (DBA 219C), Leyland Atlantean PDR1/1 with Metro Cammell H43/33F bodywork.
In a couple of these pictures Manchester Cathedral can be in the background.

(01746)  A quick stop in Bury gave me the opportunity to capture this picture of Bolton Corporation Transport 226 (ABN 226C),
Leyland Atlantean PDR1/1 Mk. II bodied by Metro Cammell.
Ralph Bennet had been GM at Bolton and devised this body style replicated for Manchester above.

(01747)  In its home territory was Bury Corporation Transport 126 (TEN 127), an Alexander-bodied Daimler Fleetline CRG6.

 
(01748)  The buses operated by Accrington Corporation Transport carried a distinctive livery which I thought looked very smart. 
This example was 154 (949 RTB), Leyland PD2/31 with East Lancashire H35/28R bodywork.
This was a 7'6" wide bus hence PD2/31.

(01749)  As I continued north on my journey, my final stop was to take this picture.
Blackburn Corporation Transport 44 (ABV 44B), Leyland PD2A/24 with East Lancashire H35/26R bodywork.

How wonderful it was to have such a variety of municipal bus operation, only for it to be swept away when SELNEC was formed.  It is a matter of debate as to whether the passengers received a better service in future years!

I remember when acting as Commentator for the Trans Pennine Run to Harrogate in the 70s, I often mentioned that when the various localities could be identified by their liveries, one new when one was home.

No longer possible in most places in modern times.

Photographs by PAUL A. BATESON

Gary Seamarks

 I have prepared on UC Olympians 601-20 ARP601-20X, these were new 40 years ago at the end of this year !!

     

   

     

     

     

 

Michael Penn and LT Trolley Bus

Like Paul Bateson I took my first bus photographs in 1957.  I was living then in Middlesex although I had become interested in buses the previous year when living in Chelmsford.  My local bus route in Middlesex was the long 607 trolleybus route between Uxbridge and Shepherds Bush.  I travelled on this fairly frequently and my first photograph was one of these, taken at the Uxbridge terminus.  When the closure of the London trolleybus system was announced, starting in March 1959, I decided that I would travel on as many of the routes as possible.  This I did by using a Red Rover ticket, which gave unlimited travel on the buses for a day, on the last Saturday before each conversion.  Of course I took my camera but as this was a Kodak box camera the quality wasn’t particularly good.  I graduated to a 35mm camera at the beginning of 1962, just before the final conversion, so I was able to get some better quality photos of what was still around so I am sending you some of these.  The first five were taken on April 25^th 1962.

1510 (FXH 510) at Twickenham.
I remember travelling on the 667 in the summer of 1960 visiting Hampton Court. Ed.

1533 (FXH 433) at Teddington.

1479 (FXH 479) at Hampton Court.

1518 (FXH 518) at Hampton Court.

1450 (FXH 450) at Tolworth.

1154 (EXV 154) at Colindale, awaiting scrapping, on April 26^th 1962. 
Most of the London trolleybuses were scrapped here.
Many of these were Leyland Trolley Buses with typical Leyland rear domes. Ed.

1117 (EXV 117) at Shepherds Bush on April 30^th 1962.
What a lovely picture of 1960's London.

1113 (EXV 113) at Chiswick on April 30^th 1962. 
The Chiswick flyover was a good vantage point in those days, not being part of the M4 so accessible by bicycle!

1443 (FXH 443) at Fulwell depot awaiting its next turn of duty on the last day of operation – May 8^th 1962.

Not much problems with emissions in those days!!

To finish, some of the trolleybuses now preserved.

1812 (HYM 812) was one of the post war trolleybuses which went to Spain. 
It was photographed on its return to this country before being restored at an early Showbus rally at Hillingdon on June 26^th 1977. 
By the look of the cloud it appears that one of the legendary Showbus showers was imminent.

1812 (HYM 812) after being restored at Sandtoft on May 24^th 2009.

1201 (EXV 201) at Carlton Colville on September 9^th 2012. 
This was one of the few London trolleybuses that found further use in this country after withdrawal. 
It was sold to a garage at Shepherds Bush for use as an office or store.

1521 (FXH 521) at Carlton Colville on September 9^th 2012.  This was the last London trolleybus in service.

I think  that is the first article we have featured on British Trolley Buses. Many thanks to Mike Penn for this reminder of London now some 60 years ago ! 

Malcolm Crowe's visit to Berlin in 2005

  
Checkpoint Charlie - Berlin

http://www.opentopbus.net/w-Germany---Berlin-and-Potsdam.pdf

Berlin's bus network runs two old timer replicas based on Mercedes 608D chassis.

   

X529 B-CT 2069 Mercedes-Benz 608D / R-KaufmannWagen (1916 replica) O20/16ROS ABOAG /Schultheiss Bier / CitySightseeing Berlin (off-white with black and brown) BVG (2069), Berlin, 8/16
X530 B-CT 2070 Mercedes-Benz 608D / R-KaufmannWagen (1916 replica) O20/16ROS ABOAG /Stadtrundfahrt "Nostalgie" / CitySightseeing Berlin (off-white with black) BVG (2070), Berlin, 8/16

 

    B-CT 2071H Hanomag / R-Kaufmann-Wagen (1916 replica) O20/16ROS ABOAG /Stadtrundfahrt "Nostalgie" / CitySightseeing Berlin (off-white with black) BVG (2071), Berlin, 8/16

Potsdam with local buses at the train station. 

Paul Weal

I can add some information to the feature by Michael Wadham and Keith Newton.  

The Aldershot and District depot at Alton was host to two outstation buses, a Wilts and Dorset for the 107 to Basingstoke and a Southdown vehicle on the 38 to Fareham and Portsmouth via the Meon Valley. 

In 1974 the northern end of the 38 ( Alton - Droxford I think) was transferred to Alder Valley. They were offered the outstation bus by Southdown which was KUF236F. They accepted as there were plenty of Marshall REs in the fleet. What they did not realise was that Southdown had manual gearboxes in theirs! 

The 59 was always an Aldershot and District route, becoming the 259 when the former A & D routes were renumbered to avoid clashing with the former Thames Valley routes.

Ian Hardy

It seems as that Scottish Citylink is copying ScotRail’s branding with the “6 cities” on 50266, as when ScotRail introduced the HSTs on internal Scottish services in October 2018, they branded them as “Inter7City” as they serve the 7 major cities in Scotland: Edinburgh, Glasgow, Stirling, Perth, Dundee, Aberdeen & Inverness

https://www.keymodernrailways.com/article/seven-cities-hst-enters-service 

However Scottish Citylink cannot use the branding “7 cities” as its network does not serve Stirling as well as the other 6 cities shown on 50266:

https://www.oxford-chiltern-bus-page.co.uk/Pictures%20for%20139/E%20Dixon/SC-50266-ns-Perth-190121-EDixon.jpg

David Ive

Thank you for the, continuing, great work on the Bus Page. 

   
The timetables referred to below from David Ive.

A couple of weeks ago, the Bus Page included a log of workings through High Wycombe in September 1964 by Peter Cartwright. 

I have collected a number of old Timetable books over the years, including an October 1964 Thames Valley Timetable book (See image attached image TV-1964_01), and the piece reminded me of this. I have also attached an image (TV_1964_02), showing one page of the list of Thames Valley routes in the timetable. This page shows the majority of routes in the High Wycombe area. There are just 2 local routes on the other page; 80 from HW to Aylesbury via Lacey Green, P Risborough & Longwick; 81/81A from Wycombe Marsh to Booker. 

The text accompanying Peter's log made reference to difficulties with running the, long, Windsor to Aylesbury routes (20/20A). I have also attached an image (TV_1964_03) with an extract from the 20/20A Weekday timetable, showing the 2hr + through journeys, plus some local variants, including a Little Kimble to Aylesbury journey on a Wednesday afternoon. 

The 1964 Timetable Book makes interesting reading (well, it does for me....). Probably the most noticeable thing is the fact that small villages, such as Speen and Frieth, had bus services that ran up to around 2300 at night, even on Sundays! 

I hope that this information and these images are of use to you. As I said, above, I have a collection of old Timetables, so if you need any info, I can always look things up. It includes a few 50s/60s London Transport books for the West London and Bucks areas, which include all local bus operators, tube, and train timetables. I also have a 1959 United Counties book, which includes the, bizarre, route 141 from Aylesbury to St Ives in Huntingdonshire (now Cambridgeshire), which took over 4 hours!

Bill Brown

Bill was in Kirkcaldy last week and sent some interesting pictures of Stagecoach in that area. First are the Plaxton Panther LE bodied Volvo B8RLE(T) which can be viewed at the under mentioned link 

https://www.alexander-dennis.com/products/plaxton-coaches/panther-le/

This is an interesting take on a perennial problem of wheel chair access on modern coaches.

     
Pictures by Plaxton.

Pictures from Bill Brown

 
54513 and 54514 leaving Kirkcaldy Bus Station on January 26th.

E400 19057 leaves with a 7A service

Branded for the 19 E20MMC 26012 leaves with an X60 for Halbeath P&R.

ADL E300 27531 is seen in the latest local bus livery with an X27A to Dunfermline.

Very many thanks to Bill for those excellent pictures. 

Adam Baker

I thought I would supply a few more photos for your page from another local amble showing some operations during this time.  I hope you and your readers will find them of interest again.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 21st 2021

Last time I sent a few photos from Epsom & Redhill, this time I used my designated exercise time to do another local visit to Staines and Camberley to capture some of the operations there during this Lockdown 3.0.

As expected, there were very few people travelling, but, operations are close to the usual timetables with adjustments reflecting Non Schooldays.

En route to Staines I passed through New Haw and captured this sunny line up of Cardinal Buses – many operators have
based themselves on this piece of land over the years, including Thames Bus (no longer trading) and Surrey Connect
(latterly taken over by Abellio).

Seen on layover in Staines Bus Station awaiting departure for West Middlesex Hospital on TfL Route 117 is this
Metroline Enviro 200, LK09DNN (DE1011) – this route was subsequently operated by Armchair Buses, who were taken
over by Metroline in recent years.

A brand new Enviro 200MMC operated by White Bus, YX70OHT (72), it is seen loading for it's next Route 446 trip to
Woking from Staines Bus Station – White Bus are a relatively new operator to Surrey, but, always present clean and
tidy vehicles across the Network.

Having just loaded up and left Staines Bus Station, this Hallmark operated Wright Streetlite, SK18TLV heads along
South Street on it's Route 458 trip to Kingston – as with White Bus, they are generally clean and well presented
vehicles.

Onwards to Camberley now, and seen waiting to depart on Route 3 to Yateley is this Stagecoach South Enviro 200,
GX13APF (36909) – the bus stops are along Pembroke Broadway which serve as the link points to Camberley Rail
Station.

Operating Gold Route 1 towards Aldershot, this Stagecoach South Gold liveried Enviro 400MMC, SN66VYS (10771),
can be seen along Camberley's Pembroke Broadway displaying an apt destination blind for these current times.

A rare coloured bus for Courtney Buses, once operating the Milton Park Contract, this Enviro 400MMC, YX18KNC
(797) is seen on layover on Pembroke Broadway awaiting it's next Route 194 departure to Bracknell – for a short time a
couple of years ago Stagecoach South competed with a Route 94.

 FRIDAY 22nd JANUARY 2021
While taking a visit to the Bank in Guildford on this cold frosty morning I spotted this coach on layover – donned with
a New Enterprise livery, this Arriva Southern Counties coach, TUI4764 (2879) came to Guildford from Tonbridge in
Kent to help with School operations, but has yet been used.

Many thanks to Adam for a most interesting article. It just goes to show that even out of area there are interesting things to see!