Editorial
My apologies for the delay in publishing this issue but personal commitments seemed to take more time than planned. I was also catching up on posting contributions received throughout July.
Referring to the last issue, nr 66, the road works at Thornhill have been causing significant delays. which when the rain of Friday and Saturday was added, coaches from London and the airport were taking significantly longer than scheduled. Gavin Francis has provided a photograph of Gloucester Green on Saturday last taken at 14:19. It shows the total lack of any coaches except for one National Express service. Ironically there were not even any local services, X5s etc.
As many will know my home is in Stokenchurch and I had to do a double take recently when these two "vehicles" appeared at our bus stop in the village centre.
Naphill closure affects Arriva's 300 service
Malcolm Crowe was in North Wales
As happens twice a year, we visit my eldest daughter in North Wales and as always I have recorded some of the buses I saw whilst there.
There are two operators of interest to me which are, Arriva Cymru and Alpine in Llandudno and here are pictures for both operators.
Arriva Cymru
Part of the depot in Bangor plus some more detailed pictures at this location.
The livery is slowly appearing.
Above is one of the fleet of VDL Wrights which operate the coastliner service
between Llandudno and Caernarvon via Bangor.
The service is split into two operationally at Bangor and so buses have on their
blinds connecting for Caernarvon as in picture 2.
This is a far cry from the early days of the Cymru Coastliner which operated at
one time with coach seated Bristol FLFs in cream and black
running between Liverpool and Caernarvon. This must have been a great trip to
take.
Arriva has an outstation at the Alpine depot in Llandudno where, on a Sunday, a
number of buses can be seen.
Whilst in Llandudno, a holiday destination with my mother and Aunt in 1944-46, I
caught up with two local coast services,
the 12 to Rhyl (a Sapphire service) and the 13 to Prestatyn, still a long
way from Chester !
Alpine Coaches
Alpine's school coaches retain a white livery whereas the commercial services
and tours are now red.
XFV257 is still with the fleet and was once Oxford Airline 87
before being added to grey London X90 fleet.
An interior pictures shows how well this coach has lasted.
Recently converted and added to the CSS Alpine fleet is this East Lancs bodied
Volvo B7TL now converted to semi open top.
This is an interesting variation and as Llandudno is often a windy place
appreciated by sightseers.
PL51LGX was once EVL14 in the Go Ahead London fleet, seen above at the West
Shore terminus with Snowdon area in the background.
The second offside picture shows the area which was once the terminus for The
Llandudno and Colwyn Bay Electric Railway,
Fondly remembered from my childhood when the trams ran often compared to the
buses in the mid '40s.
A small "train" runs around Llandudno starting from the Pier.
Gary Seamarks records his visit to London and the East Coast
Pictures show Stevenson's 905 and First 37986 at Chelmsford on July 4th. 37986
was new for Green Line 702 then operated by First.
Eastern Counties VA479, AU53HJV in Ipswich and VW915 YG02DKU in Colchester both
on July 4th.
The livery harks back to an earlier time!
Border Bus recently repainted BB58BUS in Norwich,, Chambers YN55PZF and Panthers
VB08PAN both in Colchester on July 4th.
Gary questions if BB58BUS is ex Stagecoach London?
Another Go-Ahead outpost is Hedingham with 584, PJ02REU once GAL's PVL295, here
heading for Clacton and Jaywick (Sands?)
Final four from Norwich
Four Ipswich buses in home town, note two are ex
Lothian. Taken on July 4th, the livery is rather striking.
SC 13069 at Greenwich on July 6th, taken for Pride Crossing.
Few from London Tuesday July 9th, this was mainly intended
for a rail bash at Bethnal Green and Clapham Junction but got these in between,
before spending a couple of hours across Central on the way back to St Pancras.
megasightseeing.com
19134 on embankment by Charing Cross, rushed shot !
JSJ747 is an ERM ex Lothian Buses at Waterloo
LT32 looks a bit odd below windscreen on colours
Pearces OU59BVP is somewhere south of the river, taken from a
bus.
Go Ahead's E281 - YX14RTV on Wimbledon Shuttle near Clapham Junction, was 739 not the Brands Hatch route in a previous era !!??
Many thanks to Gary for an interesting selection of pictures.
David Gray visits Worthing for the 2019 Rally
David visited this annual event on Sunday, July 28th when he took a number of interesting pictures on what turned out to be a nice sunny day.
Maidstone & District, during their heyday, enjoyed
this livery and some smart looking coaches such as CO322.
Very many thanks to David for a flavour of this annual event and a concept of times past and of the last century.
Tony Bungay travels in the past month
Not in
the area by any means but you may consider them of use for more variety still!!!
Contrasting Enviro 400 styles at Newport Bus Station on July 12th - 1657 alongside
1585
In
picturesque but touristy village of Godshill 1658 near the Griffin pub and a tea
garden (so plenty of refreshment on hand)! July 12th
General
view of Newport Bus Station showing 2007/1660/2716
July 12th
More of
a Bus in Landscape shot 1403 working the Needles Breezer open top service,
makes it’s way back down from old and New Battery to Alum chine and Yarmouth,
the coast foot path being clearly visible July 12th
Another Bus in Landscape shot, this time in the New
Forest - 1827 HF05GGK with New Forest Ponies in the foreground July 13th
2019
Again, a short but nice idea of the Isle of Wight and New forest buses. All look well kept and turned out.
Metroline’s Potters Bar Garage open day by Tony Bungay
Although a smallish event a good cross section of vehicles old up to
very new featured.
A number gave regular free
rides to various places nearby as well as sales stands inside.
VMH 2533 - couldn’t quite make
out the fleet number eVoSeti
All electric Optare MetroDecker
OME 2652
RT1784 heading for home at South Mimms as is M1014.
The EVoSeti is on this e-mail, also shot of BDE 2625
Another Optare MetroDecker but
without fleet number.
A line up of some of the
vehicle types that operate at Potters Bar
The EVoSeti is really taking hold now.
North East of England and above the Border with Gordon Scott
North East England
Scarborough East Yorkshire
East Yorkshire Scarborough in
new livery.
782 - YX14 HEV Volvo B9TL Wright Gemini in new Coaster livery for Scarborough to Bridlington routes 12 & 13.
390 - SN65 ZGL Alexander Dennis Enviro 200 seen in "New Coaster" livery on Scarborough sea front on route 8
East Yorkshire 895 - LF55 CYY Volvo B7TL Wright Gemini seen on the seafront in the new livery.
882, a Shoreliner Suncruiser Buses open topper seen on Scarborough sea front.
Dennis Trident Alexander ALX400 160 - V160MEV
Transdev York
Transdev York City Sightseeing 4025 V525ESC Dennis Trident-Plaxton President Electric Bus ex Lothian 525 taken at York.
Taken on Mound Edinburgh.
First East Scotland 33500 - LK55KKT Bright Bus Tours Edinburgh, Alexander Dennis Enviro 400 new to Metroline London as TE 684.
First Midland Bluebird 67782 - SN62AYJ Alexander Dennis Enviro 300 seen in Bathgate on route 29 today in route branded X35 / X37 livery.
New to First Glasgow and ex First Borders taken in Princess Street Edinburgh.
Taken at Ferrytoll Park & Ride Stagecoach East Scotland Fife Aberhill depot based on X60.
53733 - BF63ZRP Volvo B9R Caetano Levante
Taken at Granton Square
Edinburgh at route 19 terminus
taken on July 27th.
Also Lothian 905 - SN08BXV Three
Bridges Tour Volvo B9TL Wright Gemini taken at West End on
Taken today at Castle Street
Edinburgh launch of new
1131 CE SB19GMF which go into service on
Shots attached of new Lothian
Airlink 1131 CE - SB19GMF
If you refer to the various buses, both open top and closed in the articles above you will notice that many are close to ones operated in our area of main interest. Examples are the WVLs.
Appreciate this has been a long section but I am catching up from when I was away on holiday!!
Fleet news and developments
Tony Bungay's record of route 60 past and recent present
As today the 27/7/19 marks the end of
Arriva operating the back road Service 60 as opposed the main road X60, here are
a couple of photos I have managed to get at various places that will no longer
see an Arriva bus in this the final week.
This marks the end of what had long been the principal
route of the Aylesbury – Buckingham service of whom Arriva was the modern day
descendant, whose previous operators going back to the 1930’s were United
Counties whose service continued to Northampton for many years on some journeys,
Red Rover who operated the service jointly with U.C as far as Buckingham, Luton
and District(Aylesbury Bus) who acquired Red Rover, later to become Aylesbury
and the Vale when bought by British Bus. Over the years the route was numbered
46/66/346/336-337/536, Red Rover had a different number which I
cannot remember.
At Oving on an Aylesbury bound journey in the sun 150
branded Citaro 3914 23/7/19
In contrast to what had been a very hot week, the last
day was generally wet and overcast 3864 can be seen at Maids Moreton
as it loops round the village in the rain to return to Aylesbury
Later it is seen heading through the village of North
Marston passing the Pilgrim Pub
On the last north bound journey to Buckingham, the 19.15
from Aylesbury,
perhaps fittingly, the now disappearing older Sapphire Livery on Enviro 5465 passes
through Oving
As a further to last day of Arriva operation of route 60 you may feel these are worth using.
Red Rover 147 ex Nottingham City Transport Leyland
National in Aylesbury Bus Station mid 1985 on a short working to Winslow,
United Counties Bristol VRT 938 in Kingsbury Square
Aylesbury late 1984 on service 536
The first new vehicles received at Aylesbury after
privatisation from National Bus Company.
Leyland Olympian/Alexander 653 arrives in Buckingham Street Aylesbury
from Buckingham
on what had now become service 66 (COPYRIGHT THE BUS ARCHIVE)
Ex United Counties Bristol VRT SL1 modified to SL3
standard 752 now Luton and District Aylesbury Bus,
proceeds into Aylesbury up Buckingham road on a dull day early 1989, again on
service 66.
The driver seems to have forgot to alter the
destination display, as it reads as it would on outward journey, in this instance
an onward journey beyond Buckingham to Akeley vis Maids Moreton, later cut back,
seemingly history repeats itself! (COPYRIGHT THE BUS ARCHIVE)
752 again in United Counties ownership leaves Buckingham
on the 536 September 1984
Lastly Ex United Counties 938 now freshly repainted into
the new Luton and District(Aylesbury Bus) colours
but without fleet names applied in Kingsbury Square Aylesbury
The yellow Leyland Olympian I saw parked on a road in an
industrial area of Aylesbury on 22/7/19, the slipboard in the windscreen
indicates it had participated at the previous days Alton Bus rally helping to
provide a service. Fleet number 11 is carried and has Harrogate and District as
legal lettering, so I assume it was a school bus used by them previously, inside
the bus Arriva notices are still visible.
New Sapphire livery on Service 150 with 3867 heading into
Aylesbury along Cambridge street on 24/7/19 and 3874 in Exchange street today
29/7/19 working the 19.00hrs service to Leighton Buzzard
You probably already know as you are generally well
informed, I noted today a number of Milton Keynes vehicles working on the X60,
two older sapphire liveried vehicles with 5/6 branding and the Scania Omnidekka,
I managed to get a photo of the latter but destination did not come out so
pointless enclosing it!
So I assume MK now has some workings on this service to?
I
am pleased to include an additional photo from Nick Ross relating to the service 60.Nick Ross
A photo from Buckingham on July 18th with Arriva's 6012 on the 60 to Aylesbury
via villages like Granborough and Oving, Sadly, from July 28th, Arriva ceased this
operation in favour of a high frequency x60 not serving the North Bucks
villages. Red Rose have apparently been contracted by Bucks CC for a substitute
village service
Adam Green
Two photos of 4009 and 4010 ex Tower Transit E200s, both based at Hemel Hempstead as they are meant for Route 357 but both have been on the 2 on July 31st.
Tower Transit's 44261 at Old Ford working the 339 on November 13th 2014 - Gavin
Francis.
5462 in new Sapphire livery for the 280 but working the 500 on July 29th.
Tony asks how many readers have noted the change of legal ownership on Arriva
The Shires buses?
It is no longer Luton but Thurmaston!!
Carousel presently have three Scanias in exchange for
their StreetLites in use on the ST1
Above we see 222, with full Oxford city branding heading for the Carousel depot
on July 19th by Malcolm Crowe.
There have been some journey changes on the PR1 service and changes to service 34 which has been combined with a new 8/X8 service into town. The buses involved have been rebranded as the pictures from Gavin Francis show.
407 and 409 show the revised branding for the
services 8 and X8 seen on July 30th, a very wet day as it turned out!
Ant Poulton
Thought you might like these pictures of the former Oxford E400 307 that has been used as a source of parts at H&D Trim to repair GSC tree victim E400 1610, seen here at Pimperne depot on Sunday 21st July. As you can see, its been stripped extensively!!!
On July 31st your Editor enjoyed a pleasant 20 minutes in Summertown catching what went by.
365 and 366 in 2 road livery heading towards the City
Centre.
678 heads for the train station.
Pictures below from Gavin Francis.
Peter McConnell
I travelled down to Heathrow on morning of 16th and from Heathrow on the 23rd. Well patronised and very comfortable ride
on these new coaches.James Freeman
FSU637 which as LF61OXF was 44 and new as Airline nr. 11.
Well I was very pleased to have ridden on one of the
brand new airline Tourismos on my trip to Gatwick on Friday 12th. I guess that
they were not all in service by then, so luck was on my side! Unfortunately it
was too much of a rush getting on and off with luggage at the high street to get
photos, and I figured photos of the (very smart) interior on the dark of night
would be boring.
But I must say they are fine coaches. Although I was
surprised they have no LED headlamps and the luggage compartment doors are
manually opened and closed by the driver rather than electrically operated. That
in addition to the lack of cherished number plates makes me wonder if OBC are
cutting costs wherever possible? It’s a bit of a shame that these stop little
touches the coaches feeling ‘top class’.
On the way home I did manage to get a shot of the
unusual working of an X90 branded Elite i.
Again a night flight so not the best lighting!
Gavin Francis
New 39 has arrived from Heathrow on July 27th by
Gavin Francis.
One needs a sense of humour for this one as damage appears to occurred to
the offside rear marker light.
It had me fooled for a while whilst I tried to work out what model it
was!!!!!!
Taken on July 29th by Gavin Francis.
Herbert Percival
Coach 65 has been appearing on the X90, over the past few days, in spite of the fact that this coach is Euro5 and not compliant with the ULEZ.
Third 'Football Special' for Oxford fans from Thames Travel
Thames Travel is launching a third match-day bus service, for Oxford United fans to get from Didcot to Kassam Stadium.
The OX2 football service will run from via Great Western Park, Steventon and Abingdon and return after the match.
To launch the service, Thames Travel is offering free travel for the opening home game of the season: Oxford vs Peterborough on 10 August.
The OX2 will run for all weekend and bank holiday league match days this season. It is the first time a dedicated bus service has been provided to connect Didcot and Abingdon to the Kassam Stadium.
Thames Travel runs two other Football Specials: The OX3 and OX7, bringing fans to home games from Carterton, Brize Norton, Witney, Eynsham, Botley, Kidlington, the Banbury Road, Summertown, Marston and Headington.
Phil Southall, Managing Director of Thames Travel, says: “As partners of Oxford United we are pleased to be able to expand our league match-day Football Special service to help more supporters attend matches and support their local club.
“Since we stepped in to help the club with match-day bus services the relationship has developed and we’re looking forward to the new season.”
Allocation change.
It appears that GWR liveried 221 has been moved to Didcot for use by Thames Travel.
Robert Williams
You may have seen in the depot yard that we have taken the rare opportunity to buy four Scania OmniDekkas from Nottingham. They are going to become silver buses 863-6 to cover an increased requirement of two buses for schools in September, and to provide cover during the fitment phase of our project with Reading Borough Council to fit emission reduction systems on all pre-Euro 6 vehicles to bring the entire fleet to Euro 6 by the end of 2019. They are 86 seat vehicles of a type we know and already have in the fleet, and will allow the blue Tridents to be totally confined to school services before disposal when the Optare MetroDeckers arrive in October. As 86 seaters they may also come in useful at Newbury & District.
We have also ordered three new 41 seat Enviro200MMC single deckers for Slough route 5, with an option for a further two 36 seaters for Reading to be confirmed in the next few weeks. These will allow the Wright StreetLites to be transferred to Newbury & District, and the disposal of the older Optare Solos.
The intention after that is to get back to buying new vehicles, with the Yellow 26 next on the list for attention in 2020.
James Fletcher
Scania Omnidekka's from NCT are now fleet numbered and
are (YT59 OZN-863/YT59 OZO-864/YT59 OZP-865/YT59 OZR-866)
These will be repainted into generic livery for use on schools from September to
replace the X reg. tridents, SN16OHO-790 is now repainted into JetBlack,
The five Green Line Optare MetroDeckers are due in October
Regarding the picture of 791 on the Jet Black service in
the last issue
The school holidays would appear to have released a
number of deckers from N&D onto the 1 and possibly other Reading routes as well.
The bus tracker facility that Reading offer on their app
(wonderful for a spot of armchair bus spotting) appears to show that as well as
791, various other N&D vehicles have made an appearance, including 783, 790, 793
and 1203 (ex jet black now in N&D livery.) I confess that I have not seen most
of these in the metal as it were to confirm what livery they are carrying
although I am fairly sure that 783 is one that has been re-vinyled into the
green swoops livery so is presumably not destined for the jet black service.
Incidentally, the same bus tracker also indicated that one of them ( can't
remember which one, sorry!) may well have found its way into London on the Green
Line a day or two ago.
Presumably this swap around is to hasten the repainting
of the existing jet black vehicles into N&D livery?
Bob Morley
Another couple of pictures of
non-Jet Black liveried buses being used on the Newbury to Reading route.
2)
Newbury 787, in the new livery, is seen with an express 701 service in GLCS on July 31st.
Reading Jet Black 790
From Tony Bungay
July 29th marked the start of the new Red Rose 7 Aylesbury
town service Stoke Mandeville Hospital to Bedgrove, which competes with
part of Arriva 300 service and the Bedgrove section of Arriva service 8. By
chance I got a shot of one of the two Red Rose vehicles in Friarage road
Aylesbury.
from Sunday July 21st 2019
Alterations to routes serving the many NHS and University establishments in the city’s eastern sector:
700 Kidlington, Grovelands – Churchill Hospital via Oxford Parkway P&R, Summertown, JR West Wing, JR Hospital, Brookes University to Churchill Hospital, returning via Old Road Campus, Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre and Headington to Summertown etc (MF). Reduced 1000-1400 approx from every twenty to half-hourly.
800 Thornhill P&R – John Radcliffe Hospital (M-F). All journeys will loop the JR, serving one side of the road only. Rather than terminating at the JR West Wing and return in the opposite direction via the Main Entrance and Osler Rd, they will return via Headley Rd and London Rd to Thornhill P&R, serving all stops on this new section of route.
900 Thornhill P&R – Churchill Hospital (M-F). All journeys will operate along London Rd, Headington Rd to Brookes University, then as 700 route back to Headington, thence Thornhill P&R.
On July 31st your Editor enjoyed a pleasant 20 minutes in Summertown catching what went by.
E400s 10069 and 10070 are seen working the 700. 10686 and 10688 are working SCO's share of route 2.
Golds 10782, 15761 and 15934 are working the 7's not
always with the correct branding.
10786 and 15759 are seen with S5 workings.
10068 is seen with a 2B service ready to depart from
the City Centre on July 27th by Gavin Francis.
Philip Gates
Stagecoach East Kent have a new service M2 Canterbury to the Greenwich O2
using former NatEx coaches that have returned home, after being used up north
etc.
Pictures shoes 53703 OU10GYK at Chatham Bus station with drivers doing route learning. The service started this week July 22nd 2019.
Thanks for your continued efforts on 'the page', most appreciated.
These coaches started life in 2010 at Oxford used on the NatEx 737 service to Luton and Stansted. How very far they have travelled in the past nine years!
Ex Megabus 50237 is now in the Oxford tube fleet and has been repainted. However some weeks later it still awaits branding and there are reported to be problems with the shade of the red!
Seen at Horspath depot on July 27th by Gavin Francis.
Late news from one of the Oxford spotters, is that tube 50272 failed in the exit of Gloucester Green causing some inconvenience for a short time.
Van Hool Astromegas 50238 and 50241 have been sold to Dawson Rentals.
The six Van Hool Sleeper coaches now with South
Gloucester Bus and Coach are
50302/03/04/06/07/08 and carry SGBC fleet numbers SG46-51. 50302 remains at
Cumbernauld being prepared for service and will become SG45 in the SGBC fleet.
A correction from previously advised information is
that Volvo B11R 54211 carries SGBC fleet number SG52.
Volvo B11R 54265 is at ADL Anston for repairs.
Smaller operators and London developments
Held over until issue 68.
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