‘Scene’ in Buxton

Buxton, the highest market town in England lies close to the borders with Cheshire and Staffordshire but is quite definitely in Derbyshire.

 

When I first came to Buxton, the bus services were in the hands of ‘The North Western Road Car Company’ (NWRCC) then part of the BET Federation group. 

 

With the coming of the ‘National Bus Company’ in 1969, NWRCC was split up being shared between ‘Crosville’, ‘SELNEC PTE’ and ‘Trent Motor Traction’ as it was then. Trent got the Buxton and Matlock operations. 

 

Trent became ‘Trent Buses’ and then ‘trentbarton’ (tb) in 1989 when the company took over the long established company of ‘Barton Transport’.

 

Things stayed that way until April 2012 when ‘tb’ and ‘Centrebus’ subsidiary ‘Bowers Coaches’ of Chapel en le Frith set up a 50/50 joint operation based in ‘tb’s depot at Doveholes. This new venture being called ‘High Peak Buses’ (HPB.)

 

‘HPB’ has a varied fleet mainly comprising of Optare Solo’s. Here are a selection of them.

 

TIL 4051

Is carried by this rather grubby bus. The registration itself has appeared on at least one other ‘Cb’ vehicle whilst working in Luton.

 

MX04 VLV

Was previously operated by ‘Litttles Travel’ of Ilkeston.

 

X233 MBJ

Had an earlier life with ‘Ipswich Buses’.

 

V266 HEC

Was originally with ‘Blackpool Transport’ before going to ‘Holmeswood Coaches’ of nearby Ormskirk before joining HPB.

 

B8 WER

Is another former ‘Blackpool Transport’ bus that came via ‘Holmeswood Coaches’. It was originally registered V263 HEC. Its current registration would seem to relate to ‘Bowers Coaches’ who ‘Cb’ took over in 2007.

 

MX59 AVP

This time a Solo belonging to ‘G & J Holmes’ of Clay Cross operating the challenging Buxton to Chesterfield route. 

 

For many years the ‘transpeak’ (tp) service which runs from Derby to Manchester was a ‘tb’ preserve. The formation of ‘HPB’ and the transfer of the Buxton operations to it included the ‘transpeak’.

 

X232 WRA

An Optare Excel was one of the buses transferred fro ‘tb’ to HPB and it retains the branded ‘tp’ livery it gained in ‘tb’ days.

 

 YN06 CJE

A Scania Omnicity came from within the ‘Cb’ empire having previously worked in Leicester and before that was with ‘Beestons of Hadleigh’ in Suffolk.

 

The seating on this bus is quite hard and as such would not be my first choice on this long cross country route.

 

FJ59 FYT

A Plaxton Centro powered by a MAN 12.240 ‘chassis’. Part of the ‘Cb/HPB’ fleet. I have never seen it in any other livery than green which I always associate with the ‘tp’ service however I have never seen it or know of it operating on that service.

 

A trio of buses that came to HPB as part of the ‘tb’ legacy.

 

FN04 HTU

A Scania L94UB with Wright’s Solar Urban Bodywork on its way to Manchester Airport.

 

L114 LRA

A Volvo B10B with Northern Counties Paladin body wearing the livery of ‘Derby University’ which has a campus in Buxton.

 

X233 WRA

Another Optare Excel wearing this rather shabby version of its former ‘tb’ livery operating a ‘tp’ service to Manchester.

'Scene' on Derbyshire's route 149

The 28th. of October was a busy day when it comes to taking on new ventures. ‘yourbus’ of Heanor were busy with the newly acquired 109 and 113 (see my blog for 28th. of October) while ‘G & J Holmes’ of Clay Cross were busy with the 149. 

A new venture for them linking Alfreton in Derbyshire with Sutton in Ashfield in Nottinghamshire.

Both towns were already linked by ‘trentbarton’ with its ‘9’s service and by ‘Stagecoach’ with its No.1 ‘Mansfield Miller’ service.

The 149 as can be seen from the map links many villages, most of them former coal mining communities with the two termini.

 

This was my first outing on the 149. A very rural route with many twists and turns along narrow country roads and lanes with distant views of the Southern Pennines.

 

 

 

 

 

 

My transport turned out to be MK63 WZZ one of two of ‘G & J Holmes’ recently acquired Alexander Dennis Enviro 200’s. 

Both of these images were taken in Sutton-in-Ashfield bus station.

 

It was my first time on an Enviro 200 so I took the liberty of having a good look at it.

 

I thought it an impressive little bus which was comfortable to ride on and seemingly well able to cope with the job in hand. It is always a good sign when the driver likes his bus !!

 

 

 

'Scene' in Chesterfield 5th. August 2013

I suppose if most enthusiasts were asked "What draws you to a particular bus or type of bus". That amongst the answers would be "Because it's the newest" or "the oldest" or "because in some way it is different from the rest". 

I am no different to you, so the selection here reflects all of the above.

I should also point out that when I say newest, I mean that is to me. You may have seen them before but I may not have.

First then, one of the newest.

MX12 JXV

A Wright 'Streetlite' WF (Wheel Forward).

Part of the 'Mistral' hire fleet, it currently serves G & J Holmes of Clay Cross and is seen loading prior to departure to Buxton on the route 66. (now where have I heard that before).

I like the 'Streetlite'. I have travelled on both versions and find it quite acceptable but wether it will make any serious inroads into a niche that seems to be dominated by Optare's Solo remains to be seen.

Then to not quite the oldest but nearly so.

N362 VRC

A Dennis Lance with an Optare Sigma body.

N362 VRC was built for 'Trent Buses' in 1995, then had a spell with associate company 'Notts & Derby' before coming to Hulleys of Baslow in 2004.

Although it must be coming towards the end of it career, It still looks and sounds well. 

 

So to something that's a bit different.

 

 KX53 VNF

Stagecoach's fleet list shows it as being a Dennis Trident with a Plaxton President body whilst others credit it with being a Transbus product. No matter, we all know what we are looking at.

It is different in that in a town, Chesterfield in Derbyshire that is full of Stagecoach buses with Yorkshire Traction legal titling it is based in Worksop in Nottinghamshire and carries Lincolnshire Road Car legal titling.

I appreciate that there are good reasons for this but to me, it all seemed much simpler in East Midland Motor Services days.

 

More buses 'Scene' in Chesterfield can be seen  here Flickr