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.
