‘Scene’ ‘North of the Border’ 4 on Dennis Basford’s ‘railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

 

A recent short break in Scotland produced a variety of images. Some, I thought were a bit special.

 

So this is the fourth in a short series. Let me know if you like them.

 

The previous posts in this series were on 18/06, 29/06 and 24/07 this year.

 

‘Lochs & Glens Holidays’ (L&G) operate a fleet of Jonkheere SHV bodied Volvo’s. Some are carried on the B13R chassis and others are on the B12BT.

 

Many are operated by ‘L&G’ but some are owned and operated under contract to ‘L&G’ by ‘Proctors Coaches’ of Leeming, North Yorkshire in ‘L&G’ livery.

 

This set of images were taken at Moffatt Mill Services just after a torrential downpour.

 

 

 

FJ60 EJV ‘Lochs & Glens’ Volvo B12BT / Jonkheere SHV

on Dennis Basford’s ‘railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

 

FJ60 EJV ‘Lochs & Glens’ Volvo B12BT / Jonkheere SHV /2

on Dennis Basford’s ‘railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

 

FJ60 EJV ‘Lochs & Glens’ Volvo B12BT / Jonkheere SHV /3

on Dennis Basford’s ‘railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

 

FJ60 EJV ‘Lochs & Glens’ Volvo B12BT / Jonkheere SHV /4

on Dennis Basford’s ‘railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

‘Scene’ Out and About 20 October 2015

It was one of those bright Autumn days when the sun invariably either dazzles or casts deep shadows so I thought it ideal for a quick trip out with my camera.

 

Starting as usual in Derby, I next went to the East Midlands Airport’s small 4 bay bus station before finishing up in Loughborough.

 

YN53 CFK

A Scania N94UD with East Lancs bodywork. One of a batch bought by ‘Wellglade’ group member Notts & Derby from Nottingham City Transport where it was No. 724.

 

YX65 ZHK

A Volvo B11R with Plaxton Elite bodywork.

 

It has been some years since Plaxton bodied Volvo’s were introduced onto ‘red arrow’ work by ‘trentbarton’ so its nice to see the combination re entering the fleet.

 

Scheduled for introduction to full service this coming Sunday it was doing wheelchair training amongst other things today.

 

 

YRC 182

The last time that the Volvo/Plaxton (B10M/Interurban) combination joined the fleet is represented here and yes it was still working up and down the A52 today nearly 20 years later. 

 

I hope that the Elites last as long.

 

FN04 BTE

 

A Scania Irizar Century dating from 2004 still looks well and it will be interesting to see what its future holds.

 

L127 LRA

A Volvo B10B with Northern Counties Paladin bodywork of ‘Notts & Derby’.

Two weeks after the ‘Farewell’ running day ‘127’ was still earning its keep.

 

NH15 SDH

 

A Mercedes-Benz Tourismo of ‘National Holidays’ (NH). 

 

For some years ‘NH’ who are part of the ‘Shearings’ group have regularly bought Setra’s but with the non availability these days of that marque have switched to another German made product.

 

BX64 WJA

‘Wellglade’ group member ‘Kinchbus’ of Loughborough last year took delivery of a batch of Mercedes-Benz Citaro’s for the ‘skylink’ service linking Derby with Loughborough via The East Midlands Airport.

 

BN09 FWW

 

‘Wellglade’ (WG) group member ‘trentbarton’ took delivery of a batch of 6 Mercedes-Benz Citaro’s  in 2009 for the

‘Calverton Connection’ service operating in Nottingham.

 

They have recently been withdrawn and transferred to fellow ‘WG’ group member ‘Kinchbus’.

 

Here ‘FWW’ is working on the ‘skylink’ service deputising for a route branded vehicle.

 

FN04 HSE

A Scania L94UB with Wright Solar Urban bodywork of ‘trentbarton’ working the ‘skylink’ service from Nottingham to the East Midlands Airport deputising for what would normally be a route branded vehicle.

 

This ‘TEAM TRENTBARTON’ branding is an addition that I have not previously seen.

 

SW10 VNS

A Volvo B12R with Plaxton Elite bodywork working for Nottingham based ‘Skills Coaches’ on a ‘National Express’ (NE) service 240 to Bradford.

 

Acquired from ‘Parks of Hamilton’ and still carrying its ‘Citylink gold’ livery.

 

This coach was one of a number that have been purchased to enable ‘Skills to work ‘NE’ services previously operated by ‘Yourbus’ of Heanor.

 

X14 PSW

A Volvo B7TL with Alexander ALX 400 bodywork in the always immaculate 

‘Paul S. Winson’ fleet of Loughborough.

 

‘Scene’ On the Buses in Sheffield

Another visit to my home town where the first two images were taken in the City Centre whilst the rest were taken at Meadowhall.

Meadowhall, on the outskirts of Sheffield is a major shopping complex serving the needs of  Sheffield, Rotherham and Barnsley.

Built at the side of the M1, it is very well provided with transport links boasting its own passenger interchange served by trams, trains and of course buses.

 

YG52 DHC

 

An Optare Solo of ‘Wellglade’ group operator ‘TM Travel’ (TMT). Liveried for ‘Sheffield’s Line 4’ linking the suburb of Bents Green with the City Centre.

New to ‘Powell’ of Ledbury it passed to ‘TMT’ in October 2007.

 

It was previously liveried in the blue/white ‘Travel South Yorkshire’ (TSY) livery and carried additional branding celebrating the 150th anniversary of the founding of Sheffield FC in 1862. Sheffield FC being the oldest football club in the world.

 

MX03 YDF

 

Another Optare Solo of ‘TMT’ carrying that companies standard livery of the time. 

 

Again previously carrying the ‘TSY’ livery having operated in Doncaster on a Park and Ride service.

 

YS02 YXT

 

A Volvo B12M with Plaxton Paragon bodywork of ‘megabus.com’ departs on its way to Leeds.

 

SF62 CRK

A Volvo B12R with Plaxton Elite i bodywork of ‘megabus.com’ calls on its way to Glasgow.

 

V112 MVX

A much older Plaxton built body (a Pointer 2) is carried by this Dennis Dart SLF of ‘Powells Bus’ of Hellaby. 

Previously working for ‘Stagecoach East London’. It spent some time at Kettering in storage before coming North.

 

V784 FKH

Another of the same but not carrying any titling.

Again with a London connection. It was new to ‘London United’ operating in central London from Shepherds Bush garage before a spell at Hounslow until 2011 and coming to ‘Powells’ in 2013. 

 

SM13 NDL

A Wright ‘Streetlite MAX DF working in the fleet of ‘First South Yorkshire’ (FSY).

‘First’ group have taken to the ‘Streetlite’ in a big way and this is just one of many.

 

YJ57 EHB

Another Optare Solo from ‘TMT this time in the livery of ‘Rotherham’s Line 31’.

It was originally branded for ‘TSY’s ‘Free Bee’ city centre service which as its name implies was free to all comers. They were so popular that the Solo’s were replaced by bigger Plaxton Centro bodied buses in 2008.

They in turn were replaced by Alexander Dennis Limited Enviro 200‘s when ‘FSY’ took over the contract.

Due to funding cuts the service was discontinued in early 2013.

 

Y867 PWT

A further Optare Solo seen in what I know as ‘TMT’s ‘old’ livery.

 

FJ61 GZA

This Volvo B9R with Caetano Levante bodywork is part of ‘Travelstar European’s small fleet of coaches working on ‘National Express’ contracts. Seen heading North to Bradford.

 

YN60 ACJ

Another Volvo B9R this time with Plaxton Elite bodywork.

It is part of a member of ‘Stagecoach Yorkshire’s fleet and is based in Chesterfield. Seen on its way to Halifax.

 

X856 UOK

A Volvo B7TL with Alexander ALX 400 bodywork still wearing ‘First’ groups ‘Barbie’ livery. Part of the ‘FSY’ fleet. I doubt that a vehicle this old will ever make into the latest fleet livery.

 

Now a trio of Volvo’s B9TL’s with Wright Eclipse Gemini bodies shown to illustrate some variations in livery. All working for ‘FSY’.

 

YN07 MLE

 

Seen on the X78 Doncaster/Sheffield service carrying ‘Rotherham’ branding.

 

 

YN07 MLJ

 

Seen on the same service and branded for the X78.

 

YN08 LCL

Again working on the X78 but carrying the livery of ‘FSY’ constituent ‘Rotherham Corporation Transport’.

 

It being painted as such to celebrate 100 years in 2013 since buses first (no pun intended) ran in Rotherham.

 

This panel at the foot of the stairs shows images of a cross section of buses employed by the Corporation and its successors in that time.

‘Scene’ at Sheringham

I recently had a day out on the North Norfolk Railway (NNR) which runs from Sheringham via Weybourne to Holt. (A further ‘blog’ will appear in due course). The day was a father’s day outing paid for by my son Andrew and his wife Joy.

 

The roadway outside the ‘NNR’s station is where the local buses start their journeys and it is there that a bus shelter which is decorated with the mural seen below is located.

 

It depicts a ‘Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway’ 4-4-0 locomotive No. 55 and a coach both painted in what was the ‘M&GNJR’s golden ochre livery.

 

The ‘M&GNJR’ was one of many small railways located in the East of England which eventually went into making up the LNER.

 

YJ57 EHO

An Optare Solo of ‘Norfolk Green’ (NG) carrying the ‘Coasthopper’ livery. The ‘Coasthopper’ runs from Kings Lynn in the West to Cromer in the East and should you care to do the full journey, it would take about two and a half hours to do so.

 

‘NG’ were taken over by ‘Stagecoach’ (SC) in late 2013 and unusually, the buses acquired have not been painted into ‘SC’ livery. The decision to retain the ‘NG’ livery being underlined recently by the delivery of standard ‘SC’ vehicles painted in ‘SC’s livery style albeit in ‘NG’ colours.

 

Another ‘big group’ operator in the area is ‘konectbus’ now a member of the ‘Go-Ahead’ (GA) group.

 

R739 XRV

 

Their contribution to the day was this Volvo Olympian/Northern Counties bodied part open topper that the driver very kindly positioned for me so that I could get this shot.

 

The bus appears in the full livery that it ran in when it was part of the Southern Vectis’ (SV) fleet on the Isle of Wight (IoW). ‘SV’ being another ‘GA’ group member. 

 

The branding on the bus has obviously been changed to reflect its current workplace. 

 

I have ridden on it on the ‘IoW’ in the past and it is nice to see it looking as well as it does.

 

 Local operator’ Sanders Services’ of Holt were represented by,

 

 YN03 UWF and YN03 UWH a couple of Scania CN94UB Omnicities.

 

 

 

 

YJ03 PKZ

 

A Wright Cadet bodied DAF SB120 which was until recently with ‘Neaves Coaches’ of Catfield.

 

OU05 AVB

A Volvo B9TL with East Lancs Myllenium Nordic bodywork. Previously operated by ‘Weavaway’ of Newbury.

A magnificent bus....!

 

 

ODO 798

Visitng for the day was a Volvo B12R with Plaxton bodywork. Operated by ‘Fowlers Travel’.

 

The legal titling gives the address as Holbeach Drove and I must confess it has fascinated me what or where Holbeach Drove is since I first saw it mentioned in ‘Buses Illustrated’ many years ago.

 

The registration is cherished by ‘Fowler’s because it has appeared on a number of the companies vehicles in the past.