‘Scene in Plymouth’

It’s a couple of years since I was last in Plymouth so a short break in Torbay and ‘Stagecoach’s’ Gold service that runs there from Torquay and Paignton provided me with the wherewithal for a return visit.

 

I actually saw this first bus on my last visit and I was surprised to see that it was still around in this livery. With a registration that starts with a ‘W’, I doubt that it will ever make it back into fleet livery.

 

W716 RHT

A Dennis Trident with East Lancs bodywork operated by First Devon & Cornwall (FDC). Painted in a special ‘Tilling Green’ livery commemorating 80 years of the ‘Western National Omnibus Company’ who were a predecessor of ‘FDC’.

 

The bus was new to ‘First Badgerline‘ in 2000  and spent some time on the Bath City Centre Park and Ride service.

Plymouth Citybus (PC) is the other major player in the City. It’s origins lie in ‘Plymouth Corporation Transport’ which since 2009 has been part of the ‘Go-Ahead’ group

 

X549 EGK

 

A Volvo B7TL with Plaxton President bodywork in service with ‘PC’ as a driver trainer. Formerly ‘Go- Ahead London Central' (GALC) PVL 149.

The livery whilst being similar to ‘PC’ is actually the livery it carried in London.

WG63 HHV

 

An Alexander Dennis Ltd. (ADL) Trident with ‘ADL’ Enviro 400 bodywork. One of a batch of 4 delivered in February 2014.

 

WA54 JVX

A Dennis Dart SLF with Plaxton’s Pointer 2 bodywork of ‘PC’.

 

X201 CDV

Another Dennis dart SLF. This time the short MPD bodied version again bodied by Plaxton. 

 

 Y 735 TGH

Another Volvo B7TL with Plaxton President bodywork that previously saw service in London with ‘GALC’ where it was PVL 235.

This bus carry’s the full ‘PC’ livery as opposed the the scheme carried by the driver trainer pictured earlier.

 

WF63 LZD

 

Another ‘ADL’ Trident with Enviro 400 bodywork painted in the blue version of ‘PC’s livery.

One of four delivered in September 2013 so treated. The Blue livery denoting a branded service linking Plymouth to Tavistock via Yelverton.

Tavistock is 15 miles away from Plymouth and well outside the city limits so presumably was an excursion into ‘FDC’ territory.

 

WK56 PEN

No day out bus watching would be complete without one of Optare’s Solo’s. This being one of ‘Western Greyhound’s (WG) fleet.

The Liskeard operations of 'WG' were taken over by 'PC' in December 2014.

 

WA56 HHN

 

Another ‘ADL’ product this time an Enviro 200 of ‘PC’.

 

'Barbie’ is still alive and at work for ‘FDC’.

W605 PAF

A Volvo B6BLE with Wright Crusader bodywork.

 

WA56 FTV

One more example of the Dennis Dart SLF with Plaxton’s Pointer 2 bodywork.

Further photos can be seen on my Flickr 

‘Scene’ in Chester bus station

A brief visit to Chester on a cold but very sunny winters day produced the following in and around the bus station

 

YD02 PXM

 

A DAF powered BOVA Futura of ‘Albert Wilde and Son Coaches’ who are based at Heage in Derbyshire.

 

Formerly in the fleet of ‘KM Travel’ (KMT) of Barnsley. The basically ‘KMT’ livery looks well with the new owners livery superimposed on it. Driven by ‘Son’ Phillip.

 

Y531 NHK

 

A Dennis Trident with Alexander ALX 400 bodywork on the Chester City Sightseeing service. 

 

Formerly No. 17470 in the ‘Stagecoach Merseyside & South Lancashire’ fleet. It originally worked in Chester during 2013 in an all red livery with no other branding than prominent ‘Stagecoach’ titling.

 

Y969 WDM

 

A Volvo B6BLE with Wright Crusader bodywork working on the ‘Townlynx’ service. Previously with ‘Dublin Bus’ where it was registered 01-D-10041. 

 

MX13 AAY

A MAN A22 EcoCity with Caetano City Gold bodywork. Powered by Compressed Natural Gas (CNG). One of 10 similar, it operates from ‘Arriva North West’s depot at Runcorn.

 

S267 JUA

 

A DAF DB250RS with Alexander ALX400 bodywork. Previously employed in London by Arriva as DLA 67 in dual doored form (H45/17D). It is now single doored (H45/23F) and works out of Winsford depot.

 

CX07 CPZ

 

A VDL SB120 with Wright Cadet bodywork working for ‘Arriva Buses Wales’ out of Chester depot. A bit odd that seeing that Chester is in England.

 

MX07 NTT

An Optare Solo M880SL of ‘Arrowebrook Coaches’ to whom it was new and it operates out of that operators Wervin Road depot in Chester. they also have a depot on the Wirral at Heswell.

 

AA04 GHA

 

A VDL SB120 with Wright Cadet bodywork Working ‘GHA Coaches’ of Wrexham service No. 82 to Northwich Bus Station.

 

SF04 VTE

 

A Transbus International Dart SLF with Plaxton Pointer 2 bodywork currently working for ‘Stagecoach Chester’. Originally delivered to ‘Stagecoach Western’ at Kilmarnock before coming South in 2012.

 

YJ59 GFY

 

An Optare Solo of ‘GHA Coaches’ operating in the ‘deebee’ livery

 

DK09 GYH

 

A Volvo B7RLE with Wright Eclipse Urban bodywork working on the ‘Stagecoach Chester & Wirral’ (SC&W) operated

‘Park & Ride’ branded service funded by  Cheshire West & Chester council.

The history of the bus is unusual in that it was new to ‘First Group’ (FG). ‘FG’ had taken over ‘Chester Bus’ in 2007 and ordered a batch of buses of which this one was a member. 

It was announced in 2013 that ‘Stagecoach’ had taken over the ‘First’ services in Chester, Ellesmere Port, Wirral and Wrexham.

 

 

DK09 GXW

 

Another Volvo B7RLE with Wright Eclipse Urban bodywork with the same history as as DK09 GYH

 

 

Further photos can be seen on my Flickr 

 

‘Scene’ in Manchester

A day out in the Greater Manchester (GM) area with members of my local U3A group recently enabled me to get a good cross section of images.

 

I live in Derbyshire and am able to buy the ‘GM’ ‘Wayfarer’ ticket on the train. The Wayfarer being a go anywhere on any transport mode day ticket. The nearest railway station for me being at at the Southern end of the ‘GM’area is at Grindleford. 

 

The ‘Wayfarer’ ticket is excellent value for money at £12 for adults and £6 for child and seniors concessions.

 

A look at any of the many maps that GMPTE have online will give a flavour of what is available.

 

Most of the images seen here were taken in a quarter of an hour or so either in Piccadilly Gardens or very close by.

 

MX60 BVF

A Dennis Trident 2 Electric Hybrid with Alexander Dennis Ltd. (ADL) Enviro 400 bodywork working for ‘Stagecoach Manchester’ (SM) based at Sharston depot.

 

The livery is the green version of the ‘Stagecoach’ standard which is the same as I have seen elsewhere in England.

SL63 FZN

 

Another of the same wears the same livery but with the addition of route branding for service 256 to Flixton. This is the first time I have seen branding on the ‘Green’ livery.

 

MX09 ASU

 

A Diesel engined Dennis Trident 2 ‘ADL’ Enviro 400 bodywork with ‘SM’ carrying branding for route 38 which links Manchester to Farnworth.

 

‘Magic Bus’ is a Stagecoach brand that was first introduced in Glasgow in 1986. Its purpose is to provide a no frills cheaper service. Usually in areas where strong competition is experienced. Generally operated with older, written down in value buses.

 

That is not to say that the buses used are in any way inferior to the main fleet. Far from it, the buses I saw were immaculate and very well loaded.

 

MW52 UJE

A Dennis Trident 2 with East Lancs Loline bodywork which worked at one time for ‘Dennis of Dukinfield’ an operator that became part of the ‘Stagecoach’ group.

 

 

V168 DFT

A earlier Dennis Trident with Alexander’s ALX 400 bodywork which at one time carried the old ‘Stagecoach’ livery of Orange, Red and Blue stripes on a White base.

 

R291 CVM

A rare Optare Spectra that came into the ‘Stagecoach’ empire when Bullocks Coaches to whom the Spectra was new were taken over in 2008.

 

T705 PND

A Volvo B6BLE with Wright Crusader bodywork.

 

 

YJ60 KCY

 

An Optare Versa Hybrid working on one of the free to all ‘Metroshuttle’ city centre routes operated by ‘FM’.

 

BN61 MWG

Another ‘FM’ bus and another Hybrid, this time a Volvo B5LH with Wright Eclipse Gemini bodywork.

BF63 HCO

Another Wright Gemini Eclipse this time powered by a Volvo B9TL chassis. These magnificent coach seated vehicles work ‘Transdev Burnley & Pendle’s operation branded as’ the witch way’ into Manchester from Nelson, Burnley, Rawtenstall and Prestwich.

 

What a way to travel to work....!

 

TIL 7200

A Volvo B10M with Van Hool Alizee bodywork working for ‘Rigby’s’. Previously believed registered as P76 OEW.

 

Rigby’s are a well known operator based in Accrington.

 

YN06 NZA

Just what a coach branded ‘Stansted-London Non Stop’ is doing in Manchester is anybody’s guess (although I think it was working a service to Manchester Airport).

 

A Scania with Irizar Century bodywork operated by ‘Terravision’

 

YJ05 PWE

A VDL SB4000 with Van Hool Alizee T9 bodywork working for ‘Selwyns Coaches’. 

 

'Selwyns' are a long established operator working across Lancashire and Cheshire with bases in Runcorn, Liverpool and Manchester.

 

The driver of this coach was waiting for traffic lights to change.

 

As I was preparing to take the picture, i noticed him waving. He was trying to tell me that I needed to remove the lens cap from my camera. A nice gesture on his part and certainly better than some other gestures that I get from time to time....!

 

Buses ‘Scene’ in the ‘Southwest’

A few days holiday based in Weymouth allowed me to have a look at what goes on in that part of the world. The coaches of the Southwest have featured in an earlier ‘blog’.

 

‘First Hampshire & Dorset’ (FH&D) are the dominant operator in the area with the usual mixture of old and new buses in old and new liveries.

 

‘Barbie’ is now getting on in years but she is still alive and well............! 

 

W708 PHT

 

A Dennis Trident with East Lancs Myllenium bodywork which has been cascaded from Bristol where at one time it worked in a dark blue livery on the Bath Road Park & Ride operation. Before coming to Weymouth it had a spell in Poole.

V807 EFB

 

A Volvo B6BLE with Wright’s Crusader 2 bodywork picking up on Weymouth’s sea front.

 

P244 UCW

 

A Volvo Olympian with Northern Counties Palatine bodywork. It was new to ‘Centrewest’ working in London (Uxbridge). It moved to ‘First Bristol’ in 2005 and came to ‘FH&D’ in 2009. 

 

W815 EOW

 

A Volvo B7TL with Alexander ALX 400 bodywork which at one time worked in Southampton for ‘First’.

 

R613 YCR

 

A Dennis Dart SLF with Plaxton Pointer 2 bodywork. It previously worked for ‘First Berkshire’.

 

YJ14 BVF

 

An Optare Solo SR. It was so new that the titling/branding had not yet been applied. 

 

SN14 DXG

 

A Wright Streetlte DF was another bus that was bereft of any titling

 

CU08 ADV

 

An Alexander Dennis Ltd. Enviro 200 that was new to ‘First Cymru’ and was one of a batch that came to ‘FH&D’ to modernise the fleet.

 

YN04 GLV

 

A Scania N94UD with East Lancs Omnidekka bodywork. At one time it was painted in the ‘Jurassic Coast’ livery and appears to have recently been repainted.

 

I have never liked this new ‘First’ livery  and I think that without the benefit of advertisements it looks even blander and more half finished than usual.

 

HX08 DHY

A Volvo B7TL with Wright Gemini bodywork working on the X53 ‘Jurassic Coaster’ (JC) service loading in Weymouth. Until it was recently repainted into fleet livery, it appeared in the branded ‘JC’ livery seen 2 images down.

 

YN04 GNY

A Scania N94UD/East Lancs Omnidekka in Bridport seen on the X31 ‘JC’ service.

 

The X31 runs between Axminster and Dorchester whilst the X53 runs between Poole and Exeter. I have travelled on the X53 which takes a full 4 hours. Tiring but worth it !

 

The section between Bridport and Lyme Regis is common to both routes.

 

HX08 DHG

Another Volvo B7TL with Wright Gemini bodywork in the full ‘JC’ livery once more in Weymouth.

 

YJ60 KFV

 

An Optare Versa owned by Dorset County Council on its own Park & Ride service to the Mount Pleasant car park.

 

T640 AJT

 

An Optare Solo seen in Bridport. Part of ‘Damory Coaches’ fleet which is part of ‘Wilts & Dorset’ who in turn are owned by the ‘Go-Ahead’ group.

 

N350 OBC

An Alexander bodied Mercedes-Benz 709D now operated by ‘South West Coaches’ previously worked in Weymouth in a blue livery for ‘Sureline’ who were based on nearby Portland.