‘Scene’ on a PSV Circle Organised Visit ‘Skills’ 1’ on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

The PSV Circle (of which I have been a member for some years) aims to hold an Annual General Meeting in a different location in the UK every year. (Covid permitting).

 

Usually held at a weekend, they also include visits to operators and other bus related venues for the attending members to visit and enjoy.

 

This year, the location was in my part of the world, the East Midlands.

 

‘Skills’ was the provider of our transport for the day and their base at Bulwell in Nottingham was to be our first visit of this the third and final day.

 

SN08 BYA ‘MCEWENS COACHES LTD’.

Volvo B9TL / Wright Eclipse Gemini /1

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

 

MCEWENS COACHES LTD’ are part of the ‘Skills’ group.

 

New to ‘Lothian Buses’ as No. 910.

 

 

 

 

SN08 BYA ‘MCEWENS COACHES LTD’.

Volvo B9TL / Wright Eclipse Gemini /2

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

 

 

 

 

SN17 MVV ‘Skills’.

Alexander Dennis Ltd. (ADL) E40D / ‘ADL’ Enviro 400MMC  

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

SIL 7024 ‘MCEWENS COACHES LTD’.

Transbus Trident / Plaxton President

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

 

New to ‘Lothian Buses’ as No. 676.

 

 

 

 

 

 

SIL 7029 ‘Skills Motor Coaches’.

Volvo B7TL / East Lancs Vyking

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

 

New registered 06-D-22209 to ‘Bus Eireann’.

 

Then registered GX55 NHY to ‘Littles Transport’, Ilkeston, Derbys. From whom it was purchased.

 

 

 

 

 

 

LJ05 BNE ‘Skills’.

DAF DB250 / Wright Eclipse Gemini

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

 

New to ‘Arriva London South’ as No. DW124 but acquired from ‘Copeland’, Meir, Staffs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

LF52 TJU ‘Silverdale OF NOTTINGHAM.

Volvo B7TL / Wright Eclipse Gemini

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

 

New to ‘London Buses’ as No. VWL31 but acquired from ‘London General’.

 

 

 

 

 

T438 JJF ‘MCEWENS COACHES LTD’.

Volvo Olympian / Alexander (Belfast)

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

 

New in 1999 registered 99-D-524 to ‘Dublin Bus’ as No. RV 524.

 

Purchased by ‘Skills’ in 2009 direct from ‘Dublin Bus’.

 

It has worked 13 years for Skills whereas it only managed 10 years with ‘Dublin Bus’.

 

‘Scene’ in Derby once more. Other Operators on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

YK06 DNU ‘Harpurs Coaches’, Derby. BMC Condor

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

 

New to ‘First West Yorkshire’ as No. 68632.

 

This particular image marks friend Peter Rose’s’ debut as a bus photographer in Derby and an excellent image it is.

 

He will soon learn that not all the drivers he encounters in Derby or elsewhere will welcome him with such a lovely smile as this driver did!

 

There was a time when the initials BMC stood for the ‘British Motor Corporation’ which incorporated the car manufacturers Austin and Morris plus others. 

 

Now long gone.

 

Nowadays BMC are a major commercial and military vehicle constructor based in Turkey which was founded in 1964 in that country with 26% of its equity being held by ?? 

 

Yes, the UK’s ‘British Motor Corporation’ !!!

 

 

 

 

V370 DJU ‘Harpurs Coaches’, Derby. Volvo Olympian / Alexander 

‘R’ type /1 on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’ 

 

New registered 99-D-585 number RV585 to ‘Dublin Bus’ in 1999.

 

 

 

 

V370 DJU ‘Harpurs Coaches’, Derby. Volvo Olympian / Alexander 

‘R’ type /2 on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

 

 

 

 

HF54 HGL ‘Littles Travel’ Ltd. Volvo B7RLE / Wright Eclipse Urban /1

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

 

New numbered 118 to ‘Wilts & Dorset’ and wearing the remains of that companies ‘more’ livery.

 

 

 

 

HF54 HGL ‘Littles Travel’ Ltd. Volvo B7RLE / Wright Eclipse Urban /2

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

 

‘Scene’ on Another Trip Down Memory Lane. When ‘trentbarton’ (tb) reached its Centenary /1 on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

To mark the centenary of the company, ‘tb’ held an open day at its Langley Mill depot on Sunday 26th. May 2013.

 

‘trentbarton’, the East Midlands based bus operator started its own journey on 31st. October 1913 when it took over a route from Derby to Ashbourne run by a company called ‘Commercial Car Hirers’ of London who had been running the route since 1909.

 

The company still runs the route initially as service 1. Then to mark that route’s centenary in 2009 it became ‘the one’ and is now ‘the swift’ and the route now runs beyond Ashbourne to terminate at Uttoxeter. (pronounced ‘Uchetter’ by the locals).

 

‘trentbarton’ took over the ‘Midland General Omnibus Company’ in 1969 at the formation of the ‘National Bus Company’ and ‘Barton Transport’ in 1989.

 

It was buses formerly operated by these three companies that made up most (but not all) of the visiting buses on the day.

 

Today, ‘tb’ is part of the ‘Wellglade’ group along with ‘Kinchbus’ of Loughborough, ‘TM Travel’ of Staveley and ‘notts+derby’ of Derby for whom Langley Mill depot provides engineering support.

 

This blog deals with the vehicles pictured in ’trentbarton’s Langley Mill workshops.

 

‘trentbarton’s Big 100th. Birthday Party banner

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

 

 

 

 

M131 PRA ‘trentbarton’ No. 131 ‘L’. Volvo B10B / Northern Counties 

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

 

 

 

 

P256 PSX ‘notts+derby’ No. 28. Volvo Olympian / Alexander Royale

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

 

New to ‘Lothian Buses’ as No. 256.

 

 

 

 

YJ56 KAO ‘TMTravel’. No. 1179. VDL SB120 / Plaxton Centro

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

 

 

 

 

Registration not known. ‘trentbarton’. Scania L94UB / Wright Solar

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

 

All taped up waiting for attention in the paint shop.

 

 

 

 

M130  PRA ‘trentbarton’ No. 130 ‘L’. Volvo B10B / Northern Counties 

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

 

‘Scene’ at the ‘Scottish Vintage Bus Museum’ at Lathalmond on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

It is hardly surprising that a bus museum located about 30 miles away from Edinburgh should attract so many buses from that great City.

 

BFS 1L ‘Lothian Region Transport’ No. 1. Leyland Atlantean AN68 / 

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

 

 

 

 

 

JSX 595T ‘Lothian Region Transport’ No. 595. Leyland Atlantean AN68 / 

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

 

 

 

 

M210 VSX ‘Lothian Region Transport’ No. 210. Volvo Olympian / Alexander  ‘R’

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

 

 

 

SN55 BJX ‘Lothian Buses’ No. 701. Volvo B7TL / Wright Eclipse Gemini 

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

 

Painted in the ‘Harlequin’ livery. This was a variation on the fleet livery to differentiate to intending passengers

low floor buses from step entrance ones.

 

When the entire fleet became low floor the need for differentiation was no longer required so the livery layout reverted to the traditional layout.

 

 

 

LP11 YBA ‘Lothian Country’ No. 593. Volvo B5LH / Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 on

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

 

‘Lothian Country’ came into being when in 2018 ‘Lothian Buses’ announced that the company was expanding beyond Edinburgh into West Lothian.

 

The green based livery harking back to the days when ‘Eastern Scottish’ who employed a similar green based livery worked in the area.

 

New to ‘Bullocks Coaches’ ,Cheadle, Cheshire.

 

One of four in the ‘Bullocks’ fleet that all passed to ‘Lothian’ in exchange for a number of Scania OmniCity’s.

 

 

‘Scene’ at ‘Transpire’s 2019 Bus Rally at Rowsley in Derbyshire /2 on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

‘Transpire’ being the name of ‘The Chesterfield Bus Society’.

 

A major event in my ‘Bus’ calendar. I have attended most if not all of the events over the years.

 

I am always surprised that although I think that I have seen everything that might turn up that on the day there is always something that I have not seen before and is new to me.

 

HW54 BUV ‘ hulleys of Baslow’ No. 22. Dennis Dart SLF / Plaxton Pointer MPD

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

 

New to ‘Musterphantom’ as No. 314.

 

 

 

 

P915 RYO ‘Owner Unknown’. Volvo Olympian. Northern Counties

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

 

New to ‘London General’ in 1996, It moved to fellow London operator 

‘Blue Triangle’ in 2007.

 

Since then it would appear to have had a varied career with someone taking the trouble to remove the original second door.

 

 

 

 

LED 71P ‘Warrington Borough Council’ No.71 Bristol RE / East Lancs

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

 

 

 

 

F810 YLV ‘Merseybus’ No. 810. MCW Metrobus 2 / MCW

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

 

 

 

 

RGF 231P ‘G. E. SYKES’ Bristol LHS6L / Plaxton Supreme

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

 

New in 1976 to ‘Richmond Coaches’.

‘Scene’ in Derby and Nottingham on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

I was in Derby and Nottingham to collect images  for another article.

 

As is always the case, I had to wait for the buses I wanted to put in an appearance so I occupied myself with capturing images of anything else that I thought of interest.

 

This small selection was the outcome.

 

YRC 182 ‘notts+derby’ No. 65. Alexander Dennis Javelin / Plaxton Profile /1

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

 

New to fellow ‘Wellglade’ group company member ‘TM Travel’ as YN09 AOS as No. 1203.

 

Fitted with 70 seats.

 

Pictured in Derby outside the Bus Station.

 

YRC 180, YRC 181 and YRC 182 are ‘cherished’ registrations having been used several times on different vehicles since they first appeared in the ‘Trent’ fleet in 1962. 

 

Their first use was on new Leyland PSUC1/1 Tiger Cubs bodied by Alexander in what was then known as the ‘BET’ style of body.

 

‘BET’ being the ‘British Electric Traction’ federation who at that time were the owners of ‘Trent Motor Traction Co.’ as they were then.

 

 

 

 

 

 

YRC 182 ‘notts+derby’ No. 65. Alexander Dennis Javelin / Plaxton Profile /2

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

 

 

 

 

YJ12 NBB ‘trentbarton’ No. 494 ‘harlequin’. Optare M960 Solo SR

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

 

The ‘harlequin’ is one of ‘trentbarton’s least known routes. 

 

The City terminus is tucked away on Gower Street street (where this image was captured) linking Derby with the village of Heatherton.

 

 

 

 

FB51 JBO ‘notts+derby’ No. 52. Dennis Javelin / Plaxton Premier

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

 

New registerd FJ51 MVN.

 

 

 

 

 

W295 PFS ‘notts+derby’ No. 37. Volvo B7TL / Plaxton President

 

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

 

New to ‘Lothian Buses’ as its No. 295.

 

Pictured in Derby in front of The Council House.

 

 

 

 

T436 JJF ‘Tiger European’. Volvo Olympian-50 / Alexander Belfast RH

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

 

New registered 99-D-533 to ‘Dublin Bus’ in 1999.

 

Pictured in Mansfield Road, Nottingham.

 

 

 

 

X965 DPN ‘Tiger European’. Volvo B7TL / Alexander ALX400

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

 

New registered 00-D-40028 to ‘Dublin Bus’ in 2000.

 

Pictured turning out of Mansfield Road into Shakespeare Street, Nottingham.

 

‘Scene’ at Showbus 2018. The ‘One offs’ part 1 on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

A lot of buses and coaches at ‘Showbus’ do not fit into a group or category such as vehicle type or operator which allows them to be seen together and are simply ‘One offs’.

 

Here are but a few.

 

R738 XRV ‘Diamond Coaches of Rushden’ ‘Lady Patricia’. Volvo Olympian-50 / Northern Counties Motor Engineers 

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

 

New to ‘Musterphantom’ as its No. 738 (See below).

 

Also with ‘Southern Vectis’ (IoW) as its No. 638.

 

It then went to ‘konect buses’ in Norfolk where it appeared in basic ‘Southern Vectis’ livery with ’konect' lettering. Both operators are ‘Go-Ahead’ group companies.

 

For an image in this livery go to my blog dated 08/11/2015.

 

‘Musterphantom’ was a holding company set up to administer ‘Southern Vectis’ after it had been sold by the ‘National Bus Company’ in 1986. Other operatore were formed or acquired by the group including ‘Solent Blue Line’ and ‘West Wight Bus Company’.

 

In 2005 the group was sold to the ‘Go-Ahead’ group and today the companies form part of ‘Go-Ahead South Coast’.

 

 

 

 

 

 

564 KHT ‘North Somerset Coaches’ No. 59. DAF SB220 / IKARUS Citibus 480

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

 

New registered as L510 EHD to ‘Marchwood Motorways’ Totton Hants.

 

It also had a spell on the Isle of Wight with ‘Southern Vectis’ subsidiary ‘Bluestar’ as its No. 505.

 

 

 

 

 

 

J19 XEL ‘Xelabus’ No, 548. Scania N94UD / East Lancs

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

618 KRA ‘Felix’. Bedford SB1 / Yeates Europa

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

 

New in 1959.

 

 

 

 

 

 

HWY 36 ‘Todmorden Joint Omnibus Commitee’. Leyland PD2/1 / Leyland lowbridge /1

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

 

New in 1950.

 

 

 

 

 

 

HWY 36 ‘Todmorden Joint Omnibus Commitee’. Leyland PD2/1 / Leyland lowbridge /2

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

DEZ 9717 ‘Stanways’ (Elliott & Richman), Rode Heath Cheshire. Scania N113RD / East Lancs Cityzen

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

 

New registered W372 PHY to ‘Coombs Travel’, Weston-super-Mare.

 

Interestingly this ‘bus’ has a full complement of coach seats.

 

 

 

 

 

 

WRJ 179 ‘Salford City Transport’ No. 179. Leyland PD2/40 Metropolitan Cammell Carriage & Wagon Co.

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

 

New in 1963.