A 'Day out with Dennis' to Buxton

For the past year or so, I have been writing articles for a community magazine based in the Derbyshire village of Kilburn. The magazine called 'all things Local' is distributed free to 9,000 homes in Belper and Ripley. Apart from advertisements it carries all manner of general interest articles and information. It is widely read and indeed, copies of it can be hard to come by if you do not live in the two towns.

My contribution is to describe a variety of days out more or less locally that can be undertaken by anybody of any age. The purpose is to get folks out and about to enjoy the beautiful part of England in which they live.

I have provided a link from the articles to illustrations of the vehicles used that can be found here on by blog. So here goes !!

A Day out with Dennis to Buxton

 

The major local bus operator is ‘trentbarton’ (tb) which covers a large area of the East Midlands.

 

'tb' is an operator that has been known by various names including the word 'Trent' and during 2013 celebrated its 100th. birthday

 

Here we see a Swedish built Scania chassis carrying a Spanish built body by Irizar operating a ‘red arrow’ service approaching Derby bus Station.

Another Scania chassis this time with a Wright built body again approaching Derby bus station.

 

The body this time coming from Wright’s factory at Ballymena in Northern Ireland.

 

The ‘sixes’ service another ‘tb’ route links many towns along the A6 corridor going as far North as Bakewell, East to Ripley and West to Wirksworth.

 

‘tb’ also operate the Derby to Ashbourne and then on to Uttoxeter service.

Called ‘swift’ by ‘tb’, this bus has another Wright body this time powered by another Swedish built chassis. This time from Volvo.

 

Sometimes it is necessary to substitute another bus for the regular one. The maroon bus (which is in 'standard' livery is another Scania/Wright combination doing just that.

 

High Peak Buses (HPB), based just outside Buxton is a joint operation being owned equally by ‘tb’ and a company called ‘Centrebus’ based in Leicestershire. ‘Centrebus’ is a privately owned company with wide bus interests stretching from the home counties up into Yorkshire.

 

The 442 Ashbourne to Buxton service is generally run by buses made in Yorkshire by a company called Optare. The model’s name is the ‘Solo’. The Solo has been a major successes for Optare in recent years with many hundreds in service up and down the country.

 

Another HPB vehicle is another type produced by Optare. This time called the ‘Excel’ it is a bigger bus than the Solo carrying more passengers.

 

This one is seen operating the Manchester to Derby ‘transpeak’ service which for many years was a ‘tb’ route. it was handed over to HPB when the company was formed in 2012.

 

 

Another Optare Solo in the fleet of ‘G & J Holmes’ operates the Buxton to Chesterfield route. 'Holmes’ are a small independent operator based in Clay Cross.

 

Finally we have another ‘tb’ red arrow. This time a newer Scania with a later style of Irizar bodywork fitted. 

 

This particular picture was taken on a beautiful warm summers day (do you remember them ?) in the summer of 2013.