Once more, I was able to attend the show, as a guest of Mr. Patrick Dawson, Chief Executive of 'Community Transport for Town and County' (CT4TC) who also happens to be my employer on a now and then basis.
I have been attending these shows for some years now and I am always impressed with the effort that manufacturers put into their products.
As someone who grew up after the war with Leyland PD 2’s and AEC Regent 3’s in Sheffield, I am in awe at the sophisticated vehicles on display. The leaps and bounds of technological advancement shows no sign of letting up and I look forward to another year of seeing that technology appear on the streets.
I will not attempt to cover the show in any great detail. That has and will be done by the professional magazines. Instead, I will pick out the bits that appealed to me and I will start with a look at the vehicles that I might expect to appear in my part of the world i.e. the East Midlands.
‘yourbus’ are a relative newcomer in the region being based in Heanor close to the Nottinghamshire/Derbyshire border.
They operate a fleet that has a substantial number of Mercedes-Benz Citaro’s in it but it was a surprise to see this bus in a variation on their normally all maroon livery.
To my eyes, it has the look of ‘Lothian’s livery about it. However, I think that the colours and the style of application is excellent and it will no doubt brighten up Heanor marketplace on a dark, misty winters morning.
‘Arriva Midlands’ have over the past year or so introduced its up market ‘Sapphire’ branded routes across the country.
Derby only recently receiving a quota of Alexander Dennis E400’s for the duties on route 38. (see my blog dated September 7th. 2014).
So another surprise was in store when an additional bus in the same route 38 livery was on display but this time the surprise was the vehicle type.
Wright’s of Ballymena are producing the ‘Streetdeck’ double decker body in both hybrid, diesel and Integral forms. On the hybrid and diesel options, it will be called the Gemini 3.
So, if it comes to Derby, will it be a ‘Loan Ranger’ or can we expect to see more of them ?
And now for something completely different.
‘Coopers Tours’ are a well known and respected operator in the East Midlands so the third surprise for me was this coach in their livery produced by a company that is new to me.
TAM are a Slovenian manufacturer who produce this coach called the ‘Vive’. Built to length of 10 metres or thereabouts and powered by a MAN DO836 diesel engine it will be interesting to see how it fares in the British market.
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