‘Scene’ at Bruntingthorpe Airfield Part 2 on Dennis Basford’s ‘railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

For Part one of this feature see blog dated 30 January 2016.

 

Located South of Leicester, the present Bruntingthorpe Airfield opened as RAF Bruntingthorpe in 1942 and in its service days served both the RAF and the USAF.

 

These days it serves a multitude of purposes ranging from storage facility to a flight test centre.

 

Several times a year some of the veteran aircraft that are based there are allowed to perform a fast taxi down the runway and at the point of becoming airborne, their throttles are closed and instead of taking off, they come to a gentle halt.

 

It might sound frustrating, however the attending enthusiasts (and there are many) are treated to the sight and sound of multi engined aircraft at some speed.

 

Not as good as seeing the aircraft in the air maybe but the next best thing.

 

Apart from the ‘performing’ aircraft there are also a wide range of static types a few of which are ‘scene’ here.

 

The SEPECAT Jaguar GR-3A was an Anglo French attack aircraft being a collaboration between ‘Breguet' and the ‘British Aircraft Corporation’.

 

Originally conceived as a jet trainer, it developed into a supersonic strike aircraft with a tactical nuclear capability in addition to its more conventional weaponry.

 

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

 

XZ 382 SEPECAT Jaguar GR-3A.

 

It first flew and was delivered to the RAF in March 1977. 

 

It arrived at Bruntingthorpe during 1988.

 

 

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

8-MV ‘French Air Force’ Dassault Mystere IVA.

 

Built as Constructors No. (CN) 85, the Mystere was a transonic fighter bomber.

 

Powered by a French built derivative of the Rolls Royce Tay engine and armed with 2 30mm cannon.

 

The type also served with the Indian and Israeli Air Forces seeing action with the Israeli’s against Egypt in 1956.

 

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

 

XJ 494 ‘Royal Air Force’ De Havilland  DH110 Sea Vixen FAW 2 (Fighter All weather).

 

It first flew as a FAW 1 in March 1959 and delivered in April of the same year.

 

With 29 new build FAW 2’s and 67 FAW 1’s upgraded between1962 and 1964, it was powered by 2 Rolls Royce Avon 208 engines and armed with either Matra rocket pods or Red Top of Firestreak missiles.

 

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

XX 889 ‘Royal Air Force’ Blackburn (later Hawker Siddeley) Buccaneer S2B.

 

Built in 1974 and delivered to 15 Squadron (Sqn), RAF Germany  in December 1974.

 

In 1982 it went to 208  ‘Sqn’ at Lossiemouth.

 

Between then and March 1994 when it was retired it served with  237 OCU and ’12 Sqn’ where it was painted in the pjnk colour scheme in preparation for its use during Operation Granby in Iraq.

 

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

22+35 ‘German Air Force’ Lockheed F104G Starfighter.

 

At the time of writing, it was engineless but the search for a suitable one continues.

 

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

ZD 610 ‘Royal Navy’ British Aerospace Sea Harrier F/A.2

 

Built in 1985 for the Fleet Air Arm as a Sea Harrier FRS.1.

 

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

5X DAD ‘Olympic Airways’ Boeing 747-221B’.

 

Carrying partial ‘Olympic Airways’ (OA) livery was new as 9V-SQI to ‘Singapore Airways’ in August 1979 before moving to ‘OA’ in 1985.

 

The 5X-DAD currently carried is a Ugandan registration.

 

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

 

ZA 326 ‘Royal Air Force’ Panavia Tornado GR1P.

 

Built in 1983 and used exclusively as a trials machine, the aircraft is currently being restored to fast taxi condition.

 

Painted in what is known as the ‘Raspberry Ripple’ livery which denotes an aircraft based at RAF Boscombe Down and flown by the ‘Aircraft and Armaments Experimental Establishment’ (A&AEE) that was based there.

 

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

 

XR 713 ‘Royal Air Force’ English Electric Lightning F.3

 

Seen in the colours of No. 111 Squadron (Sq.111).

 

Delivered to  ‘Sq 111’ in January 1965 . It later served with No.s 14 and 15 Squadrons together with the Lightning Training Flght before retirement to RAF Leuchars where it was displayed for some years.

 

It then moved the RAF Wattisham Station Heritge group from whom it was acquired in 2014 by the ‘Lightning Preservation Group’ at Bruntingthorpe.

 

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

 

XM 365 ‘Royal Air Force’ Hunting Percival Jet Provost T3.

 

It was delivered to the RAF in August 1959 and eventually served with No’s 1, 2 and 3 Flying Training Schools before being put into store in 1998. 

 

It was sold to ‘Global Aviation’ as G-BXBH in 1993. Passing through various owners, the registration was cancelled in 2002.

 

It came to Bruntingthorpe in May 2010 for restoration.

 

 

‘Scene’ in Sutton Coldfield recently Part 2 onDennis Basford’s ‘railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’ recently Part 2

Hello there,

As you would have noticed if you read my last blog,

For whatever reason some of my images and comments have been turning up on other blogs elsewhere.

Whilst I am grateful for the extra exposure that they give my blog.

I would rather have my work initially appearing under my name.

That being so, I am taking extra care in identifying my work more clearly.

I hope I have explained myself and I thank you for your time and patience.

I was in Sutton Coldfield (SC) on other business but seeing as it was almost three years since I had been there previously, the camera went with me as well.It was a typically cold late winter’s day with strong sunshine set low in the sky creating all sorts of problems with shadows.

 

Challenging conditions then for photography.

 

‘SC’ seems a pleasant, prosperous town that is served mainly by ‘National Express West Midlands’ (NXWM) and ‘Arriva Midlands North ’(AMN).

 

Other operators include ‘Central Buses’ (CB), ‘Midland Classic’ (MC) who work in from Burton on Trent and ‘West Midlands Special Needs Transport’ (WMSNT).

 

For part 1 see Blog dated 11th February 2016.

 

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

 

SN15 LDE ‘National Express West Midlands’ 6722 ADLtd. Enviro 400 MMC.

 

Seen in the depressingly dull ‘Platinum’ livery.

 

Based at Walsall depot.

 

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

V83 MOA ‘National Express West Midlands’ 4056 Volvo B7TL / Plaxton President.

 

Dating from 1999/2000. 

 

This batch of buses must be some of the oldest in the country still in front line service with the original operator.

 

Based at West Bromwich depot.

 

 

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

BU51 RWX ‘National Express West Midlands’ 4274 Volvo B7TL / Alexander ALX 400.

 

Based at West Bromwich depot.

 

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

BU08 DYB ‘National Express West Midlands’ 4781 Scania N230UD OmniDekka.

 

Previously registered BV57 XLC.

 

Based at Perry Barr depot.

 

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

 

BK63 YWY ‘National Express West Midlands’ 4936 Alexander Dennis Ltd. E40D.

 

Based at Perry Barr depot.

 

 

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

 

BK63 YWJ ‘National Express West Midlands’ 4923 Alexander Dennis Ltd. E40D.

 

Based at Perry Barr depot.

 

 

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

YX64 VME ‘Arriva Midlands North’ 4410 Alexander Dennis Ltd. E40D.

 

Based at Tamworth depot and working service from 110 Birmingham to Tamworth.

 

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

YX64 VMJ ‘Arriva Midlands North’ 4414 Alexander Dennis Ltd. E40D. 

Based at Tamworth depot and working service 110 from Tamworth to Birmingham.

 

 

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

FF08 LVL ‘Arriva Midlands North’ 4200 Volvo B9TL /Wright Eclipse Gemini.

 

Based at Tamworth depot.

 

 

’Scene’ in Sheffield 22/03/2016 on Dennis Basford’s 'railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk'

I have decided to re-run these 2 images from my latest blog. 

 

I have seen them on someone else’s blog which to be fair, I do not think is their fault.

 

So, if you are looking at these images on anywhere other than Dennis Basford’s ‘railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk' then that is where I suggest you should be looking

 

So new, I do not know what the chassis is !!

 

BX16 CHD ‘Skills Coaches’ tri axle Caetano Levante. 

 

Working for ‘national express’.

 

BX16 CHD ‘Skills Coaches’ tri axle Caetano Levante. 

 

Working for ‘national express’.

‘Scene’ in Sheffield today 22/03/2016

 

So new, I do not know what the chassis is !!

 

BX16 CHD ‘Skills Coaches’ tri-axle Caetano Levante. 

 

Working for ‘national express’.

 

I have pictured the new ‘Streetdeck’ in Sheffield before but I have not previously had the opportunity to show all four aspects of the bus.

SM65 GGF ‘First South Yorkshire’ 35132 Wright Streetdeck.

 

SM65 LNC ‘First South Yorkshire’ 35137 Wright Streetdeck.

 

SM65 EFE ‘First South Yorkshire’ 35118 Wright Streetdeck.

 

SM65 EFK ‘First South Yorkshire’ 35123 Wright Streetdeck.

‘Scene’ on a Day Out with Dennis to Meadowhall.

This set of images is to illustrate an article written for a magazine called ‘All Things Local’.

 

This community magazine is produced and distributed from a base in Kilburn, Derbyshire and covers large areas of the towns of Ripley and Belper.

 

IF YOU ARE TRAVELLING FROM BELPER, 

 

your first bus of the day will be ‘trentbarton’s (tb) ’the sixes’ from Belper to Ripley.

 

A Swedish built Scania chassis carrying a Wright body produced in Ballymena, Northern Ireland.

 

Here 3 of them are seen ‘lurking’ in Belper Bus Station.

 

FJ55 BZR, FJ55 ABV & FJ55 BZN ‘trentbarton’ 689, 684 & 686 Scania L94UB / Wright Solar.

 

FJ09 XPH ‘trentbarton’ 749 Volvo B7RLE / Wright Eclipse.

 

Onward to Chesterfield from Ripley it is ‘tb’s ‘comet’ which does the honours. 

 

These again are Swedish built chassis this time by Volvo but again they have bodywork built in Ballymena, Northern Ireland.

 

Stagecoach provide the next leg to Sheffield and for this they provide Swedish built chassis from Scania with bodywork by Alexander Dennis built in both Scotland and Scarborough.

 

Branded as Stagecoach Gold these buses are built to a higher specification than normal. The most obvious change from the passenger point of view are the higher quality seats.

 

YN64 AOE ‘Stagecoach Yorkshire’ 15194 Scania N230UD / ADL Enviro 400.

 

From Sheffield City centre to Meadowhall, ‘First South Yorkshire’ provide these up market double deckers again produce by Wright’s in Ballymena, Northern Ireland.

 

SM65 LMY ‘First South Yorkshire’ 35135 Wright Streetdeck.

‘Scene’ going ‘Solo’ in Derby Part 2

 

One of the success stories in the bus world of the last 20 years has undoubtedly been the Optare Solo.

 

Built in a variety of lengths and width’s, there cannot be many bus fleets in the country that the type has not appeared in.

 

My regular stamping ground for many years has been Derby and so I thought I might put together a compilation of the various liveries that have appeared before my camera in the city.

 

This is the second of a short series which will appear from time to time. Part 1 appeared on 17/01/2016.

 

FJ09 MWL ‘trentbarton’ 483 Optare Solo.

 

Introduced by trentbarton (tb) to coincide with the opening of the ‘Royal Derby’ hospital this service leaves the stop outside the hospital in its name.

 

FP51 GXZ ‘trentbarton’ 440 Optare Solo.

Introduced in September 2013, ‘tb’s ZOOM zoomed into Derby from Long Eaton. 

 

It proved to be a very successful service because the Solo’s were replaced by bigger buses.

 

W411 YAL ‘trentbarton’ 411 Optare Solo.

 

Working on ‘tb’s SE7ENS, the 7.1 was designed to link the Villages around Belper with both Belper itself and then on to Derby without having to change buses.

 

V403 JTO ‘trentbarton’ 403 Optare Solo.

One of the first batch of Solo’s in the ‘tb’ fleet and seen in Derby on the ‘FREE Shopper HOPPER’ service.

 

It was the only time I saw this livery and the bus eventually disappeared to help out at ‘High Peak Buses’ in Buxton wearing ‘Notts & Derby’ (N&D) livery.

 

A18 UOD ‘trentbarton’ 456 Optare Solo.

Which started life as FE02 KFC and has more recently become R29 BUS.

 

Pictured in the ‘the five’ livery that linked the city centre with the University and Markeaton Park although working an X17 to Borrowash.

 

X627 ERB ‘trentbarton’ 427 Optare Solo.

Dating from 2000, it has worked on ‘the amberline’ but appears here in ’N&D’ livery.

 

FP51 GXW ‘trentbarton’ 437 Optare Solo.

 

In recent times the ‘tb’ fleet has adopted this dark red as its basic colour but it is used as a background for the company to superimpose either information to the public or adverts for its own services.

 

This being the case with the ‘zigzag’ ticket promotion seen on thid bus which is working a service on the normally route branded ’the sixes’ service.

 

FE02 KDX ‘trentbarton’ 450 Optare Solo.

 

The same again with ‘trentbarton live’ over the basic colour.

 

W416 YAL ‘trentbarton’ 416 Optare Solo.

 

Seen in the earlier brighter red ‘tb’ livery working a ‘Derby Royal’ service and seen at the hospital.

 

 

FG02 BGO ‘trentbarton’ 466 Optare Solo.

 

Strictly speaking, this should not appear in an article about Derby because it carries a livery for a service that only runs between Wirksworth and Matlock however when ‘tb’ re launched its ‘the sixes’ service in March 2014 it did so with a display at Derby Market Place and this bus was part of that display.

 

 

 

 

 

‘Scene’ Coaching on the Isle of Wight

The Isle of Wight is becoming my second home it seems. Getting there by ferry from Gunwharfe Quay in Portsmouth is always an enjoyable experience and it is there, waiting to board that the first two images were captured.

 

BT14 LCT ‘Leon’s of Stafford’ Neoplan N5216-3SHDC Starliner.

 

YN64 AOK ‘Dunwood Travel’ Scania 360EB4 / Irizar i6.

 

‘Dunwood Travel’ of Dudley are part of the ‘Leons of Stafford’ group.

 

EDZ 114 ‘Avanti Coach Travel’ SETRA S250.

 

Originally R762 NFW.

 

‘Avanti Coach Travel’ is the trading name ‘E. Pitchers’ of Blofield, Norwich and the coach was with a company called ‘Hodson’s before that.

 

YT62 HZY ‘P & D York Travel’ Scania 360EB4 / Irizar i6.

 

‘P & D York Travel’ are based in Wolverhampton. 

 

It was previously operated by ‘Solus Coaches’ of Tamworth.

 

TL07 DGE ‘Group Travel’  (‘Moon & Benney’) SETRA S415GT-HD.

 

‘Moon & Benney’ hail from Bodmin in Cornwall.

 

The livery and the registration however identify the coach as previously being operated by ‘Lodge Coaches’ of High Easter, Chelmsford, Essex.

 

MT61 HUP ‘Happy Days’ Neoplan Tourliner.

 

‘Happy Days’ are based in Stafford.

 

What an excellent choice of company name and livery.

 

BX14 KPE ‘Globe Holidays’ King Long XMQ6129Y.

 

Chinese built and operated by ‘Globe Holidays’ of Barnsley, South Yorks.

T871 JBC ‘A.L.S Travel’ MAN 24.400 / Noge Catalan.

 

‘A.L.S Travel’ are based on the Isle of Wight at Lake near Sandown.

 

It was new to ‘Bennett’ (Hamiltons of Uxbridge) in March 1999 before moving to ‘Irvine’, Law in Scotland in 2003 and then to ‘Calne Travel’ where it was re registered EIG 3277.

It then went to ‘Swallow’ of Rainham in Essex before moving to ‘Anicks Travel’ of Bristol.

 

All that before finding yet another home on the IoW !

 

CDL 647 ‘Seaview Services’ Volvo B12B / Van Hool Alizee.

 

Owned by ‘Robinson’, of Sandown who trade as ‘Seaview Services’.

 

New to Nuttall (Redline Coaches) of Penwortham, Lancashire as YK04 FWB. 

 

It was re registered by them to 12 RED in February 2009.

 

It regained its original registration when it passed via ‘Plaxton’ sales in 2011 to 

 

‘M&M Coaches’ of High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire.

 

It then worked for ‘Amport & District’ at Thruxton in Hampshire in September 2012 before coming to its current owner in October 2012 who re registered it yet again to its current mark.

 

YJ13 GZB ‘Birmingham International Coachways’ Van Hool TX15 Alicron / Van Hool.

 

YD02 PXM ‘Albert Wilde & Son Coaches’ Bova Futura.

 

‘Albert Wilde & Son Coaches’ are local to me being based in Heage in Derbyshire.

 

Previously operated by ‘K & M Coaches’ of Chesterfield.

 

JMM 758B 1964 Morris Minor.

 

The first car ever to appear in my blog.

 

I could not resist this because my very first car was the same model in the same colour but not I might add in this condition.

 

The total instrumentation was a speedometer which had a mileometer set in it, a battery charge light at one side balanced by an oil pressure light at the other and that was it.

 

To cap it all, for a pound sterling I got 4 gallons of petrol and some change.

 

Those really were the days !!!