‘Scene’ in Edinburgh. The Changing Seasons on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

Friend Stuart Montgomery, one of ‘Lothian Buses’ volunteer photographers has recently forwarded a batch of images.

 

From them I have selected 3 which I think beautifully illustrate ‘The Changing Seasons’.

 

As usual with Stuarts images, they are posted without alteration, with his permission and my thanks.

 

 

SA15 VTG ‘Lothian Buses’ No 429. Volvo B5TL / Wright Eclipse Gemini 3

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

 

Blue sky but all that white stuff!

 

 

 

 

P274 PSX ‘Lothian Buses’ No. 274. Leyland Olympian / Alexander Royale

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

 

Not there yet but no white stuff and there is dappled sunshine through the trees.

 

After service in Edinburgh, this bus came to ‘TM Travel’ an operator local to me in Derbyshire.

 

 

 

 

SN08 BWX ‘Lothian Buses’ No. 885. Volvo 9TL / Wright Eclipse Gemini 

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

 

Blue sky and Spring flowers.

 

Magic!

 

‘Scene’ on East Midlands Freight Flows on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

Friend Peter Rose has been out and about with his camera once more and as usual his images are reproduced here with his consent for which I thank him.

 

56081 paired with 56312 ‘GBRf’. BREL built Diesel Electric Locomotives

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

 

Working OZ60 the 12-22 from Leicester to Chesterfield.

 

Apparently the pair did a number of runs too and from to test 56312.

 

 

 

 

70007 ‘Freightliner’. General Electric built Diesel Electric Locomotive

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

 

Not the prettiest of locomotives but look at the weight it moves.

 

Working the 0919 Hope (Earles Sidings)-Walsall Freight Terminal.

 

 

 

 

56113 ‘COLAS RAIL FREIGHT’. BREL built Diesel Electric Locomotive

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

 

Working the 10-50 from Doncaster CHGS to Nottingham Eastcroft.

 

Presumably for work to be done at ‘East Midland Railways’ depot there.

 

 

 

 

66087 paired with 60065 ‘Jaguar’. ‘DB Cargo’. EMD and Brush Traction built Diesel Electric Locomotives 

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

 

Working the 0840 Toton Yard-Belmont.

 

 

 

 

66711 ‘GB Railfreight’ ‘Sence’. ‘AGGREGATE INDUSTRIES’. EMD built Diesel Electric Locomotive

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

 

Working 4M10 the 0710 Wellingborough-Tunstead.

 

 

 

 

66596 ‘Freightliner’. EMD built Diesel Electric Locomotive

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

 

Working the 0608 Leeds FLT - Southampton MCT. Running 148 minutes late.

 

 

 

 

66104 ‘DB Cargo’. EMD built Diesel Electric Locomotive

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

 

Working the 1000 Dowlow Briggs to Toton Yard.

 

 

 

 

70017 ‘Freightliner’. General Electric built Diesel Electric Locomotive

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

 

 

 

‘Scene’ outside Nottingham’s Railway Station (NRS) 2 on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

 

The original ‘NRS’ was opened in 1839 by the ‘Midland Counties Railway’.

 

Substantially rebuilt in 1904 by the now ‘Midland Railway’ using brick, terracotta and faience (a form of glazed terracotta) instead of stone.

 

Further re-worked in 2013 when the trackwork was remodelled resulting in the beautiful building seen today.

 

All of the images in this blog show part of the station exterior in the background.

 

Nottingham  Railway Station frontage 2020

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

 

 

 

 

YN14 MTK ‘Nottingham City Transport’ (NCT) No. 613. N230UD / Alexander Dennis Ltd. Enviro 400 

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

 

Buses painted mainly in  silver are spare buses which can be used anywhere in the system.

 

 

 

 

 

FJ58 KKU ‘trentbarton (tb )No. 725. Volvo B7RLE / Wright Eclipse

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

 

Painted in the maroon livery and branded for ‘mango’ ‘tb’s discounted cashless travel card which indicates a ‘spare’ bus that can go anywhere in the system.

 

 

 

 

YT61 FFN ‘Nottingham City Transport’ (NCT) No. 926. ‘Uni 4 Navy Line’. Scania N230UD / Optare

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

 

YY69 TMV ‘trentbarton No. 144 ‘the cotgrave’. Alexander Dennis Ltd. (ADL) E20D / ‘ADL’ Enviro 200MMC

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

 

 

 

 

YP17 UFB ‘Nottingham City Transport’ (NCT) No. 402 ‘Bridgford Bus’. Scania N280UD / Alexander Dennis Ltd. Enviro 400CBG City 

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

 

‘Scene’ on the Midland Main Line at Duffield on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

Friend Peter Rose has sent me his latest collection of images captured whilst out on his daily walk.

 

As usual they are posted without cropping and with his consent.

 

43357 paired with 43303 ‘CrossCountry’. BREL Crewe built HST

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

 

Working 1V54 the 0808 Edinburgh-Bristol Temple Meads. 

 

I know this location but I have never noticed before how the gradient changes under the bridge.

 

 

 

 

222104 ‘EMR INTERCITY’. Bombardier Transportation built DMU

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

 

Working 1C40 the1129 Sheffield-London St. Pancras

 

The new livery is slowly spreading across the fleet.

 

Whilst I like the new livery, I think that looked at more or less head on that the main colour is very close to the shade of purple used by Cross Country. 

 

Just compare this image with the HST above.

 

‘Abellio’ the operators of the East Midlands franchise has committed themselves to withdrawing these units and replacing them with Class 800’s.

 

I would hope that another operator would find a use for the units which are only 15 years old and I would suggest still have a useful life in them. 

 

It would be a shame to see them scrapped.

 

 

 

 

222005 ‘EMR INTERCITY’. Bombardier Transportation built DMU

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

 

Working 1F20 the 1022 London St. Pancras- Sheffield.

 

 

 

 

156410 ‘EMR REGIONAL’,  Metro Cammell built Super Sprinter DMU

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

 

Working 2A30 the 1039 Newark Castle-Matlock.

 

 

 

 

’Scene’ Down Memory Lane in Bournemouth 1 on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

These days, I suppose that the majority of photographers store their images on hard drives on various computers, tablets etc.

 

So it was with some surprise that I recently discovered some of my older images in that most familiar of storage locations, an old shoe box.

 

All of the images were taken on film in the days before I had graduated to automatic digital cameras so any slight focus or colour problems are due entirely to me.

 

So enjoy this selection dating back many years.

 

TJT 181X ‘Yellow Buses Bournemouth’ No. 181. Leyland Olympian / Marshall

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

 

Pictured at the old Mallard Road depot.

 

 

 

 

ERU 160V ‘Yellow Buses Bournemouth’ No. 160. Leyland Fleetline FE30ALR / Alexander AL80  

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

 

 

 

 

AJT 150T ‘Yellow Buses Bournemouth’ No. 150. Leyland Fleetline FE30ALR / Alexander AL

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

 

Pictured at the old Mallard Road depot.

 

 

 

 

E209 GCG ‘Yellow Buses Bournemouth’ No. 209. Volvo B10M / Alexander RV

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

‘Scene’, Colourful ‘trentbarton’ in Derby 2 on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

‘trentbarton’ (tb) is a major operator in the City of Derby.

 

The company came about in 1989 when ‘Trent’ took over ‘Barton Transport’ who previously had been one of their fiercest competitors.

 

Both companies having their roots in the early years of the twentieth century.

 

‘tb’ are great believers in full colour route branding which helps both Derby and Nottingham where Trent also operate to be the colourful cities that they are.

 

A major unifying factor on the buses across the fleet is the colour ‘swirl’ which normally sits vertically across the bodywork and second window.

 

Just a few more examples then showing this feature. 

 

For part 1 see blog posted 02/02/2021.

 

YX55 ZHT ‘trentbarton’ No. 87 ‘red arrow’. Volvo B11R / Plaxton Elite

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

 

The coaches on the ‘red arrow’ service get their own all red version. 

 

Still after nearly five and a half years of service the flagships of the fleet.

 

 

 

 

YX66 WMP ‘trentbarton’ No. 164 ‘the nines’. Alexander Dennis Ltd. (ADL) E20D / ‘ADL’ Enviro 200MMC

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

 

 

 

YX68 ULJ ‘trentbarton’ No. 137 ‘i4’. Alexander Dennis Ltd. (ADL) E20D / ‘ADL’ Enviro 200MMC

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

 

 

 

 

YJ12 NAU ‘trentbarton’ No. 500 ‘Mango’. Optare M960 Solo SR

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

 

Used as go anywhere buses and for promoting ‘tb’s own electronic travel card.

 

 

 

FJ58 KJV ‘trentbarton’ No. 705 ‘the villager’. Volvo B7RLE / Wright Eclipse

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

YX66 WLV ‘trentbarton’ No. 108 ‘the mickleover’. Alexander Dennis Ltd. (ADL) E20D / ‘ADL’ Enviro 200MMC 

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

 

 

‘Scene’, Colourful AEC Routemasters (RM) Part 4 on ‘Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

I must admit that for the first 20 or so years of their lives I was not particularly interested in them.

 

To me the fact that London was still building half cab buses into the late 1960’s when my home town fleet ‘Sheffield Transport’ and most of the rest of the country had been running ‘modern’ Leyland Atlanteans and Daimler Fieetlines since the late 1950’s only went to ‘prove’ how backward them ‘darn sarth’ were.

 

It must have been at least 20 years later that I actually travelled on an ‘RM’.

 

It was only when ‘London Transport’ started taking them out of service that I took any interest in them at all.

 

This fourth group of images further illustrates the days when complete breaks with traditional liveries were the norm.

 

 

For Part 1 see blog posted 22/05/2019. For part 2 see blog posted 09/06/2019 part 3 posted 05/07/2019.

 

 

 

ALM 63B ‘Mansfield District’ No. 2063. AEC Routemaster / Park Royal 

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

 

New as RM 2063 in1964.

 

 

 

 

FPT 590C ‘Stagecoach Magicbus’. AEC Routemaster / Park Royal 

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

 

New to ‘Northern General’ as No. 2120.

 

 

 

 

 

WLT 980 ‘Mansfield & District’ No. 980. AEC Routemaster / Park Royal 

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

 

New as RM 980 in 1961.

 

 

 

LDS 279A ‘Blackburn Corporation Transport’ No. RM 54. AEC Routemaster / Park Royal 

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

 

New to ‘London Transport’ as VLT 54.

 

Unusual in that having been sold out of service to ‘Clydeside’ and eventually preserved. This bus was re acquired by ‘London Buses’ when a shortage developed.

 

Since preserved again by ‘Ensignbus’.

‘Scene’ recently in Edinburgh on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

Regular readers will know that recently, there have been a number of blogs showing buses in Scotland in general and Edinburgh in particular.

 

The previous blogs all showed the past whilst this one very much shows the present.

 

Friend and Edinburgh resident Stuart Montgomery has sent me images of the latest buses to join the ‘Lothian’ fleet in Edinburgh.

 

Stuart is one of ‘Lothian Buses’ voluntary photographers who specialises in the buses of his home City.

 

It is with his permission for which I thank him, that I re-post his images here.

 

They show the Volvo B8RLE with the MCV eVoRa body.

 

Now I know that the name might not trip off the lips like Leyland Leopard or AEC Reliance do, but I think that you will agree that MCV have come up with a stylish, elegant bus that appears to be well finished.

 

The full batch numbered from No. 66 to No. 95 totals 30 vehicles that are registered SJ70 HNA/B/C/D/E/F/G/H/K/L/M/N/O/P/R/T/U/V/W/X/Y/Z. SJ70 HOA/H. SJ70 HPA/C/E/F/K/L. 

 

SJ70 HNH ‘Lothian Buses’ No. 73. Volvo B8RLE / MCV eVoRa /1 

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

 

 

 

 

 

SJ70 HPK ‘Lothian Buses’ No. 94. Volvo B8RLE / MCV eVoRa 

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

 

 

 

 

 

SJ70 HNF ‘Lothian Buses’ No. 71. Volvo B8RLE / MCV eVoRa 

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

 

 

 

 

 

SJ70 HNH ‘Lothian Buses’ No. 73. Volvo B8RLE / MCV eVoRa /2 

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

 

 

 

 

 

SJ70 HNH ‘Lothian Buses’ No. 73. Volvo B8RLE / MCV eVoRa /3

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

 

‘Scene’, Colourful ‘trentbarton’ in Derby 1 on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

‘trentbarton’ (tb) is a major operator in the City of Derby.

 

The company came about in 1989 when ‘Trent’ took over ‘Barton Transport’ who previously had been one of their fiercest competitors.

 

Both companies having their roots in the early years of the twentieth century.

 

‘tb’ are great believers in full colour route branding which helps both Derby and Nottingham where Trent also operate to be the colourful cities that they are.

 

Many buses have the name ‘trentbarton’ directly beneath the windscreen but not all.

 

A major unifying factor on the buses across the fleet is the multi colour ‘swirl’ which normally sits vertically across the bodywork and windows.

 

Just a few examples then showing this feature.

 

FJ09 XPG ‘trentbarton’ No. 748 ‘the comet’. Volvo B7RLE / Wright Eclipse

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

 

 

 

 

 

FJ55 AAF ‘trentbarton’ No. 671 Scania L94UB / Wright Solar

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

 

Carrying the dark red livery of ‘tb’s ‘spare’ buses.

 

Many of its classmates have already departed to associate company ‘TM Travel’. 

 

Now at the age of 15 it must be coming to the end of its career particularly with ‘tb’ taking delivery of many of the new Alexander Dennis Ltd. (ADL) E20D / ‘ADL’ Enviro 200MMC’s on order.

 

 

 

 

 

FJ58 KKM ‘trentbarton’ No. 718 ‘ilkeston flyer’.  Volvo B7RLE / Wright Eclipse

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

 

 

 

 

 

FJ58 KKD ‘trentbarton’ No. 712 ‘mango’. Volvo B7RLE / Wright Eclipse

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

 

Used as go anywhere buses and for promoting ‘tb’s own electronic travel card. 

 

 

 

 

 

YY18 TRV ‘trentbarton’ No. 212 ‘indigo’. Alexander Dennis Ltd. (ADL) E20D / ‘ADL’ Enviro 200MMC 

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

 

 

 

 

 

FJ10 EHN ‘trentbarton’ No. 490 ‘amberline’. Optare Solo M950

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