‘Scene’ in Scotland. ScotRail HST’s on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

Whilst on holiday in Scotland recently friend Peter Rose caught up with some of the activities on the rails.

 

As usual with Peter’s railway work his images are not edited by me and are reproduced here with his permission and my thanks.

 

One of the most notable feature of recent times has been the adoption of short 4 coach rakes of coaches with an HST power car at either end.

 

I sampled this type of formation some time ago on the ‘Great Western Railway’ and observed that the acceleration rate was phenomenal.

 

 

43179 ‘ScotRail’ paired with 43015. BREL Crewe built HST

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

 

Pictured working 1B14 Inverness to Edinburgh at Edinburgh Haymarket.

 

The provision of all that overhead electricity supply seems to cry out for bi-mode trains.

 

 

 

 

43036 ‘ScotRail’ paired with 43034. BREL Crewe built HST

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

 

Pictured working 1B24 Aberdeen to Edinburgh at North Queensferry.

 

 

 

 

43150 ‘ScotRail’ paired with 43126. BREL Crewe built HST

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

 

Pictured working 1B31 Inverness to Edinburgh at Inverkeithing.

 

 

 

 

43183 ‘ScotRail’ paired with 43028. BREL Crewe built HST

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

 

Pictured working 1B35 Aberdeen to Edinburgh at Inverkeithing.

 

‘Scene’ in Chesterfield once more ‘Hulleys of Baslow’ 3 on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

YR10 AZA ‘Hulleys of Baslow’ No. 24. Scania N230UB / Scania Omniciti /1

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

 

New as No. 51 to ‘Menzies’ Heathrow.

 

Prior to being with ‘Hulleys’, it was with ‘Xelabus’, Hampshire.

 

 

 

 

YR10 AZA ‘Hulleys of Baslow’ No. 24. Scania N230UB / Scania Omniciti /2

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

 

 

 

YR10 AZA ‘Hulleys of Baslow’ No. 24. Scania N230UB / Scania Omniciti /3

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

‘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’ in Derby yet again. ‘NOTTS & DERBY TRACTION CO. LTD. (n+d) on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’.

‘notts+derby’ together with ‘trentbarton’, ‘Kinchbus’ based in Loughborough and ‘TM Travel’ based in Staveley are all members of the ‘Wellglade’ group.

 

‘n+d’ operate in Derby mainly on contract work.

 

YN05 GZB ‘n+d’ No. 600. Scania L94UB / Wright Solar

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

 

New to ‘Felix’ of Stanley who were taken over in 2011.

 

‘Felix’ was a long standing operator in East Derbyshire with a history going back to the 1920’s.

 

Operating on their own behalf, they also had joint operations with ‘trentbarton’.

 

The bus side of the business was taken over by the ‘Wellglade’ group in 2011 whilst the coaching side of the business were taken over by ‘Swiftsure’ coaches of Swadlincote who themselves went out of business in 2019.

 

An interesting story concerning ‘Felix’ was that for many years they used the ‘Felix the cat’ logo in its livery and advertising. 

 

Felix was/is a cartoon character dating back many years.

 

This use was drawn to the notice of the American company which owned the copyrite who objected to its use.

 

As a consequence, its use by the company was discontinued.

 

 

 

 

FN54 AEX ‘n+d’ No. 660. Scania L94UB / Wright Solar

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

 

New  to ‘trentbarton’.

 

 

 

R27 BUS ‘n+d’ No. 453. Optare Solo M920

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

 

New registered to ‘trentbarton’ as FE02 KEK.

 

It was also registered A20 UOD at one time.

 

 

 

 

FJ09 MVZ ‘n+d’ No. 475. Optare Solo M950

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

 

‘Scene’ in Dunfermline, Scotland 2 on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

‘Scene’ in Dunfermline, Scotland 1 which regular readers/viewers of my blog posted on 11/06/20021 may remember featured images gathered by friend Peter Rose on a recent trip there.

 

The subject of that blog was ‘Stagecoach’s express yellow service livery on Volvo B11R / Plaxton Elites working for the ‘East Scotland’ division of the group.

 

That blog has been very well received and has gathered a substantial number of ‘hits' from yourselves in the few days since it was posted.

 

So, more Volvo / Plaxton Elites for this blog seems like a good idea.

 

Peter’s images are used with his permission.

 

YX67 UPC ‘Stagecoach East Scotland.’ No. 54358 ‘Stagecoach express’. Volvo B11RT / Plaxton Elite

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

 

I think that this variation on ‘Stagecoach’ groups traditional livery is superb.

 

Based at Glenrothes depot.

 

 

 

 

A16 RNY ‘Stagecoach Fife Scottish Omnibuses Ltd.’ No. 53701. ‘Rennies’. Volvo B9R / Plaxton Elite /1

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

 

New as OU10 GYH.

 

The A16 RNY plate would appear to be a ‘cherished’ registration.

 

‘Rennies of Dunfermline’ was a long established (1947) independent operator which was taken over by ‘Stagecoach’ in 2008 but appears to continue to operate as a separate unit.

 

Based at Cowdenbeath, depot.

 

 

 

 

A16 RNY ‘Stagecoach Fife Scottish Omnibuses Ltd.’ No. 53701. ‘Rennies’. Volvo B9R / Plaxton Elite /2

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

 

‘Scene’ in Manchester Trains 2 on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

Friend Peter Rose and I recently had a joint day out rediscovering the delights of both rail and road transport in this great city.

 

For part 1 see blog posted 30/05/2021.

 

Being more rail oriented than road, Peter settled for a spell at Heaton Chapel railway station.

 

The station used to be called Heaton Chapel & Heaton Moor as seen on the running in board which I believe to be a replica.

 

The station is now just called Heaton Chapel.

 

The station is on the mainline to the South of Manchester but to the North of Stockport.

 

His images are reproduced here with Peter’s permission and my thanks. As usual, they have not been edited by me.

 

769442 Flex ‘Northern’. Wabtec, Loughborough built bi-mode multiple unit

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

 

Something of a coup for Peter. 

 

This class of unit had only entered service a few days before this image was taken.

 

One of 8 units introduced to work  from Southport via Manchester to Staleybridge/Alderley Edge.

 

These units originally built by BREL at York as class 319 (see image in blog posted  30/05/2021). 

 

They were converted by Wabtec (formerly Brush) at Loughborough to run on either 25 Kv 50Hz AC overhead electricity or under diesel power my virtue of a pair of MAN D2876 engines, one located under each power car.

 

Working 2K86 the 11-16 Southport to Alderley Edge.

 

 

 

 

 

323238 ‘Northern’. Hunslet Transportation Projects built electric multiple unit

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

 

One of 43 sets built by Hunslet at Leeds between 1992 and 1993. 

 

They were the only units built by the company.

 

Working 2H85 the 11-56 Stoke-on-Trent to Manchester Piccadilly.

 

 

 

 

331006 ‘Northern’ Civity. CAF built electric multiple unit 

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

 

The Spanish based builder has produced 43 of these units.

 

Working 2H07 the 11-28 Blackpool North to Hazel Grove.

 

 

 

 

220022 ‘cross country’ Bombardier Transportation built diesel multiple unit

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

 

One of 34 units built by Bombardier in Belgium.

 

Pictured working 1O18 the 12-27 Manchester Piccadilly to Reading.

 

‘Scene’ in Manchester. Not Quite What I Expected on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

The weather forecast for the day I was in Manchester was for sunshine all day. 

 

So as I sat having my lunch at Shudehill Interchange where it was pouring with rain there were couple of buses which were certainly not what I had expected.

 

The first was was a single decker in the livery of ‘Midland Classic’ (MC) of Burton on Trent (BoT) which was operating service 97 to Bury.

 

For those who do not know either the operator or the town. 

 

‘MC’ is one of my favourite operators who usually work out of ‘BoT’ which is in Staffordshire that according to Google maps is 73 miles away from Manchester.

 

My first thought that it was a bus that ‘MC’ had sold where the new owner had not as yet got round to repainting it but no!

 

After enquiring from the driver who was very polite and informative it would seem that this bus and one other was being leased to ‘Go Northwest’ for some weeks to cover for disruptive industrial action in that company.

 

YN05 GXJ ‘Midland Classic of Burton’ No. 79. Scania L94UB / Wright Solar /1

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

 

New as No. 1009 to ‘Reading Transport’.

 

 

YN05 GXJ ‘Midland Classic of Burton’ No. 79. Scania L94UB / Wright Solar /2

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

 

 

YN05 GXJ ‘Midland Classic of Burton’ No. 79. Scania L94UB / Wright Solar /3

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

 

 

 

PJ02 RDZ 'redroutemaster.com'. Volvo B7TL / Plaxton President

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

 

No sooner had the ‘Midland Classic’ bus departed when this elderly Volvo B7TL / Plaxton President appeared.

 

Again, it  was being leased to ‘Go Northwest’ for some weeks to cover for disruptive industrial action in that company.

 

New as No. PVL294 to ‘London General’ who’s livery it is still wearing.

 

Incidentally, 'redroutemaster.com' are based in West London!

 

Pictured working service 98 to Bury.

 

‘Scene’ in Dunfermline. Scotland 1 on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

Friend Peter Rose has recently been promoted from gathering images of railways to the more unpredictable world of gathering images of buses.

 

This small selection gathered whilst visiting friends gets him off to an impressive start.

 

‘Stagecoach’ group introduced a range of new liveries in 2020. 

 

The local ones have been illustrated previously on my blog in both Chesterfield and Manchester.

 

However, in my part of the world, the express services livery has yet to pass in front of my camera.

 

Based at Aberhill depot and working service X27 from Glasgow Buchanan Street to Glenrothes.

 

YY65 SXL ‘Stagecoach East Scotland’ No. 53804. Volvo B11R / Plaxton Elite

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

 

 

 

 

YY65 SXN ‘Stagecoach East Scotland’ No. 53806. Volvo B11R / Plaxton Elite

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

 

 

 

 

YY65 SXU ‘Stagecoach East Scotland’ No. 53812. Volvo B11R / Plaxton Elite

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

 

 

 

 

YY65 SXM ‘Stagecoach East Scotland’ No. 53805. Volvo B11R / Plaxton Elite

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

 

‘Scene’ in Derby yet again. ‘NOTTS & DERBY TRACTION CO. LTD. (n+d) 1 on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’.

‘notts+derby’ together with ‘trentbarton’, ‘Kinchbus’ based in Loughborough and ‘TM Travel’ based at Halfway near Sheffield are all members of the ‘Wellglade’ group.

 

‘n+d’ operate in Derby mainly on contract work.

 

W291 PFS ‘n+d’ No. 33. Volvo B7TL / Plaxton President

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

 

New as No. 291 to ‘Lothian Buses’.

 

 

 

YU05 ZKL ‘n+d’ No. 55. Dennis Javelin / Plaxton

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

 

New registered LK05 BYW  to ‘Sanders of Holt’, Norfolk.

 

 

 

 

YN08 CWV ‘n+d’ No. 763 ‘unibus’. Volvo B7RLE / Plaxton Centro

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

 

New as No. 503 to ‘Kinchbus’ for use on the ‘skylink’ service linking Derby with Leicester via the ‘East Midlands Airport’.

 

 

 

 

YN08 CWW ‘n+d’ No. 764 ‘unibus’. Volvo B7RLE / Plaxton Centro

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

 

New as No. 504 to ‘Kinchbus’ for use on the ‘skylink’ service linking Derby with Leicester via the ‘East Midlands Airport’.

 

‘Scene’ in Manchester 3 ‘Stagecoach Manchester ’ on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

It is three years ago since I last visited the ‘Capital of The North’ and at that time I thought the future of transport there was settled for years to come.

 

Little did I know.

 

The ‘Go-Ahead’ group took over  some of ‘First’ groups operations in the City, ‘Rotala’ took over ‘First’ group’s operation out of Bolton, ‘Transdev’ seems to be much the same,’Arriva’ seems to have gone into decline whilst ‘Stagecoach’ has blossomed.

 

Every other bus seems to carry ‘Stagecoach’ colours and the variety of liveries that the company uses helps make Manchester the colourful city it is.

 

MX09 ATV ‘Stagecoach Manchester’ No.19505. Alexander Dennis Ltd. Trident / ‘ADL’ Enviro400

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

 

This being the oldest livery in use and now being phased out.

 

 

 

 

MX12 ENL ‘Stagecoach Manchester’ No.12115 ‘electric hybrid’. Alexander Dennis Ltd. (ADL) E40H / ‘ADL’ Enviro400

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

 

The electric hybrid livery using green on the standard livery layout to highlight the buses ‘green’ credentials.

 

As these buses come up for re-paint, I have noticed many re appearing in fleet livery or as pictured below in ‘magic bus’ livery.

 

 

 

 

 

MX08 GOH ‘Stagecoach Manchester’ No.19263 ‘magic bus’. Alexander Dennis Ltd. Trident / ‘ADL’ Enviro400

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

 

The old ‘magic bus’ livery now being phased out.

 

The ‘magic bus’ brand used older, financially written down buses where the fares charged were lower than on premium routes where lower fares might be of benefit to the communities they served.

 

For example, routes serving the University or when a competitor might be trying to attract custom.

 

 

 

 

 

MX62 GWE  ‘Stagecoach Manchester’ No.12204 ‘magic bus’. Alexander Dennis Ltd. (ADL) E40H / ‘ADL’ Enviro400

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

 

The ‘new’ (2020) ‘magic bus’ livery.

 

New in the green livery as worn by by MX12 ENL (above).

 

‘Scene’ in Derby yet again.’ ‘trentbarton red arrow’ on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’.

 

In 2010, Trent replaced its 04 plate Scania/Irizar coaches on the ‘red arrow’ service which runs nonstop along the A52 from Derby to Nottingham.

 

Being the company’s ‘flagship’ route it has always been operated with coaches.

 

The newcomers were again Scania/Irizar’s.

 

The K941B4 chassis fitted with stylish Irizar i4 bodies.

 

These coaches in turn were replaced in 2015 by Volvo B11RT’s with Plaxton Elite bodies (see blog posted 01/10/2015 for illustrations).

 

However, one of the 2010 batch was retained as cover for for the new coaches.

 

The lower seating capacity was also useful for easy morning or late evening journeys.

 

FJ10 OXR ‘trentbarton’ No. 75 ‘’red arrow’. Scania K941B4 / Irizar i4 /1

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

 

 

 

 

FJ10 OXR ‘trentbarton’ No. 75 ‘’red arrow’. Scania K941B4 / Irizar i4 /2

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

 

 

 

 

FJ10 OXR ‘trentbarton’ No. 75 ‘’red arrow’. Scania K941B4 / Irizar i4 3

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

 

‘Scene’ in Derby yet again. ARRIVA 5 on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’.

A number of my most recent Derby based blogs have focused exclusively on the buses of ‘Trent Motor Traction Ltd’.

 

However, there are other operators who work on the streets of Derby, one of which is ‘ARRIVA Midlands’.

 

The company has its roots in what I knew as ‘Derby Corporation Transport’ 

which has travelled its own complicated route to become the company it is today.

 

YT09 ZBR ‘ARRIVA Midlands’ No. 3571. Scania N230UB Omnicity

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

 

I don’t know if it is down to the suspension or how they are driven but these buses seem to roll into corners.

 

Whatever the reason, it makes for a dynamic image.

 

 

 

 

YT09 ZBZ ‘ARRIVA Midlands’ No. 3577. Scania N230UB Omnicity

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

 

 

 

 

YR58 SSV ‘ARRIVA Midlands’ No. 3562. Scania N230UB Omnicity

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

 

 

 

 

YR58 SRZ ‘ARRIVA Midlands’ No. 3557. Scania N230UB Omnicity

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