‘Scene’, in Reading Once More on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

It is now over 3 years since I last visited Reading in Berkshire so a re-visit was on the cards.

 

A compact town with excellent transport connections and an interesting array of buses.

 

Most of ‘Reading buses’ services are route and colour branded.

 

That leaves a requirement for ‘spare buses’ to be available where route branded vehicles, for whatever reason are not available.

 

Referred to as the ‘generic’ livery these ‘spare’ buses are painted in a grey livery.

 

WA04 CPZ ‘Reading buses’ No. 536. 

Transbus Trident / Alexander ALX400 on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’ 

 

New to ‘Stagecoach Devon’ as No. 18062.

 

 

 

 

YN08 MMK ‘Reading buses’ No. 1112. 

Scania N270UD / Scania Omnicity

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

 

 

 

 

YT59 OZO ‘Reading buses’ No. 864. 

Scania N270UD / Optare Omnidekka

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

 

New to ‘Nottingham City Transport’ as No. 973.

 

 

 

 

YX64 VRR ‘Reading buses’ No. 756. 

Alexander Dennis Ltd. (ADL) E40D / ‘ADL’ Enviro 400MMC

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

 

 

 

 

YN14 MXP ‘Reading buses’ No. 421. 

Scania K270UB / Alexander Dennis Ltd. Enviro 300GS

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

 

 

 

 

YY69 TNE ‘Reading buses’ No. 680. 

Alexander Dennis Ltd. (ADL) E20D / ‘ADL’ Enviro 200MMC

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

 

 

 

 

RG55 BUS ‘Reading buses’ No. 186. 

Optare Solo M1020

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

 

New registered YM55 SVL to ‘Stagecoach Lincolnshire’ as No. 47399.

 

‘Scene’ in Reading, It’s A Gas! on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

It is now over 3 years since I last visited Reading in Berkshire so a re-visit was on the cards.

 

A compact town with excellent transport connections and an interesting selection of buses.

 

‘Reading buses’ was an early convert to gas power having both single and double deck examples in the fleet.

 

Mainly built by Scania, the single deckers carry their gas cylinders on the roof.

 

YN13 PNJ ‘Reading buses’ No. 406 ‘Winnersh Triangle park&ride’.

Scania K270UB / Alexander Dennis Ltd. Enviro 300GS

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

 

 

 

 

YN13 PMX ‘Reading buses’ No. 418 ‘bronze’. 

Scania K270UB / Alexander Dennis Ltd. Enviro 300GS

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

 

 

 

 

YN13 PMY ‘Reading buses’ No. 411 ‘ruby’. 

Scania K270UB / Alexander Dennis Ltd. Enviro 300GS

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

 

 

 

 

YN13 PLU ‘Reading buses’ No. 403 ‘Mereoak park&ride’’. 

Scania K270UB / Alexander Dennis Ltd. Enviro 300GS

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

 

 

 

 

YN14 MYB ‘Reading buses’ No. 432 ‘lime’. 

Scania K270UB / Alexander Dennis Ltd. Enviro 300GS

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

 

 

 

 

YR13 PNK ‘Reading buses’ No. 415  ‘the tiger’. 

Scania K270UB / Alexander Dennis Ltd. Enviro 300GS

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

 

 

 

 

YR13 PLV  ‘Reading buses’ No. 412  ‘the leopard’. 

Scania K270UB / Alexander Dennis Ltd. Enviro 300GS

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

 

 

 

 

 

YR13 PNN  ‘Reading buses’ No. 409.

 Scania K270UB / Alexander Dennis Ltd. Enviro 300GS

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

 

Within the ‘Reading buses’ fleet all buses painted in the generic grey livery are unbranded and work across the fleet as ‘spare’ buses.

 

 

 

 

 

RG55 BUS ‘Reading buses’ No. 186. 

Optare Solo M1020

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

 

New registered YM55 SVL to ‘Stagecoach Lincolnshire’ as No. 47399.

 

If memory serves me right, I think that this bus and others like it were originally built for use on services that passed close to Lincolns Castle and Cathedral where exhaust fumes could be damaging to the historic structures.

 

 

 

 

‘Scene’ in Reading (It’s a Gas !!) on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

It was at the ‘Bus & Coach’ show 2012 at the NEC that I first saw a gas powered bus chassis that was intended for ‘Reading Transport’.

 

Scania K270UB Gas bus chassis destined for ‘Reading Buses’.

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

 

 

An artists impression of what the completed bus, bodied by Alexander Dennis Ltd. (ADL) would look like.

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

 

I was in Reading recently so I thought I might have a look to see how the project had developed.

 

With 34 single deckers delivered so far and a double deck version in the offing it would seem to have developed very well.

 

Seen below, the appearance of the real bus very closely follows the artists impression.

 

YR13 PLV ‘Reading Buses’ 412 Scania K270UB/ADL Enviro 300SG.

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

One of three buses branded for the ‘Scarlet 9’, service which serves Shinfield Park via The Royal Berkshire Hospital.

 

YN14 MXS ‘Reading Buses’ 423 Scania K270UB/ADL Enviro 300SG.

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

 

One of four buses painted in the generic grey livery although I have seen one of the other three painted in a variation of it.

 

Working as a ‘spare bus’ on service 22 which is usually worked by by pink liveried buses to the suburb of Caversham Heights.

 

 

 

 

YN14 MXT ‘Reading Buses’ 424 Scania K270UB/ADL Enviro 300SG.

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

 

One of six buses branded as ‘Leopard’ which serves Wokingham via Shinfield, Arborfield and Wick Hill.

 

 

YN14 MXZ ‘Reading Buses’ 430 Scania K270UB/ADL Enviro 300SG.

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

 

One of four buses all branded for route ‘Pink 25’ which serves Caversham and Caversham Park.

 

YR13 PMU ‘Reading Buses’ 408 Scania K270UB/ADL Enviro 300SG.

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

 

One of eleven buses branded for the ‘greenwave’ group of routes that serve a variety of routes including one to the Madjeski Stadium, the home of Reading Football Club.

 

YR13 PNF ‘Reading Buses’ 420 Scania K270UB/ADL Enviro 300SG.

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

 

The variation on the generic livery I referred to earlier. Working as a ‘spare bus’ on service 2 normally the preserve of lime green painted buses.

 

YN14 MYC ‘Reading Buses’ 433 Scania K270UB/ADL Enviro 300SG.

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

 

One of three buses branded in lime green for services 2/2a. 

 

This route works along the Bath Road to serve communities at Burghfield, Burghfield Common and Mortimer. 

 

The variation, the 2a serving Tadley.