‘Scene’ in Birmingham ‘national express West Midlands 1’ on Dennis Basford’srailsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

A day out train and tram riding in the West Midlands took friend Peter Rose and myself into pastures new recently when the transport delights of Birmingham, Wolverhampton and West Bromwich were explored.

 

As we have done before, we have combined all the images we gathered on the day. 

 

The credits being joint D.Basford/P.M.Rose.

 

My first comment about the area is: why does a major operator in the part of the country known as ‘The Black Country’ paint many of its buses in a very dark shade of grey.

 

If any part of the country could do with brightening up, it’s the West Midlands.

 

Most buses are named using people’s forenames which reflect the ethnic diversity of the area.

 

The choice of names are suggestions put forward by employees of ‘national express West Midlands’ together with some from the general public.

 

I think that is a nice touch because people of all ages will be happy to ride on ‘their’ bus.

 

BX21 DDZ ‘WEST MIDLANDS TRAVEL LTD’, No. H1019, national express West Midlands PLATINUM, Mel, relax extra legroom. 

Wright Streetdeck Hydroliner / Wright Gemini 3

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

 

 

 

 

SK19 EPF ‘WEST MIDLANDS TRAVEL LTD’, No. 6974, ‘national express West Midlands PLATINUM’ Samaira Thapa, Platinum 82 87.

Alexander Dennis Ltd. E40D / Alexander Dennis Ltd. Enviro 400MMC

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

 

 

 

 

SN67 WXH ‘WEST MIDLANDS TRAVEL LTD’ No. 6868, ‘national express West Midlands PLATINUM’, Rachel, Harborne 23 24.

Alexander Dennis Ltd. E40D / Alexander Dennis Ltd. Enviro 400MMC

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

 

 

 

 

SN15 LFF ‘WEST MIDLANDS TRAVEL LTD’ No. 6740, ‘national express West Midlands PLATINUM’, Sherish, FAST & FREQUENT to Birmingham.

Alexander Dennis Ltd. E40D / Alexander Dennis Ltd. Enviro 400MMC

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

 

Note the highlighting in green surrounding the destination display.

 

 

 

 

SK19 EUL ‘WEST MIDLANDS TRAVEL LTD’ No. 7519, ‘national express West Midlands PLATINUM’, Carly,  relax extra legroom. 

Alexander Dennis Ltd. E40D / Alexander Dennis Ltd. Enviro 400MMC

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

 

 

 

 

LF20 XOS ‘WEST MIDLANDS TRAVEL LTD’ No. E016, ‘national express West Midlands PLATINUM’, Samirah, ELECTRIC 6.

BYD DD / Alexander Dennis Ltd. Enviro 400City

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

 

 

‘Scene’ by Peter Rose in Chester on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

Peter recently spent a few days in Chester which produced this collection of images which are reproduced with his permission and my thanks.

 

MX07 BVJ ‘Stagecoach Merseyside & South Lancashire’ No. 16957, ‘CitySightseeing Chester’.

Volvo B9TL / Wright Eclipse Gemini

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

 

New to ‘First Manchester’ as No. 37312.

 

 

 

 

CX17 BYF ‘ARRIVA Cymru’ No. 1004, ‘ARRIVA Sapphire’.

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

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

 

 

 

 

SN16 OPO ‘Stagecoach Merseyside & South Lancashire’ No. 26058, ‘Chester Park & Ride’.

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

 

I know that Peter is particularly fond of the black and white ‘medieval’ style of architecture found in Chester so I have tried to keep as much of it in the images as I can.

 

 

 

 

SN16 OPH ‘Stagecoach Merseyside & South Lancashire’ No. 26053, 

‘Park & Ride’.

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

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

 

A completely different ‘Park & Ride’ livery. At first glance, I thought it was an ‘ARRIVA’ bus.

 

 

 

 

CX07 CUK ‘ARRIVA Buses Wales No. 2656.

VDL SB200 / Wright Pulsar

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

 

New to ‘ARRIVA North West’.

‘Scene’ outside Nottingham’s Railway Station (NRS) 1 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’

 

 

 

YX67 UXT ‘trentbarton’ (tb) No. 114 ‘mainline’. Alexander Dennis Ltd. (ADL) E20D / ‘ADL’ Enviro 200MMC 

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

 

 

 

YN18 EFY ‘Nottingham City Transport’ (NCT) No. 487 ‘Navy Line 49’. Scania N280UD / Alexander Dennis Ltd. Enviro 400CBG City 

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

 

One of ‘NCT’s fleet of gas powered double deckers that now totals over a hundred with more to come.

 

 

 

FJ03 VWM ‘trentbarton’ No. 625 ‘skylink’. Scania L94UB / Wright Solar

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

 

Links Nottingham with the East Midlands Airport.

 

 

 

YJ67 GBF ‘Marshall of Sutton on Trent’ No. OP118. Optare V1170 Versa

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

 

Inbound on the hourly service from Newark.

 

 

 

YX17 NTK ‘trentbarton’ No. 109 ‘mango’. Alexander Dennis Ltd. (ADL) E20D / ‘ADL’ Enviro 200MMC

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

 

Branded for ‘mango’ ‘tb’s discounted cashless travel card.

 

Effectively, the ‘mango’ branded buses are used as spare buses anywhere in the system.

‘Scene’ at the NEC last week ‘ADL Enviro400’ developements on ‘Dennis Basford’s roadsrailsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

The Alexander Dennis Ltd. (ADL) Enviro400 has been around for 10 years or thereabouts but it still has potential for developement.

 

The body has been ‘home’ to a variety of  alternative drive solutions. A couple of years ago saw the  introduction of the Major Model Change (MMC).

 

This saw a range of styling differences and build modifications that while it was still an Enviro400 showed that it it had moved forward

 

The latest Enviro400City seeks to build on what has gone before without losing the connection. 

 

I particulary like the assymetric front panel carried over from the Enviro200 and the glazed staircase which I think originates with the New Routemaster.

 

Also on display was another alternative drive in that it is ‘gas’ powered version.

 

The ‘gas’ coming from food waste and sewage.

 

Although the emissions are reduced, it will be interesting to see if and how it smells !!

 

 

Alexander Dennis Ltd. Enviro400 CiTY

on ‘Dennis Basford’s roadsrailsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

 

 

 

Alexander Dennis Ltd. Enviro400 CiTY /2

on ‘Dennis Basford’s roadsrailsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

 

 

 

Alexander Dennis Ltd. Enviro400 CiTY  /3

on ‘Dennis Basford’s roadsrailsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

 

 

Alexander Dennis Ltd. Enviro400 CiTY /4

on ‘Dennis Basford’s roadsrailsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

 

 

Alexander Dennis Ltd. Scania BIOGAS / ADL Enviro400

on ‘Dennis Basford’s roadsrailsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

 

 

 

Alexander Dennis Ltd. Scania BIOGAS / ADL Enviro400 /2

on ‘Dennis Basford’s roadsrailsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’