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

A few days based in Fort William enabled me to get a reasonable cross section of images of coaches both local and from further afield.

 

Seen at Moffat Mill Services.

 

BX63 BCE ‘Epsom Coaches’ SETRA S416GT-HD

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

 

 

 

The clue to its ownership is the fleet number over the door which reveals it to be a ‘Stagecoach’ group vehicle.

 

‘Stagecoach East Scotland’ having taken over ‘Rennies of Dunfermline’ when the company’s owner retired in 2008.

 

Seen at Moffat Mill Services.

 

HKZ 726 ‘Rennie’s’ 53038 Volvo B12M / Sunsundegui Sideral

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

 

 

Seen in Fort William.

SP08 FPG ‘megabus.com’ 54048 Volvo  B12B / Plaxton Panther

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

Previously Y759 WSM with ‘McEwan of Amisfield’, Scotland.

 

Seen in Fort William.

 

T9 RTG ‘Ross Travel’ ‘Scania K1241B / Van Hool Alize T9

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seen in Fort William.

 

K55 SBL ‘Shiel Buses’ Mercedes-Benz 1523LL / Esker

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Formerly Y20 BGS with ‘Swindells’, Chadderton, Lancs.

 

Seen in Fort William.

 

K60 SBL ‘Shiel Buses’ Volvo B10M / Plaxton Premiere

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seen at Mallaig ferryport.

 

X7 TCL ‘Telford’s Coaches’ VDL FHD2 / VDL Futura

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wearing an older livery which dates back to when ‘Shearings’ merged with ‘Wallace Arnold’ in 2005.

 

Seen at Kyle of Lochalsh.

 

BK09 RNA ‘Shearings Holidays’  Setra S416FHD-GT

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seen at the Kyle of Lochalsh with the Isle of Skye in the background.

 

BF15 XPX ‘Shearings Holidays’ Mercedes-Benz Tourismo

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

 

 

 

 

 

Seen at Mallaig ferryport.

 

‘Shiel Buses’ work a service to Mallaig from Fort William.

HSK 735 ‘Shiel Buses’ Volvo B12M / Plaxton Paragon

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of a fleet of about 18 with this operator.

 

They are unusual in that the emergency exit is on the nearside to allow rapid loading and unloading of passengers in safe comditions.

 

Seen parked outsde ‘The Dalmally Hotel’, one of four hotels that the company own.

 

SN05 DVZ ‘Highland Heritage’ Volvo B12B / Van Hool Alize

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seen in Inverness.

 

2 WR ‘Parks of Hamilton’ Volvo B9R / Jonkheere SHV

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

‘Scene’ in Bath Part 2

 

Bath is one of those cities on the English tourist trail that apart from being a magnet for tourists is the same for buses.

 

‘First’ group and ‘Wessexbus’ are the major players in the City whilst ‘Bath Bus Company’ is also very active. (See blog dated 06/04/2015).

 

In addition of course there are the day and tourist coaches which quite literally are here today and gone today.

 

 

PN09 HMJ

A Volvo B12B with Plaxton Paragon bodywork working for Lancashire based ‘Alfa Travel’.

SO10 CJT

 

A Scania K340EB4 with Irizar Century bodywork. Operated by ‘Turner’s of Bristol to whom it was new.

BU12 CNK

 

Another ‘Turner’s of Bristol coach. This time a Mercedes-Benz Tourismo. Again new to the company.

BU13 ZVD

 

They must have liked the last one because they bought another....!

 

YR13 PPX

 

A Scania K380EB with Finnish built Lahti Eagle bodywork. Working for ‘Omega Travel' a London based tour company.

 

 

 

R555 JVA

A Volvo B10M with Plaxton Premiere bodywork. currently working for Somerset based operator ‘Chivers’ (JVA Sunseeker Tours) of Midsomer Norton.

 

I first saw this coach in Weymouth in 2014 and it appeared in my ‘blog’ of ‘Southwest Coaches’ dated 17/09/2014. I will repeat what I wrote then.

 

It has an interesting history being new to ‘The Londoners’ as R986 MGP in 1996. Moving to ‘Hearn’ of Harrow Weald in 2001 as R1 HRN before finally moving to ‘Chivers’ in 2007 and being given its current registration in 2008.

 

It is surprising to me that whilst being given a new identity in 2008, they didn’t go the whole hog and give it a dateless registration.

 

SK52 URX

A Dennis Trident with Alexander ALX 400 bodywork working for the ‘RATP Bath Bus Company’ on its service to Bristol Airport.

 

It previously worked for ‘RATP London United’ as its VA 301.

 

BX07 KPN

A Volvo B7RLE with Plaxton Centro bodywork in service with ‘Rotala’ group subsidiary ‘Wessex Bus’.

 

44871 & 45407 

 

Bath railway station played host for a short time to two former LMS Stanier ‘Black Five’s when these turned up double heading on a railtour.

 

 

‘Scene’ on the West Coast of Scotland part 2.

Earlier this year, I had a short break staying at the Alexandra Hotel in Oban. The tour company was ‘Highland Heritage’ (HH) with whom I have no connection other than as a satisfied customer.

 

‘HH’ have a fleet of 16 identical Van Hool Alizee bodied Volvo B12BT’s. 

 

All carry different names to identify them to passengers because there are times when more than one is at the same place.

 

Part of the ‘HH’ holiday package is a Highland Concert which takes place on one afternoon either in Oban or Fort William.

 

Here 9 of the fleet are seen in Fort William waiting for the end of the days performance.

 

YN07 KHB

A Mercedes-Benz 0816 with Plaxton Cheetah bodywork.

 

Currently operated by ‘shiel buses’ of Fort William. A company that has been around for over 30 years and today operate a fleet of over 20 vehicles.

 

Prior to joining ‘shiels’ this bus worked for ‘Express of Batley’ in Yorkshire wearing basically the same livery.

 

PN11 ZBW

A MAN/Neoplan Tourliner operated by 'Mearns Executive Insight Vacations' a Glasgow based company.

 

FG10 WEN

A Mercedes-Benz Tourismo operated by Owen’s Coaches of Oswestry which is on the English Welsh border in Shropshire. The ‘Travelmaster Holidays’ branding is one of Owens own brands.

 

K80 SBL

 

A Mercedes-Benz 1523LL with Esker bodywork operated again by ‘shiel buses’.

 

PO14 HHY

A Jonkheere bodied Volvo of ‘Trafalgar’ tours.

 

M17 YNE

A DAF Van Hool Alicron TX15 of ‘Mayne’s of Buckie’. One of 7 in the 30 plus vehicle fleet. 

 

Mayne’s are a long established company with a history going back over 60 years.

 

JIL 3961

 

A Mercedes- Benz with Spanish built UNVI GT-R bodywork again in the fleet of ‘shiel buses’.

 

 

BZ-VD-68

A VDL Futura from Dutch operator ‘contiki Holidays’ seen in Oban.

I thought I would eventually get used to the new ’Futura’ shape but I still prefer the original.

 

 

BI+NR 3500

A Neoplan ‘Cityliner’ with Neumann of Bielefeld in Germany seen at Inverary.

 

SN13 DBO

Another UNVI body on a Mercedes-Benz chassis . This time the Vega GT from J. Russell of Strathaven in Southern Scotland.

 

YN13 EGU

Unmistakably an Irizar i6 from ‘Silver Fox’ coaches of Renfrew. Seen in Inverary.

 

H9 CTT

A Scania K114EB4 with Van Hool Alizee T9 bodywork.

Operated by ‘Coopers Tourmaster’ of Bedlington in England’s Northeast. It is an interesting vehicle having previously carried the registrations AE03 LFH and 450 UXM. 

 

As AE03 LFH it operated for ‘Peakes of Pontypool’ in South Wales and also had a spell with ‘Kenzies’ of Shepreth in ‘Cosmos’ colours.

 

As 450 UXM it had a spell with ‘Reay’s of Wigton’.