‘Scene’ in Burton on Trent (BoT) 1

BoT is perhaps best known for beer brewing. Just off the A38, Burton has 3 bus major companies plying for trade. ‘Midland Classic’ (MC) the subject of this blog. ‘Arriva Midlands’ and ‘trentbarton’ who will both have a turn later.

 

Apart from the buses Burton also lies on the railway line from Derby to Birmingham.The watery connection other than the river is the Trent and Mersey canal that also runs through the town.

 

Midland Classic (MC)

 

Was founded in 2005 by James Boddice and operates mainly in the, BoT, Swadlincote and Lichfield areas with an express route the X12 running into the West Midlands to Sutton Coldfield.

 

In recent times the bulk of the single deck fleet has been built around Scania L94UB’s with Wright Solar bodies.

 

That may be about to change.

 

SN62 DNJ

An Alexander Dennis Ltd. (ADL) Enviro 350 hybrid electric was in use on the day that I was there. An ‘ADL’ demonstrator it has done the rounds in recent times having visited ‘Centrebus’ in Leicester, ‘Cardiff Bus’, ‘Stagecoach in Yorkshire’, ‘First in York’ and local operator ‘trentbarton’ (tb) amongst others. This bus has since moved on.

 

YN62 AAK

Is a Former ‘ADL’ demonstrator. This time an Enviro 300 body on a Scania chassis. Again like the hybrid it has been around the operators including ‘MC’ and ‘tb’ again.

 

S24 SLT

One of 5 Scania L94UB’s with Wright Solar bodies that came from ‘South Lancs Travel’ of Atherton in Greater Manchester. The others being S25 SLT, S26 SLT, S27 SLT and S200 SLT.

 

The registrations suffix rather giving away their origin.

Carrying branding for the X12 service to Sutton Coldfield via Lichfield. Note the wings motif on the route number. Underlining the service’s ‘Flyer’ status.

 

Some of the small double deck fleet have London origins with the ones pictured here being Dennis Trident 2’s with Alexander ALX400 bodywork.

 

V302 KGW

 

Came from ‘Abellio’ together with KG306 KGW

 

V118 MEV

 

Came from ‘Stagecoach East London’ together with X264 NNO and X265 NNO.

FG52 WUC

An Optare Solo that was previously with ‘Felix’ of Ilkeston.

Y332 HWT

A further Optare Solo was with ‘Travelmaster’ in Manchester and before that with ‘RH Transport’ of Finstock in Oxfordshire.

 

YN05 GXJ

Is one of two Scania/Wright Solar buses that came from ‘Reading Transport’. The other being YN05 GXH.

 

 

S372 SET

This elderly Scania L94UB with Wright Access-Flowline bodywork looks well in the sunshine.

 

It was new to ‘Ludlows’ in the Halesowen area of the West Midlands who were taken over by ‘Diamond Buses’ who in turn are part of the ‘Rotala’ group.

 

YS02 XDO

 

Another Scania L94UB with Wright Solar bodywork.. It arrived with similar YN04 ANX from ‘Beeston’ of Hadleigh in 2011.

X94 USC

One more of the same which came from ‘Nottingham City Transport’ again in 2011.

 

I have included this image of 796 USA (Formerly 168 CLT) for its interest.

 

The former London Transport (LT) RM1168 is kept in ‘LT’ colours with the fleet name ‘Midland Classic’ done in traditional ‘LT’ style.

 

This image was taken at the ‘trentbarton’ 100 years celebrations at Langley Mill depot in May 2013.

 More images can be found on 'Flickr'

' Scene’ on the West Coast of Scotland part 3.

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.

 

On this particular day we went to Fort William .

 

K300 WCM

A DAF SB4000 with Van Hool Alizee T9 bodywork. Formerly YD03 PFA. it was operating a ‘citylink’ service to Oban.

 

SV09 EGZ

A Volvo B7R with Plaxton ‘s Profile bodywork although in Scottish ‘citylink’ livery is a ‘Stagecoach’ vehicle based at Inverness.

 

SV09 EGJ 

Although carrying a similar registration and livery, this is a Volvo B12B with Plaxton Panther bodywork again of ‘Stagecoach’ but based in Glasgow.

 

S269 KHG

A Volvo B10M with Jonckheere Modulo bodywork. The legal titling shows the bus as being with ‘Highland Country Buses’ trading as ‘Stagecoach in the Highlands’. At one time it worked for ‘Stagecoach Bluebird’. 

 

SV55 KVB

 

A Volvo B7R with Plaxton Profile Interurban bodywork again working for ‘Stagecoach in the Highlands’. 

 

R947 XVM

A Volvo B10M with Alexander PS bodywork. It’s a long time since I saw one of these in ‘Stagecoach’ service, I thought that they had all gone.

 

SV58 BMU 

A Dennis Trident 2 with Alexander Dennis Ltd. (ADL) Enviro 400 bodywork working for ‘Stagecoach in the Highlands’ based in Fort William and carrying branding for ‘the fort link’.

 

Fort William is at the end of the the railway line from London via Glasgow that is traversed by the ‘Caledonian Sleeper’ every night of the week except Saturday. 

 

Apart from the loco, the train that I saw was made up of  2 sleeping coaches, a comfortable day coach and what is best described as a catering car that supplies food and drink etc.

 

Hauling it was 67 011.

 

The Class 67 is  a Bo-Bo diesel electric loco that was built by Alstom at Valencia in Spain. One of 30 loco’s in the class,

 

They were built to operate on high speed mail and passenger trains. 

 

Unfortunately, the mail work dried up at about the time the loco’s were delivered and they have had to be utilized on other duties such as the Caledonian Sleeper. 

 

Others have undertaken ‘Thunderbird’ duties around the railway system which involves having loco’s stationed at strategic points from where they can be despatched to recover broken down trains. One such location where I have seen them is at Doncaster.

 

 

 

Also between duties at Fort William was Class 156 156457. This had operated the service from Glasgow.

 

The Class 156’s were built in Birmingham by Metro Cammell (now Alstom) as part of the plan to replace earlier ‘Heritage’ DMU’s and further reduce the levels of loco haulage of passenger services.

 

‘Scene’ at Coach & Bus Live 2013 Part 4

Held in Halls 19 and 20 at the NEC on Wednesday and Thursday the 2nd. and 3rd. of October 2013. 

 

The show had so much to offer and there was so much to see that to try and put it all in to one article would be a mammoth undertaking and would probably overwhelm the reader.

 

Tucked away in a corner was another Spanish produced vehicle the ‘INDCAR’ MOBI BUS

 

Based on the Iveco Daily 70C. It can carry 33 seated passengers or five wheelchairs or a combination thereof.

 

Only present in left hand drive form. It will be interesting to see if it generates many sales.

 

 

Another vehicle that I thought was interesting was MAN Lions’ City. Another bus in left hand drive form.

 

Three doors on a rigid bus has never been common in the UK. However if the 

‘New Bus For London’ (I refuse to call it the B.........r) proves to be a success with three doors things might change.

 

It was some features of the internal layout that I thought were interesting.

 

From the front doorway, it all looks reasonably straightforward but what drew my attention was

the arrangement of seats over the rear wheel arches. To maximize the seating capacity it has been necessary to arrange the seats on two levels. Whilst I have no doubt that it is a practical solution, it does look odd.

 

 

 

 

At the very back of the bus is what appears to be a row of three seats which share the width of the bus with a cabinet which houses parts of the buses ‘mechanicals’.

 

Closer inspection shows these not to be seats but upholstered ‘bum perches’ where the passengers can lean rather than stand.

 

 

 

Whether its the two axle coach or its bigger three axle ‘brother’ the Irizar i6 is a magnificent vehicle. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the past I have always been impressed by the King Long stand. I think their vehicles are well built and well presented.

 

However, this time I was disappointed with the stand. All they seem to have done was to line the coaches up side by side as if they were in a depot.

 

 

A look outside  is always worthwhile although this year the vehicles seemed to be packed tighter than usual. Perhaps it’s all down to cost.

 

New to London Transport in 1952 152 CLT (RM1152) looks as good as it did 51 years ago when it joined LT.

 

King Long are the only manufacturer brave enough to put the cost price of the vehicles on the windscreen and credit due to them for that.

 

 

 

Dawson Rentals possibly had the shows biggest bargain at 14.99 per day for a Mercedes-Benz Citaro articulated bus.

 

 

 

The ‘big hitters’ on display were the Neoplan Tourliner.

While Plaxton had its Elite i

 

 

 

Before I close this epic which I have spread out over four days. I would like to say how much I enjoyed the show.

 

I would like to thank everyone who participated in making the show the success that it was and say that all being well I shall be back next year.

 

To you. Dear reader. If you got this far.

 

A very well done and thank you also.

 

Just for those who only want to look at images, these are for you.

 

 

 

I must have one of these for the dining room !!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   The end