‘Scene’ out and about, ‘Bits & Pieces 4’ on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

Most of my blogs have some sort of theme or purpose. 

 

There are, however, times when something just happens to turn up that does not fit any category. 

 

Collectively they are just ‘Bits & Pieces’. 

 

Individually they can be interesting.

 

See if there is anything out of these that you like.

 

BV13 ZDF ‘GoldenTours’ No. 112, HOP-ON HOP-OFF YORK.

Volvo B9TL / MCV

on Dennis Basford’srailsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

 

Pictured in York 

 

New to ‘GoldenTours’, London.

 

 

 

 

SP62 CSY ‘Tayside Public Transport Co. Ltd.’ No. 2433. XPLORE Dundee.

Volvo B7RLE / Wright Eclipse 2

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

 

Pictured in Dundee

 

New to ‘Tayside’.

 

This image courtesy of friend Peter Rose and posted with his permission and my thanks.

 

 

 

 

YJ09 OTH ‘Hulleys of Baslow’ No. 6.

Optare Solo M950

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

 

New to ‘Blackpool Transport’ No. 243.

 

This image courtesy of friend Peter Rose and posted with his permission and my thanks.

 

Pictured in Carsington, Derbyshire.

 

 

 

 

EC04 CHD ‘E’ Coaches, Alfreton, Derbyshire.

IVECO EuroRider 35

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

 

Pictured in Ripley, Derbyshire.

 

 

 

 

Y177 NLK ‘Freeway Coaches’, Pinxton, Derbyshire.

Volvo B7TL / Plaxton President

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

 

New to ‘Metroline’ London No.VPL 177.

 

Pictured at Kingsmill reservoir, Notts.

 

 

 

 

BD16 YDM ‘Daish’s Holidays’, Robinsons.

Volvo B11RT / Volvo

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

 

Still wearing the livery of ‘Robinsons’ who were taken over by ‘Daish’s in 2020.

 

New to ‘Holdsworth’  Great Harwood, Lancs.

 

Pictured in Derby Bus Station.

 

‘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’ this week, ‘Gassing’ in Reading on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

I last wrote about about gas powered buses in Reading in a blog published on the 30th. of April 2016 which covered the single deck buses that had then recently been supplied to the ‘Reading buses’ fleet.

 

Scania and Alexander Dennis Ltd are still doing the honours but this time with double deckers.

 

A feature that appears to have come back into fashion on these buses is the return to two door operation.

 

I published a blog about Brighton on May 10th. 2017 where I commented that local operator ‘Brighton & Hove’ had done the same thing.

 

 

YP67 XCJ ‘Reading buses’ No. 714. Scania N280UD / Alexander Dennis Ltd Enviro 400CBG City /1 

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

 

 

YP67 XCJ ‘Reading buses’ No. 714. Scania N280UD / Alexander Dennis Ltd Enviro 400CBG City /2 

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

 

 

 

YP67 XCG ‘Reading buses’ No. 712. Scania N280D / Alexander Dennis Ltd  Enviro 400CBG City

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

 

 

YP67 XCR ‘Reading buses’ No. 720. Scania N280UD / Alexander Dennis Ltd / Enviro 400CBG City

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had not previously picked up on a further purchase of gas powered single deckers until now.

 

So, time to set the record straight.

 

In early 2016, ‘Reading buses’ bought six gas powered Optare Solo’s from ‘Stagecoach in Lincolnshire’.

 

These buses, originally diesel powered, were converted to gas for use in Lincoln in 2011.

 

Presumably, the economics did not work out, hence the move to Reading.

 

Before entering service in Reading, they were thoroughly overhauled to modern standards and re-registered.

RG55 BUS ‘Reading buses’ No. 186. Optare Solo

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

 

New as YM55 SVL to ‘Stagecoach in Lincolnshire’ as its No. 47397.

 

 

 

 

RG05 BUS ‘Reading buses’ No. 183. Optare Solo /1

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

 

New as YK05 CBV to ‘Yorkshire Traction’ (YT) as its No. 47295.

 

‘YT’ being part of the ‘Stagecoach’ group since 2005.

 

 

 

RG05 BUS ‘Reading buses’ No. 183. Optare Solo /2

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

 

New as YK05 CBV to ‘Yorkshire Traction’ (YT) as its No. 47295.

 

‘YT’ being part of the ‘Stagecoach’ group since 2005.

 

 

 

RG05 BUS ‘Reading buses’ No. 183. Optare Solo /3

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

 

New as YK05 CBV to ‘Yorkshire Traction’ (YT) as its No. 47295.

 

‘YT’ being part of the ‘Stagecoach’ group since 2005.