‘Scene’ in Birmingham ‘national express West Midlands 3’ 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.

 

In 2016 ‘West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive’ which had controlled transport in the area since 1969 was dissolved following the establishment of the ‘West Midlands Combined Authority’.

 

In the fullness of time, their transport arm was established under the name of ‘Transport for West Midlands’.

 

This body introduced its own livery using 2 shades of red with a cream highlight.

 

The plan, as I understood it, was to re-paint all the buses into this new livery no matter who the operator might be.

 

Whilst there are many buses working in this livery, there are also many other buses working in other liveries.

 

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.

 

BX54 DDY ‘Travel West Midlands’ No. 4608. national express West Midlands, Hannah Louise.

Dennis Trident / Alexander ALX400

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

 

 

 

 

 

BK63 YWO ‘Travel West Midlands’ No. 4927, national express West Midlands, Carol Ann.

Alexander Dennis Ltd. E40D / Alexander Dennis Ltd. Enviro400

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

 

 

 

 

BX13 JNO ‘Travel West Midlands’ No. 5515, ‘national express West Midlands’, Madhu.

Volvo B5LH / Wright Eclipse Gemini 2

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

BV57 XKP ‘Travel West Midlands’ No. 4771, ‘national express West Midlands’, Belinda Jane.

Dennis Trident / Alexander Dennis Ltd. Enviro400

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

 

I am advised by Paul, (thank you) that this was a Coventry based bus that has been transferred into Birmingham after being replaced by a new bus.

The blue livery being the Coventry livery.

 

 

 

 

YX15 OZE ‘Travel West Midlands’ No. 2215, national express West Midlands, 4/4A, Luna.

Alexander Dennis Ltd. E20D / Alexander Dennis Ltd. Enviro200MMC

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

 

 

 

 

BX59 NSY ‘Travel West Midlands’ No. 1911, national express West Midlands, Grace Christina.

Scania K230B / Scania Omnilink

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

 

 

 

 

BV57 XFO ‘Travel West Midlands’ No. 1800, national express West Midlands, Wictoria-Jadwiga.

Scania K230B / Scania Omnilink

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

 

Finally, something bright and cheerful.

 

Painted in the livery that preceded the other two liveries featured in this blog.

 

 

‘Scene’ on a PSV Circle Organised Visit. At the Various Premises of R.S. Tyrer Ltd., Farnworth, Bolton 1 on Dennis Basford’srailsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

The PSV Circle (of which I have been a member for some years) aims to hold an Annual General Meeting in a different location in the UK every year.

 

Usually held at a weekend, they also include visits to operators and other bus related venues for the attending members to visit and enjoy.

 

This year, the location being in the North West of England centred on the Holiday Inn Express, Preston.

 

Friend Peter Rose joined me for what turned out to be a sometimes wet, but very enjoyable weekend.

 

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

 

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

 

‘Tyrers’ has a history stretching back to 1972 when Bob Tyrer at the age of 58 started his own business with a single, Leyland engined, Plaxton bodied Bedford coach.

 

Today, the company operates over 100 hundred vehicles out of three separate bases in the area.

 

‘Tyrers’ provided the transport for our second morning until lunchtime, which was taken in Manchester.

 

808 TYR ‘Tyrers Coaches Ltd,’.

Volvo B9TL / East Lancs Myllenium /1

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

 

New registered OU05 AWJ to ‘Weaver’, Newbury, Berks. from whom it was acquired.

 

A magnificent vehicle.

 

 

 

 

808 TYR ‘Tyrers Coaches Ltd,’.

Volvo B9TL / East Lancs Myllenium /2

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

 

 

 

 

BIG 9781 ‘Tyrers Coaches Ltd,’.

Scania N94UD / East Lancs Omnidekka /1

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

 

New registered YN07 EYO to ‘Nottingham City Transport’ No. 671.

 

 

 

 

BIG 9781 ‘Tyrers Coaches Ltd,’.

Scania N94UD / East Lancs Omnidekka /2

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

 

 

 

 

BJ11 DSX ‘Tyrers Coaches Ltd,’.

Volvo B9TL / Wright Eclipse Gemini

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

 

New to ‘First Capital’ No. VN36132 but acquired from ‘Midland Red South’ No. 80078.

 

 

 

 

JRZ 8514 ‘Tyrers Coaches Ltd,’.

DAF DB250 / Transbus ALX400

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

 

New registered LJ03 MYY to ‘Arriva London North’ No. DLA387.

 

 

 

 

JRZ 3262 ‘Tyrers Coaches Ltd,’.

DAF DB250 / Transbus ALX400

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

 

New registered LJ03 MSY to ‘Arriva London North’ No. DLA374.

 

 

 

 

YN56 FAK ‘Tyrers Coaches Ltd,’.

Scania N230UB / Scania OmniCity /1

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

 

New to ‘Reading Transport’ No. 9 but acquired from ‘Nottingham City Transport’ No. 538.

 

 

 

 

YN56 FAK ‘Tyrers Coaches Ltd,’.

Scania N230UB / Scania OmniCity /2

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

 

‘Scene’ in Harrogate once more on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

A short visit produced the following.

 

H1 ESU ‘Transdev’ No. 1701, THE Harrogate BUS COMPANY 1.

Volvo B7RLE / Wright Eclipse Urban /1

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

 

New registered YK04 JYH.

 

Pictured at the ‘High Bridge’ stop where the road from Knaresborough passes over the River Nidd.

 

 

 

 

H1 ESU ‘Transdev’ No. 1701, THE Harrogate BUS COMPANY 1.

Volvo B7RLE / Wright Eclipse Urban /2

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

 

 

 

 

FJ58 LSV ‘Transdev’ No. 1857, THE Harrogate BUS COMPANY 7.

Volvo B7RLE / Wright Eclipse 2

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

 

New to ‘Burnley & Pendle’, another ‘Transdev’ group company.

 

Pictured leaving Harrogate’s compact bus station.

 

 

 

 

H5 ESU ‘Transdev’ No. 1705, THE Harrogate BUS COMPANY 1.

Volvo B7RLE / Wright Eclipse Urban

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

 

New registered YK04 JYN.

 

 

 

 

YJ18 HFL ‘Royal Air Force’.

Volvo B8RLE / Wright Eclipse 3

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

 

New to RAF Menwith Hill.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

K300 RSA ‘conneXionsbuses’, Tockwith, North Yorkshire.

Scania K230UB / Scania OmniCity

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

 

New registered NK56 KHF to ‘Go Northern’ No. 5238.

 

 

 

CT16 CCT ‘Chandlers’, PLATINUM CLASS.

Irizar i8 / Irizar

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

 

New to ‘Baker-I’Anson’, Westbury.

 

‘Scene’ in Chesterfield Yet Again on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

SW64 XAR ‘Hulleys of Baslow’ No. 11.

Alexander Dennis Ltd. (ADL) E20D / ‘ADL’ Enviro200 /1

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

 

New to ‘Leask’, Lerwick, Shetland.

 

This bus has just arrived from Bakewell having worked an X70 service from Bakewell.

 

 

 

 

SW64 XAR ‘Hulleys of Baslow’ No. 11.

Alexander Dennis Ltd. (ADL) E20D / ‘ADL’ Enviro200 /2

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

 

Seen minutes later in this image working  a service 55 to Alfreton.

 

 

 

 

FJ03 VWR ‘TM Travel’ No. 623.

Scania L94UB / Wright Solar

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

 

Clearly marked as a ‘TMT’ bus but painted in full ‘notts+derby’ livery.

 

Both companies being part of the ‘Wellglade’ group together with ‘trentbarton’ to whom the bus was new.

 

 

 

 

YN57 FZA ‘TM Travel’ No. 1207.

Scania K230UB / Scania Omnilink

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

 

New to ‘Universitybus’, Hatfield, Herts.

 

 

 

 

MX54 LRK ‘Stagecoach Yorkshire Traction’ No. 22085 ‘L Driver Training’.

MAN 18.220 / Alexander Dennis Ltd. ALX300

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

 

New to ‘Greater Manchester South’.

 

 

 

 

WA56 FKO ‘Hulleys of Baslow’ No.14.

Dennis Dart / Plaxton Pointer 2

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

 

Acquired from ‘Stagecoach South West’ but new to ‘Stagecoach Devon’ as No. 35153.

 

 

 

 

600 RT ‘JOHNSON BROS’. ‘REDFERN TRAVEL Euro Escapade’.

Irizar i6s

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

 

New registered YM19 JJV.

 

‘Scene’ in Derby The Bus Station’s Buses on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

This blog is a follow up to the one posted on 15/04/2022 which looked at the bus station.

 

The major users of the bus station are ‘Arriva Midlands’ which has its roots in what was ‘Derby Corporation Transport’ and ‘trentbarton’.

 

‘notts+derby,’ ‘High Peak Buses’ and ‘Kinchbus’ provide the rest of the bus movements whilst ‘national express’ is the main coach operator.

 

These images represent the majority of the buses that use the bus station.

 

YJ14 BTE ‘trentbarton’ No. 836 ‘the sixes’.

Optare Versa V1110

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

 

Arriving with service 6.2 from Ripley, my home town.

 

 

 

 

YT09 ZBL ‘Arriva Midlands’ No. 3567.

Scania N230UB / Scania OmniCity

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

 

About to turn into the bus station having  worked  in on service 1 from the suburb of Alvaston.

 

The car park in the background forming a tunnel which frames the bus.

 

 

 

 

YX66 WLY ‘trentbarton’ No. 108 ‘the mickleover’.

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

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

 

As it says on the coving panel,

 

  “frequent and fabulous to Mickleover past the hospital”.

 

‘the mickleover’ was the first of many ‘trentbarton’ routes to convert to 

 the (ADL) bus where they replaced Volvo B7RLE / Wright Eclipse’s.

 

 

 

 

FJ58 KXU ‘Arriva Midlands’ No. 4220.

Volvo B9TL / Wright Eclipse Gemini

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

 

 

 

 

YY18TPZ ‘trentbarton’ No. 211 ‘indigo’.

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

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

 

‘indigo’ being one of a number of routes that link Derby to Nottingham.

 

 

 

 

FJ58 KXV ‘Arriva Midlands’ No. 4221.

Volvo B9TL / Wright Eclipse Gemini

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

 

Departs to who knows where??

 

 

 

 

 

YX20 OHB ‘Kinchbus’ No. 147 ‘skylink’.

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

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

 

Departs on its lengthy journey to Leicester.

 

As the branding implies, the route runs via the East Midlands Airport at Castle Donington.

 

‘Scene’ On a Day Out ‘On The Buses’ on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

Some years ago, I wrote a series of articles about days out by bus in my part of the East Midlands and South Yorkshire.

 

Meant to be a guide for the perhaps less confident intending passenger of what to catch to where and at what time. 

 

The series was published bi-monthly by a local magazine and ran for a number of years.

 

This blog seeks to replicate the ‘days out by bus’ element but this time looking at the buses that were used on the day.

 

This article starts and finishes in my home town of Ripley in Derbyshire, continues to Nottingham then on to Mansfield where a short break was taken.

 

Next was Chesterfield, Bakewell, Matlock and then Alfreton.

 

All the images illustrated except one were captured as we progressed. 

 

Accompanied by friend Peter Rose, it was quite a day.

 

So why don’t you join us?

 

YX20 OJN ‘trentbarton’ No. 170 ‘rainbowone’.

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

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

 

The first bus on a very cold but bright and sunny day.

 

The 09-45 from Ripley to Nottingham.

 

The piece of road the bus is running on has its own place in history.

 

From 1913 to 1933 a tramway ran from Ripley to Nottingham ran along this road.

 

The trams known as ‘The Ripley Rattlers’ had a reputation for being 

 

“the most dangerous tram route in Britain”. 

 

It was also one of the longest.

 

The trams painted blue and cream ran on a single track that had 316 loops where trams could pass.

 

The trams were replaced by trolleybuses and in turn by diesel buses now painted in the blue of the ‘Midland General Omnibus Company.’

 

They were the forerunners of todays ‘trentbarton’ who still use the same colour for its buses on the route.

 

Perhaps surprisingly, the rails are still there buried under several inches of tarmac.

 

On two occasions when the local council has dug the road up, I have seen and photographed them.

 

 

 

 

SN18 KTO ‘Stagecoach East Midland’ No. 10977 ‘pronto’.

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

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

 

The 11-30 from Nottingham.

 

Then after a break in Mansfield, another of the same to Chesterfield at

12-30.

 

 

 

 

SP05 EKX ‘Hulleys of Baslow’ No. 2.

Dennis Dart SLF / Plaxton Pointer 2

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

 

This image supplied by Peter Rose.

 

His rendition of the sky was much better than mine.

 

Purchased from ‘Stagecoach South West’ but new to ‘Fife Scottish’ as No.34725.

 

The 13-30 from Chesterfield pictured after arrival in Bakewell.

 

 

 

 

YN07 EXP ‘Bowers Coaches’ No. 789.

Scania 230UB / Scania

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

 

The 14-15 from Bakewell to Matlock pictured leaving Matlock crossing the bridge over the river Derwent on its way to Derby.

 

New to Scania as a demonstrator

 

 

 

 

SN65 OFA ‘Littles Travel’ No. 8.

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

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

 

The 15-02 from Matlock to Alfreton seen approaching the stand in one of Matlock’s bus stations.

 

I really must write a blog about Matlocks bus stations!!

 

 

 

 

FJ09 XPK ‘trentbarton’ No. 750 ‘the comet’.

Volvo B7RLE / Wright Eclipse Urban

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

 

The last bus of the day, the 15-45 from Alfreton leaving Ripley 15 minutes later having just dropped us off.

 

 

 

 

‘Scene’ in Chesterfield no more on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

YR10 AZA ‘Hulleys of Baslow’ No. 24. Scania N230UB / Scania Omnicity

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

 

Readers/viewers may recall my blog posted on 27/06/2021 featuring this bus.

 

‘Transpire’, The Chesterfield Bus Society reports that unfortunately on the 18/05/2021 a fire at ‘Hulleys’ Baslow premises destroyed Optare Solo No. 5 (YN53 ZWV) and so severely damaged No. 24 that the bus was beyond economic repair causing it to be withdrawn.

 

A sad end to a fine bus.

 

‘Scene’ in Chesterfield once more ‘Hulleys of Baslow’ 3 on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

YR10 AZA ‘Hulleys of Baslow’ No. 24. Scania N230UB / Scania Omniciti /1

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

 

New as No. 51 to ‘Menzies’ Heathrow.

 

Prior to being with ‘Hulleys’, it was with ‘Xelabus’, Hampshire.

 

 

 

 

YR10 AZA ‘Hulleys of Baslow’ No. 24. Scania N230UB / Scania Omniciti /2

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

 

 

 

YR10 AZA ‘Hulleys of Baslow’ No. 24. Scania N230UB / Scania Omniciti /3

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