‘Scene’ in Warrington 3 Single Deckers on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

A few days spent visiting my nephew who lives in the town allowed me to spend some time looking at the bus scene.

 

Unusual in that the local services are provided by the local council and not as in many places by one of the big groups.

 

Because of that, the current fleet livery includes the branding ‘Warringtons own buses’.

 

The bus station, which is delightfully called ‘Golden Square,’ is very close to the railway station which can be seen above and behind the buses in many of the images.

 

The oldest single deckers date from 2006 & 2007 and now approaching 15/16 years old, they must be due for replacement soon. 

 

However, they do appear in a variety of liveries which adds to their interest for the the enthusiast.

 

CX06 BJY ‘Warrington Borough Council’ No. 2596, ‘Ribble’ No. 2596.

VDL SB120 / Wright Cadet

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

 

New to ‘Arriva Merseyside’ as No. 2596.

 

 

 

 

DK07 EZH ‘Warrington Borough Council’ No. 76.

VDL SB120 / Wright Cadet

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

 

Wearing the remains of the previous ‘Network Warrington’ branding.

 

 

 

 

DK56 MLU ‘Warrington Borough Council’ No. 65.

VDL SB120 / Wright Cadet /1

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

 

Wearing the remains of the previous’ Network Warrington’ branding but overpainted with a glimpse of the current ‘Warrington’s own buses’ branding.

 

 

 

 

DK56 MLU ‘Warrington Borough Council’ No. 65.

VDL SB120 / Wright Cadet /2

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

 

 

 

 

DK07 EZO ‘Warrington Borough Council’ No. 72, Warringtons own buses, we’ve been an essential part of Warrington since 1902.

VDL SB120 / Wright Cadet

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

 

 

 

 

YJ57 BRZ ‘Warrington Borough Council’ No. 82, Warringtons own buses, we’ve been an essential part of Warrington since 1902.

VDL SB120 / Wright Cadet

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

 

 

 

 

PCZ 979 ‘Warrington Borough Council’ No. 60, PRIESTLY COLLEGE bus

VDL SB120 / Wright Cadet

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

 

 

 

 

 

PLZ 757 ‘Warrington Borough Council’ No. 61, PRIESTLY COLLEGE bus

VDL SB120 / Wright Cadet

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

 

‘Scene’ on a PSV Circle Organised Visit ‘trentbarton’ on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.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. (Covid permitting).

 

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 was in my part of the world, the East Midlands.

 

This, our third visit of the third day was to the Langley Mill depot of ‘trentbarton’.

 

Located very close to the Derbyshire/Nottinghamshire border just down the hill from Heanor. 

 

It is my ‘local’ depot that I have visited a number of times previously.

 

Lunch was then taken in Derby, which because it was Sunday was very quiet.

 

YJ07 VSA ‘trentbarton’ No. 9307 ‘Driver Training’.

Optare Tempo X1200 /1

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

 

New as service bus No. 307.

 

 

 

 

YJ07 VSA ‘trentbarton’ No. 9307 ‘Driver Training’.

Optare Tempo X1200 /2

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

 

 

The trainee driver and the instructors seats.

 

 

 

 

FH54 VRX ‘trentbarton’ No. 9310 ‘Driver Training’.

Scania L94UB / Wright Solar

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

 

New as service bus No. 665.

 

 

 

 

FJ58 KKG ‘trentbarton’ No. 715 ‘mango’

Volvo B7RLE / Wright Eclipse

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

 

Wearing the promotional livery for ‘mango’ the company’s electronic discounted travel card.

 

 

 

 

YJ11 ENL ‘trentbarton’ No. 806 ‘my15’.

Optare Versa V1110

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

 

The ‘my15’ route is largely cross country linking Ilkeston with the East Midlands Airport at Castle Donington.

 

 

 

 

YJ07 JVE ‘TM Travel’ No. 799.

VDL SB120 / Plaxton Centro

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

 

Every depot has its corner where the worn out or damaged  are stored. 

 

Langley Mill is no exception!!

 

 

 

 

FJ09 MWA ‘trentbarton’ No. 476 ‘hugo’

Optare Solo M950

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

 

 

 

 

YJ07 JWW ‘notts+derby’ No. 797.

VDL SB120 / Plaxton Centro

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

 

New to ‘TM Travel’.

 

‘Scene’ in Halifax 2 on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

My first real day out ‘bus hunting’ in 2022 was to the two West Yorkshire towns of Halifax and Huddersfield.

 

Only 9 or so miles apart in distance but separated in fact by an enormous hill along the top of which runs the M62 Motorway.

 

My first stop wherever I go is usually the local bus station.

 

Unfortunately, the one in Halifax was undergoing severe rebuilding work at the time of my visit and the bit that was still in operation was restricted viewing so it was time to take to the streets.

 

Whilst ‘First West Yorkshire’ is the dominant operator, there are others.

 

Probably the largest is now ‘team Pennine’ (tP) which is part of the ‘Transdev Blazefield’ (TB) group.

 

‘TB’ bought the ‘Yorkshire Tiger’ (YT) operation from ‘Arriva’ in 2021 and renamed it as ‘team Pennine’.

 

The ‘tP buses I saw in Halifax with one exception were all wearing their former ‘YT’ livery with the addition of vinyls that read,

 

 “Im joining team Pennine… they’re going to make me better”.

 

I would suggest to ‘tP’ that they do that as quickly as possible because the ex ‘YT’ livery does the buses no favours.

 

YJ07 JVM ‘team Pennine’ No. 1224.

VDL SB120 / Wright Cadet 

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

 

Pictured wearing the remains of the ‘flying tiger’ livery from when it worked in Leeds on the Leeds/Bradford airport shuttle for ‘Arriva’.

 

 

 

 

YJ62 FBL ‘team Pennine’ No. 202.

Optare Versa V1110

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

 

New to ‘Webberbus’, Bridgewater, Somerset.

 

 

 

 

YK08 ERV ‘team Pennine’ No. 180.

Optare Solo M950

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

 

New to ‘Arriva Durham County’ No. 2803.

 

 

 

 

YJ57 YCA  ‘team Pennine’ No. 201.

Optare Versa V1110

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

 

New to ‘Webberbus’, Bridgewater, Somerset.

 

 

 

 

YJ55 BLZ ‘Stotts Coaches’.

Optare Solo M780SL

 

New to ‘Hughes & Goodsir’, Holyhead.

 

‘Scene’ in Derby yet again. ARRIVA 4 on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’.

A number of my most recent Derby based blogs have focused exclusively on the buses of ‘Trent Motor Traction Ltd’.

 

However, there are other operators who work on the streets of Derby, one of which is ‘ARRIVA Midlands’.

 

The company has its roots in what I knew as ‘Derby Corporation Transport’ which has travelled its own complicated route to become the company it is today.

 

YX17 NLE ‘ARRIVA Midlands’ No. 3104. Alexander Dennis Ltd. (ADL) E20D / ‘ADL’ Enviro 200MMC

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

 

The blue and white livery is a leftover from the days when it was employed on car park shuttle duties at the East Midlands Airport at Castle Donington.

 

 

 

 

 

KX54 AVD ‘ARRIVA Midlands’ No. 9551 ‘Driver Training Bus’. VDL SB120 / Wright Cadet

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

 

New as No. 60 to ‘MK’Metro’.

 

 

 

 

FJ13 FYX ‘ARRIVA Midlands’ No. 3769. VDL SB200/ Wright Pulsar /1

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

 

 

 

 

 

FJ13 FYX ‘ARRIVA Midlands’ No. 3769. VDL SB200/ Wright Pulsar /2

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

 

‘Scene’ on Another Trip Down Memory Lane. When ‘trentbarton’ (tb) reached its Centenary /1 on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

To mark the centenary of the company, ‘tb’ held an open day at its Langley Mill depot on Sunday 26th. May 2013.

 

‘trentbarton’, the East Midlands based bus operator started its own journey on 31st. October 1913 when it took over a route from Derby to Ashbourne run by a company called ‘Commercial Car Hirers’ of London who had been running the route since 1909.

 

The company still runs the route initially as service 1. Then to mark that route’s centenary in 2009 it became ‘the one’ and is now ‘the swift’ and the route now runs beyond Ashbourne to terminate at Uttoxeter. (pronounced ‘Uchetter’ by the locals).

 

‘trentbarton’ took over the ‘Midland General Omnibus Company’ in 1969 at the formation of the ‘National Bus Company’ and ‘Barton Transport’ in 1989.

 

It was buses formerly operated by these three companies that made up most (but not all) of the visiting buses on the day.

 

Today, ‘tb’ is part of the ‘Wellglade’ group along with ‘Kinchbus’ of Loughborough, ‘TM Travel’ of Staveley and ‘notts+derby’ of Derby for whom Langley Mill depot provides engineering support.

 

This blog deals with the vehicles pictured in ’trentbarton’s Langley Mill workshops.

 

‘trentbarton’s Big 100th. Birthday Party banner

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

 

 

 

 

M131 PRA ‘trentbarton’ No. 131 ‘L’. Volvo B10B / Northern Counties 

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

 

 

 

 

P256 PSX ‘notts+derby’ No. 28. Volvo Olympian / Alexander Royale

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

 

New to ‘Lothian Buses’ as No. 256.

 

 

 

 

YJ56 KAO ‘TMTravel’. No. 1179. VDL SB120 / Plaxton Centro

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

 

 

 

 

Registration not known. ‘trentbarton’. Scania L94UB / Wright Solar

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

 

All taped up waiting for attention in the paint shop.

 

 

 

 

M130  PRA ‘trentbarton’ No. 130 ‘L’. Volvo B10B / Northern Counties 

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

 

‘Scene’ in Derby on Friday 06/03/2020 on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

It is a long time since Derby featured in my blog so a visit was long overdue.

 

All of these images were captured in the bus station.

 

BJ 332BU ‘Slivtour’, Bardejov, Slovakia. Mercedes-Benz Tourismo

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

 

I don’t usually include all white buses/coaches but as its a visitor from the Slovak Republic, I will make an exception.

 

 

 

 

L30 URG ‘Linburg’. Van Hool T917 Acron

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

 

 

 

YN56 AHY ‘notts+derby’ No. 1180. Optare M920 Solo

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

 

New to fellow ‘Wellglade’ group member ‘TM Travel’.

 

Service 59 from Derby to Ilkeston and then on to Shipley View was a route operated by ‘yourbus’ of Heanor until October 2019 when the company went out of business.

 

The 59A is an interesting modification to the route in that on two journeys a day in both directions (about lunchtime) it diverts to serve the Windmill Inn at Oakwood.

 

Now that is what I call service!

 

 

 

FN04 HSC ‘Bowers Coaches Ltd.’ ‘skyline’. Scania L94UB / Wright Solar

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

 

‘Bowers Coaches Ltd.’, is part of ‘High Peak Buses’ which in turn is jointly owned by ‘Centrebus’ and ‘trentbarton’.

 

This bus should feel at home in Derby because that’s where it started life in ‘trentbarton’s fleet.

 

Service 114 which starts at Derby railway station and runs to Ashbourne was a route operated by ‘yourbus’ of Heanor until October 2019 when the company went out of business.

 

 

 

KX54 AVD ‘ARRIVA Midlands No. 9551 ‘ARRIVA Training Bus’. VDL SB120 / Wright Cadet

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

 

New to ‘MK Metro’ as No. 60.

 

 

 

FJ03 VVZ ‘notts+derby’ No. 611. Scania L94UB / Wright Solar

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

 

This bus used to be part of the small number that worked on the ‘Pronto’ service between Chesterfield and Nottingham.

 

‘Pronto’ was a joint operation between ‘trentbarton’ and 

‘Stagecoach in Chesterfield’.

 

This has recently ceased with ‘Stagecoach’ taking over sole responsibility for the route.

 

Knowing how well ‘Wellglade’ group utilise their vehicles it was only a matter of time before those buses displaced turned up elsewhere.

 

The word ‘pronto is clearly visible where the vinyl has been removed.

 

 

 

FJ09 BXP ‘trentbarton’ No. 735. Volvo B7RLE / Wright Eclipse

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

 

A ‘Mango’ liveried bus without any branding.

 

Seeing that it is working on the ‘Kinchbus’ ‘skylink’ service to Leicester It could have been transferred to that company and is awaiting a re-paint.

 

 

 

YY67 HDL ‘ARRIVA Midlands No. 4545 ‘arriva sapphire. Alexander Dennis Ltd. (ADL) E40D / ‘ADL’ Enviro 400MMC

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

 

Included for no other reason than I like the livery.

‘Scene’ in Chester, ARRIVA on ‘Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

An interesting City from a transport point of view where there is usually something different to enjoy.

 

CX17 BYB ‘ARRIVA Cymru’ No. 1001, ‘Sapphire’. Alexander Dennis Ltd. (ADL) E40D / ‘ADL’ Enviro 400City

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

 

 

 

CX15 BXY ‘ARRIVA Cymru’ No. 4645, ‘Sapphire’. ‘ADL’ E40D / ‘ADL’ Enviro 400

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

 

 

 

CX61 CDE ‘ARRIVA Cymru’ No. 4481 ‘CYMRU Coastliner’. VDL DB300 / Wright Gemini 2

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

 

 

CX54 DKE ‘ARRIVA Cymru’ No. 2490. VDL SB120 / Wright Cadet

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

 

 

CX07 CTO ‘ARRIVA Cymru’ No. 2647. VDL SB200 / Wright Pulsar

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

 

 

CX12 DTN ‘ARRIVA Cymru’ No.3146.  VDL SB200 / Wright Pulsar

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

 

 

CX58 EUB ‘ARRIVA Cymru’ No. 674. Optare Solo M950SL

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

 

‘Scene’ in Bolton on ’Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

I was a great fan of the old Bolton Bus Station which was typically 1950’s ish. Buses were easy to see and photograph.

 

The new ‘Interchange’ which opened in 2017 is very modern, mostly indoors behind glass but not in my view very photographer friendly.

 

Still, here goes.

 

M522 WHF ‘Arriva’ North West’ No. 8232 ‘Arriva Training Bus’. Volvo B10B / Wright Endurance

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

 

New to ‘Merseyside’. Then ‘MTL’ as its No. 6522.

 

 

LJ03 MVU ‘Vision / UK Coachways’. DAF DB250 / Wright Gemini

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

New to ‘Arriva London South’ as its No. DW7.

It has also carried the former Routemaster registration WLT 807 (RM 807) in London.

 

 

 

PN57 NFC ‘Diamond North West’ No. 30919. Scania K230UB / East Lancs Esteem

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

 

New to ‘PrestonBus’ as its No. 209.

 

 

 

Y951 CSF ‘First Manchester’ No. 62241. Volvo B10BLE / Wright Renown

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

 

New to ‘Midland Bluebird’, Scotland as its No. 1224.

 

 

 

DK55 FXB ‘ARRIVA North West’ No. 2517. VDL SB120 / Wright Cadet

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

 

New to ‘ARRIVA Merseyside’.

 

At this stage, I gave up on the bus station and took to the streets.

YJ12 GXK ‘Cumfybus’. Optare Solo M810H

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

 

 

YJ12 GXK ‘Cumfybus’. Optare Solo M810H

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

 

 

YJ11 ENT ‘Cumfybus’. Optare Versa V970H

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

 

New to ‘Maytree Travel’, Bolton.

 

 

KX06 TYF ‘Vision / UK Coachways’. Optare Solo M850

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

 

New to ‘Stagecoach United Counties’ as its No. 47338.

 

 

 

CX54 DLK ‘ARRIVA North West’ No. 2503. VDL SB120 / Wright Cadet

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

 

 

 

 MX12 KWA ‘ARRIVA North West’ No. 3128. VDL SB200/Wright Pulsar

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

 

New to ‘TGM’ (Telling Golden Miller) group. ‘TGM’ have been part of the ‘ARRIVA’ since 2007.