'Scene' in Carlisle

An hour in Carlisle recently yielded the following.

 

Very much a ‘Stagecoach’ City albeit in ‘Cumberland Motor Services’ (CMS) guise and also very much Dennis Dart/Plaxton Pointer's also. Some are branded and some appear in plain livery.

 

 

 

The majority are registered in the PX05 E?? range including the bus painted in traditional ‘Cumberland’ livery to celebrate 100 years of CMS.

 

 

 

 

 

W221 DNO

 

Also similar but older. This bus had a previous existence with ‘Stagecoach in London’ in full London red livery. 

Other single deckers in the fleet on view were.

 

R960 XVM

 

A Volvo B10M with Alexander’s PS body which I calculate as being 16 years old.

 

S143 TRJ 

A former ‘Stagecoach in Manchester’ vehicle being a MAN 18.220 with Alexanders ALX 300 bodywork.

A couple of Optare Solo’s turned up 

PX07 GZZ and PE51 YHJ 

PE51 looked half naked because its front end livery was largely missing. At one time it served ‘Preston Bus’.

 

 

 

PX59 AZG

A MAN 18.240LF chassis with Alexander Dennis Enviro300 bodywork.

 

Double deckers were in short supply, these being the only two. Both were Dennis Tridents with Alexander Dennis ALX400 bodies.

 

MX55 KPU 

Was originally with ‘Stagecoach Manchester’ and came after a spell in the Lancaster area.

 

MX55 KPJ

Specially liveried in a green version of the standard livery for the lengthy Carlisle, Wigton Keswick service.

 

I was intrigued to see a ‘First’ bus in Carlisle because I did not think that ‘First’ had a presence locally.

SN62 AXW

First UK’s fleetlist shows this bus as being an ADL 30D with an ADL Enviro 300 body which currently is based at Galashiels working for ‘First Scotland East’.

It stands waiting to depart for Edinburgh which is an incredible three and a half hours away in time and almost a hundred miles in distance.

 

K888 SCL

I was admiring the work of UNVI at Coach & Bus live at the NEC only a few weeks ago. Indeed I did a piece about their product range which can be found elsewhere on this blog.

 

Despite its registration this is a relatively new vehicle working for ‘Staceys’. A Carlisle operator.

487 FHW

I do not usually include van conversions but I make an exception in this case because it is built for carrying disabled people which is a cause dear to my heart and because its owner. ‘reays’ of Wigton is a well known and respected operator of full size buses and coaches.

Further photos can be seen on my Flickr 

London Midland Day Out

 

For some years now, London Midland Trains (LMT) to coincide with the October half term break have offered a day ticket to anywhere on their system for just £15. A look at the map and the area it covers shows just how good an offer it is.

 

This  the fourth time I have taken advantage of it.

 

The services to and from London and Liverpool and all points in between are in the hands of Class 350 EMU’s built by Siemens AG in Germany. They are known as ‘Desiro’s.

 

The 350/1’s were built in 2004 for ‘Central Trains’ and ‘Silverlink’ while the 350/2’s were a later purchase by LMT in 2008/9. A further batch of 20 are currently on order. These will be split between LMT (350/3) and ‘Transpennine Express’.

 

They are fast, quiet and comfortable.

From where I live, the nearest LMT station is Lichfield Trent Valley (LTV). The station has two levels. 

 

The main, lower one is on the West Coast Main Line (WCML) terminating in London to the South and Liverpool in the Northwest. 

 

The  upper one goes to Birmingham and on into the West Midlands towards the the Welsh border. The two most Westerly outposts being Shrewsbury and Hereford. 

 

The route for today was straight down the main line to Rugby. Then North to Stafford. Liverpool was next returning to stop a while at Crewe. Finally back to LTV and home.

 

The WCML is famous of course for the Anglo-Scottish expresses and in some ways the LMT operation is a little overshadowed by their high speed neighbour.

 

Nevertheless they provide a vital and necessary service quietly, confidently and comfortably.

 

 

The services into Birmingham from LTV are in the hands of Class 323 electric units and here we see 323242 just before departure.

 

 

 

350 106 and 350 254 seen at Stafford.

 

 

 

They normally run as four coach sets but they can of course work in multiple.

 

 

 

350 105

Approaching LTV.

 

 

 

350 123

At Rugby

 

 

350 110

At Stafford

 

 

350 120

At Rugby

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

'Scene' in Ripley (Derbyshire)

‘trentbarton’ (tb) have a wide range of route branded services and sometimes it is necessary for various reasons to substitute a fleet liveried vehicle.

 

However, it is most unusual for ‘tb’ to substitute one of their own fleet vehicles with a bus from the associated ‘TM Travel’ (TMT) fleet.

 

Here we see TMT’s YN08 JWC on Ripley Market Place this week deputising on service 1A which links Ripley with Aldercar via Heanor and Langley Mill. The more usual rolling stock would be a fleet liveried Optare Solo.

 

YN08 JWC

A MAN 12.240 with Plaxton’s Centro body is seen wearing the basic livery that it carried whilst working in Sheffield on the ‘busy bee’ service which is a free service linking various points in the City centre.

 

In recent times it has been helping out on the ‘tb’ ’skylink’ service linking Nottingham with the East Midlands Airport.

 

 

'Scene' at Nottingham Railway Station

The ‘blockade’ of Nottingham Railway Station during the re-modeling of the trackwork there and other associated building works has been well documented on television and in the press.

 

The massive operation undertaken to keep passengers moving using a multitude of buses has been an undoubted success and congratulations to all concerned are offered.

 

I have visited several times and I have been impressed with the organisation and good humour with which it has all been achieved.

 

My most recent visit took place now that the trains are running again.

 

A lot has been done but there is still much to do. 

 

The station frontage is still wrapped in polythene although the clock tower is now re emerging and there is still a bit of a trek down the side of the building to the temporary ticket office.

At the. start the ticket queue was only partially covered but I am pleased to see that with the arrival of the autumn weather that the level of cover has been improved.

 

 

All the platforms are readily accessible but there is still a lot of the blue shuttering in place whilst presumably building or cleaning work goes on behind it.

A lot of the trackwork re-modeling has taken place on the approaches to the station

 

This view to the East shows some of it. East Midland Trains (EMT) depot is visible through the first arch.

 

The view to the West.

 

 

So what else was on view ??

 

As might be expected Nottingham is EMT country and their fleet was well represented.

156497

 

153376

 

HST power car 43043

 

222 022

 

 

 158770

 

 

 

Visitors were from ‘Cross Country’ in the shape of Class 170’s in 2 and 4 coach formations. I think that of all the modern units these are the most attractive. 

 

170518  

 

 

170113 

 

 

‘Northern Rail’ Class 158790 about to start its return journey back to Leeds.

‘Scene’ in Blackpool

Blackpool means different things to different people. To some it’s the beach To some it’s the illuminations. To some it’s the sea or maybe the Tower but to me it has always meant transport and lots of it.

 

There are old and new trams, the railway, there is the airport, there are enumerable holiday coaches and of course there are the buses. 

 

I have written about both the trams and coaches in recent times so now it is the buses turn to take their bow.

 

The largest operator in the town is ‘Blackpool Transport Services’ which used to be the old ‘Blackpool Corporation Transport’. 

 

For many years they faced competition from ‘Fylde Borough Transport’ which was the old ‘Lytham St Annes Corporation’ operation until it was taken over in 1994.

 

Competition is still evident today. This time it comes from ‘Classic Bus North West’ and it is these two operators who feature. (plus a brief appearance by Stagecoach).

 

Most of Blackpool’s double deck fleet appears at first glance to be fairly uniform. The bodies are a mix of ELC Lolyne, Myllennium Lolyne or Myllennium Lowlander and bear a family resemblance to each other. 

 

The chassis are a mix of Dennis or Transbus Trident 2’s and DAF DB250LF’s. 

 

The Tridents are a further mixture of buses built for Blackpool and others that came from ‘Blackburn Transport’, ‘Blue Triangle’, 'Green Triangle' and the Isle of Man operator ‘Bus Vannin’.

 

Whilst the DAF’s are all from ‘Bus Vannin’.

 

PO51 UMT 

Is an ex ‘Blue Triangle’ Trident.

 

 

 

 

 

PN52 XKJ 

Is an ex ‘Blackburn’ Trident.

 

 

 

 

 

J800 BTS 

Is an ex ‘Bus Vannin’ DAF.

 

 

 

 

E13 BTS

Is an ex 

‘Bus Vannin’ Trident.

 

 

PF06 EZL

Is a bus actually built for Blackpool.

 

 

 

 

 

There is also small number of Northern Counties bodied Leyland Olympians but I didn’t see any of them.

 

The single deck fleet includes

Optare Solo’s

 

YJ08 PFD

Seen in ‘Resort Pass Hopper Bus’ livery.

 

 

PN03 UGH 

is seen in fleet livery.

 

 

BF60 UVP

A Volvo B7RLE with Plaxton Centro body.

 

 

AU06 BOV 

Another Volvo B7RLE this time with Wright Eclipse bodywork. One of a batch of five purchased from ‘Anglian’.

 

 

 

T218 HCW

A rather snatched image of this Optare Excel being the only one I saw. This was new to Blackpool although there are other Excels that came from ‘Go Northern’ and ‘Reading Buses in service.

 

 

 

I only saw ‘Classic Bus’ vehicles operating along the promenade. All that I saw were elderly and all were indeed ‘Classics’.

 

XAU 701Y

A Leyland Olympian with Eastern Coach Works  body is an old friend from its days with ‘Trent Buses’ (for whom it was built) as they were then. 

 

On the previous occasion that I saw it in Blackpool, it was sat at the back of ‘Blackpool Transport’s Rigby Road depot looking rather forlorn. It had joined the Blackpool fleet in 1997 together with 9 others of the type.

 

Now with its front painted in traditional ‘National Bus Company’ red and white, while the rest of it wears this rather garish advert for ‘Hot Ice’.

 

 

 

 

 

 

BNK 324A

You cannot get more ‘Classic’ than this 50 year old Park Royal bodied Routemaster.

 

The unlikely registration number hides the fact that it is really RM 1568 and was originally 568 CLT in 'London Transport' service.

 

While many much younger buses sit in museums around the country. It is a credit to its original constructors and to the engineers who keep it in daily service now.

Long may it continue !!

 

 

 

 

 

P269 PSX

A Volvo Olympian 56 with Alexander Royale bodywork that was new to ‘Lothian Buses’ in 1997.

 

F69 FYE

You do not see many 6 wheel Metrobuses. This one was built for The China Motor Bus Company as its ML81. 

 

It was repatriated and worked for the ‘Big Bus Tours’ in London coming to Blackpool this year (2013).

 

 

MX55 KPL

Almost mundane following what has gone before is this Alexander ALX 400 bodied Dennis Trident working for Stagecoach Merseyside and South Lancashire out of Preston depot.

 

 

Finally a bit of humour are these 3 ‘buses’ included in Blackpool’s illuminations. If you go, they are up at the North end of the promenade.

 

I suspect they are based on the ‘Routemaster’.