‘Scene’ in Sheffield today 22/03/2016

 

So new, I do not know what the chassis is !!

 

BX16 CHD ‘Skills Coaches’ tri-axle Caetano Levante. 

 

Working for ‘national express’.

 

I have pictured the new ‘Streetdeck’ in Sheffield before but I have not previously had the opportunity to show all four aspects of the bus.

SM65 GGF ‘First South Yorkshire’ 35132 Wright Streetdeck.

 

SM65 LNC ‘First South Yorkshire’ 35137 Wright Streetdeck.

 

SM65 EFE ‘First South Yorkshire’ 35118 Wright Streetdeck.

 

SM65 EFK ‘First South Yorkshire’ 35123 Wright Streetdeck.

‘Scene’ on a Day Out with Dennis to Meadowhall.

This set of images is to illustrate an article written for a magazine called ‘All Things Local’.

 

This community magazine is produced and distributed from a base in Kilburn, Derbyshire and covers large areas of the towns of Ripley and Belper.

 

IF YOU ARE TRAVELLING FROM BELPER, 

 

your first bus of the day will be ‘trentbarton’s (tb) ’the sixes’ from Belper to Ripley.

 

A Swedish built Scania chassis carrying a Wright body produced in Ballymena, Northern Ireland.

 

Here 3 of them are seen ‘lurking’ in Belper Bus Station.

 

FJ55 BZR, FJ55 ABV & FJ55 BZN ‘trentbarton’ 689, 684 & 686 Scania L94UB / Wright Solar.

 

FJ09 XPH ‘trentbarton’ 749 Volvo B7RLE / Wright Eclipse.

 

Onward to Chesterfield from Ripley it is ‘tb’s ‘comet’ which does the honours. 

 

These again are Swedish built chassis this time by Volvo but again they have bodywork built in Ballymena, Northern Ireland.

 

Stagecoach provide the next leg to Sheffield and for this they provide Swedish built chassis from Scania with bodywork by Alexander Dennis built in both Scotland and Scarborough.

 

Branded as Stagecoach Gold these buses are built to a higher specification than normal. The most obvious change from the passenger point of view are the higher quality seats.

 

YN64 AOE ‘Stagecoach Yorkshire’ 15194 Scania N230UD / ADL Enviro 400.

 

From Sheffield City centre to Meadowhall, ‘First South Yorkshire’ provide these up market double deckers again produce by Wright’s in Ballymena, Northern Ireland.

 

SM65 LMY ‘First South Yorkshire’ 35135 Wright Streetdeck.

‘Scene’ going ‘Solo’ in Derby Part 2

 

One of the success stories in the bus world of the last 20 years has undoubtedly been the Optare Solo.

 

Built in a variety of lengths and width’s, there cannot be many bus fleets in the country that the type has not appeared in.

 

My regular stamping ground for many years has been Derby and so I thought I might put together a compilation of the various liveries that have appeared before my camera in the city.

 

This is the second of a short series which will appear from time to time. Part 1 appeared on 17/01/2016.

 

FJ09 MWL ‘trentbarton’ 483 Optare Solo.

 

Introduced by trentbarton (tb) to coincide with the opening of the ‘Royal Derby’ hospital this service leaves the stop outside the hospital in its name.

 

FP51 GXZ ‘trentbarton’ 440 Optare Solo.

Introduced in September 2013, ‘tb’s ZOOM zoomed into Derby from Long Eaton. 

 

It proved to be a very successful service because the Solo’s were replaced by bigger buses.

 

W411 YAL ‘trentbarton’ 411 Optare Solo.

 

Working on ‘tb’s SE7ENS, the 7.1 was designed to link the Villages around Belper with both Belper itself and then on to Derby without having to change buses.

 

V403 JTO ‘trentbarton’ 403 Optare Solo.

One of the first batch of Solo’s in the ‘tb’ fleet and seen in Derby on the ‘FREE Shopper HOPPER’ service.

 

It was the only time I saw this livery and the bus eventually disappeared to help out at ‘High Peak Buses’ in Buxton wearing ‘Notts & Derby’ (N&D) livery.

 

A18 UOD ‘trentbarton’ 456 Optare Solo.

Which started life as FE02 KFC and has more recently become R29 BUS.

 

Pictured in the ‘the five’ livery that linked the city centre with the University and Markeaton Park although working an X17 to Borrowash.

 

X627 ERB ‘trentbarton’ 427 Optare Solo.

Dating from 2000, it has worked on ‘the amberline’ but appears here in ’N&D’ livery.

 

FP51 GXW ‘trentbarton’ 437 Optare Solo.

 

In recent times the ‘tb’ fleet has adopted this dark red as its basic colour but it is used as a background for the company to superimpose either information to the public or adverts for its own services.

 

This being the case with the ‘zigzag’ ticket promotion seen on thid bus which is working a service on the normally route branded ’the sixes’ service.

 

FE02 KDX ‘trentbarton’ 450 Optare Solo.

 

The same again with ‘trentbarton live’ over the basic colour.

 

W416 YAL ‘trentbarton’ 416 Optare Solo.

 

Seen in the earlier brighter red ‘tb’ livery working a ‘Derby Royal’ service and seen at the hospital.

 

 

FG02 BGO ‘trentbarton’ 466 Optare Solo.

 

Strictly speaking, this should not appear in an article about Derby because it carries a livery for a service that only runs between Wirksworth and Matlock however when ‘tb’ re launched its ‘the sixes’ service in March 2014 it did so with a display at Derby Market Place and this bus was part of that display.

 

 

 

 

 

‘Scene’ Coaching on the Isle of Wight

The Isle of Wight is becoming my second home it seems. Getting there by ferry from Gunwharfe Quay in Portsmouth is always an enjoyable experience and it is there, waiting to board that the first two images were captured.

 

BT14 LCT ‘Leon’s of Stafford’ Neoplan N5216-3SHDC Starliner.

 

YN64 AOK ‘Dunwood Travel’ Scania 360EB4 / Irizar i6.

 

‘Dunwood Travel’ of Dudley are part of the ‘Leons of Stafford’ group.

 

EDZ 114 ‘Avanti Coach Travel’ SETRA S250.

 

Originally R762 NFW.

 

‘Avanti Coach Travel’ is the trading name ‘E. Pitchers’ of Blofield, Norwich and the coach was with a company called ‘Hodson’s before that.

 

YT62 HZY ‘P & D York Travel’ Scania 360EB4 / Irizar i6.

 

‘P & D York Travel’ are based in Wolverhampton. 

 

It was previously operated by ‘Solus Coaches’ of Tamworth.

 

TL07 DGE ‘Group Travel’  (‘Moon & Benney’) SETRA S415GT-HD.

 

‘Moon & Benney’ hail from Bodmin in Cornwall.

 

The livery and the registration however identify the coach as previously being operated by ‘Lodge Coaches’ of High Easter, Chelmsford, Essex.

 

MT61 HUP ‘Happy Days’ Neoplan Tourliner.

 

‘Happy Days’ are based in Stafford.

 

What an excellent choice of company name and livery.

 

BX14 KPE ‘Globe Holidays’ King Long XMQ6129Y.

 

Chinese built and operated by ‘Globe Holidays’ of Barnsley, South Yorks.

T871 JBC ‘A.L.S Travel’ MAN 24.400 / Noge Catalan.

 

‘A.L.S Travel’ are based on the Isle of Wight at Lake near Sandown.

 

It was new to ‘Bennett’ (Hamiltons of Uxbridge) in March 1999 before moving to ‘Irvine’, Law in Scotland in 2003 and then to ‘Calne Travel’ where it was re registered EIG 3277.

It then went to ‘Swallow’ of Rainham in Essex before moving to ‘Anicks Travel’ of Bristol.

 

All that before finding yet another home on the IoW !

 

CDL 647 ‘Seaview Services’ Volvo B12B / Van Hool Alizee.

 

Owned by ‘Robinson’, of Sandown who trade as ‘Seaview Services’.

 

New to Nuttall (Redline Coaches) of Penwortham, Lancashire as YK04 FWB. 

 

It was re registered by them to 12 RED in February 2009.

 

It regained its original registration when it passed via ‘Plaxton’ sales in 2011 to 

 

‘M&M Coaches’ of High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire.

 

It then worked for ‘Amport & District’ at Thruxton in Hampshire in September 2012 before coming to its current owner in October 2012 who re registered it yet again to its current mark.

 

YJ13 GZB ‘Birmingham International Coachways’ Van Hool TX15 Alicron / Van Hool.

 

YD02 PXM ‘Albert Wilde & Son Coaches’ Bova Futura.

 

‘Albert Wilde & Son Coaches’ are local to me being based in Heage in Derbyshire.

 

Previously operated by ‘K & M Coaches’ of Chesterfield.

 

JMM 758B 1964 Morris Minor.

 

The first car ever to appear in my blog.

 

I could not resist this because my very first car was the same model in the same colour but not I might add in this condition.

 

The total instrumentation was a speedometer which had a mileometer set in it, a battery charge light at one side balanced by an oil pressure light at the other and that was it.

 

To cap it all, for a pound sterling I got 4 gallons of petrol and some change.

 

Those really were the days !!!

 

‘Scene’ at Nottingham’s Victoria Bus Station

Todays bus station was built on the site upon which Nottingham’s Victoria Railway Station used to stand.

 

 

The railway station was designed by Albert Lambert who coincidentally designed Nottingham’s other railway major railway station for the Midland Railway.

 

The land for the station was bought at enormous expense and required the demolition of over 1,000 houses and a couple of dozen pubs.

 

Some 600,000 cubic yards of spoil were removed creating a large hole in which the station was built. Access for trains was via tunnels cut in the Northern and Southern ends.

 

Owned by the Great Central and Great Northern Railways it was eventually opened in May 1900.

 

Some of the brickwork that supported the sides of the ‘hole’ is still readily visible today.

 

The multi-storey car park sits on what would have been ballast, trackwork and platforms etc.

 

 

At the Northern end can be seen the boarded up entrance to Mansfield Road tunnel.

The station was closed in September 1967 and the building of The Victoria Centre and flats was commenced.

 

The only part of the station that was not demolished was the Clock Tower (which still tells the correct time) and this was incorporated in the design of the centre.

 

There are a total of 10 bays serving routes provided by ‘trentbarton’ (tb) and ’Stagecoach’.

YX65 ZHM ‘trentbarton’ 82 Volvo B11R / Plaxton Elite.

 

Working on the ‘red arrow’ service that operates every 10 minutes during the day from Derby to Nottingham.

 

New in October 2015.

 

BF65 WLE ‘trentbarton’ 770 Volvo 8R / Wright Eclipse 3. 

Working on ‘tb’s ‘the ‘two’ from Cotmanhay and Ilkeston.

 

Also new in October 2015.

 

YJ12 GVE ‘trentbarton’ 997 Optare Solo Electric.

 

Working on the cross city ‘centrelink’ service that links the ‘Victoria Bus Station’ with the ‘Broadmarsh Bus Station’ via the city centre.

 

FN04 HSE ‘trentbarton’ 655 Scania L94UB / Wright Solar Urban.

Helping out on the ‘centrelink’ on one of the times when a dedicated Electric Solo is not available.

 

It should be noted that although many ‘tb’ vehicles share the same dark red ‘fleet’ livery that there are many ‘sub  liveries’ in use on the side panels.

 

YJ14 BTF ‘trentbarton’ 837 Optare Versa.

 

Working a ‘rainbowone’ service to Alfreton. (my italics)

 

The ‘rainbowone’ is a group of routes to Nottingham worked from the towns of Alfreton, Heanor and Ripley in Derbyshire which all work seperately into Eastwood in Nottinghamshire. 

 

From there they provide a 10 minute headway service ito Nottingham.

 

YJ14 BSO ‘trentbarton’ 850 Optare Versa.

 

Arriving on a ‘rapidone’ service.

 

The ‘rapidone’  works in conjunction with the ‘rainbowone’ from Ripley only as  far as Langley Mill from where it runs as an express service into Nottingham.

 

This gives the residents of Ripley the choice of a fast direct or slow (via Eastwood) service into Nottingham.

 

YJ12 PKO ‘trentbarton’ 826 Optare Versa.

Working on ‘the threes’ service.

 

A group of routes called A, B and C that all work in they same way from Mansfield to Sutton in Ashfield.

 

After where they diverge to serve a variety of different communuties before reaching Nottingham.

 

X628 ERB ‘trentbarton’ 428 Optare Solo.

 

Deputising for a route branded Optare Versa on a ‘three’s working.

 

FX09 DCU ‘Stagecoach East Midland’ 22775 MAN 18.240LF / ADLtd Enviro 300.

 

Working in on the jointly operated (with trentbarton’ ‘Pronto’ service from Chesterfield.

 

Both companies vehicles share the same livery.

 

FJ55 AAF ‘trentbarton’ 671 Scania L94UB /  Wright Solar Urban.

Deputising for a route branded vehicle on the ‘Pronto’ into Chesterfield.

 

 

SK63 ATO ‘Stagecoach East Midland’ 37005 Dennis Dart SLF / ADLtd. Enviro 200.

On a short ‘Pronto’ working terminating in Mansfield.

 

Interestingly carrying branding for the ‘Mansfield Move’ which was the opening of the new bus station in Mansfield that took place 3 years ago this year.

 

 

FJ08 VPY ‘Stagecoach East Midland’ 36006 Dennis Dart SLF / ADLtd Enviro 200,

 

Carrying route branding for the ‘Sherwood Arrow’ which sees alternate hourly services going from Nottingham to Worksop and Retford.

 

One of the outstanding scenic journeys in the East Midlands.

 

 

FX61 HGG ‘Stagecoach East Midland’ 27761 ‘Dennis Enviro 300 / Alexander Enviro 300’.

 

‘Stagecoach’s fleet list gives this description..

 

Working a ‘Sherwood Arrow’ service.

 

M130 PRA ‘trentbarton’ 130 Volvo B10B / Northern Counties Paladin.

 

A link with the past is this Volvo B10B with Northern Counties Paladin bodywork working as a driver trainer in the ‘Wellglade’ fleet.

 

Quite possibly the last bus carrying the traditional ‘Trent’ livery of red and cream.

 

The ‘Trent’ fleetname is just decipherable below the windscreen.