'Scene' at ‘Coach & Bus UK17’ part 5 on ‘Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

The annual pilgrimage to the NEC seems to come round quicker every year.

 

This years offerings were a bit disappointing because out of the major UK bus manufacturers neither Optare nor the Wright group attended.

 

However there was still plenty of interest.

 

Ayats, the Spanish coachbuilder has ventured into the British market a number of times, usually with large, high capacity coaches.

 

Their offering is another of the same which carries the name ‘Eclipse’.

 

On close examination it is a very impressive vehicle.

 

JH67 COM ‘jhcoaches.com’  Scania / Ayats Eclipse

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

 

 

 

 

‘Coach & Bus UK17’ MAN / Ayats Eclipse

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

 

 

 

 

Mercedes-Benz have been making appearances at the NEC for a long time .

 

This year they have introduced a re worked ‘Tourismo’ coach

 

With some 30,000 or more of the earlier version having been produced the new one will have to go a long way to ‘Eclipse’ it !

 

‘Coach & Bus UK17’ Mercedes-Benz Tourismo RHD /1

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

 

 

 

 

‘Coach & Bus UK17’ Mercedes-Benz Tourismo RHD /2

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

 

 

 

 

 

On a nearby stand, ‘Dawson Rentals’ had the earlier Tourismo on display allowing direct comparisons to be made between the two variants.

 

 

‘Coach & Bus UK17’ Mercedes-Benz Tourismo

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

 

‘Scene’ today (09/10/17) in Nottingham on ‘skylink’ on ‘Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

I am taking a short break from my coverage of last week’s ‘Coach and Bus UK17’ to bring some ‘hot news’ from Nottingham.

 

‘trentbarton’ continue to introduce new Alexander Dennis Ltd. (ADL) E20D’s with ‘ADL’ Enviro 200MMC bodies.

 

The latest tranche are on the ‘skylink’ service linking Nottingham with Loughborough and Coalville via the East Midlands Airport.

 

They will be replacing Wright bodied Scania L94UB’s on that service.

 

YX67 VFB ‘trentbarton’ No. 124 ‘skylink’ Alexander Dennis Ltd. E20D / ‘ADL’ Enviro 200MMC

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

 

 

 

 

YX67 VFC ‘trentbarton’ No. 125 ‘skylink’ Alexander Dennis Ltd. E20D / ‘ADL’ Enviro 200MMC /1

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

 

 

 

 

YX67 VFC ‘trentbarton’ No. 125 ‘skylink’ Alexander Dennis Ltd. E20D / ‘ADL’ Enviro 200MMC /2

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

 

 

 

 

YX67 VFC ‘trentbarton’ No. 125 ‘skylink’ Alexander Dennis Ltd. E20D / ‘ADL’ Enviro 200MMC /3

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

 

'Scene' at ‘Coach & Bus UK17’ part 4 on ‘Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

The annual pilgrimage to the NEC seems to come round quicker every year.

 

This years offerings were a bit disappointing because out of the major UK bus manufacturers neither Optare nor the Wright group attended.

 

However there was still plenty of interest.

 

My older readers may well remember the ‘Bread van’ era of bus operation of 30 years or so ago. 

 

Many operators put fleets of mini-buses on the streets a lot of which were based on Ford Transit van conversions hence the ‘Bread van’ tag.

 

The plan was to use amall capacity vehicles operating on high frequency services. 

 

In some respects it was too succesful in that the small buses could not cope with the loadings generated and bigger buses were required.

 

Both ‘Stagecoach’ group and ‘Arriva’ are going down the mini buses route again and it will be interesting to see how it works out this time.

 

I would hasten to add that the current mini buses are by no means ‘Bread van’s. Indeed the ones I have seen are sophisticated pieces of machinery.

 

‘Coach & Bus UK17’ ‘Arriva Southern Counties’ No. 1004 Mercedes-Benz City Sprinter 45 /1

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

 

 

 

 

 

‘Coach & Bus UK17’’Arriva Southern Counties’ No. 1004 Mercedes-Benz City Sprinter 45 /2

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

 

 

 

 

‘Coach & Bus UK17’’Arriva Southern Counties’ No. 1004 Mercedes-Benz City Sprinter 45 /3

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

 

 

 

 

‘Coach & Bus UK17’’Arriva Southern Counties’ No. 1004 Mercedes-Benz City Sprinter 45 /4

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

 

'Scene' at ‘Coach & Bus UK17’ part 3 on ‘Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

The annual pilgrimage to the NEC seems to come round quicker every year.

 

This years offerings were a bit disappointing because out of the major UK bus manufacturers neither Optare nor the Wright group attended.

 

However there was still plenty of interest.

 

Caetano the Portuguese coachbuilder has done well in the UK in recent years with some hundreds of the ‘Levante’ coach body for ‘National Express’ and its contractors.

 

They chose this years show to launch the ‘Levante III’.

 

‘Coach & Bus UK17’ ‘National Express’ Volvo B11R / Caetano Levante III /1 

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

 

 

 

 

‘Coach & Bus UK17’ ‘National Express’ Volvo B11R / Caetano Levante III /2 

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

 

 

 

 

‘Coach & Bus UK17’ ‘Translink Goldline’ Scania DC13 115SCR / Caetano Invictus 

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

 

 

This Northern Ireland operator has recently taken delivery of 12 of these superb vehicles to use primarily on service 212 from Belfast to Londonderry.

 

 

 

‘Coach & Bus UK17’ ‘Caetano Alpha’

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

 

Looking a bit forlorn outside was this what I think is an IVECO based midi bus.

 

'Scene' at ‘Coach & Bus UK17’ part 2 on ‘Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

The annual pilgrimage to the NEC seems to come round quicker every year.

 

This years offerings were a bit disappointing because out of the major UK bus manufacturers neither Optare nor the Wright group attended.

 

However there was still plenty of interest.

 

The Alexander Dennis Ltd. E20D has rapidly become a best seller and rightly so.

 

The bus in the show was from the ‘Thamesdown’ fleet which trades as ‘swindon bus company’.

 

’Thamesdown’ in turn being part of ‘Go-Ahead South Coast’.

 

 

HF67 ATN ‘swindon bus company’ No. 2772 Alexander Dennis Ltd. E20D / Alexander Dennis Ltd. Enviro 200MMC /1

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

 

 

 

 

HF67 ATN ‘swindon bus company’ No. 2772 Alexander Dennis Ltd. E20D / Alexander Dennis Ltd. Enviro 200MMC /2

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

 

 

 

 

HF67 ATN ‘swindon bus company’ No. 2772 Alexander Dennis Ltd. E20D / Alexander Dennis Ltd. Enviro 200MMC /3

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

 

 

 

 

HF67 ATN ‘swindon bus company’ No. 2772 Alexander Dennis Ltd. E20D / Alexander Dennis Ltd. Enviro 200MMC /4

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

'Scene' at ‘Coach & Bus UK17’ part 1 on ‘Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

The annual pilgrimage to the NEC seems to come round quicker every year.

 

This years offerings were a bit disappointing because out of the major UK bus manufacturers neither Optare nor the Wright group attended.

 

However there was still plenty of interest.

 

The move away from diesel power continues with this interesting bus from Irizar which is liveried and with two doors for London operation.

 

 

 

‘Coach & Bus UK17’ Irizar i2e  /1

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

 

 

 

 

‘Coach & Bus UK17’ Irizar i2e  /2

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

 

 

 

 

‘Coach & Bus UK17’ Irizar i2e  /3

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

 

 

 

 

‘Coach & Bus UK17’ Irizar i2e  /4

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

 

‘Scene’ in Hull, ‘East Yorkshire Motor Services’ Volvo/ Gemini’s on ‘Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

The bulk of ‘East Yorkshire Motor Services’ (EYMS) double deck fleet is made up of Wright bodied Gemini Eclipse’s fitted to both Volvo B7TL and Volvo B9TL chassis.

 

The majority carry the companies maroon and cream livery however there are exceptions.

 

 

 

YX07 HKD ‘East Yorkshire Motor Services’ No. 717 ‘EYMS 90 YEARS’ Volvo B9TL / Wright Gemini Eclips

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

 

Celebrating ’90 years of EYMS’ and painted to display the three liveries that have graced the fleet in that time.

 

From back to front, the one I like the best, indigo and primrose. ‘National Bus Company’ Poppy red and white and the current maroon and cream.

 

This image was taken by my son Andrew and is reproduced here with his permission.

 

 

 

 

Many of the fleet appear in fleet livery however even there it is possible to detect slight variations.

 

 

YX09 BKK ‘East Yorkshire Motor Services’ No. 753 Volvo B9TL / Wright Gemini Eclipse

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

 

 

 

 

BP15 OLC ‘East Yorkshire Motor Services’ No. 790 Volvo B9TL / Wright Gemini Eclipse

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

 

 

 

 

BP15 OLG ‘East Yorkshire Motor Services’ No. 792 ‘X46’ Volvo B9TL / Wright Gemini Eclipse

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

 

 

 

 

YX09 BKO ‘East Yorkshire Motor Services’ No. 756 Volvo B9TL / Wright Gemini Eclipse

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

 

 

 

‘EYMS’ coach livery is light blue and cream which is used on one bus by way of an advert for the coach fleet.

 

A18 EYC‘East Yorkshire Motor Services’ No. 721 ‘EYMS Coaches’ Volvo B9TL / Wright Gemini Eclipse /1

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

 

Formerly YX07 HKH with ‘EYMS’.

 

 

 

 

A18 EYC ‘East Yorkshire Motor Services’ No. 721 ‘EYMS Coaches’ Volvo B9TL / Wright Gemini Eclipse /2

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

 

Formerly YX07 HKH with ‘EYMS’.

 

 

 

 

Then there are others that carry all over adverts.

 

YX08 FVE  ‘East Yorkshire Motor Services’ No. 743 ‘Hull childrens university’ Volvo B9TL / Wright Gemini Eclipse

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

 

 

 

 

YX07 HKF ‘East Yorkshire Motor Services’ No. 719 ‘VIKING FM’ Volvo B9TL / Wright Gemini Eclipse

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