So, it is now Easter Monday afternoon and apart from the hailstorm that wet me through an hour ago, everything is going well.
Ilkeston, pronounced ‘Ilson’ by the locals, has not featured in my blogs for some years.
Located close to the Derbyshire/Nottinghamshire border and only ten miles or so from both Derby and Nottingham.
The bus services in the town are almost all in the hands of ‘Wellglade’ group companies ‘trentbarton’ and ‘notts+derby’.
The only other operator to make an appearance on the day I was there being
‘Little Transport Ltd’. of Ilkeston.
FJ09 MVW ‘trentbarton’ No. 472.
Optare Solo M950
on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’
FJ58 KKE ‘trentbarton’ No. 713, mango.
Volvo B7RLE / Wright Eclipse
on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’
Working a the two branded service into Nottingham Victoria Bus station.
‘mango’ is ‘tb’s discounted travel card and buses in this branding regularly work around all the routes as a spare bus.
YN08 CWT ‘notts+derby’ No. 761.
Volvo B7RLE / Plaxton Centro
on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’
New to ‘Kinchbus’, Loughborough (another ‘Wellglade’ group member). It, and others of its kind were used on the ‘skylink’ service linking Derby with Leicester via the East Midlands Airport for many years before being replaced by Mercedes-Benz Citaros.
SN65 OFA ‘Little Transport’ Ltd., Ilkeston, Littles.
Alexander Dennis Ltd. E20D / Alexander Dennis Ltd. Enviro 200 /1
on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’
The company has recently adopted a new livery and this is the first bus in the it to pass in front of my camera.
SN65 OFA ‘Little Transport’ Ltd., Ilkeston, Littles.
Alexander Dennis Ltd. E20D / Alexander Dennis Ltd. Enviro 200 /2
on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’
BD65 EWH ‘trentbarton’ No. 776, the two.
Volvo B8RLE / Wright Eclipse 3
on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’
This batch (eleven buses) of Volvo B8RLEs are the only ones of their kind in the fleet.
Since 2016, the intake of new buses has been entirely of Alexander Dennis Ltd. E20D / Alexander Dennis Ltd. Enviro 200MMCs.
YJ11 ENK ‘trentbarton’ No. 805, my15.
Optare Versa V1110
on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’
The my15 route runs from Ilkeston to Sawley every 15 minutes with one bus an hour being extended to the East Midlands Airport at Castle Donington.
The 2011 intake of Versas were the first of their kind in the fleet and became the standard full size single deck bus until 2014 in which time 49 were purchased.
