The page for enthusiasts in the Oxford Chilterns Area - News from you and news for you - pictures too  ~~~~   The page for enthusiasts in the Oxford Chilterns Area - News from you and news for you - pictures too  ~~~~   The page for enthusiasts in the Oxford Chilterns Area - News from you and news for you - pictures too  

Visit the "OXFORD & CHILTERN BUS PAGE " Archives from October 2002

Visit the "OXFORD BUS PAGE" Archive 1998 - 2002

Please note that any comments made in this news page are those of the Editors' and in no way constitute 
any official points of view from the bus companies mentioned,  or indeed any other official body. 
As a news page we reserve the right to make valid comments as seen from an editorial point of view.

If you wish to be included on a mailing list where I will advise of any mid-week news please let me know
malcolmhc@aol.com

To see the pictures full size just click on the thumbnail

A note regarding photographs which show drivers faces.
Following one complaint from a driver of a bus in Oxford but considering the fact that the photographs are taken of the vehicle not any person,
I will blank out the face to avoid any discomfort to the individual concerned. If you are the person involved send me an email to have this action taken.
I am sure people will realise that to ask everyone in advance of publication, whose face may appear in a picture is wholly impractical in both time and practice.
I am sorry to have to mention such a matter but we now live in a world of human rights and political correctness which must be considered.

May I first apologise for the lack of a full page last week. Unfortunately time constraints due to work prevented me from completing the page as usual. So this week there is a lot of catching up to do.

Indeed a lot is happening at present with new deliveries, changed routes and operators and new route brandings.

That business of taking photographs - a reply by Paul Dredge

Paul Dredge writes "Re your note on the photograph ban petition, the truth as always is less exciting than some would hope

http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/news/No10_petition_fuels_photo_rights_confusion_news_110568.html

gives the actual story. There is and never has been any plans to ban public photography". 

Pictures of Oxford from the sky by Kit - with acknowledgement to Microsoft

Kit writes "Not entirely bus related but hopefully of interest, Microsoft has put some very detailed aerial mapping of Oxford online - taken on some sunny summer's day last year, by the looks of things. Interesting to see the buses from an aerial view - for instance, in Queen Street: -

http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&cp=51.75185~-1.25847&style=a&lvl=19&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&scene=7591370

or Gloucester Green from a "Bird's Eye View": -

http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&cp=sms37pgwv9nm&style=o&lvl=2&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&scene=7591363

with an Oxford Tube and espress coach waiting. Apologies for the randomness but it's certainly challenging identifying some of the more obscure liveries from the roof and side only!"

Victoria Coach Station celebrates its 75th Anniversary with pictures from Gavin Francis and Peter Edgar

Both my contributors sent pictures but it does seem to have been a rather low key affair. However as can be seen from the pictures below, there was good representation from coaches in liveries familiar to those now gone.

A very nice touch is the use of old photographs and fleet names on the windows of the waiting area as shown in the pictures from Gavin Francis.

Both Gavin and Peter sent pictures of the coaches attending the event.

     
Photos taken as noted in the captions

Peter Edgar was on an overbridge near Stokenchurch to take this excellent picture of the Midland Red coach on the M40 homeward bound.

Let the train take the strain or how the bus came off worst by Peter Edgar

Seen on the A40 by Gipsy Corner a Metroline Trident loses an argument with a train on 10th March !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Michael Bennett takes a day out to view Solos 

Michael took a day out to Witney and produced some nice pictures of the current bus scene in the town. He writes "I have been out and about in the "Stagecoach Oxford" area on Saturday, ostensibly to photograph the new Solos allocated to Witney garage.  My first encounter was at Lechlade where 47450 was passing through on the 1208 service 64 to Swindon.  Back into the car and on to Bampton, where my wife happily spent a half  hour shopping in the quilting supplies shop whilst I photographed the 1300 bus "rush hour" - well all of the services arrive and depart within a few minutes so you can get three buses at the same time - and then nothing for 50 minutes.  I saw three Solos, 47449, 47452/3 on services 18 and 19.

We bought a take away lunch in Bampton and ate it in a lay-by overlooking the eastern end of Brize Norton airfield - not much activity today - just a C17 running up its engines ready for take off.

Arriving in Witney around 1400 we parked in Welch Way car park.  The C17 seen earlier flew over as we walked away from the car park.  A handy spot for photos is at the junction with High Street, so I took several there, including the Worths Motor Services of Enstone's Dart/Pointer Y4 WMS, and a couple of older buses from the Stagecoach fleet.

I walked on up to the Market Square where most of the bus services call, and it was quite busy with Solos of course.  However, there was quite a variety of older Stagecoach buses again, plus one Thames Travel Solo passing through on its way to Berinsfield on the X15.  The Citaro from Worths made its appearance at 1455, and again at 1503 on its way back to Finstock and Hailey on the 69. 

The shadows were getting a bit long by 1520 so I gave up trying to get any more worthwhile photos and went window shopping instead, just to get ideas for the next camera to buy - my Nikon D70 is approaching three years  - quite old for a digital camera.  Up to the time I bought it I had been using an Olympus OM1 that was second-hand in 1989 and it still gave superb photos.  Still, if we were not using digital cameras you would not be seeing these photos so quickly after they were taken - the film would still be in the camera waiting to be finished.

Stagecoach's 20011 display the new branding for route 200 in this picture by Michael Bennett.

Witney again and pictures from Chris Maxfield

Chris's pictures show the Volvo B10Ms before branding. More pictures by Gavin Francis of these buses appear under the Stagecoach heading below.

New coaches and old in Scotland with Citylink and Megabus by Chris Maxfield

Chris visited Glasgow last week and we thought readers would be interested in the new coaches for Citylink and Megabus. Chris says they "go on forever" !

Also her has included some pictures of the old Tube M A N s which are being replaced by the new Volvos.

       
The new Volvos some on "07" plates the first for this page.

       
Nearly at the end of the road with the group the ex Oxford Tube  M A N 24-250s are still giving good service.
They are advertised for sale on the Plaxton site in Route One.

The Megabus liveried coaches can still be seen in London as shown in Gavin Francis's picture taken yesterday at Victoria. They also still look very smart.

Road closure in Oxford causes diversions

Amersham & District Running days 2007 - dates for your diary

http://www.amershammotorbussociety.co.uk/ 

Amersham & District Running Days for 2007 are as follows: 

Sun 13 May 2007 - 3rd Slough/Windsor Running Day based on Slough Bus Station 

Sun 24 June 2007 - 2nd Hemel Hempstead Running Day based on Hemel Hempstead Bus Station                        

Sun 30 September 2007 - 19th Amersham Running Day based on Amersham but commemorating the 30th anniversary of the closure of HE Garage (30/09/1977) so there will be a reconstruction of certain routes in the High Wycombe area.

Another good week for news although the picture stakes have been a little less than usual.

Malcolm Crowe - Sunday 11th March 2007

Pete Cannon wrote saying "Thought you might like to no W482YGS has at last been repainted in Arriva turquoise. It was in London red. Also P525.YJO has received electronic blinds but I’ve not seen H368.XGC or H370.XGC for a couple of weeks. Any ideas were they might be  cheers?"

Coincidentally Malcolm Hyland writes "Also attached is a shot of Arriva the Shires 3482 - back from repaint out of London red on Monday I understand."

Glenn Knight sent a picture of this coach saying "M943 LYR Greenline coach on 847 St Clement Dane School in the new livery."

Daniel Bailey wrote to send this picture of 3613 on school bus duties with Private Hire on the blind.

Having asked for information on OBC this week I have a lot of detail from you. The news of the week must be the impending arrival of the ten new Volvo coaches.

Panthers on the prowl

I am grateful to the company for first details of the new coaches due for the X70 Heathrow service. 

These are ten brand new Volvo B10B/Plaxton Panther bodied coaches which carry the Airline livery now so familiar on the M40 route. 

These coaches are said to be the first Euro 5 spec coaches in the UK joining the recently delivered fleet of Euro 5 Mercedes Benz Citaro buses now in use on the Abingdon corridor. 

Ray Stenning has produced ten new rear end designs for the new coaches so watch out for “a passage to India” and “smile by the Nile” as the new coaches enter service.

Fleet numbers 81-90 are being used with the cherished registrations AB to KB07 OXF.

We await further details of the new coaches but keep your eyes peeled for vehicles on delivery in the coming days.

In the period running up to the arrival of the new fleet X90 coaches can be seen on the airport services.

James Webb writes "Spotted your comments regarding a lack of news on OBC in recent weeks so thought I'd fill you in with some of my personal observations from the last couple of weeks. Sorry there aren't any photos.

801-812 are now all in service branded for route 5; 814 has appeared in the latest variant of the OBC red livery branded simply 'city' with lots of place names on the side similar to the Citaros. 815, still unrefurbished, was operating on service 15 towards the end of last week but I haven't seen 813 for a while so maybe this one is away being worked on?

 
Gavin Francis caught up with 812 and 814 in Queen Street last week.
Indeed 815 is still in the old livery or was last week.

My regular journey to and from work is on service 15 - a temporary "roadworks" timetable with extended journey times, slightly reduced frequency and more recovery time in Wood Farm was introduced on Sun 25 Feb. As well as the regular branded vehicles (818-821) the last few weeks have seen all the 'common user' Citaros (i.e. 835-838) appear at some stage, sometimes two at a time. We have also had the occasional Trident (from the 101-105 pool) and B10B (almost invariably the double-door type, and often 629 or 641, both now wearing OBC red).

The travel shop at Gloucester Green closed on 19 Feb and re-opened in Debenhams on 20 Feb. OBC are now issuing smartcards branded 'the key' (see http://www.oxfordkey.co.uk ): I have been using one on trial since November and they are superb - just pass your wallet over the driver's ticket machine and the card is 'read'. They can also be topped up on-line or over the phone which makes them a lot more convenient than the magnetic freedom cards. The validators for these now all have stickers on them advertising the new smartcard."

Alexander writes to note last week that  :-

Tridents 101-2 on 400

Citaro 835 on 8

Most unusually A Park and Ride Trident operated 35B. The 35B doesn't ran Sat daytimes so do you know what it was doing?

Not sure what a Citaro was doing in Gloucester Green yesterday? Picture by Gavin Francis

A blast from the past 

Derek writes to say "Went down to the M4 to see the Football specials and pictured this ex Oxford Leopard MUD 27W thought you might like to see, it is vinyled up as the Goldfinger Experience (Goldfinger, Bedford)

R H Transport Services

Running bus services along narrow country roads can make cleaning difficult and the above pictures make the point.
Pictures from Chris Maxfield and Gavin Francis

David Harris writes "Some info for you regarding Stagecoach service 7:  Stagecoach in Oxfordshire Route 7 between Kidlington, Oxford and Barton is to be split into two halves from Sunday 1st April 2007 to improve the reliability of the service. The service will now run the following routes from this date.

 
Pictures by Gavin Francis.

     
Pictures by Mike Bennett and Gavin Francis.

Other news from Oxford

The seven Darts for the 10 are now in service fully branded, the last being 33763.

Work has now started on 33821 and 33822 but these are not being branded. They will however receive new destination equipment and interior refurbs.

33821 pictured by Chris Maxfield

United Counties 

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HISTORY IN PICTURES AND WORDS

More on the short Ford ex Midland Red used by COMS from Robin Clare

Visit the "OXFORD BUS PAGE" Archive 1998 - 2002

Mike Penn's photo page with much from Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire as well as Buckinghamshire

Chris Lowe's Photo page - mainly North West UK

The Oxford Bus Museum