Issue 270

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

Issue 270
(OBP-483)
Monday 14th July 2008
(next update week ending 29th June 2008)

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

The past week has been a busy one, with duties on the National Express 737 which as they were "day" duties meant little time for web page work. My apologies to those who have written to me as I was rather slow in responding. I also spent much time producing Day 2 of my journey to Land's End. I was delighted with the response from readers and I also had some very useful mails back on recent developments on services which I used.

The weather over the past few days has been, in many cases, absolutely awful with very heavy rain and a lot of wind. In fact the rain was so heavy on Friday's return trip from Stansted, that I had to wait for more than five minutes to unload passengers at Hemel Hempstead. I braved the heavy rain storm to go to the luggage lockers but the passengers would not get off the coach. To be honest it was more of a tropical downpour than the rain were are normally accustomed to.

Our batch of five Levantes at Oxford have now received the latest National Express branding and somehow one grows more at ease with the rather radical change to the style. However, whereas with the old branding, one could tell a National Express from a long way away, the new branding does not stand out so well. You may notice that our resident wizard on destination displays has also revised the National Express display now that we are getting the new livery. The picture below was taken around 4 am on the 5th July prior to operating the 04:30 737 departure from Oxford to Stansted.

Your contributions have been, as ever, excellent with a great deal of interest. I am including reports from Glastonbury, Bow garage open day, the Stroud Running Day and the Weymouth Vintage Bus Running Day. From readers comments you enjoy the variety that the OCBP now brings to you whilst still keeping readers up to date with local goings on.

The problem of buses and coaches in The High - one of Oxford's historic thoroughfares.

Local comment in Oxford suggests a swell of public opinion against the number of buses and coaches using The High and there are numerous suggestions about how to tackle this. The High is indeed one of the vistas which record the charm and history of Oxford. Whilst it is indeed difficult to reconcile the need for public transport, especially reducing the numbers of cars in the city, there is the very important factor that one has to make public transport accessible.

One suggestion being mooted is that the London and Airport coaches should start from outside the city, say at Thornhill. It is hard to see how this would work as, so often, passengers have large amounts of heavy luggage which they would need to take on a local bus to Thornhill where they would then start their main journey. Students and many other travellers would clog up the local buses and the companies would need to offer a 24 hour service to Thornhill. Intending passengers from other parts of the city who may now go to city centre stops might well take to using their cars to get to Thornhill adding to the already overcrowded and heavy utilisation of the facility. It is often impossible to park in Thornhill now and local residents must be aware of people leaving their cars in and around Risinghurst.

I also wonder how this would all fit in with new thinking in terms of encouraging the travelling public to use buses and coaches. Another fact seemingly overlooked is the connections made at Gloucester Green to other services, especially National Express services. Finally where is the space to come from at Thornhill which would need to be significantly enlarged?

Stagecoach has signed a £1.5m contract with LOOK CCTV for the supply, installation and maintenance of CCTV on its new buses.

The 12-month deal will ensure all new buses ordered by Stagecoach in 2008-09 are fitted with state-of-the-art digital CCTV systems from the subsidiary of AIM-listed Quadnetics Group plc.

A record £71m is being invested by Stagecoach in more than 580 new buses for delivery during the year to 30 April 2009 from Alexander Dennis, Optare, MAN, Plaxton, Scania and Volvo.

Cash prizes of up to £25,000 are on offer to people who can design a new ‘iconic’ bus for London, in what Mayor Boris Johnson calls a ‘21st Century Routemaster’.

Announcing the competition – which is open to everyone and has separate prizes for children of all ages - Mr Johnson said: “London deserves a bus fit for the 21st century, and I want as many people as possible to submit their ideas.

“Whether you’re a professional designer who can submit a detailed plan or you are someone who uses buses every day and has one great idea that would make your journey better, we want to hear from you.”

The competition closes on 19 September, with the winner announced on 27 October. After this, the winning entries “may be taken forward,” with bus manufacturers invited to tender to work up the winning design, and build production examples.

Arriva has bought family-owned Empresa de Blas y Cia (De Blas) for Euro 99.25 million (£78.6 million), building on its existing presence in Madrid.

De Blas is one of the largest privately-owned contractors to the Madrid transport authority, with 222 buses and 679 employees and ‘substantial’ depot facilities to the south-west of Madrid. It operates 34 inter-urban routes into and around the city.

In 2007, its revenue was Euro 48.8 million (£38.6 million), and pre-tax profit was Euro 3.5 million (£2.8 million). Net assets were Euro 11.4 million (£9 million) including net debt of Euro 15.3 million (£12.1 million).

Announcing the deal this morning (Wednesday) Arriva Chief Executive David Martin said: “This is an important step forward in positioning Arriva for the development of one of Europe's most exciting city markets for passenger transport.”

TCLBS, www.tclbs.org is running a ‘Cravens Day’ open to all enthusiasts, using the only two remaining Cravens RTs in preservation, now part of the Heritage Fleet of Ensign Bus Company on Sunday, 21st September 2008.

The trip will recreate some of the journeys carried out by these and similar vehicles during their brief period of service with London Transport in Watford, Harrow and Ruislip.

With RT1431 in LT red livery and RT1499 in LT green livery, the day will begin with a departure at 10;15 from within Victoria Coach Station, courtesy of the Operations Manager.

Leaving the coach station and routing via Eccleston Bridge, the first stage of the journey is to follow former Green Line route 708 to Watford via Kilburn, Edgware, Stanmore and Bushey.

The second stage will recreate route 385 from North Watford to Croxley Green, home to the Cravens RTs, where RT1499 ran both in Red and Green livery on this local service from Watford High Street Garage.

The final leg will be a rerun of Route 158 from Watford Junction to Ruislip Lido via Harrow Weald Garage (also a former home to Red Cravens RTs) and the vehicles will be posed in the garage for a nostalgic photo opportunity, thanks to the cooperation of Metroline.

The return journey back to Central London will, subject to timings, include a final photo opportunity in Uxbridge Bus station followed by a run back along the Uxbridge Road through Ealing and Shepherds Bush. For convenience, stops at all mainline stations within in Central London will be shared between the two buses.

Throughout the day there will be plenty of further opportunities for location photographs, including at Stanmore Station, Watford High Street close to the site of the former LT Garage and Watford Leavesden Road, outside the former garage that still stands there today.

To guarantee a seat, tickets must be booked in advance, and are available at £20 (TCLBS members £17) by applying to info@tlcbs.org or writing to The Secretary, TCLBS, Cedar Croft, Ainger Road, London NW3 3AU

As a very regular user of the M40, I was quite disturbed to see four parked coaches on the Christmas Common road this last weekend, two of which were actually on a weak overbridge. As the bridges at junction 5 and 7 are to be replaced due to the fact that the concrete used has a doubtful integrity I wonder about this overbridge also?

During work on the Sainsbury's site at Bellfield Road in High Wycombe, this road has been closed and the junction coned off to pedestrians etc. However traffic lights have been left on presenting a crazy situation of traffic waiting at red lights for what?

There is no apparent reason to leave the lights in use ad one wonders why they have not been switched off or covered over??

Chris from Banbury writes that he found this story on the Bucks Fire Website recently.

Wednesday 9 July, 10.50am: Road traffic collision involving a bus and a van, Woodway, Loosley Row. One appliance and crew from High Wycombe (call sign HWY1) and one from Princes Risborough (call sign PRI3) attended. Firefighters released one man, uninjured. Picture and report here

Reading – Southend X1 Route is no more by Gavin Francis

Friday 11^th July saw the final day of operation of the X1 and X 10 service linking London with Rochford and Southend.

Currently the service is operated by Stephensons of Essex but it started on the 6^th October 1980 as a joint operation between Reading Transport and Southend Transport. The Transport Act of 1980 brought about the deregulation of coach services and these two local bus companies commenced this innovative service. Southend used DP Leopards and Reading bus seated Metrobuses and Metropolitans.

It was however not a happy relationship and following 2 periods of Reading withdrawing operation May 16^th 1982 was the last day of joint operation. The 2 operators now ran independently with Reading running from Reading to Aldgate and Southend from Southend to Heathrow but both services were still numbered X1.

Shortly afterwards double deck coaches were trialled including a Neoplan but and order was placed for 3 Van Hool Astromegas, this first entering service on April 26^th 1983. By now the service was proving very popular with coaches being hired in from all over the country including Leicester, Bournemouth, Burnley, Flyde, Lancaster and Derby.

Over the next two years lots of service variations were introduced, X21 from Shoebury, X31 from Canvey and X41 from Prittlewell. By October 1986 there are 7 routes running providing 64 journeys a day. In the peak there is a coach every 2.5 mins entering or leaving London. This was the largest number of vehicles used on the route with a total of 66 allocated to the service. This exceeded the number used on local bus services in Southend.

By 1987 the decline had started and by 1988 only half the number of journeys run in 1986 were now running. In 1990 there were now 6 Astromegas in stock but they were all withdrawn. In 1991 the service is down to just 17 vehicles and becomes part of the Green Line network. To make matters worse in 1992 Thamesway start up in competition which was to last till 1998 when the 2 companies agreed to co-operate with a joint service under the Green Line name.

In October 2001 Thamesway withdrew from the service and Southend (By now Arriva) abandoning the service from February 17^th 2002. The following day Stephensons starting a replacement X1.

It only remains to be seen now as to whether another company will take up the service otherwise there will no longer be a service linking London and the Southend area.

Sat 5th July marked the last day of the 362 route number being used in the High Wycombe area. This has lasted since the LPTB days in the 1930's. After this, the 305 will be the only number left connecting us with such times.

Herewith a couple of pics from 2008, together with a Swift in Lincoln Green from May76, and an Atlantean from Feb91.

On the 5th July Olympian 5109 was working a Wycombe bound service from Chesham - M Crowe.

Some pictures of the replacing services, 52 and 62 are included under the Arriva heading below.

I have been away on holiday in France for a couple of weeks, and am trying to catch up on websites, and have put aside Sunday to look at your last two editions!

Boy, have we been busy, the Grand Prix keeps us really busy, ferrying catering staff, at least 8 vehicles a day from airports to Northampton college with catering staff, ferrying them to and from the circuit, along with 10 vehicles involved with Newmarket tours hires, I worked 41 hours in three days!!

The loss of the British Grand Prix to Donnington in 2010 will really have a financial impact on the area.

1, taken 16/06/2008 at St Peter Port in Guernsey with Condor Lines Commodore Clipper in the background, two Toyota Cruisers, a Mercedes Vario, and an unidentified coach, provide onward connections from the sailing from Poole.

2. Only for the brave! A French tour coach passes over the route to the Ile du Madame which is only passable at low tide, what happens when a passenger is 'missing, and late returning' to the tour coach, do you leave them behind? (Yes, I would!!)

3. Two images from the British Grand Prix at Silverstone on Qualifying day, Sat 5/7/2008, the first a general view of the coach park, Jeffs had 14 vehicles involved on various contracts on the Saturday, ranging from catering staff transport (04.00 book on time, anyone?), to prestige tour package work, I was wise enough not to be available on race day itself!!

The second image from Silverstone really made my day, I am a great fan of the 'baby' Bristol LH marque, and there are not many left around, so I was really pleased to see this 'golden oldie' (6894 VC, with a nice Duple Dominant C30F body) mixing with her modern counterparts in the coach park, I could not find too much about her, apart from that it was registered to a family in Somerset.

Keep up the good work, as I said above, I have all Sunday afternoon to digest the two editions that I have missed, looking forward to that!

Please find enclosed pictures of buses I took during my day trip to Bournemouth on Thursday 3rd July.

One I took at Southbourne of an ex-Reading Leyland Olympian D84UTF, now owned by Shamrock buses.

The other one is a yellow open-top Bristol VR (I think) along the costal route taken at the East Cliff area between Boscombe & Bournemouth pier.

The weather that day was beautiful, clear skies, a nice breeze so too hot & the beach wasn't too busy either!

Over the long weekend of the Cornbury Music Festival(4th-7th of June) RH Transport Services provided a shuttle bus between Charlbury Station and the Festival Site.

Cornbury Music Festival is a large out door festival with artists such as Crowded House, Paul Simon, KT Tunstall etc performing.

A fairly rare sight on Friday was seeing Three Levante's in a row at the Green, here we see Stagecoach, Bruce's and Arriva Classic examples.

The public transport side of this well known event tends to get overlooked due to the heavy security and road closures in the area. However many hundreds of buses and coaches are used to transport festival goers to the site which is actually situated at the village of Pilton, some seven miles east of Glastonbury close to the town of Shepton Mallet.

National Express operate direct services to the site from all over the UK and hire in several hundred coaches for the event.

Additionally special trains are provided to and from the nearest rail head which is at Castle Cary, about six miles from Pilton and the organisers hire in double decks and coaches to provide a shuttle service for those arriving by train.

Interestingly the contract to operate the service between Pilton and Bristol this year, was won by Go-Ahead South Coast. Last year the service was operated by Bakers coaches of Weston – perhaps they could not face the possibility of having to clean all that famous Glastonbury mud out of their coaches again this year.

The vehicles on the Castle Cary shuttle normally provide the most interest. Apart from coaches provided by local operators Centurion and Smiths, there are double decks from A-Bus of Bristol, The Bath Bus Company and Bristol VRs from Chepstow Classic Buses. On the Sunday and Monday extra buses were provided by Stagecoach West and Go-Ahead subsidiaries Wilts & Dorset and Damory Coaches. There was even a Damory VR. Baths Bus also supplied three Routemasters on the Sunday and Monday, one less than last year when Stagecoach Gloucester also sent RML2657.

A selection of vehicles from the Go-Ahead South coast fleet which were at Glastonbury.

Another ex Oxford coach, this time in use on National Express service G1 from Bristol.

Some of the variety in the decker line which were in use.
If you like VRs and Routemasters, this is the place to be.

A contribution from Pilton for the Glastonbury Festival brought additional photos showing the variety of buses to be seen this year.

M1441 - London Transports only dual door Mk2 Metrobus delivered pre privatisation. - Owned by EnsignBus and loaned to Bath Bus Company for the event.
This bus was in the Ensign fleet at Cambridge and on Thursday was operating between Castle Cary Station & Pilton festival site.
A busy day with traffic badly affected by a scrap yard fire which shut the A37.

AYG941H is a flat screen VR converted to accommodation
- this was used by the drivers from Chepstow Classic Buses who turn out a large fleet of VR's every year for the shuttle.
This VR has a small kitchen and the upper deck is sleeping quarters for the drivers.

RML 2665 - Former East London RML now owned by Bath Bus Co
shown here loading up on Monday taking festival going people back to the station at the end of the festival.
Note the just married! end destination.

Two former Oxford vehicles now owned by Go South Coast were part of a large number of buses supplied by this fleet. These were ex Oxford B10M coaches - R810 NUD in driver training livery and R807 NUD in Wilts & Dorset livery. Both coaches were used on the Pilton to Bristol service.

Marcus Lapthorn writes "In today's (Friday 4 July) edition of the Oxford Times, the Oxfordshire Limited supplement features 'Transports of Delight'. There are two features, the first being about Ray Jackson who apparently founded the pop group Lindisfarne and now as we know is a vintage transport artist living in Witney. The second features the Oxford Bus Museum at Long Hanborough."

Travel on a Concessionary Pass 2008

Malcolm, good to meet you on Friday at HH Bus Station. Went to Luton on Sat am on Arriva 46. Goes around the villages that you miss between HH and Luton - i.e. Redbourn, Flamstead, Markyate. Came back on NEx service 707 (First Northampton). Showed driver my old `uns pass. He accepted it and said that 'he hadn't a clue whether he should accept it or not`.

I liked this one from Peter Edgar which shows M1 involved in the Bow Open Day arriving at St Pauls Churchyard on the 15 route.

Two evocative pictures of Oxford-Witney Tridents passing over Swinford Toll Bridge.
July 1st 2008 by Marcus Lapthorn.

Gez from Lancaster sent this picture, this time a Lancaster based Trident passing over the Greyhound Bridge near that city.

If any of you have been to the Stroud Bus Running Day at Stroud College in previous years, as I have, then you would have had a big shock when you saw the venue this year. I did not recognise the site at all as the college has been completely rebuilt since the 2006 event. At that time there was the steel frame of the new main building going up, but the old building was still being used, together with a collection of temporary huts.

The old college building has been swept away, with new domestic accommodation going up in its place; also on the old main car park where the buses collected previously. The following photos may give you an idea of the new venue

I arrived by 1040, and very quickly met up with several people I had known for years – swapped news and caught up with their plans for the future. These mostly involved the use of their concessionary passes – I did say I had known them for years! I soon went right around the bus parking area and photographed most of the participating vehicles. Most of them had been in Stroud on previous running days, but there were some new ones. A representative selection follows:-

It was then time to sample some of the many bus routes that radiate from the college. I said that I had been to this bus running day before – well six times before – so I have travelled on all of the routes on offer. This time I decided to ride on vehicles that were either new to me, or looked interesting. My first trip was, therefore, on BOC RESL no. 516, which climbed right up above the Golden Valley at Chalford to France Lynch on route 426, where we had the usual photo stop. On arrival back at Stroud College at 1320, I noticed that the Red & White Duple lowbridge bodied Guy Arab was about to depart for Stonehouse, Horsemarling Lane; a nice easy route no. 421 for a bus of this age, just 59 years. Of course I had to ride on it, even though I had done so on several occasions before.

Having got back to the college by 1400 I thought I would take some photographs by the roundabout near the entrance to the college. This produced some different views and a three are shown here:-

Minchinhampton on route 430 was the next journey I sampled at 1500. This very picturesque route climbs up via Amberley and ends right in the centre of the town. It met up with the route 429 service, which had come by the more direct road from Brimscombe Corner on the main road to Cirencester. I had travelled out on Bristol Omnibus RELH 2062, and went back to Stroud on Southern Vectis LHS 202.

My last trip of the day was to Nailsworth on route 556 at 1600, this time on VRT no. 5540 in the Stroud Valleys livery. This route followed the valley floor and terminated at the small bus station in the town, before returning to Stroud College by 1639.

By now the buses and coaches were beginning to leave for home – always an interesting time for photographs as the remaining vehicles are better spaced for a nice clear record shot.

I said goodbye to my friends and went back to the car to finish my lunchtime sandwiches before driving back to Highworth by 1820. Another excellent day at the Stroud Bus Running Day – and I heard the organisers talking about another event for next year.

John Marsh writes "I attended this event on Saturday and thought you might like a few pictures. I have spared you the usual RT, Routemaster and DMS shots and contributed unusual pictures which I hope readers like?"

Peter Edgar supplied some superb pictures of the buses involved saying ".....part of the 100 year celebrations of Bow Bus Garage last weekend East London Buses ran various vehicles on Heritage route 15 on Sunday June 29th."

Ian White writes "Whilst down at Weymouth on 22nd June 2008 I visited their running day. There were about 30 to 40 vehicles on display of various ages. Three routes were being operated:-

All this was completely free, which in today's economic climate is most unusual.

The oldest vehicle a 1929 Dennis Toastrack on service 100 was quite something to ride on.

Attached are a few pictures of some of the vehicles that were on show or being used."

Many thanks to the various correspondents who contributed to the above items.

There will be a vintage bus service to and from Kemble railway station operating during the show and buses will be available across the showground to the Bristol Aero collection. For the bus schedule, please refer to the website www.steamextravaganza.com

United Counties and the VR by Gary Seamarks

I am delighted to publish a comprehensive review of Bristol VR buses with United Counties and its successors researched and published by Gary Seamarks. I am sure readers of the OCBP will find this most illuminating.

As a child most of my summer holidays were spent at Great Yarmouth and the Boroughs Atlanteans were something special compared with our old fashioned Lodekkas, a door next to the driver and a real sense of speed, why could we not have something like this back home? By 1969 things would change.

Like most other Tilling Group operators United Counties had no experience with rear engine deckers until the arrival of the first VRs in 1969

By the end of production in 1981 no fewer than 228 would have been delivered new, the fifth largest operator. Between the demise of the last Bristol FS in early 1980 and the arrival of the first Olympian late 1981, they were the sole decker operated. All the vehicles supplied new were to 9.5 metre length and ECW bodied all except 12 were to the 13’8” height with single door. Second hand vehicles, which do not form part of this article, totalled 40 for UC, 37 for MK, and 63 for L&D these included 5 long length and 18 for spares.

Series 1

750-3 were the first to arrive in January 1969, they were stored until March (750/1) and June (752/3) , these differed from other VRs with shallow window vents and no hoppers, also having a Lodekka style T shaped destination screen ,and a rear route number box. Chassis numbers were VRT/SL/135-8, making them amongst the first VR’s built. 754-5 followed in June 69 and 756/7 arrived in October. These differed in having standard depth hopper and slider windows. 756/7 were retrofitted when almost new to series 2 standards and regarded by the company as such, including unofficially prefixing the chassis numbers to series 2.

Series 2

758-72 was the 1970 intake and formed the first series 2 vehicles that would eventually run to 835. Outwardly these were identical to 754-7, only 4 followed in 1971 these were 773-6. 1972 saw the arrival of 777-86 these were the last flat screened VRs built, with 786 believed to be the only one carrying an L registration plate. 778 was sent to West Midlands PTE for inspection, but not operated, when almost new, they later bought 200 with local MCW bodies.

For 1973 fifteen vehicles arrived, 787-801, these were all diverted to help ease the acute vehicle shortage of the mid seventies. 787-9/95-801 were intended for Eastern Counties, 790/1 Eastern National and 792-4 United. All arrived in Green, but with internal differences, 787-9/95-801 were Cyclone fitted, as standard for ECOC at the time. 790/1 had a screen on the wall of the stairwell to indicate the amount of unoccupied seats upstairs this was not used by UC and later removed. 792-4 had a rear route number box, never used by UC with 792 remaining unique with Grey seats trimmed with the Blue/Red double N logo. 795 onwards had grey instead of cream window rubbers 795 was also fitted with a split level step when new for testing, which was removed in the mid eighties.

The 1974 intake of 802-25 looked similar to 795-801 in appearance, but with two major differences, they were seated to 43/31 as opposed to the previous 39/31. 802-5/12-5/22-5 were built to the ultra low height of 13’ 5”, to cater for the low rail bridges in Luton and Hitchin. These 12 always stood out by having now white relief above the windscreen, internally the lower deck gangway was sunken between the chassis frame. 807 being delivered in all over blue as a base for an advert livery. 1975 was the final year of series 2 production with 826-35 arriving by June, these were again similar to the previous years but 830 onwards had Black window rubbers fitted from new.

Vehicle supplied for a time from late 1974 onwards (822-35) did not have matching registrations due to action by DVLA staff at the time.

Series 3

The 1975 intake of series 3 vehicles were 836-40, being non-standard with a patterned moquette seating and destination screens behind two pieces of glass similar to the previous intake. Despite having 5 speed gearboxes the power unit remained the Gardner 6LX. The principle visual changes to series three were the twin air intakes at the rear of the upper deck.

For 1976 the intake (841-56) were fitted with Leyland 510 engines, the vertical equivalent of the 501 fitted to Nationals, as Gardner’s were in short supply at the time due to Industrial action at their factory. NBC Orange vinyl seats were fitted from these vehicles onwards. Externally the Standard NBC destination screen appeared for the first time. 857-77 formed the 1977 intake with a reversion to the trusted Gardner engine, by now the 6LXB was the standard unit fitted.

1978 witnessed the arrival of 878-904; with the exception of 904 these were the same specification as 1977 vehicles. 904 were used as the show vehicle of the 1978 Motor show. Being fitted with the new style of window made by Widney windows instead of ECWs own, these also had longer hopper vents. Seating was Orange vinyl upstairs and ‘Autumn Leaf’ Moquette downstairs.

For 1979 deliveries 905-19 arrived, 905-11 were similar to 878-903. With 912-9 to the new style with moquette on both decks, this was to continue on all future VR deliveries. With 19 new vehicles arriving in 1980 as 920-38, again similar to the latter end of 1979 deliveries.

1981 deliveries were the last arrivals, totalling 39 vehicles, 939-77, with 939-67 all in service by May. 968-77 although delivered in Green with fleet plates and UC blinds fitted, remaining stored unused before passing to Eastern Counties in the late summer. Delivered as VVV 968-77W they were registered as VEX 295-304X (VR 295-304). All were repainted before entry to service by Eastern Counties, the last entering service in October 1981. As a postscript to this of the new Olympians that arrived at this time ARP 601-3/9-11X were diverted from Alder Valley and ARP 612-6X from Southdown.

In service.1969-85

It must be remembered in the early seventies that severe vehicle shortages occurred due to spares shortages industrial actions out side the company and elderly vehicles acquired from Luton Corporation. VRs appeared on most routes either Crew operated of OMO, the first use on Bedford Town routes was not until 1977 when 870-3 arrived. Lodekkas remained in charge on several long distance runs until quite late Bedford – Luton and Bedford – Aylesbury spring to mind, on others Cambridge – Bedford- Northampton were mixed. Village rural routes were early converts to VR when the labour saving of an OMO vehicle was important. At the time the vast operating covered Oxford to Leicester, Ely to Welwyn Garden City. With Oakham and Cambridge also served. In was not unknown for a VR to be seen on the former Birch Brothers routes into London, this continued until at least the late eighties. Also the National Express 905 between Birmingham and Cambridge was an occasional jaunt for a VR as duplicate at least East of Northampton. Saturday relief also saw them working on Holiday Express duties to Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft. Tachographs were fitted to the following, according to the Sept 84 fleet card,

804, 917-9/32-4/9-57/60/1 Hitchin’s 804 was the only series 2 fitted. Most of the others spent time as colorbuses making private hires to the sponsor companies easier. Biggleswade's pair 917/54 were used a lot on excursions and private hires many a time Bedford provided extra vehicles to meet their needs, this situation lasted well into Stagecoach days.

Accidents and rebuilds.

Several major accidents spring to mind 765 was deroofed twice in its early life by the same bridge on the same positioning journey with the same conductor, he didn’t get a third chance!.

858 was involved in a major mishap about 1979, but have yet to find details on that one.

847 was involved in a massive sideswipe in its early days at Bedford and then spent a year off the road. 919 was another deroofed on another dead journey the bridge had also claimed 849 a few years earlier. The Leyland 510 power units were not favoured by the company due to heavier fuel consumption, but liked by drivers for a better turn of speed. 848/9 were long term favourites on the Bedford-Oxford service. A programme commencing in 1982 to re-engine with reconditioned units from the NBC disposal centre. 848 started the program in Jan 82, 852/6 completed it just before Christmas 82.

The most drastic rebuilds were of several series 1 and 2 vehicles to series 3 standards 750-5/60/9/72-6/8/9. 760 started the program completed in Feb 81 it was completed in late 1984. These rebuilds were a major project some vehicles were off the road over a year. The entire front was removed including the first bay upstairs and a series 3 front fitted. They were always identified by having windscreen wipers hung from above as opposed to standard series 3 vehicles.

Power steering and air accelerators were fitted. The heating system was updated to late series 2 standards, additional air intakes were fitted. Destination blinds and seating were updated to series 3 standards. Redundant Cyclone flaps were removed and a full repaint internally was also done. Reconditioned power units and gearboxes were installed. These rebuilds were done in part jointly by Bedford and Northampton.

924/34 were fitted with experimental transign blinds in about 1981, these were identical to those on the Olympians.

Northampton’s 950 as fitted with a Leyland Hydracyclic gearbox in late 81, the type used in the early Olympians.

918/9 were converted to semi coach standards with seats transferred from RE coaches 264/7/8/72 to CH40/28F and repainted into National Holidays livery in July/Aug 81, being tachograph fitted they were popular on excursions, I well remember seeing 918 at Blackpool about 1982.

955/61 were also re-seated as 918/9, these were painted in the ‘old Red/white/Blue’ livery and again used on private hires and excursions as well as service work, at Huntingdon and Luton.

771 was the first vehicle withdrawn, being written of while on a Hitchin- Bedford working in 1983, virtually the whole bus was destroyed by fire with very little left to be sold on, this was the only withdrawal before the split

Liveries & Advert Buses

Two Liveries were standard on delivery, Tilling Green for 750-786, NBC Green 787- 977 with the exception of 807 delivered in dark blue.

One thing that springs to mind is the vast amount of advert liveries worm by the fleet over the years. 771 started the trend with an advert for Brookside Garage Wellingborough from 9/72 to 10/73, in total 96, advert, commemorative or contract liveries were applied by UC or LDT over the next 26 years, many vehicles carrying more than one livery.

36 Liveries were applied before the company split in Jan 86, 12 of which were on series 2 the rest series 3 vehicles.

Major advertisers included Chiltern Radio, Herald and Post, as well as National Holidays and Travelworld.

To promote bus travel in MK several were painted into adverts for various cheap tickets roundabout 1980. A few years later several were painted with the white relief band extended from below the lower deck windows to below the upper deck, and a large red and black Milton Keynes CityBus fleet name applied, sometimes without United Counties.859 had appeared in mid 83 with a similar livery but with lime green instead of white relief. A few of these vehicles were also reseated with cheap café style seats at the rear upstairs to cut down on vandalism; this reduced the rear seat to 4.

Cyclone

This has been mentioned on several vehicles above, for those not in the know this was a cleaning system for vehicles, used in the late sixties, seventies. Involving two flaps at the rear between decks that were attached to a machine in the garage that sucked all the litter from the vehicle with very little human effort involved. Eastern Counties were a big user