Issue 227 |
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.
Sorry folks, this week's page is a few days late
but this is mainly due to my current work pattern. I am delighted to welcome the
work of a number of new contributors this week and the scope of the page is thus
enhanced and widened.
DipTAC displays for destinations and their application?
I am going to ask one question this week and that is how should the rules governing destination displays be applied.
My understanding is that in the case of a destination display the blind should be laid out in a specific way and this should be as shown in the picture below.
The display shown above is an
example and not a reflection on the operator.
The layout seems to suggest that the route number should appear on the right hand side of the display , nearest the boarding passenger, and lower case lettering should always be applied regardless of font size.
This does not appear to be the case when looking at buses from the same operator which may come from another depot or even the same depot. There seems quite a wide variation on the theme when looking at different operators.
Can anyone give a definitive answer to the question or can operators do as they wish?
Quantock Running Weekend - 5th to 7th May 2007 - a further selection of pictures
Quantock's Ribble White Lady
loading at Minehead on 6th May. What a distinctive vehicle this is.
Picture by Dave Godley.
Minehead Promenade hosts the Crosville PS1, originally intended for Midland
General but diverted to Crosville when new.
Picture by Dave Godley on Sunday 6th May.
A Great Western Prairie tank passes under a bridge about to be crossed by the ex
PMT AEC Reliance.
Pity about the Salvation Army sign as Brian Bell had a really perfect picture
composition possibility.
Chris Maxfield visits Plaxtons at Scarborough
One of the coaches seen in
Gloucester Green undergoing major refurbishment at Plaxtons.
The coach concerned is from the X5 route being nr 52482 from Bedford
depot.
Chris Maxfield writes "Pictures for you. They are taken at Plaxtons and first show a Stagecoach Volvo coach undergoing a major rebuild. In the first picture you can just see the stripped interior that is undergoing a full refurb...then a couple of the new Arriva Centros for who I'm not sure but the earlier ones did go to North West based at Winsford."
Northampton's 52370 seen undergoing a major refit at Plaxtons.
A Scottish example from the same batch, this time from Fife, 52367.
Oxford's recently acquired ex Scottish Volvo, 52251, delivered by Chris to
Plaxton's and now awaiting refit.
It is to be training vehicle and will receive training bus livery.
The Centro mentioned above by Chris.
Matt Robinson takes a trip out from Luton
Matt writes
"Had
a fairly eventful trip today - and a few pictures. Unfortunately I don't have a
professional camera, and not a professional photographer either. The poor
weather this afternoon also didn't help matters but I hope you'll be able to use
some of them.
I travelled in to Luton on 5139 covering a 25 this morning, the photo of the bus
was after I got off in Silver Street. It looked like the full allocation on the
route was Volvo Olympians this morning, only having a PVR of 5 buses on
Saturdays (7 on weekdays excluding school and college extras). 5140 was parked
in the yard at Dunstable Road at 11.30, however I returned home on the 17.45 24,
and that was worked by Dart 3284.
5104 was
parked in Leighton Buzzard High Street with blank destination display so not
sure what it was doing. 5097, 5099 and 3441 noted on the X15. I just caught
sight of the back of 5097 which has a full advert of some description on the
rear, not sure if it covers the rest of the bus or not?
Ex-COMS Olympians 5830 and 5832 were both working 61s this morning. Always nice
from a personal point of view to see Olympians working this. 5121 was working
54s.
Scania 3156 was working a town service in Hemel Hempstead still with 500
branding evident despite being displaced from this route some time ago by the
ex-Green Line DAFs.
DAF 3272 appears to be the only of the original batch of DAF SB220s which has
not been painted into Interurban livery for Line 321. (Picture of similar 3274
attached which is in the livery). I notice the destination blinds on the
V-registered ones are now very faded when working 321s.
Further to my
comments about overall advert buses in Luton a couple of weeks ago, 5091 has now
had it's B&Q overall advert removed. It's back in full Arriva livery (although
looks a little tatty where removing the vinyl seems to have taken the paint off
in places).
Our B6s seem to have caught the old Wycombe bug, 3130 and 3132 both noted
operating with broken destination displays. 3130 had a large "15" in the
nearside windscreen made out of bus tickets !! 3132 had a pre-printed piece of
paper displaying "15" which had been folded over later on when it was working
5s. Ingenious !!"
Arriva and easybus combine?
Talking to a driver at Luton, who was on the 757 route, I asked what was going on with a "Green Line" 757 operating in easybus colours. He said that in future easybus passengers from Luton would use the 757 and that the minibuses were being transferred to a new service from Stansted.
After all the concerns from various quarters a couple of years ago, when easybus started up, it now seems that a solution has been found to any problems of competition.
I would stress that this is an informal response and in no way reflects a company view.
Here we can see the current situation at Luton where easybus often have too many
buses for their allocated space.
As a result they spill over onto the National Express stops, resulting in
difficulty for NEx loading safely.
One will be interested to see how matters develop over the coming months.
Slough Running Day - a rather wet event
I received pictures of this event from Peter Edgar and Mark Lyons. They amply convey how wet the day was but somehow capture a by-gone era when the buses on display were what was on offer on a daily basis.
Peter Edgar contributes
Picture 1,
Four British Icons, Windsor Castle, Queen Victoria, an RML
and.............Plastic Road Barriers!
Picture 2, RT 2177 running through to Windsor Castle as route 81 did on Summer
Sundays back in the 1950/60's.
Picture 3, Slough Bus Station on a wet day......not sure if it looks any better
on a dry one taken from RMC 1513.
Mark Lyons
contributes
saying "I
attach a few pictures taken in abysmal weather at this event. The United
Counties FLF was on an ex TV working from Maidenhead."
Mark comments that this bus was
working a long time Thames Valley route.
That 327 route and who is operating it now
Nathan Phillips writes "Greetings - I was reading your last Oxford & Chilterns Bus Page and saw you asked if Red Rose had lost the 327 Chilterns Rambler Route.
It appears so - the Centrebus timetable is available at:
http://www.intalink.org.uk/Timetables/tt/327_B_ATG.PDF
Or
http://www.intalink.org.uk/news/pdf/327%20343.pdf
Hope this is of help,"
Roger Spence visits Hemel and Aylesbury
Roger writes
"Discovered
your excellent website recently, which coincided with a rekindling of my
childhood interest in (mainly) London Country area buses.
Anyway, during the week I took a few photos at Aylesbury garage and Hemel bus
station (including 3482 on route 2, which you also commented on in the last
update.)
I've selected five and tried to reduce them in size - not sure if they're still
too big?"
(Roger, they
are fine as you can see. Ed.)
Hemel bus station with 3482
seemingly transferred from High Wycombe.
Two buses at Hemel including a Volvo on the long 300 route.
I look forward to further contributions from Roger.
Buses in cityscape and landscape
Oxford is a real haven for the bus
enthusiast as can be seen from this picture taken last week outside the police
station.
Great Tom and Christ College stand in the background.
The walk we take the dogs on at Lewknor affords the opportunity to take some
suitable pictures for this section.
Bus Lanes
Jan Bain writes "To complement the link on the bus lane camera in Oxford being put up I found this that I don't know whether you have seen:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/oxfordshire/6665087.stm
Also, there is this interesting news of park and ride strikes: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/oxfordshire/6662269.stm.
A reader writes from High Wycombe
Nick writes to comment "As a long time reader of the page I thought this picture and some information about two routes which don't crop up on the page might be of interest to you and the readers.
Here's one of Carousel's Metrobuses sitting at the Chalfont terminus of the
hourly Route 393, also known as "Campus Link" which starts at Wycombe Sports
Centre and runs to the Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College campus at
Chalfont St Giles, stopping at the two Wycombe campuses at Wellesbourne and in
the town centre on the way. The regular performers on the route is Dart SLF P480
MLE, and until recently, the singleton VDL DAF Cadet. In the past month however,
it has now moved on and K323 CVX, a step entrance Dart has taken it's place. I
have never seen a Metrobus on this route before, and it seemed to cope well on
the 55 minute journey, although it's low top speed certainly showed itself on
the A404 between Wycombe and Amersham, much to the annoyance of many car
drivers!
First Berkshire's P179 TGD, is also sitting at the end of it's route, the number
335 from Slough via Chalfont St Peter, Gerrard's Cross and Wexham Park Hospital.
This is a two hourly service, and is run with a single bus, the dedicated
vehicle being this bus, although on Saturdays it is run by a spare Optare Solo
in Slough "Linx" branding. This does not mean other buses don't crop up on the
route, and within the last few months I have seen Wright Scanias, The 74 branded
Olympians, Darts of various kinds, and even a Heathrow Citaro running the route!
It may seem odd for First to run such a large bus on such an infrequent route
that few people use but the capacity is needed in the morning and afternoon
for the schools along the route.
This service, along with the 74, is one of two First services to run deep into
Buckinghamshire, after the route was taken over from First London in around
2003.
P.S. Unfortunately, the man standing by the Metrobus refused to move, no matter
how much I waved my arms or stared at him, oh well!
Keep up with the good work."
Amersham & District Running days 2007 - dates for your diary
http://www.amershammotorbussociety.co.uk/
Amersham & District Running Days for 2007 are as follows:
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 - Friday 18th May 2007
Visit the "OXFORD & CHILTERN BUS PAGE " Archives from October 2002 to date
News of the local companies – 18th May 2007
Again a lot of information on Arriva this week starting with Matt Robinson who writes
"5135 has been on school runs in Luton today. Pleased to see it here, although I'd always (strangely) thought it was over 14' tall. I'm expecting it to go on to 24s, especially if it's replaced 5141. If so I'd be interested to see it tackle the bend by Bushmead School and the top end of Hill Rise/Spinney Road in Sundon Park, having a longer wheelbase than all our other Olympians. College loadings in the mornings and early evenings on the route would make it an ideal candidate though.
I've managed to clear up the matter of who operates what on routes 100/101/102.
Luton operated 2-3 of the 6 buses on the route originally. 3201 & 3202 operated
out of Luton garage during this period.
However, I'm told that recent service retendering in Stevenage saw Centrebus
gain a number of local services from Arriva, so Luton handed their work on the
route back along with 3201 & 3202. Scania 3143 has also gone to Stevenage,
although I've been told this is only on loan. 3170 was initially switched to SV
as well, but is now back at Luton.
NC Scania 3199 is back in service after a re-spray. The rear number display on
this bus has now been panelled over.
Further point of interest I forgot to mention in either of my earlier emails, Dart 3295 (X295MBH) was operating blue route 2 in Aylesbury yesterday, but the three-track route blind was displaying "TWO" rather than a route number. I later saw 3294 and 3297 on the same route displaying a more normal "2".
Olympian 5086 (F636LMJ) is in the yard at Luton having had a low bridge accident
on Saturday. I'm currently trying to get more information but my instant
assumption would suggest Leagrave again (it's a common shortcut for 27 drivers
running 'dead' from Marsh Farm to the garage - a route normally single deck but
'deckers occasionally fill in).
I wonder what will happen to this, both 5095 and 5153 were off the road for well
over a year after their bridge collisions. 5095's power blind still isn't
working since returning to service last year."
Matt goes on to say
"I got a little more news on this today, apparently it struck the 13' 0" Hitchin Road bridge next to Luton station last Saturday. What it was doing there remains a mystery. One of the drivers was going to let me know what was on the destination display and try and get some pictures for me of it parked in the yard."I've now started an Arriva The Shires gallery on the fotopic website. The address is:
http://www.mattsarrivatheshirescollection.fotopic.net
Long time correspondent Glenn Knight has sent some pictures of the new Stevenage Volvos in service.
Robin Clare reports on M K Metro
Robin writes to update us on happenings at M K Metro saying "Somewhat later than promised, but herewith an update on happenings in Milton Keynes.
A new logo has been announced - it consists of "mkmetro" in lower case lettering. The "mk" is in white on a circular blue background (not unlike National Express), whilst the "metro" is the same size of typeface as "mk" and in the same blue as the circular device. None have appeared on vehicles up to the time of writing.
To answer your comment of why don't they just paint everything blue and have done with it. The official line is that we are owned by Arriva but are not regarded as part of Arriva, which we take to mean that we will remain outwardly separate even though under day-to-day control from Luton. Certainly, there is very little outward sign of Arriva involvement. Now to vehicle matters.
Top news is the imminent delivery of seven new DAF SB120 Wright Cadets. They are currently in Leicester being painted from overall white into what is widely reported as being overall RED for the re-launched service 4, due to start on 10th June.
Solo's 24 & 25 have been re-painted into overall MAUVE, currently unbranded, but presumably to join 28 & 29 as dedicated route 8 vehicles. They have also been re-numbered to 2443/4 in the Arriva series.
Excel No.41 has been re-painted from Ogden's white with red/blue stripes into standard golden yellow with blue skirt, and has been re-numbered to 3002. As of today, no other re-numberings have been observed, although wholesale renumbering is imminent.
Olympian / ECW No.231 ("C" Reg) has been rebuilt very tidily to H--/--F, and re-painted into the paler school bus yellow. Front destination blind box appears to be painted over in black. This is the only repainted vehicle to have a fleet name applied, an old style "M K METRO" above the entrance door.
I will try to get out and do some photography on Wednesday...........anything passable I will copy to you."
Another demonstrator for Wycombe
The bus pictured below was seen laying over in Wycombe Bus Station earlier this week. I was unable to get a picture of this bus in service.
Gavin Francis
took this picture of coach 4363 in London earlier this week.
Gavin Francis
assured me that Carousel were using a Citaro on Line 4 and sent a picture to
prove it. Taken on 10th May 2007.
Gavin Francis
was on hand with his camera in High Wycombe to catch this Volvo B10B on the 74
in High Wycombe.
Corgi will
this year introduce a model of the PB in "Irish" livery.
Now that there has been a change of operator on the 420, this "Irish" liveried
PB, NXL21, is often seen at Stansted on the A6.
Very quiet this week for this company. I have seen no further re-registrations and 14 and 18 were still carrying V-OXF plates when seen earlier this week.
Work continues on repainting the original batch of Airline Jonckheeres and nr 29 has now returned in X90 livery.
Nr 29 has now returned in X90
livery photographed by Chris Maxfield.
New coach 85 is seen leaving Gloucester Green - picture by Chris Maxfield.
R H Transport
Chris Maxfield reports "the two RH deckers have been repainted into fleet colours. They are K312/23 FYG, new to London Central but latterly with Go-North East.
The revised X15 start's from the 4th of June."
Chris also secured two pictures of new Solos for the 700 route. Both were taken today at the John Radcliffe Hospital.
Rob Williams reports that
"following its repaint at Banbury, Oxford's most well-travelled Dart 34466 has transferred to Witney. Essentially it will act as an extra off peak spare for the Solos, and from 3rd June it's capacity will normally be put to use on a regular working consisting of peak journeys on the 200/X1 and 100 followed by trips on the 11. This ousts one of the last two step entrance Darts 32627/8.Loaned Volvo B10M 20009 has also been returned from Oxford, allowing the final Dart from 32627/8 to go into reserve. However, like 32625/6 they are both likely to remain licensed for occasional use until they are transferred elsewhere.
Normal allocations at Oxford will see the remaining unbranded Pointer Darts appearing on the 12/16 more frequently, with 53-reg MANs appearing on the 14 (or others on the 10) when required.
Loaned 52211 from Merseyside has been made a permanent transfer to allow the remaining two Lynxes to be withdrawn. Both B10Ms are scheduled to be repainted into training livery before the Lynxes go.
As planned, 42383 has transferred from Witney to Banbury and 42624 from Banbury to Oxford. 42624 will replace the last 709D 40653 on staff transport duties in the next day or two. 40653 and stored 40172 will now be sold."
Chris Maxfield returned from Banbury with this Mercedes which as noted by Rob
Williams is to become the Oxford Staff Transport..
How did Chris get to Banbury? - well he took 20228 for repaint and it is seen en
route above.
Alexander PS 20542 was the last to be so treated.
The driver of this Trident had changed it for a Volvo B10M used on the earlier
trip due to belt squeal so familiar on this type of bus.
He told me that they intend using the KSU registered Volvo coaches on the X6 in
the near future.
The use of a newish Trident, 18410 as seen above, is unusual on this route.
Trident 18393 has appeared carrying a super rear for Wi-Fi on the Oxford Tube.
Picture by Chris Maxfield.
Premier - Luton
Matt Robinson writes
"I
spotted this rather interesting BMC Falcon school bus which belongs to Premier
Coaches based at Luton Airport today. Luckily I had my camera with me !!
Premier have two of these alongside their expanding fleet of coaches. The other
one is slightly older on a 55 plate. They have 60 seats in a 3+2 format, with
seat belts fitted and a wheelchair lift at the back.
The single leaf door, I believe, rules these buses out of regular passenger
service. They are reminiscent of the American Blue Birds operated by
Universitybus in the mid '90s."
Many thanks to Kate Pontin, Business Development Manager for the company, who has sent an up to date fleet list. She also confirms that Dart MPD 451 has left the fleet.
Once with Thames Travel as their
451, this Dart is now working on a Park & Ride service in the Bristol area.
Thames Travel |
|||||
Fleet Information Schedule |
Mar-07 |
|
|
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
Fleet No. |
Reg. No. |
Chassis |
Chassis/ VIN Number |
Body & Seats |
First Reg |
|
|
|
|
|
|
501 |
M501VJO |
Dennis Dart |
98SDL3054/2286 |
Marshall B36D |
01/03/95 |
67 |
V 67SVY |
Volvo B10BLE |
YV3R4A519XAOO5383 |
Alexander DP44F |
01/11/99 |
49 |
X 49VVY |
Optare Solo |
907-920-00-159155 |
Optare B27F |
08/01/01 |
383 |
X383VVY |
Optare Solo |
907-920-00-134956 |
Optare B27F |
01/02/01 |
313 |
Y313KDP |
Volvo B6BLE |
YV3R3A9131AO10356 |
East Lancs B36F |
02/03/01 |
877 |
Y877KDP |
Volvo B6BLE |
YV3R3A91X1AO10385 |
East Lancs B31F |
01/04/01 |
973 |
Y973GPN |
Dennis Dart |
SFD612BR1XGW14434 |
Plaxton MPD B29F |
12/04/01 |
416 |
Y416HMY |
Dennis |
SFD113BR21GX21378 |
Dennis Trident N69F |
02/06/01 |
151 |
KP51UFK |
Dennis Dart |
SFD3C2CR31GW16150 |
Plaxton Pointer B36F |
23/01/02 |
251 |
KP51UFL |
Dennis Dart |
SFD3C2CR31GW16151 |
Plaxton Pointer B36F |
25/01/02 |
351 |
KP51UFC |
Dennis Dart |
SFD6B2CR31GW16231 |
Plaxton MPD B29F |
01/02/02 |
551 |
KP51UFB |
Dennis Dart |
SFD6B2CR31GW16230 |
Plaxton MPD B29F |
01/02/02 |
651 |
KP51UFH |
Dennis Dart |
SFD6B2CR31GW16233 |
Plaxton MPD B29F |
05/02/02 |
102 |
BD02HDV |
Mercedes411CDI |
WDB9046632R348710 |
Guy M13F |
20/05/02 |
202 |
BX02CMF |
Mercedes411CDI |
WDB9046632R390029 |
Guy M13F |
14/06/02 |
152 | KU52RXF |
Dennis Dart |
CFD6BACR32GW86967 |
Plaxton MPD B29F |
01/01/03 |
252 | KU52RXG |
Dennis Dart |
CFD6BACR32GW86968 |
Plaxton MPD B29F |
01/01/03 |
352 | KU52RXR |
Dennis Dart |
CFD6BACR32GW86970 |
Plaxton MPD B29F |
01/01/03 |
452 | KX52RXS |
Dennis Dart |
CFD6BACR32GW86966 |
Plaxton MPD B29F |
01/01/03 |
153 |
KX53SGY |
Optare Solo |
SAB19000000001215 |
Optare B26F |
24/10/03 |
253 |
KX53SGZ |
Optare Solo |
SAB19000000001216 |
Optare B26F |
24/10/03 |
353 |
KX53SGV |
Optare Solo |
SAB19000000001217 |
Optare B26F |
01/11/03 |
104 |
OU04FMV |
Dennis Dart |
SFD6BACR43GW87649 |
Plaxton MPD B29F |
02/04/04 |
154 |
OU54PGZ |
Scania N94 |
1848515 |
East Lancs CH47/33F |
13/01/05 |
105 |
AE05EUX |
M.A.N 14.220 |
WMAA66ZZ74H003270 |
M.C.V Evolution B40F |
01/05/05 |
205 |
AE05EUZ |
M.A.N 14.220 |
WMAA66ZZ74H003303 |
M.C.V Evolution B40F |
01/05/05 |
106 |
PF06ENO |
Scania N94 UB |
1854261 |
C59304 B31F |
01/05/06 |
206 |
PF06ENM |
Scania N94 UB |
1854193 |
C59302 B31F |
01/05/06 |
306 |
PF06ENN |
Scania N94 UB |
1854260 |
C59303 B31F |
01/05/06 |
406 |
PF06 ENL |
Scania N94 UB |
1854142 |
C59301 B31F |
01/05/06 |
506 |
KX06LXN |
Dennis |
SFD 6BACR46GW88700 |
Mini Pointer B29F |
01/07/06 |
606 |
KX06LXO |
Dennis |
SFD6BACR46 GW88701 |
Mini Pointer B29F |
01/07/06 |
156 |
KX56HCZ |
Dennis Dart |
SFDBBACR46GW88920 |
ADL B30F |
01.09.06 |
256 |
AE56OUD |
M.A.N 14.220 |
C007272 |
MCV Evolution B40F |
10/01/07 |
356 |
AE56OUF |
M.A.N 14.220 |
C007278 |
MCV Evolution B40F |
10/01/07 |
Dart 651 is seen outside the police Station in St Aldates earlier this week.
Solo 383, the only one so far in the new fleet colours -
picture by Chris Maxfield.
Michael Wootten writes
"Thank
you for mentioning the Woottens \ Westways developments on your excellent news
page recently. I have updated the company website (
http://www.woottens.co.uk/ ) this
weekend to include details of the acquisition. This is a very exciting time for
us and I really appreciate your positive feedback. It's all a little strange for
me as I started my career with Westways as a work experience placement when I
was 15!
Although no vehicles were purchased from Westways, two additional Volvo B10Ms
acquired are ex Horseman Jonckheere Deauville 45 L901 NWW C57F and former
Ulsterbus Plaxton Premiere DAZ 1557 C70F. These coaches join identical JIL 2199
(L904 NWW) and BIG 7048 (DAZ 1562), which were acquired in January.
The latest Leyland Lynx acquired from Oxford Bus Company (C63 HOM) has been
overhauled and up-seated to 51. This vehicle has just returned from re-paint
complete with vinyls and should be in service by the end of the month. Sister
vehicles C64\6 HOM continue to give excellent service as school buses and have
recently had seatbelts fitted by Barry Hall Installations of Lincoln.
I have updated the enthusiasts section of the company website, which includes a
detailed fleet list and many photographs.
Thank you once again for your support. Please feel free to call in if you are
passing."
PHOTO CORNER
If you have a digital camera and wish to submit photos for
this page please send them to the me at
malcolmhc@aol.com
They don't come much bigger than this! Taken in Park Lane, London on 12th May by
Gavin Francis.
I'd like to see a few of those in Gloucester Green !!!!!!!
HISTORY IN PICTURES AND WORDS
?
If you have any pictures or historical memories and wish to submit them for this page please send them to the me at malcolmhc@aol.com
Coming events, models and useful links
New casting from Britbus
A new casting with a local flavour has been released by Britbus as a picture from Mark Lyons shows. It is a nice model but as Mark says, a little pricey at £33.
Oxford Bus 125 commemorative book
In last week's issue I mentioned that Oxford Bus were publishing a book to commemorate the 125 years of public transport in Oxford. Thanks to Phil Ashworth I have had a review copy and hereunder give my thoughts on this book.
The book is well presented and includes a number of historical pictures of interest including some I had not seen before. The modern pictures have received a nice treatment reflecting the modern fleet against a background of typical Oxford architecture. The Botley Road rail bridge gets a mention and a picture of an AEC pre war decker which has done battle with said bridge and come off worse from its encounter is included.
The book, whilst rather small to reflect the 125 years in detail is nevertheless a must for all who love Oxford, historians and enthusiasts alike.
Copies of the book can be bought from the Oxford Bus Company, Cowley House, Watlington Rd, Oxford OX4 6GA. The cost is £5.95 including postage. Cheques should be made payable to "Oxford Bus Company", it is also available in person from the Oxford Bus Museum during normal opening hours.
DVD s by Robin Clare
The full details of DVDs available from Robin Clare may be found at his web site :- http://www.robinclare.co.uk/
Latest Citaro models revealed
Dave Rogers sent the following press release.
CREATIVE MASTER NORTHCORD - PRESS RELEASE
Mercedes-Benz Citaro - ukbus 5004 Arriva Manchester - ukbus 5007 Oxford Bus
Creative Master Northcord Limited is proud to release two brand new liveries on its well known Mercedes-Benz Citaro casting. Both models have received significant, yet different, modifications to the tooling in order to represent, as close to 100% accuracy as possible, the real buses on the roads.
ukbus 5004 represents fleet number Arriva North West’s 2851 (CX55 EAA). This Mercedes Citaro is one of three such vehicles with dedicated route branding for service 700 and with the destination set to Manchester. The model features a redesigned interior layout that includes the reduced seating capacity and luggage racks.
Starting on 29th October 2005, Arriva North West’s service 700 runs from Manchester’s Piccadilly Railway Station to Liverpool’s John Lennon Airport. For the service, 3 Mercedes-Benz Citaro buses were purchased and numbered 2851-3. They were painted in the same style and colours as the Scania OmniCity buses that already operated between John Lennon and Liverpool city centre.
ukbus 5007 represents fleet number 830 (X13 OXF) of Oxford Bus Company. 830 entered service in December 2003, to upgrade the X3 & X13 Oxford – Abingdon services. The bus was painted in a new and distinctive livery designed by Best Impressions.
ukbus 5007 features the smooth, curved windscreen with the destination display set behind the windscreen glass rather than the protruding destination found on the Park & Ride Citaros in the fleet. This feature is one of the standard specifications on other Citaros that the Go-Ahead Group has purchased.
Mercedes-Benz Citaro ukbus 5004 and 5007 models are each a one-piece casting whose clean lines accentuate the square-mounted, double-glazed windows and the livery application on which all logos and lettering are clearly legible. Another main feature on both models is the extensive portrayal of handrails. The headlight / indicator units at the front and indicator / tail light units at the rear are made of individual components to look more realistic.
The brand new single-door Mercedes-Benz Citaro bus models will be distributed by John Ayrey Die-Casts Limited (UK), Porte Publishing Company (Japan) and Concorde Hobby Shop (HK) respectively. The ukbus 5004 and 5007 models are limited to 1700 pieces worldwide respectively.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Would readers who respond to the above please quote my site when doing so.
If you wish to be included on a mailing list where
I will advise of any mid week news & when
each News Page is posted
please let me know on malcolmhc@aol.com
Visit the "OXFORD BUS PAGE" Archive 1998 - 2002
Visit the "OXFORD & CHILTERN BUS PAGE " Archives from October 2002 to date
Links
These are three most interesting sites which I do recommend
Mike Penn's photo page with much from Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire as well as Buckinghamshire
Chris Lowe's Photo page - mainly North West UK
A web site which has paintings of buses.
|
Arriva Handbook for 2006-2007 http://www.britishbuspublishing.co.uk/
The latest handbooks are now
on sale, the ever |
Links
Bus Services in Buckinghamshire
Where are the Chilterns?
Visit this informative site through the link below.
Visit the "OXFORD BUS PAGE" Archive 1998 - 2002
Visit the "OXFORD & CHILTERN BUS PAGE " Archives from October 2002