Spottings & Jottings
Issue nr. 27 - 31st May 2010
Visit the "OXFORD & CHILTERN BUS PAGE " Current archives from October 2002
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
I must apologise for the delay in publishing this latest issue of S&J. I have suffered from a bad back which makes sitting at my computer a rather uncomfortable experience. however it is now improving and I am able to get back to this work. Indeed it has been further delayed caused by my computer crashing two days ago which has taken several hours to fix. As a result I am publishing this page now and several pictures have had to be held over for the next issue.
The past few weeks have seen a significant postbag from readers with interesting news and some excellent pictures. Further new buses and coaches appear with 10 plate registrations and I am reminded that we are now only a few months away from "60" plate time. The days, weeks and months really do fly by.
During my driving I notice some strange things, crazy motoring by many drivers and even odder, the way traffic lights are phased. This is particularly noticeable when driving at night. One would have thought that it would be possible in the 21st century to have traffic lights which recognise times and the lack of traffic during the wee small hours. Some sets which fall into this category are those in Oxford at the bottom of Headington Hill when heading into the city. One must ask why when the lights change to green for traffic coming down the hill, the lights controlling Morrell Avenue then change to red once again for no traffic whatsoever leaving that road. Thus two stops which can cost nearly 90 seconds, not much one may but when nothing is happening highly frustrating. Another strange case is that on Bayswater at the junction with Queensway in London. The junction is closed for Queensway and now there is single alternate working for traffic on the main road. However the pedestrian crossing is still working, which when added to the single line working causes enormous delays to traffic caught up in the mess. One has to wonder why more thought is not given to such matters. Surely traffic queuing, for however short a period adds to the pollution so often referred to by those concerned for a green environment.
Oxford United play off at Wembley against York on Sunday 16th May - photo record of coaches used
Sunday, May 16 th was a significant one for Oxford United when they won 3-1 against York at Wembley. This meant that they were promoted back to the Football League, a place they felt entitled to.
Numerous coaches were used to transport supporters from Oxford and the surrounding areas and pictures of these are now to hand to record this happy event.
National Express ran special coaches from Oxford to Wembley, Chiltern Trains promoted the use of their services via Park & Ride facilities at Banbury, Thame and Haddenham Parkway and other local stations. Apart from some 50 or more coaches which ran from Oxford to Wembley, both Oxford bus and the Oxford tube experienced heavy loads between Oxford and Hillingdon where supporters could change on to direct services on the Underground. Indeed Stagecoach ran a number of special timings to Hillingdon only using both the Astromegas and three Gold Scanias from Witney depot including 15609.
50209 departs from Gloucester Green with one of the special Hillingdon only
services run on 16th May. Picture by Gavin Francis.
Richard Sharman was at Wembley on the day and sent a selection of pictures featuring coaches seen in the coach park at the stadium.
These are just a few of the coaches from Oxford seen at Wembley by Richard
Sharman.
National
Express ran special coaches from Oxford to Wembley and above we see a Yeoman's
Scania tri-axle (nr 43 FJ08KNZ)
setting down at Sandhills on the return after the match. It is operating service
W13.
On Sunday 16th, the city and fans gave the team a fabulous welcome home with two
open top buses being used to convey those team members etc who were
participating.
Picture by Chris Maxfield.
From Simon Hussey
I was at
Wembley Stadium on Sunday 16th May to get some photos of the coaches from both
coaches. In the end, I ended up taking about 220 plus pictures over both days.
As I'm not sure which particular photos / vehicles you would be interested in,
here's the link
Simon's other
sites are as follows:
http://simon-hussey.fotopic.net
http://simonsscottishpics.fotopic.net/
Oxfordshire Bus Society – first Meeting
From an idea by John Hammond for an Interest Group in Oxford, John now writes to advise:
Oxfordshire
Bus Enthusiasts Society will hold its initial meeting on Tuesday 15th June
2010 at the South Oxford Community Centre, Lake Street, Oxford between
1930-2130pm.
At the meeting, I hope that we can cover the aims of the society and establish a
few committee posts to allow the society to function in future so that regular
meetings can be held. It will also allow us to try out the venue for its
suitability. To end the evening, I will do a photo talk based on my collection
of bus pictures covering several areas of the UK between 1997 to date.
Everybody is
welcome to come along to the meeting, for more information people can visit
http://oxbuses.webs.com/ or
email
oxbuses@gmail.com
I will be going along and look forward to meeting a number of my readers.
Finally and as always, my thanks to all who have contributed to this issue.
Malcolm Crowe - Editor - OCBP - 31st May 2010.
A note regarding photographs which show drivers faces.
Some
bus drivers do object to their pictures being taken, even though the photographer is taking the bus and not the driver.
Spottings
Readers varied contributions
From Glenn Knight
Luton Airport (TUI):
BX57CDN MAN
12.240 Plaxton Centro B38F - Flights, Hallmark
S165UAL Optare
Excel B43F - Flights, Hallmark
JC9735 Guy Wolf
registered 1949 taken at Stanbridge, Bedfordshire.
(Scary but I can remember this bus new when operating in Llandudno all those
years ago. Ed.)
J920UNA
Mercedes Benz ex Lutonian, Luton re-registered ABN 4889 and seen in Harare,
Zimbabwe
Pictures taken at Waltham Cross.
during a visit by Glenn Knight on 17th May. A varied and very interesting collection of buses.
T.W.H:
N547 SPY Ex-Stagecoach Newcastle 20247
N550 SPY Ex-Stagecoach Newcastle 20250
PWY 39W Ex-Hedingham Bristol VR
S.M. Coches:
S.M. Coaches is a bus and coach operating company based in Harlow, Essex in the United Kingdom. They mostly operate local services around Harlow, as well as school services and private hire. Olympian Coaches is also a part of the business, operating school services, private hire and commuter services into London. Many of their bus services operate in competition with Arriva routes. Some of the bus services are operated under the trading name Roadrunner Coaches.
Logic Transport:
ELZ 4545 Mercedes Benz Plaxton "1994"
An interesting collection of vehicles as I am sure readers will agree. What price a ride on an open topper in outer London regular service! I am sure some of you may be moved to visit Waltham Cross now.
From Chris Farmer
Chris writes "Keith Stonehouse captured this fine looking Wilts and Dorset VR dropping off a "School Prom" party at a Hotel in Highcliffe Bournemouth last night (26/5/10)."
"Not sure about the number plate though ! All the 6's !!"
So there are still VRs around to ride on. Ed.
Contributions
From Andrew Morgan
Andrew took a number of pictures during a recent visit to Hemel and Watford. He also adds "just to say that I gave you wrong info on one of the pictures sent to you last week of ARRIVA 3259 (V259HBH) in Watford which is a WRIGHT bodied VOLVO B6LE not a DAF."
ARRIVA ex-LONDON WRIGHT CADET BODIED DAF 3259 (V259 HBH) in WATFORD
ARRIVA MARSHALL BODIED DENNIS DART 3834 (M504 VJO) in HEMEL.
This bus must be a spare for Arriva as it has appeared at a number of depots in
recent months.
ARRIVA ALEXANDER DENNIS ENVIRO 400 5454 in HEMEL also showing offside route
branding for route 320.
At the weekends these buses often appear in London on Rail Replacement work.
ARRIVA SCANIA 3203 (R203 RBM) in HEMEL on route 52. Seen somewhat off its "blue
route" branding for the 32 in High Wycombe.
From Marcus Lapthorn
Had a surprise on Sunday morning (16/5) when at 1010, I spotted two Green Line coaches leaving Banbury Railway Station! They were each branded with route 758 Hemel Hempstead to London logos. The first had a sticker in the windscreen showing' Oxford'.
From Glenn Knight
New MK Optare Solo YJ10 0411 seen in Leighton Buzzard today on service D1
Sandhills.
This series of numbers is normally used for coaches or temporary vehicles.
3278 on 321 at Luton Airport standing in for the more usual Citaro on May 13th.
5425 in PlusBus Advertisement garb.
From Nigel Peach
I was very surprised today (Mon 24th) to see in High Wycombe on route 32 (paper in windscreen!), Volvo Olympian S651KJU. It has fleet number 4651 and according to my book it is from Arriva Midlands. I wonder if this is a transfer or a loan. If a transfer, I'm surprised it's kept its number, as double deckers are 5xxx (or 6xxx) series.
The bus mentioned above by Nigel was caught on camera by Gavin Francis on
21st May working the 33 leaving the Eden Bus Station, High Wycombe.
Is this bus a transfer, loan or what? Odd that it does not carry a fleet
number in the normal Arriva TS series.
When I was last in the bus station, looking at the running list, there was a very large number of vehicles off road - and a number of these have been out of service for many weeks eg Olympian 5147, Volvo B6 3240 and Darts 3210, 3214 & 3824.
From Mark Turner
I took
some pictures taken in Watford early in May 10 which include a new route to
replace routes 5/6.
An Enviro 400 on the renumbered route 320
in Watford.
Other buses seen in Watford on the day of my visit.
From Andrew Morgan
Wright bodied Volvo B6BLE, P232AAP in Watford seen loading for its return
journey to High Wycombe by Andrew Morgan.
From Andrew Morgan
Centrebus 544 ( formerly Trustybus DPS3, EU04BZY) taken in Waltham Cross bus station on
19th May by Andrew Morgan.
From Glenn Knight
Waltham Cross
768 M268VPU operating around Waltham Cross - picture by Glenn Knight.
City Sightseeing Oxford
From Dave Godley
Dave writes "Ex Lothian Atlantean GJZ9571 is currently operating the Devonian 500 service around Paignton. It is painted in traditional Devon General open top livery and has been given fleet number 934 which follows on from the 'West Country Sea Dogs' Atlanteans."
Seen at the level crossing in Paignton on a sunny May 12th by Dave Godley.
Approaching Paignton Bus Station during May 2010 by
Rob McCaffery.
First 61136 based at Bracknell and seen
in Bulleid Way London on May 19th by Gavin Francis. This seems to be one of
only two of these buses still with First.
Jeffs Coaches
From David Percy
A few images for you to look at, two ex Stagecoach deckers stored in our yard, plus two new arrivals to our touring fleet.
These ex Stagecoach double deckers are owned by Springfield Bus and Coach of Warrington, they are ex Stagecoach Bedford, curiosity got the better of me, and I wound the blinds from end to end, and both are still fitted with a full Bedford set plus local Warrington additions, they are newly painted, I understand that they are 'en route' to a bus rally, but they have been in our yard at Helmdon for over three weeks now!
D384XRS and D385XRS taken at Jeffs Coaches yard at Helmdon, 21/5/2010.
Springfield Bus and Coach of Warrington ex Stagecoach Bedford 14679 D384XRS last
with SC East Midlands at Helmdon with D385 side on view by David Percy.
New arrivals at Helmdon for touring work are two Scania Irizar
coaches, YT59OZX, and YR10BBV.
Stagecoach in Oxfordshire are expecting five Volvo / Plaxton Elites for National
Express in a few months time. There has never been an expectation of a Caetano
body on these here, so not sure what that idea has come from. The existing
Scania/Caetano Levantes from across Stagecoach will be relocated to
From Glenn Knight
Arriva MK based 4109
FJ56OBP on 707 at Luton Airport by Glenn Knight.
It is understood that the first of the Scania deckers for the city services has arrived at Scania Abingdon for PDI prior to delivery the company.
Indeed seen heading down the eastern by-pass this morning was one registered CF10??? in standard OBC livery. We were just returning from working the 0405 to Oxford from London. The new bus was on trade plates and I wondered if it was heading fro Abingdon?
Redline
From Glenn Knight
Picture of V262BNV fitted with a digital display. Was this bus once with Thames
Travel?
SN53LWR Transbus Dart is another Re-spray at Redline & gained LED destination.
picture attached is at Cockerhoe on 88.
Ex-Claribels Dennis Dart X92 FOR has arrived back from re-spray in the new
Red-Cream-Red livery for Red Eagle T/A Redline Buses.
R701YWC has been done,
next is T946BNN.
Glenn writes "Three Buses have been done in this livery in the past few months. The company is Redline Buses but the Managing Director's son has three buses that he runs and operates under Red Eagle T/A Redline Buses."
Red Rose
New addition to the Red Rose Fleet is YX08HBZ Alexander Enviro 200 B37F Ex-Arriva Yorkshire 1098 all over white liver with Hanover LED Displays.
Gavin Francis caught the Red Rose Olympian working a Marlow School service
on May 24th 2010.
R H Buses
Richard Sharman sent some nice pictures of recent arrivals to this fleet.
RH 809 L604NOS ex SC Lincoln 14994 on May
11th 2010 by Richard Sharman.
RH Olympian-Alexander 810- L651MYG-New to Keighley and District 18th May 2010 by
Richard Sharman
SC Oxford 15439 as a portent of things to come -
deckers on the 7C 25th May by Chris Maxfield.
New arrivals for Megabus are two Van Hool Astromegas, 50231 and 50232 (SV10DDK and DDL) which are being used on Anglo Scottish services. On 1st June 50231 was working a London-Manchester service.
From Robert Williams
Thought you might like this photo of former Stagecoach in Oxfordshire Olympians 16523 and 16524 with Stagecoach in Hampshire on rail replacement in Reading last weekend (Saturday 15th) for the news page.
From James May
Route 72 from Petersfield to Alton will move over the Stagecoach Southdown on 6th June – to record its operation here is former Oxford Volvo Olympian 16525 (R425XFC), ex Oxford, pictured in Petersfield square.
Stagecoach Southdown 15597 (GX10HBF) pictured at Clarence Pier. The 700 goes to every 15 minutes between Portsmouth (The Hard) and Brighton later on this summer.
I liked the setting for this picture and remember that Clarence Pier was a
destination for the Portsmouth open top service operated by pre-war Leyland TD
buses.
From Ken Baker.
The last of the expected transfers from Witney has arrived in N. Devon.
18137 on schools service today, unbranded for the “Wave”.
Amusing to note the girl sitting on someone lap on the front upper deck!
Picture by Ken Baker.
Two of the
From Stuart Curwen
Here are the new Scania /Enviro400s on their first full day in service (15th May 2010)
Swindon route 66 by Marcus Lapthorn
Marcus writes to advise "I understand that the route is now registered under EU regulations as being in two halves. So one half is Swindon to Faringdon and the other after a nominal break (of 1 minute!), then runs from Faringdon to Oxford.
This is different to how the Swindon to Cheltenham route is registered. There the first half of the route runs from Swindon to Cirencester and the second runs from there onto Cheltenham. One half is showing route 51 and then the driver has to change it at Cirencester to become route 151 before he carries on!
With both the 66 and the 51/151 the bus works through. In the case of the 66 the driver works through, but I think that in the case of the 51/151, I believe there may be a driver change over at Cirencester."
d/d 18812 on the 66 route on Wed 26 May
I saw 18192 today too. (28 May)
d/d 18180 on 66 route on Friday 28 May.
Several pictures have been received from Gavin Francis and Richard Sharman.
18444 and 18192 - Pictures by Gavin
Francis.
18180. Picture by Richard Sharman
Sullivans Buses
From Andrew Morgan
Sullivans buses CAETANO NIMBUS DENNIS DART SLF (8.8m) DN6 (DS03SUL) on May 28th in Welwyn GC bus station
standing in for ALEXANDER DENNIS
ENVIRO 200 (8.9m) AE1 (MS10SUL).
From Glenn Knight
AE1 (MS10SUL) on 215 on May 13th in Welwyn GC bus station
The situation on the tri-axles in this fleet are that three older coaches, two 06 plate and one 08 plate have moved north for the Liverpool-Manchester service and six new coaches have arrived for the Stansted-London service. These are YT10WLA-D and YT10OAX and Y. I wonder if any reader has pictures of the older coaches operating in Manchester or Liverpool?
Thames Travel
From John Hammond
Thames Travel’s new E200 Dart is SN10CCX (Flt no 110) in fleet livery.
From Robert Williams
That and 220 SN10CCY were in service in Reading yesterday.
Gavin Francis visited Wallingford today and found a further Enviro 200, 310.which he photographed for the page.
uno
From Andrew Morgan
Just to recap on UNO type codes :
DMP-PLAXTON POINTER DENNIS DART SLF 10.1m (fleet no.100-101)
DMP-PLAXTON POINTER DENNIS DART MPD 8.8m (fleet no.102-105)
DP-PLAXTON POINTER DENNIS DART SLF 10.7m (fleet no.111-116,118-121,563-565,567-569,571-578)
DC-CAETANO NIMBUS DENNIS DART SLF (fleet no.151-154)
DFD-OPTARE SPECTRA DAF DB250 (fleet no.201)
DFD-EAST LANCS MY. LOWLANDER DAF DB250 (fleet no.202)
SD-EAST LANCS OMNIDEKKA SCANIA N94UD (fleet no.203-205)
TP-PLAXTON PRESIDENT DENNIS TRIDENT (fleet no.270-272)
MBD-MERCEDES-BENZ CITARO mark.1 (fleet no.301-305)
MB-MERCEDES-BENZ CITARO mark.2 (fleet no.306-322)
SNC-SCANIA N94UB OMNICITY (fleet no.351-352)
OS-OPTARE SOLO (fleet no.401-405)
DW-WRIGHT CRUSADER DENNIS DART SLF (fleet no.650-652,664-665,667-668)
DFW-WRIGHT CADET DAF SB120 (fleet no.773-774,776-778)
a new code is :
SDM-OPTARE OLYMPUS SCANIA N230UD (fleet no.206-207)
The only type left is the SCANIA K230UB4 OMNILINK (fleet no.353-354) i saw both of them today but neither of them had the new fleet numbers or type codes fitted
From Glenn Knight
Woottens
From Andrew Morgan
TIGERLINE LEYLAND OLYMPIAN W64 (CUD 222Y) in HEMEL
TIGERLINE LEYLAND TITAN W53 (A869 SUL) taken from upper deck of OLYMPIAN
W64
Jottings
New £16m+ coach fleet for National Express
On 25th May we received the following press release from National Express.
We've started to
roll out a brand new fleet of super coaches as part of a £16m+ investment into
our nationwide network. Already, the first seven Plaxton Elite coaches (together
worth £5.5m) are running from London to Liverpool. And a further 16 will report
for duty in Oxford, Peterborough and Yorkshire very soon.
They'll certainly be eye-catching, with low-level destination displays so
passengers can see more of the road through the panoramic windscreen. There are
only 48 full leather seats too, rather than 49. So there's now even more space
at the back.
They're first Plaxton Elite coaches to be fitted with a new version of the PLS
Wheelchair lift, and they'll also feature lighting to guide passengers to the
toilet as well as exits, and easy access for engineers thanks to some
fully-hinged opening panels.
Alastair Coxon, our Head of Contracts, said, "We are continually improving our
coaches for the benefit of drivers and customers". It won't stop there, either.
This summer, we'll be investing a further £11m into 50 new Caetano Levante
coaches for services that start in the South West, South Coast and Yorkshire."
The coaches are identical to the Selwyn's coach pictured above leaving
Victoria coach Station last week.
Picture by Gavin Francis.
Stagecoach today (21 May 2010) welcomed the ruling by the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) following the transport group's appeal against the Competition Commission decision in the Preston Bus case.
A Stagecoach spokesman said: "We welcome today's ruling by the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT), which quashes key parts of the original decision by the Competition Commission and vindicates our position. The CAT has found that the evidence did not support the Competition Commission's conclusions.
We will now take time to consider the decision and its implications carefully. We will take legal advice on our options going forward, including how today's judgment affects the divestment process."
There will be no public inquiry into the guided busway fiasco – despite
calls from opposition leaders on Cambridgeshire County Council.
Shire Hall bosses have rebuffed calls for a full probe into the construction
of the track between Cambridge and St Ives, which is millions of pounds over
budget and still has no opening date.
The battle over the bill looks set to end up with the county council and
contractor BAM Nuttall fighting it out in court.
Cllr Nichola Harrison, the opposition Liberal Democrats’ environment
spokeswoman, asked council leader Cllr Jill Tuck if she would be launching a
public inquiry at the authority’s annual meeting.
Cllr Tuck replied: “The answer to that is no.”
Cllr Harrison fears taxpayers could lose tens of millions of pounds in a protracted legal dispute.
After the meeting, she said: “Cllr Tuck had no compunction in flatly refusing a public inquiry.
“The Tories have handled this whole situation badly from the outset and left taxpayers vulnerable to picking up the massive bill.
“Residents should be given the chance to ask questions of this administration and we should be given the chance to get to the bottom of what went wrong.
“Without scrutinising this whole affair openly and transparently we cannot ensure that it never happens again.”
Yesterday, the News revealed how construction chiefs had admitted they will not be able to announce an opening date until July “at the earliest”, with work on six defects that have been identified progressing slowly.
The council initially set aside £116 million for the busway, with around £87 million of that to go to BAM Nuttall.
But the final project cost is currently expected to hit £161 million, and the council will have to try to claw back approximately £50 million from the contractor, while facing an extra bill of about £4 million itself.
BAM Nuttall believes much of the additional expenditure should be met by the council and official documents say litigation is “inevitable”.
Last night (wed) Cllr Tuck said: “We always review our major projects once they have been completed and this project will certainly be no different.
“A full public inquiry is not necessary, but as we have said before we will fully assess how the contract has worked and identify any lessons that can be learnt for us and others who will use this standard civil engineering contract in the future.
“The contract with BAM Nuttall is robust and is used by many other organisations building projects of this size.
“Under the terms of the contract, the lion’s share of any overspend falls to the contractor, the council only picks up a small proportion, which has been budgeted for.”
The Government would have the power to order an inquiry into the project.
History & Running Days
John Hammond writes "A visitor to Didcot Railway Centre during the recent GWR celebration events was 200APB, an AEC new to Safeguard of Guildford. It was owned by Quantock Motors (formerly Rexquote Heritage) of Bishops Lydeard in Somerset."
See here
parked opposite Didcot Parkway.
6th Slough Vintage Bus Running Day - Sunday 9 May 2010 by
Peter EdgarPeter writes "I am sending you pictures from the Slough & Windsor running day. It was a delightful event and memories were created by the vehicles in use on the day."
Pictures
taken in Windsor, Slough and Pinewood by Peter Edgar.
80th anniversary of Green Line From Bob Stanger
"As you will know, The Classic London Bus Society ran a trip to celebrate the 80th anniversary of Green line by retracing routes 709 from Baker Street to Godstone and 711 Reigate to Baker Street.
We hired three vintage Green Line Deckers - RT 3228, RCL 2260 and the prototype RMC4. From Godstone to Reigate we followed route 411. On our way we stopped at Arriva London Norwood garage where the Arriva Heritage fleet was displayed. Later we were able to park the buses in the forecourt of the old London Transport/Country garage at Reigate, now a children's nursery. To complete a memorable day we popped into London General's Sutton garage for final photographs.
I attach some photographs covering the day. One or two might also be suitable for the Buses in the Landscape feature.
The photos are the copyright of Peter Larkham whose has given his permission for these to be sent to you."
Nostalgia unlimited, some wonderful
shots by Peter Larkham on 25th May 2010.
modern day Green Line by Bob Stanger on
23rd May 2010.
Readers recent trips
From Rob McCaffery
The superb weather last weekend lured me down to Devon primarily to get the bus pictured - Devonian's ex-Lothian Alexander-bodied Atlantean GJZ 9571 which I see also ran on the Oxford Tour for Tappins.
I was also pleasantly surprised to find First's Western National 80th anniversary bus 37716 (W716 RHT) calling-into Torquay on the X80, as in photo.
A full
report on the trip is on 'Transport Illustrated' for those who would like to
see more.
Trip/event reports at:
http://transport-illustrated.blogspot.com/
Buses in the Landscape
John Marsh writes "I was in Cambridge yesterday so took a few landscape picture for you whilst I was there. The Enviro 400s are from a batch of 50 "10" reg vehicles."
An
Arriva Volvo en route to Reading passes by the Thames last March.
All above pictures by John Marsh.
From Derek O'Connor
"I caught this at the last minute travelling along Bank Street in Inverness at the weekend. It belonged to MacBraynes which is now the Ferry operator in the Highlands, Caledonian MacBraynes."
I seem
to remember these little 29 seater Bedford's being called "Hovis Loaves".
23rd May 2010.
Pictureview
RML2498 acting as a mobile office at the recently acquired Pear Tree Service
Area
Forthcoming Events
Weymouth Vintage Bus Running Day
Graeme Selway of the Devon & Dorset Group sent reminder that this year’s Weymouth Vintage Bus Running Day will be on 20 June at Weymouth College from 10am. Full details on our website at www.weymouthvbrd.co.uk
As last year, there will be a free shuttle bus to the site from the railway station forecourt in the town centre, the first departures being 0955, 1045, 1115, 1145 then roughly hourly. This facility may also be of use to people who prefer to park the car in the town centre car parks. Buses will return to the railway station throughout the afternoon ahead of scheduled train departure times. At the current time there do not appear to be any planned engineering works on the Weymouth lines on 20 June but please check with South West Trains or First Great Western before you travel.
Anyone who is still thinking about entering a vehicle for the event, please do so sooner rather than later if you wish get it in the programme before it goes to print!
Hopefully we will see you there for what should be another cracking day. If you can’t make it (and even if you can!), don’t forget Torbay on 5 September www.torbayvbrd.co.uk
The Kemble Steam Extravaganza once again this year, which is taking place at the Cotswold Airport from Friday 6th – Sunday 8th August.
Record bus and coach displays at South-West's largest festival of transport
The Gloucestershire Steam & Vintage Extravaganza makes a welcome return to Cotswold Airport (previously known as Kemble Airfield) this year from Friday 6th - Sunday 8th August 2010, taking the show in to its 36th year.
The show was originally conceived for steam enthusiasts, but the range of exhibits has grown year on year. It now boasts a huge array of vintage transport, including buses, coaches, motorcycles, military vehicles, classic cars, tractors, aircraft, commercial vehicles, traction engines and historic caravans. A live action arena, interactive demonstrations, rare breeds, shire horses, trade stands and a vintage fun fair along with hundreds of curiosity stalls ranging from Victorian memorabilia, antique sewing and knitting machines to model dolls houses, petrol pumps, vintage garden tools and 1940s – 1950’s home wares makes this three day extravaganza one of the UK's best value family outdoor shows.
Widely regarded as a show within a show, the bus section has grown from humble beginnings to a vintage vehicle rally in its own right. Attracting exhibits from the length of the land as well as from foreign climes as far as china, the line up of vehicles is as colourful as it is impressive.
Buses of every shape, size and configuration will be represented, with highlights including a Bristol built double-decker once operated by Lincolnshire Road Car. You can also expect to find an array of preserved buses that you would have perhaps once travelled on as a child, such as classic Bedford OBs. The section is certainly a nostalgia trip not to be missed!
John Hitchings of the bus and coach section of Gloucestershire Steam & Vintage Extravaganza says: "Everybody enjoys seeing old buses and coaches because we each remember special journeys made on them. A ride on a vintage bus is a trip heavy with nostalgia."
A free vintage bus service will be operating to and from Kemble railway station throughout the show to connect with selected First Great Western Trains. A courtesy bus will also shuttle guests to the Bristol Aero collection. Formed in 1990, this collection records 95 years of Bristol aviation and space heritage. Based in a large wartime hangar, the collection includes aircraft, helicopters, missiles and engines. For details of the bus schedule, please refer to the website www.steamextravaganza.com Buses will depart from outside the main show entrance.
Pictures from last year's event
Admission Information:
Discounted tickets are available to buy online, please visit www.steamextravaganza.com
Discounted tickets are also available from Local Tourist Information Centres including: Stroud, Cirencester, Chippenham, Swindon, Malmesbury, Gloucester, Cheltenham, Cotswolds and Tetbury.
Prices on the Gate:
Adult: Friday: £7, Saturday or Sunday: £10, Weekender: £15
Concessions: Friday: £6, Saturday or Sunday: £9, Weekender: £13
Juniors: Friday: £4, Saturday or Sunday: £5, Weekender: £8
Under 5’s free of charge
Friday family ticket: £18 (2 adults & 2 children)
Saturday or Sunday family ticket: £25 (2 adults & 2 children)
Gates open: Friday – Sunday, 10.00am Public enquiries contact: 01453 890891
All profits donated to the Cobalt Appeal Fund, Diabetes UK & The County Air Ambulance.