Issue 34
(OBP-250)
Monday 9th June
2003
next update
week ending 21st June 2003
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 on
malcolmhc@aol.com
Several items of interest have emerged this week and they concern the area around Stokenchurch and High Wycombe.
First of all I have now received a report on the meeting at Lewknor concerning the proposed feeder services to the Tube at junction 6 of the M40.
A Tube on diversion, having used the A40 from Wheatley, now sets down passengers
on the wrong
side of the road before rejoining the M40 at junction 6. I did not see what
happened to the intending
passenger at the normal London stop. I wonder how this diversion would he
handled under the proposals above?
I have taken the liberty of including a write up from Noam Bleicher of the NFBU and this may be accessed by click on the link below.
LEWKNOR – PROPOSED BUS SERVICE AND HIGHWAY SCHEME
Another item of note is the wanton vandalism of bus shelters in High Wycombe noted on my travels today. I found it hard to believe the way someone or some persons had smashed up two or more shelters in the Lincoln Road area which will cost quite an amount of money to repair. The results may be seen in the picture below.
Mind you poor behaviour can even take place in central Oxford in the mid afternoon as witnessed last Friday by me. Some students were walking down The High past Queens Lane office of OBC. One of the young men in the group, attired in a dinner jacket, was so drunk he fell over knocking a waste bin into the road. His girl friend was having great difficulty in keeping him upright and the whole group of about 6 or 8 young people carried on leaving the mess in the road. Not a great example of behaviour for Oxford University and I might add these were not a group of trouble makers from a football match, oft loved by the press but a group of seemingly well to do graduates. I wonder what visitors to the fair city of Oxford thought. Or maybe it is excused by the authorities as high spirts!
I happened to look at The Travel Line web site last week in respect of services in and around Oxford. I checked on a number of journeys and was surprised with the results. An example of a journey was from Windmill Road (Headington shops) to Oxford Rail Station. The results were quite odd to me. The only services quoted for the mid afternoon I requested were the Charlton 108 and the National Express 757, neither of which go to the Rail Station. however the 2, 7, 22 and 400 were completely missing from the offer as was the 280. I did receive a reply to my email to the information line which I do not think i should quote here. In essence it said I had selected the wrong location for the services mentioned above and that they were looking at the problem of the Rail Station.
I was disappointed that a quasi official web site should be so inaccurate and wonder what readers think of the site and are there any more strange offers?
Ralph Adams writes regarding an unusual bus hew spotted "Bicester
Classics Wedding trip to New Inn Hall Street (Saturday)
Has the following been reported. A Dennis Charabanc 10 seater. Reg Number
BK2136. Front bench for driver and 1 passenger, plus 3 rows for 3 passengers
each (one long bench each). It was built in 1930 according to the driver. It has
many pre war parts and was assembled for the film "One of our dinosaurs is
missing" produced in 1970. The bus was used to take the Chinese party, and
after the film was finished, the bus was to be withdrawn. Apparently nothing
happened to it for some while but Bicester Classics now have it for weddings,
carnivals etc. It has no tax disc (as these are modern items), no PCV disc
(although the driver told me it is registered), or legal lettering (that I could
see).
Not sure whether it is a 1970 rebuild therefore, or actually 1930, but well
worth looking at (and photographing if you have a camera) The photographer was
taking pictures of a female in a white dress. Don't know why when there was a
far better thing to photo in the other direction.
This photo
appeared in the news page of 18th February this year.
Well on to the operators news which I hope is interesting to readers. Sorry for the bits of "soap box" above but I feel there are some items which need airing.
Malcolm Crowe, June 9th 2003.
Visit the "OXFORD BUS PAGE" Archive 1998 - 2002
Visit the "OXFORD & CHILTERN BUS PAGE " Archives from October 2002
News of the local companies – 8th June 2003
As suggested by one of my readers I have reintroduced the operator logos where possible.
Ex National Express Rapide coach
G970KTX displays the revised rear end with window applied.
Volvo B6 3115
picks up in High Wycombe on a 304 Micklefield service last Sunday.
"Bouncy Castle" 3817 works a Sunday 365 Penn service.
Dart 3815 receives attention from the Reading
fitters on a 329 service last week when it failed on Caversham Bridge
Photo by James Cusworth who happened to be on hand to record the event.
James Cusworth writes “An Arriva DW broke down on Caversham Bridge at just before 11am this morning. A couple of minutes before this picture was taken, an Arriva B10B came past, so that might have been the relief vehicle, or maybe even on the next journey??"
Martyn Pearce writes "Further to a note under the Carousel heading on this week's page Carousel's route 69 is a one-night-per-year only shuttle service operated on behalf of Bucks Chilterns University linking their Wycombe campus to the site of their May Ball at Newlands Park. It is unconnected with Magpie Travel's routes to Newlands!!"
Volvo/NC Paladin 649 unusually works
a 5 road service last Friday, seen on High Street outbound.
More regular to the 5 road workings,
Volvo B10BLE 803 passes through the bus gate on High Street last Friday.
Often known as "Town & Gown" when
referring to Oxford maybe this shot should be "Bus & Gown"
Park & Ride Trident 111 passes All Souls College last Friday afternoon..
The M40 motorway is often the scene
of accidents and the Oxford companies, enjoying radio links to
their vehicles, are able to divert services to avoid delay. Last Friday was no
exception when an artic
overturned on the London bound carriageway between jcs 7 & 6. Here the 1900 X70
working to
Heathrow turns out of the A40 at Lewknor and heads towards the M40 to rejoin the
motorway.
The coach in the picture is nr 29 - OA02OXF
One of my correspondents advises some interesting workings last Friday 6th June
2 road had Dart 515 on the C card and 5 road had 643 and 649 in place of the more normal Volvo B10BLEs. Both Dart 512 and 515 appeared on X3's which also had 657 and 658 on various cards and MBs 823 and 824 were on 400 road.
On that day 22 road was fully Olympian operated with 221, 223 and 224. At present 222 is off the road awaiting some rectification work.
Matt Cooper writes "for Route 74, I suspect First will be keeping up the High Wycombe - Heathrow services, its just Arriva that are (possibly) withdrawing (And Arriva only certainly withdrawing between Slough and Heathrow).
Harris, High Wycombe
Harris of High Wycombe recently took delivery of this Mercedes midi coach,
YE03VSL.
Magpie, High Wycombe
Magpie continues to thrive with its operations
from Binders Yard. A recent addition to the fleet
is the Volvo/Jonckheere on the left of this picture, L944NWW, purchased from
Plastow's of Wheatley.
The 757 now serves only High Wycombe on its run from Oxford to Stansted.
Here a DAF Van Hool (D308) works a
757
service to Stansted last Sunday lunchtime.
It still awaits the new National Express livery application.
David Whitley, Marketing Manager of the company has asked for the latest attached fleet list (period 2 - 26th May 2003) to be published in this week's page. you will need Adobe Acrobat to view this file. Click on the Stagecoach logo to view. (you will need to rotate one of the pages to view)
Non route branded M A N 22933
works a route 3 service past Queens Lane.
Another M A N , this time 22936 with full route 3 branding parks up at Horspath.
The Tube always has good loading and
here 43 picks up at Queen's Lane in the shadow of Queen's College
Brian Matthews sent some more
pictures which are of interest in that in Cheltenham one can see
non standard livery Stagecoach buses like this Dart, 33503 en route to
Gloucester.
Ralph Adams writes "the
staff minibus, 40653, has now been painted into the new livery.
Leaving
Newcastle
this morning (Wednesday) were MAN 22203/05/07/09. These were all new to
Manchester, and exchanged with Busways for Tridents. I believe that Busways were
experiencing vandalism problems on the upstairs out of sight of the driver.
Sunday 8th
Route 1 dedicated MAN buses 22940 and 22941
have today (Sunday) lost their route colour codings. 2 of the new MAN buses from
Busways (22203 and 22207) already have driver protection screens and will
replace them as Route 1 dedicated buses. The last BBL MAN (22279) from Scotland
does not have a screen so is not normally used in the evenings.
22928 has now appeared in the new livery, leaving I believe just 22929 still to
be repainted from the MAN fleet."
Swanbrook
Cheltenham again where Swanbrook
runs two ex Blackpool Optare Excels, this one N205LCK.
Picture by Brian Matthews.
Worth's
I always like a coincidence. Here Worth's R8WMS visiting Cowley Road poses with
new R1OXF and
cousin R8OXF from the Oxford fleet. P1OXF is also seen in this shot.
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
A DAF with Plaxton bodywork from
McLaughlins of Preston waits time in the centre of Wycombe last Sunday.
It is PJI3078 but what its origin are I do not know.
Binders Yard always produces some
surprises. This time an ex Stagecoach East Kent Leyland Titan
7253 shares the picture with an unknown National and an Albion coach RSJ747.
The Titan was once London T545.
Former RF430 shares a yard with an
AEC Mammoth tanker in the once familiar REGENT colours.
I welcome your photos for
inclusion on this page. Please send them to me at
malcolmhc@aol.com
This is a most interesting site which I do recommend
Visit the "OXFORD BUS PAGE" Archive 1998 - 2002
Visit the "OXFORD & CHILTERN BUS PAGE " Archives from October 2002