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 213
(OBP-426)
Wednesday 31st January 2007
next update week ending 10th February 2007

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


First I must apologise for the lack of reports over the last 10 days or so. As many of you will be aware my back has been giving me a very hard time and it is only within the last few days that I have been able to spend more than a few minutes at the keyboard.

So at last I can bring you the latest mews and pictures from our area. I must thank Chris Maxfield and Gavin Francis for keeping me up to date with what has been happening and also for supplying may interesting pictures for inclusion on these pages. I must also thank Richard Sharman and Glenn Knight for news from their respective areas of Stratford upon Avon and Luton and district and for their pictures also.

A great deal has been happening and it is difficult to know where to begin.

Stagecoach wins the contract to operate the National Express 737 service

Perhaps one of the most significant items is that Stagecoach in Oxfordshire have been awarded the contract to operate the National Express 737 route from Oxford to Stansted taking over operations from National Express at Feltham w.e.f. Monday, 5th March 2007. This will require four coaches to operate plus one coach for back up.

The coaches to be used are a batch of five brand new Scania/Caetano Levante models and more details of this type of vehicle can be found at the following link.

http://www.caetano.co.uk/index2.htm

Further details on Scania coaches can be obtained at the following link.

http://www.scania.co.uk/Our_buses/Bus_and_Coach_Range/chassis_range/coach/

The new coaches are to Euro 4 standards and will begin to arrive within the next few weeks, so keep your eyes open as driver training will be taking place before their introduction into service.

Stratford Blue nears the end of the road

As mentioned previously Stagecoach in Warwickshire will absorb the operations of Stratford Blue and the City Sightseeing operations in that town during early February.

To record the last days, Chris Maxfield kindly visited Stratford yesterday and I include a selection of pictures he took of the last few days of "blue" operation.

 
These two pictures give a flavour of Stratford-upon-Avon town centre with Stratford Blue operations.

      
The very smart turn out of SB buses can be seen from the pictures above and two local routes operated
were the 18 and 19 on which some Darts can be seen.

   
SB also operated services on behalf of Warwickshire County Council and the buses used carry a green and yellow livery.
The X20 was the main route but one of the buses was also used to Oxford on the X50 on Sundays and Bank holidays.


Another operator to run to Stratford is Johnson's who operate the 270 from Banbury.

 
Stagecoach already had a presence in the town as can be seen from two buses on existing services.

As Richard Sharman advises "From early Feb, expected to be the 1st, Midland Red (South) LTD will takeover ownership of Stratford Blue Travel LTD and also the franchise of City Sightseeing Stratford-upon-Avon. This was announced to the staff on Wednesday afternoon (two weeks ago). 

All EnsignBus owned vehicles will return to Purfleet as soon as vehicles can be found from with in Stagecoach, in the case of the Tour, vehicles will be converted shortly, in the mean time the B7L/Ayats are expected to be the first to return which means a reprieve for the humble Metrobus."


Chris took some pictures of the City Sightseeing fleet as seen above and mentioned by Richard.
 

"Spectra 303,K703 BBL is now more than likely never to see service at Stratford.


Stratford was where much of the work on the CSS Guide Friday
fleet was done and Chris took this picture of some old GF buses still in stock. 

Further details may be known by next week, but it looks like more vehicles will be allocated, with the main purpose of covering Leamington work to the East, ie Evesham, Chipping Norton and Redditch Services- thus saving a lot of dead mileage. 

Look out for more details at www.stratfordblue.co.uk "

Richard Sharman visits Diamond Bus and sends his report and pictures

Richard Sharman writes "I know this page is aimed at Oxford and the Chilterns but given the very close relationship between COMS & Diamond I thought it would be nice to give a small profile of Philip Kirk's Midlands operations. 

Diamond Bus operates from four location's, the Tividale main depot, a large parking overflow area across the road and the the old Peoples Express depot at Hill Top, West Bromwich. Also Bradford (see below). 

The fleet is modern and I attach pictures of various types of vehicles operated."

   

"A rapid repaint programme commenced over the summer with the ex Peoples Express vehicles going to various paint shop's in the Midlands and the South, the result is only a small handful remain in Peoples Express livery and six in Go North East."

"The operation spreads as far as Telford, Kidderminster, Redditch and Evesham. The old Peoples Express Redditch depot is rumoured to be opening again very soon. 

A trade press magazine recently suggested that COMS and Diamond may be merged in some way given the shared management etc." (Philip Kirk is indeed Managing Director of both GWM and OBC so that maybe where the suggestion came from Ed.)


Whilst Richard was visiting he came across two Oxford coaches but could not find out what they were doing there.
Pictured above is nr 67 next to a National Express coach.

 

"Various National Express diagrams are also run, and a small depot at Bradford is maintained for this purpose.

I think the intention is there to complete with TWM on a small scale and also First Wyvern in Redditch/Kidderminster. 

Hope this was of interest....if slightly off topic!"

An interesting link for this area is at : http://west-midlands-buses.fpic.co.uk/

St Albans running day - more pictures, this time from Colin Cooke

Colin writes "Following a terrible weeks weather, Sunday 14th dawned a bright sunny day, ideal conditions for the St Albans Running Day. St Peters Street resembled at times what it used to look like 50 years ago when it was a haven of green London Transport buses. The bus garage has gone but much else remains the same and a good selection of GS/RF and RT and others could be seen revisiting local routes."

Chris Maxfield re-visits Milton Keynes to bring us up to date with happenings

Chris Maxfield visited Milton Keynes on January 18th and caught some interesting buses in his lens.


A recent arrival from Swadlincote in the Midlands is this Leyland Swift with Wrights bodywork. This was one of three operated from that depot.
The arrival of a Volvo B6 seen in the last picture seems to indicate that Arriva is gradually taking gold on this fleet.

Chris Maxfield also visited Harlow, Stevenage & South Mimms

Chris caught up with many interesting buses in Harlow and a selection is included below. Local services can be found at the following  links:

http://www.harlowride.co.uk/

 http://www.smcoaches.com/

           
With the movement of Arriva buses around the "Shires" we may see some of these buses closer to home in the future.


Another operator in Harlow is seen above, being SM Coaches who operate some local service in the town.

Harlow Station proved interesting with two ex Reading buses caught on film

     
London buses now with Sullivans and two ex Reading deckers, one still in full Reading livery

Chris also called in at South Mimms and found an interesting collection of vehicles.

   
Not sure who these elderly Metrobuses belong to but the coaches are owned by South Mimms Coaches.

Stevenage proved to be a most interesting location with a lot of variety and well worth a visit. Service details can be found at the following link : http://www.carlberry.co.uk/rfnlistr.asp?L1=STE048&op=D


Many of the Arriva buses in Stevenage came from Sovereign who were taken over in 2005
Details of these and other pictures can be found in the control bar at the bottom of your screen

   
Centrebus who also took over routes from Sovereign in 2005 also have a presence in Stevenage.
The white Dart is a recent arrival probably caused by the fire reported in these pages by Glenn Knight.

 
Sovereign buses can still be found awaiting repaint and another operator is Trust Line.

Chris took a significant number of pictures and I will be using these in the coming weeks.

Off beat but hopefully of interest - Blackpool Supertram catches fire

Geoff Cunliffe sent news of the damage by fire of a new tram which had been undergoing trials in Blackpool. Geoff writes "Thought your readers might like to know that there has been a setback in the upgrading of Blackpool's tram network. Yesterday afternoon, prototype City Class tram, 661, caught fire on the promenade. Margaret and I had seen it only last week in Cleveleys undergoing tests."

"You may recall that it has been around for some time. It was produced by the UK Tram Consortium as a lower cost alternative to buying expensive foreign Skoda units. There have been several problems with it and it has not been able to enter passenger carrying service yet. However, it would seem that it was nearly there and yesterday's test run was one of its tests to see if it could go into passenger service within a few weeks. One snag with it is that it is built to load at raised stops like Manchester, for instance. Perhaps they had found an answer to that - or were at least working towards a solution. Apparently it has covered over 10,000 miles in test runs on the Blackpool system. 

It is now said to be owned by Merseyside-based Tram Power and it is certainly a setback for them which is a great shame.

Geoff then sent an update earlier this week saying "Herewith the latest on the Supertram fire. The article heading was:- Developers will rebuild £1m prototype - Fire won't knock new Supertram off tracks:-  

Presumably, when they talk about rebuilding in Blackburn, they mean at East Lancs Coachbuilders where the latest batch of single deckers was built a few years ago."

A new link with local interest from Ed Webster

Ed Webster wrote to say "I've read your page for many years but never contributed anything, so I thought perhaps I ought to do so! I've attached a few photos I recently took which you are very welcome to include on you page if you see fit. There are a few more on my website (http://buspics.interbeat.co.uk) which you're also welcome to use - over the coming months I plan to upload my archive to this site."

     
Some examples of Ed Webster's work.

Stokenchurch Taxibus comes to an end - loss of a connection to the Oxford Tube

Friday, January 26th saw the end of a year long experiment to provide the residents of a Stokenchurch with a Taxibus connection  to the Oxford Tube at Lewknor. The service had been poorly used and was just not viable. The Taxibus will continue to serve Watlington until June and that service will now include Chinnor once again. It is very sad that such a service could not work but people are so wedded to their cars that such services are always in question.

It also seems that Ibstone and Radnage may lose their bus services uner a radical change to local service which will be unveiled at a meeting in Stokenchurch on February 6th. Once again poor usage is to blame.

A question which may have some answers

When one drives around Oxford one cannot help noticing how various sets of traffic lights seem to have illogical phasing. I would refer to those at The Swan at the top of Cowley Road, those at the bottom of Headington Hill and the filter lights at the new Headington Green Road roundabout complex.

In each case they seem designed to slow traffic right down and fail to make use of the opportunity to keep traffic moving.

Referring to the Green Road lights I am sure in the busy summer months the very short time phase on the A40 westbound will cause significant traffic queues back towards Wheatley.

In the wee small hours why do the lights change even when there is no traffic around. Thornhill Park & ride lights spring to mind.

I am sure there is a logical reason, surely not just to slow traffic down?

Roadworks in Oxford City Centre bring route changes for the duration

The roadworks by Magdalen College are causing delays top services and the following changes are being made to improve timings.

U1-Buses will run as normal till 25th Jan where buses will be split in 2 sections (Mon-Sat 7:00-8:00):

Buses from Wheatley campus will turn into Gipsy La then go into Brookes University where they'll terminate. They'll then have A Break prior to working back from Brookes university. Buses will go along Gipsy La then onto Headington Rd. The other sections will be from Harcourt Hill-Queen's St. After Queen's St buses will go round to Castle St where they start for A Return. Buses will not start at Speedwell St and tickets will B Valid on 7/C along the Headington Rd-Castle St corridor (also in the other direction). Buses will display amended to show U1 Headington campus and U1 City centre via Botley Rd. 

U5-Buses will be re-routed to run to/from Oxford Business Park (The 6 morning journeys will start from The Plain as usual)The journey from Wheatley campus will run as normal. Passengers will be able to use their ticket on the 10 from Holloway onwards. 

12/B/C-Buses to city centre will be diverted via Between Towns Rd, Church Cowley Rd, Henley Av, Iffley Rd, Donnington Bridge Rd, Weirs La, Abingdon Rd and St Aldates using Speedwell St as the main terminus. 

16B-This service won't run. Additional 16s will operate as a replacement 

31, 32/N32, 33/N33, 34, 35/A/B-Buses to Oxford city centre will be diverted via Speedwell St, Old Greyfriars St terminating at Castle St. Buses will then run via Queen's St and start from St Aldates.

Thanks to Curly for this summary.

Amersham & District Running days 2007 - dates for your diary

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

Amersham & District Running Days for 2007 are as follows: 

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

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

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


There has been a great deal of information and photographs to include this week and I do wish to sincerely thank all my contributors.

Malcolm Crowe - Wednesday 31st January 2007

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

News of the local companies – 31st January 2007

Nigel Peach and Gain Francis has been keeping me up to date with developments and Gavin has supplied the pictures

Nigel writes "On Friday 19th I saw Plaxton Pointer bodied Volvo B6 3336 (L516 CPJ) on the 317 to Maidenhead. According to my Arriva book, this bus is ex Burtons of Haverhill in 2006 and was unallocated to any depot. It had full Wycombe blinds! (This is quite an achievement as two of the DAFs that have been in Wycombe for about three months still don't have Wycombe blinds, and Dart 3818 which has been back for over a year still has no route number blind!). 

Looking at the running order of buses in the bus station I noticed that 3137 (L43 MEH) was on route 32. I didn't manage to see it, but this would be another "import". It has identical specifications to 3336 above. My book is somewhat prophetic, recording it as being at Wycombe (there are a number of inaccuracies in the book), but I've not seen it here - it used to be in Aylesbury." 

Nigel writes a few days later "Arriva are using a different Mercedes Minibus as a staff bus at Wycombe. It is 2115 (N470 EHA) with Alexander Sprint bodywork. My 2006/7 Arriva book shows this as Arriva Midlands 1250, the only minibus based at Burton on Trent. Its blinds state "33 Not in Service"! 

Talking of blinds, I saw the ultimate in confusion on Wednesday 24th. Dart 3838 (KE53 NFA), one of those in red livery for TFL route U9) was showing "9 Harefield" but with a scrap of paper in the windscreen with 30 on it. It was indeed on its way to Flackwell Heath on route 30! 

Gavin writes "Went into Wycombe this morning 250107. Spoke to the Arriva driver who used to be on the X90 this morning. I had noticed Volvo 3863 was on the P & R service. He tells me 3702 was rear ended recently causing body, chassis and engine damage and so will be out of action for sometime. This means that each day another type of bus must substitute morning and evening peaks. I will go back in the morning to try and get a picture."

Also in the depot this morning was 5148 and overall ad 3151 from Aylesbury."

Peter Edgar writes regarding a new booklet for Aylesbury which he has scanned. I will be using extracts over the coming weeks.

Finally there is also a new timetable for the 300 along the same lines as the 280.

Bakers 

Malcolm Audsley writes " I came across another coach from your part of the world recently - KB06 MTB a Volvo B7R / Plaxton Profile of Bakers, Enstone (according to boot lid or Chipping Norton (legals on side!). It was delivering a party of firemen to our local fire station - why an Oxfordshire coach was transporting Hampshire fire crew will probably remain a mystery. Have attached a picture (taken 24th Jan at Fareham Railway Stn (adjacent to Fire Station)) in case it is of any interest."

Centrebus

Glenn Knight once again reports on this company saying "Centrebus S462 LGN Dennis Dart has returned from Nottingham after a head-on collision with a truck rebuilt & respray and KE06 NZW 602 on X31 Dunstable but not changed blind on loan for 1 day to Dunstable."

 
The photographs are © Copyright Glenn Knight.

Charlton Services

Chris Maxfield recently visited the depot at Charlton-on-Otmoor and sent a few interesting pictrures. The first is of an ex Thames Travel Vario which has joined the Charlton fleet. This bus is used on the stage carriage service 94.

Other interesting coaches may be found in this fleet as shown below.

 

The 737 Oxford-Stansted service will be operated by Stagecoach in Oxfordshire wef 5th March 2007. Five Scania/Caetano Levantes will be used to maintain the service.

Thanks to Curly C, Chris Maxfield, Gavin Francis, Richard Sharman and others for various news on this operator. Volvo B10B nr 601 has reverted to classic fleet livery following the removal of the all-over advert it has carried for a year or more now. Chris Maxfield caught up with this bus a week or so ago showing its current livery.


Picture by Chris Maxfield

The remaining time of the single door Volvo B10Bs with Oxford, especially the early ones seems limited now. Chris Maxfield has been busy recording these buses in the twilight time with the company. The mostly see service on the 8 and 35 now. The 35 will shortly see the arrival of the cascaded North East Tridents releasing several more B10Bs.


Picture by Chris Maxfield

The later two door batch 629-643 will continue in service with the company for some time to come and as such are gradually receiving repaints. The latest to appear in the latest livery is nr 629 which joins 641 in the "all red" livery.

 
It is coincidental sometimes that the same bus keeps appearing before the photographers lens.
This happened recently with 634 which appeared in the same spot on different routes.
In fact the appearance of a B10B on the 5 is quite unusual these days
Picture by Chris Maxfield


Gavin Francis caught Trident 116 bearing a new super rear advert a few weeks ago.
It is interesting to note that the rear destination screen can be seen through the advert !


If one waits long enough you can often catch an odd working as seen above when a B10BLE was seemingly
on a Rail Replacement working near Carfax Tower - 21st January 2007.
Picture by Chris Maxfield


Night shots are becoming easier providing the photographer finds a steady platform to take it on.
Note, however, that the bright destination display tends to look less appealing on film.
Picture by Chris Maxfield


Three workings on the X90 Oxford espress service to London layover at Stockwell garage during the day.
Alan Gelson took a great shot of the three coaches in question on 19th January 2007.
The coaches are 19, 20 and 24.

Chris Maxfield reports sighting  Darts 403 and 405 at Plaxton, Sheffield undergoing conversion to single door. They will join the Diamond fleet when completed.

R H Transport Services Ltd

This company continues to expand and the latest service to join the operation is the  700 service between Water Eaton Park & Ride and the JR Hospital. Several extra Solos are on loan to cover the added vehicle requirement. Chris Maxfield caught a selection when he visited Water Eaton a week or so ago.

  

Chris also caught up with the 05 GW liveried Solo in Kidlington and Gavin Francis found the same bus in Gloucester Green, this time on the 25A Bicester service.

   

Gavin was also on hand to record another loaned Solo, again in Gloucester Green. This time it appears to have worked around Alton towers.


Finally Chris Maxfield caught up with a coach now being used by R H . It is not known if this is being used on any service.
It can often be seen at Thornhill being used as a staff transport.


Chris Maxfield took this picture of Dart 32626 on the last day of the 7E, a temporary service for roadworks in Kidlington.


Trident 18198 was caught on a U1 working to Wheatley by Chris Maxfield.
This will be sight not to be seen until mid March as this service has been split to work Wheatley - Headington and City Centre - Harcourt Hill
for the duration of roadworks on the High Street.


Another Chris Maxfield shot, this time of through working 22919 on the 7 between Kidlington and Barton.
It is seen above in the city centre at Magdalen Street East.


Another Dart 32625, once at Witney, is seen now on a Banbury working of the 59A, outside the Randolph Hotel loading for its return working.
Note the rather splendid temporary route display board. Much better than a paper sticker.


Chris Maxfield took this picture of Solo 47315 - KX06 AZB on an evening 12 working earlier this month.

Slimline Solos for Witney start to arrive


Solo 47453 had just arrived on delivery on the 22nd January when this picture was taken.

The last few weeks have seen the arrival of the order for eleven Slimline Solos for operation at Witney. Details of the batch are:

Fleet nr   Registration Vin nr Body nr Type Seating Alloc Comments
47449 - KX56 TXN SABENMAFO7L192592 192592 Optare Solo Slimline B28F WY M A N powered
47450 - KX56 TXO SABENMAFO7L192593 192593 Optare Solo Slimline B28F WY M A N powered
47451 - KX56 TXP SABENMAFO7L192594 192694 Optare Solo Slimline B28F WY M A N powered
47452 - KX56 TXR SABENMAFO7L192595 192595 Optare Solo Slimline B28F WY M A N powered
47453 - KX56 TXS SABENMAFO7L192596 192596 Optare Solo Slimline B28F WY M A N powered
47454 - KX56 TXT SABENMAFO7L192597 192597 Optare Solo Slimline B28F WY M A N powered
47455 - KX56 TXU SABENMAFO7L192598 192598 Optare Solo Slimline B28F WY M A N powered
47456 - KX56 TXV SABENMAFO7L192599 192599 Optare Solo Slimline B28F WY M A N powered
47457 - KX56 TXW SABENMAFO7L192600 192600 Optare Solo Slimline B28F WY M A N powered
47458 - KX56 TXY SABENMAFO7L192601 192601 Optare Solo Slimline B28F WY M A N powered
47459 - KX56 TXZ SABENMAFO7L192602 192602 Optare Solo Slimline B28F WY M A N powered

I understand that one is already in service at Witney and others will follow in the next few weeks, so keep your eyes peeled and your cameras at the ready. As the Solos enter service the Varios will be withdrawn on a one for one basis and put into storage pending disposal.


The only Oxford Olympian to receive refurbished seating is 16525 and this can be seen in this picture of the bus
undergoing maintenance at Horspath on 22nd January 2007


Sister bus 16524 is seen on a 7 working laying over at Speedwell Street on 28th January. Picture by Chris Maxfield.

Pictures from Devon of buses once in Oxford by Adam Keen

Adam Keen sent a couple of pictures of buses once new to Oxford. They are still giving yeoman service in Devon.

 

Over a period of time it is inevitable that a fleet of 25 vehicle will gain differences, however small. The pictures below show some differences for you to study. Answers on a postcard with a 6d stamp please !!!

 
Pictures by Chris Maxfield


A little bit of history - once an Oxford Tube, nr 24, and still going strong - J499MOD in London last week.


Also once an Oxford Tube, in fact coach nr 1 - AOD648Y is seen when new in Stratford upon Avon.
Picture by Malcolm Audsley
 


Gavin Francis took this picture of Exeter based Volvo coach 52343 in Bullied Way..
It is seen working a Megabus service to London on 22nd January 2007.


Richard Sharman caught up with Volvo 52490 now in Megabus livery on a Leicester-London working.

Report from two sources plus pictures give us a current picture of goings on at Thamesdown. Stuart Curwen writes "this MAN Kinetec demonstrator is currently on loan to Thamesdown Transport and will be in service from 17th January for 3 weeks it will be used on service 1A like the Scania OmniLink."


www.mrstuartcurwen436.fotopic.net 

Stuart goes on to report "This Scania OmniLink Demonstrator was on loan to Thamesdown Transport between 23rd December 2006 and 12th January 2007 it was used on route 1A Middleleaze - Town Centre - Stratton Park (Sainsburys)."


www.mrstuartcurwen436.fotopic.net

Glen Whyte writes "I have been reading your Oxford and Chiltern news pages for a couple of years now and have found them a great read on a Monday morning.
 
Just thought I would update you with a little bit of news of the going on's of Thamesdown Transport.
 
Currently they have a new MAN Kinetec Demonstrator with them, which has been with them since 17th January, it is due to go back very soon. It is currently running on their 1A route alongside the Scania's that they have in their fleet. I just thought it would be interesting for your readers to see pictures of this Demonstrator so I have attached a couple of pictures of this Demonstrator in service.
 
Also Thamesdown are currently painting their Low Floor Dennis Dart SLF's and SPD's with a green skirt to bring them in line with the livery of the Scanias. Please see the other attached pictures.
 
Hope you receive the pictures ok and that they are of interest to you."

 

I have a small fotopic site www.glenn-whyte.fotopic.net that contains more pictures of Thamesdown's fleet if anybody wishes to have a look.

Latest news is that a Trident has been acquired from Metrobus. It is number 416 registered Y416HMY still showing 261 on rear blind when working on X39.


Another night shot by Chris Maxfield, this time of Thames Travel's 153 on a 105 working.

Worths of Enstone

Malcolm Hyland writes regarding the fleet list recently published "I've got my paperwork back. WM55 BUS is a Volvo B12M with Caetano C53F. I've no idea where I got the idea of a Plaxton bodied coach so that line is now deleted."

Jonathan Boswell writes "I saw the latest fleet list for Worths of Enstone. They have sold SIL 6722 Vo B10M PN to Stewarts Coaches of Leamington Spa."

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 nice well kept Mercedes Minicoach taken by Gavin Francis

HISTORY IN PICTURES AND WORDS

Surman's and Pilot Coaches

Ken Baker took the picture below recently and it reminded me that COMS had a similar bus for a while.

674

YHA393J

Ford R192

 

Plaxton Derwent

B25F

674 was originally B45F and was a shortened conversion by Midland Red, it was new in 1971 and was originally 6393 in their fleet, type F1.

John Bristow writes  "This picture of an ex Oxford AEC Regent was taken on 22nd February 1968 when it was with Leon near Doncaster."

House of Watlington

Peter Wilks writes "Malcolm - I've just come across the issue of 29 October 2006, which includes a paragraph on House, Watlington.  I suspect that the livery varied over the years, but certainly in the OWB/OB era it was orange (including wheels) with maroon mudguards and below the windows band (or side flash in the case of coaches), and a black roof.  The two OWBs pictured in Henley Market Place in a previous edition are evidence of this and I can confirm it from my own ex-House OWB, BBW291 (although somewhat faded after 41 years out of service!)  With kind regards, etc" 

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. 

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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

Bus Zone Logo (2421 bytes)

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

Chris Lowe's Photo page - mainly North West UK

The Oxford Bus Museum


Ray Jackson Art

A web site which has paintings of buses.
Nice present for a Christmas or Birthday wish list !!

http://www.rayjacksonart.co.uk/index.htm
 

 


Stagecoach Handbook for 2006
from British Bus Publishing

Arriva Handbook for 2006-2007
from British Bus Publishing

http://www.britishbuspublishing.co.uk/

The latest handbooks are now on sale, the ever
popular Stagecoach edition now in its 13th year.

Links

Bus Services in Buckinghamshire

Bus services in Oxfordshire

Where are the Chilterns?

Visit this informative site through the link below.

back to home page
Map showing the Chilterns Hills beginning in Oxfordshire in the Thames Valley and stretching north-east through Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire to Hitchin in Hertfordshire. The highest points are over 250m. There are various water courses running from the Chilterns to the South East.

Visit the "OXFORD BUS PAGE" Archive 1998 - 2002

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