Trips & Running Days
This is where I am including events such as Showbus, Buses Festival and readers reports of trips etc.
Oxford Bus Museum Twilight Running Event - http://www.oxfordbusmuseum.org.uk/
Jonathan Radley writes
"Please
mention our Twilight Running Evening in Oxford city centre on Saturday
25 March. We will have three double deckers providing rides around the
city centre ever 15 minutes from 6.30pm to 8.30pm. Running will be our 1957 AEC
Regent 956; our 1961 Dennis Loline 304 and our 1967 AEC Renown 371 (which
celebrates its 50th birthday later this summer).
I hope readers can support this event?
Oxfordshire Bus Enthusiasts Society
The next meeting is on Tuesday, March 21st - details can be found at this link:
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VICTORIA COACH
STATION 85TH ANNIVERSARY COACH FESTIVAL - March 10th - 12th 2017 |
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Victoria Coach Station VCS celebrated its 85th birthday with a
three-day Coach Festival from 10th to 12th March. Featuring vehicles
from every decade since the grand opening on 10th March 1932, the
Festival was a showcase for coaches, artifacts and presentations on the
history of coach travel in Britain. The most modern coaches will also be
on display and available for inspection and boarding, alongside
preserved vehicles dating from the late 1920s to the 1990s. The coach station, originally conceived, constructed and operated by a consortium of coach operators coming together under the banner of London Coastal Coaches Ltd, is now owned and operated by Transport for London. TfL were keen to celebrate the history of the coach station and also the ability to demonstrate the continuing development of the facilities within the coach station to meet the needs of the much larger and complex vehicles now using VCS and the people who travel within them. The imposing 1930s’ Art Deco building on the corner of Buckingham Palace Road and Elizabeth Street is still at the heart of the operation providing the main passenger entrance with areas containing public facilities for enquiries and booking, seated waiting areas and a range of cafes, shops and snack bars. This building and the canopy behind covering a significant part of the coach departure area are Grade 2 listed by Historic England. Coaches expected to participate.
To mark the occasion, TV&GWOT, in collaboration with the Bus Archive at the Kithead Trust, have drawn on the LCC records to compile a 32-page book celebrating the first 85 years of VCS in pictures. It includes many previously unseen images spanning the early LCC operations; construction and opening of VCS; and operational views through subsequent decades covering vehicles, passenger facilities and activities ‘behind the scenes’. The VCS site expansion in the 1960s is followed by a section ‘Wheels to the West’ showing the subsequent design changes in coaches serving the West Country through to the present day. Priced at just £6 it can be bought on the day from the TV&GWOT stand in the waiting area, or by post for £7.50 (including p&p) by:
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Pictureview taken by Gavin Francis
Gavin took the above pictures over the full three days and said what a superb presentation it was.
Seeing some of the coaches, I am minded that my bus
driving career started in early 1961, before some of the later models took to
the road.
I also remeber travelling on Bristol K and L5Gs when a youngster and later
driving for Melba when I was allocated a North Western Bristol L5G/Weymann B35R
for a football special to main road. No one had thought to warn me about the 5
speed gearbox - crash an d not synchromesh!!!
We got there and back but what a challenge it was until I got used to it - no
type training in those days.
Something like "are you a bus driver? - then get in and drive it". Happy Days
and one wonders what the modern drivers would make of a crash gearbox?
Definitely a challenge in modern day traffic conditions, especially in a heavy
traffic jam!!!!
Ralph Adams visits Kent
I
was in Kent a few weeks ago and spent a day in Ashford where I lived from
1971-1975. Readers maybe aware that Stagecoach has introduced 30 MB515 buses on
two local routes to give a five minute frequency on route C and six minute on
route B. The previous frequencies were 15 or 20 minute frequency with Darts and
Deckers.
Drivers. About 50 new drivers are required and I saw two
training buses out several times during the day including one with destination
Megabus.com. There are several drivers on loan from other local garages. I was
surprised how many Nepalese were in town (ex Gurkha soldiers) and are employed
by Stagecoach as drivers. It helps with communication with several elderly
female passengers. The driver rotas are all mixed for MBs and full size buses.
Vehicles. There are 13 fixed seats, all reached by 2 small steps. There are also 4 seats at entry level, all flip up to enable one wheelchair / pushchair. Speaking to a driver of 5 years standing, he had not had a single wheelchair passenger, rather different to Oxford where we see them regularity. The seats are standard e-leather as on the latest decker but leg length is very limited. The wheel arches protrude more than expected resulting in seats pushed inwards into the gangway leaving very restricted and entry / exit which was not easy. Sitting on the back row gives very limited side views as the roof support takes up over half the potential window area. However good rear views if you look back unlike the Solos / Versa.
They are 7.3 metres long (comparing a small Solo M710 with 21 seats) and 1.97
metres wide. The width gives ability to maintain road speed easily. The driver
noted that a Solo was easier to bring to the kerb than the MB as the wheels on
the MB was on the edge whilst the Solo was indented (I did not notice this but
did notice we did not come tight to the kerb on occasions.
Passengers. I did not speak to any but the conversations that I
heard were very positive about the service but felt the buses were not really
suitable for elderly. (2 did get on and went straight to the flip up seats on
the entry level, appeared very happy) Good job her husband was not on board (I
think he is large)
Operations. The service is very frequent and in Bank Street
(Town Centre) there always appeared to be a B or C waiting so ready for
passengers and also gave recovery for late running.
Destinations. The final screen display varied by bus. Route B
had Asda-Bridgefield, Park Farm, Asda-Park Farm, all for the same place.
Opposite way KENNINGTON, or Bybrook-Kennington. Route G Orbital Park or South
Willesborough (same place). The buses have the route letter on the rear. Not
brilliant in Bank Street which is one way so the B could be going either north
or south although the actual stops are some way apart.
Solos. Route A is operated by 10 Solos (9 in use daily) on a 10
minute frequency. These were provided with Kent County Council finance 10 years
ago but are not becoming unreliable although very good when working.. At least 2
deckers were in use including 15443 (ex Oxford, now in East Kent Heritage
livery). A driver stated they are not as reliable now as the Darts which are
older. At mid day they all had 10+ passengers on board.
Versa. There are 2 operated, always on Route G, a route with
council subsidy. Minimal passengers. Very comfortable black leather seats. The
number of passengers on the trip I made was minimal, often just me.
Fares. I paid £2.40 for about 1 mile. I did not enquire but
this appeared to be a standard fare for most trips.
Ashford garage. 15 years ago Ashford
was the smallest East Kent garage, it is now the largest with a PVR of 70,
allocation of 81 buses. More than Thanet which had an allocation of over 150 in
my youth. There is an extensive school bus operation with seven deckers and five
Darts dedicated, several on major cross town services so schoolchildren would
not overload the minibuses. Whilst on route E (outer ring service) we had 8
children board at Towers school.
Ralph says "I would like to see a similar operation
here in Bicester or Banbury with very frequent services on local routes so hope
the experiment is successful.