Delayed until Thursday, August 23rd 2018.
Editorial
Well, due to a number of reasons which I won't go into, the page this week is delayed until today, Thursday and it will be short and sweet.
I attended Gaydon on Sunday last, joining the Stagecoach
in Oxfordshire's entry E20 MMC 37401 from Banbury depot. Outbound we were driven
by Phil Pointer and on the return by Jack McGreevy. Banbury is probably the
nearest point to Gaydon for any major bus company and a quick journey saw us
arrive at Gaydon well ahead of the main bulk of attendees. Vehicles are always
well laid out and reasonable photography was possible.
It was later in the day that the sun came round to enable more pictures of the
parked vehicles to be taken.
Our MMC, 37401, is ready for departure to Gaydon with Phil Pointer at the wheel
on August 19th by Malcolm Crowe.
This particular bus is of some national interest as it was the first MMC single
decker in the Stagecoach fleet to enter service outside London.
It is pictured outside Banbury depot, now of historical interest as it was once
in the Midland Red empire!
Picture by Malcolm Crowe.
A pleasant lunch with Les Burton was enjoyed in the restaurant in the the main building where the facilities are excellent. One was also able to see the display of cars at Gaydon and notice examples of cars I have once owned. The most striking point, seeing all the Austin, Riley, MG and other models is that in those days it was quite unusual to see other than British vehicles on our roads.
A number of vehicles were used for rides and I enjoyed three rides during my time at Gaydon. The first was on a West Riding Leyland PS2 with Roe coachwork and the second an third on the two PD2s once with Manchester Corporation bringing back many memories of my earlier days in that city.
This coach is a Leyland PS2/12 operated by The West Riding Automobile Company Ltd, of Barnsley Road, Wakefield
who had a batch of six, 720-725 (EHL 331 - EHL 336) which were coaches
built by Charles H Roe of Leeds and delivered in November 1952.
Pictures by Malcolm Crowe.
Leyland PD2 3524 which entered service in 1958 was a Leyland
PD2/40 with a Metropolitan Cammell H37/28R body finished in the 1958 version
of the Manchester livery with cream around the upper deck.
Manchester went over to spray paint around this time and on repaints even
painted to window rubbers red. The buses looked really awful and one wondered,
at the time, if it was advisable to stand still
near Hyde Road works as you could end up painted all red. They were lovely buses
and this batch was from 3521 to 3568 all of which were transferred to SELNEC in
1969.
Picture by Malcolm Crowe.
Leyland PD2 3706
a Leyland Titan PD2/37 built in 1964 with a Metropolitan Cammell H37/28R body
which was unusual at this time for an exposed chrome shell radiator and open
platform.
In 1964 many operators were switching to the Atlantean but after experience with ten, 3621-3630, delivered in 1960
Manchester waited until 1962 before some Daimler Fleetlines entered service.
Indeed 3720 was the very last exposed radiator open platform bus to enter service in Manchester, the fleet of PD2/37s being 3696-3720. Thereafter the fleet moved to rear engines.
Picture by Malcolm Crowe.
The weather was kind and the sun even put in an appearance by the end of the day. A short run back to Banbury and I said good bye to old colleagues and friends having enjoyed the day.
I will add a few more pictures of the event in the next issue.
There are two other points to cover in this issue with the rest left over until next week.
The first is the arrival of the new Brookes Buses at the Oxford Bus Company's depot and these pose an interesting question from the Managing Director, Phil Southall. Who will first to answer this question?
"What is the significance of the registrations?" Tell the Editor your answer.
371 OX68MBA and 376 OX68LLM at the depot on arrival
from Wrights on August21st provided by Phil Southall - OBC.
The second item to record this week is a picture of Stagecoach Hybrid 12007. This bus is undergoing an overhaul in-house at Oxford and the bus is being fully repainted also in house. A point of significance is that painting is being done by hand using rollers and brush due to restrictions on spray painting regarding health and safety if suitable facilities are not available. When the bus re-enters service local readers will be to judge for themselves but from work that I have seen by the guy doing the painting and bodywork is very very good.
This is a real classic, caught on camera by Frazer Peddle, maybe whilst the bus
taking a breather saying "'cor - all this paint is getting in my air waves" !!!
Ralph Adams also provides some useful notes for readers:
August 21st
Citaro 857 is looking very resplendent in red livery
with Red One branding and High Wycombe – Amersham – Chesham route. The only snag
is it was on T1 of Thames Travel. At least route 1 was correct!
August 22nd
882 & 883 are both with Thames Travel (possibly both
short term hires)
August 23rd
Additional vehicle in use today on PICKMEUP was BT15KLZ, a Mercedes City 45. This has been used by a selection of operators since delivery.
Also from Ralph Adams are some notes as follows which will interest readers who follow the lives of Oxford tube Astromegas.
50202 |
GX09 OTM |
VAN HOOL ASTRO |
KIL |
DISP |
50203 |
GX09 OYF |
VAN HOOL ASTRO |
KIL |
DISP |
50205 |
GX09 OFE |
VAN HOOL ASTRO |
KIL |
DISP |
50207 |
OU09 FMZ |
VAN HOOL ASTRO |
KIL |
DISP |
50208 |
OU09 FNA |
VAN HOOL ASTRO |
KIL |
DISP |
50210 |
X77 SCB |
VAN HOOL ASTRO |
AYR |
DISP |
50211 |
OU09 FNE |
VAN HOOL ASTRO |
AYR |
DISP |
50212 |
OU09 FNF |
VAN HOOL ASTRO |
AYR |
DISP |
50213 |
OU09 FNG |
VAN HOOL ASTRO |
AYR |
DISP |
50214 |
OU09 FNH |
VAN HOOL ASTRO |
AYR |
DISP |
50215 |
OU09 FNJ |
VAN HOOL ASTRO |
AYR |
DISP |
50216 |
OU59 AVC |
VAN HOOL ASTRO |
AYR |
DISP |
50217 |
X77 SCH |
VAN HOOL ASTRO |
AYR |
LOAN S/YORKSHIRE |
50218 |
X77 SCK |
VAN HOOL ASTRO |
AYR |
LOAN S/YORKSHIRE |
50219 |
X77 SCJ |
VAN HOOL ASTRO |
AYR |
LOAN S/YORKSHIRE |
50236 |
CN61 FAM |
VAN HOOL ASTRO |
RESV
|
KIL |
50243 |
CN61 FBE |
VAN HOOL ASTRO |
RESV
|
KIL |
50285 |
YJ14 LFX |
VAN HOOL ASTRO |
RESV
|
KIL |
50286 |
YJ14 LFY |
VAN HOOL ASTRO |
RESV
|
KIL |
50303 |
SF13 FME |
VAN HOOL
SLEEPER |
RESV
|
JV |
50306 |
SF13 FMK |
VAN HOOL
SLEEPER |
RESV
|
LOAN TO S/EASTSCOT |
50309 |
SF13 FMO |
VAN HOOL
SLEEPER |
JV |
RESV |
50401 |
YX18 LKK |
VOLVO B11RLE |
NEW |
KIL |
50402 |
YX18 LKL |
VOLVO B11RLE |
RESV
|
KIL |
50403 |
YX18 LKM |
VOLVO B11RLE |
NEW |
KIL |
50404 |
YX18 LKN |
VOLVO B11RLE |
NEW |
KIL |
50405 |
YX18 LKO |
VOLVO B11RLE |
NEW |
KIL |
53319 |
SV08 DHZ |
VOLVO B7R |
RESV
|
STR |
53323 |
SF09 ACX |
VOLVO B7R |
STR |
DELIC |
54107 |
SF61 EYP |
VOLVO B13R |
KIL |
AYR |
54108 |
SF61 EYO |
VOLVO B13R |
KIL |
AYR |
54334 |
YX66 WNU |
VOLVO B11R |
KIL |
AYR |
54335 |
YX66 WNV |
VOLVO B11R |
KIL |
AYR |
54336 |
YX66 WNW |
VOLVO B11R |
KIL |
AYR |
54337 |
YX66 WNY |
VOLVO B11R |
KIL |
AYR |
54338 |
YX66 WNZ |
VOLVO B11R |
KIL |
AYR |
54339 |
YX66 WOA |
VOLVO B11R |
KIL |
AYR |
54340 |
YX66 WOB |
VOLVO B11R |
KIL |
AYR |
54341 |
YX66 WOC |
VOLVO B11R |
KIL |
AYR |
·
50202-16 now
down for disposal
·
50217-19 in
Yorkshire for rail replacement (plus 50201/06/25 which went last month)
·
50220-6
already sold
·
Kilmarnock
vehicles replaced by 50401-5, the new Volvo - Plaxton Panorama double decks
·
The Ayr Van
Hool coaches replaced by 61 seat coaches
Many thanks to Ralph for these very useful notes.
A full page will be on line next week.