Editorial
In spite of the problems we all face I have managed
to produce a reasonable page again and am indebted to all contributors. Many
thanks indeed.
UPDATE
Sadly things are not really improving as yet and many companies are facing
difficulties. For example one Wycombe company, much involved in schools work
has SORN'd all its fleet.
The
safety of you and our drivers comes first, please leave plenty of space between
each other (only one passenger to a double seat) to prevent the spread of
COVID-19. Please also be sure to take any rubbish or your newspaper with you
when leaving the bus. Thank you.
Adam Green from Hemel
Golden Tours are doing NHS Shuttles from Hemel Hempstead Hospital to
St Albans and Watford the are using 106-107
The latest additions to this fleet are shown below.
Times of Old
At this point of reduced contributions this part of the web page is rather
important and I am pleased to provide quite a lot of interest from Times of
Old.
Malcolm Crowe
823 Berks Bucks Bus D823UTF Leyland Olympian ONLXB.1RH Eastern Coach Works.
VCS Nov 1990
This bus (coach) was eventually to end up at
High Wycombe with its two sisters.
City Link 19 with a 290 working is seen
picking up in West Wycombe on November 5th 2000 by Malcolm Crowe.
The service is very well loaded!
During mid 1991 COMS purchased four Olympians from AERE Harwell and above is
seen 238 and 236 prior to being
prepared for service. They eventually ended up at Wycombe Bus and were quite
low mileage buses.
The picture was taken at Cowley Road depot on June 8th 1991 by Malcolm
Crowe.
Sometimes old COMS buses travelled far to their new homes and above we see
VR 436 in service with Cornwall Busways
at Padstow Depot inn 1983 by Malcolm Crowe.
Thames Transit operated quite a sizeable fleet of Darts including 3051
seen leaving Gloucester Green on February 14th 1998 heading for Heathrow
Airport via Abingdon & Henley.
A far cry from today Heathrow service and the service now ends in
Wallingford and Reading. Malcolm Crowe.
Jack Cooper
I am pleased to provide a few pictures of interest
for this week's issue.
Oxford Bus Museum 756 seen at Abingdon Leisure Centre on 18th March 2017 at
the annual Model Railway Exhibition.
Oxford Bus Company 307 seen at Radley Bus Station and Abingdon Stratton Way
on 1st September 2017.
307 was written off in a fire just over a year later
with some parts being used to fix More bus 1610 which was struck by a tree
in Poole in February 2019.
Oxford Bus Company 675 and 227 seen in Magdalen Street on 12th November
2017.
Oxford Tube 50277 on an (old) Tube service to London via Notting Hill seen
in Speedwell Street on 12th November 2017.
Oxford Bus Company City3 and City8&9 StreetDecks seen laying over in
Speedwell Street on 12th December 2017
- you can see the remains of the snow on the road from a few days prior.
Oxford Bus Company Citaro 846 seen in Speedwell Street on 12th December 2017
- you can see the remains of the snow on the road from a few days prior.
Oxford Bus Company Citaro 883 seen at the Boundary House in Abingdon on 12th
December 2017
- you can see the remains of the snow on the road from a few days prior.
One interesting thing to do during lockdown is look
along the bus routes on Google Maps, I had done the 250 route the other day
and saw many buses from the past, here are my findings.
Many thanks for those interesting pictures and
memories, Jack.
Matt Bullock
City of Oxford 662, a Ford R1014 with Willowbrook
bodywork, departs Charlbury for Witney down Park Street on 20 May 1977.
Behind is the Marlborough Arms, a pub from 1748 that closed in 1986. The
bus, new in November 1973, also lasted until 1986 when withdrawn by its
final owner, Catteralls of Southam.
Bakers of Moreton-in-Marsh used to operate from
Oxfordshire from a base at Enstone Airport, and ran a number of contract
services.
Former Wallace Arnold 12-metre Leyland Leopard XWX
161S, with Duple Dominant coachwork seating 57, was acquired from Southend
Transport in 1988 and remained in the fleet for six years.
It was seen passing a Worth’s AEC Reliance in Church Street, Charlbury,
outside The Bell, a coaching inn since 1700, and now run by Greene King.
The Bell is still the timing point for departures on
the S3 service.
So, many thanks to Matt for two very interesting pictures.
Grahame Wareham
COMS was by this time entering the National Bus Company days.
Fleetline was pressed into service in 1972 coated in its North Western
livery for the Manchester-Blackpool X60 service.
JDB247F became 215 in the COMS fleet at a time when engineering problems had
proved a real challenge to the company.
I wonder who the Inspector was with bright blue socks?
A few years later, 1975, COMS 23, once the pride of South Midland, is seen
with a working to Thame from Gloucester Green.
By October 1982, a delivery of five year old Duple bodied Leyland Tigers had
developed serious body defects.
They were in turn returned to Duple for rectification work. Nr. 2 is seen
leaving Cowley Road having entered service in 1977.
Again, many thanks to Grahame for some really interesting pictures of
times many of us feel was but yesterday!
Gavin Francis
Above we can see an LNC National of Green Line at High Wycombe running the
711 service to Reigate on July 30th 1977.
It is parked outside the then garage by the Hospital which later became a
stationary store! This has since closed.
Paul Bateson
Once again Paul has provided some most interesting pictures from Times
of Old.
Premier of Cambridge used to run an Oxford service in days past.
Here we see a Leyland Tiger, A638OEG, waiting time at Gloucester Green on
February 2nd 1984.
We have seen this bus before but it was an impressive livery back in 1982
when it was working a 190 service to Witney.
Bristol VR/ECW 461 was promoting the 190 service to London on February 2nd
1984. Bristol RE's were on the menu in those days!
Nick Ross
A Luton & District VR is seen working a 325 service on a cold January day in
1996.
841 KKY841P is seen at Bideford Green, sadly
no buses of any type no longer serve this
section of Bideford Green.
I hope readers enjoy these pictures from Times of
Old which serve to show how things have changed.
click on the logo to access the web site.
I came across this group when surfing and felt
it would be of interest to local enthusiasts in our area. Who remembers
L720JUD in service?
They have agreed that I may publish their details
on this now historic vehicle.
Registration: L720JUD
Make/Model: DENNIS DART
Bodywork: PLAXTON
Year: 03/1994
Chassis: Ds Dt 9.8SDL3035/1733
Seating: B39F
New to: THAMES TRANSIT
Current Owner: Jacob Eaton
Current Status: Stored - Undergoing
Restoration
Delivered new to
Thames Transit in March 1994 in dual door format with 39 seats, 3011 was
allocated the fleet number 3011 and wore a livery for service 1 The
Blackbird Flyer, Blackbird Leys, Cowley, City Centre 24 Hours a Day.
Following the
Stagecoach takeover in July 1997 these darts were transferred out of the
fleet by January 1998. Joining stagecoach East London at Barking garage
in the same month 3011 was allocated the fleet number PD720 and received
all over London Red. Operating route 62 and 368 for its rather short
London career.
In February 2000,
After only 2 years and 2 months in the capital 3011 was put into store
during alongside its sisters at Ely pending an eventual transfer to
Cambridge. After just over a year in storage it was decided that
Cambridge would have alternative vehicles and 3011 along with her
sisters transferred to Stagecoach Devon. 3011 was converted to single
door and upseated to a capacity of 42. Spending most if not all of its
time with the company at their Torquay depot operating local services as
well as coastal services 85 and 85A.
3011 stayed with
stagecoach Devon for 7 years before being sold off upon the arrival of
more modern buses into the fleet. Purchased by independent Chepstow
Classic Buses, 3011 received an all over blue livery and was used on
local services in Chepstow and the surrounding area as well as school
services in the area. By 2011 she had passed to Cotswold Green of
Nailsworth and saw out her service days finishing on the 31st of
December 2015 the day before PSVAR came in for single deckers.
She was then
stored for 9 months before entering preservation in September 2016. 3011
was recovered to Devon and has been stored awaiting restoration since.
In 2020 work commenced on getting 3011 back on the road.
Guildford from
Adam Baker BA (Hons), NCPC/ICPC - BSOG Specialist, Photography and
Transport Solutions
I have sent photos to your page before, I think back in
2010 with a preview of Swindon, Oxford and Northampton.
I thought it was about time I
offered some more across! I am based in Guildford in Surrey and thought your
readers would appreciate a view of a different area of the country and it’s
operations during this time of lockdown and restricted travel. I have
taken these photos on my daily allowance of exercise and apologise for any
slight blur/haze as I was using my Smartphone on the move.
II have attached 9 photos for you, along with a PDF with
notes on each photo – I have also attached a PDF showing the comparisons in
service levels for each day of the week pre and post lockdown which I hope will
also be of interest.
Sunday 19th April 2020
Operating the Kite route between Guildford and
Aldershot, this Stagecoach South Aldershot based Alexander
Dennis Dart Pointer 2 SLF, GX56KVV (35119) is seen
on Woodbridge Road in Guildford – for a short time this
route was operated from the Peasmarsh (Guildford)
depot.
Tuesday 21st April 2020
Safeguard Coaches has been a long established
operator in the town, and while it's operations are much reduced,
they still maintain a presence for the Vulnerable
and Key Workers during this period – seen operating the local
Route 3s to Bellfields on Stoke Road in Guildford is
Optare Metrocity, YJ67FYX, the most recent bus to the fleet.
Tuesday 21st April 2020
Arriva in the town connects back to London &
Country/Green Line, and has been operating Rail Replacement
services since the COVID-19 conventional services
have been reduced – here a Guildford based ADL Enviro 200,
GN09AXM (4058) heads along Stoke Road in Guildford
on a Woking to Haslemere replacement trip.
Thursday 23rd April 2020
White Bus is a relatively new operator to Guildford,
having only started serving the town in September 2018 –
they run from a depot based in Horsell, Surrey and
have a significantly reduced level of service – here operating
Route 462 to Woking, ADL Enviro 200MMC YX68ULY (61)
is seen on North Street in Guildford displaying apt
instructions on the blind.
Thursday 23rd April 2020
Another Safeguard Coaches vehicle, here seen
entering Guildford Bus Station after operating on a local Route 5
trip around the Park Barn Estate – YD63UZJ is an
Optare Versa, one of 10 Optare buses in the fleet.
Thursday 23rd April 2020
Perhaps a more familiar vehicle around the
Oxfordshire and Chilterns area, having been previously based in
Aylesbury & Hemel Hempstead, SN58ECD (6461), an ADL
Enviro 400, is seen on layover in Guildford Bus
Station and clearly displays social distancing
notices on windows inside the vehicle – Arriva only usually has one
double decker allocated to it's Guildford depot.
Thursday 23rd April 2020
Another Stagecoach South offering, having taken over
the University of Surrey routes in Summer 2018, despite
just a small number of students still accommodated
at the University during this period, these routes offer a
lifeline to the local hospital for Key Workers –
SL64HWU (37261), an ADL Enviro 200 is seen departing on local
Route 2 to Stoughton.
Thursday 23rd April 2020
Seen here is a general view of Guildford Bus Station
– visible are parts of 4 buses, though there were 7 buses in
total – usually at that time of the morning there
would be perhaps nearly 30 buses.
There is a marked reduction of service in the town
on all days of the week, especially compared to 'Normal' times,
with Compass Bus operating just 1 of it's 5 routes,
Safeguard just a PVR of 3 and Arriva/Stagecoach at just 30%
with Falcon Bus and White Bus providing limited
trips on 1 route each.
Thursday 23rd April 2020
Leas Road Bus Depot in Guildford – a bus depot has
been on this site since at least 1933 when it was operated by/span>
the London Transport Country Division – it has seen
a few modest changes over the years.
While it appears to look reasonably empty, most
duties I believe are now operating a 1 bus to 1 duty to 1 driver
set up to help keep safety and hygiene measures in
best practice.
North of the Border with Gordon Scott
Lothian shots from today whilst
using my car to deliver
groceries to my Mother who lives about five miles
from
me in Leith Edinburgh as she is isolated with the
lock
ddown.
Lothian 484 MA - SF17VNV Volvo B5TL Wright Gemini 3
taken at Broomhouse Road Edinburgh on route 21.
484
is
normally on route 26 seen in Edinburgh Zoo branding
livery.
Stopped at Broomhouse one mile from my home and
Clermiston two miles from my home on my way there.
Lothian Broomhouse Road Edinburgh.
Volvo B8L Alexander Dennis
Enviro 400 XLB
1067 CE - SJ19OWA seen on Marine depot route 21
these Central depot Buses used on this route for the first time.
Lothian Clermiston Edinburgh
Volvo B8L Alexander Dennis
Enviro 400 XLB
1083 CE - SJ19OWY seen on Marine depot
route 21,
these Central depot Buses used on this
route for the first time.
Volvo B5TL Wright Gemini
402 LS - BN64COU Longstone depot bus seen
on Marine depot route 26.
Taken April 21st whilst out on my
walk about two miles from my home at Barnton Edinburgh.
Stagecoach East Scotland Fife
Alexander Dennis E40D MMC Smart
Hybrid
11191 - YX19OUS on route X55.
Alexander Dennis Enviro 300 Glenrothes depot
Glenrothes/Kirkcaldy branding livery on X59.
Taken at
Barnton Edinburgh. Lothian Longstone depot Buses on
other workings.
Lothian 557 - SA15VUH Volvo
B5LH
Wright Gemini Longstone depot seen
on Central depot route 41.
Lothian Country 583 - SJ67MGU
Volvo B5LH Wright Gemini seen on
route 43 to South Queensferry where Three Bridges
are across the Forth water.
Lothian 583 on loan to Lothian
Country
normally green and cream and fitted with
bandit screen.
Barnton Edinburgh April 22nd.
Stagecoach East Scotland Fife St Andrews depot
Alexander Dennis Enviro 200
MMC, 26123 - YY18TFV
on X59 seen in branded Taylink route 99 livery.
Edinburgh Coach Lines
Scania Irizar i6 - YR17RHF seen
on M90 Inverness to
Edinburgh in Citylink Gold livery.
Lothian Country 584 - SJ67MGV
Volvo B5LH Wright
Gemini 3 Longstone depot.
584 seen on Lothian
Country
route 43 in Pride Edinburgh livery.
Drum Brae South Edinburgh
Lothian B8L Alexander Dennis Enviro 400 XLB, 1107 CE
-
SJ19OYH on Marine depot route 21.
One must note the immaculate turnout and exceptionally
clean wheels on Scottish buses!
Gary Seamarks
Attached just a random shot from May 10th 2017, got bored and counted the buses
Fleet news and developments
Arriva Beds & Bucks
From April 17th, our drivers will only accept
cash in exceptional circumstances as exact fares. No change can be given
but it will be donated to the NHS COVID-19 Appeal. For more information
on staying safe, cash handling and driver contact.
From Monday 27th April we will be making some changes to service 28 in Luton.
https://www.arrivabus.co.uk/coronavirus/important-service-information---beds-and-bucks/
Gavin Francis
According to bustimes.org this bus is on the 300 to
High Wycombe on April 19th, also on 21st and 23rd as well. This must be unusual
for a Solo on this route?
0441 seen at Showbus 2015 looking very smart indeed. Did anyone get a picture of
it on the 300?
Picture from Gavin Francis.
From April 24th 2020.
Two buses at Cressex depot, 3009 and loaned YJ60GGO.
A nice picture of 3919 on Staff Shuttle duties seen in High Wycombe.
Nick Ross
Looking smart in new livery Luton garages Wright Eclipse 3956 awaits custom on
an F77 from Bletchley to Luton in Leighton Buzzard, High St on April 14th 2020.
Adam Green
From Hemel some pictures of interest.
3571 photo'd on the Tesco Service 101
6528 on the 2 to Woodhall Farm
1663 on the 3 to Grove Hill
5468 on the 500 to Aylesbury
Recent Tweet from
Green Line
Important 757 Update – From April 23rd there was a
temporary halt to passenger flights to/from London Luton Airport & as a result
757 will also be suspended from this date.
Adam Green
Centre Bus are running every 2 Hours from Hemel Hempstead to Luton with the 46
here is 593 parked up in bridge street ready to go to Luton.
Update from Slough.
64034 Slough to Worcester
64038 Slough to Worcester
First StreetLite 63316 is seen working an X74 service in High Wycombe on April
24th by Gavin Francis.
An nice addition to the destination is "Proud of our NHS".
Many vehicles are still off the road (SORN) which means that variety is somewhat
restricted on the various routes.
One item from www.bustimes.org is that
Citaro 858 is appearing under Oxford Bus working the 35 !!!! It is however
showing that it is working Carousel 35 which does show the frailty of bustimes
but is still a site to provide much interest.
Nigel Peach
Our daily walk yesterday incorporated a trip to the
chemist in Flackwell Heath to pick up a prescription. Whilst waiting in the
queue (outside the shop!) Citaro 876 went past on the 35. My picture is not
brilliant - in normal circumstances there would have been people at the bus stop
so it would have stopped and I would have got a better picture!
As I was inspecting that picture, I suddenly saw the 36
go past in the other direction, so again my picture is taken somewhat hastily.
Citaro 857, one of those branded for The One. Normally I get quite annoyed when
branded buses are on the wrong route, but in these troubled times I feel much
more relaxed about it! The recent pattern for the 35 and 36 seems to be
two buses each day - one of the ex London Citaros and one of The One branded
Citaros.
Gavin Francis
Citaro 876 is seen arriving in Stokenchurch and then at its terminus The Kings
on Sunday, April 19th.
Carousel 980 used on the J&J Staff Bus service is seen in The Eden Bus Station
on April 24th by Gavin Francis.
Phil Southall
As noted earlier 662 is away for repaint in
a very interesting livery. However I cannot reveal what at this stage.
It appears that only two coaches are required to work the revised LHR service
leaving some nine coaches spare.
Simon Caygill
Carousel 216 working the 94 at Didcot on April 21st.
Gavin Francis took this picture of one of Heyfordian's coaches seemingly ready
for school work near West Wycombe on April 24th.
The coach is labelled for the 895, B13TCL a nice Van Hool.
National Express
Group has purchased the Fareham based Lucketts Group, which encompasses,
Lucketts Travel, Coliseum Coaches, Mortons Travel, Solent Coaches and Worthing
Coaches, a total of 160 vehicles.
Allocation changes
177 Start Hill to Gatwick
179 Start Hill to Gatwick
180 Start Hill to Gatwick
182 to 187 Start Hill to Gatwick
209 Gatwick to Start Hill
212 Gatwick to Start Hill
213 Gatwick to Start Hill
284 to 288 Gatwick to Start Hill
Just been chatting with Chris and he said I should
send you some pictures of the rail replacement I did last Saturday and Monday
between Birmingham and Shrewsbury via Wolverhampton and Telford.
First two pictures are at Shrewsbury Station after I’d done a run up from
Birmingham, the Lakeside of Ellesmere Tourismo was running behind me.
Chris Maxfield
First pic is at Arle Court P&R second is at Longlevens
stop in Gloucester.
The Solo is on the single carriage road between The A40 and
Aldsworth and the MMC in Royal Well.
One must comment on the immaculate turnout of the Pulhams fleet.
We are making some minor adjustments to services 233, 500, S1, S8 (inc. 34) and
S9 and from Sunday 19th April. Find more details and the latest timetables
below.
https://www.stagecoachbus.com/regional-service-updates/oxfordshire/oxfordshire
Allocation changes: 15613 Witney to Wales
(at last!)
Gary Seamarks
Bedford has now removed the Elites from X5, in theory
anyway, they are replaced with spare Cambridge E400's. the exchange took place
on Friday 17/4 during the afternoon with 54304/7/10/11/12/18 arriving at
Parkside Cambridge to be exchanged for 19574/581/584/587/589/591/596 (note 6
Elites out 7 E400 back so assume one was a dead working) The E400's remained on
the X5 yesterday with one making it onto the 99 , think that was 19574, as
Cambridge depot is normally tight on space I would assume the Elites may now be
moved to Ely, which has more space. This gives Bedford the ability to cover all,
except the Solo operated routes, with E400's and one E300. Today Sat has
seen the Cambridge loan's either on X5 or the Country workings in the main with
11279/80 also venturing as far as MK and even onto the 99, which is routed via
the M1 between J13 and J11.
Sure the drivers are glad to get rid of the Elites and
behind a screen on the E400's but unsure if they are happy at Parkside without
the use of an onboard toilet, as their is none nearby.
Also of note is that of the 5 Cambridge Park and Rides
only Babraham Road (near Addenbrooks and M11) is open at present and ever 30 at
peak 60 off peak M-F only Sa/Su closed. The P&R buses are working 'normal
routes' as required.
I was pleased to see that proper information had been attached to the
tube stops at Lewknor.
https://thetransportlibrary.co.uk/
When I had occasion to need some photographs recently I was delighted to
find just what I needed on The Transport Library Web Site. The collection is
significant and if you do use the site please mention the Oxford
Chiltern Bus Page.
Robin who runs the site wrote to me:
"I was recently put in touch with a local transport photographic image
company called Kezlan Images. They run two sites – the Transport Library and
The Transport Treasury. Together they provide over 200,000
images to purchase with both Road and Rail transport from the
UK and overseas. I was drawn mainly to the Transport Library as this site
has a larger volume of Bus images. In particular they offer the images from
J S Cockshott, Geoffrey Morant and also several photographers who left their
collection to the Omnibus Society. Started in 2012 the Transport Library
started as a way of marketing Russell Fell’s large collection of London
Country and London Transport Images. This collection alone numbers around
25,000 and contains a great many shots from the local area. From there
though they have picked up other collections plus run a service for
individuals and societies to market images on their behalf in exchange for
royalty payments. The site is well worth a look as there are images from a
wide variety of operators from across the country, so there should be
something for everyone. Kezlan Images also buy transport photographic
collections, and have started to move into publishing through the Transport
Treasury brand. Currently the books they have produced are based on rail
subjects, but they hope to move into road matters in the near future."
I would note that prices are most reasonable for the photographs, especially
if one take the Digital images.
