Best viewed with Google Chrome or Firefox - this ensures you can see every issue back to 2002.
A most appropriate letter from Bernard Lewendon
I write this on May 8th, V.E. Day.
You will probably heard of the programme of night dispersal of buses during
the war years.
This was as a precaution against the risk of German bombs making a direct
hit on a bus garage.
During those years I lived in Wycombe Marsh, two miles east of the High
Wycombe town centre.
Towards the end of the war I can recall buses passing my home in Beech Road
during the evening. They would be three or four Thames Valley buses from the
garage in Micklefield Road. They parked in a timber yard at the end of the
road, by the river.
I assume this was a common practice over the rest of the country.
It would be interesting to know if there remain any records of these
movements.
Perhaps I should have raised the subject years ago!
Not connected with buses I also remember during the summer, of probably
1944, the local families came out into their gardens in the evening to watch
an endless stream of bombers in formation heading eastward. I was too young
to realize where they were going but it was obviously to Germany with the
aim of bringing the war to an end. Sometimes there would be huge swarms of
starlings flying in the opposite direction to roost somewhere in Wycombe!
Editorial
My own recollection of V E Day 1945, when we were living in Sale near Manchester.
My father was still away having spent his war with the 8th Army in the Middle East. So mother allowed me to stay up and we went to Sale Town Hall where there was a celebration. I have memories of many lights, lots of noise and cheering plus a band. However it is long ago now and I have less than clear memories.
Any memories of aircraft is limited to visits to my grandparents at Mere near Tatton Park. This was a dropping ground for parachutists training from bombers out of Ringway Airport. They had varied coloured canopies and made a fine sight over the park. Also in 1944 the steady flow of American military equipment passing the house on the A56 southbound to the coast for the invasion.
The buses in the war years all had shades over the interior lights and I do know that Manchester dispersed buses to Wythenshawe Park and a specially prepared parking area.
Ah well, so many years ago and now to the present!
At this time, hopefully, we can feel that we are on the home straight with, hopefully, some relaxation on the lock down we have endured for so many weeks. Maybe we shan't be looked on as law breakers if we take some pictures of our hobby interest and record some more of the unusual working which have been common place over recent weeks.
A few of you have managed to keep us provided with some interesting current pictures but the alternative contributions for Times of Old have also given some pleasure to readers in these difficult times. Also I have been able to produce a page each week which I thought would prove difficult.
A strange happening is regarding access to the older pages in my archive. When using Google Chrome or Internet Explorer pages before S&J108 are not accessible, however when using Google Chrome or Firefox all pages are available and do present interesting reading. I am waiting for my internet provider IONOS 1&1 to explain why this problem exists? Until they can do so if you don't already have Firefox on your system maybe you can download this. I will keep everyone updated on further progress.
I am sure you will have noticed that I suggest Google Chrome or Firefox for viewing the OCBP. This is because due to various change in the past 20 years the search engines have changed. Using one of my two suggestion will ensure you can easily see all the web pages back to 2002.
I can't help posting this link which shows some of the less appropriate actions by officialdom in these difficult times. Apologies if it offends any reader but........
https://facebook.com/100007724596182/videos/2565557880378340/
https://www.mozilla.org/en-GB/firefox/new/
I use Bullguard for my internet security and so far it has not caused any problems nor has Firefox.
A correction from last week is that National Express are not expecting to recommence operation before June 15th some two weeks later than advised one week ago.
I also asked Green Line (Arriva) if they intended to restart the 757 service from London to Luton Airport in view of the increase in WizzAir flights but was advised that this was not planned.
We do not anticipate restarting service 757 during the current movement restrictions. Connections to Luton Airport from London Victoria remain available through services 755 and A, connecting at Luton Interchange.
Taking advantage of the lock down - The opportunity to resurface Gloucester Green Coach Station is being carried out as these pictures from Jim Wright show.
Jim writes "Gloucester Green is closed for resurfacing May 4th-8th with the S3 & 7 moved to George St,
The temporary stop in George St.
the S6 to Beaumont St and the Airline LHR to New Rd.
I took some photos on 4th & 5th and I'm off until
Friday when it should be done. It's very thorough job all scraped down& rear
layover bays have been removed.
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.
From Richard Sharman
Thames Travel- the early years
The pictures are provided exclusively by Richard and if you look at the file reference you can see the details and dates where available.
Thames Travel burst onto the
Oxford bus scene in 1998, set up by MD John Wright, with a number of new Plaxton
Beaver-bodied Mercedes-Benz Vario's operating on tendered services around the
Thames Valley and into Oxford.
Two of the early Beavers in the original livery
with a Solo branded for Thames Trains.
The network of services grew rapidly and the fleet
quickly went from step entry Beavers to low floor Solo's then Mini Pointer
Darts.
The early white liveried photos are scans, so I do not
know the dates, but they would have been from 1998 to around 2005. They give a
brief idea of what the fleet looked like in the early years.
Major investment was made in MCV bodied single decker's between 2005 and 2009, the vast majority being bodied on MAN 14.220s, but a number of Dart SLFs were also mixed in. East Lancs-bodied Scania OmniTown's were also purchased new in 2006 and are now with Plymouth Citybus.
The blue livery appeared around 2006, and has since been
simplified.
Thames Travel sold to Go-Ahead
in May 2011, as the owner was nearing retirement.
February 2012 saw Thames Travel undertake a trial of a
Caetano-bodied MAN 18.270 EcoCity bus.
This vehicle, WX61HSL, was powered by MAN Pure Gas
technology and is seen operating an X40 service service to Reading from Oxford.
It started out life on loan to Arriva, and upon leaving
Thames Travel it went on loan to Go North East before joining the Arriva North
East fleet permanently as its 4813, which is where it is still located in 2020.
I am sure readers will appreciate this potted history of a local and well known company now in the Go-Ahead group
Additionally Richard sent a picture of a coach once with Tappins of Didcot.
E257PEL when with Tappins Didcot
Peter Brown shares early images around Aylesbury, High Wycombe and area.
Here some pictures from the High Wycombe & Aylesbury area from the early 1990's - 2000 along with a short story behind them.
I moved to the area in 1989 as my father was in the RAF and grew up living
alongside the 323/324 High Wycombe - Aylesbury bus route. As a boy of
school starting age I was interested in all vehicles and in particular buses at
that time. Looking back now I didn't appreciate the diversity in the bus
world at the time and in a matter of just less than 10 years saw no less than
five different operators of our local bus service along with an additional two
operators on Sundays!
Back in 1989 when we arrived my first memories of buses are of the Bee-Line Leyland Nationals and Bristol VR's kicking out clouds of fumes and much noise as they rumbled through the village which I suppose were fairly standard affair for those days.
All got very interesting within a couple of years however as the Bee Line became Wycombe Bus Company and soon after Motts started up their Yellow Bus operation operating the M1 route in competition and suddenly there was all variety of buses running through the village at high frequency.
The Yellow Bus operation was a particular favourite of mine in those days with
their numerous different bodied Leyland Leopards, MCW Metrobuses and ex London
DMS's which contrasted well with the ex NBC standard Nationals, VR's and odd
Olympian from Wycombe Bus. I also always the remember the excitement of
waiting at the bus stop for the service to Wycombe anticipating whether a Yellow
Bus or Wycombe Bus would appear first and then whether we were going to be lucky
enough to get a double decker or even better one of the three ex Bee Line ECW
coach bodied Olympians! The Sunday service of the 323/324 back then was
the extended 325 route which I think ran from Reading through to Milton Keynes
and provided further variety as it was operated by a combination a Wycombe Bus,
Aylesbury Bus and Reading Buses.
Back then Motts Travel were kind enough to let me visit their old depot on Station Road, Stoke Mandeville to see their Yellow Bus vehicles parked up in the depot and I attached a few photos taken back then of some of the fleet, along with some additional pictures that were given to me at the time of their fleet including an evening shot of their full fleet of Duple Dominant bodied Leopards parked together, what I believe to have been their only two vehicles new for Yellow Bus, L922/3 LJO, Volvo B6/Northern Counties, one of their pair of MCW Metrobus MK II's prior to it entering service with them and finally a picture of F506 OYW, the Leyland Olympian playbus that Motts converted into a service bus and subsequently carried on giving service in the area right into Arriva days.
I also attached a picture of one of their coaches also
given to me at the time, what I believe is a Volvo B10MT / Jonckheere which
heralds from another of Motts previous ventures when they provided tour buses
for bands.
If my memory serves correct, the last day of full Yellow Bus operations was
Saturday, July 22nd 1995, after which the 323/324 route was taken over by the new
Chiltern Rover brand from Luton & District. This heralded another change
in the type of vehicle I was familiar with in the village with Leyland
Atlanteans and Leyland National Greenways becoming the norm for the next few
years. We also got a good variety of Leyland Olympians in the late 1990's
serving the route with examples bodied by Northern Counties (both GM style &
Paladin style), Roe, ECW and even for a short while a couple of ex Nottingham
dual door examples, whose bodies I am unfamiliar with, but in my opinion the
worst looking bus ever to appear through the village!
As the turn of Millennium approached and Luton and District were absorbed by
Arriva, the colourful bus scene absorbed into corporate blandness and my
interest in the local scene quickly diminished. I have attached some of
the last pictures I took back then in either 1999/2000, a few showing what must
have been most the fleet of Wycombe Bus Volvo B10/Plaxton's transferred from
Oxford, and a few taken at the original Arriva depot at Cressex of a lineup of
their Olympians, an ex Yellow Bus Volvo B6 and something fairly unusual in one
of the dual door Wright bodied Volvos acquired for TFL work.
I also attached a couple of poor shots taken in Aylesbury Bus station from
around 1993 of a Yellow Bus DMS and a rather dirty COMS Olympian, both operating
the 280 route to Oxford back then and once again in contrast to the lack of
variety we see on the route today.
If anyone else has pictures of the Wycombe Bus Scene from those days that they
would be willing to share I would always be interested to see them, especially
any of the Yellow Bus operation - funny how we get nostalgic as we grow older!
The play bus from Motts by this time part of the Chiltern Rover fleet - July
24th 1998.
One of the two new buses from Motts again in Chiltern Rover livery in the
old Wycombe Bus Station -
A National 1 upgrade, 3050 at the Cressex depot in Wycombe on April 14th
1999.
By the time this was taken Arriva were on the scene - Olympian 5167 with a
324 - May 25th 1999.
Finally one of the yard at the back of the original Cressex depot where lay
many interesting buses. July 24th 1998.
The new depot and present one of Arriva is almost opposite this old depot.
This week's pictures are
from May/June 2018 with a picture of 662 in it's GWR promotional wrap. June
2018 was when the PickMeUp service had begun, it's been going for nearly two
years! Next week I will send in pictures form the Rail Replacement services
which shut Oxford for a few weeks.
Newly liveried 367 is seen on St Aldates in the Pride livery designed by
Lewis Nagle after operating an X3 service from Abingdon.
Thames Connector Citaro 868 seen on St Aldates after operating an X32
service from Wantage.
Oxford E400 Hybrid 311 on a 4 road service to Wood Farm with Thames Scania
E400 230 passing after operating an X2 service from Wallingford.
Stagecoach Gold MMC 10785 seen on St Aldates after working an S9 service
from Wantage.
Oxford Citaro 846 seen working a 4C service to Wood Farm. In the distance
you can see a Tube coach passing an X90, something that you sadly don't see
anymore.
Stagecoach Gold Scania E400 15615 seen in George Street before working an S1
service to Witney.
This bus is now up north and is in the InterConnect livery based at
Skegness?
https://www.thisisoxfordshire.co.uk/news/16431445.bus-looking-like-gwr-train-pulls-oxford-parkway/
So, many thanks to Jack for some interesting pictures and text.
Hong Kong Interlude from Paul Hawkins
Don't know if these are any use to you for the page
during Lockdown some varied examples from Kowloon Motor Bus, New World First Bus
and Citybus in Hong Kong.
New World First Bus with a 15 to the Peak in January 2014.
When I went on a bus to the peak in the '70s it
was a Guy single decker!
Kowloon Motor Bus in Nathan Rd, Kowloon March or April 2015.
A CITYBUS Flyer, an ADL E400 in March or April 2015.
An ADL E500 City Flyer on the Airport Route which
I have travelled on when last in Hong Kong in 1999.
A Railway view from Mike Walker
https://twitter.com/GWRHelp/status/1255 ... 44133?s=09
Good to see you are doing your
best to keep us entertained in these difficult times. Had to chuckle at the time
span of your archive material this week – the weekly MDRS newsletter is
currently working its way west from Paddington in the 1950s and 60s in colour.
Several pages a week and after a month we’ve only got as far as Old Oak Common!
I was interested to read the
piece about RTs and surprised at the unions blocking RTLs in the country area.
Typical! What does it matter if there’s an AEC or Leyland lump under the bonnet?
They are the same to drive. My old mate Alan Bond once told me there was an
issue with RTWs whereby the cab door was ½” lower than on the narrower examples.
As a result drivers regularly lost their caps when climbing in…
Now, it might interest you to
know that the DfT has asked the Train Operating Companies to ramp up services
from 18th
May to what is being called “Saturday +”, that is a basic Saturday service level
with a few extra peak hour services. There are in depth discussions going on
both between the DfT and TOCs and within the TOCs as to how this might be
achieved given the requirements for social distancing etc. and there has been
some discussion over this on the media as I’m sure you are aware. On long
distance trains this can be achieved by enforcing compulsory advanced
reservations but this would reduce capacity by around 60%. How do you do that on
commuter type services which often call at unstaffed stops? Face masks are
possible and a reduction in the social distance to 1m would make things easier.
I hear suggestions that passengers be asked to take their own temperatures
before leaving home – crazy idea. How can it be enforced or proven? If surveys
are to be believed the numbers travelling will be quite low compared to normal.
The DfT has insisted all trains
are as long as possible to allow social distancing without considering what it’s
already done to the industry. On GWR it’s said all trains through to Penzance
for example have to be 10 cars rather than divide into two 5s at Plymouth (one
goes forward to PZ whilst the other is joined by one from PZ to return to
London). This is fine except: 1, The fleet – specified and procured by DfT –
isn’t large enough permit this and 2, Long Rock depot at Penzance can’t
accommodate a full 10 car fleet or any 10 car sets for that matter. It can only
house a maximum of two 9 car IETs the rest have to be 5 car. Meanwhile, Greater
Anglia have asked if they can reinstate some of the stored, non-PRM compliant,
Class 321s to work with the rebuilt and compliant Renartus versions to allow all their workings to be 12
car. No, says the DfT, everything has to be PRM compliant – despite GWR,
Northern and TfW running non-compliant Pacers
coupled to compliant Sprinters up to the lockdown for that very reason with the
DfT’s blessing. But then the DfT (or DafT as
it’s known) has never been known for consistent or joined-up thinking.
At present, the three unions are
saying they will not cooperate with increasing services citing the safety of
staff. Whilst the toll on bus staff has been terrible, I know of only one traincrew member who has succumbed, a driver with LNER
and he is thought to have caught it away from the job. GWR appear to have lost
two staff members but they were both managers and again appear to have caught it
in the wider community. Traincrew are less
susceptible because drivers are in their cosy
cabs and guards/conductors/ train managers are told to remain in the back cab
unless there is an emergency. Steps being taken within the industry appear to
differ widely between TOCs. GWR, and I’m not saying this for obvious reasons,
appear to have set the gold standard. Acting MD Matt Golton (Mark Hopwood is currently trying to rescue
SWR) appointed a member of the exec team at the start to be solely responsible
for handling the C19 issues. All trains receive a full internal clean and sanitisation at terminals which includes the cabs.
Sadly, it must be admitted that some drivers don’t tend to be the most
house-proud individuals and some cabs get into a rough state – hopefully this is
changing attitudes which is a good thing going forward. At the other end of the
scale you get companies like Northern which have, apparently, told their staff
they cannot bring their own wipes and sanitizer to work but must use the company
supplied items which then fail to appear! There is one company, which I won’t
name, that’s actually doing nothing in the way of extra cleaning or providing
supplies.
So Stagecoach has joined the
“let’s honour Captain Tom” brigade. So have the railways. Both GWR and GB Railfreight have put his name on equipment. GWR have
it on 800025 whilst GBRf have put it on 66731,
both unveiled on Thursday – GBRf having
unveiled 66731 in a special NHS livery at 8.00 the previous Thursday.
Photos: GWR
GBRf
Hitachi won’t allow proper nameplates to be applied to
their trains hence the vinyl applications. However, the two discs visible above
the name are the two sides of a commemorative medal that is struck for each
naming and in this case it will be presented to Captain Tom.
Several TOCs have applied “Thank you NHS” vinyls to stock whilst both GWR and Hornby are holding independent competitions to design a special livery to adorn a 800 driving car as fund raisers for NHS charities. GWR will apply their winning scheme to one of the 800s whilst Hornby will apply theirs to two models, one to be given to the designer the other to one of those who donate to the NHS appeal through their site drawn at random. Both will be given the same unique R number in the Hornby catalogue system thereby creating the ultimate “limited edition”.
Oxford Bus Museum on New Year's Day 2020 by Graham Welford
I don't know if these photos are of use to you but they are from my to the Oxford Bus Museum Running Day on New Year's Day 2020.
-Bedford-YMPS-Plaxton.jpg)
TIL 2878 (C989
OFR) Bedford YMPS Plaxton Paramount. 'Tilly' which was for sale in
Pwllheli, still looks very tidy despite 5 years laid up.
North of the Border with Gordon Scott - our man in Drum Brae!
As ever Gordon has been taking his daily walk and providing us with a record of events north of the border.
Taken May 2nd at Edinburgh Bus Station,
Stagecoach West Scotland
Cumbernauld depot based
50407 - YX69LCF,
Volvo B11R Plaxton Panorama
named London Calling Megabus
seen on the M90 Edinburgh to Inverness leaving Edinburgh with one passenger onboard.
Stagecoach West Scotland Cumbernauld depot.
50418 - YX69LBV Volvo B11R Plaxton Panorama seen leaving Edinburgh on Citylink 900 route to Glasgow.
Stagecoach West Scotland Cumbernauld depot.
Alexander Dennis Enviro 300 with Fast Link X19 Glasgow route branding
seen arriving on crew driver
Taken Meadow Place Road Edinburgh on May 5th
Caught up with Lothian Buses at Oxgangs Edinburgh.
Lothian Volvo B8L Alexander Dennis Enviro 400 XLB's
1107 CE - SJ19OYH on Longstone depot Skylink 400 route by Central depot bus.
1108 CE - SJ19OYK on Marine depot route 5 by Central depot bus.
Volvo B5LH Wright Gemini 3 564 - SA15VUP on Central depot route by Longstone
depot bus
May 6th
At last
caught up with a coach at Oxgangs Edinburgh on May 6th, MOD on driver training
SK13CVE - a Volvo B9R/Plaxton Panther
Caught another M90 Edinburgh to Inverness
Stagecoach West Scotland Cumbernauld Megabus
Taken at Queensferry Street
Many thanks as always to Gordon for some interesting pictures.
Fleet news and developments
Arriva Beds & Bucks Twitter
THE 850 SERVICE Wycombe to Reading could not serve WARGRAVE DUE TO A HOUSE COLLAPSING IN TO ROAD.
THE 800/850 SERVICE CANNOT SERVE ROUTE BETWEEN MARLOW AND HENLEY DUE TO ROADWORKS BETWEEN THE HOURS OF 09:30 AND 15:30 UNTIL May 7th.
Nick Ross
More great weather we cant go out in! Two photos for you for possible inclusion on
your excellent website
Milton Keynes VDL 3867 at a deserted Leighton Buzzard station with the 0740 M.
Keynes - Aylesbury 150 on May 6th 2020
A scenic photo of an unidentified Arriva Volvo? passing Ivinghoe Beacon on a
lunchtime Aylesbury - Luton service 61 on April 5th 2006. Arriva no longer
operate the 61 a great loss as the route always had a variety of Aylesbury based
vehicles
One for buses in the landscape.
Gavin Francis
Sunday last and Bank Holiday we got some variety from 408 on the 40 in Stokenchurch.
On Sunday, May 3rd Citaro 856 was working Link40 to Stokenchurch seen in
New Road and at The Kings Arms.
On Friday, May 8th Solo 713 was the designated bus working Link40 to
Stokenchurch seen in New Road and at The Kings Arms.
I like the fact that in spite of changing the name to The Kings after some hundreds of years, at least Carousel still use the old title. well done!
Graham Mildenhall
Trust you are staying well. Slim pickings for the camera
still but out with the dog this pm, Tuesday 5th May in Camp Road, Upper Heyford
as 870 passed on a 250 service to Bicester. Obligingly stopped for long enough
for me to get a picture on the phone, not one of my best maybe, but when time’s
are hard.....
Phil Southall
Challow Road in Wantage is due to be closed for two weeks, preventing
our full size buses from being able to serve the route.
We are using 980 on a special 67 shuttle, which will operate between 4th
of May and 15th of May (unless the roadworks finish earlier).
The minibus from Wantage Market Place departs two minutes earlier than
in the Saturday timetable, normally at 40 minutes past the hour. It
operates on diversion to East Challow. It gets to East Challow three
minutes later than in the Saturday timetable at 49 minutes past the hour
and then operate three minutes later all the way through to Faringdon
Market Place.
From Faringdon Market Place - it departs at the normal time as per the
Saturday timetable and operates to the Saturday times all the way
through to East Challow. It then continues on to Wantage Market Place,
on diversion arriving five minute latter than normal at 40 minutes past
the hour.
With regards to the destinations, 980 does have a fully operational
destination blind with the 67 on it so it must have been a creative
driver that has been reported!
The 1012 a.m. departure from Faringdon to Wantage route
67 today, May 4th, was operated by a mini bus using stickers showing the route number. As
I was driving I could not take a photograph.
This bus is on loan from Carousel for the 4 weeks that the A417 at Challow is subject to roadworks. This bus is covering for the route 67 full size buses between Faringdon & Wantage, as the large buses cannot get through. This bus is rostered to only run a half hourly shuttle service.
This was a nice scoop by Marcus.
Jim Wright
I managed to get the Heyfordian coach on the NHS Shuttle at St. Edwards school on Woodstock Rd.
Heyfordian OU17ORR at St. Edwards School, Woodstock Rd. On NHS Shuttle.
Coach Travel Temporarily Suspended
Services resuming from June 15th 2020 are subject to change depending on Government advice
Note the change of date to June 15th not as shown last week.
Peter Brown
With the current restrictions placed upon us and many school and service buses
parked up out of service, I recently noticed on a trip to Aylesbury a large
group of Redline deckers parked up near Gatehouse Way, which tempted me to walk
past the yard on my daily exercise to see which vehicles were present.
From what was parked up and others I have seen around in recent times, I have
compiled a list below of what I believe is the current Redline double decker
fleet, this may not be a complete list and would be interested to hear of any
other vehicles people may know of with them.
Redline Double Decker Fleet
|
J860 TSC |
Leyland Olympian |
Alexander RH |
|
L983 MSC |
Volvo Olympian |
Alexander RH |
|
T309 ORP |
Volvo Olympian |
Alexander Belfast |
|
V112 LGC |
Volvo B7TL |
Alexander ALX400 |
|
V119 LGC |
Volvo B7TL |
Alexander ALX400 |
|
V185 OOE |
Volvo B7TL |
Alexander ALX400 |
|
SK52 MPU |
Volvo B7TL |
Alexander ALX400 |
|
SK52 MPV |
Volvo B7TL |
Alexander ALX400 |
|
Y703 TGH |
Volvo B7TL |
Plaxton President |
|
Y734 TGH |
Volvo B7TL |
Plaxton President |
|
X154 FBB |
Volvo B7TL |
Plaxton President |
|
LF52 UPO |
Volvo B7TL |
Wright Gemini Eclipse |
|
LJ03 MJF |
Volvo B7TL |
Wright Gemini Eclipse |
|
PN52 XBP |
Volvo B7TL |
East Lancs Vyking |
|
LK55 KKD |
ADL Trident II |
ADL Enviro 400 |
|
LK55 KKH |
ADL Trident II |
ADL Enviro 400 |
|
LK55 KKL |
ADL Trident II |
ADL Enviro 400 |
|
LK55 KKZ |
ADL Trident II |
ADL Enviro 400 |
|
LK06 FLB |
ADL Trident II |
ADL Enviro 400 |
I have also noticed that Red Rose appear to have at least one Scania Omnidekka
in the fleet now along with an all white East Lancs Myllennium style bodied
decker, the identities of which I do not know, these appear to be in addition
their pair of Plaxton President and pair of East Lancs Vyking bodied Volvo
B7TL's.
Jim Wright
YJ14BWH Pulham at Chipping Norton West St, on X9 to Witney.
Do check the link below from SKM where you will find the latest fleet allocation news. This shows all the vehicles presently off the road due to the Covid-19 situation. Many are updated for May.
https://www.stevenknightmedia.com/fleet-updates.html
We’re making further changes to the 10 from Sunday 10th May. Full details and the temporary timetable from this date can be found online:
https://pic.twitter.com/VKddxgONuv
Changes to service 10 from Sunday 10th May:
The new Monday to Friday timetable is based on the normal (pre Covid) Sunday service for most of the day, but with revised times to add more trips before 1000 in both directions and between 1700 and 2000 from the JR.
Most of the service before 1000 is the same to that operating at the moment, but with an extra journey to the JR at 0642 from Cowley to provide more capacity.
Daytime service goes to every 15 minutes until 1800 in both directions (previously every 20 min)
The Blackbird Leys trips will leave the west wing at 1835 and 1935.
View the 10 timetable from Sunday 10th May
To further support customers at this difficult time Stagecoach will temporarily accept Oxford Bus Company tickets on its services 1,2,3,3A and 8 during the operation of the special timetables. Oxford Bus Company will also accept Stagecoach tickets on the City2, City3, City3A, City5, City8 and City9 routes. The increased ticketing flexibility will enable customers to travel on the next available bus, rather than waiting for the bus of a specific operator.
Fleet news and pictures.
Previously unreported by us is the return to Stagecoach South Trident 18484, which had been on loan here for driver training duties.
Jim Wright
Gloucester Green is closed for resurfacing 4-8 May,S3&7 moved to George st,S6
Beaumont St, LHR to New Rd. I've taken some photos on 4th&5th I'm off until
Friday when it should be done. It's very thorough job all scraped down& rear
layover bays have been removed.
37404 in Magdalen St. East on S4.
The training bus at Horspath B10M is having engine/ gearbox removed before
scrapping. The MAN training bus is inside the workshops have some work done,
totally blocked in by stored buses.
Peter Leymann
As you are aware there has been vast amounts of changes to Stagecoach
Oxfordshire services with reduce in services and less buses per route due to the
Coronavirus. The S5 route that runs from Bicester to Oxford is currently running
a hourly service from Oxford city and from Bicester town.
During these changes, Stagecoach Oxford have decided not to run the
regular vehicles the Dennis Enviro 200’s based at Oxford depot on the (route 26)
which runs from Pioneer square to Kingsmere housing estate and also serves
Bicester north railway station in the morning’s and evening.
Some S5 buses that run out of Bicester outstation will now do a couple of trips
on the S5 route then switch over onto the 26 route to cover the Kingsmere route
and v.v. For example pictured here is 15758 finishing off the last couple of
trips in the evening from Bicester north train station on the 26 route.
15758 has been running out of Grove outstation (S8,S9 route) for a couple of
weeks now and has only just returned to Bicester outstation this week.
Sorry but I had to take rear view picture of the bus at Bicester north because the Sun was not doing me any favours ,also trying to get the destination to come clear on the camera was also a challenge as you can see from the pictures. These photos were taken on May 5th.
I drove 15755 today, May 7th and attached is a photo of the vehicle
parked at Bicester north train station on route 26 (Kingsmere).The
sister vehicle of 15754 which moved to Cwmbran. Hope this information is
not to late for your page.
Gold 15755 on the 26 in Bicester.
Charles Powell
Stagecoach 37403 coming though Steeple Aston on Sunday
afternoon, May 3rd.
12001 seen at the JR H
Gary Seamarks
A Busway Tri-axle Decker was tried empty along the X5 route today, I know it is true (in parts at least) as I have reports of it in MK and passed on the Bedford Bypass at 15.15 heading towards Cambridge, it was seen about 10.30 in Bedford and around noon leaving MK Station towards the A5 (Buckingham direction) 13906 BU69XYF was vehicle I passed.
I wonder did anyone get a picture of this?
Relicenced and returned to service at Kettering is Dart SLF 35225 whilst operational Dart SLFs 35176/77/78/79/80 are now allocated to Kettering following the temporary closure of Corby outstation.
Mark Atkinson
A very nice picture of a Rugby training coach, looking very smart indeed.
52567 at Rugby on April 28th by Mark Atkinson.
To use an expression, all quiet on the Western Front. Nothing to report from the tube this week.
Mark Atkinson
Mark has provided some more interesting pictures from Rugby this week of the laid up megabus fleet.
New book just published which shows British Buses Abroad Illustrated. A City of Oxford double deck is also included!!
This publication covers most countries in the world and probably wherever
you go will be a precursor to what you may find.
It has been thoughtfully edited with many interesting pictures, two full
colour to each of the 114 illustrated pages.
The quality of this reasonably priced book is £12.50 inc. p&p in the U.K.
For your copy follow this link: https://busesworldwide.org/wp/?page_id=48591
A new Thames Valley book from Paul Lacey
Celebrating the centenary since the formation of the Thames Valley Traction Co. Ltd. on 10th July 1920 in a selection of photos from the foremost collection on that operator and its subsidiaries Newbury & District and South Midland and its many competitors./p>
The pages take the reader over the wide area of operations by the ‘Valley
during the years 1920 to 1971, and also the variety of vehicles employed
from the solid-tyred Thornycroft J-types through to the
final intakes of Bristol chassis, including the various second-hand
purchases during the 1959-1971 period, all of which added greater variety
and interest.
Within its 144 A4 perfect bound pages are 330 monochrome photos and 100 in colour, previously un-published, each with a fully-detailed caption.
Send your cheque for £23 for this post-free offer to:
Paul Lacey, 17 Sparrow Close, Woosehill, Wokingham, Berkshire, RG41 3HT
If you prefer to collect your copy please call me on 0118 979 4097 to set up
a mutually-convenient time.
Also still available:
Thames Valley, 1920-1930 (cover price £15) £13
Thames
Valley, 1931-1945 (£25) £13
Thames Valley, 1946-1960 (£25) £13
Please mention The Oxford Chiltern Bus Page when ordering.
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.
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