Editorial
This week over 200 pictures, a bumper issue with 25 photographic contributors.
FYI
Expired driving licences automatically extended by 11 months
Photocard licences or entitlement to drive that expires between 1 February and 31 December 2020 have been extended for 11 months from the date of expiry.
This week we have more pictures of the refreshed Oxford Bus destinations by Gavin Francis and Jack Cooper and also a visit to Birmingham from Ciaran Bird with a number of interesting pictures. Also some nice pictures in the Buses in the Landscape style.
A dull day but lots to view as 50263 sets down in St Aldates on August 28th
by Gavin Francis.
During a rather atmospheric day, November 5th 2003. RML2440 passes an Arriva
local in Penn by David Jackson.
I hear that customer loading are improving in recent days with good loads on many services.
What a nice change, City Sightseeing 203 displays BUS FULL
as it passes The Randolph in Oxford on Saturday, August 29th.
It is so nice to see more people enjoying a day out! Picture from
Jack Cooper.
It has also been interesting to see how driver's are managing loadings such as the Oxford tube. As such they must ensure spacing whilst allowing for social bubbles!
During Ciaran Bird's visit to Birmingham he witnessed a protest marc h which appears to be causing some delays on August 28th. Full details and pictures can be seen below of the vehicles seen.
Gavin Francis has as ever been busy with his camera this week now that the Oxford tube is returning to normal with several ex megabus Astromegas back in service.
Here Hybrid 316 is seen running in from Abingdon heading for Wolvercote.
First it is going round Magdalen Street to the Magdalen Street West bus
stop.
It appears that this is now a 35 through service and the 6 has disappeared??
Many more of Gavin's pictures are included under operator headings below.
37630 is on the road at last !
After several weeks of inactivity since being delivered from Scarborough this new E200MMC took to the road in service on September 2nd.
The new bus from the offside rear, 37630 in Brackley Market Place on
September 2nd by Theo Freeman.
Branding gone awry !
Someone doubtless has the answer to branding and unlike West
Midlands below both First and Arriva have problems in High Wycombe.
Late News
Bus Fire at Hinksey Hill roundabout - September 3rd
A Citaro, once with Oxford Bus and now with Aspire Gym, previously mentioned in these pages, has burst into flames on the Hinksey Hill roundabout. This on Thursday September 3rd. The bus was Oxford's 838.
https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/18695431.bus-catches-fire-hinksey-hill-roundabout/
https://www.aspireoxfordshire.org/Blog/aspires-gym-bus-is-on-the-road
The bus was donated in November 2019.
Citaro 838 in its new guise as Aspire Gym Bus by James Freeman
on September 30th 2019.
https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/18052497.community-gym-bus-first-kind-oxfordshire/
also this link on OCBP
https://www.oxford-chiltern-bus-page.co.uk/Weekly%20nr%2083%20281119.html
An unfortunate event for a worthwhile charity, our sympathies go with them.
Stagecoach staff evacuated after Cowley Road Cambridge depot fire
Thursday, September 3rd 2020
Stagecoach staff have been evacuated from their Cambridge depot after a fire broke out, shutting a road and cancelling trains from the nearby Cambridge North station.
Cowley Road in Cambridge is closed in both directions and at both ends this afternoon (Thursday September 3rd), with firefighters, police and Network Rail officials on the scene.
It is understood trains are not currently stopping at Cambridge North station because of the fire and Network Rail and British Transport Police are helping to clear out the backlog of commuters caught at the station.
Speaking at the scene, Ross Barton from Stagecoach confirmed that the depot had been evacuated and no injuries have been reported.
He said: "We can confirm that the fire service are dealing with an incident at the depot on Cowley Road in Cambridge. Bus services are continuing to run as normal and we are putting in plans to accommodate our vehicles and fuelling at an alternative site overnight. Safety is our absolute priority and we will be assisting the authorities with their enquiries into the cause of the fire."
A fire service spokesperson said: “We currently have crews from Cambridge, Cottenham, Ely and Huntingdon at the scene of a fire on Cowley Road in Cambridge involving a workshop.
Oxford's attempt to attract more visitors seem to have been unsuccessful as the picture from Gavin Francis shows. This is the closed George Street on September 2nd around midday!!
A picture says a thousand words !
Coach operators organisation CPT is still pressing Government for help with their members, some of whom are close to closure following the likes of Shearings and National Holidays. One wishes them every success.
More updates from readers this week.
Andrew Webb
Normality returning at Victoria.
On May 29 I took a trip into the centre of London, still in the midst of
lockdown, with places like Victoria virtually deserted.
Visiting the same location on 29 August found normality returning with this line
up of four Oxford Tubes awaiting their next run home along the M40.
Many thanks to Andrew for that most interesting comparison.
September sees many schools returning and the BBC Breakfast News on September 2nd included a nice piece on Pulhams coaches loading school services. Parents interviewed were very complimentary about the company. The coaches looked very smart indeed and in the background could be seen a Gold bus of Stagecoach.
Another new 70 plate is shown hereunder.
| CC70BUS | Volvo B8RLE YV3T7U526KA197877 | MCV NB1044 | B??F | 9/2020 | Pulham, Bourton-on-the-Water |
Charles Powell
Prior to its first service on the 63 freshly repainted in Pulham's livery
and re-registered AA68BUS.
It looks every inch a lovely bus which should encourage custom!
Brent Ricketts
Brent sent this nice picture of the very newest bus, a Volvo MCV eVoRa
BB70BUS working service 19 to Witney.
This was the first day in service for the Volvo on September 1st and
features our first 70 plate.
Hugh Jaeger
Hugh sent pictures of the 63 on its first day with PU68BUS in
Fyfield. Other pictures are under operator headings.
The front view is of the bus in Fyfield
approaching Old Forge.
So, all in all, quite a lot happening with Pulham's in recent days.
Dring's of Headington, Oxford circa 1950s
Laurence Waters
I wonder if you could help me please. During the late 1950s I was in a
local railway club that regularly travelled on Coaches operated by Drings of
Oxford, Cumnor B&C. I am trying to find out what was the capacity of coaches
operated by these companies. I would be most grateful for any info that you
can supply.
I have enclosed two images of coaches .The black and white one is a Drings coach not much of an image it is a scan of a larger picture but shows the front of the bus taken in March 1957. The other is a Frostways not sure of date.
The coach behind the group is a Beadle Commer
Rochester - The Bristol LWL/ECW is ex United Counties.
A reply from Michael Wadman
The only Dring I’ve been able to find is AC & WE Dring t/a Oxford Blue of
Headington. They were around in the mid-‘fifties but aren’t in the PSVC
fleet list for December 1967 so must have ceased by then.
All I know of their fleet is that they had two Beadle-Commer Rochester's
including this one - https://www.flickr.com/photos/21611052@N02/31480734184/in/photolist-PXQZv3-o4VJuA -
they were 41-seaters but they were new in 1955 and 1957 and would have been
front line coaches so may not have been what they would provide for a
railway club.
They are both shown as acquired from Drings by H
Crapper & Son Ltd in January 1965, so that may have been when they ceased.
Drings . Headington , Oxford . XWL115
Beadle Commer TS3 integral - Beadle Rochester C41F
New to this Operator during 1955 .
| XWL115 | Be-Cr TS3 JCB659 | Be | C41F | /1955 | Dring, Oxford |
Another link shows this type of coach,, albeit with PMT.
http://www.old-bus-photos.co.uk/?p=30524
A further link shows this type of coach new in 1955 and at the time quite popular as Southdown also had some coaches of the type.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/andysbusphotos/10520520034/in/photostream/
If any readers can provide more information or pictures of Dring's, Laurence Waters would be very appreciative.
David Jackson writes on the new Arriva Web Site
Thanks for
your eagerly awaited weekly update. I always enjoy reading it and very much
appreciate the work you have been putting in all these years.
You mentioned the new Arriva website in your most recent
issue. It is truly horrible. There is no easy way to search for the 31 service
from Penn Pond to Wycombe without ploughing through pages of numbers, or
guessing that it might be on page 5 or 6 or whatever.
And, when you find it, some of the Hazlemere bus stops
have been moved to Tyler’s Green. And someone probably got paid a lot of money
for this abomination. And, of course the 31 was once the 363.
And it’s not just me:
Oh dear, that's not a very good situation for the company !
A different operator from Andrew Webb
St Mildred's Church in Lee near Lewisham have two buses parked outside. A
former Manchester Olympian and ex Arriva London DLA367, an Alexander ALX400 DAF
DB250LF.
The ex Manchester bus would appear not to have
moved for some while!
Both are fitted out as meeting / hospitality rooms. Not clear if they are
static or get out and about to community events.
Your page seems to be having more updates etc. to report,
whether that is a portent of what’s to come for the bus industry remains to be
seen. I have to say I found the news regarding two West Midlands operators
Travel de Courcey and Johnsons of Henley to be a unpleasant surprise, and
certainly not at all good for their employees.
Obviously it is probably correct to say that these and
probably unfortunately more similar in the pipeline are as a result of covid19,
but certainly not for the first time muddled government advice regarding using
public transport will have had an effect.
On the same subject from Mike Stone and another source
DeCourcey had already lost the JLR contract !
Sorry about that Mike, my apologies.
A source very high
up within NX and your statement about De Courcey and NX cancelling their
contract isn’t correct.
‘DeCourcey terminated
their contract months back. Last day of their contract was August 20th. They
went bust a few days later. They declined to take on any work offered to them
starting July 1st (When NEx re-started coach operations) to the end of their
contract on August 20th, leaving their staff on furlough.
11 tri-axle coaches have
been returned by them to NX and are being kitted out and made ready for other
operators.’
I am pleased to receive this correction which puts matters straight. Ed.
Star Travel & Redline from Tony Bungay
Also interesting was a report by one of your contributors regarding Star Travel deregistering services 3 and 5, before Covid these routes had competing Red Line services. Rather ironic as both these services if I recall correctly started the life as competitive services, that later become the 3, originally against a Luton and District former Red Rover service as well as a Red Rose/Motts Yellow Bus joint service I think at the time in the mid 1990’s. With the 5 against Arriva Blue Route 2, when Arriva deregistered this I recall the council paid for a replacement for a while operated by Red line, not the more recent competing ones. It has to be said that both routes in the main were very over bussed, it was quite common to see three different services all come along together.
Marcus Lapthorn writes
Very surprised that Pulhams have this service. It
can’t be economic to drive an empty bus across from Bourton each day? Very
few passengers used the service in its previous life.
Re’ last weeks query:
Stanford in the Vale community bus service must have ended about 5 years ago. Housing developer pays a subsidy to run 67 route instead.
An interesting collection of pictures from the past for this week's issue which I hope readers will enjoy.
Michael Wadman - now a regular contributor
Here are a few shots of
Oxon
Travel of Bicester, who ran a short-lived service to Oxford in the
mid-‘nineties. They were all taken in George Street on February
19th
1994.
KJD 431P is a Bristol LH6L / ECS, former London
Transport BL31
10 OOX is a Bristol LHS6L / Plaxton, new to Frank
Harris Coaches of Grays as FTW 133T
APM 118T is an AEC Reliance / Plaxton, former London
Country RS118
OJD 17R is a Bristol LHS6L / ECW, former London
Transport BS17
David Jackson
A lovely picture of Penn on a winter's day, November 5th, showing local
RML2440 with a 363 service.
An Arriva shed can be seen heading in the opposite direction !!
A day out in Birmingham with Ciaran Bird
Birmingham City Transport was the local authority-owned undertaking that provided road-based public transport in Birmingham, England, between 1899 and 1969. It was locally known as the Corporation Buses. ... It was incorporated into the West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive in 1969.
Also in 1969 Walsall Corporation which had operated its first bus service on 23 May 1915 was also absorbed. The initial route ran from Walsall to Hednesford via Cannock, but this was just the beginning of an extensive network that, built up over many years, was to link the towns and villages of Walsall Metropolitan Borough into an effective system of public transport.
Wolverhampton Corporation Transport could trace its origins back to tramways in the mid to late 1800s and replaced some trams with trolleybuses and motorbuses for outlying routes. Indeed I travelled on Wolves buses when using the 17 from Bridgnorth to Birmingham whilst doing my square basing at RAF Bridgnorth. They seemed, not unsurprisingly keen on Guy buses made locally!
West Bromwich was not so well know to me except that when I
worked in Birmingham I used to go to the city from the M5 using "their road"
into the City in my car!
The West Bromwich Corporation Act of 1913 gave the Corporation the powers to
operate motor buses, the first of which were four Albion single-deckers that
lasted for less than seven weeks before the chassis were commandeered for
war work in October 1914. After the First World War, bus services began to
expand across Britain and West Bromwich was no exception; by the early 1930s
there were routes to Great Bridge, Stone Cross, Hamstead, Streetly, Tantany,
Black Lake, Hill Top, Greets Green and Smethwick and the Corporation's first
joint route, to Walsall, had also been developed.
The West Bromwich fleet was largely made up of single-deck vehicles until
the mid-1930s, and after the Corporation's tramways were replaced on 1
January 1939, the Daimler COG6 became the standard double-decker, replaced
during the Second World War by the Daimler CWA6 and nineteen Austerity
buses. After the war, Daimler CVG6s and CVG6/30s became the vehicle of
choice, in a beautiful blue livery that lit up West Bromwich.
The later colours were dark blue, light blue and cream with a cream roof, very smart indeed.
Of Midland Red, I am sure readers do not need any history as they were as far south a Oxford and our area and I think need to introduction except to say that they also adsorbed Harper of Heath Hayes on September 7th 1974. This was a year or so after I ended my driving with them but a sad day nonetheless. I had collected new Duple bodied Leyland Leopards from Blackpool ( a 53 seater and a 45 seater which eventually ended up in the Midland Red fleet.
More on the area can be found at these links: http://www.wythall.org.uk/transhisba.asp and http://midlandred.net/vehicles/fleetlist.php?type=&operator=harperbrothers
Ciaran visited Birmingham on Friday, August 28th and sent a selection most interesting pictures. As I may mentioned before I spent a happy five years of my life working in the City from1970 to 1975 when Birmingham City Transport, Walsall Transport, Wolverhampton Buses, West Bromwich and Midland Red were part of WMPTE but with a multitude of colours, route numbers and workings abounding. Ciaran's pictures show that whilst National Express West Midlands may now rule the roost, there are still many colours and also route numbers which in some cases reflect the Midland Red days of old! Certainly when I first worked in Birmingham buses carried West Midland PTE stickers but still in the original liveries with half cabs still making their presence felt.
He writes
"On Friday, August 28th I took a trip to Birmingham and I ended up taking 127 photos there, mainly of the NXWM Platinum Enviro400MMCs as they were most common. While your page is mainly Oxford and Chilterns I thought I'd share them anyway, see what you think. Of interest there was a Volvo Wrecker taking away a broken down Enviro400 outside Moor Street station!"
A Diamond Buses
MAN 14.220 with Plaxton Centro bodywork 30806 seen working a service 16.
A Diamond Bus Wright StreetLite 32316 is seen with a service 16, so variety
on that service.
https://www.ukbuses.co.uk/fleet/nationalexpress.pdf
When I was in Birmingham, I used to drive part time for Harpers of Heath Hayes who enjoyed a regular half hourly service from Cannock to Birmingham with an additional bus every 15 minutes to Aldridge, those were the days. People used buses all the time. However in the West Midlands there seems to be significant use of public transport.
Above we can see MMC 6749 with an X51 to Cannock and although not a 93x goes
to Cannock but via Walsall. The 936 and 937 go via Aldridge.
Here the 935 is seen en route to Walsall via Kingstanding operated by a now
elderly Dennis/ALX400 4605.
https://uktransport.fandom.com/wiki/National_Express_West_Midlands_routes_51,_X51_and_951A
Once a West Brom' route, Wrights 4511 is seen with an 88 service,
again an elderly vehicle.
Another E400 MMC, 6740 working an X51 departure to Walsall. PLATINUM is the
WM superior branding.
MMC 6753 is seen working a 934 service, slower to Walsall.
Heading for Maypole, an ALX400 is seen working route 2.
Another ALX400, 4458 is seen heading for Chelmsley Wood on route 97, a very
high frequency service.
Wright Eclipse Gemini 2's are used on the 61 service to Frankley as seen by
5508 and 5515.
MMC 6780 is seen working branded route X8 to Wolverhampton a route once
served by Midland Red as the 125 via Dudley.
Here another branded bus, MMC 6829, working the X2 to Solihull, south west
of the City.
6836, named Cecilla Rose, working the X21 to Woodcock Hill and
between the City and University will run Limited Stop.
MMC 6876, another PLATINUM bus working the 23 to Bartley Green - one of its
branded routes.
Another service running via the University is the X22 to Woodcote and
Bartley Green. MMC 6881 is on the duty and all these buses appear to be
named.
Clear to passengers is 6910 branded for route 50 and seen heading for Druids
Heath, another high frequency service.
More PLATINUM buses clearly route branded, 6923 for the 9, 6972 for the 82,
7504 for the 16 - note the PART Route working and non route branded 7521
with a service 5.
The latest 20 plate electric buses are rostered to service 6 between the
City and Solihull along the Stratford Road.
Again colour denotes the route and West Midlands seem very caring
about having the correctly branded buses on their correct route!!
The 17 route is served by these Scania single decks some of which are
branded as is 1796 but not 1835.
Another all Scania saloon, 1942 seen working the 13 to Oldbury.
Again one branded, one not 2222 and 2226 are seen with service 4 to Solihull
via Acocks Green.
A Volvo B7RLE/Wright Eclipse Urban is seen working a Staff Bus to and from
Birmingham Central Depot.
Not everything goes to plan and above 4871 Avril is seen prior to
and during receiving assistance in the centre.
The recovery truck is most impressive.
Now as readers know I am not wholly in favour of branded buses but I must admit NEx WM do their job well.
I hope by my preamble and the details and pictures readers may be encouraged to visit the area and the Wythall Museum. Also many thanks to Ciaran Bird for prompting this article with his pictures.
Fleet news and developments
The latest fleet list has just been received from Paul Swann.
Arriva Enthusiast Fleet 3 Sep 20.xlsx
Gavin Francis
Aylesbury's 3798 is seen heading up St Aldates
on its way Aylesbury FAST on September 2nd.
E400 5464 is seen in Oxford having arrived from Aylesbury with a 280
sapphire service on August 29th.
Tony Bungay
A photo is 3859 operating service 500 on Saturday, August 29th, it would seem it was being used right up to the last moment before being returned to Harlow, as per your latest report.
Whether 3859
actually completed it’s journey I don’t know but the driver was having a job to
get the doors open at this stop!
Malcolm Crowe
Pictures taken on August 31st
Elderly 3537 passes Citaro 3018 in the Eden Bus Station.
Another old
DAF Wright Cadet, 3532, still proclaiming to be from Southend!!!
Route branding off track again, Citaro 3917 is only working a local service
32!
The MCV eVolution YJ60GGO is still at Wycombe and working various services.
