Issue nr. 205
H M The Queen's Platinum Jubilee issue
Wednesday, June 1st 2022
Issue nr. 205
H M The Queen's Platinum Jubilee issue
Wednesday, June 1st 2022
Editorial
Apart from our normal section it is with pleasure that I include two sections which relate to the upcoming Platinum Jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and may we all wish her sincere congratulations on this, so far, magnificent achievement. Personally I do remember the Coronation of H.M. in 1953 and how we could see it on the "new" television. An amazing occasion. Long may she reign !
The opening of the Elizabeth Line ties in nicely with the main event of the week and thank to Jack Cooper readers can see the line in detail on its opening day, May 24th 2022.
There are very many pictures for readers to enjoy over the coming holiday weekend and hope everyone has an enjoyable time.
https://platinumjubilee.gov.uk/
Platinum Jubilee commemorative buses 2022
Readers have contributed pictures of specially decorated buses for this unique event which I hope readers will enjoy. Also included is a historical section on past "Jubilee" buses over the years.
Gavin Francis
Golden Tours have wrapped this sightseeing bus, 137 for this special occasion -
May 29th in Buckingham Palace Road.
Peter Edgar
Arriva North West 4579 seen in Southport.
London operators have an excellent variety for the public to see.
Preston Bus have this vehicle to celebrate.
Again in Southport, Stagecoach Merseyside and South Lancs have
15305 to celebrate along the Lancashire Coast.
Readers will be aware that I have included some more pictures of the Jubilee wraps in earlier issues.
I remember the Coronation in 1953 when most buses have at least a poster in the lower deck windows on both size celebrating the beginning of The Elizabeth Age. I wonder if anyone has a picture depicting this poster? Ed.
I am repeating here some of the Jubilee wraps from contributors from the last issue.
Andrew Webb
The only example of the iconic New Routemaster to be decked out in TfL's Jubilee livery is the appropriately numbered LT70.
After skirting the back garden of Buckingham Palace,
HM The Queen's London residence,
it is seen on 21 May circumnavigating Hyde Park Corner on route 148 bound for
the grittier environs of Shepherds Bush and White City.
Another appropriate fleet number for a Jubilee wrap
is Abellio's 2022, habitually used on route 270 linking Putney Bridge with
Mitcham.
It is seen at the former on 21 May whilst awaiting departure with another trip.
Flagship of TfL's Jubilee fleet is London United's
BCE47070, a second example with '70' in the fleet number.
It has been treated to the very appropriate cherished registration number ER70LXX,
which it displays to good effect leaving Hounslow bound for Tolworth on service
281 on May 22nd.
Falcon Buses have this simple but effective branding
on an Enviro 200 MMC,
seen at Hounslow station whilst working rail replacement services for South
Western Railway on May 22nd.
Gavin Francis
Stagecoach have E400 12334 from Bow Garage and seen
in Marylebone working the 205 on May 23rd.
Oxford Street dressed for a Royal occasion seen on
May 20th.
Rehersals have been taking place for many days now as seen by the Horse Guards
on May 26th.
Memories of Jubilee's past by Mike Penn
The Golden Jubilee buses - 2002
What a selection and so many buses from Michael Penn.
The Silver Jubilee Buses 1977
Again another significant collection from Michael with so many locations
represented.
Matthew Bullock
To celebrate the Platinum Jubilee I attach a fleet list for Oxfordshire's
independent operators from the Silver Jubilee in June 1977. Not sure if your
OCBP site can do this but if it's possible please feel free to include a link to
the file so your readers can access it.
Pictures 205/M Bullock/Oxfordshire June 1977.pdf
Phil Bayliss
JO back in 1977 dressed for the silver jubilee. Driven by my dad John Bayliss.
While I was playing in the band on the top deck. Just turning into south park.
PWL dressed for the diamond jubilee 2012 in Witney by the green.
Both pictures courtesy John Bayliss.
from Jack Cooper
I made a trip to London on Tuesday, May 24th for the
opening of the London Crossrail project, known now as the Elizabeth Line. The
newly built section between Paddington and Abbey Wood had opened, with all
stations bar Bond Street opening on the new section. Bond Street is due to open
later this year. The current service is trains up to every 5 minutes between
Paddington and Abbey Wood. When fully open the new Elizabeth Line will stretch
from Reading & Heathrow in the West, to Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the East.
I thought that yourself & readers may be interested about the line, I have created a Google Photos album of the new Crossrail
https://photos.app.goo.gl/z3e5nqZPQ5T4K4nG7
Since this was a significant event I also hope readers will enjoy Jack's photo album ? Ed.
Gavin Francis
Pictures of wraps advertising the Elizabeth Line. We understand there are seven such buses across London.
abellio 2006 and 2007 showing off their Jubilee wraps on May 30th.
https://www.rhs.org.uk/shows-events/rhs-chelsea-flower-show
Gavin Francis
.... recorded the buses in use on the Shuttle and coaches working other service.
Coach specials
Seemingly connected to the Chelsea Flower Show.
An interesting use of a Routemaster at the old Chelsea Barracks
This was RML 2757 and was on hand to dispense champagne on May 26th seen by
Gavin Francis.
in Oxfordshire
https://www.stagecoachbus.com/routes/oxfordshire/700/kidlington-churchill-hospital/xoao700.i
This service started on May 9th replacing the older
700, the 800 and 900 hospital services.
Above 10071 at Thornhill on May 20th by Gavin Francis.
I must say that this provides a useful and convenient service for passengers arriving at Thornhill who might want to travel onwards to Kidlington and north Oxford. Ed.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/d1661trains/albums/72177720299297287
Banbury operator changes
Kevin Fitzpatrick
YT13HKZ had the honours of being the last Johnson's Bus in Banbury, here leaving
the bus station with a 77A on Saturday evening
Not the first Diamond Midlands service in Banbury, but one of the few that appeared to actually be running today.
32224 leaving in a torrential rainstorm this evening with the 77A to Kineton
(not the Redditch 77 displayed on the blinds)
Coach visitors to Oxfordshire
Two noted on Saturday, one in High Street and one in Woodstock Road.
Two in Osney Mead (Cheney Travel & Redwing) and one in Beaumont Street.
Gavin Francis
Luxury Gold from Travellers Choice, BV22HBD is by The Ashmolean on May 29th.
Les Mitchell
I attach a couple of photos you might like, one is of a
new Pulhams (one of two) and the other is a new Henshaws in a Jubilee livery
with a name Elizabeth
Fleet news and developments
Citaro 3032 is seen working the 32 in Bridge Street on May 30th.
Citaro 3043 in better times, June 6th 2020, is seen in High Wycombe.
Citaro 3916 also in Bridge Street this time with a 37B to Bourne End.
New livery 3921 working a 48 service in Oxford Road, High Wycombe.
Green Line 7202 is seen in Elizabeth Street on May 26th.
Arriva Harlow are doing bus type trials on the 724
with buses Loaned from Derby.
So far two buses have appeared on trial with Scania N230UB OmniCity 3556
YR58SRY being photographed in St Albans on May 11th
and VDL SB200 Wright Pulsar 2 - 3747 YJ59BVK photographed approaching
Watford Junction on May 27th.
The Enviro 200 MMC's currently being used aren't suitable for the route so they
are looking for a replacement. The buses being trialled are Euro 6 retrofitted
so can be used in the ULEZ.
Jack Cooper
Sapphire 5467 is seen in Oxford working a 280 service
on May 26th.
While not new now to Aylesbury, got a photo of 5458
wearing a large advert for promoting the 4 week Aylesbury Zone ticket which it
also makes mention as being valid on Services 280 and 300. Many Aylesbury
vehicles sport the smaller circular advert on the passenger side, such as seen
on a former Derby vehicle which was working Service 500, some photos that have
appeared on Oxford Chiltern Bus page taken in Oxford on Service 280 have shown
this feature.
5458 was actually working Aylesbury local service 9,
but either bright sunlight or camera prevented destination from seeming to be
visible.
Gavin Francis
A change from the usual, Volvo Wright 69394 is seen in Bridge
Street, well travelled, working the X74 on May 30th.
Gavin Francis
In London another brand new Flixbus livered coach from Bella Road Services
(Never heard of them !!)
Seems they are a new partner for Flixbus UK.
Hearns BF21EOO is seen operating the 005 to Leicester on May 25th.
A Volvo 97000 SJ21NDN seen in Buckingham Palace Road on May 26th.
Ridleys were operating the 021 when this picture was taken on May 26th.
Gavin Francis
The ANIMAL Citaro 870 is following its usual
trail working link40 along Oxford Road on May 30th.
Citaro 880 is seen in Bridge Street working the 103
on May 30th.
Gavin Francis
StreetDeck 688 with a 9 to Risinghurst on May 29th.
Grahame Wareham
A couple of images of OBC Citaro 848, which was sadly towed away for scrap on
Wednesday, May 25th.
............it doesn't seem seventeen years since they were new on 2 road!
Jack Cooper
Scania 254 is seen working an X40 to Reading on May 26th.
E400H seen working a 35 road service on May 26th.
E400 317 ex Hybrid seen heading for Abingdon with a 4 road service on May 26th.
Passing in Oxford 13 road 351 passes StreetDeck 901 in the centre of Oxford on
May 27th.
359 retains its original livery when seen working 3 road on May 26th.
MMC 603 turns on to Speedwell Street with a 5A service on May 26th.
665 and 680 are seen at Redbridge on May 27th.
Jack Cooper
I suppose that Citaros, like 851, are working the 63
whilst the Mercedes 0500 s are being repainted into Thames Travel colours.
StreetDeck micro Hybrid 908 is seen in St Aldates
with an X32 service to the JR on May 27th.
Gavin Francis
Neoplan OU17OSF seen in St Giles on May 27th.
Gavin Francis
Clarkes BF67WJU seen leaving VCS for Ramsgate on May
26th
Edwards BV22VTN is seen arriving in London on May 27th.
JG Coaches working the A6 on May 25th.
A sparkling Irizar i6 Y12YEL seen in Bulleid Way ready to work an 030
service on May 26th.
The number of contract or non liveried coaches continues to increase !!
Gavin Francis
Redline BU05HFX on the X20. Previously Abellio 8037 as second picture shows when
Redline first acquired this bus - February 17th 2021.
Another Redline Dart, BU05HFX seen working the X20 in Oxford on May 29th.
Jack Cooper
Redline's WH66BUS working route 120 in Speedwell
Street on May 26th.
Gavin Francis
Gold 15830 looking less than pristine on May 27th.
Jack Cooper
Still looking great, Hybrid 12005, now 12 years old, is with a 10 service in
Speedwell Street on May 26th.
No one bus with the same livery in Speedwell Street, ex Gold 15753 is providing
luxury to the resident of Blackbird Leys on May 26th.
Richard Sharman
Richard captured ADL Enviro200 36984 operating one of the least photographed services in Stagecoach West's Oxfordshire services network.
The H5 from Bicester to Barton Park and JR Hospital.
Banbury depot is now displaying running board numbers, as captured by Richard on
27703 in Oxford.
That's interesting as since 27703 has arrived from Gloucester and according to bustimes.org this bus has not been used. Must be a problem with the ticket machine. Ed.
Gavin Francis
Astromega 50268 seems less than ready for future
service when seen on May 25th.
Panorama 50433 had a small problem in London
concerning its rear nearside on May 25th.
However 50443 has now returned to service after repairs when seen on May
Gavin Francis
50437 shows the minimal difference in height of the Panorama and the interdeck
!! May 29th.
megabus are now using Bourden Tours BF68ZGM seen with an M22 on May 26th near
VCS.
Panorama 50410 "Caledonian Cruiser" is seen running round to VCS departures with
an M20 on May 26th.
Adventure Tours BR19SGU seen arriving in London with an m10 service on May 27th.
London operators
Gavin Francis
Westway operates this Van Hool Astromega 53WT seen in London on May 26th.
Go Ahead works the 44 and WSD17 is seen on May 27th.
Metroline have this wrap covering LT661 working the 390 on May 26th.
LT677 seen working the 211 near VCs on May 25th.
Here are some pictures of the two old 205's of COMS.
Leyland Atlantean 205, which was acquired from South Wales Transport in 1970,
was the last and only Atlantean delivered to James Bros. in 1961.
Registered YTH805 it featured a Weymann body similar to 201-4 but incorporated
an offside illuminated advert panel
which was all the rage in the 1960's but a lot of advertisers did not want
to pay the extra premium to BTA
for their use so they fell out of favour and in some cases removed all
together, as in the case of 205.
They did tend to let in water which found its way in to the inverters causing
expensive repairs to the circuits.
205's life with COMS was relatively short being sold for scrap in 1974 after sustaining a major wiring 'burnout' and then cannibalization to keep the remaining Atlanteans on the road.
The last image shows it awaiting collection from the rear of Chipping Norton
garage
after removal of engine and gearbox which Chippy fitters had 'borrowed' for 904.
Leyland Olympian 205 VJO205X dating from 1982, like others in the batch, found itself appearing on London reliefs when new on summer Saturdays as their higher ratio rear axles and fully automatic gear control made them highly suitable both for the M40 and London traffic, maintaining the scheduled journey time of 100 minutes with ease and comfort.
In this respect it is rather a shame that the order for
long wheelbase coach Olympians was cancelled in 1985 as COMS was made to receive
the five MCW Metroliners which had already been in build for the disbanded
Midland Red Coaches division. Once delivered they had their own inherent
problems and their stay in the Oxford fleet was relatively short, being only six
years............of which most of them actually only ran half! Mind you the
Dennis Javelins that replaced them had an even shorter life with
OBC.............but I digress!
205 was the first Olympian in the fleet to be
repainted as a colourbus advert for Motorlux Volvo
....and then Cumnor
Hill Garage SAAB......which shows a youthful me performing a run at Cobham Open
Day in 1988.
It received OBC standard red/white/black skirt in 1993 later being modified with
Cityline logos and blue skirt.
In May 97 it received OCC Travelwise livery and became a Park & Ride allocated
vehicle complete with green front end
for just over a year until it was realised that there were not enough red double
deck buses
for Q buster duties so in September 98 the front was repainted red
........only to be repainted again in August 99 upon sale to Worth's, Enstone who decided to retain the Travelwise livery.
Worth's only operated 205 for about six months passing it on to Confidence,
Oadby
who ran it for another twelve years before scrapping it on site in 2012.
No doubt Graham will have provided photos for your issue 205, so just in case he doesn’t have one of Olympian 205 in its 1988 advertising livery.
Here it is near Redbridge in June of that year.
It’s surprising sometimes what you find when you finally get around to having
old films printed. These shots are from December 15th 2013 when Grant Palmer ran
their Routemaster RML2299 on a special service from Houghton Regis to the
Gateway Centre on Dunstable Downs. The bus is seen at the terminus on Parkside
Drive, and on top of the Downs where I recall it was so windy that I could
barely hold the camera steady so I’m quite surprised that they came out as well
as they did.
Routemaster RML2299 on
December 15th 2013.
........ and of Stagecoach C&G
-CheltenhamDepot-110905i.jpg)
megabus-13648-J515WAX (EW3034) in Cheltenham Depot on
September 11th 2005.
C&G 32126 working route G to GCHQ on October 16th
2004.
I travelled to Weymouth on May 26th, mainly to get some
photos of the Jurassic Coast vehicles but also to view some of the ex-Bristol
double deckers. The various liveries do add something of interest to the local
bus scene.
Damory also serve Weymouth.
I presume there must have been a publicity event regarding the open top bus
services.
A very colourful variety to be seen when visiting Weymouth.
Who remembers these buses working the Green Line 702 from London - 37997 and
37999 ?
The ex-Bristol double deckers which were one of the main purposes of David's
visit.
David also saw a nice and varied selection of tour coaches whilst he was in
Weymouth.
Package
for you from our day trip to Edinburgh on Tuesday,
May 24th
, catching
the 07.08 LNER from Peterborough, which got us to Edinburgh at 11.08, and
returned on the 18.30 into Peterborough at 22.40, my first trip
on an Azuma train, must admit they are a major step forward from an HST
or class 91 for passengers, seats are perhaps not as good but plenty of leg room
and storage space but we had plenty of space as our carriage on the way up only
ever had about 10 people in it, same on the way back until York when we were
almost alone.
All images are Central Edinburgh mostly the Western end of Princes Street which tends to be less busy with people, as few are down towards Haymarket.
Sightseeing Edinburgh
style
Lothian
231 is on the newly introduced Cobbles Tour.
Lothian are a major operator for Edinburgh
Parks work closely with Citylink
Stagecoach of course have a significant presence in Scotland
Coach Operators and visitors
Attached is what we had up at Waverley, and an out of focus Lumo 803004 at Peterborough at about 06.40, next trip will be Newcastle on 11/6 on the 06.10 Lumo out of Stevenage non-stop arrive 08.40, and 17.58 LNER back return fare was £25.40 ! am going to Sunderland. Gateshead and Metrocentre also that day, so plenty of choice there !
We are very rail lucky here, with Peterborough and Stevenage being about 45
minutes drive max, on East Coast, and Sandy 20 mins,
MK, Bletchley are about 25 mins drive, Banbury just over an hour, the Midland
main-line is 5 minutes walk from my house, but for photos Flitwick is 10 mins
drive, and Bedford - Bletchley line a 2 minute drive, can hear the latter two at
times.
Taken in Perth near Mill Street of breakdown
Two pictures of Parks of Hamilton coaches taken
at Broxden Park & Ride Perth Citylink stop.
Volvo B8R Plaxton Elite HSK648 in Citylink 6 cities
This coach was one of a
Volvo B11R Caetano Levante II LSK870 new as
seen painted in
Pictures taken in Perth of Stagecoach East Scotland
29110 - LC71 KVY on route 7.
29116 - LC71 KWF on route 1.
29117 - LC71 KWG on route 7.
Weardale's Scania YN08DHJ arrives at Frosterley (Co Durham) with the 0700 101
Stanhope - Bishop Auckland.
A decker rather than the normal Optares is used on this turn because of school
traffic on the return run, on May 17th.
A smart looking Go Ahead Optare awaits passengers at Durham Cathedral , on May
18th.
An Arriva Optare crosses the River Wear in Durham on May 18th.
Thanks to Nick for some very nice pictures. Ed.
Peter Edgar
Thought you may be interested in these photographs taken today in Southport. They were taken outside the former Ribble Bus Station which in turn was the former Southport & Cheshire Extension Lines Railway Terminus in Lord Street.
Also managed another photo of what is amongst my favourite Stagecoach vehicles
15305, this time from a slightly different angle.
Ah, happy memories of my time with Ribble in 1964-5 and working the 100 or X37 to Southport from Preston. Always a Leyland in those now far off days! Ed.
.................. in Preston
I was chatting to the two
people who were with the recruitment bus ( photos attached) at around 1pm and
they had set up at 8am and only had two possible recruits, they were saying no
one is really interested as work conditions and pay are so poor, think it is
becoming a national thing.
Preston Bus dressed for recruiting on May 28th.