'Ipernity HBM

Sunday 15 April 2007 (approx 0820) - East Yorkshire Motor Services Limited 37 (3277 KH ex V838 JAT), a Plaxton Premiere bodied Volvo B10M (new 1999), seen at the coach stop opposite the Railway Station in Scarborough about to depart as the 0815 National Express service 322 to Brecon (Wales). Travelling via various towns and cities including Hull (0955-1000); Nottingham (1255-1300); Birmingham (1415-1515 where it partakes in the interchange hub); and Cardiff (1745-1750). It was due to arrive in Brecon at 1910. New coaches were anticipated within the forthcoming weeks which would oust this coach from National Express work. The art deco theatre was the ODEON cinema in my childhood.

Saturday 16 January 2016 – Murals inside Mildenhall bus station feature images from around the town. The bus station was 10 years old today although the murals were added in more recent years.

Saturday 16 January 2016 (1150) – Mildenhall bus station opened for business on 16 January 2006, ten years old today. Mulleys Motorways LW51 ZDY was working the 1120 service 355 from Bury St. Edmunds to Beck Row. It is former Dublin Bus Alexander ALX400 bodied Volvo B7TL AV204 (01 D 10204) new in January 2002.

Tuesday 4 July 2017 (1207) – Go-South Coast (Southern Vectis) 1992 (GSK 962) seen at Freshwater Bay, Isle of Wight when working the ‘Needles Breezer’ open top service. The circular (clockwise only) service runs every 30 minutes starting in Yarmouth travelling via Freshwater Bay to the Needles headland and back to Yarmouth via Totland. The full circuit takes 57 minutes and the service is worked with two buses. 1992 is a Plaxton President bodied Volvo B7TL new in September 2002 registered HW52 EPL. (The second bus today was 1991 (WDL 691)).

Friday 6 December 2019 – First Essex Buses 42557 (WX05 UAO) seen on Brackenden Drive, North Springfield, Chelmsford when working cross city service 56. It is an Alexander Pointer bodied Dennis Dart new to First Somerset & Avon in March 2005. I rode on this bus to the city centre.

Friday 9 August 2019 – Libertybus 1729 (J 122029) seen in St. Aubin’s alongside the Parish Hall for the Parish of St. Brelade. The building was once part of St. Aubin’s railway station. The bus is an Optare Solo that was new in January 2013 at the time that CT Plus Jersey Limited assumed the contract to operate the public bus network on the Channel Island of Jersey. CT Plus is part of the London based HCT Group.

Saturday 16 March 1996 (1105) – The Badgerline Group, owners of the Eastern National Omnibus Company, and GRT Bus Group, the owners of the Eastern Counties Omnibus Company, merged in April 1995 to become First Group. As with the various large groups vehicle transfers were regularly undertaken. Alexander TE type bodied Leyland Tiger A694 OHJ, new to ENOC in November 1983, is seen here at Mildenhall Church wearing full Eastern National Badgerline livery complete with the badger logo but operating for the Eastern Counties Omnibus Company. It was working the Newmarket to Thetford service 200, a service supported by Suffolk County Council. Operators of such supported services were expected to display a ‘County Connections’ board which included the SCC crest. This bus does, although many didn’t. I personally don’t think the travelling public knew or cared what the board meant.

Saturday 1 May 1993 (1305) – Premier Travel Services 405 (E905 UNW), a Plaxton Paramount 3500 bodied Volvo B10M, seen in the King Street lay-by in Mildenhall when working the 1020 Lowestoft-Bristol National Express service 747. It had been new to Wallace Arnold Tours in February 1988. The lady paying her fare to the driver is Jane Sparrow, a resident of Beck Row and a regular bus and coach passenger. On Saturdays at this time she was a regular traveller on this lunchtime departure usually spending a couple of hours in the Conservative Club in Newmarket before returning on the 1550 service. The tree in the photograph was now losing its blossom. There were two trees between the lay-by and the road one of which was removed early one due to disease I seem to recall. The second was removed when the bus station construction began.

Monday 8 May 2017 (0840) – Lothian Buses 201 (SN11 EES), an Alexander Dennis (ADL) Enviro400H new in August 2011, passing the Royal Scots Greys Memorial, erected to commemorate the fallen during the Boer War. Other landmarks in the photograph are, on the left, the clock tower of the Balmoral Hotel and the Scott Monument. The domed building high above on the right was built as the head office of the Bank of Scotland in 1806 and is now the Scottish headquarters of the Lloyds Banking Group.

Saturday 8 June 2002 – Wallace Arnold Tours Jonckheere Mistral bodied Volvo B10M-62 leaving King Street, Mildenhall operating a tour feeder. The Grand Tourer theme was an upmarket range of tours employing gold coaches rather than the traditional deep cream liveried coaches. This coach, with the very special registration number 4 WA, had just 32 seats and was added to the fleet in July 2001.

Saturday 19 July 2003 - Burtons Coaches KP02 PUE carried branding for services covering the villages south of Newmarket although today it was seen at King Street, Mildenhall working the service 292 between Lakenheath and Ely. It was a Plaxton Pointer bodied Dennis Dart of the short MPD (Mini Pointer Dart) style.