1980s/1990s A11 Barton Mills/Red Lodge

Sunday 28 April 1985 – Ambassador Travel 897 (A101 HNC) seen passing Barton Mills at 1010 working first northbound run of the National Express London-Norwich-Great Yarmouth ‘Rapide’ service 599 launched this day. It had departed Victoria Coach Station at 0830. ‘Rapide’ services featured toilet and refreshment facilities the latter served by a steward/stewardess. Ambassador Travel received four Plaxton Paramount 3200 bodied Leyland Tigers other National Bus Company affiliates to work on this improved service. Normally it wouldn’t have been at all safe to venture on to this piece of the A11 which did not have a footpath but today the road was being resurfaced and the traffic was only crawling along as a result.

Sunday 28 April 1985 – Ambassador Travel 893 (CDG 208Y) seen passing Barton Mills at 1419 working the 1230 London-Norwich-Great Yarmouth National Express ‘Rapide’ service 599 which was launched this day. ‘Rapide’ services offered featured toilet and refreshment facilities the latter served by a steward/stewardess. Ambassador Travel received four Plaxton Paramount 3200 bodied Leyland Tigers from other National Bus Company affiliates to work on this improved service. Normally it wouldn’t have been at all safe to venture on to this piece of the A11 which did not have a footpath but today the road was being resurfaced and the traffic was only crawling along as a result.

Sunday 28 April 1985 – Ambassador Travel 892 (CDG 212Y) seen passing Barton Mills around 1820 working the 1630 London-Norwich-Great Yarmouth National Express ‘Rapide’ service 599 which was launched this day. ‘Rapide’ services featured toilet and refreshment facilities the latter served by a steward/stewardess. Ambassador Travel received four Plaxton Paramount 3200 bodied Leyland Tigers from other National Bus Company affiliates to work on this improved service.

Sunday 28 April 1985 – Ambassador Travel 893 (CDG 208Y) seen heading away from Fiveways roundabout at Barton Mills at 0800 when working the very first southbound trip of the Great Yarmouth-Norwich-London National Express ‘Rapide’ service 599 which was launched this day. It departed Great Yarmouth at 0630. ‘Rapide’ services offered featured toilet and refreshment facilities the latter served by a steward/stewardess. Ambassador Travel received four Plaxton Paramount 3200 bodied Leyland Tigers other National Bus Company affiliates to work on this improved service. At the time this section of road through to Chalk Hill was single carriageway and work had already started to make a dual carriageway. The coach, heading west, is on the roadway that became the eastbound carriageway. The large direction sign can be still be identified today but the grass on which I stood to take the photograph would become the westbound carriageway.

Sunday 28 April 1985 – Ambassador Travel 889 (CDG 211Y) seen passing Barton Mills at 1910 working the 1730 Great Yarmouth-Norwich-London National Express ‘Rapide’ service 599, a service launched this day. ‘Rapide’ services offered featured toilet and refreshment facilities the latter served by a steward/stewardess. Ambassador Travel received four Plaxton Paramount 3200 bodied Leyland Tigers from other National Bus Company affiliates to work on this improved service.

Sunday 28 April 1985 – Ambassador Travel 889 (CDG 211Y) seen passing Barton Mills at 1910 working the 1730 Great Yarmouth-Norwich-London National Express ‘Rapide’ service 599, a service launched this day. ‘Rapide’ services offered featured toilet and refreshment facilities the latter served by a steward/stewardess. In this view the steward can be seen through the rear window attending to his duties. Ambassador Travel received four Plaxton Paramount 3200 bodied Leyland Tigers from other National Bus Company affiliates to work on this improved service.

Sunday 6 January 1985 – Ambassador Travel LL754 (MCL 936P) is seen here on the A11 near Bell Lane, Barton Mills when working a relief to the National Express Norwich to London service 099. It was an Alexander T type bodied Leyland Leopard new to Eastern Counties Omnibus Company in May 1976.

Sunday 28 April 1985 – This was the first day of the Summer 1985 National Express schedules and we see Ambassador Travel LL813 (JCL 813V) heading away from Fiveways roundabout at Barton Mills when working the 0800 Thetford to Gloucester National Express service 747. It was a Willowbrook bodied Leyland Leopard that had been new to Eastern Counties in November 1979.

Sunday 28 April 1985 – Ambassador Travel LT902 (A902 KAH) seen heading away from Fiveways roundabout at Barton Mills around 0800. Ambassador Travel was created in the split of the Eastern Counties Omnibus Company in September 1984 and this coach, a Plaxton Paramount 3500 bodied Leyland Tiger, had been delivered to ECOC in January 1984. At the time this section of road through to Chalk Hill was single carriageway and work had already started to make a dual carriageway. The coach, heading west, is on the roadway that became the eastbound carriageway. The large direction sign and the lay-by beyond it can be still be identified today although the AA Office didn’t last for much longer and was removed. The AA had had a presence at Fiveways for many years. The grass on which I stood to take the photograph would become the westbound carriageway.

Sunday 28 April 1984 – I didn’t note what Southdown 1257 (CUF 257L) was working as I snapped it passing the end of Tuddenham Road, Barton Mills. It was a Duple Dominant bodied Leyland Leopard new in May 1973. Work had already started in creating a dual carriageway between here and Chalk Hill towards Red Lodge and the earthworks can be seen just to the right of the direction sign. The car immediately behind the coach is passing the turning into Barton Mills village that passed the Bull Inn. Today that road surface still exists as does the surface where the three distant cars are.

Sunday 6 January 1985 – United Counties 166 (VNH 166W), a Duple Dominant bodied Leyland Leopard new in May 1981, was making good progress despite the weather as it passed the end of Bell Lane, Barton Mills when working the 0920 Bedford to Lowestoft National Express service 747. From 28 April 1985 this trip was extended back to start from Northampton at 0835. End to end service 747 linked Bristol with East Anglia offering, broadly speaking, a frequency of every two hours. Coaches started out from and ended up at principal mid-way points at the start of/end of the day. East of Cambridge United Counties participated on this one trip travelling east during the morning arriving at Great Yarmouth/Lowestoft in the early afternoon returning in the mid to late afternoon arriving back home in the evening approx 2000/2030.

Sunday 22 July 1984 – Eastern Counties LT892 (EAH 892Y), a Plaxton Paramount 3500 bodied Leyland Tiger, seen at Barton Mills when working the 1020 Norwich to London ‘Norfolk Flyer’ service 099 to London. It was new in February 1983 and passed to Ambassador Travel just a few weeks later in September 1984 when Eastern Counties was split up. It carried the Eastern Counties name in red letters along the top edge of the first large side windows. The National Express name was carried on the lower panels behind the rear wheels. I had heard that the National Bus Company or National Express hierarchy were not pleased with the creation of this branding on the vehicles which defied the National Express corporate identity. Millford’s Garage is on the left, then selling Texaco fuel from pumps right alongside the roadway, was subsequently redesigned and greatly improved. The new workshop buildings stood behind the new filling station and these buildings are now the workshops of the East of England Ambulance Service.

Sunday 3 Feb 1985 - Premier Travel Services 289 (CJE 453V), a Plaxton Supreme bodied Leyland Leopard new in May 1980, seen near the end of Bell Lane, Barton Mills when working the 1110 Lowestoft to Oxford service 747.

Saturday 9 Feb 1985 - Premier Travel Services 289 (CJE 453V), a Plaxton Supreme bodied Leyland Leopard new in May 1980, seen splashing through the slush near the end of Church Lane, Barton Mills when working the 0845 Cambridge to Lowestoft service 747.

Sunday 28 April 1985 - Premier Travel Services 305 (A695 JER), a Plaxton Paramount 3500 bodied Leyland Tiger, seen passing Barton Mills as it worked one of the U.S. Air Force contracts between Heathrow/Gatwick and RAF Lakenheath.

Sunday 22 July 1984 (approx. 1520) – Premier Travel Services 277 (WEB 407T), a Plaxton Supreme bodied AEC Reliance new in September 1978, seen passing the end of Bell Lane, Barton Mills when working the 0855 Bristol to Lowestoft service 747.

Sunday 19 August 1984 (approx. 1520) – Premier Travel Services 258 (KVE 909P), a Plaxton Supreme bodied AEC Reliance new in January 1976, seen trying to pull away from the coach stop at Sandford’s Garden Centre at Barton Mills after setting down two passengers when working the 0855 Bristol to Lowestoft service 747. This wasn’t a scheduled stop on the 747 though.

Sunday 19 August 1984 (approx. 1520) – Premier Travel Services 258 (KVE 909P), a Plaxton Supreme bodied AEC Reliance new in January 1976, seen at Barton Mills when working the 0855 Bristol to Lowestoft service 747.