DSCF4692 Trent Barton (trentbarton) buses in Sutton-in-Ashfield - 12 Sep 2018

Wednesday 12 September 2018 (1124) – Trent Barton (trentbarton) buses in Sutton-in-Ashfield bus station.

Just visible on the left is 813 (YJ12 PHY), an Optare Versa new in June 2012, branded for ‘the threes’ service that links Mansfield and Nottingham via Sutton-in-Ashfield and Hucknall.

Centre is 258 (YX66 WMG), an Alexander Dennis Enviro200 MMC new in December 2016, branded for ‘the nines’ Derby to Mansfield service. The company has a penchant for varied brandings and an out of the ordinary way to identify local route variants. ‘The nines’ uses a decimal point followed by a further digit. Service 9.1 detours from the main road to serve Kilburn (Elm Tree Avenue) and later serves the East Midlands Designer Outlet at South Normanton. Service 9.3 stays on the main road at Kilburn and after South Normanton travels via Pinxton and Kirby Cross.

On the right is 681 (FJ55 ABK), a Wright Solar bodied Scania L94UB, in Trent Barton fleet livery which was working the Sutton-in-Ashfield to Nottingham service 141. This service runs via Skegby, Mansfield, Rainworth, Blidworth and Hucknall. Quicker options exist for a ride to Mansfield (‘the threes’ and ‘the nines’ take 15 minutes compared with around 30 minutes on the 141) and to Nottingham (45 minutes on the direct ‘Pronto’ service compared with 1 hour 59 minutes on the 141).

I travelled on 258 to Mansfield and from there on 681 for my return to Blidworth managing to buy a snack between the two rides.