Eurobus (Eurolines Contractor) F812 RJF at Chamonix - 26 Aug 1990

Sunday 26 August 1990 - Eurobus Limited of West Drayton F812 RJF was a Yugoslavian built TAZ Dubrava D3500 which was new in June 1989.

Between July 1988 and September 1990 the Yugoslavian (Croatian) bus and coach builder Tvornica Autobusa Zagreb (abbreviated to TAZ) sold around 77 of their Dubrava type coaches to operators in the British Isles. (60 to England/Scotland, 1 to Northern Ireland and 16 to the Irish Republic according to details shown on the ‘Bus Lists on the Web’ website). There was a mixture of the lower height D3200 and the higher D3500 body types - the numbers depicting the heights in millimetres. These vehicles had a lower price tag than contemporary types from other builders but the build quality was inferior.

In the ‘Little Red Book 1992/3’ Eurobus Limited was shown as operating a fleet of eight coaches all being TAZ Dubrava models.

F812 RJF was seen at rest in Chamonix, France beneath the alpine scenery of Mont Blanc having worked the 1500 Eurolines service 131 departure from London on Saturday 25 August arriving in Chamonix at 1315 today (Sunday 26 August). On Friday 24 August I had seen the same coach as it worked the 1415 service from Chamonix to London where it would have arrived at 1030 (Saturday 25 August) – so had had a short turn around before being on the road again. (Unfortunately, on the morning of Tuesday 4 September I saw the coach just north of Paris where it had broken down and was parked on the hard shoulder of the Autoroute leading to the coastal ports).

At the time service 131 operated the through service three times a week all year round supplemented with a fourth trip in the main part of the summer.

Other than being a contracted operator I believe that Eurobus and Eurolines were unrelated.