First Eastern Counties 491 (JDZ 2337) in Norwich - 31 Jul 2001

Tuesday 31 July 2001 (approx. 1525) – First Eastern Counties Buses 491 (JDZ 2337) seen in St. Stephen’s Street, Norwich. It was a Wright Handybus bodied Dennis Dart that had been new in March 1991 to the Centrebus operation of London Buses (DW37). There were 170 of the DW class in the Centrebus fleet which, like Eastern Counties, later became part of First Group. As a result Eastern Counties inherited quite a number of different types of vehicles transferred from other First Group affiliates. A feature of the Handybus model when new, whether in split screen or single screen format, was the use of black paint in the indented area surrounding the destination display and below the windscreen. This made for quite a different visual effect from that seen on this bus.