Cambus 301 (PEX 612W) in Mildenhall – 7 Jun 1993 (197-12A)

Monday 7 June 1993 (1055) – On Sunday 23 May 1993 National Express introduced a new timetable drastically cutting the number of trips on the cross-country Great Yarmouth-Paignton service which had previously provided regular frequency local facilities over the Great Yarmouth-Norwich-Cambridge sector.

In order to replace the loss of the local facilities over the Newmarket-Thetford route, Suffolk County Council supported a new service numbered 200 commencing the following day (Monday 24 May) which travelled via Red Lodge, Barton Mills, Mildenhall, (some trips also serving RAF Mildenhall), Lakenheath, Brandon (with some trips also serving Santon Downham). The service was initially advertised as operating for a three month trial period but it actually continued for a much longer period in varied formats.

The original contractor on the service was Cambus Limited and their subsidiary Millerbus although these operators only worked the service for the three month trial period and from Monday 6 September the Eastern Counties Omnibus Company took over operation.

Cambus/Millerbus employed Leyland National 2s on the service and here 301 (PEX 612W) is at King Street, Mildenhall when working the 1035 service from Newmarket to Thetford. This bus had been new to Eastern Counties Omnibus Company in October 1980 as their LN611 and passed to Cambus when ECOC was split up.