'Ipernity HFF

Tues 10 June 2008 – 1357 hrs (Local time) - LBA (Liechtenstein Bus Anstalt) 7 (FL 2137), a two axle diesel powered MAN bus, seen in the village of Steg when working the 1350 service 21 from Malbun to Vaduz.

Friday 2 December 2022 (1054) – Sanders Coaches 517 (FJ57 CZN), a Wright Eclipse Urban bodied Volvo B7RLE new to Lancashire United (1841) in September 2007, seen in Castle Meadow, Norwich as it arrived from Holt via Melton Constable and Corpusty on service 45B. Renovation works are in progress at the castle which started in August 2020 with a planned completion in 2023. The £13.5million project aims to transform and reinstate the medieval floors and rooms to their formal glory. Over the years the castle has been a prison and the city museum.

Saturday 10 November 2012 (0944) – East Yorkshire Motor Services (trading as Scarborough & District) 355 (YX57 BXC), an Alexander Dennis Enviro200 bodied Dart new in October 2007, turning from Westborough into Valley Bridge Parade, Scarborough. The former Odeon cinema, now the Stephen Joseph Theatre, forms a backcloth. The art deco building was constructed during the 1930s.

Saturday 8 March 2008 - Burtons Coaches J807 JHD, an Ikarus Citibus bodied DAF, made a surprise showing on some Mildenhall area bus duties today. It is fitted with belted coach type seating for specific use on some school runs in the Haverhill area and strayed today because of a vehicle shortage. I drove it during the afternoon and it was seen here at 1330 hrs in Freckenham when working the 1320 Mildenhall-Newmarket service 400.

Sunday 9 March 1986 – Yelloway Motor Services XNE 188S seen leaving the Weir Street garage and coach station on a damp Rochdale morning bound for Cleveleys on service X79. It is a Plaxton Supreme bodied AEC Reliance, one of six such coaches new in May 1978. In July 1985 the Yelloway business which had been managed by the Allen family for more than 50 years was sold to a new owner. Despite this photograph being in the new era I include it as I felt it still captured the old days. Only eight months on and before the business was run into the ground.

Tuesday 18 February 2020 – Stagecoach East (Cambus) placed two Alexander Dennis Enviro400EV bodied BYD electric buses in service on Monday 17 February 2020 on Cambridge ‘Citi 6’ service which operates to Oakington about 6 miles from the city centre. The service has a frequency of every 30 minutes with a round trip taking 56 minutes, thus the two buses which are numbered 14033 (LF69 UXN) and 14034 (LF69 UXO) cover the full schedule. 14033 (LF69 UXN) seen at Girton Church when heading towards the city centre.

Saturday 3 February 2001 (approx. 1145) – The large bus groups like Stagecoach, which undertake Transport for London contracts, are able to cascade London based vehicles to their provincial subsidiaries once certain age limits are reached or contracts end. Northern Counties bodied Volvo Olympian P823 GMU which was new in September 1996 to Stagecoach East London as their VN23 was now operating with Cambus as their 623 still wearing London red livery pending repaint in corporate livery. It is seen arriving at Beck Row alongside the perimeter fence of RAF Mildenhall in rural Suffolk when operating the 1045 service X10 from Cambridge via Newmarket to Mildenhall thence as a circular via Beck Row, RAF Mildenhall, RAF Lakenheath returning to Mildenhall. It then continued via Newmarket to Cambridge. In 2003 Stagecoach introduced a national fleet numbering system. This was a sensible approach which simplified asset control and made vehicle transfers easier. Cambus 623 became 16023 under this new system.

Friday 28 June 2002 – Andover bus station, Hampshire. Left: Stagecoach South 851 (M331 LHP), an Alexander (Belfast) bodied Mercedes-Benz 709D new to Midland Red South (331) in April 1995. Right: Wilts & Dorset purchased quite a number of Optare Spectra bodied DAF DB250 double deckers and one such example is seen in this view.

Thursday 2 March 2023 (1301) – Three white Plaxton coaches (two Panthers and a Cheetah?) and about ten Royal Air Force fighter aircraft (Typhoon FGR4s??) at RAF Coningsby, Lincolnshire. The photograph was taken from the battlements at Tattershall Castle about 0.75 mile (1.2 km) distant.

Tuesday 28 February 2023 (1325) – P.C. Coaches of Lincoln operates the ‘Walk & Ride’ circular in the city centre of Lincoln which links the low-lying city centre and the Castle and Cathedral Quarter which stand on much higher ground. The difference in ground level is approx. 230 feet (70 metres) within a distance of 0.4 mile (0.65 km) linked by what is said to be the fourth steepest street in England although all general traffic, including the buses, take a longer route with a lesser incline. The service runs every 20 minutes six days a week with the complete circular taking 20 minutes. During my three day visit the regular bus was Optare Solo MX59 AVR which was new in October 2009 to G & J Holmes of Clay Cross. In this view it was seen on Wigford Way as it headed towards the Cathedral and Castle. (A link to a tourist information page: www.visitlincoln.com/things-to-do/steep-hill )

Tues 10 June 2008 – 1330 hrs (Local time) - The old road from Malbun and Steg to Triesenberg (on which I was standing) passed through a road tunnel which required the road to climb to quite a high level. In 1946/7 a new road, and bigger tunnel, were built at a lower level to take larger vehicles avoiding the climb and bends. A Vaduz bound bus of LBA (Liechtenstein Bus Anstalt) was on the approach to the present day tunnel as it worked the 1320 service 21 from Malbun.

Monday 6 June 2011 (1656) - Stephensons of Essex Limited took over the failed business of Burtons Coaches at the end of May 2011 just before Burtons was to commence operation of the Suffolk County Council sponsored Newmarket-Mildenhall services 400/401. To assist with the need for extra vehicles for this additional work Stephensons loaned OY53 RFF from Norfolk Green (#122) which is an Optare/Irisbus Agora Line new in September 2003 to Norfolk County Services (#7136). It was seen in Barton Mills working the 1615 service from Newmarket to Mildenhall. This was the first day of operation of the service by Stephensons, a service which had previously been worked by Mulleys Motorways until Saturday 4 June 2011. Norfolk Green gave names to its buses and this one is named Tom Hickathrift, a character of Norfolk folklore of similar style to Jack the Giant Killer. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Hickathrift

Wednesday 29 March 2023 (1045) – The second of the two Alexander Enviro400D MMCs delivered to Coach Services Limited of Thetford in 2022 seen in the grounds of the West Suffolk Hospital, Bury St. Edmunds leaving on the 1045 service via Thetford to Brandon. CS72 BUS was new in September 2022. The first of the pair (CS22 BUS) was delivered in April 2022. Both are branded for the Thetford-Bury St. Edmunds services 84/86.

Easter Saturday 15 April 1995 – Yorkshire Rider had been owned by Badgerline since April 1994. A few months after this photograph was taken Badgerline merged with GRT Holdings to become First Bus (in June 1995). 5173 (F173 XYG), a Northern Counties bodied Leyland Olympian new in November 1998, seen arriving at Rochdale bus station. The destination display has already been changed for the return journey to Halifax on service 590.

Saturday 22 July 1989 – NDK 166G was bought new in May 1969 by Yelloway Motor Services of Rochdale and was one of six (NDK 164-169G) Plaxton Panorama Elite bodied AEC Reliances built to the newly permitted 12 metre length. It was seen here some 20 years later having been converted to a stock car transporter and was seen here at a race meeting at the Mildenhall Stadium. The forward portion of the vehicle was fitted out as a lounge with a sleeping area for the crew. The destination display reads ‘1N Blackpool’ which was the service number and destination of the overnight service from London to the Lancashire resort. The inset photograph shows the coach at the end of a long line of Yelloway vehicles seen at Rochdale in 1972. www.ipernity.com/doc/davidslater-spoddendale/33946901

Friday 14 April 2023 (1036) – A County Coaches Alexander Dennis (ADL) Enviro200D approaching the Easy Jet building at Luton Airport when working an aircrew shuttle. (Y700 BUS??) Taken from on board Arriva 3973 (LF71 DLU), an MCV eVoRa bodied Volvo B8RLE, heading into Luton.

Friday 14 April 2023 (1005) – When the articulated bus was ousted from London quite a number of the redundant buses were snapped up for work at airports such as Luton and Gatwick. A row of five Mercedes-Benz Citaros parked at Luton Airport some of which had been new to Stagecoach London. Number 17 leads the line-up with number 15 next then possibly number 14. This photograph was taken from the public pathway outside the DART station and the buses were airside. The fence wasn't just for the protection of the buses (!) but part of the general perimeter security. A link to Google Streetview: tinyurl.com/4vmke8ch

Monday 15 May 2023 (1105) – Whippet Coaches WG106 (BT66 MVF), a Wright Eclipse bodied Volvo B7RLE new in December 2016, seen on Trumpington Road, Cambridge working service U which links Addenbrooke’s Hospital and the main railway station with the Madingley Road Park & Ride site and Eddington. This is a quite pleasant stretch of road. On the right is part of the Leys School beyond which there was a field of cattle peacefully grazing in a field so close to the city centre. The Botanic Gardens are on the left. Between the gardens and the road is Hobson’s Conduit, a watercourse built in the early 1600s by Thomas Hobson to bring fresh water into the city from springs near Great Shelford.