A Barton Mills outstation

Sunday 22 January 1995 – At the time I took this photograph I noted that it was a mystery why a United Counties bus was regularly seen parked on what was the site of Fiveways Garage, Barton Mills. I subsequently discovered that UCOC was operating a number of contracts to Cambridge Regional College one of which commenced from Mildenhall. It was attached to Huntingdon garage and regularly driven by a man living in the Mildenhall area. One of the most regular buses to be found on the run during the first year was Alexander RL bodied Leyland Olympian 711 (K711 ASC) which was seen here at Barton Mills. It had been new to Fife Scottish, both companies owned by the Stagecoach Group.

March 1995 – Stagecoach owned United Counties Omnibus Company operated a number of contracted routes for Cambridge Regional College one of which started from Mildenhall. Alexander RL bodied Leyland Olympian 711 (K711 ASC) had been new to Fife Scottish, also a Stagecoach subsidiary, in September 1992 and was seen at King Street, Mildenhall having set down the last of the homeward bound students. This was the regular bus assigned to the contract. It was part of the Huntingdon garage allocation although parked overnight at the outstation site at Fiveways Filling Station, Barton Mills.

Saturday 30 September 1995 – Stagecoach owned United Counties Omnibus Company was operating a number of contracts to Cambridge Regional College in the mid 1990s, one of which commenced from Mildenhall. The company outstationed buses from their Huntingdon garage which were parked on what was the site of Fiveways Garage at Barton Mills. This was a used car dealer and Jet filling station occupying the area between the A1101 Mildenhall Road and A1065 Brandon Road which was redeveloped in late 2015 becoming a Shell filling station with a MacDonalds drive in. Access to where the buses were parked was from the A1065 (visible on the right) near enough exactly where the entrance to the Shell/MacDonalds site now is. In this view we see Alexander RL bodied Leyland Olympian 712 (K712 ASC) which had been new to Fife Scottish, both companies owned by the Stagecoach Group. The other vehicle was Eastern Coachworks bodied Bristol VR 871 (TNH 871R) new to UCOC in June 1977 which carried a special livery for CRC.

Saturday 30 September 1995 – Stagecoach owned United Counties Omnibus Company was operating a number of contracts to Cambridge Regional College in the mid 1990s, one of which commenced from Mildenhall. The company outstationed buses from their Huntingdon garage which were parked on what was the site of Fiveways Garage at Barton Mills. This was a used car dealer and Jet filling station occupying the area between the A1101 Mildenhall Road and A1065 Brandon Road which was redeveloped in late 2015 becoming a Shell filling station with a MacDonalds drive in. Access to where the buses were parked was from the A1065 near enough exactly where the entrance to the Shell/MacDonalds site now is. In this view we see Alexander RL bodied Leyland Olympian 712 (K712 ASC) which had been new to Fife Scottish, both companies owned by the Stagecoach Group. The other vehicle was Eastern Coachworks bodied Bristol VR 871 (TNH 871R) new to UCOC in June 1977 which carried a special livery for CRC.

Sunday 6 April 2008 (1219) – Stagecoach East (Huntingdon and District/Stagecoach in the Fens) M430 BNV seen parked on the site of Fiveways Garage at Barton Mills which was used as an outstation for a Cambridge Regional College contract. The site housed a used car dealers and Jet filling station which occupied the area between the A1101 Mildenhall Road and A1065 Brandon Road. This was redeveloped in late 2015 becoming a Shell filling station with a MacDonalds drive in. Stagecoach owned United Counties Omnibus Company began to outstation a bus from Huntingdon garage at Barton Mills from late 1994 to operate the contract. In December 1995 the Stagecoach Group took over Cambus Holdings and, in the interests of maintaining competition, the Office of Fair Trading ordered the group to divest part of United Counties which included the Huntingdon garage and operations. Initially it was owned by MK Metro (Premier Buses) but in early 1998 it was sold to Blazefield Holdings who began using the name ‘Huntingdon and District’. In 2003 Blazefield sold the Huntingdon and District business to Cavalier Contracts who in turn sold out to Stagecoach in March 2008. By the time this photograph was taken at Barton Mills only a short time after Stagecoach acquired Cavalier we see Alexander Dash bodied Volvo B6-50 M430 BNV, which had been new to United Counties in August 1994, sporting the Blazefield inspired Huntingdon and District livery and fleetname but now back in Stagecoach ownership carrying the legal address of Stagecoach East, Daw Bank, Stockport. The fleet number 5316 is that applied under Cavalier ownership, it became 30464 in the Stagecoach corporate fleet numbering.

Sunday 6 April 2008 (1219) – Suffolk County Council Alexander Dennis (ADL) Enviro300 SN56 AYK, new in September 2006. It was seen parked at what was the site of Fiveways Garage at Barton Mills - a used car dealer and Jet filling station occupying the area between the A1101 Mildenhall Road and A1065 Brandon Road which was redeveloped in late 2015 becoming a Shell filling station with a MacDonalds drive in. Access to where the buses were parked was from the A1065 near enough exactly where the entrance to the Shell/MacDonalds site now is. The building alongside the bus survived the redevelopment and can be identified today.

Sunday 6 April 2008 (1219) – Suffolk County Council Alexander Dennis (ADL) Enviro300 SN56 AYK, new in September 2006. It was seen parked at what was the site of Fiveways Garage at Barton Mills - a used car dealer and Jet filling station occupying the area between the A1101 Mildenhall Road and A1065 Brandon Road which was redeveloped in late 2015 becoming a Shell filling station with a MacDonalds drive in. Access to where the buses were parked was from the A1065 near enough exactly where the entrance to the Shell/MacDonalds site now is. The building alongside the bus survived the redevelopment and can be identified today.