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When did they buy Littles
I think they've be struggling with availability on Red Arrow for a while

Last couple of weeks.
They were struggling but over the last couple of months it had got better. This week, even with 704 and 740 returning to Derby as spares, they seem to have started struggling again on the Derby routes.

Even so doesn't take much to put a sticker over the original

True. 

It appears 2 more minibuses have landed at Burton:
15017 - WN74 YFO
15018 - WN74 YFM

Looks like these will now run on the 22 & 24 and maybe a spare. Hopefully this frees up something for painting.

Maybe to go with the acquisition of Littles into Wellglade. Also the order includes 10 coaches for the red arrow which will be good as earlier in the week only 3 of the 9 were out with 4 spares covering the rest.

Saw 31002 today, it still has Midland Classic fleet names, unbelievable after how long it's been since the take over

I believe all the buses that haven't been repainted still have Midland Classic names on. Sort of surprised the repainting hasn't been a bit quicker but maybe they are hanging out for the new electrics to save painting some of the vehicles for a short period of time.

Unfortunately, that's not true.  The 1307 service from Edinburgh currently runs as an 8-car train from Edinburgh to Gloucester where it splits, with 4 cars continuing to Plymouth and the other 4 cars returning ecs to Central Rivers.  From December, that 4 car unit will continue in service to Cardiff Central where it will stable overnight.  This replaces the 1707 Nottingham to Cardiff Class 170 service which will be truncated to terminate at Gloucester with the unit running ecs back to Birmingham New Street.

The following morning, this 4-car unit will form the 0945 departure from Cardiff Central replacing the current 0945 Cardiff Central to Nottingham Class 170 service which will start at New Street at 1149.  It arrives at New Street at 1145 and the 0628 Penzance to Edinburgh service will attach to the back of it when it arrives at 1156, thus forming an 8-car service north of Birmingham.  However, at present, the 0628 service leaves Penzance as a 4-car unit but is attached to another 4-car unit at Plymouth making an 8-car train from Plymouth to Edinburgh.  This means that the station calls from Plymouth to Bristol Parkway will be made by a 4-car train rather than an 8-car train.

The unit does not stay in Cardiff overnight. In the morning it arrives off the 0649 Derby - Cardiff (between Derby and Birmingham this is a new service). In the evening it forms the 2103 Cardiff - Birmingham before heading onto Central Rivers.

Hi Simon,

Apologies for being another one about destination blinds but Burton's 15014 was on the 70/70A today with no destination showing.

Thanks

I couldn't agree more.  Hopefully, the creation of Great British Railways will result in a more co-ordinated approach when ordering new trains.  A new fleet of bi-mode units with at least 7 coaches for Cross Country services on the Edinburgh/Newcastle to Plymouth/Reading and Manchester to Bristol/Bournemouth services would be beneficial all round.  As well as providing the capacity needed on these services, they would also operate in electric mode over large parts of the routes (Edinburgh–York/Doncaster and Manchester-Birmingham/Coventry).  In addition, it would allow the Voyagers to be cascaded to increase capacity on other routes such as Cardiff to Nottingham, Birmingham to Stansted, Cardiff to Portsmouth etc.

Voyagers on the 170 routes in general are not the best idea. They can't run at the higher speeds between Leicester and Stansted and there is a platforming issue as well at Stansted being 4/5 cars. 220's have run on the Cardiff - Nottingham's before but I don't think the capacity is really any different to a 3 car 170.

The 7 car 222s from EMT would be good for Cross Country when they are released next year

Well there is only 4 of them. I think they will most likely head to Scotland to replace the HST's.

Pulsar 3763 YJ61 FET has moved from Telford back to Derby. 

Do CrossCountry have Stock shortages, My dad caught the 18:43 I think it was from Wolverhampton to Stockport and stood the whole way On Wednesday as it was 4 cars he caught the 13:13/33 Train back from Stockport to Wolverhampton on Friday afternoon and again this was a 4 car. I swear last year they used to Double these trains up to make 8/9/10 Car trains

They have always had a shortage but the timetable has changed with more services in the last couple of years to be closer to the old 30 min headway on the core routes which means that they can't run as much double sets. With the Manchester trains as well it is difficult to run double sets on the Bristol route as it would block 2 platforms for about 50 mins each hour which is why only the Bournemouth services are double sets these being at 0725, 0925 and 1525. Over time there should be extra 5 car 221's from Avanti which will hopefully allow more doubling up and the restoration of the full hourly Newcastle - Reading service.

Same fleet number?

Presumably will gain a 358x number in due course like the other E300's.

Apparently Pulsar 3795 is now at Derby. Maybe another to follow with 2 E300's arriving at Tamworth?

Wonder if the mini bus will return to tividale after the car park built

I believe it will be a new 74 plate one that has not seen service yet.

Diamond EM is to run the Royal Derby Hospital Car Park shuttle which starts on Monday due to works to create a new multi story car park. Apparently another Mercedes Minibus is due for this service.

BusLink also now have a dual door optare solo which was at Chaserider depot today for MOT.

presumably the one showing on bustimes now as YJ12 GVV with the fleet number 31.

A shame that Trentbarton has been so poor on the X38. Not surprising that Arriva decided to take on all 4 workings.

They have got better but the main problems now is roadworks on the A38 at Toyota and in Burton on one of the bridges which is also delaying the villager and V3 routes as well by up to an hour some days.

Hi Simon,

I spotted the new minibus 15010 on the 70A in Derby earlier. I think the display needs a look at as the route number was off the end of the screen with only some of the '7' showing.

Also is the route change on the 9 (Burton) happening in September? It was originally showing on the changes page on the website but has since disappeared whilst Derbyshire CC forthcoming changes page is still having it listed.