Messages

Ex IOM Streetlites 57 and 58 are now in service from Crewe depot, as well as 55 and 56. Reg now are 55-58 DG55-58 BUS.
D & G have recently introduced an hourly route 38 shadowing the Arriva similar 38 from Crewe to Macclesfield running on the alternate half-hours. So we have a service roughly every 30 minutes. 55 and 56 at least are branded for this new 38. Not sure about 57 and 58. The four Streetlites were originally regulars on the 85 to Hanley but from observations we are now back to an assorted allocation.

Thanks for the update. However I can be more specific as I went to Derby today. I saw 2329-34/6/7. 4 were on the 7 - entire allocation - and 4 were on the 8/9 along with two Solos. From the Arriva website I see that they are also destined for the 5 which was all Solo today.
So they will require 17 for pvr, 7 on the 5, 4 on the 7 and 6 on the 8/9. As you say none of these routes serve the Bus Station, routes 5 and 7 along with the 4 start from Babington Lane/St Peter Street and the 8/9 from Albert Street at the top end of Morledge.
Interesting that the 8 vehicles on the 38 Sapphire were 4400-6 and 4545 ex-Leicester, still in Sapphire, not the Notts Uni livery No sign of 4600. Is that still at Derby?

Are the new Streetlites in service in Derby yet? I see they were officially launched last Thursday 31st January.

LBSL intends to enter into new contracts for the following routes with the operators listed below:

Route        Current Operator                 New Operator               PVR     Vehicles     
41/N41         Arriva London                     Arriva London              19       2011/3 Euro V Deckers
121              Arriva London                     Arriva London               21       2013 Euro V Deckers
141              Arriva London                     Arriva London               26       2012 Euro V Hybrid Deckers
299              London General                  Sullivan Buses                7       NEW EuroVI Single Deckers
329              Arriva London                     Arriva London                17      2013 Euro V Deckers
W4               London General                  Arriva London               14       NEW EuroVI Single Deckers
W7               Arriva London                     Arriva London                 9        NEW EuroVI Single Deckers
684              Metrobus                            Metrobus                        1        2011 Euro V Deckers
233              Metrobus                            Metrobus                        6        2013 Euro V Single Deckers

Your reference to the W7 above should be the W6 which currently uses PDL 101-110 from Enfield. The W7 is a Metroline route using VWs from Holloway.

Shrewsbury P & R Versa 2970 was in Hanley last Saturday on the 164. This route is nearly always (!! ) Versas but I have not seen a P&R on it before.

67641 also was out yesterday on the 3. It too has been repainted in the new First local livery with fuchsia front. Unusually it has a large fleet number at the front at top of the nearside windscreen. Looked odd. It was in Hanley Bus Station around 4.00 pm.

55106 and 55107 still in service in Leicester. Not yet left the Group.

Correct, the 65 Plate Streetdeck's that they had last year, 35151-35155

35168 and 35169 are both also branded for the 14 and 14A as well as the original deliveries 35151-5.
35170-8 are branded for the 22 and 35179-87 are branded for the 54. 35188-92 are unbranded.

55106 and 55107 still at Leicester today - in white -  on service 20.

Only recently have I read this thread. So interesting. I am originally from Stourbridge and have many memories of the old SE Midland Red depot where I regularly caught the S53 Norton or S54 Iverley service with my mother. The regulars were MR FEDD dds but there was a time when Bromsgrove worked the S53 and 54 as fill ins between 318 journeys. Before the garage was rebuilt ( early 1950s?? ) there was a steep slope down to Foster Street and buses were regularly parked on stand with chocks underneath the front wheels. Then there was the rarities, X95 Stafford working on Sundays and the Bank Holiday X32 Bewdley and X33 Stourport when buses from all over the MR Empire were drafted in. I remember X33s passing our house at Norton five or six at a time with Shrewsbury, Wellington, Stafford allocations.

I could reminisce for hours but will spare you all.

A thought on BCT former depots. Someone mentioned Rosebery Street earlier but was there a depot at Highgate Road that worked the Inner Circle and possibly other routes? I have no proof but a vague memory from passing it on an 8. Anyone help me with this?

Streetdecks 35168/74/77/79/81 were noted at the docks at the weekend. The first 15 will go on loan to West of England for GWR rail replacement between Bristol and Bath. The remaining 10 will go directly to Leicester but it is hoped they'll all be ready to roll for the April 17th service changes linked to the opening of the new Haymarket Bus Station.

I see the opening of the Haymarket Bus Station has been put back a week to 24th April.

On the First website there are details of the Leicester City's routes that are going to use the new Bus Station but I cannot find any details on Arriva of their routes transferring in. There will be 23 bays I understand and LC will be using about half. So are any routes transferring from St Margarets?

Last Saturday my brother and I made one of our regular trips to London. We try to go about once a month, visiting all parts over the year. On Saturday we went to Romford to see the first MMCs in service with Stagecoach.

Our round trip was

0645 Chiltern Rail - Stourbridge Junction to London Marylebone arrived 1 min late due to being held outside Marylebone for about 6 minutes. Used Off-peak return
                 which includes Zones 1-6 £22.45. Tremendous value though the Senior Railcard helps
0916 LU Bakerloo Line - Marylebone to Baker Street arrive 0917
0918 LU Jubilee Line - Baker Street to West Ham arriving 0945, just missing the 0944 C2C to Rainham. That 6 minutes wait at Marylebone caused that.
0954 C2C West Ham to Barking arriving 1000 approx. 15 minutes spotting outside the Station. Very busy as usual
1019 C2C Barking to Rainham arriving 1027. Walked to Go-Ahead Blue Triangle Rainham Garage and then round the corner to Stagecoach Rainham Garage. These
                 two garages share a common boundary fence. Walked back to Rainham Station and on to Rainham War Memorial
1120 SLN 19735 on Route 372 Rainham War Memorial to Hornchurch ( Abbs Cross Lane ) arriving 1142
1146 SLN 15009 on Route 248 Hornchurch ( Abbs Cross Lane ) to Romford station arriving 1200
Spent nearly 2 hours at Romford Station. Saw 10301/3-6 on 498 and 36601-4/6-8 ( the new 400 and 200 MMCs ), all that were out on the day
1350 SLN 17995 on Route 247 to Romford North Street Garage arriving 1355. Good look into Garage. Fortunately 10302 was visible but not 36605. That is the one
                 that we shall have to go back for
1420 SLN 17988 on Route 294 to Romford Market arriving 1423. Took an age to walk through the underpasses to cross the road.
1435 SLN 17774 on Route 86 to Chadwell Heath arriving 1445 mainly to see the Arriva E200s on the 173 but also the Go-Ahead 362 and 368. Also time for a late
                 lunch
1552 TfL 315839 Chadwell Heath to Ilford arrive 1559. 90 minutes at Ilford to finish all the Go-Ahead E200s on the 364 and to see the recent arrivals SE232-4 on
                 the W19. With the help of the LVF website we found out that SE234 had just left Ilford when we arrived so a quick rethink and
1722 Go-Ahead W19 to Manor Park Station arriving 1745. Took a while with the heavy traffic coming away from the Wet ham v Leicester match at Upton Park.
SE234 eventually turned up at 1805 so
1812 TfL 315850 Manor Park to London Liverpool Street arriving 1827
1833 LU Metropolitan Line Liverpool Street to Baker Street arriving 1848
Walk to Marlebone arriving 1855
1906 Chiltern Rail Marylebone to Birmingham Moor Street arriving 2055
15 minutes outside Moor Street, saw 6705 on 900, 2216 on 31E and 2224 on 37
2018 Birmingham Moor Street to Stourbridge Junction arriving 15 minutes late at 2205 after being held at Rowley Regis for 15 minutes. No PA announcements at all
                as to why the delay. Lots of chunnering on the train - black mark to London Midland

A most enjoyable day with good weather. Incidentally our ticket was not checked on board any of the Chiltern, C2C or London Midland Trains that we used during the day. So much for revenue protection!

I find the pleasure in these round trips is as much in the planning as the execution!

Apologies if this has all bored my fellow readers. I'll not make a habit of it, promise.

This Wednesday we are off to Glasgow for the day and will do a round trip to Ayr, Irvine and Kilmarnock, courtesy of Virgin and Scotrail.

I don't know if anyone has noticed the new First website.
My appeal is to any member who uses an iPad..........can you please explain to me how to access timetables.I can get to a list of routes or to a journey planner but cannot get a timetable.
Please explain in simple terms how this can be done...remember,USING AN IPAD.
THANK YOU FOR ANY HELP YOU CAN GIVE.

On my desk-top just click the area on the map and you go into the list of routes by page. Then scroll down to the route you want and click the Mon-Fri, Sat or Sun pointer for the relevant timetable. The timetable listing is the same as it has been for years but you access it via the map rather than a listing of the various areas, as previous.

Hope this works on the i-pad

Is YJ64DWK still on demo at Shrewsbury?

No sign of it yesterday so presumably not.

I went to Telford yesterday via the X5 from Shrewsbury. I saw all of the 28 Streetlites in about 2 hours at the Bus Station. There were 10 on the 11/22, 13 on the 44, 3 on the 12 ( coincidentally these three were the original allocation 3310-12 - are these three different from the others in any way, such that they have to be allocated to the 12? ). The other two were 3326 which was a late change on the 33 and 3341 which spent the entire time I was there on The Tesco shuttle. 3489 was still sounding strong on the staff shuttle to Stafford Park depot.