New Buses

[tank90]

I dont see why they cant arrange something with ADL to replace Darts and Pesidents with E200s and E400s and may be a few E300s with the veiw of helping ADL to sell them in Africa or parts of India.

[Nathan4775]

I thin Diamond should buy some e200's to replace the darts
and some MCV's/B7RLES

[Ash]

I think some second hand centro's would be a good purchase and there reliable and smart looking buses. I would prefer centro's over enviro 200's as already have quite a few it would provide some consistency in vehicle types. Also will be good when the new b7rle's enter service and the additional b7rle's from midland classic. Also are diamond getting 3 of the older one's from Wessex.

[tank90]

I was thinking one big bulk order with some form structured plan, ie enough E400s for Preston Wessex and RH & LA (50 Brum to Druids) and then replace All darts over an age ie R,S,T,V,W,X,Y,51 with full lenght E200s thus meanig they will have buses to suit there needs in the Midlands if Wessex need smaller ones then buy them smaller ones as well but would never make it up here unless to replace Solos! Then if Diamond kept the best Solos they have for workings that need a bus that big they will be rolling in it.
buying E300s was only an idea so they only had to make one order.
Im sure you can buy An E200 with a centro body as they are made by the same company at a different site. You'd never know till they asked.

[Nathan4775]

I was thinking one big bulk order with some form structured plan, ie enough E400s for Preston Wessex and RH & LA (50 Brum to Druids) and then replace All darts over an age ie R,S,T,V,W,X,Y,51 with full lenght E200s thus meanig they will have buses to suit there needs in the Midlands if Wessex need smaller ones then buy them smaller ones as well but would never make it up here unless to replace Solos! Then if Diamond kept the best Solos they have for workings that need a bus that big they will be rolling in it.
buying E300s was only an idea so they only had to make one order.
Im sure you can buy An E200 with a centro body as they are made by the same company at a different site. You'd never know till they asked.

I wouldn't imagine the BD 50 requires Doubles hence why its always small darts,

But with a push the 56 could be converted to doubles on a Monday-Friday Peak hours instead of the small darts Ive seen appear on  there

[Ash]

I was thinking one big bulk order with some form structured plan, ie enough E400s for Preston Wessex and RH & LA (50 Brum to Druids) and then replace All darts over an age ie R,S,T,V,W,X,Y,51 with full lenght E200s thus meanig they will have buses to suit there needs in the Midlands if Wessex need smaller ones then buy them smaller ones as well but would never make it up here unless to replace Solos! Then if Diamond kept the best Solos they have for workings that need a bus that big they will be rolling in it.
buying E300s was only an idea so they only had to make one order.
Im sure you can buy An E200 with a centro body as they are made by the same company at a different site. You'd never know till they asked.

I wouldn't imagine the BD 50 requires Doubles hence why its always small darts,

But with a push the 56 could be converted to doubles on a Monday-Friday Peak hours instead of the small darts Ive seen appear on  there

The small darts/solo's are peak extras that come off centro funded services. This is the reason for the smaller buses which most will be allowed in Birmingham with the emission ruling.

[tank90]

I was thinking one big bulk order with some form structured plan, ie enough E400s for Preston Wessex and RH & LA (50 Brum to Druids) and then replace All darts over an age ie R,S,T,V,W,X,Y,51 with full lenght E200s thus meanig they will have buses to suit there needs in the Midlands if Wessex need smaller ones then buy them smaller ones as well but would never make it up here unless to replace Solos! Then if Diamond kept the best Solos they have for workings that need a bus that big they will be rolling in it.
buying E300s was only an idea so they only had to make one order.
Im sure you can buy An E200 with a centro body as they are made by the same company at a different site. You'd never know till they asked.

I wouldn't imagine the BD 50 requires Doubles hence why its always small darts,

But with a push the 56 could be converted to doubles on a Monday-Friday Peak hours instead of the small darts Ive seen appear on  there

But if you want to attack TGB then thats the only way to do it as well as fares.

[John]

But with a push the 56 could be converted to doubles on a Monday-Friday Peak hours instead of the small darts Ive seen appear on  there

I do agree with that Nathan, something I've been thinking about for a while. I saw 20855 yesterday at 5.30pm. That left full, as did the red/white dart before that at 5.15. Some nice Some new Gemini hybrids would be nice for the 56, the same as Preston (unless there's a height restriction). It also keeps up the Hybrid theme on the 56, replacing the Versa's.   

[tank90]

true true or E400Hs

[John]

Here is 'AE57 FXW'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/john-s-91/8635511838/

Any idea of the fleetnumber?

I have been told in a comment on my picture that it is 30833. Tony's Rotala changes also show this

[winston]

I was thinking one big bulk order with some form structured plan, ie enough E400s for Preston Wessex and RH & LA (50 Brum to Druids) and then replace All darts over an age ie R,S,T,V,W,X,Y,51 with full lenght E200s thus meanig they will have buses to suit there needs in the Midlands if Wessex need smaller ones then buy them smaller ones as well but would never make it up here unless to replace Solos! Then if Diamond kept the best Solos they have for workings that need a bus that big they will be rolling in it.
buying E300s was only an idea so they only had to make one order.
Im sure you can buy An E200 with a centro body as they are made by the same company at a different site. You'd never know till they asked.

Dan,

What sort of time frame were you basing the above bulk order on? I like your thinking, but I think the chances of that ever happening are slim to none, Rotala don't buy new buses in quantity, it's generally only small quantities of new vehicles, supplemented by newer used vehicles. As for Diamond ever getting new E400's, I reckon you've got no chance; the vast majority of Diamond's loadings don't justify double deckers, let alone brand new ones. Redditch may get some newer double deckers in the future as all the Tridents allocated there are 13/14 years old (T/V reg), but I expect these will be second-hand possibly ex London again.

The Centro body has been discontinued and was never built on the Dart SLF/E200 chassis, so unless Rotala would be prepared to order hundreds of them I don't think that will be a viable option

[Ash]

I agree there is not one diamond service out of Tividale that needs double deckers, if there was they would have had some a long while ago and be in service this present day. There are two yourbus presidents parked up at Long Acre not sure if there for sale or going to be brought and used at Redditch. The b7rle being brought in will have the capacity for any of diamond's service. Unless the peak time extra's get taken off a commercial service or get taken straight out of the garage they will always remain to be a MPD or solo. Some older centro's would be a good suggestion to be brought in and use them on some of the service in West Bromwich where the main concentration of Black diamond services are.

[winston]

I agree there is not one diamond service out of Tividale that needs double deckers, if there was they would have had some a long while ago and be in service this present day. There are two yourbus presidents parked up at Long Acre not sure if there for sale or going to be brought and used at Redditch. The b7rle being brought in will have the capacity for any of diamond's service. Unless the peak time extra's get taken off a commercial service or get taken straight out of the garage they will always remain to be a MPD or solo. Some older centro's would be a good suggestion to be brought in and use them on some of the service in West Bromwich where the main concentration of Black diamond services are.

Thought i saw a report somewhere saying that there were four now at Long Acre, originally on the Yourbus group they were supposed to be destined for Wessex, but plans could have changed? The 10 ex First Trident/Presidents are still for sale in the latest Routeone today

[Ash]

30130 the all over green wrapped hybrid was on the X30 today. These hybrid versa's just seem a waste being put on any random service at Long Acre. I know there will be a couple spare ones when 6 have been allocated to the 16 but surely they would of better use on service 301 for example which is stop/start and the leather seats and mood lighting would make good publicity and attract more people to the service. You might aswell transfer the existing solo's at Tividale to Long Acre in a swop for the hybrid versa's and use them on the 301 and may be the two others on the 4/40/42/43.

[tank90]

I was thinking one big bulk order with some form structured plan, ie enough E400s for Preston Wessex and RH & LA (50 Brum to Druids) and then replace All darts over an age ie R,S,T,V,W,X,Y,51 with full lenght E200s thus meanig they will have buses to suit there needs in the Midlands if Wessex need smaller ones then buy them smaller ones as well but would never make it up here unless to replace Solos! Then if Diamond kept the best Solos they have for workings that need a bus that big they will be rolling in it.
buying E300s was only an idea so they only had to make one order.
Im sure you can buy An E200 with a centro body as they are made by the same company at a different site. You'd never know till they asked.

Dan,

What sort of time frame were you basing the above bulk order on? I like your thinking, but I think the chances of that ever happening are slim to none, Rotala don't buy new buses in quantity, it's generally only small quantities of new vehicles, supplemented by newer used vehicles. As for Diamond ever getting new E400's, I reckon you've got no chance; the vast majority of Diamond's loadings don't justify double deckers, let alone brand new ones. Redditch may get some newer double deckers in the future as all the Tridents allocated there are 13/14 years old (T/V reg), but I expect these will be second-hand possibly ex London again.

The Centro body has been discontinued and was never built on the Dart SLF/E200 chassis, so unless Rotala would be prepared to order hundreds of them I don't think that will be a viable option

I do see your point, but RH can make the loadings for new E400s tho, the 57/58 could easierly make the loading with a frequency of upto every 5 mins peak as there are 3 high schools and other middle and First schools. Also it would show the good folk of Redditch they care, as if TGB are going to extend the 50A Diamond are going to feel it.