Diamond West Midlands - Kidderminster

[StourportSam]

The vehicles are, from left to right:

S396 HVV
V941 DNB
W142 WGT
R660 GCA
ALX200 Dart
W335 VGX
S393 HVV
T71 JBA

W142WGT was parked in the overflow yard at Tividale, wonder if that's being cleared?

By the looks of what has been brought here, I'd say so!

[iamwilljh92]

The vehicles are, from left to right:

S396 HVV
V941 DNB
W142 WGT
R660 GCA
ALX200 Dart
W335 VGX
S393 HVV
T71 JBA

W142WGT was parked in the overflow yard at Tividale, wonder if that's being cleared?

Sam, those pictures are awesome those buses look quite an eyesore it makes me wonder how long they will be in Kiddy for I suppose they will strip each vehicle of necessary parts and then send them off for scrap I imagine I haven't got a clue

[PM]

The vehicles are, from left to right:

S396 HVV
V941 DNB
W142 WGT
R660 GCA
ALX200 Dart
W335 VGX
S393 HVV
T71 JBA

W142WGT was parked in the overflow yard at Tividale, wonder if that's being cleared?

Thanks for posting the pictures Sam. These were all from Tividale and the alx200 is W901JNF. I imagine all but this are for stripping for spares and then scrapping.

[winston]

The vehicles are, from left to right:

S396 HVV
V941 DNB
W142 WGT
R660 GCA
ALX200 Dart
W335 VGX
S393 HVV
T71 JBA

W142WGT was parked in the overflow yard at Tividale, wonder if that's being cleared?

Thanks for posting the pictures Sam. These were all from Tividale and the alx200 is W901JNF. I imagine all but this are for stripping for spares and then scrapping.

Could Long Acre be sold or let out hence the need to clearout the Tividale overflow yard?

[StourportSam]

Can anyone shed any light on why W904 JNF has yellow interior handrails in all photos I have seen yet has red ones now it is at Kidderminster??

[iamwilljh92]

Can anyone shed any light on why W904 JNF has yellow interior handrails in all photos I have seen yet has red ones now it is at Kidderminster??

Very good point mate it's probably so's that Diamond can distinguish which vehicle is which because as we know they look a like thats my theory anyway....

On another note my mate made a good point to me this evening when I was talking to him about buses and he bought it to my notice that X372 CUY has vanished from KR in the past 2 or 3 weeks and I have to admit he's more observant than I am as I myself hadn't even noticed it had gone (some bus enthusiast I am!) he also pointed out that S405 JUA has also vanished yet again and so has the VDL Centro Wessex bus ahh why do Diamond make buses dissapear I don't like it at least when First had the operations you always knew which buses were where at any one time but with Rotala it's hard to keep up...

[PM]

Can anyone shed any light on why W904 JNF has yellow interior handrails in all photos I have seen yet has red ones now it is at Kidderminster??

Couple of things on this one:

W904JNF had when new yellow hand rails as did most low floor pre 2000 buses they were either yellow or green especially as ghese were stock vehicles for lease.

I also know that out of the JNFs to re enter service 30904 was in the worst condition by far. 30903 was still at LAC having work done on it as far as I know. But anyway 30904 was in awful condition and needed a lot of work and the handrails were missing yellow paint in places so have probably been repainted. In which case it sounds like it has had a comprehensive refurb and maybe they will make a start on 30901 and I wouldn't have thought that 30903 is far off now...

[winston]

Can anyone shed any light on why W904 JNF has yellow interior handrails in all photos I have seen yet has red ones now it is at Kidderminster??

Very good point mate it's probably so's that Diamond can distinguish which vehicle is which because as we know they look a like thats my theory anyway....

On another note my mate made a good point to me this evening when I was talking to him about buses and he bought it to my notice that X372 CUY has vanished from KR in the past 2 or 3 weeks and I have to admit he's more observant than I am as I myself hadn't even noticed it had gone (some bus enthusiast I am!) he also pointed out that S405 JUA has also vanished yet again and so has the VDL Centro Wessex bus ahh why do Diamond make buses dissapear I don't like it at least when First had the operations you always knew which buses were where at any one time but with Rotala it's hard to keep up...

Didn't KR under First have quite a few RH buses on loan at times that were there for maintenance work to be carried out etc

[Cedric]

Can anyone shed any light on why W904 JNF has yellow interior handrails in all photos I have seen yet has red ones now it is at Kidderminster??

Very good point mate it's probably so's that Diamond can distinguish which vehicle is which because as we know they look a like thats my theory anyway....

On another note my mate made a good point to me this evening when I was talking to him about buses and he bought it to my notice that X372 CUY has vanished from KR in the past 2 or 3 weeks and I have to admit he's more observant than I am as I myself hadn't even noticed it had gone (some bus enthusiast I am!) he also pointed out that S405 JUA has also vanished yet again and so has the VDL Centro Wessex bus ahh why do Diamond make buses dissapear I don't like it at least when First had the operations you always knew which buses were where at any one time but with Rotala it's hard to keep up...

Didn't KR under First have quite a few RH buses on loan at times that were there for maintenance work to be carried out etc

you are correct, in  that Winston,they even some had HD & WR ones some times has the mots where done in KR  but with the RH ones there
was a condition that only light maintenance could be done at RH so they had to come to Kr for heavy maintenance work . and if there where to many lances off the road some enviros where loaned. looks like the Worcestershire review is starting for more see my post in the vosa thread

[StourportSam]

Can anyone shed any light on why W904 JNF has yellow interior handrails in all photos I have seen yet has red ones now it is at Kidderminster??

Very good point mate it's probably so's that Diamond can distinguish which vehicle is which because as we know they look a like thats my theory anyway....

On another note my mate made a good point to me this evening when I was talking to him about buses and he bought it to my notice that X372 CUY has vanished from KR in the past 2 or 3 weeks and I have to admit he's more observant than I am as I myself hadn't even noticed it had gone (some bus enthusiast I am!) he also pointed out that S405 JUA has also vanished yet again and so has the VDL Centro Wessex bus ahh why do Diamond make buses dissapear I don't like it at least when First had the operations you always knew which buses were where at any one time but with Rotala it's hard to keep up...

Didn't KR under First have quite a few RH buses on loan at times that were there for maintenance work to be carried out etc

you are correct, in  that Winston,they even some had HD & WR ones some times has the mots where done in KR  but with the RH ones there
was a condition that only light maintenance could be done at RH so they had to come to Kr for heavy maintenance work . and if there where to many lances off the road some enviros where loaned. looks like the Worcestershire review is starting for more see my post in the vosa thread

S405 JUA is still here, saw it today. Parked up in the depot with front side body panel missing.
X372 CUY was here last week, it must have gone this week if it has. Will look out for it.
The Wessex bus was inside the depot the other day, so may still be there?
I quite like the constant changes, makes it more interesting than the same buses everyday!

There was a constant changeover of Lances under First, with Worcester and Redditch allocated vehicles swapping with Kidderminster all the time. There were indeed frequent loans due to MOTs etc. For example last year before the takeover First loaned Enviro 67604 then from Hereford to Kidderminster and also Y354 AUY. You just have to look on Flickr to see varios photos of Enviro 300s operating in Kidderminster from 2005-2012 when they were allocated to Redditch or Worcester. 53042 also made visits back to Kidderminster after being transferred to Hereford.

[iamwilljh92]

Can anyone shed any light on why W904 JNF has yellow interior handrails in all photos I have seen yet has red ones now it is at Kidderminster??

Very good point mate it's probably so's that Diamond can distinguish which vehicle is which because as we know they look a like thats my theory anyway....

On another note my mate made a good point to me this evening when I was talking to him about buses and he bought it to my notice that X372 CUY has vanished from KR in the past 2 or 3 weeks and I have to admit he's more observant than I am as I myself hadn't even noticed it had gone (some bus enthusiast I am!) he also pointed out that S405 JUA has also vanished yet again and so has the VDL Centro Wessex bus ahh why do Diamond make buses dissapear I don't like it at least when First had the operations you always knew which buses were where at any one time but with Rotala it's hard to keep up...

Didn't KR under First have quite a few RH buses on loan at times that were there for maintenance work to be carried out etc

you are correct, in  that Winston,they even some had HD & WR ones some times has the mots where done in KR  but with the RH ones there
was a condition that only light maintenance could be done at RH so they had to come to Kr for heavy maintenance work . and if there where to many lances off the road some enviros where loaned. looks like the Worcestershire review is starting for more see my post in the vosa thread

S405 JUA is still here, saw it today. Parked up in the depot with front side body panel missing.
X372 CUY was here last week, it must have gone this week if it has. Will look out for it.
The Wessex bus was inside the depot the other day, so may still be there?
I quite like the constant changes, makes it more interesting than the same buses everyday!

There was a constant changeover of Lances under First, with Worcester and Redditch allocated vehicles swapping with Kidderminster all the time. There were indeed frequent loans due to MOTs etc. For example last year before the takeover First loaned Enviro 67604 then from Hereford to Kidderminster and also Y354 AUY. You just have to look on Flickr to see varios photos of Enviro 300s operating in Kidderminster from 2005-2012 when they were allocated to Redditch or Worcester. 53042 also made visits back to Kidderminster after being transferred to Hereford.

Yeah good point Sam and correction it was Y352 AUY but I wonder when or indeed if S405 will return to service and as for the Wessex bus knowing Simon he'll want to get it resprayed before it enters service and as for X372 I wonder where that has gone to Redditch? LAC?

My mate has informed me this afternoon that he has noticed when riding past the bus garage on his bike that VX54 MUC is once again V.O.R that is now the 2nd time this year it makes me wonder if the First Wyvern Darts (apart from MUP) are in the early stages of being withdrawn? As neither MUO or MUC have been resprayed I have asked Simon but I've never really had much of a responce from him regarding the respray of those particular vehicles the terminology is (and I don't mean to be horrible) but blood out of a stone springs to mind as I get the impression by his lack of responce in regards to the way he avoids the question I have asked of those particular vehicles that he doesn't particually give a monkeys about them I don't know of course but that is the impression I keep getting maybe I'm wrong..

[tank90]

Can anyone shed any light on why W904 JNF has yellow interior handrails in all photos I have seen yet has red ones now it is at Kidderminster??

Very good point mate it's probably so's that Diamond can distinguish which vehicle is which because as we know they look a like thats my theory anyway....

On another note my mate made a good point to me this evening when I was talking to him about buses and he bought it to my notice that X372 CUY has vanished from KR in the past 2 or 3 weeks and I have to admit he's more observant than I am as I myself hadn't even noticed it had gone (some bus enthusiast I am!) he also pointed out that S405 JUA has also vanished yet again and so has the VDL Centro Wessex bus ahh why do Diamond make buses dissapear I don't like it at least when First had the operations you always knew which buses were where at any one time but with Rotala it's hard to keep up...

Didn't KR under First have quite a few RH buses on loan at times that were there for maintenance work to be carried out etc

you are correct, in  that Winston,they even some had HD & WR ones some times has the mots where done in KR  but with the RH ones there
was a condition that only light maintenance could be done at RH so they had to come to Kr for heavy maintenance work . and if there where to many lances off the road some enviros where loaned. looks like the Worcestershire review is starting for more see my post in the vosa thread

S405 JUA is still here, saw it today. Parked up in the depot with front side body panel missing.
X372 CUY was here last week, it must have gone this week if it has. Will look out for it.
The Wessex bus was inside the depot the other day, so may still be there?
I quite like the constant changes, makes it more interesting than the same buses everyday!

There was a constant changeover of Lances under First, with Worcester and Redditch allocated vehicles swapping with Kidderminster all the time. There were indeed frequent loans due to MOTs etc. For example last year before the takeover First loaned Enviro 67604 then from Hereford to Kidderminster and also Y354 AUY. You just have to look on Flickr to see varios photos of Enviro 300s operating in Kidderminster from 2005-2012 when they were allocated to Redditch or Worcester. 53042 also made visits back to Kidderminster after being transferred to Hereford.

Yeah good point Sam and correction it was Y352 AUY but I wonder when or indeed if S405 will return to service and as for the Wessex bus knowing Simon he'll want to get it resprayed before it enters service and as for X372 I wonder where that has gone to Redditch? LAC?

My mate has informed me this afternoon that he has noticed when riding past the bus garage on his bike that VX54 MUC is once again V.O.R that is now the 2nd time this year it makes me wonder if the First Wyvern Darts (apart from MUP) are in the early stages of being withdrawn? As neither MUO or MUC have been resprayed I have asked Simon but I've never really had much of a responce from him regarding the respray of those particular vehicles the terminology is (and I don't mean to be horrible) but blood out of a stone springs to mind as I get the impression by his lack of responce in regards to the way he avoids the question I have asked of those particular vehicles that he doesn't particually give a monkeys about them I don't know of course but that is the impression I keep getting maybe I'm wrong..

533 is back at Redditch.
As for the Ex FMR Darts it could be that Rotala have not re paited them till they had some more bigger darts at Kidder to cover them for respray and the replace some of the mpds after.
Or they are knackered.

[PM]

Can anyone shed any light on why W904 JNF has yellow interior handrails in all photos I have seen yet has red ones now it is at Kidderminster??

Very good point mate it's probably so's that Diamond can distinguish which vehicle is which because as we know they look a like thats my theory anyway....

On another note my mate made a good point to me this evening when I was talking to him about buses and he bought it to my notice that X372 CUY has vanished from KR in the past 2 or 3 weeks and I have to admit he's more observant than I am as I myself hadn't even noticed it had gone (some bus enthusiast I am!) he also pointed out that S405 JUA has also vanished yet again and so has the VDL Centro Wessex bus ahh why do Diamond make buses dissapear I don't like it at least when First had the operations you always knew which buses were where at any one time but with Rotala it's hard to keep up...

Didn't KR under First have quite a few RH buses on loan at times that were there for maintenance work to be carried out etc

you are correct, in  that Winston,they even some had HD & WR ones some times has the mots where done in KR  but with the RH ones there
was a condition that only light maintenance could be done at RH so they had to come to Kr for heavy maintenance work . and if there where to many lances off the road some enviros where loaned. looks like the Worcestershire review is starting for more see my post in the vosa thread

S405 JUA is still here, saw it today. Parked up in the depot with front side body panel missing.
X372 CUY was here last week, it must have gone this week if it has. Will look out for it.
The Wessex bus was inside the depot the other day, so may still be there?
I quite like the constant changes, makes it more interesting than the same buses everyday!

There was a constant changeover of Lances under First, with Worcester and Redditch allocated vehicles swapping with Kidderminster all the time. There were indeed frequent loans due to MOTs etc. For example last year before the takeover First loaned Enviro 67604 then from Hereford to Kidderminster and also Y354 AUY. You just have to look on Flickr to see varios photos of Enviro 300s operating in Kidderminster from 2005-2012 when they were allocated to Redditch or Worcester. 53042 also made visits back to Kidderminster after being transferred to Hereford.

Yeah good point Sam and correction it was Y352 AUY but I wonder when or indeed if S405 will return to service and as for the Wessex bus knowing Simon he'll want to get it resprayed before it enters service and as for X372 I wonder where that has gone to Redditch? LAC?

My mate has informed me this afternoon that he has noticed when riding past the bus garage on his bike that VX54 MUC is once again V.O.R that is now the 2nd time this year it makes me wonder if the First Wyvern Darts (apart from MUP) are in the early stages of being withdrawn? As neither MUO or MUC have been resprayed I have asked Simon but I've never really had much of a responce from him regarding the respray of those particular vehicles the terminology is (and I don't mean to be horrible) but blood out of a stone springs to mind as I get the impression by his lack of responce in regards to the way he avoids the question I have asked of those particular vehicles that he doesn't particually give a monkeys about them I don't know of course but that is the impression I keep getting maybe I'm wrong..

Simon is extremely kind to answer any question at all- most ceo's wouldn't and people must remember this.

Of course the ex first darts are not to go as they are some of Kidderminster s best vehicles and with older darts even reentering service it is doubtful the newesy examples will be sold.

[iamwilljh92]

Can anyone shed any light on why W904 JNF has yellow interior handrails in all photos I have seen yet has red ones now it is at Kidderminster??

Very good point mate it's probably so's that Diamond can distinguish which vehicle is which because as we know they look a like thats my theory anyway....

On another note my mate made a good point to me this evening when I was talking to him about buses and he bought it to my notice that X372 CUY has vanished from KR in the past 2 or 3 weeks and I have to admit he's more observant than I am as I myself hadn't even noticed it had gone (some bus enthusiast I am!) he also pointed out that S405 JUA has also vanished yet again and so has the VDL Centro Wessex bus ahh why do Diamond make buses dissapear I don't like it at least when First had the operations you always knew which buses were where at any one time but with Rotala it's hard to keep up...

Didn't KR under First have quite a few RH buses on loan at times that were there for maintenance work to be carried out etc

you are correct, in  that Winston,they even some had HD & WR ones some times has the mots where done in KR  but with the RH ones there
was a condition that only light maintenance could be done at RH so they had to come to Kr for heavy maintenance work . and if there where to many lances off the road some enviros where loaned. looks like the Worcestershire review is starting for more see my post in the vosa thread

S405 JUA is still here, saw it today. Parked up in the depot with front side body panel missing.
X372 CUY was here last week, it must have gone this week if it has. Will look out for it.
The Wessex bus was inside the depot the other day, so may still be there?
I quite like the constant changes, makes it more interesting than the same buses everyday!

There was a constant changeover of Lances under First, with Worcester and Redditch allocated vehicles swapping with Kidderminster all the time. There were indeed frequent loans due to MOTs etc. For example last year before the takeover First loaned Enviro 67604 then from Hereford to Kidderminster and also Y354 AUY. You just have to look on Flickr to see varios photos of Enviro 300s operating in Kidderminster from 2005-2012 when they were allocated to Redditch or Worcester. 53042 also made visits back to Kidderminster after being transferred to Hereford.

Yeah good point Sam and correction it was Y352 AUY but I wonder when or indeed if S405 will return to service and as for the Wessex bus knowing Simon he'll want to get it resprayed before it enters service and as for X372 I wonder where that has gone to Redditch? LAC?

My mate has informed me this afternoon that he has noticed when riding past the bus garage on his bike that VX54 MUC is once again V.O.R that is now the 2nd time this year it makes me wonder if the First Wyvern Darts (apart from MUP) are in the early stages of being withdrawn? As neither MUO or MUC have been resprayed I have asked Simon but I've never really had much of a responce from him regarding the respray of those particular vehicles the terminology is (and I don't mean to be horrible) but blood out of a stone springs to mind as I get the impression by his lack of responce in regards to the way he avoids the question I have asked of those particular vehicles that he doesn't particually give a monkeys about them I don't know of course but that is the impression I keep getting maybe I'm wrong..

Simon is extremely kind to answer any question at all- most ceo's wouldn't and people must remember this.

Of course the ex first darts are not to go as they are some of Kidderminster s best vehicles and with older darts even reentering service it is doubtful the newesy examples will be sold.

Kidderminster Update - 14/04/14:

More scrap buses have appeared in Kidderminster I noticed 4 more parked up when I came past on the 3 today  I know a couple of them are Black Diamond and the black ones look like Wright Cadets or possibly Crusaders with the rest being Darts I will go and have a look via the parimeter fence tomorrow to see if I can see any fleet numbers or number plates on them and I will report back

[PM]

Most likely it is cadets over crusaders as diamond have no withdrawn crusaders in black livery just a few red diamond ones. Withdrawn black diamond darts probably include T445EBD and cadets are YJ51EKA and YD02PZL. I can understand darts being there for spares but not sb120s. All of these are from TE which makes you wonder why there is being cleared out? Is KR the new place to store withdrawn vehicles?