Remembering the Snow

With some of the northern areas of the British Isles being affected by snow at the moment, this blog posting remembers back to earlier on this year, in January, when the whole of the south ground to a halt with the heaviest snowfall in many a year. The conditions gave me a chance to go and grab some fantastic and rare photos, and some of my favourites are posted below.

Although I was snowed in for the evening of the Tuesday and then the Wednesday, on Thursday I jumped onto the train and got off at Cosham, as news had come through that both Stagecoach and First were operating some services. My first photo in the snow was Stagecoach South Dennis Dart SLF 33032 (P302AYJ), pictured on a truncated route 23 which was operating between Farlington and Portsmouth city centre.

The majority of First buses out and about were Mercedes-Benz minibuses. Here is Hoeford based 51720 (N720GRV), seen on the first route 57 of the day, which was again shortened. The 57 operated between Fareham (West St) and Portsmouth City Centre via the main roads - she is seen here with a snowy Portsdown Hill in the background in Cosham.

First weren't using the bus interchange in Cosham, but a few brave Stagecoach bus drivers made their way down. Here is Bridge branded 34416 (GX53MWG), usually allocated to the Hayling Island to Havant routes. None of the Enviro300s were introduced to service, so I guess it was a means of needs must with regard to the buses allocated to service. The snow was a good 5-8 inches thick in most parts here.

A shot from the bridge in Cosham over Northern Road, here is First Hants & Dorset 52513 (S513RWP) on a shortened route 1C. The 1C operated between Cosham and Southsea, again using Hilsea based minibuses. This is a lovely view of Cosham, with a snow covered Portsdown Hill in the background. Thankfully the railways were operational during the snow, allowing me to grab these shots.

On the Friday, I managed to get out to Fareham as some services were operating out of Hoeford. The daytime 81 and 82 were introduced between Fareham (Quay St) and Gosport town centre, the 80 was operating along the A27 to Southampton, and the 5 and 57 were operated to Portsmouth. Here Dart SLF 42138 (S638XCR) is pictured along Quay St in Fareham, with the destination set to route 81. The 81 usually only operates on early weekday mornings, so the snow allowed me to get a rare shot. The snow jumpstarted my photography at the start of 2010, which continued at a high frequency until September. Maybe it will again this winter... here's hoping for less disruption than last year, but I'll be happy with plenty more snowy shots.