The route connecting the north Cornish town of Bude to the Devonian city of Plymouth is a route that I am very familiar with, having been the first ever First Devon & Cornwall route that I photographed. It has change a lot since my first photo back on 2nd August 2004...
First Devon & Cornwall used branded Dennis Javelins on the then X8 back in 2004. There were 5 Javelins if I remember correctly, which wore branding for both the X8 to Plymouth from Bude, and the X9 to Exeter. They were part of First's Excel branding associated with cross-county routes of the time. Pictured first is 21098 (R298AYB), arriving in Bude on the mid-afternoon X8.
Even in 2004, former First Glasgow and First York Volvo B10Ms were creeping onto the X8 and X9, and here is former Glasgow 66584 (F384FYS) arriving in a very wet Bude in summer 2005. The X8 and X9 were the last routes where these fine buses saw regular service, with the last being withdrawn in 2006 (I think).
After the B10Ms were withdrawn, the X8 became a bit of a free-for-all. The mid-afternoon Plymouth arrival was also always operated by Plymouth depot so anything could turn up. Here is Leyland Olympian 34753 (A753VAF) - I can remember many a long sunny afternoon longing for one of these beasts to turn up! The X8 at this point had a PVR of 3, with Bude operating one (usually a coach), and Plymouth operating 2 (usually anything) - and there was a regular Saturday morning departure that was always a double decker.
In 2007, the X8 was taken out of the no defunct Excel brand and placed as a normal extension of route 76 to Callington, numbered the 76A. Furthermore, all operations were covered by Plymouth depot - hence the appearance of former National Express Volvo Olympian 34198 (UKT552).
Within less than a year, the rather random allocation on the 76/76A calmed down, and Volvo B6BLEs became the regular bus type due to the tachographs that were fitted to these buses. These were new in 2002, diverted from York to initally operate the Corlink route 55 from St Austell to Padstow. Here is 48273 (YG02DLV) pulling up to the stand ready to depart for Plymouth. I say these were the regular allocations... the next departure (2 hours later) was a Vario...
I returned in 2010 to find a new operator on the route. Western Greyhound had taken over, with super long Solos now operating Bude to Plymouth as the 576. The departure times were relatively the same. The First 76 was cut back to Callington, although a few peak journeys still make it to Launceston. Plymouth depot now no longer operate into Bude, and since the changes, a lot of the variety has disappeared too.
Well, the route has also changed since 2010. Western Greyhound now operate two Mercedes-Benz Citaro single deckers out of Bude depot, and at least one of these can usually be found on the 576 (the other one is usually on the 599 to Exeter). Whenever I return to Bude, I hope to be able to update this post with a Citaro heading for Plymouth.
Many thanks for viewing.
Callington depot always did the bulk of the X8 and 76 work, with Bude only covering 2 peak journeys and Plymouth depot only covering the 76 as far as Launceston.
ReplyDeleteMost coaches were Volvo B10M's as first only had a couple of Dennis Javelins in the fleet, and these were soon disposed of.
Also only the Volvo B6 shown was diverted from York, the other main buses allocated to that route were bought with funding from Cornwall Council and are WK02TYD, TYF and TYH, TYD interestingly was the last Volvo B6 built for the UK.
Western Greyhound took over in September 2008 after the Callington - Bude section of the route was re-tendered. This change resulted in the closure of the Callington depot.
This route interestingly is up for re-tender again due to Cornwall council re-organising its tendered network, so there might be another operator again on the route when you next visit
Living in Bude for 18 months in 2004/2005, I regularly used the X8 and X9 on my days off. After exploring the scene in Plymouth or Exeter, I would usually catch the last X8 from Plymouth (17:40) or last X9 (21:30) from Exeter back to Bude.
ReplyDeleteThe latter was running every evening except Saturdays at this point with very few passengers. The timings were always hopelessly generous as almost the full day time running time was allowed even at this time of night and more than a few departures arrived back in Bude 20-30 minutes early. There was never anyone else around to complain about this and it got me back in time for last orders at my local in Stratton!
On the final X8 departure of the day, I was often the only passenger after Callington, back to Bude. On one occasion (with the coach pictured), the service was 15 minutes early and I was the only passenger for the final leg. The driver and I left the coach and we took a walk to the chippy....
It's no wonder these services were cut back, but they left me with some excellent memories!
Thanks for the details Anon, and thank you Keith for your personal account of the X8 - that is really interesting, and good to hear from a regular user of the service back then.
ReplyDeletePleasure. I enjoyed the nostalgia. I only managed one trip on F384 JYS as the ex Yorkshire Rider batch with bus seats was more common at Bude along with the coaches. I do remember that 66584 was certainly past it's prime inside with at least 4 different seat moquettes, but appeared to perform well.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know what type of bus operates on the X9 now? Is it a coach with a toilet?
ReplyDeleteYes, bring an Empty Bottle!
DeleteStagecoach are using a number of ex-Oxford Scania/Enviro 400s on there - the ones that were previously on the S3 route.
DeleteThe X9 is now run with ADL Enviro 400 deckers,
ReplyDeleteFirst has also just won the tender for the service between Bude and Callington back off Western Greyhound. Its the return of the Volvo B6's
I have made the Bude to Plymouth journey on two types not mentioned here. Ford / Plaxton (Jennings c1972) and Leyland Tiger / Duple Dominant Bus (DP) (First c1996).
ReplyDeleteOops - that should have been 2006!
ReplyDeleteI have quite a few photos taken of services operated from Callington deot on my Flicker site at - http://www.flickr.com/photos/30581663@N05/sets/72157629134205569/ - all taken by myself during my days there, right up until we were closed down on 26th Sept, 2009 - Others can be found at my Sons Blog at - http://sulzerpower.com/buses/report260909.html
ReplyDeleteIt's now Plymouth Citybus with the service 12 to bude after there takeover of part of western greyhound
ReplyDelete