Sunday Lost Scenes - 11th December

My Sunday Lost Scenes from this week is a memory from Lyme Regis...

First Hants & Dorset 817 - S817KPR - Lyme Regis - 2nd August 2003

In 1997-8, Southern National replaced the Bristol VRs on the Weymouth - Taunton route 31 with Dennis Dart SLFs. It was also split into two, and shared between Weymouth and Taunton depots - with Taunton operating Taunton-Axminster as route 30, and Weymouth operating Axminster-Weymouth as route 31. S817-23KPR took over the reigns.

My scene this week comes from Lyme Regis in 2003, with 817 (S817KPR) wearing it's original livery, with some First changes. 2003 was the last summer that Darts operated this service in green, before they were all given a repaint and rebrand into First livery. I always liked this livery - it fitted the lines of the Dart's body well, and, despite quite a dated livery, always appeared quite modern to me. 

The Darts are still all in service from Weymouth and Bridport, but often allocated onto town services. However, last year, I did catch S817KPR slipping back onto the 31, which brought back a few memories :-) It has also gained an LED display, and has seen it's second repaint since green and cream - she does look very smart but it isn't as appealing as Southern National colours. Pictured at Axminster rail station.