With many of Hoeford's Darts about to be withdrawn in the next couple of weeks, I thought this week's Sunday Lost Scenes would look at a few images of those Darts in service.
46314 (M314YOT) - Stubbington Green in April 2004 - already withdrawn and scrapped by First Hants & Dorset.
46321 (M321YOT) - Gosport bus station in October 2005 - sold into preservation and later entered service with Xelabus. Lost in the fire at Xelabus' depot.
46323 (M323YOT) - The Hard in September 2006 - still in service at Hoeford.
46311 (L311RTP) - Bridgemary - a location passed by the new BRT link - in September 2007. Later passed to Weymouth depot and now withdrawn I believe.
47304 (N604EBP) - Gosport bus station in February 2008. Still in service although has since been repainted into Barbie 1.
46329 (N329ECR) - Southwick, near Cosham in Hampshire. Pictured in May 2008. The bus is still in service although Southwick is no longer served by any First Hants & Dorset buses.
47015 (N615DWY) - Portchester in January 2010. Still in service and has been repainted into Barbie colours.
47307 (N607EBP) - Stubbington Green in June 2011. Bus is still in service at FHD at present.
46317 (M317YOT) - Stubbington Green in June 2011. The bus has been withdrawn in the past year.
46322 (M322YOT) - Fareham bus station in February 2012. This is one of the buses that is expected to be withdrawn in the next few weeks.
All of the Pointer bodied Darts started life at Southampton Citybus*. all the UVG bodied Darts started life with People's Provincial. The withdrawal of these buses marks a key point in the history of both companies, as both batches represent one of the last major purchases by the independent companies. Three will remain at Hoeford, and Southampton still has N325ECR in service as a paint float cover - it will be interesting to see which buses remain in service in a month's time.
* N615DWY was acquired second hand by Southampton Citybus.
The M...YOT batch preceded the N...YOT batch that were delivered to Southampton Citybus as natural gas buses, branded as EcoBus with tanks up on the roof.
ReplyDeleteWhatever happened to those buses? Were they converted to diesel when the project ended, or were they scrapped ahead of their time?
They were scrapped in 2006 following the arrival of the ex-Glasgow Dart SLFs. I'll dig out the few photos I have of them for a future blog.
ReplyDeleteThere was a rumour at the time they would be converted to diesel and move to Hoeford, but this never happened.
Thanks for that. I had wondered about their fate for a long time.
DeleteWill keep watching your excellent site for future photos.