Plugging...

This is a simple post just advertising various forums I am part of that also cover the south coast. We welcome new members, whether you just have a passing interest in the company, or you are a regular spotter / photographer, to management in the companies.

The First Hants & Dorset bus forum - a friendly forum covering all of First Hants & Dorset - from Havant to Yeovil, Portsmouth to Exeter. We cover all the latest sightings, fleet developments and photographs and will be the place to be with upcoming BRT and Weymouth Olympic developments (hopefully!). Also cover other local companies, trains and ships...

Please note, due to spam, please contact me directly either by leaving a comment on this post or on the non-log in area on the forum to join. 

The Stagecoach South forum - an ever growing forum focusing on Stagecoach South, with correspondents all over the company reporting on local sightings and movements. We also have a Stagecoach South East section, which we would really like to expand, so can you be that person? We've just had one of our most popular months and hope to keep growing strongly over 2012.

Go South Coast forum - the place to be for news regarding Go South Coast, focusing on BlueStar, Wilts & Dorset, Damory, Southern Vectis and more. Also regular inputs from Bournemouth Transport, Velvet and Stagecoach. Again, you will have to contact one of the mods on the forum to join, due to spam.

And my Southern England Bus Photographs website - I've really pressed on with the updates now and online are First Hampshire/Dorset/Somerset & Avon/Bristol/Cymru/Berkshire & London, with First D&C being finished, along with Stagecoach South/South West/West/South Wales and more, BlueStar, W&D, SVOC, Yellow Buses and many more - lots of photos are now online.

Please contact me for any more information :-)

Thanks all

Remembering Stagecoach on the A

As there are not many things happening during this precise week, between Christmas and New Year, I thought I'd remember Stagecoach's 3 and a bit years operating on Sunday's route A, between Eastleigh and Hedge End. This post is also dedicated to the regular driver on the Stagecoach A, who I'm going to leave unnamed at the mo, who helped with many of these photos! Thank you :-)

33027 - NDZ3017 - 21st March 2008
My first picture comes from one of the first weekends' of Stagecoach operation on route A, and shows two views of Dart SLF 33027, firstly in the sun at Mansbridge, followed by another view of the same bus at Hedge End superstores. 

The A took Stagecoach into land where they have not served for many a year and, to me at least, seemed quite a strange decision initially. Now it is sad they've disappeared, which mean my local SC services either are at Fareham (69) or Southampton (46).

33028 - NDZ3018 - 27th September 2009

Darts and Enviro200s were the main buses on the A - particularly 33027 and 33028, unbranded former Winchester Park & Ride buses. Here is 33028 at a very sunny Hedge End superstores in September 2009, heading back for Eastleigh.

18527 - GX06DYC - 2nd April 2010

Double deckers did not regularly feature on the A, although on Bank Holidays Stagecoach did tend to use the buses in case of extra high loads. Furthermore, on days where the Rose Bowl cricket ground had England matches, double decks were used. Here is 18527 freshly repainted and transferred to Winchester, following the delivery of new Scanias for Coastliner700.

18519 - GX06DXT - 20th March 2011

I'm not sure if 20th March did have any particular bank holiday associated with it, or whether this was just a one-off allocation (I can't remember), but here is Rivers branded Trident on route A at Hedge end, making a rare foray south. The Rivers Tridents are usually allocated to routes such as 64/65 to Guildford, or 69 to Fareham. Again, another shot not down to luck but thanks to the Sunday A's regular driver - much appreciated again!

Alas, the days of Stagecoach on the A are over and now First have control of the Sunday contract. With Stagecoach also venturing to Eastleigh on the C and E Sunday contracts during this time, and regularly covering the Rail Replacement services, Stagecoach could be back one day...

Merry Christmas!

I would like to wish all of my readers a very

MERRY CHRISTMAS

and I wish you all the best for the new year.

Thank you all for your kind support this year - whether you are a casual reader, or one of my followers who adds information to the posts through the comments they make. I don't post as often as I would like to, but I have no intention of giving up the blog and hope that 2012 is going to be an even better year.

Kind regards to all,

James

Sunday Lost Scenes - 18th December

This week's Sunday lost scene comes from The Hard in 2003...

Dennis Dart 32430 - 404DCD - The Hard, Portsmouth - March 2003

Remember when the 21 was step entry Darts advertising a service to Sainsburys and air conditioning? Replaced in 2003 by the same back of Darts that operate on the 21 today, Farlington depot previously used former Hong-Kong step entry Dart / Pointers, in the old stripes livery.

The buses' last few months in service were just as I started to photograph buses. Indeed, their replacements, the 34445-54 batch of Transbus Dart SLFs, was my first "brand new" batch of buses I'd ever photographed. It was sad to see these ones go, but I'm glad I managed a few photos before they went away for good.

Just to let all viewers know that my Stagecoach South collection on my smugmug site is now nearing completion - feel free to have a look for more trips down memory lane!

Seaton - Bridport 152

To continue with the Lyme Regis theme, today's post returns to the summer of 2006. In 2006, Stagecoach Devon ran a competitive service against First's X53 from Seaton to West Bay, via Lyme Regis, Charmouth and Bridport, predominantly using Mercedes-Benz Vario minibuses.

Stagecoach Devon 42102 - R102NTA - Lyme Regis - 27th July 2006

The 152 was an extension to Stagecoach Devon's hourly 52A to Seaton, connecting at Seaton to form a link into Dorset. I believe the service was a commercial venture, using one bus. For-seeing that this service may be a one off, I managed to photograph a working in the summer of 2006 and I've also saved the timetable:

For a full size copy, please email me. The 152 seemed to take good loads during the summer, but without a lot of publicity and against the X53 it was unlikely to take off. However, it was a lovely little venture from an enthusiast point of view - it brought Stagecoach Devon into Dorset, and allowed me to photograph my first ever SCD bus.

Dirty Damory

The new order on the Lyme Regis town service are Damory Optare Solos, since the contract was won from First earlier on this year.

Damory 3708 - MX07NSV - Lyme Regis (post office)

The 71 was taken over by First in the summer of 2004, with a slimline Solo that was new as a demonstrator. Branded as connecting the Jurassic Coast, it was part of the big push with the arrival of the X53 Scania Omnidekkas, and the rebrand of the Dart SLFs from Southern National green and cream into First Barbie livery. 

Damory took over this year, and I've managed to get to the Dorset town to picture the bus. It was a little disappointing to see in terms of presentation, but in terms of time-keeping it was excellent, and the driver seemed very professional and welcoming to the locals. Damory haven't really upgraded the service - although I suppose the Solo is two years younger, yes. 

It seems a shame that First did lose this route as they are so strong in this area of Dorset - at least in terms of fleet presentation, age of bus, and, during the winter at least, time keeping and reliability. They've even outstationed a "thunderbird" bus at Bridport for emergencies. Still, in another world, Yellow Buses Geminis would have been serving Lyme Regis once an hour on the 31... An excellent service from First for what it is worth though.