Sunday Lost Scenes #8

This Sunday lost scenes is from Helston back in August 2005...

Truronian T32JCV is now in service with First Hants & Dorset at Hoeford depot, as First's 42232. First took over Truronian a few years ago, and inherited the fleet, predominantly consisting of Darts, Solos and a few old Olympians, alongside the coaching business. Two Darts now operate from Hoeford depot in Hampshire - T32JCV and sister T34JCV. Both have been repainted to First livery and also now have LED displays. The Truronian livery no longer exists, so I was very lucky to photograph this bus back six years ago.

Provincial's long lost Volvos

One of the good things about visiting Weston-super-Mare is that I get to catch up with the former First Provincial Volvo B10BLEs now in service from the depot.

My first few photos come from the W---EOW batch of Volvo B10BLEs new to Hilsea depot in 2000. The Volvo B10BLEs were bought to upgrade routes 40 and 41 (then Southsea - Wecock and Clanfield respectively), and were branded for the Overground network in 2003. 66172 (W372EOW) was one of a number of Volvo B10BLEs that received purple and green branding for Zip route 41, which then operated between The Hard and Clanfield. 66172 is pictured here arriving in Weston-super-Mare on route X25.

The Volvo B10BLEs were withdrawn late in 2004 when new Scania Omnicity single deckers arrived in the fleet, and most moved elsewhere. 5 moved to First Somerset & Avon, three initially for route 28 (Minehead to Taunton) where they were fitted with extra luggage racks. These can be seen here in the offside of 66173 (W373EOW), a Volvo B10BLE that also once wore Zip41 branding.

Two Volvos went straight to Bath, for use on the X4/X5 between Bath, Warminster, Trowbridge and Salisbury. 66174 (W374EOW)  was one of these buses, and is pictured here in Weston on the premier town service - route 7.

In 2009, a further 5 Volvo B10BLEs joined First Somerset & Avon from Hampshire. These were transferred following deliveries of new Volvo B7RLEs - again to route 40/41 - which saw the Scanias that replaced the W***EOW Volvos cascaded to Hoeford. 66160 (S360XCR) was one of the buses cascaded to Somerset, and is pictured at Weston-super-Mare rail station yesterday, loading passengers for the 126 to Wells.

First Bristol initially received a number of Volvo B10BLEs from Hampshire, such as 66159 (S359XCR). She is pictured in Bristol city centre in May 2010 on city service 6.

How nice when things go round in circles? 66163 (S363XCR) was transferred to Taunton, to bolster the number of full size single deck buses for the 28. It still wears the livery it was delivered in, back in 2008. 66163 also has remnants of Green Line 40 branding on top of the windows, which can still be seen if you inspect closely. It pictured departing for Minehead last April.

Ex-Provincial Volvo B10BLEs can also be found in service in Manchester (5 ex-Sheffield buses that were once branded for the 17/18 in Portsmouth) and First Eastern Counties (more W reg Volvos once used on the 31 in Dorset). Maybe I'll be able to catch up with them one day.

First sight of a Reading Omnidekka

Solent Blue Line are receiving 14 five-year-old Scania Omnidekkas from Reading Buses at present. The majority are going into a purple livery branded "Simply Go", which see Go South Coast taking over the services for Alton College. However, three will go in to service branded for the BlueStar network, and the first one ready was out today...

In a dark, damp Fair Oak, Scania Omnidekka 1013 (YN06JWG) arrived this afternoon on route 2 from Southampton. It is the first Omnidekka out in service and looks very impressive. She does not yet have the stars on the rear - time will tell whether these will be applied to what has not become BlueStar's second youngest double decker. Incidentally, BlueStar's first and third youngest deckers - Enviro400 858 and fellow Omnidekka 1035 - were also out in use on route 2 today.

This was formerly Reading Buses 823, and although I didn't manage to capture it in service then, I do have sisters 819, 820 and 824 - Solent Blue Line now also own 820. Here is Reading Buses 824 (YN06JWP) pictured in the same livery that 823 arrived in a couple of months ago.

Hopefully I'll be able to capture the Alton ones over the coming days - news from GSC forum is that one of the Omnidekkas will have to work the Sunday BlueStar 5 due to a low bridge - whether this will happen or not has not yet been confirmed.

Route 126 Weston - Wells

One of an ever decreasing number of routes to remained unchanged since the takeover of big national companies is the 126, connecting Weston-super-Mare with Wells in Somerset hourly. The route is operated by First Somerset and Avon - previously Badgerline.

The 126 is the route that I consider to by "my" Somerset route. When I was younger, I stayed in Cheddar for a few days. The 126 was the main route that served Cheddar, back then using Leyland Lynx buses. Pictured around May 2003, here are firstly 1645 (H645YHT) and secondly 1610 (F610RTC), both pictured in Cheddar village. As illustrated, First Badgerline decided to brand these buses for the 126 in 2003, and the branding is new in these two images. Back then the depot was "Weston and Wells", and the depot allocation code was WM - as illustrated by both buses' fleet numbers.

Today was the first time I have photographed route 126 since May 2003. Today, the usual allocation are Volvo B10BLEs - usually a mix of former Provincial buses - so therefore buses I know well and another reason I can associate myself with the route. Pictured to the right is former Hilsea and Hoeford based Volvo B10BLE 66160 (S360XCR), a bus that I last photographed at Southsea's South Parade Pier in 2008.

Between the Lynxes and the Volvos, Dennis Darts and Dennis Lances ran the 126, so 46603 (L503VHU)'s appearance on the route today is a helpful "transition" image. An appearance of a Dart on the 126 is rare these days, especially as only two step entry single deck buses are now in service from Weston-super-Mare's allocation.


I had a great day in Weston today taking photos - I'll post some more to the blog over the coming days. For late October, the sun didn't play me up half as bad as I had expected.

First day of the BlueStar 5

BlueStar 5 took off today, replacing the existing Wilts & Dorset service connecting Romsey and Eastleigh. We predicted that the service would be operated by Dennis Tridents from Eastleigh depot, and we were half right...

On the first ever BlueStar 5 was Volvo B7TL 787 (HX51ZRK) standing here looking very smart in Romsey bus station. These vehicles certainly are impressive in appearance, and it felt the service had received a definite upgrade over the existing Volvo Olympians used on the 65, although the coach seats of those Olympians are very nice. There was no timetable up in the stand, and the bus stop still advertised route 65 but I've been informed the taxi office were giving out timetable booklets.

Dennis Trident 779 (T749JPO) was also out on route 5 today on the second working. These Tridents have all recently been repainted into the darker blue livery, and all except 772 have recieved dot matrix or hanover displays. Tridents are notoriously hard to find to photograph - used on the odd route 2, 3 or 18, but mainly on Barton Peveril routes - so it is good we can now add the 5 to this list.


All round an good service - the BlueStar 5 was the only route running to time today, and when the bus stop information is updated we'll see a fantastically presented route.

Sunday Lost Scenes #7

A scene only lost very recently today...

First Hants & Dorset have lost the contract to operate a route between Hamble and Hedge End, with the service passing to Brijan tomorrow. Yesterday was the last day of the route 26 extension to Hamble, which saw 4 Solos brought in from First Devon & Cornwall to reflect the improvements to the service. 53013 (W813PAF) is one of those Solos, which is pictured standing in Hamble on one of the last 26s yesterday. 

Brijan are taking over the route, and operating it as a loop from Hedge End. It will depart Hedge End, travel to Hamble via Lowford, then onto Butlocks Heath, Netley and then returning to Hedge End via Lowford. 

The route change sees First Hants & Dorset's Hoeford depot lose Hamble from the network. It has only been part of the network for a very short amount of of time - Hamble was last operated to from Hoeford in People's Provincial days. There is also no longer a direct link by bus from Hamble - Fareham, but one would think this hasn't inconvenienced too many passengers as the route needs to be tendered. Maybe a direct route - such as route 57 extending from Warsash via Sarisbury Green, Lowford, and down to Hamble, would be the most likely profitable route.

It will be interesting to see what Brijan use on the route tomorrow!