Postcard From Worthing

Just a quick post from Worthing this morning where we travelled to yesterday

As regular readers of the blog will be aware, the major operators in the town are Stagecoach South and Compass Bus

Following our four hour run and a stop for sustenance, we walked along the prom to the town centre for a spot of shopping.

We retraced our steps and came across Compass Bus Transbus Dart GX05AOP arriving at the bus terminus near the pier for its next duty. The 37 seater Plaxton bodied bus was new to Jemkins of Newick as fleet number 124 in April 2005

Oldest Oly In Town

S686AAE on schools duty - Photo Roger Bellward

Despite its age, First Great Yarmouth's oldest Olympian continues to provide sterling service - in some respect a tribute to the staff at Caister Road

34186 S686AAE was on 'Schools Service' first thing yesterday. After completing the route to the East Norfolk Sixth Form College it was subsequently observed by Jamie Skinner returning from Bradwell to Great Yarmouth on the 6

The Northern Counties bodied Olympian will be 17 years old this year having been delivered to First Bristol in August 1998. It came to First Eastern Counties some ten years later

In other news, it appears that the fate of the last built Olympian, 34110 W437CWX, may have at last been determined. At the moment no further information is available

Lunchtime Lurking

National Holidays Setra NH11DTH at Beach Coach Station

at lunchtime today

At lunchtime today I had a quick run around the usual haunts in Great Yarmouth to see what was lurking about

Looking in at Beach Coach Station it revealed a sole National Holidays Setra NH11DTH soaking up the rays from the winter sun. Though when I took my photo the sun went in!

The next port of call would be Marine Parade but, on exiting Sandown Road, I saw a white liveried Volvo parked up to my left on North Drive. Closer inspection showed it to be former

Former Swift Taxis Volvo B10M 491JVX outside the Waterways on North Drive

Swift Taxis 491JVK; another former
National Holidays' coach which was then registered M123UWY when with them. It is now owned by local operator Our Bus

Another National Holidays Setra, NH13GWH, was noted outside the Sea Life Centre on Marine Parade. Keeping company were two Shearings Holidays Setras in the form of 119 BN09FJX and 317 BK11CPN

National Holidays Setra NH13GWH being watched by Shearings BN09FXJ

I then adjourned to Market Gates to observe movements there and met Malcolm Gee, who often contributes photos to the Ipswich Transport Society Journal

However, nothing out of the ordinary to report from there

Gasbus Damage

Our Beccles correspondent Tim Miller tweeted yesterday that one of Anglianbus' Gasbuses came in for repair at Car and Commercials

Caetano bodied 101 WX62HGU was noted in the CarCom yard yesterday with a nearside window broken and very slight damage to the bodywork

My thanks to Tim for the report and photo

30886 in the can

30886 heading past the Railway Station this afternoon on the 99.

After missing out on seeing 30886 on Saturday's visit i managed to grab a shot of her today in the town showing the new Destination Screen fitted after refurbishment at Rotherham.

Grahame.

Eastnorfolkbus Now On YouTube

With the Oscars very much in the news from over the pond, I thought I would establish a YouTube channel for eastnorfolkbus to provide a repository for some bus related videos

Whilst I do not intend this project to provide a significant amount of content, I intend to upload any videos there for your enjoyment

The first contribution shows celebrity Enviro400 SN60CAA on the X1 in Gorleston High Street. There are already connections to other similar bus video channels and links to bus videos of local interest

I hope you enjoy what little amount there is online at the moment, but keeping checking back to see if any new content or links have been added

The eastnorfolkbus channel can be found be clicking HERE

Saturday Morning in Lowestoft

The plan yesterday was to venture up to Norwich to catch up with things in the city but the winter sun appeared early to put that plan on hold so i decided to go over to Lowestoft to get a few sunny shots of the ex Yarmouth Jersey Darts that have migrated to Suffolk.

43863 entering the Bus Station on the 103 still minus any local ID at present.

All were noted in service, the only vehicles at Gasworks Road were ironically two i would have liked have in the can, 30886 recently returned from refurb and loanee 66112, never mind good job i work in Lowestoft so i can always try again!

33820 heads back to Yarmouth at a jaunty angle!

32058 has returned to Yarmouth after a short loan, sister 32059 was noted on the 1 alongside 32205 & 32207 while i was there as was Oly 34111 which was sporting a very steamed up destination screen.

34111 with a difficult job for passengers wanting to know what she is up to!

Finally Anglianbus had a few Scanias out on the 61 aongside the usual Gas bus fleet which made a nice change as i still need a few of them with new fleetnames.

Scania 454 waits its next run to Yarmouth on the 61.

A nice but chilly morning was had, popped into Caister Road on the way home, Norwich vehicles 33060 & 33149 both here for MOT, 65588 was off with a slight gearbox issue apart from that nothing else to report.