Ten Year Time Tunnel ~ March 2010 Part One

Whilst the Coronavirus crisis continues, we are introducing the first in an occasional series of looking back at photos taken during the same month ten years ago.

This post looks at the first half of March 2010. The opening picture shows First step entrance Dart 47626 N626GAH on the 2 which then operated throughout from Barrack Estate to the James Paget Hospital. Following behind was all over white Excel liveried Wright Eclipse Gemini 37572 AU58ECW. The location was Gorleston High Street.

The next two photos were from an Ipswich visit made on the 6th of the month with the initial offering showing Ipswich Buses Optare Excel 170 YG52DGO being passed by Carters Plaxton Pointer Dart R707YWC.

The next features Plaxton Beaver bodied Mercedes Benz Vario O814D 131ASV from the Beestons fleet.at the Old Cattle Market. Its previous registration was V967RCX with the dateless plate having been previously affixed to a Volvo B10M-60

Back to Great Yarmouth then for the next one which shows the use of Norwich Park & Ride liveried TransBus ALX400 32481 AU53HJY leaving Market Gates on town service 6. The decker later moved to First Essex and returned to the fold at Ipswich

The next contribution is of National Holidays' Volvo B12M YC02CFV at a wet Beach Coach Station on 9th March

Later that same day Plaxton President bodied Volvo B7TL 32105 LT02ZCU was parked outside First's Caister Road depot with 602 Harford Park & Ride displayed on the destination screen. It had transferred only that month to First Eastern Counties from First CentreWest in London  Hiding behind is Leyland Olympian 30104 K488EUX.

The final picture is of Van Hool saloon M595BLC which was observed parked outside the Lady Haven Public House at Cobholm in Great Yarmouth on 12th March. Operated by R J Hipkiss & S J Atkinson the bus was stabled there and used to transport Norwich City football supporters to home matches; appropriately in yellow and green colours. The vehicle was previously in use as a British Airway aircrew shuttle bus at Heathrow Airport.

Hope the above has jogged a few memories and hope you enjoyed today's post - part two follows shortly

Roy

Service Alterations Registered ~ 25th March 2020

Today’s Notices and Proceedings report from the Office of the Traffic Commissioner contains just the one entry regarding changes to our local bus services.

First Eastern Counties is to amend the route, stopping places and timetables of the 40/40A/X41/41A/41 services between St Stephen's Street in Norwich and Hillside Road West in Bungay from 19th April 2020

The full report is available to view here.

Roy

Stay Home ~ Stay Safe

Following last night's announcement by the Prime Minister, I am urging all bus enthusiasts to please stay at home. Buses will still be operating when this is all over and you can get to photograph them then to your heart's content.

In an attempt to discourage outings we are temporarily suspending our news feature and will only post the weekly Notices and Proceedings Reports (if published) and possibly some photos from our archives.

In the meantime should you have to use public transport please check the operator's website for developments. In the case of First Eastern Counties please click here. Another very useful site for the latest information, which also includes independent operators, is Norwich Bus Updates which also has a twitter feed.

Please follow government advice to help save lives in staying safe by staying at home.

Roy

Ex Ipswich 53 Preserved

'Reg Vardy ' contacted us yesterday to say that Kings Lynn based Coastal Red had donated former Ipswich Buses 53 to the Ipswich Transport Museum.

Operating as Lynx Bus, the company has given the Optare Spectra bodied DAF DB250 UWW2X to the museum

It was new to Ipswich buses as X153LBJ in September 2000 who operated it on the Bury Road Park & Ride service in the town. It was acquired by Lynx exactly sixteen years later and subsequently gained the UWW2X plate. It was collected from Lynn on Saturday

A press release appears on the the Ipswich Transport Museum's website with more photos featuring the vehicle are on the Museum's Facebook site

The photo, supplied by 'Reg Vardy', shows it being inspected in Kings Lynn last month. Thanks 'Reg'

Roy

Bawburgh School Bus

In late May last year I reported that one time First Great Yarmouth Plaxton President bodied Trident 32809 T809LLC had been towed to Bawburgh Village School, west of Norwich.

Courtesy of LiamS I have some subsequent pictures of the decker at the school showing that all seats have been removed as the plan is to convert into use as a school library.

T809LLC first saw use in Great Yarmouth in early November 2017 after transfer from Norwich. It was needed to help cope with an increase in Bernard Matthews contract work in the lead up to Christmas. It was withdrawn the following February prior to returning to the city for use as a driver trainer during April 2018.

My thanks to LiamS for sourcing the photos and to the school for allowing them to be published.

Roy

107 Service Ends

The Monday to Friday three times daily 107 service between Lowestoft Bus Station and Gunton St Peter ceased yesterday afternoon

Suffolk Norse SN06BOH operating the 107 service in May 2018

Operated by Suffolk Norse, the service ended with the last run at 13:40 employing Alexander Dennis Enviro300 SN06BOH. There were only six passengers on board.

My thanks to Simon Bartram for the information.

Roy

BooBee Bus In Town

Yesterday was BorderBus' last day of operating the 'Boobee' bus, ADL Enviro 400MMC, on its services.

The company had not used any of its previous loan vehicles on the 580 route between Bungay/ Beccles and Great Yarmouth, but yesterday it employed YX19ONU on the service which meant a number of appearances in Gorleston.

The first photo shows the loanee passing Gorleston Parish Church with the 11:26 service from Bungay heading for Great Yarmouth. The remaining photos are of the return 1240 working from the town's Market Gates with YX19ONU being pictured in Gorleston High Street.

A welcome relief from home confinement with social distancing being observed at all times! More photos plus further information on the bus and the Breast Cancer Charity can be found in our earlier post here

Roy