Norwich Wednesday

Our regular reporter Dan High was in his usual position on Norwich's Castle Meadow earlier today and here is a selection of some of his sightings.

On its first day in service, FirstBus Eastern Counties Wright StreetDeck Electroliner 36702 LX76 ZFS was observed on the 28 route to Thorpe Marriott.

Jubilee Coaches' green Dennis Javelin/Plaxton Profile YU05 ZHT was noted outside the entrance to the Castle Mall Shopping Centre.

Later seen in the same location was Bakers Dolphin Gold Service branded Irizar i8 BD24 GLD.

On Theatre Street in the city was Central Connects' Yutong GT12 YK25 OMG on Flixbus duty with the 007 service from London.

Our final photo is of Norwich-based ICT Coaches' Mercedes-Benz Tourismo BV26 HUZ on University Drive.

Our thanks to Dan for the photos.

Roy

FirstBus Update

The latest from First is that two Volvo B9TLs have been withdrawn. They are Great Yarmouth's 37564 AU58ECC and Lowestoft's 37532 MXZ 3342. The latter is parked up at Norwich

Similar 36174 BD11 CFY and 36225 BD12 TAV have moved down the coast from Great Yarmouth to Lowestoft.

My thanks to Steve N for the information.

Roy

Norwich Today

Three photos from Dan High's photos taken today in Norwich include Central Connect's Mercedes-Benz Sprinter / EVM Cityline 228 RX25 TCJ on the 50 service from Mousehold Heath to the City Centre.

Passing through Castle Meadow was Marett's Chariots' BMC 850 VF62 GAA. It began life with Welsh’s Coaches of Upton, Pontefract in September 2012 with the registration 1308 RW.

The final photo is of one of FirstBus new Wright StreetDeck Electroliners 36701 LX76 ZFP travelling on Red Lion Street on the 26 to the Norfolk & Norwich Hospital with Norwich Castle in the back ground.

Thanks Dan.

Roy

Charcoal Line Improvements

People in the Bungay and Halesworth area have been fighting the withdrawal of the daytime X41 FirstBus service to Norwich with much of the Charcoal line route being reduced to an hourly service. There were reports that it was having a ‘significant practical impact on daily life’ with overcrowding, longer journeys, missed appointments and difficulties accessing work, education and healthcare.

The introduction of a revised service from 1st November follows sustained pressure from Bungay Town Council and Bungay Traffic Forum. The operator has acknowledged the increased passenger numbers on the route especially by school and college students.

The November improvements can be viewed HERE and my thanks to Mark C for bringing this to my attention.

Roy

Revisited Norwich March 2011

Been a while since we had a trip back in time, today we go back 15 years to March 2011 and a visit to the city which were a lot more frequent than they are these days!

 

First up we begin with Norfolk Green Optare Tempo YJ58VCC seen here working the X29 from Fakenham, now run by First of course. This was prior to the Kings Lynn based operator passing to the Stagecoach group.

 

Next up we have Eastons Scania Omnilink YN08HXZ which was originally a demonstrator. This did pass to Sanders after its stint with Eastons.

 

Konectbus were trialling Mercedes Benz Bendi Bus BX02YYW which was on loan from Brighton & Hove. They did go on to purchase some of the type but were only short lived, these being ex London examples.

 

Norse were running  Park & Ride services in the city at this time with assorted couloured Dennis Tridents and single deck Agoralines. This White example was classed as a spare vehicle and is seen at Norwich Bus Station about to head out to the airport. This example was last noted in use with Preston Bus.

Finally the main fleet of First in Norwich had a large influx of ex London vehicles. 32206 LT52WTM was part of a batch of Volvo B7TL from First London. This spent the majority of its days at Great Yarmouth after starting off at Norwich.

Hope you have enjoyed this little look back.

Grahame.

Norwich Friday

Dan High was out and about in the Norwich area yesterday and found Konectbus ADL Enviro400 635 SN65 OAU on the 5 at Rackheath on its way to the City.

When in the city he saw Sanders Coaches' Wright Eclipse 2 bodied Volvo B7RLE 553 BJ11 ECW arriving with the 45 from Holt

Thanks for the photos Dan

Roy

Three Tourismos

Passing Great Yarmouth’s Beach Coach Station at lunchtime today I observed three Mercedes-Benz Tourismos.

The first was Greenline Holidays’ GC22 GLC with the others being BV20 HNC and BV19 YFH from the Alfa Holidays’ fleet.

Roy