Bury Revisited

Some fourteen months after my last visit to Bury St Edmunds, I made my return yesterday and here is my report

In the intervening months First withdrew from the town and closed its depot at the end of March last year. Coincidentally I passed the former depot on the way to the Cotton Lane Car Park. The depot still retains its Lost Luggage sign complete with First logo but the site is now fenced off and is used for private parking.

With my wife and her sisters off for some retail therapy, I made my way to the bus station at St Andrews Street North. My first photo is of Stephenson's Dart 436 LX51FGF heading south with the Nowton Estate service.

Upon entering the bus station, I observed Chambers Volvo Olympian S131RLE laying over awaiting its next duty.

I continued to the far end of the bus station and hastily turned to catch a

picture of an Optare Solo from the Mulleys' fleet. I needn't have hurried as the driver slowed so that I could get a photo of his bus AE06YYU. Another notable Mulleys bus seen was that of Mercedes Benz Vario/ Plaxton Beaver AY51 EWV - previously recorded as withdrawn!

With everything seen inside the bus station I returned to the front of the building in time to picture another Stephensons Dart; this time it was 411 SK02XGO on the 312 to Exning

She was followed by an ADL Enviro 400 from the Stagecoach East fleet. 18341 AE55DKD was returning to the stand to take up its journey to
the university city of Cambridge

A couple of minutes later, the Stephenson's dedicated Scania/Irizar Century 203 OW03LFL was seen entering the bus station with X14 Suffolk Express from Ipswich

Also observed was Coach Services Scania K230UB/ Wright Solar YN57FZL not in service but heading

for the bus station on St Andrews Street North.

To sum up then, vehicles from the Stephensons and Mulleys fleets dominated in Bury by providing most of the local services. Double deckers from the Chambers fleet make regular appearances as do vehicles from Coach Services, Simonds and Stagecoach East. In comparison to my last visit, only one bus from the Galloway fleet was noted. However, it was a little eerie in not seeing any First Eastern Counties vehicles operating in the town!

Photos taken on the day now appear on my Flickr site