First Eastern Counties
During February, First announced a £76million order for new vehicles which included twenty two Enviro400s to replace the Wright Eclipse Geminis then employed on the X1 service between Lowestoft, Great Yarmouth, Norwich, Kings Lynn and Peterborough.
A month later, four First Essex ADL Pointer 2 Darts made their trip north to Caister Road to become part of the Great Yarmouth allocation. They were joined in May by the first arrivals of a sudden influx of former Connex Jersey Caetano Nimbuses. They were to total twenty one with all of them being branded and prepped at Caister Road. Six were for First Worcester, four for First Clacton, four for First Lowestoft and seven for First Great Yarmouth
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| First Essex 43857 EG52FGE and First Eastern Counties 43862 EG52FGK Caetano Nimbuses with withdrawn Dart 43446 P446NEX at Caister Road depot in late May |
The entry of the Nimbuses into service from mid May saw the P and R registered Darts quickly ousted from service with many of the latter often seen languishing in the rear yard prior to collection for scrapping by Alpha Recovery of Westlade (dealers)
The end of the month saw the resumption of seasonal route 3, linking the holiday parks with the town centre and seafront areas; providing awelcome return of the two Routemasters JJD480D and NML623E
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| First Enviro400 33808 YX63LJO passes Gorleston Parish Church on 17th December heading for Lowestoft on the X1 |
October saw some of the Alexander Royale bodied Volvo Olympians standing down from service - only to be subsequently resurrected. Examples were seen at the rear of Caister Road with notices saying 'Vehicle on reserve - no parts to be removed'. It is believed that they are to be retained after active service for driver training use
The end of December sees changes in Lowestoft town services with many services running for the last time; the 104 serving the Fortress Estate is to be covered by a diverted 103 whilst the 107 is to be operated by Suffolk Norse
Ambassador Travel
The only activity to report on this Great Yarmouth operator is the acquisition of Dennis Javelin F339HWF from Our Bus, which quickly transferred to sister company Semence of Wymondham
Anglianbus
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| MAN City Smart Demonstrator WX12EKO on trial in January |
A further four of the MAN EcoCity Gasbuses appeared in service at the beginning of the year, but it wasn't until early March before the remaining three began earning their keep
Also in January, Anglian employed MAN City Smart Demonstrator WX12EKO on trial which was often observed on 581 Beccles service around lunchtime. Two wheel forward StreetLites MX12JXV and MX12DYM were also in use as demonstrators during March and September respectively
In late April it was announced that Anglian's Managing Director Andrew Pursey would be leaving the company at the end of July. He would be replaced by Konect's Julian Patterson with Philip Eden as operations manager.
The integration of Anglian and Konect fleets into a common fleet numbering scheme began in June. This resulted in a number of Anglian's vehicles being withdrawn with three vehicles immediately going to Ensignbus (dealer) The trio were Dennis Javelin CSK282 and Scania Omnicity's YN03WRF/G. Ensignbus received further four vehicles from Anglian during August which included Volvo Olympian HIL7618
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| Former Konectbus Dennis Trident W821NNJ now with Anglian She is seen in Lowestoft on the 60 service on 20th December |
Other developments during August included the transfer of a Solo to Chambers and the gain of Dennis Trident W821NNJ, still in Konect livery, with Anglianbus fleetnames later applied. These departures, together with the withdrawal of four Alexander ALX400 bodied Dennis Tridents, has substantially reduced the size of Anglian's fleet compared to that at the begiining of the year.
Anglianbus introduced their new bus network from the beginning of September involving new service numbers and new routes including a more direct Great Yarmouth to Norwich express service 7 omitting the village of Acle. Sister company Konect introduced a new service 52 linking Acle to Cringleford via Norwich
Further changes were announced in November; one change was the extension of the 7 to serve Gorleston and Lowestoft with the inclusion of an Acle stop. Konect would cease their Acle service as a result. The new timetable comes into use in early January
Borderbus
Two of the trio were subsequently observed at Lambert Coaches Beccles yard in white and blue livery and receiving Sir John Leman High School and Sixth Form Centre branding
Eurosun
There is little to report on this Lowestoft business other than the operational fleet has been reduced after two their coaches gained the dreaded VOR sign. One of them is former Caroline Seagull K2HWT
Marret's Chariots
However, in August it was reported that three former Shearings Van Hool Alizee bodied Volvo B12Ms had been acquired - MX03ACJ/Y/Z. One of them was quickly re-advertised for sale!
Nightingales
Nightingales of Beccles ceased operating two Lowestoft town routes from the end of July - the hourly 108 service to Oulton Broad and the twice daily 115 to Kirkley both from the bus station. The operator said that it wanted to concentrate on mainly schools and contract work
Our Bus
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| Mercedes SF54OUY a regular performer on the seafront service |
Two of the fleet were advertised for sale on ebay during August with Dennis Javelin F339HWF being purchased by Ambassador Travel before quickly moving Semence of Wymondham
Our Bus reintroduced its Great Yarmouth Seafront service in July with Merecedes Vario SF54OUY being a regular performer with sister Vario SN53KZH deputising for her on occasion
Reynolds Coaches
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| Dennis Javelins CHZ4794 and CHZ4796 advertised for sale during February |
There were many comings and goings in the Caister fleet during the year with the first coaches advertised for sale being Toyota BIG8781 and Denis Javelins CHZ4794/6. More were up for disposal during August with Toyota BIG7756 and Denis Javelin BIG9836 subsequently being sold
The first of the incomers was a 29 seater Mercedes/ Plaxton Cheetah in August, later registered BIG8790. September witnessed the arrival of two former Ministry of Defence coaches - Dennis Javelins AW02ASU and X208UAO. The former joined Bova BIG6620 on the disposal list during October
Sanders Coaches
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| Sanders OmniCity YN03UVM still in Anglian livery during July |
In May, Route One magazine reported two new additions to the fleet in the form of Mercedes Varios/ Plaxton Cheetahs YN13AVX/Y
Other noteable arrivals included a trio of Wright Cadet bodied DAFs from Fishwick of Leyland (X821-3NWK), three Scania/ Wright Solars (YN05GXX, YN06NXR/S) from Reading Transport in June, DAF S468GUB from Arriva Yorkshire and Scania OmniCity decker ex-demonstrator YR10BBO from Ensign of Purfleet
Many vehicles were scrapped by Sanders- among them were DAFs M806RCP, F224YHG, J201BVO and Mercedes N68MDW. DAF/ Northern Counties Palantine P335ROO also left the fleet
Swift Taxis
Another lean year for this Great Yarmouth operator which saw three coaches leaving the fleet
The first was former Caroline Seagull Dennis Javelin G470LVG which was acquired for preservation in January being currently stored in the East Norfolk area
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| TransBus Dart FJ53VDL at Swift's Morton Peto Road yard at Gapton Hall Estate on 16th August 2011 |
The last vehicle to move on to pastures new was BMC Probus BX54VUM which subsequently found its way to Bradford coach hire company Skyways Travel
Operationally another service was withdrawn; the Southtown to Martham 302 route from 5th September
Conclusion
Phew!! 2013 was an exceptionally busy year - let's hope 2014 holds as much interest for us all
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