Ipswich Bus Rally

The Ipswich Bus Rally took place on Sunday, organised by the Ipswich Transport Museum it was held on Portman Road in the town. Being a Norwich City fan this was a tad uncomfortable being so close to that other ground for a day i can tell you!, but we got through it!.

Our Transport for the day, Anglian 102 WX62HHF.

I was invited to attend with Anglianbus by David Smith of Go Ahead and we made the trip aboard one of the fleet of Gas buses, a first for me as i had never sampled one to travel on. We left around 9.45 and headed along the A12 to Ipswich. I was joined by Sam & Kieron from the Norwich Buses Blog for the trip also.

Ipswich 16, AEC Regent CDX516

On arrival the rally site was filling up rapidly and lots of vehicles were in place with others moving around to operate the various special services for the day, included in the day were depot tours and Bus Wash rides at Ipswich Buses as well as a link to the Transport Museum via many of the vintage & modern vehicles on display.

Making its debut on the rally scene was former Thamesway Dart N952CPU,this was its first outing after being repainted into its original livery at Mardens, it was latterly part of First Essex fleet before going into preservation.

Coach Services of Thetford Routemaster JJD401D pictured outside 'That other football ground' being looked down on by Sir Bobby Robson, you could say Two English legends together!.

I also ventured into the town centre to have a look in at First's Depot and photograph a few vehicles there and observed quite a number of Ipswich Buses vehicles working their Sunday services including the recent Mercedes Benz Citaro arrivals, 154 BF65HVU is seen here working its usual route 9 in Tower Ramparts Bus Station.

Towards the end of the afternoon a line up of all the visiting Bristol RE's was created on the opposite car park of the rally site with seven examples on show including three Eastern Counties versions, RAH681F, EPW516K & GCL349N of which all three looked superb as did all the others on display.

A very enjoyable day was had catching up with many people and seeing some classic vehicles still going strong and it was finished off with a quick trip past Ambassador Travel's depot on the way home hoping to spot their two latest arrivals. It was my lucky day as both were parked outside the yard and it was like they knew i wanted photos as they were perfectly positioned to do so.

Many Thanks to David from Go Ahead for the invite (We wont mention the braking!) and nice to catch up with many others on the day.          

Grahame.