Norwich 2005 A Look Back

As promised i have stumbled upon an old hard drive which has plenty of my photos on from around 10 years ago and luckily having a new HDD Dock i plugged it in and all was well!

First post goes back Ten years to 2005, Norwich was seeing a few changes with all the Park & Ride contracts changing hands and it also saw the start of the new Bus Station being built on the old Surrey Street Depot site of Eastern Counties.

First Huddersfield 32540 on loan in Castle Meadow on the 25's in April 2005

A batch of Wright bodied Geminis from First West Yorkshire were loaned to FEC whilst some of their Alexander bodied Volvo's were repainted into the new Blue livery for Harford Park & Ride services, the vehicles were taken from the Norwich fleet but the vehicles used on Park & Ride were operated out of Great Yarmouth Depot, First also operated the Sprowston site and new Volvo B7RLE 69005 - 69011 were purchased for use and painted in a lilac/purple livery.

Ex Postwick Park & Ride 65556 moved to Norwich and is seen here in Castle Meadow on the 22 to Sprowston

The Postwick & Airport site tenders were won by Norfolk County Council and these were operated by Irisbus Agoralines in Red (Postwick) & Yellow (Airport). The Costessey and Thickthorn sites went to Konectbus who introduced Green Optare Tempos on the Costessey route whilst DAF/Wright Deckers were purchased for Thickthorn in Salmon Pink livery.

Optare Tempo Demonstrator YJ05JWY seen in part of the new Bus Station being constructed in April 2005

Final photo shows former X94/X1 Volvo B10M 20121 P731NVG working the X2 to Lowestoft in its Barbie 2 livery, awaiting passengers at Surrey Street.

First Yarmouth & Lowestoft News

30888 W743DWX seen at Caister Road shortly after arriving back from her spell in Ipswich in late 2014

January sees the start of a major refurbishment program for the remaining Volvo/ALX 400   
with First at both Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft.

Ex Leicester examples at Yarmouth, 32058/59/61-65 & 30888 will all go up to Rotherham for Internal changes required to come up to the latest DDA regulations and a full repaint into the new First livery, changes do not include a full internal refurbishment i am told. Lowestoft vehicles 30886/30889-901 will have the DDA changes only as they are already in the new colours.       

The plan runs from January to March with 4 vehicles being taken to Rotherham each month, first 4 expected to head north are 32061/32064 from Yarmouth and 30886/30901 from Lowestoft beginning on Monday next week. Four loan vehicles are expected from First South Yorkshire with two heading to Yarmouth & two for Lowestoft.

March will see two vehicles being painted into special heritage liveries for Lowestoft (Cream/Brown) and of course a Blue/Cream version for Great Yarmouth. It is hoped these two will be fully refurbished inside also. 30888 has been earmarked for the Lowestoft livery and she will transfer there on completion, incidently she is currently on loan to Lowestoft as cover as one of Lowestoft's X1 fleet has gone up to cover shortages at Kings Lynn.

Thanks to Danny Beales at First for inviting me down today to share the information (and lunch!)
             

Megabus Duty

Megabus Volvo KD07HDJ with Scania YT62HZX behind

Firstly a happy new year to you all and secondly apologies for lack of posts to the blog in the days after the Christmas break

This has been down to a couple of reasons - a few days stay with my daughter on the south coast and problems with my WiFi on my return. The latter has been resolved temporarily whilst the replacement hub is being dispatched

My first post this year concerns Freestones Coaches of Dereham. This has resulted from one of our regular reporters moving to a new job with the company which involves regular duties on its Megabus service between Norwich and London

The photo shows Plaxton Panther bodied Volvo B12B KX07HDJ at Freestones premises on the 28th December prior to working the 13:10 from Norwich to the capital.

Another of Freestone's Megabus liveried coaches, Scania/Irizar YT62HTZ, can be seen in the background

My thanks to Tom Baker for the photo and information

New Years Eve in Norwich

Birthday present shopping took me to Norwich this morning so i boarded the X1 from Acle and headed for the city in glorious sunshine. All good apart from the fact the words "Bright Sunshine" and Norwich do not mix well if you have your camera with you as very few places are good for photography in the winter months.

33003 LK51UZS in St Stephens this morning

Nothing unusual to report apart from seeing 37562 FJ08FYN with a smashed destination screen in Castle Meadow, this quickly headed off out of service back to the depot. Yarmouth to Norwich services were affected quite badly due to Haven Bridge becoming stuck in the morning, my return trip was put back about 50 minutes due to this and a couple of X1 services were noted heading through Filby en route to Acle on my way home.

One of Norfolk Green's latest arrivals is Enviro 300 GX10HBY, seen here on the X29 In St Stephens

Just to prove there are places to get sunny shots in the morning! 36174 BD11CFY seen heading along Theatre Street

Finally i would just like to wish all our readers a Safe and Happy New Year and to thank Roy for letting me become part of the blog and also a special mention to Jim Long for his help and information from the Ipswich area plus thanks to Danny Beales & Chris Speed at First for their continued support and friendship. And to everyone elso who has helped me this year along the way!

Grahame.

Boxing Day Buses

The only Boxing Day bus service running in the Worthing area was the special N700 route between Durrington, Broadwater, Worthing, Shoreham, Hove and Brighton

Brighton bound ADL Enviro400 15588 GX10HAA  captured in a wet and windy Worthing on Boxing Day

Next to the bus stop, outside the Dome Cinema, is Stagecoach South's Worthing depot.and I quickly looked in the depot yard. Understandably I observed many vehicles parked up because of the Christmas holiday period

ADL Enviro300's parked in the yard at Worthing's Stagecoach depot

Christmas Eve on the South Coast

I have been spending this Christmas period at my daughter's home in Worthing,

So with all the preparations complete before the arrival of the man with the white beard and red coat, I decided to venture out to capture a few photos before the sunset on Christmas Eve

The main reason was to observe Stagecoach South's new buses operating on the 700 Coastliner service between Brighton and Portsmouth

One of the new Scania/ADL Enviro400 YN64XSV in the new Coastliner livery -  fitted with wifi and 'comfortable seating'

The twelve new double deck buses are ADL Enviro400 bodied Scania N230UDs and represent a £2 million investment by Stagecoach on the route which runs along the coastal shores of Sussex and Hampshire

The rear of  15991 YN64XSV showing places served by the 700 which runs at ten minute intervals during the day

Similar to the fate of our First Eastern Counties X1 route, the Coastliner has also been split into three separate parts from May this year. The first part runs between Brighton and Littlehampton with another Coastliner running between Littlehampton and Chichester with a third between Gunwharf Quays, Portsmouth and Felpham Park.

2014 Review ~ Part Two

The second part of our 2014 review follows which concentrates on the two major operators in the Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft area

I was fortunate in being able to visit the Ellough, Beccles premises of Anglian in June and the Caister Road depot of First Eastern Counties during September - the latter being one of my personal highlights of the year

AnglianBus

Optrare Versa AU11ESG departs Market Gates

Anglian was subjected to many transfers to and from the fleet during the period under review

Four Optare Versas (YJ60KGU/V plus AU11EPF and AU11ESG) were transferred to sister company Konect during September

However, the most intense activity concerned the comings and goings of the Trident deckers in the fleet. February saw the movement of V161MEV and W721NNT to Headingham Buses, Ex Brighton T811RFG was taken out of service in April to be sent to Headingham in

Demonstrator YT13YUK on loan to Anglian

November. T811 was replaced by Konect's

similar W825NNJ. A further Anglian liveried example, T813RFG, was withdrawn the following month with Konect again supplying W822NNJ and W823NNJ.

Also in February, Alexander Dennis Enviro 300 bodied Scania gas powered demonstrator YT13YUK was taken on loan. It later made the national press as the 'poo bus' being fuelled by biomethane gas produced from recycled sewage and food waste

Optare Solo AO57EXA on fire at Filby

However, the most dramatic report, including photos, was that of Optare Solo AO57EXA catching fire at Filby. Needless to say the vehicle was subsequently withdrawn

Timetable changes occurred in February and September with the former including the diverting of some of Anglian's 60 services via Lound, thereby restoring the bus link previously provided by Ambassador

First Eastern Counties
The most significant development at Caster

The new order - the first StreetLite at Caister Road 

Road was the arrival of six new Wright StreetLites 47501-6 (SN64CPU/V/X/Y/Z/RF) which entered revenue earning service in November. They were the first new buses for Great Yarmouth for a number of years with a similar number arriving for use in Norwich

Their arrival saw the beginning of a cascade of buses to Lowestoft with Caetano bodies Darts 43860-3 E52FGF/J/K/FFK and former First Essex Dart 42921 EU05AUN. Their arrival saw the transfer of 45118/9 ST09JPT and RT09JPT to Norwich

Operationally, its flagship X1 route was split into two in late July over concerns that roadworks on the A47 at Postwick might cause excessive disruption to the service. It was initially thought that this would be a retrograde step but apparently passenger numbers have continued to increase on both parts of the route. The X1 is to be divided even further next month when the route will be split into another four parts  

Four Olympians line up in December 

On the Volvo Olympian front the numbers in service at the beginning of the year were at an all time low with 34109  W436CWX taken out of service for repair. At the time both Northern Counties variants 34186/7 S686/7AAE were continuing in use on schools and contract work. The remaining active examples saw periods in and out of service as parts were being robbed from others stored at the back of the depot. Spring saw the numbers increase with the return to service of 34111 W431CWX and 34114 W434CWX.

Olympian 34187 ready for its last departure in October

As many of you will know, they appear quite regularly on Bernard Matthews duties and my photo of some of them in then quintet heading for the factory in early December led to a line up of Bernard Matthews vehicles at the depot for the next day's duties - including all active Olympians

Unfortunately not all have them have made it to the year's end as 34187 S687AAE left in October for scrapping after yielding its gearbox to 34186. Lowestoft's 34155 P655UFB was also collected by Alpha Recovery, although sister 34156 P656UFB was donated to Norfolk Fire Service.

Another vehicle making her last journey was Volvo N609APU 

Another long term resident at the rear of the depot was driver trainer 20109 N609APU which was also collected by Alpha during early August

The shortage of driver trainers was overcome by movement of two of Great Yarmouth's Volvo B10BLE's to Sheffield for conversion for such use. 60807 S658RNA returned to Norwich in August duly converted with its new livery - 60808 S659RNA is currently receiving the same treatment

This reduced the numbers of B10BLE's at Caister Road but the three (60813/4 and 66126) became four in August, with the arrival of First Yorkshire 60622 R385WKW, officially on loan to First Ipswich, and was immediately pressed into service. It moved back to the Suffolk town in December in return for the now quieter ALX400 bodied Volvo B7TL W743DWX 

32058 W218XBD was the first ALX400 arrival from Leicester

Other transfers were from First Leicester. The arrivals of First London Enviro400s meant the release of seven ALX400 bodied Volvo B7TLs to Great Yarmouth. The first arrived in late February and the last in early June. They were 32058/9/61-5 (W218/9/21XBD and W422-5SRP) with Gemini 32629 KP54KAX arriving from Leicester shortly after

Volvo B7/Presidents 32201/2 (LT52WTF/G) moved to Norwich in late September joining former Great Yarmouth 32200/3 (LT52WTE/J) which transferred to the city earlier in the year

Any excuse to add a pic of 33423 to the blog

Repaints also formed many of the reports on the blog. After its use on X1 services in January celebrity 33423 SN60CAA moved to Great Yarmouth and was sent to Full Circle for a repaint. It returned in early February and straight away attracted the attention of photographers. However, First reported later in the year that it was to be repainted in the blue/gold Excel X1 livery which clearly upset some enthusiasts! Gemini 37578 AU58EDJ has been subsequently subjected to the same treatment.

With Ipswich repaints already under way, Norwich jumped on the bandwagon in September with 33163 LR02LXZ being the first to return in its new livery. There was some confusion though over what size and colour the Norwich fleet name would be in! 

Acknowledgements

Phew! 2014 has been an exceptionally busy year indeed which is reflected in the 472 posts (so far!) - the highest ever annual total. This activity is no doubt due to the many reports received during this past year and I would like to thank all of you who have contributed

Special mention must be made for the tireless contributions from Grahame Bessey, Syd Eade, Tim Miller and Jamie Skinner

My thanks also go to James Race, Neil Chilvers, Tim Major, Joe Leathers Watson, Danny Beales, Chris Speed, James Long, Lee Howes, Rob Collins, SteveW, Terry Wilkins, Zak Nelson, Mike Sayer, Harry Stanley, Sam Larke for their support too. My apologies if I have left anyone out!

And Finally....

Finally, eastnorfolkbus would like to wish all of its readers, supporters and contributors a very merry Christmas and a happy new year. It looks as though 2015 could be an interesting year too