Rail Replacements and Hire-ins

[darloscott]

South Lakes pop up everywhere for Arriva (Northern) as do KT’s Coaches pretty often.

 

[Pyewipecarshed]

South Lakes pop up everywhere for Arriva (Northern) as do KT’s Coaches pretty often.

I'd not seen them in this neck of the woods before.

Today's additions are Johnson Brothers Tours (Worksop) and A&A (Tockwith), the latter with an ex-Arriva London Wright Gemini 2 in full London livery!

 

[Sun Chariot]

Turning the air AdBlue.

Portsmouth City Coaches new (registered April 2025) Volvo MCV EvoSeti drinks deeply from the Shell diesel pump.
Today's near constant rainfall hasn't dirtied that lovely white exterior... yet!

Two further MCV EvoSeti tri-axles are on post #46, belonging to Aldermaston Coach Lines.

 

[Pyewipecarshed]

The engineering blockade of Grimsby and Cleethorpes has now ended, and the final list of operators that I have seen and/or photographed during the week is;

2-Way, Scunthorpe
A&A Coach Travel, Tockwith
Acklam's, Beverley
Bland's, Essendine
City Transport, Newcastle
DM Travel, Tockwith
Expressway, Rotherham
Grayscroft, Mablethorpe
Hawkes, Derby
JKT, Bloxwich
Johnson's, Hibaldstow
Johnson's, Worksop
PC Coaches, Lincoln
Sharpe's, Nottingham
Sleafordian, Sleaford
South Lakes Travel, Barrow-in-Furness
Ultimate Coaches, Barnsley

Plus several vehicles with no fleet name and no discernable legal lettering (although I'm sure it was there somewhere!). There may be more that I didn't see, but quite an impressive lineup.

 

[Sun Chariot]

That's a fantastic mix, @Pyewipecarshed

 

[185102]

If it was the Ultimate coaches vechile on monday/Tuesday believe it was on a school trip. Believe the white VDL was missing legal lettering certainly on thursday although it may have been corrected that day.

 

[Pyewipecarshed]

If it was the Ultimate coaches vechile on monday/Tuesday believe it was on a school trip. Believe the white VDL was missing legal lettering certainly on thursday although it may have been corrected that day.

There was a white VDL running without legals* which first appeared around Sunday/Monday and worked for the rest of the week, but I didn't check it for legals later on in the week so it may have acquired some.
There was also a blue Van Hool without* that I saw on the first Saturday and the Monday, but I don't think it worked again after that; I didn't see it again anyway.

*As far as I could see.

 

[Sun Chariot]

Not a rail replacement or a hire-in; but I couldn't resist adding this shot of a surreal sight on the River Danube, in Budapest, last Thursday...

 

[DesDobramento]

Regional Transport (Shrewsbury) are often seen on rail replacement in The Marches and West Midlands, and were booked Nuneaton/Birmingham on Sunday 15 June. However, the Cross-Country Nuneaton/Peterborough etc was in severe disarray (5 hour gaps).

What must be the strangest Rail Replacement bus working of the year - up there as the bus equivalent of such recent rail delights such as Class 43s in Kent and 37403 on Aberdeen sleepers - was Regional Transport's immaculate 24-year old DAF/Alexander double-deck Y473UGC commandeered to work a late-afternoon Nuneaton/Peterborough trip, as confirmed at the company's Facebook site.

 

[Sun Chariot]

What must be the strangest Rail Replacement bus working of the year - up there as the bus equivalent of such recent rail delights such as Class 43s in Kent and 37403 on Aberdeen sleepers - was Regional Transport's immaculate 24-year old DAF/Alexander double-deck Y473UGC commandeered to work a late-afternoon Nuneaton/Peterborough trip, as confirmed at the company's Facebook site.

I wonder how many passengers appreciated what they were on, rather than musing "this bus is louder and looks older than our usual ones".