• Our new ticketing site is now live! Using either this or the original site (both powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!

First Aberdeen

kkong

Member
Joined
8 Sep 2008
Messages
1,126
It is planned to be located at the new Energy Transition Zone, in Altens off Hareness Road.

Yes, I was aware of this site, but as you say, nothing is happening on the ground, so it's unlikely to begin production in 2024, or even 2025.

On 27 Feb 2024, the announcement of UK Government funding for the project was said to be [my emphasis]:

an important step towards considering the final investment decision on the project to deliver phase one of a scalable green hydrogen production, storage, and distribution facility in Aberdeen.

Given the lack of any more recent news on the project website, we can assume the FID has still not (yet) been made.

Unless / until a FID has been made, no substantive procurement or construction will take place.
 
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R

RailUK Forums

LT02 NVV

Member
Joined
12 Nov 2019
Messages
633
Location
Glasgow
Wasn’t Aberdeen suppose to get 12 or 15 Enviro 400 buses from Manchester again?
Why are there only 6 of them again?

Aberdeen clearly need more buses, as the Hydrogen pumps keep failing, and they only have a few buses to replace them right now, which leads to First Glasgow buses being sent up on loan (excluding the low-height E400s, which have been sent there to replace the E500s).
 

Jordan Adam

Established Member
Joined
12 Sep 2017
Messages
5,654
Location
Aberdeen
Wasn’t Aberdeen suppose to get 12 or 15 Enviro 400 buses from Manchester again?
Why are there only 6 of them again?

Aberdeen clearly need more buses, as the Hydrogen pumps keep failing, and they only have a few buses to replace them right now, which leads to First Glasgow buses being sent up on loan (excluding the low-height E400s, which have been sent there to replace the E500s).
The 9 additional Enviro400s from Manchester would directly replace the 9 Citaros so it wouldn't really make any difference to the situation. At least the Manchester Enviro400s seem more reliable than their Glasgow counterparts.

Even without the Hydrogen pump issues Aberdeen have frequently been struggling to make service for the past two years, the issue is more to do with the fleet size when compared to the peak vehicle requirement. The Hydrogen pump failing just add to it.

The only good thing (i suppose) is that reliability and availability of the Ex-Glasgow Enviro300s does seem to be better than the Streetlites they replaced.
 

fife_circle

Member
Joined
11 Dec 2022
Messages
82
Location
Fife
Why are they replacing all of these busses when they’re struggling to meet the current fleet requirements? Surely it would be more beneficial to them to keep the bendys or some of the E500s and bring in the additional E400s as well. Is space an issue in the depot? Is it purely financial?
 

PG

Established Member
Joined
12 Oct 2010
Messages
3,470
Location
at the end of the high and low roads
Why are they replacing all of these busses when they’re struggling to meet the current fleet requirements? Surely it would be more beneficial to them to keep the bendys or some of the E500s and bring in the additional E400s as well. Is space an issue in the depot? Is it purely financial?
My money (pardon the pun :smile:) is on it being purely financial - E500s drink fuel and the bendys aren't light on it either.
 
Joined
31 Dec 2021
Messages
834
Location
Glasgow
Whopping 3mpg (on a good day) on those citaros
It is peculiar that they do such poorly on fuel economy, The latest Volvo B8L tri-axles across the country are doing quite abit better fuel economy wise according to ZEMO even in an urban environment, their age and the fact they have 5.12 rear diff ratios is simply contributing to this let alone their weight.

The latest Volvo B8L have a 6.20 rear axle fitted which reduced the need for the engine to put in quite as much effort, however, this also means their engines are resting a quite high revs whilst cruising..

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: ==

The 9 additional Enviro400s from Manchester would directly replace the 9 Citaros so it wouldn't really make any difference to the situation. At least the Manchester Enviro400s seem more reliable than their Glasgow counterparts.

Even without the Hydrogen pump issues Aberdeen have frequently been struggling to make service for the past two years, the issue is more to do with the fleet size when compared to the peak vehicle requirement. The Hydrogen pump failing just add to it.

The only good thing (i suppose) is that reliability and availability of the Ex-Glasgow Enviro300s does seem to be better than the Streetlites they replaced.
Is simply continuing with usual unreliable fleet they’ve got.

The bendys and E500s have age against them and the E400s have always been a poor choice of vehicle in my opinion.

Volvo still provides the most robust and reliable vehicle on the bus market for the UK, body manufacturer aside.

Before Aberdeen had Yutongs there best vehicles were the B7RLE Eclipses.
 
Last edited:

Jordan Adam

Established Member
Joined
12 Sep 2017
Messages
5,654
Location
Aberdeen
Is simply continuing with usual unreliable fleet they’ve got.

The bendys and E500s have age against them and the E400s have always been a poor choice of vehicle in my opinion.

Volvo still provides the most robust and reliable vehicle on the bus market for the UK, body manufacturer aside.

Before Aberdeen had Yutongs there best vehicles were the B7RLE Eclipses.
Agreed. Although in their final year reliability of the B7RLEs dropped a fair bit. The Yutongs have really proven themselves though, it's a shame there isn't more.

What doesn't help either is poor vehicle allocations. For example today there's a football match on at Pittodrie therefor you'd expect the highest capacity vehicles on the 1, 1B, 2 and 13. Yet for some bizzare reason the morning controller has decided to put single deckers on the 1/2 meanwhile deckers are on the 3/3A, 12, 17/18 and 23. This seems to happen pretty much every time theres a football match on a Saturday.... you really couldn't make it up!

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: ==

Part of the reason the Citaros are so fuel hungry is the 5.2L turbo V12 on them. Beefy engine
5.2L turbo V12? The Citaros have a 10.8L 6-cylinder.
 

ScotRail158725

Established Member
Joined
27 Nov 2018
Messages
2,662
With all the E500s withdrawn how many of them are still parked in Aberdeen or are they all now down with Ensign?
 

Jordan Adam

Established Member
Joined
12 Sep 2017
Messages
5,654
Location
Aberdeen
With all the E500s withdrawn how many of them are still parked in Aberdeen or are they all now down with Ensign?
Most are with Cambridge Bus & Coach.

38205, 38219 and 38223 remain at King Street Depot.

"All the ones " (11111) has also been withdrawn as a parts donor to the rest of the batch. Unusual that they've chosen that one given its one of the better more reliable Citaros. You would've thought 11106 would've been first pick for withdrawal given it has rarely seen much service of late.
 
Joined
8 Feb 2021
Messages
1,033
Location
Manchester
“All the ones " (11111) has also been withdrawn as a parts donor to the rest of the batch. Unusual that they've chosen that one given its one of the better more reliable Citaros. You would've thought 11106 would've been first pick for withdrawal given it has rarely seen much service of late.
If it’s anything like York’s 5 that stayed, it’ll have had something mechanically major go wrong and thus turned into a christmas tree for the others
 

LT02 NVV

Member
Joined
12 Nov 2019
Messages
633
Location
Glasgow
I’ve just seen a recently repainted E400 for Aberdeen at Glasgow Caledonia depot. It’s one of the Ex-Manchester ones, reg plate I think is SN12 AEW.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_2392.jpeg
    IMG_2392.jpeg
    1.8 MB · Views: 125
  • IMG_2393.jpeg
    IMG_2393.jpeg
    1.8 MB · Views: 127

Volvodart

Established Member
Joined
12 Jun 2010
Messages
2,929
The final ex Oldham E400, 33703, has finally been repainted in the green Aberdeen livery. The only difference is that there are no First plus logo on the sides
 

stevenedin

Established Member
Joined
26 Jul 2021
Messages
1,794
Location
Edinburgh
The final ex Oldham E400, 33703, has finally been repainted in the green Aberdeen livery. The only difference is that there are no First plus logo on the sides
You would have thought that it would’ve been repainted into the new livery unless the painting had already started prior to the new livery being introduced?
 

JumpinTrainz

Established Member
Joined
30 Jul 2018
Messages
1,929
I wonder when they’ll start painting Aberdeen’s buses. Hopefully get the Yutongs done soon.
 

Haribolover06

Member
Joined
20 Nov 2021
Messages
43
Location
Aberdeen
i would presume they would be repainted when required, seems like a waste of paint to repaint only a few years old vehicle, also only in the last few months almost all of the buses at Aberdeen are in the Aberdeen livery, would be better for customers to keep the same livery until new vehicles get delivered and older ones get sold / cascaded to other depots.
 

TheGrandWazoo

Veteran Member
Joined
18 Feb 2013
Messages
22,843
Location
Somerset with international travel (e.g. across th
i would presume they would be repainted when required, seems like a waste of paint to repaint only a few years old vehicle, also only in the last few months almost all of the buses at Aberdeen are in the Aberdeen livery, would be better for customers to keep the same livery until new vehicles get delivered and older ones get sold / cascaded to other depots.
They have repainted one of the 71 plate e400EVs so no guarantee though, I agree with you, it would make sense not to be repainting nearly new vehicles that are in the "right" colours when there are more deserving recipients.
 
Joined
3 Aug 2021
Messages
820
Location
Glasgow
They have repainted one of the 71 plate e400EVs so no guarantee though, I agree with you, it would make sense not to be repainting nearly new vehicles that are in the "right" colours when there are more deserving recipients.

The 71 plate e400E may have required a repaint after accident damage or similar. Something that required a repaint.
Aberdeen's fleet is generally devoid of route branding so less likely to warrant an additional repaint.
Most (not all) of Glasgow's repaints have been route branded vehicles being relieved of their route branding.
 

cnjb8

Established Member
Joined
26 Feb 2019
Messages
2,301
Location
Nottingham
The 71 plate e400E may have required a repaint after accident damage or similar. Something that required a repaint.
Aberdeen's fleet is generally devoid of route branding so less likely to warrant an additional repaint.
Most (not all) of Glasgow's repaints have been route branded vehicles being relieved of their route branding.
That was the 72 plate BYD, the 71 plates were repainted as normal
 

JumpinTrainz

Established Member
Joined
30 Jul 2018
Messages
1,929
It’s First we’re talking about :lol:

Debranding the Streetdecks would be a good idea but they would require being towed to Glasgow for repaint. I think the Yutongs being fairly new they’ll probably be done sooner than we think.
 

Scotrail88

Member
Joined
21 Jul 2014
Messages
447
Is there a plan for hydrogens going back into full service?
Seen few more appearing and being prepared for service
 

TheGrandWazoo

Veteran Member
Joined
18 Feb 2013
Messages
22,843
Location
Somerset with international travel (e.g. across th
The 71 plate e400E may have required a repaint after accident damage or similar. Something that required a repaint.
Aberdeen's fleet is generally devoid of route branding so less likely to warrant an additional repaint.
Most (not all) of Glasgow's repaints have been route branded vehicles being relieved of their route branding.
They've cracked on with doing 5 71 plates, plus quite a few others now. Only one single decker (e300) done thus far though.
 

Farigiraf

Member
Joined
23 Jul 2023
Messages
1,141
Location
Bridge on the River Cam
Saw an Aberdeen bus in Cambridge 2/3 days ago, just parked on the side of the road. It had all branding stripped except for the 'Aberdeen' sign. Does anybody have any idea why? Could it be a bus that was sold off to some private firm which happened to have been in Cambridge earlier this week?
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Farigiraf

Member
Joined
23 Jul 2023
Messages
1,141
Location
Bridge on the River Cam
From August 2023 to May 2024, all 25 Enviro500s were gradually withdrawn from Kernow and Aberdeen. Most are now with Cambridge Buses[15] for school services, having arrived there via Ensignbus.
I did some googling and the Wikipedia article does indeed state the following: (could only put the 'quote' text above due formatting problems)
As it was in the afternoon that I saw it, I'd assume it was just a not in service school bus then.
 

Volvodart

Established Member
Joined
12 Jun 2010
Messages
2,929
Does King Street have a trim workshop for retrimming driver and passenger seats. Or does an outside firm deal with that?
Most of the recent ones were done at First Glasgow, either by the bus going down or just the seats going down. They had a local contractor to do the fabric seats. Some of the "leather" seats just have the vinyl not the pattern on them. so they may have been done locally too. The ones reseated in Glasgow recently would have had their internal poles repainted, but the first ones done did not get this.
 
Last edited:

JumpinTrainz

Established Member
Joined
30 Jul 2018
Messages
1,929
First Aberdeen is now tracking on bustimes.org. Strange given how it never did in the past but its good they finally started physically tracking on the map
Glasgow seems to be too. Hopefully it stays as Aberdeen hasn’t been tracking at all in recent months.
 

Top