Stagecoach North West Discussion

[cainebj]

47056 (PX04 DLY) and an unidentified 51 reg solo have been spotted travelling north up the M6!!!!!!! from what i can gather, it was somewhere in Cumbria, but not sure on that lol

47024 was on Moorclose Circular 50 before, but it is now ran by 20779.
40013 is on Moorclose Circular 51.
40033 and 33167 are on Harrington & Seaton routes. i havnt seen which other bus is running it.
seen 3 of LL's beaver bodied vario's today. 2 were on annexe and 1 in bus station. the ones on annexe were 42534 and 42562.
20768 was on the annexe with them.
20753 on 31.

 

[Dallamlad]

Those Solo's sound exiting heading for LL perhaps? I assume 47056 still had its branding.

 

[driver9000]

14208 heading for Blackpool on the 42 again today
20133 on a 3 bound for the University.

Former Preston Bus Dennis Trident/Lolyne 18583 has got LED screens

 

[Dallamlad]

Oh an LED is that because the old blinds were broken or coz their all getting them? I thought it would be to expensive to get them all done and that they'd all be left.

 

[driver9000]

Oh an LED is that because the old blinds were broken or coz their all getting them? I thought it would be to expensive to get them all done and that they'd all be left.

No idea to be honest. I saw it in Preston earlier today.

 

[Dallamlad]

Well I hope the rest follow. May swing by Morecambe depot later on and see if anything new has arrived for storage.

 

[KendalKing]

Open-top Trident 17014 was in service early today on 599 Bowness - Grasmere, along with 16294 and 17013.

 

[pickles]

~~~~~

 

[Dallamlad]

God I hate SC in Lancaster Sunday service lol. Had 22721 on the 3a and then 18330 on the 2a. 18326/27 on the Preston routes.

When is the final fleetcard available?

Also 20456 has been at Lancaster for automatic driver training.

 

[themaster985]

Yes, as can be seen by the photos 47470-3 are the vehicles. 47476 is also due as well and these will replace the step entrance Darts

http://jonathan-gallagher.fotopic.net/p57421311.html At least four of the 07 Preston solos have ended up in Manchester

 

[driver9000]

Have Stagecoach ceased training drivers to drive manual transmission seeing how Lancaster has an automatic trainer?

 

[KendalKing]

Dallam Lad, if you think the sunday service in Lancaster is bad, you want to try the sunday service in Kendal.

 

[cainebj]

sunday service
i had 20759 on 300, and got stuck next to a group of rough people from Aspatria, who sat at the back and consumed a large bag full of alcohol!!! (the bag was similar to tesco bag for life). they then left the bag on the bus full of empty cans and bottles!!!
it was quite busy really. i'd say there were maybe around 6 seats spare. an oly would have been so much better! it was the 1035 from Workington.
40028 was running Workington Town Services, and 47024 was one of the buses running the 30 (Whitehaven - Maryport).

In Carlisle, 14206 and the P reg Paladin bodied B10M went back to the depot at times i can't remember, and 34071 has been on the 75.
The Osprey Bus went past KFC when i was in, when it was heading back to the depot after returning from a "hard day" in Keswick.

 

[Dallamlad]

Yes I would imagine the Sunday service in Kendal is rubbish lol.

Has Mbonwick gone on holiday lol.

Also this comment was posted in reply to my query about the solo situation in Lancaster (this comment is copied from http://susannahmorrish.fotopic.net/comments_show.php)

"Well, i have heard that the two remaining b6s at Morecambe are to be withdrawn, and two Optare solos are to replace them, whether this is true remains to be seen. There is also reports that say that 47156/47157/47159 and 47160 are also to be replaced as they are classed as to old to be used on Lancashire County Council tendered services. As they say, we will just have to wait and see what happens."

Nice pick of 17013 here. Looks like it had just begun to go under its transformation from a two door to a one door.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ian_simpson/2943497563/in/set-72157608057839533/

Also adding even more this is 17015 after its transformation. Old destinations still there and side blinds!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ian_simpson/2943497895/in/set-72157608057839533/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ian_simpson/2944359692/in/set-72157608057839533/

Nice old branding:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ian_simpson/2964294546/in/set-72157608262690096/

 

[cainebj]

Has Mbonwick gone on holiday lol.

He has, but is expected back early next week :-P


34686 was on the 75 this morning. it had branding on the rear window for 62 / 62A though!!! i'm not sure if the bus has just had its branding removed, or if the rear window has been replaced with one of another vehicle. it had the standard Carlisle Citi branding on it, but it didnt look repainted :???: 34700 then went on the 75.

20753 on Moorclose Circular 51.

 

[Dallamlad]

Oh cool I thought he hadn't said anything for a while lol. He's the one who will have the most interest in most of the Lancaster stuff lol.

 

[robertclark125]

There are no plans to transfer any Fife MAN18.220s to Cumbria or Lancashire. Management at Stagecoach Fife have told me that when the 19 new MAN 18.240s arrive, which should be soon, they will allow the older MAN's at Cowdenbeath, 15 or 16 i believe, as well as 3 or 4 at Dunfermline, to transfer onto other routes.

Basically the remaining PS bodied Volvo B10M-55s in Fife, as well as the sole PS bodied B10M-62, are going to be ousted.

 

[Dallamlad]

Oh well I guess Preston wont be getting anything from Fife after all. Any news on any other movements through your contacts?

 

[cainebj]

16447 is now at Lillyhall, and is expected to run the 300 from tuesday, along with 16651-4 and 16734. i'm finding it a bit odd that they're transferring it here just to be replaced though. 16655 has been transferred to Barrow.
not quite sure what will happen to 16447 when buses on 300 are replaced. the other refurbished R reg's will apparently be off to Barrow. nothing has been mentioned about 16654. would make sense to send it to Barrow though.

 

[driver9000]

Nice find on flickr there Dallamlad! All the Tridents that originally came to Lancaster were delivered with a full set of Leyton Blinds, 17015 was diverted to Lancaster on its way up from London for initial type training and fitter familiarisation it certainly stood out running around in full London red with LT roudels in the windscreens and dual doors!

Nothing out of the ordinary noted in Lancaster today, on the subject of B6 buses all I can say is Good riddance!!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

There are no plans to transfer any Fife MAN18.220s to Cumbria or Lancashire. Management at Stagecoach Fife have told me that when the 19 new MAN 18.240s arrive, which should be soon, they will allow the older MAN's at Cowdenbeath, 15 or 16 i believe, as well as 3 or 4 at Dunfermline, to transfer onto other routes.

Basically the remaining PS bodied Volvo B10M-55s in Fife, as well as the sole PS bodied B10M-62, are going to be ousted.

I didnt know there was a rumour going around about Fife Scottish MANs coming to Cumberland or Ribble, We have one but we have that one for years (22721) though

 

[KendalKing]

18279, 16332, and 16335 noted on X35's today.

Once again, a Trident on 755's.

 

[Dallamlad]

Yeah some really nice snaps of the old Tridents. Nice to see them before the change!!

Just been watching a very nice 1981 Bristol VR on Doctor Who. Apparently this model was never used in London lol but they used it anyway. Also they used one for filming in the UK and on for filming in Dubai. However in Dubai they accidentally dropped a container on the bus and they had to write the damage into the script lol.

The 2005 Tridents were running quite a lot of the Preston routes today which is good in terms of the gearbox lol.

 

[cainebj]

I didnt know there was a rumour going around about Fife Scottish MANs coming to Cumberland or Ribble, We have one but we have that one for years (22721) though

there was a rumour 6 were coming down from Fife to work services in Preston. they were to replace 4 B10Ms and 2 solo's. 2 of the B10Ms were brought out of reserve to operate the services.
would be interesting to see what happens with those services now!!!

the 07 reg solo's that have went to Manchester have replaced the Vario's, which have went down south. that may have already been mentioned, but just incase it hasnt lol.

 

[driver9000]

London Transport didnt buy any Bristol VRT buses for use on LT routes, at the time it was taking Leyland Titans and Metrobuses into stock en masse. However they did appear in London from time to time on 'outside' routes namely long distance work including Stanterwicks (Ribble) coach version Bristol VRLs. The bus used in the main part (Michelle Ryan flies off in it) was new to West Riding Automobile Company in 1980. Did you notice one of the number plates identified it as being a 1999 W reg!!

 

[Dallamlad]

Nice to see an old bus on TV tho lol nice old thing!!

God knows about the MANS from Fife lol maybe something will turn up from some ware else.

 

[robertclark125]

All I know is that Fife has applied for new or nearly new vehicles, and it hopes to receive a response soon.

On another topic, the 10 Dublin Bus Dennis Tridents could be part of the 120 DB vehicles being put up for sale. They're virtually to Stagecoach Spec....
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
And when I say new vehicles, this is in addition to the 19 MAN's due soon.

 

[cainebj]

nothing to report
tuesday should be a good day services will be back to normal hopefully

 

[mbonwick]

Right. Where to start?

Well I've had a fairly relaxing few days up in First-land (Falkirk). I've seen the Alexander-Dennis factory and new buses awaiting collection. There were 4 E400s for First London, 2 for Selkent, 1 for Stagecoach and 2 SC E300s.


Now, back to the North West. The damage to 17012 is relatively minor, or so Gez says. Pretty much limited to smoke staining on the engine door and round the radiator.


16447 may have gone to Lillyhall rather than Barrow for space reasons. As I understand it, Barrow operate out of a big shed like Kendal and have similar but worse capacity problems. Solos are longer and wider than 709Ds and NC bodies are longer than ALX ones.

On the subject of LL Olympians, I accidentally discovered where the new rear light clusters fitted to 16651-3 etc came from. Wait for it.....Wrightbus. I assume they were bought cheap as I didn't see any of the First buses with those clusters on after 02 reg. The design was changed, probably around 2003.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Refurb/LED list updated, many thanks to cainebj for his assistance.

 

[cainebj]

20765 on 301, and that is all i've seen today.
will probably go up to town later, see whats on the town services.

 

[Dallamlad]

Hey Mbonwick nice to have you back!! When does the period 12 fleet card come out?

The 2005 Tridents seem to be doing the Preston routes a lot these days which is better really. I haven't seen a Trident 2 for ages but then again it has been bank holidays/Sundays so I haven't seen much at all.

On eof the drivers at Lancaster thinks the old Solos will be replaced by newer solos soon as the current ones are to old. I mentioned this a few days ago but its just to confirm its probs not gona be darts or anything like that.