TfGM Bee Network - fleet discussion

[Class 466]

Not the classic ones. Im talking about the YJ24 plate Solos. Will all of the 24 plate solos eventually move to South Wales like YJ24 BNA,B and D?

The 4 E300s they are replacing, are they going to do schools work or going entirely? Do you know what routes the new YX74 reg E200MMCs will run on?

Queens Road hasn’t had any “classic” ones since Stagecoach took over.

48101-104 (or the YJ24 plates) at Queens were displaced by Mellor Strata’s.

As mentioned previously the 4 Enviro 300s will go onto Schools work.

They will operate on any route currently operated by an Enviro 200 or 300.

 

[CJ1]

Queens Road hasn’t had any “classic” ones since Stagecoach took over.

48101-104 (or the YJ24 plates) at Queens were displaced by Mellor Strata’s.

As mentioned previously the 4 Enviro 300s will go onto Schools work.

They will operate on any route currently operated by an Enviro 200 or 300.

Ahh okay, Thanks! I'm guessing the rest of the YJ24 solos are staying for the foreseeable??

 

[mayneway]

They seem to have become regulars on the 135 now - bit more variety than it used to be when there were days it was just all Green B9s so I’m not complaining too much. Even if I’m not the Scanias biggest fan - they don’t make me feel nauseous like those Oxford hybrids at least!

Think the 4 E200MMCs at Hyde Road should be on their way to Queens Road very soon, if they’ve not gone already. Will need an element of driver familiarisation as they’ve got cameras rather than mirrors.

Funnily enough when I first started at Queens road many moons ago the original batch of 14 B5 hybrids used to make me sea sick! It was like setting off at a decent pace and then being pulled back by an elastic band. Awful buses, however the ex Oxford versions are not bad at all. The gear changes are quicker and they are not as bouncy as the originals.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 17 Sep 2024 ==

Ahh okay, Thanks! I'm guessing the rest of the YJ24 solos are staying for the foreseeable??

The Solo’s at Oldham and Middleton are required but the 4 at Queens were only ever temporary because of a delay with the Mellor order.
3 of the Queens road Solos moved to south wales at the start of the summer holidays, the 4th went to Oldham.

The E300’s should work any 52 or 53.

 

[M60lad]

Have we any idea which E300s are going onto Schools Work, is it the ex First ones or the ex Stagecoach ones or a mixture of both? Or indeed are we confusing them with E200s which the Schools fleet has got quite a few of already?

As for the B5s funny the ex Oxford ones have been mentioned as I'm led to believe Oldham Drivers like these ones over the native ones and yes they do seem quicker.

Also what I think might have been an odd working yesterday saw E300 27953 do 18:23 135 to Bury, needless to say it left Lever Street with all seats took.

 

[mayneway]

Have we any idea which E300s are going onto Schools Work, is it the ex First ones or the ex Stagecoach ones or a mixture of both? Or indeed are we confusing them with E200s which the Schools fleet has got quite a few of already?

As for the B5s funny the ex Oxford ones have been mentioned as I'm led to believe Oldham Drivers like these ones over the native ones and yes they do seem quicker.

Also what I think might have been an odd working yesterday saw E300 27953 do 18:23 135 to Bury, needless to say it left Lever Street with all seats took.

It’s apparently Ex First E300’s still waiting for paint and interior refurbs so it rules out the ex Stagecoach examples.

The native B5’s are genuinely knackered. Most need new batteries and transmission. The gear changes are so dragged out they are awful to drive. Very slow and laggy.
The ex Oxford hybrids have had issues but nothing too major so far.

 

[Kianlewis48]

13186 the latest Oxford repaint back in bee network at Oldham. This means that 13180/13182 are the last buses at Oldham depot in Oxford livery.

 

[mic]

13186 the latest Oxford repaint back in bee network at Oldham. This means that 13180/13182 are the last buses at Oldham depot in Oxford livery.

i have just seen this bus today on the 350 it is not in Bee Network it remains in the same livery as 13180 and 82 i did think it had been repainted until i saw it today

 

[M60lad]

Regarding the native B5s if the Leeds ones were in a similar condition it probably explains why they were recently withdrawn and why some are at various operators including Arriva Merseyside being used for spare parts recovery.

Also as for First E300s going on Schools are all of them going on Schools including the ones at Oldham or is it just the ones at Queens Road? I must say though that the ones that have come back from refurbishment aren't bad vehicles and do seem a tad quicker and seem to perform better than the un-refurbished ones. I only say this as these seem to be the booked (Choice) vehicle for 181/182s which I catch to and from work during the week.

 

[Dallamlad]

Regarding the native B5s if the Leeds ones were in a similar condition it probably explains why they were recently withdrawn and why some are at various operators including Arriva Merseyside being used for spare parts recovery.

Also as for First E300s going on Schools are all of them going on Schools including the ones at Oldham or is it just the ones at Queens Road? I must say though that the ones that have come back from refurbishment aren't bad vehicles and do seem a tad quicker and seem to perform better than the un-refurbished ones. I only say this as these seem to be the booked (Choice) vehicle for 181/182s which I catch to and from work during the week.

The number of E300s going on schools has already been confirmed earlier in the thread.

 

[Class 466]

Also as for First E300s going on Schools are all of them going on Schools including the ones at Oldham or is it just the ones at Queens Road? I must say though that the ones that have come back from refurbishment aren't bad vehicles and do seem a tad quicker and seem to perform better than the un-refurbished ones. I only say this as these seem to be the booked (Choice) vehicle for 181/182s which I catch to and from work during the week.

4 Enviro 200 MMCs aren’t gonna replace 29 Enviro 300s…

 

[mayneway]

Regarding the native B5s if the Leeds ones were in a similar condition it probably explains why they were recently withdrawn and why some are at various operators including Arriva Merseyside being used for spare parts recovery.

Also as for First E300s going on Schools are all of them going on Schools including the ones at Oldham or is it just the ones at Queens Road? I must say though that the ones that have come back from refurbishment aren't bad vehicles and do seem a tad quicker and seem to perform better than the un-refurbished ones. I only say this as these seem to be the booked (Choice) vehicle for 181/182s which I catch to and from work during the week.

The E300’s are simply repainted yellow and gain a TFGM spec interior. Nothing is done engine wise while they are away so not sure why they come back any quicker. They are ADL so will have the usual emmsion/mil light issues.

 

[Kianlewis48]

New arrival at Hyde Road bound for Queens Road to replace the E400 tridents.

 

[xitz2012@gmail]

New arrival at Hyde Road bound for Queens Road to replace the E400 tridents.

Very intriguing that they’ve got the E40D on the City body instead of the usual standard MMC body!

 

[Dallamlad]

Love that design, pleased they’ve gone for it.

 

[CJ1]

New arrival at Hyde Road bound for Queens Road to replace the E400 tridents.

How many of these E400 City’s have they ordered? Also surprised that they didn’t get the hybrid versions, unless they have stopped production now.

 

[Fox192]

So is that one not electric then

 

[37114]

So is that one not electric then

Nope, that is a diesel one.

 

[mbonwick]

59 by my maths, 11881-940.

 

[Marcus Fryer]

59 by my maths, 11881-940.

By my maths that is 60.

 

[pokemonsuper9]

59 by my maths, 11881-940.

11940-11881 = 59, however that's not correct for identifying how many numbers there are in that range, as it doesn't count one of them.
There are 60 numbers in that range, see table below, which contains all values and is in a 10 by 6 arrangement.

11881​	11882​	11883​	11884​	11885​	11886​	11887​	11888​	11889​	11890​
11891​	11892​	11893​	11894​	11895​	11896​	11897​	11898​	11899​	11900​
11901​	11902​	11903​	11904​	11905​	11906​	11907​	11908​	11909​	11910​
11911​	11912​	11913​	11914​	11915​	11916​	11917​	11918​	11919​	11920​
11921​	11922​	11923​	11924​	11925​	11926​	11927​	11928​	11929​	11930​
11931​	11932​	11933​	11934​	11935​	11936​	11937​	11938​	11939​	11940​

 

[mbonwick]

Jesus wept, I remember why I post so little here now.

FWIW, some sources have mentioned a quantity of 59, others have quoted a fleet number range of 11881-940, which I agree is 60.
Once upon a time, people would have appreciated information being provided rather than picking it apart for not perfectly matching up.

 

[CJ1]

I only count 30-40ish 08-09 reg classic E400s that are at Queens Rd, and there is apparently 59/60 new E400 City’s. So are they going to replace some of the Scanias and B9s as well then?

 

[Class 466]

I only count 30-40ish 08-09 reg classic E400s that are at Queens Rd, and there is apparently 59/60 new E400 City’s. So are they going to replace some of the Scanias and B9s as well then?

There’s 4 Classic Enviro 400s at Queens Road. 4 of these will replace them as I’ve explained many times. The majority of these Enviro 400 City’s will go to Stockport.

 

[mbonwick]

There's probably multiple parts to the cascade plan for these new E400Citys, but I was under the impression they'd initially be allowing 11504-29, 11254-71 to go to Queens Road as B9/Contingency fleet E400MMC replacements.
With the latter then going to the "native" Stagecoach depots to allow things to start getting lined up for handover to Metroline.

I've not crunched the numbers to see whether its necessary, but based on Metroline's high-level overview that essentially all they're inheriting from Stagecoach is E400Hs and the Sharston EVs - it would seem that some cascades in/swaps with other Stagecoach OpCos are likely. Is the cascade down from East Scotland still on I wonder?

 

[xitz2012@gmail]

There's probably multiple parts to the cascade plan for these new E400Citys, but I was under the impression they'd initially be allowing 11504-29, 11254-71 to go to Queens Road as B9/Contingency fleet E400MMC replacements.
With the latter then going to the "native" Stagecoach depots to allow things to start getting lined up for handover to Metroline.

I've not crunched the numbers to see whether its necessary, but based on Metroline's high-level overview that essentially all they're inheriting from Stagecoach is E400Hs and the Sharston EVs - it would seem that some cascades in/swaps with other Stagecoach OpCos are likely. Is the cascade down from East Scotland still on I wonder?

As far as I'm aware, there are electrics on order for Oldham to allow 11254-71 and 11504-29 to move over to Queens, as well as the rest of the SN17 batch coming over to Queens Rd from Stockport to join 10846-53 and 10859. 14 of these new E400 diesel cities will join tranche 2, as replacements for 14 E400 tridents from Middleton/Queens Road which are replacing the yellow Optare Versa hybrids on school services. 4 to Queens Road, 10 to Middleton, as well as 4 Enviro200 MMCs replacing 4 Enviro300s from Queens Road which are also going onto schools. The rest of the diesel E400 city batch are for Stockport. The SN17/69 and SK20 plate MMCs combined should be replacing the B9s at Queens Road as far as I'm aware, feel free to correct me on this though.

 

[Dallamlad]

Out of interest and without wanting to stray off topic for long, what’s the lowest route PVR at Queen’s Road? I expect the new E200s/400s won’t necessarily be allocated to any specific route?

 

[Leedsbusman]

Out of interest and without wanting to stray off topic for long, what’s the lowest route PVR at Queen’s Road? I expect the new E200s/400s won’t necessarily be allocated to any specific route?

The 487 PVR 1.

 

[GCH100]

There is an article on Metroline in Buses October 2024, it appears at least some or all of the Volvo BZL's, MCV's ordered by Stagecoach for Stockport depot are now diverted here for Hyde Road and Tameside depots, including 6 of the single-deck versions.

 

[Dallamlad]

The 487 PVR 1.

Thank you

 

[citybus2500]

There is an article on Metroline in Buses October 2024, it appears at least some or all of the Volvo BZL's, MCV's ordered by Stagecoach for Stockport depot are now diverted here for Hyde Road and Tameside depots, including 6 of the single-deck versions.

104+6. However, it is unlikely they will all arrive in time for the start of operations.