Trivia: areas that Wright Streetlites have never ventured to

[LUYMun]

Trivia: Areas that a class 158 have never been on.

The 158 have been aroud for many years and have been everwhere from Wick to Penzance which has got me wondered. Is there anywhere else that a class 158 has never run on? Other than anywhere on the London Underground network obviously

www.railforums.co.uk

I took inspiration from this thread on the main railways discussion regarding where the Class 158 DMU's have never travelled to, and there have been some spots mentioned.

I thought about this from a bus perspective, and wondered that surely the Streetlites, god-awful they would be, must never have been to a particular area within the UK or British Isles, as they can be possibly found on every corner of the British Isles, even on the Isle of Man

 

[LAIRA]

Trivia: Areas that a class 158 have never been on.

The 158 have been aroud for many years and have been everwhere from Wick to Penzance which has got me wondered. Is there anywhere else that a class 158 has never run on? Other than anywhere on the London Underground network obviously

www.railforums.co.uk

I took inspiration from this thread on the main railways discussion regarding where the Class 158 DMU's have never travelled to, and there have been some spots mentioned.

I thought about this from a bus perspective, and wondered that surely the Streetlites, god-awful they would be, must never have been to a particular area within the UK or British Isles, as they can be possibly found on every corner of the British Isles, even on the Isle of Man

Plymouth is a city that has never operated Streetlites. The nearest they have reached is Tavistock on service 118 operated by Dartline of Exeter.

 

[Surreyman]

To the best of my knowledge the Isle of Wight has never been tainted or defiled by a Streetlite.

 

[Strathclyder]

I was gonna say Helensburgh, but then I remembered Wilson's of Rhu had two Wheel-Forward examples dating from 2015 for use on their services in the area, primarily the 316 to/from Coulport and the 340 to/from Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley (a handful of Monday-Friday only services started/finished at Helensburgh; the majority of the 340's workings terminate at the Vale of Leven Hospital in Alexandria). Both have since been sold on and the 340 is now operated by McColl's. Nowadays, First Glasgow's Dumbarton depot occasionally produces a Streetlite vice a E300 on the 1B to/from Glasgow.

Clydebank has seen Streetlites since at least May 2014 (attached image below dates from this period; my own work), when the 10-strong batch of 476xx Door-Forwards arrived at First Glasgow's Parkhead depot (intended for the 90 between Partick & Braehead, but could occasionally crop up on the 2 and the 60), but routine operation of the type in the area didn't really start until First bought a batch of 13-plate ex Go-Ahead London Door-Forwards from Ensign for the Clydebank Locals (M11, M60 & 81) in late 2019/early 2020.

 

[GusB]

I was about to suggest my own area, but Moray Council had a couple of those Nu-Vibe derivatives - do they count? I know that Stagecoach Highland acquired at least one from D&E coaches, but I don't know if it has made it this far.

 

[Mollman]

Hull, East Yorkshire and Scarborough as luckily EYMS (as was) stuck with Volvo rather than Wrights at Euro 6 and had been buying E200s happily for smaller single deckers. Go Ahead has stuck with that purchasing policy, whilst Stagecoach East Midlands haven't had any either.

 

[scosutsut]

I don't think East Lothian has suffered them on public service.

First didn't grace us with anything that modern prior to running away withdrawing.

 

[JKP]

Other than two or possibly three WF examples operated by Peter Hogg, I am not aware of any operating in the Scottish Borders Council area. I think the same goes for Dumfries and Galloway.

 

[JD2168]

I don’t think Nottingham, Skegness & Blackpool have seen any of them

 

[Agent_Squash]

Stagecoach Cumbria and North Lancashire haven’t operated them so it would be pretty reasonable to assume they haven’t been further west than Kendal/Penrith/Carlisle in Cumbria.

 

[jackot]

I don't think they have ever been anywhere near Aldershot, Alton or even Basingstoke for that matter, being mostly in Stagecoach territory. For that I am very thankful Guildford doesn't see any anymore; I think Arriva may have had a few.

 

[markymark2000]

They may have passed through on deliveries but I don't think that the Anglesey has ever seen Streetlites in service. To be fair, most of North Wales hasnt seen Streetlites. There are only 2 in existence in the area (that I can remember) and they belong to M&H Coaches and they have only operated them on a few routes.

 

[RDP]

The Folkestone & Hythe district of Kent, as far as I am aware, has never seen them in service all services in the area being operated by Stagecoach South East who have never had Streetlites.

 

[Non Multi]

Wheel forward Streetlites were used in the 2012 Olympic torch relay. So they've definitely been used across the UK in a lot more places than you'd expect.

CN12ARD Olympic Torch relay bus

Wrightbus Streetlite WF which later went into the Stagecoach South Wales fleet

www.flickr.com

2012 Summer Olympics torch relay - Wikipedia

www.wikipedia.org

 

[Flange Squeal]

I don't think they have ever been anywhere near Aldershot, Alton or even Basingstoke for that matter, being mostly in Stagecoach territory. For that I am very thankful Guildford doesn't see any anymore; I think Arriva may have had a few.

Guildford is indeed free of Streetlites since Arriva shipped their door-forward variants off to other areas in the run up to their withdrawal, but it also used to see wheel-forward examples with Buses Excetera and door-forward variants when Compass first took over the 42. Arriva shipped theirs off before closure, Buses Excetera are no more, and Compass no longer have any in the fleet.

Aldershot and Basingstoke have certainly seen Streetlites on rail replacements from the likes of First Berkshire and Reading Buses, with Basingstoke also seeing a wheel-forward variant during the 2012 Olympics torch relay (as someone thought of above). Alton has seen a handful as attendees at the Alton Bus Rally from the likes of First and Metrobus. If we are talking in regular service though, then the closest to Aldershot would probably be Dickson Travel when they had wheel-forward MX60 GXE as the regular on the Frimley Park Hospital to Woking route 48 prior to replacing it with a 58-plate Solo. Alton certainly hasn't had any regular service runs with them, and I can't think of why one would be in Basingstoke unless there was an overlap between Reading Buses acquiring Courtney and them disposing of their Streetlites and ever using one on one of the corporate contracts (although I'm not aware of it happening).

 

[Man of Kent]

The Folkestone & Hythe district of Kent, as far as I am aware, has never seen them in service all services in the area being operated by Stagecoach South East who have never had Streetlites.

Crosskeys Coaches has one, which may well see use on their registered school services. It certainly ran school duplicates for Stagecoach during Covid. And similar to elsewhere as others have pointed out, it turns up on rail replacement from time to time across East Kent, along with those of Regent Coaches.

 

[cnjb8]

I don’t think Nottingham, Skegness & Blackpool have seen any of them

Nottingham had Streetlites operated by Winsons Coaches on the 63 between the QMC and Keyworth. Both the buses and route are long gone though.
Furthermore, there may be a chance that a Yourbus Streetlite worked a service in Nottingham despite them usually working on Derbyshire tenders

MX12DYM Paul S. Winson 902

Wrightbus Wright Streetlite WF at Queen's Medical Centre QMC Hospital Nottingham on route 63 to Keyworth February 2013

flickr.com

 

[Fleetmaster]

Edinburgh? Don't know the independents too well, but Lothian has never had them (but they are notably a big Wrightbus customer).

The real question is, where did the Dart never go? Hint: it wasn't Edinburgh!

 

[Djb1]

They may have passed through on deliveries but I don't think that the Anglesey has ever seen Streetlites in service. To be fair, most of North Wales hasnt seen Streetlites. There are only 2 in existence in the area (that I can remember) and they belong to M&H Coaches and they have only operated them on a few routes.

OR Jones have operated a Streetlite (possibly on hire), and Padarn Bus did as well (although I can’t confirm it ever went to Anglesey).

 

[markymark2000]

OR jones have operated a streetlite (possibly on hire), and padarn bus did as well (although I can’t confirm it ever went to Anglesey)

The thought popped into my head but I did some googling and couldn't find it so thought I was mistaken.

 

[fgwrich]

Guildford is indeed free of Streetlites since Arriva shipped their door-forward variants off to other areas in the run up to their withdrawal, but it also used to see wheel-forward examples with Buses Excetera and door-forward variants when Compass first took over the 42. Arriva shipped theirs off before closure, Buses Excetera are no more, and Compass no longer have any in the fleet.

Aldershot and Basingstoke have certainly seen Streetlites on rail replacements from the likes of First Berkshire and Reading Buses, with Basingstoke also seeing a wheel-forward variant during the 2012 Olympics torch relay (as someone thought of above). Alton has seen a handful as attendees at the Alton Bus Rally from the likes of First and Metrobus. If we are talking in regular service though, then the closest to Aldershot would probably be Dickson Travel when they had wheel-forward MX60 GXE as the regular on the Frimley Park Hospital to Woking route 48 prior to replacing it with a 58-plate Solo. Alton certainly hasn't had any regular service runs with them, and I can't think of why one would be in Basingstoke unless there was an overlap between Reading Buses acquiring Courtney and them disposing of their Streetlites and ever using one on one of the corporate contracts (although I'm not aware of it happening).

Don’t even remind me about it, that was not a pleasant return home after a nightshift, having one of those bone rattling examples from Reading via all stations back to Basingstoke. Still, at least unlike the E200 (which decided to disown its own gearbox at Mortimer one morning) it made it back!

 

[TR673]

Nottingham had Streetlites operated by Winsons Coaches on the 63 between the QMC and Keyworth. Both the buses and route are long gone though.
Furthermore, there may be a chance that a Yourbus Streetlite worked a service in Nottingham despite them usually working on Derbyshire tenders

MX12DYM Paul S. Winson 902

Wrightbus Wright Streetlite WF at Queen's Medical Centre QMC Hospital Nottingham on route 63 to Keyworth February 2013

flickr.com

Can confirm Yourbus Streetlites did crop up in Nottingham fairly often at one point, both DF and WF variants.
Additionally CT4N (Community Transport 4 Nottingham) have a loaned-in WF that is being used on the Medilink, so it's not Streetlite-free at the moment.

I reckon Grimsby doesn't have any Streetlites, and I think the only thing stopping most of Lincolnshire being on the list are a couple of WF examples at PC Coaches.

 

[DunsBus]

Other than two or possibly three WF examples operated by Peter Hogg, I am not aware of any operating in the Scottish Borders Council area. I think the same goes for Dumfries and Galloway.

Perryman's had a few on loan from a dealer in summer 2013, in the wake of the Munro's closure and pending delivery of new Optare Versas.

 

[Snow1964]

Don't think they have ever been in central Wiltshire (Chippenham, Melksham, Devizes etc)

West Wiltshire (Trowbridge, Warminster) has seen them occasionally when First have used a Bath one on D1 service

 

[Eyersey468]

Hull, East Yorkshire and Scarborough as luckily EYMS (as was) stuck with Volvo rather than Wrights at Euro 6 and had been buying E200s happily for smaller single deckers. Go Ahead has stuck with that purchasing policy, whilst Stagecoach East Midlands haven't had any either.

It did surprise me that EY never even had one on demonstration

 

[Man of Kent]

Don't think they have ever been in central Wiltshire (Chippenham, Melksham, Devizes etc)

West Wiltshire (Trowbridge, Warminster) has seen them occasionally when First have used a Bath one on D1 service

First use to use them on the 272 Bath-Melksham. I had the misfortune to listen to the usual rattling emergency door on that very trip.

 

[Mollman]

Edinburgh? Don't know the independents too well, but Lothian has never had them (but they are notably a big Wrightbus customer).

The real question is, where did the Dart never go? Hint: it wasn't Edinburgh!

First now McGill's interurban routes from West Lothian and Falkirk into Edinburgh use them regularly.

 

[Silver Cobra]

This may be delving down a bit too far into smaller settlements but, as far as I am aware, Streetlites have not visited Shefford, Biggleswade or Sandy down here in Bedfordshire, as neither Stagecoach East or Grant Palmer have them in this neck of the woods. Had it not been for Uno having a few of them, I would have been able to include Bedford in that, but sadly Uno have used them on their C1 and C10 services between Bedford and Milton Keynes.

Speaking of Stagecoach East, it makes me wonder if Cambridge and Peterborough could be included in this list. I don't believe East has any in either location, but I'm unsure about the smaller operators in each area (e.g. Whippet in Cambridge).

 

[VioletEclipse]

Edinburgh? Don't know the independents too well, but Lothian has never had them (but they are notably a big Wrightbus customer).

The real question is, where did the Dart never go? Hint: it wasn't Edinburgh!

Lothian have had 3 Streetlite demonstrators over the years, to my knowledge. To answer the post about East Lothian, East Lothian Council have (or had) some amount of Streetlites. For years first Scotland East used them a lot on services into and within Edinburgh, currently McGill's use the same Streetlites on the likes of the 20, X22, X24, X25, X38 and 63 in Edinburgh.

 

[Djb1]

The thought popped into my head but I did some googling and couldn't find it so thought I was mistaken.

A bit of flickr trawling shows both Jones and Padarn Streetlites on Anglesey routes.

Padarn Bus fallout

A consequence of the demise of Padarn Bus was the issuing of a large number of replacement contracts, resulting in this scenario, where an operator in north-west Anglesey is running alongside an operator in south-east Conwy on local services in Bangor. The StreetLite is with OR Jones...

www.flickr.com

Padarn Bus 325 - MX60 BXD

Padarn Bus Wright Streetlite WF 325 - MX60 BXD is pictured in Bangor bus station on route 57 to Penmon via Menai Bridge.

www.flickr.com