PICTURE GALLERY: A 2023 MISCELLANY
A selection of pictures from 2023 that will never merit an article of their own!
10 December 2023
ABOVE: Romford town centre in Essex is always a great place to see London buses in action, and there are 10 in this view taken from the railway bridge at Romford station (the link to Platform 1 – the London Overground platform for Upminster) on Saturday 25th March. This was the occasion of the London Bus Museum's Route 174/175 Running Day, and a pair of London Transport Routemasters (red RM 1843, 843 DYE and green RML 2456, JJD 456D) are mixing with the modern types.
Nearest the camera, Stagecoach London 10342 (SN16 OLC), an ADL Enviro400 MMC, is arriving on a Transport for London (TfL) route 247 journey from Barkingside, whilst older ADL Enviro400 10139 (LX12 DFU) is starting an outward journey on the same route. Further back, a New Routemaster in East London Transit livery can be seen working non-East London Transit route 5 (Canning Town to Romford).
Nearest the camera, Stagecoach London 10342 (SN16 OLC), an ADL Enviro400 MMC, is arriving on a Transport for London (TfL) route 247 journey from Barkingside, whilst older ADL Enviro400 10139 (LX12 DFU) is starting an outward journey on the same route. Further back, a New Routemaster in East London Transit livery can be seen working non-East London Transit route 5 (Canning Town to Romford).
Minsterley Motors 13 (YD63 VEU), an Optare Solo SR, is seen in Upper Galdeford in Ludlow, working town local route 722 on Thursday 9th February.
Stagecoach South Wales 26182 (YX67 UZS), an ADL Enviro200 MMC, is in Morgan Street, Pontypridd, working route 132 (Maerdy to Cardiff) on a freezing cold Friday morning, 10th February (the temperature gauge in the nearby bus station read minus one)!
I had travelled to Pontypridd from Cardiff on this route earlier that morning, using a "Day Network Rider" ticket which offers unlimited travel for one day on most bus services in South East Wales. First, of course, there had been the inevitable two-minute delay while the driver tried to work out what the ticket I wanted was, and whether he had it on his machine!
I had travelled to Pontypridd from Cardiff on this route earlier that morning, using a "Day Network Rider" ticket which offers unlimited travel for one day on most bus services in South East Wales. First, of course, there had been the inevitable two-minute delay while the driver tried to work out what the ticket I wanted was, and whether he had it on his machine!
I don't know whether some people are just selfish or really don't see what is going on around them... It may not be very clear from this photo, but the pushchair on this TfL / RATP London route 117 bus (West Middlesex Hospital to Staines) has been parked right across the access to the rear section of the bus. And of course the child is not even in the pushchair at this point! This occurred on Saturday 4th March.
A demonstration of the challenges that bus drivers face on a daily basis. The driver of Arriva London T287 (LJ13 CGO), an ADL Enviro400, has pulled onto the pavement on Newlands Park in Sydenham, South London, to allow the bus I am on to pass. This was Sunday 19th March and, if it hadn't been for that driver's action, we might all still be there now.
I found this anonymous little ADL Enviro200MMC descending Canwick Road in Lincoln, on Wednesday 29th March, on route 10 to Horncastle. As far as I can tell this route, via Bardney, has since been renumbered 30, and is now run by PC Coaches. Looks like another one for the 'to-do' list.
Centrebus 743 (YJ57 BCU), a VDL SB200 Plaxton Centro, is looking very smart when parked up in Loughborough between trips on route 8 (Loughborough to Melton Mowbray to Grantham). This is also Wednesday 29th March.
I stayed in Nottingham for a couple of nights in March (see what I found there in this article), and my hotel room looked over the roundabout at the junction of Upper Parliament Street, Maid Marian Way and Derby Road. A selection of Nottingham City Transport and Trent Barton buses are in evidence in this view, taken on Friday 31st March.
Incidentally, the number of hits I receive always seems to go up significantly whenever I mention Nottingham, so hello to any new readers today!
Incidentally, the number of hits I receive always seems to go up significantly whenever I mention Nottingham, so hello to any new readers today!
I couldn't resist including this one, even though it's nothing to do with buses. I stumbled across these, and other sculptures in Huyton, Merseyside, on Wednesday 14th June. There were 22 of them under the overall heading of "Owls and Pussycats", apparently including the William Shakespeare-inspired “A Midsummer Night Owl” and Beatles-themed “Owl-y Need Is Love”! Here we have "Foss" (left) and "Twinkle". I didn't see "Owlvador Dali" but I gather he was also there!
2023 did of course see the Coronation of His Majesty King Charles III. On the day itself, Saturday 6th May, I didn't move out of my armchair for over four hours! On Thursday 15th June, I stumbled across Stagecoach Merseyside and South Lancashire 10565 (SN16 OTA), an Enviro400 MMC, in this commemorative livery. It is passing Whitechapel, in Liverpool City Centre, on route 21 (Liverpool to Northwood).
I have yet to try out the TrawsCymru network of services across Wales, but I stumbled across Optare Solo SR YJ21 FBB of M&H Coaches calling in at Mold Bus Station, in Flintshire, North Wales, on Friday 16th June. Route T8 (Corwen, Denbyshire to Chester), also has some journeys operated by Llew Jones Coaches.
And I also need to spend more time with Warrington's Own, a municipal bus company that operates some of its services under the "Cheshire Cat" branding, as demonstrated here on 208 (CH62 CAT), an ADL Enviro200 MMC that is presumably slightly newer than its 'select' 62-reg implies, as they weren't making MMCs in 2012! The fleet at Warrington's Own is due to be replaced with an all-electric fleet in 2024.
A very smart almost-new vehicle is seen here in Queen Square Bus Station, Liverpool, on Saturday 17th June, in the form of Arriva Merseyside 3198 (BV72 KMF), a Volvo B8RLE MCV eVoRa. It has just completed a run on route 310 from Skelmersdale (I have been there all the way), but the driver has changed the destination display a little too quickly for my picture. A smart bus with really large windows and therefore good views on offer. The 12-metre length of this bus is evident here.
If you want to get from Glasgow to Stirling, the X36 is the way to do it! But there's also an X10 that goes the long way round, via Balfron. Or does it? Whilst the real-time display at Glasgow's Buchanan Street bus station shows a service to Stirling, the timetable display at the same stop (below) suggests that services terminate at Balfron (a little over half-way). And the bus, when it arrives, is similarly showing Balfron as the terminus...
The timetable panel is extremely confusing to the untrained eye. The 0620 service on Mondays to Fridays "continues to Stirling Bus Stn", but my 0815 service "terminates at Clinic" - a closer inspection of the route diagram reveals "Clinic" to be in Balfron, but a little short of the town itself maybe?
The 1010 service is one of several that "continues to Stirling Bus Stn, terminates at Clinic". How can it do both, when Clinic is in Balfron, way before Stirling?
And the 2140 Saturday departure "does not run on 24th and 31st December" (same for the 2340). This statement takes a leaf out of the London Elizabeth Line book of grammar... Just as "not stopping at West Ealing and Hanwell" should be "not stopping at "West Ealing or Hanwell", so this should be "does not run on 24th or 31st December". But, more fundamentally, what if those dates don't fall on a Saturday?
The vehicle illustrated above is 3358 (BX64 WHW), a Mercedes-Benz Citaro O295 from the fleet of McGill's Scotland East, and it's Tuesday 5th September. And it did take me all the way to Stirling.
The 1010 service is one of several that "continues to Stirling Bus Stn, terminates at Clinic". How can it do both, when Clinic is in Balfron, way before Stirling?
And the 2140 Saturday departure "does not run on 24th and 31st December" (same for the 2340). This statement takes a leaf out of the London Elizabeth Line book of grammar... Just as "not stopping at West Ealing and Hanwell" should be "not stopping at "West Ealing or Hanwell", so this should be "does not run on 24th or 31st December". But, more fundamentally, what if those dates don't fall on a Saturday?
The vehicle illustrated above is 3358 (BX64 WHW), a Mercedes-Benz Citaro O295 from the fleet of McGill's Scotland East, and it's Tuesday 5th September. And it did take me all the way to Stirling.
On the outskirts of Falkirk, more-or-less equidistant from both Edinburgh and Glasgow, is the Alexander Dennis bus factory. I stumbled across it by chance on Tuesday 5th September and managed to catch some of these brand new buses parked in the yard. On the extreme left is an Enviro400 MMC in the colours of morebus of Bournemouth; it looks ready to go. The similar vehicle two along from it looks to just be awaiting a few final details before heading the same way.
In between is what looks like an Enviro400 City, in something that might be the new colours of the Liverpool City Region. The Enviro200 MMC to the right is in a slightly different yellow shade that might be that of the new Greater Manchester Bee Network. Various other vehicles in various stages of production are evident.
I took this picture from the left-hand side of a double-decker bus, through the right-hand window and past a very surprised looking young man, who was sitting in the seat opposite and must have wondered what I was doing! It's a wonder I got a decent shot at all, to be honest. I went back a few days later, to try and get a better picture, but the selection on display that day wasn't as good as this one.
In between is what looks like an Enviro400 City, in something that might be the new colours of the Liverpool City Region. The Enviro200 MMC to the right is in a slightly different yellow shade that might be that of the new Greater Manchester Bee Network. Various other vehicles in various stages of production are evident.
I took this picture from the left-hand side of a double-decker bus, through the right-hand window and past a very surprised looking young man, who was sitting in the seat opposite and must have wondered what I was doing! It's a wonder I got a decent shot at all, to be honest. I went back a few days later, to try and get a better picture, but the selection on display that day wasn't as good as this one.
Edinburgh's main operator, Lothian Buses, runs a sizeable fleet of Volvo B8L ADL Enviro400XLBs, such as 1081 (SJ19 OWW), working route 11 (Hyvots Bank to Western Harbour). These tri-axle buses are 13.4 metres long (that's four metres longer than a long London Transport Routemaster RML type). But the extra capacity of these vehicles (with "up to" 100 seats) makes a difference on some of Lothian's busiest services. This is Princes Street in Edinburgh city centre on Friday 8th September.
This has to be one of the most unusual modern vehicles that I have found on a stage service in Britain. Stagecoach East Scotland 54502 (YX18 LHM) is a Volvo B8RLET Plaxton Panther LE, and I would best describe it as "half-bus, half-coach". The front section is low-floor, wheelchair-accessible, whilst the rear section is accessed by climbing three steps half-way down the saloon. Coach seats are fitted throughout.
These buses are used on longer-distance routes across Eastern Scotland - this one, seen at Ferrytoll Park & Ride, near the Forth Crossing to the north-west of Edinburgh on Friday 8th September, is working route X58 from St Andrews to Edinburgh. These are bus routes rather than coach routes - no advance booking possible and you can pay on the vehicle. Despite their 14.8-metre length, these vehicles only have 53 seats.
These buses are used on longer-distance routes across Eastern Scotland - this one, seen at Ferrytoll Park & Ride, near the Forth Crossing to the north-west of Edinburgh on Friday 8th September, is working route X58 from St Andrews to Edinburgh. These are bus routes rather than coach routes - no advance booking possible and you can pay on the vehicle. Despite their 14.8-metre length, these vehicles only have 53 seats.
Buses sometimes congregate in times of disruption. On the occasion of the State Opening of Parliament on Tuesday 7th November, buses on TfL / Go-Ahead London route 87 from Wandsworth, which would normally run through Parliament Square to Aldwych, have had to terminate at Lambeth Bridge, behind me. Eight New Routemasters, headed by LT 504 (LTZ 1504) are visible here on Millbank, all awaiting their scheduled start times for the journey back to Wandsworth. The River Thames is on the left, just out of sight behind the trees.
One cannot help but wonder whether there is a more efficient way of managing this kind of planned disruption, to reduce the amount of non-wheel-turning time being accrued here on behalf of the cash-strapped TfL organisation.
One cannot help but wonder whether there is a more efficient way of managing this kind of planned disruption, to reduce the amount of non-wheel-turning time being accrued here on behalf of the cash-strapped TfL organisation.
Approximate locations of some of the places we have visited today:
