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East Yorkshire

After a period on loan here, Mercedes-Benz Sprinter 974 returned to the Oxford Bus Company on 24th October. Similar 972 was at the company's Anlaby Road depot in Hull on 6th November, being prepared for its return home.

First South Yorkshire

The new look for their Sheffield operation has now been unveiled. The two-tone blue and cream livery features nods to the city’s history, with two silver flashes representing its past steel industry, and a selection of coloured snooker balls. On the interior it features a mural on the panel beside the staircase, depicting a snooker scene.

Go North East

As part of a £5 million investment into new, environmentally friendly buses, Go North East has taken delivery of the UK’s first 7.7-litre, 6-cylinder Daimler OM936 engined StreetDeck.

This unique bus, 6377 (NK70BYV), has the same engine that can be found in the Mercedes-Benz Citaro, and delivers more power compared to the standard 5.1-litre 4-cylinder OM934 engined StreetDecks that the bus company already has in its fleet.

Fitted with Wrightbus’ third generation of ‘Micro-Hybrid’ technology, this bus offers excellent environmental credentials which will help to reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions.

Fitted with a higher top speed of 62mph, it will be trialled across all of Go North East’s interurban X-lines express routes, evaluating suitability and comparing against the native 5.1-litre 4-cylinder OM934 engined StreetDecks.

The bus has been recently operating on Go North East’s X-lines X1 route which serves Easington Lane, Houghton-le-Spring, Washington, Gateshead and Newcastle.

Martijn Gilbert, managing director at Go North East, said: “We’re delighted to have the UK’s first 6-cylinder Wright StreetDeck bus, and we hope that it will help shape the future of investment for our interurban express routes.

“The bus, which is part of our wider £5million investment into new buses from Wrightbus, provides enhanced power, whilst maintaining our commitment to cleaner, greener air across the region.”

Buta Atwal, Wrightbus’ CEO, added: ““Wrightbus are once again delighted to have been chosen to supply our vehicles to Go North East.

“These vehicles represent the first vehicles supplied as part of the Bamford Bus Company and we are excited that the new 6-cylinder option also represents a new era for Streetdeck and further strengthens our offering providing a new experience for drivers, passengers and operators whilst continuing to offer excellent value for money.

“Martijn, Colin and the team are at the forefront of innovation in our industry and we look forward to continuing to work together to bring products and solutions to the market to help delight our customers.”

Stagecoach Cumbria & North Lancashire

The latest repaint in the new ‘local’ livery is Optare Solo SR 47945, joining 47944 at West Cumbria. 47946 will be the next example to gain the new livery. Optare Solos also being repainted here are 47237, which will receive ‘Lakes’ livery and 47239 which will also gain the new ‘local’ livery. Carlisle allocated Enviro 200 37093 is also in the process of receiving the new ‘Local’ livery.

Stagecoach East

Dart SLF 34538 has now entered traffic at Bedford, which despite having been recorded as transferred to Stagecoach Oxfordshire, it did not actually leave the East fleet. 34537 was also due to transfer to Stagecoach Oxfordshire, however it is not known if this actually transferred there.

Stagecoach East Midlands

Recent arrivals for winter storage at Grimsby depot are ‘Skegness Seasiders’ Volvo B7TL/Wright Eclipse-Geminis 16964 ‘Rolly the Seasider’ and 16966 ‘Milly the Seasider’, Trident/ALX400s 17016 ‘Sweetie the Seasider’ and 18473 ‘Pierre the Seasider’, and Trident 2/Enviro 400 19169 ‘Rocky the Seasider’. Also returned here from Skegness for winter storage are Volvo B7TL/Wright Eclipse-Geminis 16962 ‘Lolly the Seasider’ and 16965 ‘Splash the Seasider’. These two have spent this summer on loan at Skegness, whilst their usual operation of the Cleethorpes open top service 17 has been suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Of note is the arrival of 18473 ‘Pierre’, which replaced the original ALX400 with the same name from this years season. The former ‘Pierre’, 17675, remains parked up elsewhere in Grimsby depot awaiting disposal. It is unlikely both 17675 and 18473 have previously met, especially with them both in the same rather unique livery!

Also parked up at Grimsby depot, is Skegness allocated InterConnect liveried Enviro 400 19197. This arrived on 30th October, but it is currently unknown why it is at Grimsby.

Stagecoach Merseyside & South Lancashire

In preparation for their movement to Stagecoach North Scotland (Highlands), Volvo B9Rs 53613/615 have received the new Stagecoach ‘distance’ livery at the Birkenhead paint shop. Preston allocated Scania/Enviro 400 15247 has also gained the new ‘distance’ livery, the first double decker vehicle to gain this new livery not operated by Stagecoach South West.

Stagecoach Midlands

Former Stagecoach East Dart SLF 35105, which been parked up at Rugby, has been drafted in at Kettering to replace recently withdrawn Optare Solo 47408. Now received on loan from Stagecoach South East are Canterbury Park & Ride branded Enviro 400s 10063-066. These have been allocated at Northampton, where they are expected to remain on loan until the end of November.

Stagecoach Oxfordshire

Now arrived at Oxford depot are the first of the new fleet of Volvo B11RLE/Plaxton Panorama coaches for the Oxford Tube service. These are 50421 (YX70LUA) and 50422 (YX70LUD), and they arrived on 6th November. It is expected that they will eventually receive the cherished registration plates that the current Oxford Tube Fleet carry. As a result of this, existing Oxford Tube Van Hool Astromega 50262 has lost its T44UBE registration and is now registered OW14LKA.

With thanks to Steven Knight, the full list of registrations for the new Oxford Tube fleet are as follows:
50421 YX70 LUA
50422 YX70 LUD
50423 YX70 LUE
50424 YX70 LUF
50425 YX70 LUH
50426 YX70 LUJ
50427 YX70 LUL
50428 YX70 LUO
50429 YX70 LUP
50430 YX70 LUR
50431 YX70 LUT
50432 YX70 LUW
50433 YX70 LUY
50434 YX70 LUZ
50435 YX70 LVA
50436 YX70 LVB
50437 YX70 LVC
50438 YX70 LVD
50439 YX70 LVE
50440 YX70 LVF
50441 YX70 LVG
50442 YX70 LVH
50443 YX70 LVJ
54444 YX70 LVK
50445 YX70 LVL
50446 YX70 LVM
50447 YX70 LVN
50448 YX70 LVO
50449 YX70 LVP
50450 YX70 LVR
50451 YX70 LVS
50452 YX70 LVT
50453 YX70 LVU
50454 YX70 LVV

It is planned that the first five vehicles will be re-registered with the cherished TxxUBE registrations (T40UBE, T44UBE, T50UBE, T55UBE and T60UBE) which are/were carried by Van Hool Astromegas 50261-265.

Stagecoach South

Now moved to the strategic reserve fleet (pending assessment) is Chichester allocated Trident/ALX400 18502, after it suffered rear end fire damage.

Stagecoach South Wales

The latest recipient of the new ‘local’ livery here is Optare Solo 47720, which is allocated to Porth.

9th November 2020 - our first post

12th November 2020