Two for Today: National Express Skyliners

So much has changed since 2005! Bretonside is no more and these fine coaches have long gone along with this National Express livery. Cant say I was ever a fan of this – but the present version is no better.

Trathens YN51XMX 21 May 2005

Trathens YN51XMH seen in Exeter 25th June 2005

Trathens

 

While we are in a lull waiting for more detail on the forthcoming timetable changes I can post a few historical photos of interest that have been shared recently by Michael Wadman who very kindly allows me to use them on the blog.

©Michael Wadman
Trathens no 64 (BDV 864Y), Volvo B10M-61 / Berkhof National Express service 500 Victoria Coach Station 1983
When this photo was taken it would have been impossible to think that the Trathens name would eventually disappear. I always did like these Berkhof Volovos and managed quite a few rides on them at the time.

 

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fbb remembers in his childhood being amazed when his grandmother informed him that she had travelled to visit her sister in North Wales by bus. It sounded much like an expedition to darkest Africa! Public Transport Experience

It’s no secret that NCT and Trent Barton are reported to have gotten on for quite some time: there is no active competition between the two, despiteTrent’s longer distance services inevitably mirroring some of NCT’s city routes on their way into the city centre. Omnibuses

Blast from the Past: National Express 1988

It has to be said that National Express these days generally operates a very comfortable fleet of coaches to a high standard. It also has to be said that as a result its a very boring fleet, especially with the most bland and disappointing livery that is is use these days. It hasnt always been like this and this lovely shot from ‘Tipperman’ shows one of the oddities that could be found on National Express back in the 1980’s.

This shot taken March 1988 shows a Neoplan Jetliner from the Yelloway / Trathens era when quite a fleet of Neoplans was built up. I have to say I was a real fan of the Trathens Skyliners and made several trips to London and back, pretty much just for the ride there and back but I never did get a ride on one of these singledeckers.

© Nick Spencer

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Trathens in the dock

"The company has entered not guilty pleas to the charges” IanTheRev Flickr Omnibus Can Carrying B’us Walking the dogs

©Ian Kirby (IantheRev Flickr) Trathens is in the news for all the wrong reasons. It is to face 26 charges of having its drivers work over hours and misuse of tachographs. The company has entered not guilty pleas to the charges. Drivers allegedly failed to take proper rest periods and failed to complete their tachograph records properly, mostly in April last year. Eight drivers pleaded guilty to various offences at a previous hearing. Trathens, based in Burrington Way, will face a two-day trial on November 9 and November 10. This is Plymouth Having said that Trathens is in the dock, the Trathens name is disappearing. There is a new application for an operating licence: PH1089775 SI PARK'S OF HAMILTON (COACH HIRERS) LTD T/A PARKS OF HAMILTON Director(s): GERARD DONNACHIE, WILLIAM CUMMING, IAN BARRON MACKAY, HUGH MCATEER, DOUGLAS IRELAND PARK. 14 BOTHWELL ROAD HAMILTON ML3 0AY Operating Centre: PARKS OF HAMILTON, WALKHAM BUSINESS PARK, BURRINGTON WAY PLYMOUTH PL5 3LS Authorisation:47 Vehicle(s). Transport Manager(s): PHILLIP RICHARD HOLMES. Apparently the Trathens names have been replaced at the depot already! The company has been owned by Parks for quite a few years now so I suppose its amazing that the name has lasted as long as it has. Still, its sad to see it go.

Trathens in the dock

"the causes of many of the offences appeared to come about due to ignorance of EU law” * * * * * * * * * * Sorry for lack up updates this week but I have been proper poorly this week and am still undergoing tests to discover the cause of a severe chest pain. Got to take things really easy at the moment!

Dont get too excited by the photo, its a fake I cobbled up in Photoshop a few years ago! EIGHT drivers for a city coach firm pleaded guilty to a number of driving offences following a prosecution by the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency. About 24 drivers for Trathens Travel Services Ltd were called to Plymouth Magistrates Court relating to offences uncovered by VOSA last year. Felicity Hine, prosecuting on behalf of the agency, claimed the drivers were found to have failed in a number of actions, including taking required breaks, not using the digital tachograph as provided, false records, exceeding total driving time and failing to have daily or weekly rest periods. The Defender for Trathens said the causes of many of the offences appeared to come about due to ignorance of EU law, a misunderstanding of what constituted the driving period and how to amend the recordings with unpredictable events which delayed the driver. Of the 86 offences in total initially put to the 24 drivers, 23 were withdrawn. The drivers pleaded guilty to the remaining 60 charges while two more drivers who are still to appear before magistrates will face the final three charges. Full story from This is Plymouth

Incoming Trathens Big and Bland!

Just a quickie tonight but thanks to ‘Jamie’ I can give you a link to see the new Trathens 15m Plaxton Volvo coaches which are to replace the smart Neoplan Skyliners.   LSK870 is shown on Dave Francis’ National Express Photos Fotopic gallery National Express really couldn't have managed a more bland look if they tried!

Sunday Best: Skyliner on National Express

"which look great even in the current dull National Express livery” Elsewhere… AEC Regents Flickr Christian Wolmar on National Express

©AecRegent “Having just left the bus station in Bristol, this coach is keeping left to go up the M32 and then the M4 to its destination at London Victoria. Taken from a pedestrian bridge over the road” OES628Y Bond Street. Bristol July 1986 (I assume not 1896!) Trathens have long been linked to the Neoplan Skyliners having introduced them on their London services way back in 1981. They still have a batch of them on National Express duties which look great even in the current dull National Express livery. The word is however that this will soon come to an end as they are about to be replaced by 15M long single deck coaches. No idea what these will be yet, but I cant see them being as impressively distinctive as the Skyliners. Shame. 15M of plain white coach with a few grey ‘stair rods’ at the back. Hardly eye catching is it?

Life after Trathens

©Peter Relf. Used with Peters permission.

 

Soul, Olney (BK):  50 DBD.  Auwaerter Neoplan N122/3 with CH57/18CT body.  It was new in 12/01 to Trathens, Plymouth (DN) as YN51 XMH. Park Lane, London   10th May 2008.
Looking a lot smarte than it ever did in National Express livery!

Trathens on Flickr

We had a major power cut this evening so I lost a large part of the evenings computer time, plus had to spend a while sorting the computer out after it lost power - refused to load up windows to begin with!

As I am therefore limited in time to post tonight I just thought I'd share this excellent photo from aecregent of a Trathen Skyliner from way back in 1982 - Its amazing to think that this was 26 years ago!

©AecRegent - click the photo to go to his Flickr stream.

This Trathens Neoplan Skyliner is at Gloucester Road coach station in London. This site was set up to compete with National Express so that other coach companies who operated an Express service would have a base to set down and pick up. It was situated very conveniently near Gloucester Road Underground station, something that couldn't be said for Victoria coach station. (Yes, I know its miles from Gloucester Road, what I mean is that theres a long walk to an Underground station at Victoria!) Whilst at this (1982) Trathens competed with national Express, they soon became a part of its empire.

They're back!

National Express has returned the Skyliner double decker coaches back to full service after the awful accident nearly five months ago.

In a statement released today (25 May) a National Express spokesperson says: "Following our internal investigation, we have identified no safety issues relating to the double-deck coaches operating on our network. Therefore the coaches are being reintroduced into service.”

Its good to see them back!

Photo © Simon Coates - used with permission
www,devon-bus-scene.fotopic.net for more of his photos.

Blast from the past

© Dave Godley - used with permission

Another bodybuilder to appear on the UK in 1980 was Padane with their ZX model. This was another coachbuilder to quickly fail, only selling ten coaches of which Trathens took nine. The odd one was XPP289X on a Tiger chassis for Ensign, Grays although IIRC Ensign was also the importer.

Trathens had ADR 200W and NFJ369W on Mercedes 0303 chassis followed in 1982 by ADV 142-6, 157/9Y on Volvo B10M.

Mercedes 0303 ADR 200W is seen here at Exeter Services in August 1984.

Blast from the past

© Terry Stapley - used with permission

Another of terrys excellent photos he has posted on the south west google group is Trathens ADV160Y. Seen after Trathens and National Express came together after competing. Its hard to imagine just what a shock to the system these coaches were when new!

Crash news

As expected the press is still full of 'details' about the horrific National Express coach crash.
We are now starting to get eye witness reports from the survivors and as expected they are not comfortable reading. One of the things that has been picked up are the reports of how fast the coach was travelling. Several papers gleefully reported that the coach was going well over 60 - even 80 miles an hour. At least the same papers have then also reported that the coach was in fact fitted with a speed limit device at 62mph. Thankfully the investigators should have access to the exact speed of the coach at that moment as it will all have been recorded on the coach tachograph.
A further development, which many of us expected was the announcement that National Express Group PLC has taken all 12 of its long-distance double-deckers off the road: 'As a precautionary measure, we felt it necessary to temporarily withdraw the fleet as soon as possible. We will ensure this process is thorough and comprehensive as part of our commitment to passenger safety.'
Attention is now turning to the type of coach with some papers suggesting double deck coaches are dangerous. One good and balanced news article on the BBC web site profiles the Skyliner.

Trathens Tragedy

Sadly there is really only one story I can lead with tonight and that is the horrific accident near London last night:
TWO people died and dozens more were injured when a coach bound for Scotland overturned.
The horrific accident, near Heathrow Airport, has left 10 people, including children, in a serious condition. Two are fighting for their lives. The 10.30pm National Express bus from London Victoria to Aberdeen overturned on the slip road leading from the M4 to the M25 at 11.45pm.
It was due to stop at Hamilton and Glasgow, where the majority of the 67 passengers on board were heading. All the passengers and the two drivers were taken to six hospitals in London.
Sixteen ambulances, four rapid response cars, a number of doctors, three patient transport vehicles and an equipment support vehicle from the London Ambulance Service had all rushed to the scene of the crash.
National Express also confirmed that the vehicle involved in the crash was owned by Parks of Hamilton and the drivers would have been from the Lanarkshire firm.
Laws were brought in September last year that made it compulsory for coach passengers to wear seat belts.

As this story is such a big one there are lots of horrific and graphic reports of the injuries sustained by passengers in all the papers today. The coach was one of the brand new Neoplan Skyliners operated out of Plymouth by Trathens, now of course owned by Parks of Hamilton.

No doubt we will soon learn what caused this accident, the driver has alreadybeen arrested under suspicion on dangerous driving, although Police were keen to stress that investigations into the cause are continuing.
My thoughts and prayers go out for the passengers and their families.

Late news - all the Skyliners are being taken off the road by National Express as a precautionary move. More details to follow

New Skyliners for National Express

Trathens have long been the major operators of double deck coaches on National Express routes and have been associated with the long running Neoplan Skyliner coach for even longer. They have recently added a new batch of 14 metre coaches into service to replace their last batch Neoplans. Apart from one they all carry LSK registrations. I am not sure which one this is though as I have lost the note I made at the time when it bright my wife Jane home on Monday this week. First time I have tried my camera after dark!

Bits and Bobs

Not much time tonight to post much so just a few snippets to be going on with:

Plymouth Citybus: 1 N101UTT is the latest repaint into the current livery.
Trathens: The first of the long awaited batch of Neoplan Skyliner coaches has arrived - it carries registration LSK821. Looking forward to seeing one myself!

Finally just to mention a few other blogs that I find worth reading in the hope that you might find interesting too:

Omnibuses which covers the national bus scene and is the first blog I read every day.
Bus Driving A Torquay bus driver - excellent insight into the joys of driving through busy Torbay.
Driving a bus I only found this one after a mention on Omnibuses: A brand new bus driver based on the South Coast with Stagecoach. If you want to find out what its like to train to be a bus driver then this is a great blog to start with.
Plymouth Citybus Photoblog - Well I cant leave out my own sister blog can I? Now up to 21 in my visual fleet list.

Coming soon - Trathens Skyliners

© Chris Maxfield

Thanks to Chris for allowing me to share this picture taken a couple of weeks ago at Plaxton Anston.

This is one of the new Neoplans for Trathens, its been sent to Plaxton as it was delivered with the wrong interior moquette. They are due to receive National Express livery although at least one of them had been delivered in a Stagecoach Group livery! Look out for more details on these coaches when they arrive at Trathens.

For more of Chris Maxfields photos see his Fotopic site including galleries of First Devon and Cornwall, Western Greyhound, and Plymouth Citybus.

Trathens

Seen on National Express duties is Trathens Van Hool double deck coach LSK512. Most of the Nat Express DD fleet are Neoplan Skyliners. Trathens are just about the only company which runs double deckers on National Express these days. They were also the pioneers of the service with deregulation back in the 1980's when they placed Skyliners into service competing with National Express.



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