Two for today: Ex Airbus Olympians

In my view the best buses that have plied the X80 / Gold service between Plymouth & Torbay were these fine Olympians

34192 May 2005

First did attempt some route branding but it wasn't brilliant. Would have been better without the contorted woman on the side to be fair. The clean look as above works much better. You cant help but think if the present team at First (and the new relaxed group policy towards liveries) were in place they could and would have done so much more to promote this service.

34197 May 2005

Two for Today: Unhappy Dart

When I say two, I mean one bus – two photos…

First Devon & Cornwall Dennis Dart M501CCV seen here under tow at Marsh Mills on 28th May 2005

Then again on the 13th June 2005 the same bus behind the same tow truck heading towards the same destination (The Ride), this time further along the Embankment as it cross the main line at Laira.

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

Two for Today: First YJ51PZZ

I am working my way through a load of photo CDs to sort out my archives so will be running a new series of photo posts from the archives as I come across them!  We start with a couple of photos of YJ51PZZ

First Devon & Cornwall 4624 April 2003 in as new Barbie livery

Two years later in September 2005 it now carries fleet number 40570 and the red Over ground branding that First tried for a while.The whole effect rather spoilt by the advert. 

All change at Liskeard

Sorry for the lack of posts at the moment – its all been a bit busy and time has been limited.

But to keep us going we have another set of photos from Peter Murnaghan illustrating the changing scene at Liskeard.

March 2015 Red and Green Solos 221 and 223

May 2020 Red & Green Enviros 158 and 149

Hopefully I should get some posts in this coming week…

Shearings Holidays

After todays sad news there can only be one choice of Two for Today

BK11COJ January 2012

BF10VCO, MX04AEU and MX06ANR April 2010

Slowly getting there

NATIONAL Express plans to restart its UK coach service in July, the transport group said today as it looked to how the business will benefit as lockdowns ease. Shares in the FTSE 250 bus and coach operator rose 13.7p, or more than 7%, to 195.9p, as it gave a number of positive updates to the City. Although the firm saw April revenues plunge around 50% as passenger numbers dropped due to travel restrictions, it managed to cut costs. It also secured more financial headroom, including getting £600 million from the Government’s Covid Corporate Financing Facility. National Express now has £1.5 billion in liquidity.

The company said it has started selling coach tickets for a July 1 restart. It suspended the service in early April as Brits were encouraged to work from home. Coaches will operate in line with Government guidance on social distancing, run on a reduced timetable and be focused on cities and large towns.

The firm added that it has won a new school bus contract in the US, and forecast increased demand for its buses in Spain and Morocco as lockdowns lift.

The first service that hits us in Devon (nothing across the river to start with) is new service 805

The current planned timetable can be found here in the PTBS Library.

So Two for Today has to be a couple of 3 axle National Express coaches, a few years apart:

FN63PWU June 2015

N315BYA August 2008

Stagecoach New Timetables or maybe not

This week I have finally caught up with all of the timetable notices published on the DVSA web site over the last couple of months. These are all on my sister Plymothian Bus Services web site.

One thing that has made it a lot more difficult is that not all changes have appeared on the web site and some of the changes that are published are hard to track down on Traveline with timetables changing on different dates to the DVSA notices. It remains to be seen if some of the frequent service revisions that have been going on for Plymouth Citybus among others will ever appear on DVSA. Certainly some of the Stagecoach changes I have picked up have not been published at all.

One thing I have picked up is that Traveline have quite a few new timetables for Stagecoach as from 12th May, none of which have been publicised by Stagecoach themselves so it may be that Traveline is catching up with earlier timetable dates. Who knows? The details below are being posted here for record more than anything else, especially if they are real changes that passengers mighty notice!

The following are all down on Traveline as from 12th May for Stagecoach. The links go to the full route pages with maps.with the timetables themselves being linked to below

Licence	Route	Start Point	End Point	Effective	Notes
PH1020951.086	1	Exeter Bus Station	Tiverton Bus Station	12-May-2020	New timetable on Traveline
PH1020951.249	1	Plymouth	Tavistock	12-May-2020	New timetables published on Traveline 12 May 2020
PH1020951.063	2	Exeter	Newton Abbot	12-May-2020	New timetable published on Traveline from 12 May 2020
PH1020951.236	2 2A	Saltash	Mount Batten or Sherford	12-May-2020	New timetables published on Traveline 12 May 2020
PH1020951.011	12	Newton Abbot	Brixham	12-May-2020	New Traveline timetable published
PH1020951.091	13	Kingsteignton	Brixham	12-May-2020	New timetables published on Traveline 12 May 2020
PH1020951.122	19	Roundswell	NDD Hospital	12-May-2020	New timetable published on Traveline from 12 May 2020
PH1020951.208	22	Dawlish Warren	South Devon College	12-May-2020	New timetables published on Traveline
PH1020951.006	31	Torquay, Cary Parade	Barton Padacre Road	12-May-2020	New timetables publsihed on Traveline
PH1020951.167	56	Exeter St Davids Station	Exmouth	12-May-2020	New timetable published on Traveline from 12 May 2020
PH1020951.241	90	Dartmouth	Dartmouth	12-May-2020	New timetable published on Traveline from 12 May 2020
PH1020951.234	100	The George Park & Ride	Plymouth Royal Parade	12-May-2020	New Traveline timetable published 12 May
PH1020951.029	D H	University of Exeter	Digby	12-May-2020	New timetable Traveline Service D

so Two for today are Two Stagecoach Route Branded Twos…

34777 October 2017

37113 March 2019

Citybus get a little Sparkier

Plymouth Citybus continue to fine tune their bus services to adapt to the changing conditions. From the 18th (Traveline say the 17th) a new timetable is in place for the 21 21A:

From Monday 18th May there will be a change to the 21/21A #PCB21 #PCB21A timetables with an increased frequency of service. The new timetables are available at http://plymouthbus.co.uk under link timetables from Monday 18th May.

so Two for Today are Spark 552 December 2017

And Red Flash 517 June 2015

Two for Today: Western National FTT

A reminder of the Kingsbridge Running Day from back in 2011 with a couple of Western National Beauties, both with proper westcountry FTT registrations

1969 Eastern Coach Works bodied Bristol FLF6G, new to Western National in December 1960,

353 FTT 704 353. Bristol K6A new to Western National in 1945 with Strachans utility replaced by ECW lowbridge body in 1955.

Two for Today: OCO 502

It wont be news to some but just for clarification from the PCTPG….

We originally had our Rally planned at the end of July due to the current COVID-19 situation.

It is with regret with have had to Cancel our Planned Bus Rally / Running Day at Plymouth Milehouse depot on the 26th July. Unfortunately due to the current pandemic we have not had the opportunity to meet and progress the details of the event.

Considering the Safety of all at this critical time, the committee are totally in agreement with the decision to Cancel the 2020 event.

We will be contacting our members with a posted newsletter in June with Fleet News, Updates, and suggested events for 2021.

We do hope to get the Buses on the roads around Plymouth later in the year, potentially for  photo opportunities etc.

Ian Byrne Events Co-Ordinator

So lets start the week with another Two for Today:

OCO502

May 2014 and it looked like this...

Step forwards to August 2019 and its hard to believe its the same bus...

Two for Today: Twelve Hundred

Its about time I had a VR on this feature so here we have 38844 July 2006

Restored to her full glory by July 2010 and looking rather lovely…

Two for Today: Twenty Eight

Plymouth Citybus T128EFJ seen in the original (dull) grey skirt livery way back in 2006. She carries the SuperRider fleet name which never really meant anything special at all.

Some six years later we see 28 at the back of Milehouse in withdrawn condition, but at least she is in a much better livery

Two for Today: 4 times 709

Two photos of Mercedes 709s both featuring two consecutive registered buses.

Target Travel N94BNF N955BNF Bretonside November 2010

Plymouth Citybus N283PDV N284PDV both withdrawn from service at the back of Milehouse July 2012

Two for Today: First Ones

Two Volvos on the 1s for First. One nice

one less so

66883 was seen 28th February 2010 whilst just two years later 48265 was probably more the norm, April 2012 Both on Royal Parade.

Two for Today: STKs

Kind of before and after restoration, although I don't believe that 133 STK133T has actually been restored? I seem to recall it being sold on but I am sure someone can update us.

STK133T seen in 2017

STK131T July 2016 – a superb looking machine which shows that ere of Plymouth City Transport at its best. I always liked this batch of buses, somehow the East Lancs bodied Atlanteans never seemed quite as good. I always did prefer single doored buses anyway.

Two for Today: Bristol VRs

I must admit its hard to keep motivated at the moment with not a lot going on for obvious reasons and yet loads to catch up on. Working from home is a lot harder than I thought it would be so I have not spent as much time on PT as I would normally.

To keep things going I will now be posting Two for Today – with two connected photos from my archives. It might not be every day but hopefully most of them! If anything interesting does happen at all then there will be other posts in between

1229 First Western National VRT looks quite smart in its North Devon red version of the dumbed down livery which started so promisingly as the Badger & flags livery

Speaking of which the badger may have gone but the flags remain on 1199 which it has to be said looks well past its best, as did many of the fleet at this time (2002).