IPSWICH BUS STORY IN VIEW 1950-70

Photo Copyright Geoff Lumb

Another slightly different blog that this time charts the progress off the Ipswich fleet through photographs the first picture illustrates the first Ipswich motor bus No 1 ADX 1 an AEC Regent III/Park Royal on the 1B to Maidenhall during the 1960's in what is now the Crown Street Lay by.

Copyright Malcolm King 

Spot the difference time now while looking the same as ADX 1 above the difference being on the later batches of the AEC Regent III's is shown here with 14/16 CDX 514/16 having a different arrangement of opening windows.

Copyright Malcolm King

After 1957 Ipswich concentrated on the AEC Regent V with Park Royal body seen here is 29 GPV 29 outside the Cricketers pub on a now abandoned route the 3 to Rushmere Heath .

The last batch of AEC Regents were Neepsend bodied being 65-68 DPV 65D which is now preserved seen here at Tower Ramparts during the 1970's

Seen here late in his life time is AEC Regal/Park Regal 19 DDX 19 this was part of the second batch of the type in 1956? and were the last Single Deckers for 11 years.

The next single deckers in 1967 were again AEC's this time the Reliance which were not as successful as the Regal's sadly the last known one 72 HPV 72F was broken up a few years ago, seen here is Massey bodied 70  HPV 70F on the 2A to the Airport during the late 1970's

During the late 1960's Ipswich had to cut their connection with AEC and went with the ever popular Leyland Atlantean with ECW bodywork numbered 74-76 LDX 74-76G were painted in a trial livery of more cream and less green, later of course ICT went for something like this went the third batch of Roe bodied Atlanteans 4-7 HDX 904-07N were painted into a predominantly cream  and green livery. Next time well in the future i will catalogue the period 1970-95.

VOLVO B6 THE DIFFERENT TYPES

James Long has sent a series of photos that he thought would interest me for a further feature on my not favorite bus the Volvo B6, the first one has the Northern Counties Paladin body which looks pretty good this one came from Thamesway in September 1997 as 400 seen here at the old East Bergholt outstation and stayed here for exactly two years before leaving for Leicester where it was withdrawn in 2004 after just over 10 yrs service!

This example shows the later Alexander Dash body numbered 414 N346 CJA seen here in the Old Cattle Market bus station in Ipswich this was one of a pair bought in from was then GM Buses North as a pair in October 1997 this left for Leicester again in September 1999 and later with again had just over 10 years in service, withdrawn in 2004, while it's sister 48045 N345 CJA is still used in Glasgow as an information bus.

Here we have the earlier type of Alexander Dash in 395 which came from the Kingfisher subsidiary of Yorkshire Rider 3002 in 1998 this left for Leicester in 1999, then to Scotland before heading back here for use as spares.

This is one is of the dreaded Plaxton bodied B6's which had a lot longer life span than the others part of a batch of ten originally ordered by Mainline for competition with Ipswich Buses with TET registrations they were subsequently re registered with ANG ones.

66985 AND 32487 ARRIVALS

Many thanks again tonight for James Long for supplying both pictures for the blog for which are his copyright, the first arrival shown here on Warren Heath is of 66985 KX05 MHO heading towards Felixstowe on the 76, the other is of 32487 AU53 HKE outside Ipswich Foundation Street depot with the help of depot staff before it headed off to the Old Cattle Market where it entered service this afternoon on the 66 to Martlesham. 32490 AU53 HKH unfortunately will now not return until Tuesday next week thanks to Chris Speed for that news.

44516 ENTERS SERVICE

Well she is here at long last arriving yesterday from First Essex's Clacton depot 44516 YX09 ACV she was straight into service unusually on the 60/61 services today, she is seen here at Tower Ramparts today and i must thanks Paulo Van Krieken again for the news, also in the Old Cattle Market Bus Station this morning was 23314 YN54 NYV which is due to migrate south back down to Southampton now the school holidays are about to finish. Also worth mentioning are that First Ipswich changes again which happen from Sunday including the cutting back of the 66 back to the old terminus at Ipswich Rail Station, and minor changes to services on the 64 and 88/89. Carters are also changing there 92-94/96 services in a big way by cutting out the Mistley service all services will go through to Colchester with better frequency timetables are available on the Suffolk County Council Travelline website and First have new timetables available from the Travel Shop in Ipswich or on their website.

IB East Lancs Lowlander 56 PJ53 OLB was unusually on the 1 to Ravenswood yesterday and Trident 19 was on the X1.

ANOTHER EASTERN COUNTIES PHOTO RECALL

After the success in the past of my photo recalls i thought it was time for another one i was hoping to do an Ipswich Buses one this time but time caught up with me but i will put one up hopefully next week to correct the imbalance, first up this time is an Ipswich allocated 34921 G121 YEV a Alexander RL Volvo Olympian in that hideous Barbie 2 mash up off paint and vinyl pictured here in Colchester on the 93.

Yet another Barbie 2 type here and one of my least favorite types of bus the ubiquitous Volvo B6 which unfortunately ended up in Ipswich at least these didn't have the Plaxton Pointer body which used to rattle non stop here is one of the ex First Glasgow ones with the Alexander Dash body 48015 L105 XSU

As you know i love Bristol VR's here's one which spent the majority of it's day with Kings Lynn before finishing up with Ipswich VR 285 VEX 285X originally fitted with coach seats this was changed for conventional bus seats after downgrading from what was the then the X94 now of course the X1.

LN 587 WAH 587S pictured here before it's Transformation into a National Greenway of course now preserved by Richard Walker, seen here again in Colchester on the 92 back to Ipswich.

Not featured one of these before this being a Leyland Leopard with Willowbrook bodies many had poor lives with there NBC companies due to the poor quality of there bodies unusually this one being LW 796 OEX 796W was painted into the bus livery and not the coach/dual purpose livery of cream this one is seen resting in the Bury St Edmunds area.

66957 ARRIVAL/COACHES NEWS

Photo Copyright James Long

 66957 WX55 TZU a Volvo B7RLE/Wrightbus Eclipse Arrived yesterday from Norwich, recently it spent some time on loan to Great Yarmouth and should be quickly on it's way to Rotherham for refurbishment leaving just 69006 to come for Norwich which is serving out it's advertisement period and is due here at some point in September, other news concerns that the current two coaches 23312/14 YN54 NYT/V will be returning off loan to Southampton, interesting note from my depot tour is that while they are here there tyres have had to be replaced with one's from the Ipswich Depot store, the coaches that should be replacing them should be Scania K114IB/ Irizar Century Capacity 12.35 with 53 seats and no toilets and are of the older style body then currently they could be from the ex Greenline batch 23008-15 YV03UBA-E/AJU/X/V or from other similar ones which are currently operated by First Devon/Cornwall & Somerset at Cambourne. Scania saloon 65590 V590 DVF is currently off the road.

23308 YV03 UBA seen here still in Green Line livery in February this year in Taunton is shown here with the older bodywork style. Photo Copyright Dave Growns.

VISIT TO DEPOT,43489 AND 69007

Yesterday was a good chance to visit the First Ipswich depot and to also see behind the scenes of a working depot, suffice to say there is a lot that happens that people may or may not know for instance Ipswich carries a whole host of spare parts some of types that are not even in service with the depot, that could be of use elsewhere, there is a lot of things that are going to happen in the near future with the depot of which is very positive news for the future that i can't talk about yet! I must thank Chris Speed for taking the time out from his busy schedule for taking me around as there were things that happen there i didn't know about, the office in the OCM is also an interesting place which includes a training room with computers and rooms which hold interesting relics of a past age.  At the depot as seen above is  Dennis Dart SLF 43489 R689 DPW which arrived yesterday from Norfolk and is heading off to Clacton in exchange for the final E 200 44516, also back yesterday and straight into service was Volvo B7RLE  69007 AUO5 DMO on the 64 and next week the excitement of the First Double Decker Volvo B7TL 32490 in the new livery, interesting to note that the shade of colour used on the new livery is described as RAF Blue.

69007 seen here yesterday heading into Ipswich on the 64 at Tower Ramparts.

A SURPRISE IN 60807 AND THE RETURN OF 66959 AND 69011

A surprise for me today was the visit of 60807 S658 RNA now a Driver Trainer for First based now at Norwich, which happened to be visiting to take on a driver for a PCV test, also a surprise was 66959 WX55 TZM picture taken by Jim Long which is his copyright, in Belmont Road this afternoon

Below is rather a poor but interesting shot of 69011 taken on Monday in the OCM whilst on the 65 to Aldeburgh unfortunately a Carters Trident had made taking a shot very hard!

In the next two days i hope to put up another blog which will contain news about my visit to Ipswich depot and some other exciting news.

EASTERN COUNTIES REVISITED 1984

LN 549 HVF 549L which started life in Norwich before emigrating south in the 1980's seen here outside the old OCM bus depot.

Why pick 1984 well for those not old enough to remember this was a great period of change both in my life and my bus enthusiasm, just beginning Secondary School bought me more privileges in being able to spend my time chasing buses around, primarily Ipswich Borough Transport i wouldn't get my interest in Eastern Counties until two years later when they started working the 4 to Broke Hall and the 6 to the Airport in the evenings and Sundays, of which there were many happy memories of riding around on the lovely ex Ribble VR's. Bear in mind this was also the time when the Cambridge and Peterborough areas was about to be split off from Eastern Counties of which some of the Ipswich Coaches would pass to the new Cambus operation.

Two glorious VR's here include Series 1 VR 368 TNG 368G and VR 138 SNG 438M

IPSWICH FLEET AUGUST 1984

Bristol VR:127/88/92/98/204/07/41/42/43/56/58/75/76/90/92/368/90/96/98/405 also 138/87/244/70 at Saxmundham and 189/91 at Felixstowe which in those days had their own allocations.
Leyland National: 539/46/86/93/98/99/782 With 549/87/765 at Felixstowe and 764 at Saxmundham
Bristol RE: 501/848/49/69
Leyland Leopard: 749/53/55/56/82/878/80/82 with 764 at Saxmundham and 765 at Felixstowe
Bristol LH 922/25/31
Bristol LD OT 2 at Felixstowe

Bristol LH 925 WEX 925S seen here a few years later in 1988 at the OCM where by now the old depot had been demolished.

RL 501 APW 501J seen here when new was the last normal Bristol RE left in Ipswich apart from Dual Purpose 869 and the coaches.

Aah happy memories of Felixstowe and the days sat waiting for the magnificent Bristol LD OT 2  on the top of the cliffs alongside Golf Road and the Winter's when the old girl with it's top closed up would work the 44 school service through Broke Hall.

ROUTEMASTER DAY

An excellent began at 0930 today saw me arriving at Ipswich Depot to witness the arrival of RML 2623 NML 623E to Ipswich for one journey to and from the Old Cattle Market to Felixstowe, met by Depot Manager Cliff Hussey and Stephen Fountain and later conductor of the day Paulo Van Krieken first job was by Russell Young who very kindly provided some LT Johnson style blinds specially cut to show route 77 Felixstowe Landguard Fort and Ipswich Via Warren Heath.

Close up showing 77 Felixstowe Languard Fort.

After the blinds were done up to the Old Cattle Market to load up and were Richard Walkers excellent LG 587 WAH 587S was parked ready to follow us to Felixstowe.

At Felixstowe Languard Point we bumped into IB Atlantean No 9 which sadly wasn't doing a brisk trade alongside the beautiful VA 32479 AU53 HJV

Blinds now set to return to Ipswich we were off back to Ipswich

And on return to Ipswich in the rain

And not forgetting the sterling work done by Paulo Van Krieken on the day and many thanks to the Ipswich Transport Museum for the kind use of the conductors money bag and last but not least Chris Speed who sadly couldn't make it after a 4 hour flight delay from the USA, for arranging it

And last but not least VA 32479 AU53 HJV awaiting for it's next run on the 75.

44518 ENTERS SERVICE AND RETURN OF 69011

    44518 YXO9 ACZ was one of three Enviro 200's on the 53 yesterday

44518 YX09 ACZ finally returned to service on the 75 to Felixstowe on Wednesday before being put on the 53 to Pinewood on Thursday and Friday, although by today two of the three were parked up in the OCM, Thursday also saw the return of Volvo B7RLE 69011 AU05 DMZ see photo supplied below with thanks to James Long and Ipswich depot staff, this leaves currently Volvo B7RLES 66959/69007, Volvo B7TL'S 32486/87 and 32490 to return.

44517 ENTERS SERVICE

Just  a quick report tonight reporting the entry into service of  Enviro 200 44517 YX09 ACY which has entered on the 53 today seen here in Belmont Road many thanks again to James Long for the excellent photo, which is his copyright, meanwhile sister 44518 still remains in the depot a week or more after arrival. Also worth reporting was an article in the Evening Star on Tuesday about the abandonment of a section of the IB route 19 which now only serves Dales Road and not Castle Hill, IB withdrew the section due to an average of around 5 persons per trip, the local people who live in the care home now have to walk an extra 500 yards, the cost of taking one bus of the route costs £54,000.

Something from my ever increasing archive tonight for a change here we have LM 645 KNG 645D a Eastern Counties Bristol MW heading out of Ipswich on route 207 to Colchester approaching Ipswich Railway Station.

44518 BACK IN IPSWICH AND RAIL REPLACEMENTS

Photo Copyright James Long

20514 WVO2 EUP a Volvo B12M came back from Norwich seen here was one of the vehicles used over a very busy weekend of Rail Replacement along with i believe 23314 also used was Volvo B7TL's 32653 AU05 MUV and 32491 AU53 HKJ many thanks to Paulo once again for the information. Returning home during Thursday was Enviro 200 44518 YX09 ACZ picture below, going out this week will be ex Norwich B7TL 32486 AU53 HKD which during it's spell here has managed to keep it's large Norwich Advert to the rear, due out i would imagine will be one of the two remaining Volvo B7RLES in the old livery 66987 KX05 MHV or 69010 AU05 DMY with a possibility of 69011 AU05 DMZ returning home. Volvo B7L 66333 MV02 VBY has also now returned to Norwich thankfully!

Once again i must thank the Ipswich Depot staff for allowing James Long to photo 44518 inside the depot.

And as a bonus photo this week a picture of the two Routemasters together inside Caister Road Depot in Great Yarmouth after 39623 NML 623E returned home after a day on a Wedding Hire, many thanks to Graeme Bessey and James Long for allowing for me put this up.

66950 RETURNS AND OTHER NEWS

66950 seen today on the 53 at Tower Ramparts with Paulo Vank at the helm.

As can be seen above 66950 WX55 TZM entered service yesterday on the Felixstowes quickly followed by work on the 53 to Pinewood town service, also due today should be Enviro 200 44518 YX09 ACZ from Rotherham while Volvo B7RLE 69007 AU05 DMO has departed for refurbishment to Rotherham on Tuesday. Steve W's blog reports on the changes due to the Ipswich fleet in the coming months and i can firm this up thanks to Paulo at First that departing will be Volvo B7RLE'S 69431/32/33 AU58 FFT/V/W to Essex with either more of the 66976 05 plate batch from Colchester in exchange or the 66794-66837 05 plates from Chelmsford. Also worth reporting is the fact on 17th  August First Eastern Counties Routemaster 39480 JJD 480D will operate one journey from Ipswich at 10.25 and return from Felixstowe at 11.31, more on Steve's chat can be found here http://www.busandtrain.blogspot.co.uk/

Two further close up views of 32479 firstly an onside view and at the bottom a rear and offside view