69006 BACK AT IPSWICH, HOW THE NEW E400 LOOKS AND FLASHBACK FRIDAY

As can be seen above, 69006 AU05 DMF finally arrived back in Ipswich bringing the end to the refurbishment, thanks to Joe Thorpe for this full sized picture and to Paulo Van Krieken who made me aware of it's arrival his pictures can be seen over on Steve W's site, this will see the end of 65588 which may see further service in Norwich prior to storage, hopefully in two weeks time i may be able to confirm it's being saved for preservation watch this space for further news.

Further to my blog on Wednesday taken from Flickr this photo is the brand new coach seated Enviro 400 demonstrator currently i believe on loan with Nottingham, as can be seen all poles have now been integrated within the body structure .

And as a comparison from a photo taken from Martin Jarvis this time we have the Arriva Wright Streetdeck and goodness me doesn't look it good with a properly marked Buggy space and wheelchair bay.

                                        FLASHBACK FRIDAY

Ah a classic Bristol RE picture again from Flickr sees Eastern Counties  RL 677 PPW 677F arriving back on a 215 in Ipswich in 1983 by this time this fine bus and it's delicious engine sounds were coming to the end of it's life i miss those halcyon days travelling around on VR's and RE's.

FUTURE BUSES FOR FIRST GROUP

Bh

 Flickr Picture by Buses 2012

This year maybe interesting to see what First Group decide to order in double deckers the favourite is likely to be the Wright Streetdeck picture below, although the bus above a Volvo B5TL/Wrightbus Gemini 3 BF63 HDC on loan at First Manchester may sway there minds? The Volvo B5TL from information gained is more fuel greedy than than the Streetdeck, or could the new look Enviro 400 from AD, be an option, lately First Group have moved away from both the E200/300/400 and buying the Wright Streetlite although many commentators dislike them, the proof suggests that they are more economical than the competition including the Volvo B7RLE which garnered no orders last year.

The rather impressive AD E400 has been radically upgraded for the 2nd incarnation, with new front profile and will be free from the usual rattles associated with this type. Seen here with Stagecoach Manchester is SL64 HZN 10406

This is most likely to be the popular choice for First the New Streetdeck from Wrightbus 35102 SN64 CSO.

32653 ON THE 60/61 AND VISITORS TO IPSWICH.

Not an awful lot happening again this week so i will keep it short and to the point, seen above is 32653 AU05 MUV which appeared on the 60/61 today which seems to be a regular occurrence on Tuesday these days, what with 32492 last week, two pictures below see some unusual visitors to the Crown Street Lay by in Ipswich today, 5 coaches appeared from a tour company called Nova Tours from Stockport all seeming were VDL/Bova Europa's unfortunately due to the tight parking i could only manage one out of the five which was YJ08 VPD.

As you can see parking was very tight, using a narrow lens we see Mulleys Tri axle Van Hool WSV 555.

EASTERN COUNTIES SECOND LIVES

As i enjoyed searching for the second lives of Ipswich Buses i bring you part two in the feature where we now look at the lives of buses after Eastern Counties many were snapped up Jordan's at Coltishall where some where bought by other operators. First up is RLE 873 XAH 873H which passed to Cambus in 1984 although it did spend some time in Ipswich in 1975, this one passed to Northern Bus in Sheffield

One from my own collection now is former Eastern Counties Bedford CB 661 NAH 661F which had rather small lifespan before being sold off after around 8 to 9 years, it's seen here with Primrose Valley in the East Yorkshire area area during the late 1970's

Many of Eastern Counties later Bristol FLF'S were swapped with Bristol VR's from the Scottish Bus Group Companies during 1973, seen here approx 1980/81 is KPW 485F with Eastern Scottish in Edinburgh.

Another bus which joined Cambus in 1984 but went on to serve with Moxon's Tours of Worksop was ex VR 233 DNG 233T

Apologises for this last one which didn't scan too well is Bristol K GVF 74 formerly LKH 74 which managed about a year with Canhams in Whittlesey during the 1960's.

IPSWICH BUSES THE NEXT LIVES

Interesting article in Classic Bus magazine with a piece on Ipswich Buses Dennis Falcons prompted me to go looking for photographs off Flickr of Ipswich Buses in their new lives, first up we see ex Ipswich Atlantean 28 SDX 28R with Road Car in Lincoln, sold by Ipswich in 1996 these strangely replaced younger Bristol VR's.

Next up the rather square looking Northern Counties Dennis Falcon which Ipswich kept for only 10 years before being mainly bought by First for use at Leicester and Northampton here we see ex Ipswich 107 C107 SDX  with an ex Ipswich Volvo B6 lurking behind. Some escaped by being bought by First, seen below is sister C110 SDX seen here in 2002 with Choice travel in Birmingham during 2002.

One from Stuart Ray's fine collection is one of the fine ex Ipswich ECW Atlanteans LDX 73G seen here with it's new owner Eastbourne during 1982.

Finishing today's feature we see two ex Ipswich Dennis Falcons 103/105 now registered KAZ 3254/53 with Eagre which by the looking of things brand new front ends, latterly Eagre were taking over by Road Car serving out of Gainsborough depot.

32494 IN SERVICE

Well at last i capture my final Double Decker repaint purely by accident, on my way home on the 4 which goes to the Railway Station before going back into town i spotted Volvo B7TL 32494 on the 66, so i got off and captured her meaning now i have only one member of the Bus fleet to capture in the form of Volvo B7RLE 69006, that and the repaints of 20514 and 20515 into Excel Blue, also at the Station was Panther Travel Volvo B10M/Van Hool VLT 177 on standby for Rail Replacement and Galloway's National Express Scania/Caetano Levante FJ61 EVU on the 250 to Heathrow pictures below.

32492 SPENDS THE DAY ON 60/61

As can be seen above a curious allocation for the day was Volvo B7TL 32492 AU53 HKK on the 60/61, which is usually Volvo B7RLE operated, these allocations sometimes happen as the town routes in some cases start later than the country routes and if the only bus is available....

Haven't put up a picture before of this recent repaint, Ipswich Buses Optare Solo 241 YN04 LMK.

GOODBYE TO 65670 AND 69433

Saturday saw my favourite bus only joking in First Ipswich Scania L94 65670 SN51 UYC  depart Ipswich along with the last Volvo B7RLE left in the First Marmite livery 69433 AU58 FFW both are seen here just two days before in the Old Cattle Market.

Photo Copyright Richard Walker
As can be seen above this is Beestons new livery which seems to be a darker blue than before along with a silver grey piece below the front windscreen which is dividing a number of people already, seen here is the first in the new colours is Scania Omnidekka YN54 OCJ.

FIRST WIN BEST LIVERY OF THE LAST YEAR

First up i would like to thank all those who took part in the poll for the best livery of the last year winning with a massive 40% of the vote and over double that of their nearest rivals, First Ipswich's Excel inspired livery won the vote, seen here on Volvo B7RLE 69428 AU58 FFP. Appearing just after my Wednesday visit was the return of Volvo B7TL 32494 AU53 HKM thanks again to Joe Thorpe for the photo on Thursday night, were now waiting just for Volvo B7RLE 69006 which has been delayed as it's having it's MOT.

And after escaping my clutches all week finally i present Volvo B7RLE 69005 AU05 DME.

FLASHBACK SATURDAY

Throwing away my rose tinted spectacles i present a new feature inspired by Roy and Grahame's feature on the East Norfolk Bus blog one of my favourite Ipswich buses was the ECW bodied Atlanteans which i was particularly sad when they were sold to Eastbourne strong memories of going to and from the Wolsey Theatre on a school trip back in 1979, when this picture was taken heading along Norwich Road, photo once again from Stuart Ray's collection.

AN EVENING WATCHING FIRST IPSWICH'S FRESH START PROGRAMME UPDATED

As i'm sick in bed at the moment i thought i would repost an earlier post from the last year, as this goes cap in hand with the award of the best customer service from last week, it also an interesting feature that deserves an second outing, as most people would be completely unaware of the process of getting a bus out every morning than back in during the early evening period, unfortunately some of the proposed changes to the depot layout have yet to take place plus an added picture the queue from the Foundation Street entrance.

Yesterday evening i spent two hours in the evening along with Steve W, David Warren and First Business Manager Chris Speed to look at the new programme introduced called fresh start which has been introduced to take vehicle presentation to higher standards than both inside and out current acting supervisor is Paulo Van Krieken who can be seen above illustrating that on a daily basis every part of the bus is cleaned to the highest standard, at this point cleaning the rear exterior panels and the wheel areas where they accumulate dirt. The peak time for buses to return to the depot is between 6pm and 8pm every night, currently buses enter from the rear of the garage in Star Lane were they wait there turn before being refuelled and as shown hand cleaned the parts of the bus that the bus wash can't reach, they are then driven through the bus wash by a shunter before being turned around and coming through only what can be called a very narrow lane in the running shed where health and safety becomes paramount, it's worth remarking that when the garage is upgraded during the year this will change so that the buses will enter from the front of Star Lane and be driven through the back of the depot thus overcoming the problem. The buses are than driven by the shunter back to the rear of the depot where they put into position ready for the next day, over night once all the buses have returned they are than cleaned internally, areas that are important are the cab areas, seating and floors, this programme was started on the 8th January you can tell by the way that the staff go about there business there is that they are all aware of the importance of having buses that they can be proud of, it was noting that the drivers have the utmost respect for Chris Speed, many years ago First could have quite easily turned around and closed Ipswich and the complete difference now in terms of the high quality presentation of the buses and the staff themselves is a credit to the company.

A view from the rear once again Paulo is reaching up to clean the top deck of 32487 where an accumulation of dirt needs to be cleaned.

Volvo B7RLE 66981 KX05 MHK being driven back through the running shed.

A not so easy night shot of sisters 66980/66981 KX05MHJ/K in the rear yard.

69010 AU05 DMY after finishing it's day is shown waiting it's turn to be driven in to be cleaned and driven through the wash.

Mr Speed shows as all how it should be done on the rear of Volvo B7RLE 69423.

Lastly my thanks to Paulo for inviting me along to watch the whole process of how a bus is maintained on a daily basis no doubt i have missed something along the way but when you hear so much it's not possible to remember it all there is also other things that i have learned but that that's all for another day.

69433 AND 65670 TO DEPART

Just a quick blog tonight with the news that Volvo B7RLE 69433 AU53 FFW and Scania 65670 SN51 UYC will depart this Saturday to Colchester, presumably once Volvo B7RLE 69006 and Volvo B7TL 32494 return from Rotherham. After all the excitement of the refurbishments in the last year what will we have to look forward to well i can safely say that there is plenty more things up Mr Speed's sleeves.

32494 READY TO RETURN

Many thanks to my friend Joe Thorpe at First Ipswich depot who has supplied me this afternoon with the first shots of Volvo B7TL 32494 AU53 HKM which are the copyright of Roger Bellward after emerging from the paint shops at Rotherham hopefully it will be returning to Ipswich this week. Wednesday i will be attending a special shoot at Ipswich depot the aim is to promote the work that First Ipswich staff are doing to ensure that Vehicle presentation is to the highest standards possible, this focuses on wheels,exterior panels, windows, cab area, seats and flooring, many thanks to Paulo Van Krieken for allowing me to promote this work. On this matter if anyone has any complaints in what is mentioned above than please contact me and i can pass it on to Paulo.

RAIL REPLACEMENT WEEKEND

Photos Copyright Richard Walker.

Over this weekend as last saw a large effort to replace Trains with buses, with First, Panther Travel and others supplying buses and coaches, seen here yesterday to provide extra capacity for journeys between Ipswich to Felixstowe and Lowestoft, for the Football match was First Lowestoft Volvo B9TL/Wright Gemini 37570 AU58 ECT and in the next photo Panther Travel Volvo B10M/Plaxton Premiere BIG 9895 piloted by Richard Walker undertook work to Felixstowe, today saw First Ipswich 69005 and coaches 20514/15 assist on Rail Replacement work.

THE BEST OPERATOR OF THE YEAR POLL

Above is Scania Omnicity 75 YN56 NVG on a rare visit to the X1 early last month, seen here in Dogs Head Street, Ipswich.

Just a quick blog to announce the winner of the best operator of the year poll, which was won by Ipswich Buses on 59% with First Ipswich on 41% second, after finishing second to Ensign in the UK Bus awards top Independent operator, on the blog to the left at the moment is another poll on the Best Livery used by a operator in the last year, please vote on your favourite.

69428 INTO SERVICE

Photo copyright David Warren

Photo Copyright James Long

As can be seen from above 69428 AU58 FFP entered service on the 53 yesterday and today was on the 75, many thanks to James Long and David Warren for the photos, 69005 which also came back on Monday has by and large been kept in the depot, also managed to get out yesterday but is back in the depot again. Also due back next week is Volvo B7TL 32494 with Volvo B7RLE 69006 the last one due back.

Freddie the Frog was in Ipswich yesterday promoting the 53 to Pinewood and for once Mr Speed isn't in the photo, 'Shocker' but Steve Fountain and Cliff Hussey are.

66980 IN SERVICE AND 69005/69428 COME BACK

As seen above I managed to capture Volvo B7RLE 66980 KX05 MHJ purely by default as I walking back from Handford Road and thought which way should I go to Tower Ramparts or the OCM, fortunately I choose to go to the OCM, while I was that way I thought I would pop down to the Ipswich depot, where on the forecourt was Scania 65588 and Volvo B7RLE 69010 while in the depot was one of the E200's and the returning Volvo B7RLE'S 69005/69428 which were having vinyl's applied before going back in service, both arrived yesterday, thanks to Joe Thorpe for the news. This now only leaves Volvo B7RLE 69006 and Volvo B7TL 32494 to come back next week hopefully when both Scania 65670 and Volvo B7RLE 69433 will transfer to Colchester and Scanias 65579/88 will be withdrawn.

Both First Volvo B12M/Plaxton Paragons together 20514/14 WV02 EUP/R

Fareline's VDL Jonckheere F94 CBD on the usual Tuesday only 121 one must wonder how they can get away with a Non Low Floor bus/coach in today's climate.