IPSWICH BUSES PROFILE PART 2 !

IPSWICH BUSES PROFILE PART TWO

40 M640 EPV an East Lancs bodied Olympian copyright James Long

50 P442 SWX DAF DB250 Optare Spectra H43/26F originally built for export this
was converted from left hand drive to right hand drive.

50 P442 SWX  an Optare Spectra DB250.

51-53 X151-53 LBJ DAF DB250LF Optare Spectra H47/25F 

51 X151 LBJ one of three low floor Optare Spectras bought for Bury Road Park and Ride services back in 2000.

54-59/100 PF04 WML/PN52 XBO/K/J/PJ53 OLA/B/PN52 XBM DAF DB250LF/East Lancs Lowlander H43/29F

58 PJ53 OLA an East Lancs Lowlander on one of it's regular routes the 15 to Thorington Park

60-62 PJ54 YZT-V Scania N94UD/East Lancs Omnidekka H47/33F

60 PJ54 YZT an East Lancs Scania N94UD Omnidekka on the 15 to Thorington Park

68/69 YJ6060 KGX/Y Scania CN230UD/Optare Olympus H47/27F

69 YJ60 KGY is repainted into current livery

70-75 YN56 NVB-G Scania CN94UB Omnicity B36F

70 YN56 NVB seen on its regular rout the 13 to Pinebrook Tesco.

79-82 YX63 ZVV/W/LGE/F Alexander Dennis Enviro 200 

82 YX63 LGF about to take on a 13 to Pinewood Tesco

83 SK07 DYA Alexander Dennis Enviro 300 B44F

83 SKO7 DYA is a former AD demonstrator seen here at Tower Ramparts

84-88 PJ53 OLC/E/G/H/K Transbus Dart 11.4m/East Lancs Myllenium B41F

86  PJ53 OLG is one of two East Lancs Darts in current livery

89-99 X89/901/91-98/199 LBJ Dennis Dart 11.3m / East Lancs Spryte B41F

92 X92 LBJ at Tower Ramparts on the 6 to Ipswich Hospital

135-37 T135-37 KPV  Dennis Dart 10.1m / East Lancs Spryte B36F

135 T135 KPV seen unusually on the 13 to Pinewood Tesco

coming soon the tail end of Ipswich Buses Single deck fleet. 

GALLOWAYS AXE 110 TO BRAMFORD AND FIRST STEP IN

In happier times is Galloways regular bus for the 110 AY09 BYC a Optare/Plaxton Centro

Suffolk County council have stepped in to save a route after Galloways of Mendlesham, announced they are to withdraw the 110 service to Claydon via Bramford as of January 31st, stepping into the breach will be First Ipswich who will announce changes to the 88/A along with a new 89 service, First will run this service commercially. Originally this service was run by Eastern Counties, before later on being run by Ipswich Buses as an 18/A. In other news related to this area as they do work some contracts into Ipswich, is the announcement that Arriva have once again taken control of TGM Colchester buses, buses will be renumbered into the Arriva Southern Counties fleet. Monday sees further changes to the Ipswich Buses network previously announced in this blog with an new X1 to Greenwich among the highlights.

An unusual surprise on the 4 to Bixley on Thursday was Optare Spectra 53 X153 LBJ 

CARTERS OLYMPIAN SURPRISE

 

Olympian G727 XDL ex Damory, part of the Go Ahead Group photo copyright of Leon Wells

A surprise purchase well not really is of G727 XDL from Ensign to replace  449 L679 HNV. Below is a scanned picture i took in Isle of Wight back in 1989 of an Olympian and a VR from a batch of which some later came to Eastern Counties.

Olympian 695 WDL 695Y and Bristol VR 666 together at Ryde, part of Isle of Wights Southern Vectis fleet in 1989 copyright Clive Nixon 

REVIEW OF 2013

REVIEW OF 2013

Let's not forget that the both bus stations were closed at the same time!

The last P reg Scania to leave the fleet in 2013 was 65550

Well what one can say about 2013, in one blog, for me personally it's not been a good year, but in the heaven of the bus world, it's been one rollercoaster ride, in the main it's been the bus war which has captured the public's eye, so we have said goodbye to routes 56, 70, and 87 from First Ipswich while we have seen them take on Ipswich Buses on Chantry, with little success, while Ipswich Buses said goodbye to route 17 to the Hospital via Spring Road, as well as the last ECW Olympians departing and the beginning of an new era with four Enviro 200s and Optare Versas on Park and Ride. First Ipswich probably had the most changes as far as the fleet went, out went the original superoute 88 P Reg scanias, and the remaining R-GSF scanias, some only here for a short time, while coming in was more Scania single deckers in the form of 65628/30-32,65691/92,65670/76  from Basildon, while at the tail end of the year a further 2 Volvo B7TLs came from Lowestoft and out went two ex Park and Ride Volvo B7RLE's

Seen here in the height of the glorious summer is 65631  V831 FSC one of the transfers in from Basildon

69432 GETS A REPAINT AND IB'S NEW ROUTES

69432 AU58 FFV repainted at long last.

Well it's about time 69432 has finally been given a full repaint into the new livery after carrying only what one could call an hybrid livery of Barbie 3 livery on the front and a wraparound East Anglian Co-operative advert.

IPSWICH BUSES NEW ROUTES

As previously mentioned Ipswich Buses have launched on-line their new timetables for the 6 Ipswich Hospital service and the X1 to Greenwich(Holbrook Road) which will be in competition with First's 61, both will launch on the 6th January. Service 6 will divert back via Sainsbury's (Warren Heath) and Ravenswood as per original routing and will additionally serve Broke Hall off peak hours. Service X1 will operate Monday to Saturday daytime mirroring First's 61 service.

Enviro 200 82 YX63 LGF in hybrid livery on the 8 Whitehouse(ASDA) stand

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL MY VISITORS IN THE UK AND WORLDWIDE!

IPSWICH RECEIVE 32655/56

Ipswich Depot has received 2 Volvo B7TL/ALX 400s with Volvo B7RLES 69421/30 going to Colchester 

One other transfer which i haven't mentioned before is one of the awful numb bumb scanias in 65676 has departed to Clacton as someone once said "You are most Welcome". While in Ipswich today i bumped into Steve W whose blog recently had news from the First  Ipswich Engineering manager, so if you have missed it do go along and see his blog, whilst there 30887 popped up on the Felixstowe's and IB unusually had Optare Spectra 50 a step entrance bus on the 1 to the Havens. 

IPSWICH BUSES PROFILE

IPSWICH BUSES PROFILE PART ONE

Welcome to Part one of an Ipswich Buses Profile, unfortunately i have had to divide it up into parts as for some reasons unknown i can't add any more pictures to this blog. 

 9  MRT 9P Leyland Atlantean AN68/1R/ Roe 043/29D    

Open Top Atlantean 9 MRT 9P seen at ITM,Priory Heath

 10 PO51 UMK Dennis Trident/East Lancs Lolyne H46/27F 

The only East Lancs Trident In the Ipswich Buses fleet is no 10 PO51 UMK

11-17 LG02 FCX/FDC/F/J/K/N/FEM Dennis Trident/Alexander ALX 400 H43/23F
18/19 V126/62 MEV Dennis Trident/Alexander ALX 400 H47/29F  Blue livery for schools 20/21 Y436/58 NHK Dennis Trident/Alexander ALX 400 H47/29F

One of the ex Transdev London B7TL/ALX 400 Tridents is 17 LG02 FEM