A YEAR IN PHOTOS PART TWO

April saw Ipswich Buses Scania Omnidekka 62 PJ54 YZT repainted into current fleet livery.

April also saw IB repaint the Free shuttle bus Optare Solo in a pink and black livery for All About Ipswich.

The beginning of May saw the ITM Felixstowe road run and one of  the buses on the day was former Eastern National Leyland National 1924 JHJ 150V.

Also seen in May for the first time in May was Carter's latest purchase from Ensign ex Damory/Southern Vectis Leyland Olympian 427.

 The delightful ex Transdev Volvo B7RLES left for Colchester during the year seen here back in May was 69532 PL05 UBR.

Back in June we saw the very smart First South Yorkshire Volvo B10BLE'S arrive on loan to cover for refurbishing the Volvo B7RLES seen here on the 60/61 is 60618 R781 WKW.

Arriving also on loan but for a very brief time from Great Yarmouth was ex Leicester Volvo B7TL 32061 W221 XBD seen here on the 55.

Seen here before it's transformation was recently arrived back in June from First Essex at Clacton was E200 44518 YX09ACZ .

IB's Open topper Leyland Atlantean 9 MRT 9P ventured out on various duties including here on the 5 to Heath Road Hospital.

A YEAR IN PHOTOS PART ONE

January 2014 saw Ipswich Buses repaint Scania/Optare Olympus 69 YJ60 KGY repainted into current fleet livery.

A chance with not much going on in to have a look back at my Photos in four stages the first chronicles the period January to March.

One bus that has survived the cull of the Scanias so far is one of only two left at the present time is First Ipswich 65590 V590 DVF.

And one that didn't seen back here in February was one of the hard seated ones 65673 SN51 UYG

At the end of February saw this rather fine version of the Ipswich Buses livery emerge on Scania 62 PJ54 YZV.

Arriving on loan from Norwich after being with Essex for a time the first ever Volvo B7L/Wright Eclipse came to Ipswich for quite a lengthy spell here's 66333 MV02 VBY in early March on the 60/61.

Before it received route branding for the 111 to Hitcham route E200 78 YX14 RWL appeared on several different including the 38 Free Shuttle

69428 AND 69005 READY TO RETURN

Photo Copyright Duncan Robinson

A short and sweet blog today,as can be seen from above, both Volvo B7RLE'S 69428 AU58 FFP and 69005 AU05 DME are ready to return from Rotherham, this will leave just Volvo B7RLE 69006 and Volvo B7TL 32494 to return in the New Year.

NOT QUITE THE END OF THE ROAD

First Ipswich 32491 AU53 HKJ at long last a proper photo, after waiting for three weeks i finally get her on camera.

Well well first up i must apologise for my rather rash blog, predicting the end of the Scanias, well it was meant to happen BUT with four vehicles still away at Rotherham, i would imagine they will stay in service until the New Year, 65588 was ploughing it's trade on the 64 to Saxmundham while poor old 65579 just can't stay away from the 60/61 and 65670 was also around.

  And from the other side the rather glamorous 69426 AU58 FFN was on the 65 to Aldeburgh and in the flesh for the first time she sure looks good, livery of the year?
Next week sees some small amendments to Ipswich Buses services service 4 gets an additional journey in the morning while the 8/13 go back down to every 12 mins, Carter's have made some minor adjustments to their timetables as well.

END OF THE LINE FOR THE SCANIAS AND ROUTE 55

Wednesday saw the end of a fine period of service for the Scanias 65579/88 T579 JNG/V588 DVF when i would imagine they withdrawn from service on the same day that the 55 to Bixley ended,Scanias have been in use since the Summer of 1997 when 10 541-50 P541-50 RNG were delivered to operate the Superoute 88, the 55 to Bixley was a spin off from the current route 4 currently operated by Ipswich Buses, which First took over in late 1999, renumbered to 62 a few years later this continued until 2012 when the route was split into two the 55 and 56, the 56 was withdrawn the following year after stiff competition from Ipswich Buses who resumed the 4 in September 2012. There is one other Scania 65670 left which has just been Mot'd whether it will see service before it's transfer to Colchester in early January, is unknown.

65569 S569 TPW seen here back in 2012 had two spells at Ipswich and has just been withdrawn from service at Colchester.

And finally the one that kicked it all off seen here back in 2009 is 65541 P549 RNG the early Scanias were of course designated as L113 the later ones as L94.

66980 RETURNS HOME/FARE INCREASES

Eastern Counties Bristol Lodekka FLF 446 GVF 446D, on the 509 to North Thorpe in Norwich.

No hesitations in putting up another classic photo of a Eastern Counties Bristol Lodekka as i haven't been out and about taking photos, not much to report today apart from a surprise return yesterday of Volvo B7RLE 66980 KXO5 MHJ with 60618 R781 MKW returning to Rotherham, leaving just Volvo B7RLE'S 69005/6/69428 and Volvo B7TL 32494 to come back in the New Year. First have announced a whole lot of fare increases in the region, Ipswich sees the majority of 10 trip, and bus passes remaining the same with an increase of 10p on some single and returns. Now this is the last blog before Christmas, so thank you everyone who has contributed to the blog, take a bow Sam Larke, Paulo Van Krieken and Chris Speed at First, Grahame Bessey, and Roy at the East Norfolk Blog, Zak Nelson, Steve W and not forgetting James Long who's been invaluable with his photos and not forgetting you my dear blog devotees

Probably the best thing this year was meeting Business Manager Chris Speed this year who has firmly became a great friend to this blog and to me personally, here is the photo of him and Ipswich Engineering Manager Barry Spurling back in September when we launched 32479 at the ITM which i helped organize, Chris of course is now much thinner of course due to a health scare not long after this picture was taken, but was still able to take 32479 to Showbus.

CHRISTMAS PHOTO SPECIAL

Today's special is a crop of my slide purchases of the last year so we will kick off with one of the most recently bought one's this shows a particularly sunny day in August 1980 with Eastern Counties Bristol RE RL668 PPW 668F parked up on the forecourt of Felixstowe Bus Station.

The end is nigh for this beauty again in 1980 as IBT AEC Regent V 60 SDX 60 waits outside of the Football ground.

Another early 1980's photo here as IBT Leyland Atlantean 29 SDX 29R takes off from Tower Ramparts on the 7 to Chantry Estate.

Apologises for this one as it was converted from a slide projector slide which was difficult to cut in size, here nevertheless this a rare photograph of one the Bristol Lodekkas that ended up in Scotland seen here in Norwich is Eastern Counties FLF 496 MAH 496E on a 90 to Cringleford.