CHRIS SPEED AND JEREMY COOPER ANSWER QUERIES ON BBC SUFFOLK

Part of Ipswich Buses investment in Buses this year has seen 4 ex Transbus SPD Darts and 3 Transbus Trident/Plaxton President arrive from Lothian, all three ex Lothian deckers should be in service in the next week, seen above in August is Transbus SPD Dart 137 SN53 AVP.

Both Chris Speed from First Eastern Counties and Jeremy Cooper from Ipswich Buses this morning answered queries from members of the public on the morning show on BBC Suffolk with Mark Matthews.
Questions asked included cuts to the 19 service on Dale Hall, which was cut due to lack of public funding however buses on the Whitton/Castle Hill area now operate every 7/8 minutes and from 7th October will be operated by the three new Mercedes Benz Citarios and two Double Deckers so more elderly people should be able to use these services, services which currently occupy the stands closest to the shopping centre in Tower Ramparts will have seats fitted once work on the shopping centre is completed. Chris Speed answered questions on the poor connection of services on the 64 which don't link to the trains at Saxmundham, whilst service 66 was mentioned in regard to staff in the travel shop not knowing what was the correct timetable whilst a question on service 76 to Felixstowe in regard to no longer having a bus going down Nacton Road, was answered that its something that may happen in the future if people demand it. The show can be heard here http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p030yll2#play

On the aforementioned service 76 from First Ipswich is Volvo B7TL/ALX 400 32491 AU53 HKJ.

MONDAYS BITS AND PIECES AND A WELSH VISITOR

Suffolk Norse MAN coach AY56 BJO, Carters Alexander bodied Olympian R156 LHK and Beestons Scania Omnidekka YN54 OAH lined up in Ipswich OCM.

Not a great lot to report today, just a few oddities to report, so here we go Carters Alexander bodied Olympian took the place of Trident 451 LX51 FJN while also strangely on IB's 98 service to Shotley

was East Lancs bodied Dart 96 X96 LBJ, whilst on town services IB had ALX 200 Dart 138 with X3 branding yes very confusing on the 15A whilst Transbus Enviro 83 was on the 16.

 Whilst below we see a strange combination and a rare one at that Silcox of Pembroke Dock in Wales visiting Ipswich on a tour, this unusual beast is a Dennis Javelin/Caetano CN06 ANP. Silcox back in the 1970's took on several ex Eastern Counties buses if my memory is right!

LEYLAND ATLANTEAN WINS THIS WEEKS POLL

https://www.flickr.com/photos/martin_addison/3535583182/in/photolist-bUNtTp-9EzNRJ-6oqMGJ-nFCz1y-6omzWv-5cooT2-7Ymqwy-7CijYk

The winner of this weeks Favourite Double Decker poll has concluded it's final week although it has been fun to do the lack of people polling has forced me to pull an idea to do a further one until the end of year poll in December, anyway the result was as followed the Leyland Atlantean finished first with 44%, the Olympian in second place with 35%, then the Titan in a distant third with 17% and last was the Fleetline with 2%, above in an evocative photo from 1982 before the Tower Ramparts Shopping Centre was put up we see Ipswich Borough Transport's Roe Bodied Atlantean 98 TRT 98M on the 2A to RSJ Works now of course long gone. Below we see one from my own collection of Atlantean 16 RDX 16R with a bright offside advert for Home Choose Carpets.

NEWS ON BUS FIRE AND ANOTHER BONUS PHOTO

With many thanks to Viv Carter an update on Thursday's fire the bus involved was ex Stagecoach East London Dennis Trident/ALX 400 17451 LX51 FJN now of course 451, the damage is believed to be unrepairable for the time being Carters have on loan an dual doored Volvo B7TL/Plaxton President from Ensigns until an replacement Dennis Trident is bought. To finish with another bonus picture from the Syd Eade Collection is Eastern Counties Lodekka LFS 114 FAH 114C peeking out of Norwich Bus Depot in January 1973.

FIRST NORWICH 66976 GOES YELLOW PLUS BONUS PICTURE!

I must thank Kieran on Norwich Buses Blog for allowing me to reproduce the photo he has on his blog today of ex Ipswich Volvo B7RLE 66976 KX05 MGZ which entered service on the Yellow Line 28 to Thorpe Marriott to me it looks a bit orangey but it looks pretty good.
In other news yesterday an Carters Dennis Trident 451 which i saw yesterday in the OCM caught fire on London Road shortly before 6pm full story can be seen here

http://www.ipswichstar.co.uk/news/passengers_get_safely_off_double_decker_bus_after_it_goes_up_in_flames_1_4228487

A bonus picture today by Syd Eade of Eastern Counties LFS 54 54 CPW in Lowestoft Beach Road in July 1980 this bus certainly did the rounds starting out at Ipswich then Great Yarmouth, Cambridge and finally Lowestoft.

THURSDAY SURPRISES?

Not a lot to report today apart from a few oddities on Ipswich Buses routes this must rate above as one of the most bizarre allocations i have seen on daytime services at any rate usually the 15/A is Double Deck worked so a 35 seat ALX 200 dart 141 Y273 FJN has to go down as a strange one,another odd working was Scania Omnicity 71 YN56 NVF on the X1. Meanwhile a rare spot for me today was Galloways DAF SB300/Plaxton Premiere coach on training duties sat beside Beestons spare for the day MX04 MYY a Scania Omnidekka.

Now time for a rare beast in Mulleys 444 NXX a Volvo B12BT/VDL Berkhof Axial 100 spotted on Monday in Crown Street Lay by.

EASTERN COUNTIES ALLOCATION SHEET SEPTEMBER 1975

Once again may i thank Peter Horrex for allowing me to use his pictures it's much appreciated.

Today's classic allocation sheet is taken from September 1975, when Ipswich still had plenty of Lodekkas and the Bristol VR was few in number in Ipswich anyway! Above we see LS 794 which was still on the Ipswich allocation at that point but would be withdrawn in 1976 as can be seen it had been converted to becoming a bus complete with roof destination blinds, nowadays Queen Street is shut to buses.Taken in 1979 RL 506 BVF 822J for many years was an Ipswich allocated bus before moving over to Cambridgeshire in the 1980's and eventually Cambus in 1984 here she's travelling back to Ipswich on the 206.