65589 MAKES IT INTO PRESERVATION

Finally i am able to reveal that ex Ipswich allocated Scania L94UB 65589 V589 DVF has been kindly donated to the Ipswich Transport Museum by First Group after sister 65588 was deemed too expensive to repair i alerted them to the fact that it's sister 65589 was still hard at work in Colchester thanks must go to Chris Speed who i kept badgering about her to set up a deal with the museum and First Essex, i believe she will be the literally the first Scania L94UB in preservation, which is something to crow about and also the first low floor bus the museum has which will add a part of the enormous and rich Eastern Counties collection that the museum already has. You can see 65589 tomorrow at the ITM for the 50th Event. Many thanks to my good pal Grahame Bessey who has supplied me with the 'other one of the three Volvo B7TL's that will be attending the ITM 50th event in First Lowestoft 30888 W743 DWX of course 30888 is no stranger to Ipswich having spent some time here on loan last year and is now repainted into Lowestoft Corporation colours.

SUNSHINE AFTER THE RAIN!

Well what a day, it started Sunny then a torrential downpour and as they say sometimes you have to suffer for you art, so to kick off Ipswich Buses had all over ad  DAF Lowlander 54 PF04 WML out on the X5 Ipswich Hospital route for the first time, i must say that all in all its quite pleasant to the eye but then anything Blue and White to me rather then Yellow and Green is okay. As can be seen below the weather was far better 30 minutes previous, and pictured below is Galloway Optare Solo SR YJ65 EWG which was it's first day in service on the 113/14 to Diss in the capable hands of Owen Phillips.

Mean time it's been a rather lucrative week for First Ipswich as the have been using Plaxton Paragon Volvo B12M WV02 EUP 20514 on Rail Replacement between Ipswich and Felixstowe as Abellio can't cope with a few leaves on the line!

There was also a lot of funny allocations on IB routes today as Scania Omnidekka 62 was allocated to the 4, DAF Lowlander 58 was on the X3 with E200 79 it makes me think are the current ALX 200 Darts being phased out?, and an ALX 200 Dart 140 replaced a Lowlander 55 on the 15, whilst a Trident was on the X1. Captured below is Dennis Lance 162 L162 ADX making a rare visit to the Town Centre.

First Ipswich and Ipswich Buses were raising money for Children in Need by bringing their Teddy Bears to work and various members of staff for both companies wore fancy dress. Many thanks to Chris Speed who sent me this photo of the Ipswich Engineering team with their Teddy Bears.

ITM 50TH UPDATE/IB ALL OVER AD/CARTERS NEW TRIDENT

With thanks to Chris Speed for the news i can confirm that both First Great Yarmouth Volvo B7TL/ALX 400 32059 W219 XBD  and 30888 W743 DWX from First Lowestoft will be at the Ipswich Transport Museum 50th Event on Sunday in their heritage liveries as you can see above i bumped into 32059 back in August, be warned though their seating isn't as luxurious as are very own 32479. In other news Ipswich Buses are applying an all over advert for Town 102 FM an local radio station not that ever listen to it, photo from Town 102 Facebook page. Carters also have a further Transbus Trident/ALX 400 LX03 BTF ex Tower Transit and carrying it's ex First Group fleet number 33206, fleet number 407, currently still in London Red and with double doors it will be converted to a Single Door and LED destination blinds in due course.

Picture courtesy of Viv Carter of Carters Coach Services.

WEDNESDAY FLASHBACK: CONTRASTING COUNTIES LIVERIES

 Two rather interesting slides for today's flashback, one is particularly interesting and that is the inside of the lost Felixstowe Depot looking rather full at the front in July 1981 is VR 189 RPW 189R which was originally to be a Lowestoft Corporation bus but was purchased by Eastern Counties upon their takeover, note how the windscreen wipers are on the top, while the rest of the fleet were on the bottom to the left is RLE 745 GCL 347N which a few years later in 1984 went with the rest of the batch to Cambus with the split of the company in 1984. Above is VR 258 RAH 258W in 1988, at the Railway Station when Felixstowe buses actually went there, already the recently introduced Post Office red livery is looking rather scruffy which was usually the case when adverts were taken off.

ITM 50TH EVENT

The ITM celebrates there 50th Birthday in style this weekend on Sunday 15th November, it all kicks off at 10.00 am on the Cornhill with a selection of Buses and Fire Engines and will return at 10.30 am via Queen Street,Star Lane,Grimwade Street, Star Lane, Bishops Hill and Felixstowe Road returning  to the ITM. Among confirmed visitors will be Chris Speed/Danny Beales Great Yarmouth Swift 85 WEX 685M, Tony Melia and John Jackson's Sunderland Crossley and Bristol RE UFM 53F see her belowplus many more i'm lead to believe, i shall be attending with VA 479 AU53 HJV from First Ipswich in the capable hands of Joe Thorpe, and will be conducting on various different buses no doubt during the day. The timetable consists of four journeys starting from the Railway Station at 10.30 numbered 2 on the timetable below, then there is the 6 which will run from the Museum to the Railway Station,201/A to Levington, 4 to Broke Hall Shops,the 18 will be a circular service via the Orwell Bridge plus there will be a shuttle park and ride service from the old Holywells School car park from 1045 from the Museum.

1990 IN RETROSPECT

Once again i must thank an good friend in Peter Horrex for allowing me the use of his photos above and below, by 1990 Eastern Counties was still under it's own management and in just over three years the Post Office Red livery had become pretty wide spread seen here above on Leyland National LN 586 WAH 586S at this time i was very much using a very basic camera unfortunately or fortunately my vast amount of photos were poor, time was not of my own making working in retail led to just travelling on Sundays on the very cheap day tickets that Suffolk County Council provided on their vast network of services as far as Hunstanton, Great Yarmouth or across to Haverhill.

Above we see one of Ipswich Buses Roe Bodied Atlanteans, i can never get bored of the stylish livery that Ipswich Buses had at the time which suited it particularly well, although rather cold in Winter with very little heating and sluggish up Bishops Hill i wouldn't have cared. Below in a picture from Stuart Ray shows an earlier Atlantean 83 WPV 83L after disgracing itself in London in April and towed back to Ipswich in disgrace it is now believed to be preserved does anyone know?  I always preferred the older Atlanteans and their corporation Brown seats many survived into IBT days still in Corporation livery and looking decidedly unloved. 

SUNDAY BITS AND PIECES

Ipswich Buses Optare Versa 151 YK08 EPU heading towards Martlesham Park and Ride

Just a few tit bits of news, some which i have missed  over the week Carter's new Trident 406 entered service on Tuesday and has fully reprogrammed LED display whilst on Friday Galloways received one of their two Optare Solo SR's YJ65 EWF, Owen Phillips who drives for Galloway managed to get a photo of it see below, whilst below that we see a picture from Simon Taylor who i briefly met whilst on loan to Ipswich before he left he pictured the fantastic inside of the returned 20514 which i mentioned earlier in the week, you wouldn't think its 14 years old, many rumours have been circulated around First's future in the town, and as i have already said there has been certain people floating around doom and gloom, this is certainly not very helpful to the drivers and other staff.