EASTERN COUNTIES SINGLE DECKER FLEET 1965

Eastern Counties Single Decker fleet was beginning to change by 1965 with the Bristol MW the preferred choice replacing the Bristol L's of the 1950's. Seen here is LM 987 487 DAH originally LM 487 this was renumbered to 987 during 1965, seen here in the Old Cattle Market shed during the mid 1970's.

I have decided to continue the theme of 1965, by looking at the fleet of Eastern Counties now if i did it all in one go it would be rather long winded so i have decided to split it into sections, beginning with the Single Deckers, then coaches and finally Double Deckers.

LC 501 TVF 501 Bristol SCX,4LK/ECW B35F 1955
LC 502-32  TVF 502-32  Bristol SC4LK/ECW B35F 1956
LC 533-37 TVF 533-37   Bristol SC4LK/ECW B35F 1957
LC 538-53 VVF 538-53   Bristol SC4LK/ECW B35F 1957
LC 554-65 3001 AH-3003 AH,6557-65 AH  Bristol SC4LK/ECW B35F 1959
LC 566-75 6566 NG-6575 NG  Bristol SC4LK/ECW B35F 1960
LC 576-78 6576-78 NG  Bristol SC4LK/ECW B35F 1961

LM 600/01 600/01 ENG Bristol MW5G/ECW B45F 1964
LM 602/03 AAH 102/03B Bristol MW5G/ECW B45F 1964
LM 604-07 AAH 911-14B Bristol MW5G/ECW B45F 1964
LM608-11 BVF 608-11B Bristol MW5G/ECW B45F 1964
LM 612-615 CPW 612-615B Bristol MW5G/ECW B45F 1964
LM 616-19 DVF 116-19C Bristol MW5G/ECW B45F 1965
LM 620/21 ENG 120/21C  Bristol MW5G/ECW B45F 1965
LM622-26 EVF 622-26C   Bristol MW5G/ECW B45F 1965
LM 627-29 FAH 627-29C Bristol MW5G/ECW B45F 1965
LM 630-32 FPW 630-32C Bristol MW5G/ECW B45F 1965
LM 633-35 FVF 633-35C Bristol MW5G/ECW B45F 1965
LM 931-934 WPW 631-34 Bristol LS5G/ECW B45F 1957
LM 935-941 WPW 635-41 Bristol MW5G/ECW B45F 1958
LM942-61 3004-20 AH,9459-61 AH Bristol MW5G/ECW B45F 1959
LM962-70 8001-09 VF Bristol MW5G/ECW B45F 1961/62
LM471-92 471-76 BNG/477/78 BPW/479-82 BVF/483-488 DAH/489-92 DPW Bristol MW5G/ECW B45F 1963
LL666/71/72/74/75/88-91/93/94/96 GPW 666/71/74/75/80/88-91/93/94/96 Bristol L5G/ECW B35F 1948

LS704-708 KNG 704-708 Bristol LWL6B/ECW FC35F 1950

LL 713-23 KNG 713-23 Bristol LL5G/ECW B35F 1950
LL724-735 LNG 724-735  Bristol LL5G/ECW B35F 1951
LL736-43 LNG 736-43  Bristol LWL5G/ECW B35F 1951
LL 744 MAH 744 Bristol LSX 4G/ECW B41F 1951
LL 745-49 MAH 745-49 Bristol LS4G/ECW DP39F 1952
LE 761-63 SNG 761-63  Bristol LS5G/ECW DP39F  1955

N 973 NAH 973 Albion FT39L/ECW B35F 1953

LE 747 MAH 747 was a Dual Purpose Bristol LS/ECW and was an Ipswich allocation at this time.

1960'S BEESTONS COACHES.

Three recently bought photos from the Robert Mack Collection of Beestons of Hadleigh coaches, firstly we see a Bedford SB8/Duple C41F  OCF 246 which was new in 1959, we follow that with there now preserved Austin CBX/Plaxton C30F  BCF 802 and finally WGV 938 a Bedford VAS 2/Duple C29F which was new in 1963.

COACH VISITORS TO IPSWICH/BONUS FLASHBACK

Not an easy picture to take this one as this way crammed in against a Mulley's coach, bought earlier this year is Galloway Mercedes Benz Tourismo seen yesterday in Crown Street Lay By, following that in the picture below we Mulleys Mercedes Benz Clady/Euro BU51 MUL certainly an odd looking specimen, with Beestons Volvo B10M/Van Hool 77 CJX in the third picture below.

BONUS FLASHBACK

Now if anyone could identify the Eastern Counties Leyland National in the picture i would be pretty pleased, we can see one is quite clearly Ipswich stalwart Bristol RE RL 513 EPW 513K which i featured the other night, RL 513 note still has the the white NBC symbol and Leyland Nationals didn't appear in the Ipswich area until September 1977.

IB BRANDING AND OTHER BITS

Ipswich Buses Trident 11 LG02 FCX supposedly terminating at Ipswich Rail Station, me thinks the driver has the wrong destination.

Not a great lot to report today a few odd sightings one being First Ipswich Volvo B7RLE 66981 on the 66! whilst 44519 was standing in on the 59 for one of the normal shorter ADL Enviro 200's, Ipswich Buses had route 4 branded Darts 84 and 87on the 8/13 whilst below you can see the 9/10 branding on the new Mercedes Benz Citario's see picture below. Ipswich Buses will be running services on Boxing Day for the first time as it will fall on a Saturday, with an every half hour service on X5/8/9 and every hour on X3/6/A/10/12/13/15/A.

FURTHER SECOND LIVES

Another edition of further lives of local buses today, one is an new scan the other is a scan of a print bought some time back, the first picture would be taken in the late 1970's, ex Ipswich AEC Regent V 36 HPV 36 stayed local and was used as a courtesy bus for Townsend Thoresen, the name of course is synonymous for the ferry disaster back in the mid 1980's, after which the name disappeared into the history books. Below we have Ex Eastern Counties Bristol RE RL 513 EPW 513K which for the majority of it's life was an Ipswich allocation before spending it's last days at Bury St Edmunds a picture i have of it when withdrawn saw it pretty much cannibalised so Delta of Stockton done a pretty good job in getting it back into service.

A SELECTION OF NEWLY PURCHASED IMAGES

A selection tonight of recently purchased slides converted to my PC firstly we have Ipswich Buses G119 VDX which entered service on the 4 to Broke Hall & Bixley on the first day of August 1989, how do i know that you wonder well i bought a copy way back in 1990 of the Eastern Bus Handbook! Heading back into town here in the summer of 1992, following that we have two Eastern Counties images the first Black and White image shows LH 533 FNG 533K heading out of Cambridge Drummer Street heading towards Soham on the 122, a certain Mr Hales will enjoy that one. Finally at the bottom a bus that i featured several weeks back this time Bristol VR 207 XNG 207S is at Woodbridge in November 1981, complete with an 50th Anniversary sticker next to the fleetname and of course in poppy red, you certainly wouldn't get away with the advert on the side today.

OUT AND ABOUT IN THE COLD

They say that Bus Photographers must be mad to venture out when it's cold well today was no exception after all the recent relatively mild weather we're now experiencing the first taste of no doubt colder weather, however it was a nice crisp and sunny day, the only trouble particularly at this time of year is the low trajectory of the sun causing a few retakes, nevertheless i managed to photo at last one of Carter's new acquisitions in Dennis Trident 406 LX04 FYB  which appeared on the 93 to Colchester, it was also nice to bump into Barry First Ipswich's Engineering Manager who was very enthused about his 'taxi' this morning thanks to him i managed a nice interior shot of 20514 which i must admit looks absolutely fantastic and speaks volumes for what can be done to a nearly 14 year old coach. It seems to me that Ipswich Buses are not using the ALX 200 Dart's on the X3 most day's are they out of service, or being used elsewhere? So on today was at least two deckers Trident 21 Y458 NHK and DAF Lowlander 57 PN52 XBJ while at least one X5 Branded dart was on the X1, while DAF Lowlander 54 now of course in it's Town 102 advert took the place of an ailing East Lancs Dart on the 4.