FIRST EASTERN COUNTIES BRIEF SPELL WITH IVECO AND DODGE MINBUSES

Eastern Counties in the early days of First ownership gained quite a lot of displaced Minibuses from other group companies including this ex Leicester Iveco Daily/Caryle IC 83 F710 NJF during 1994 seen on the 173 in the old Felixstowe Bus Station.

 Displaced from what is now First Scotland East, but then SMT is this rather bread van like Renault Dodge/Alexander RA 421 D415 ASF at Kings Lynn Bus Station.

Yes another Iveco from Leicester in the form of IC 81 F702 MBC with an native so to speak in MA 717 C717 BEX an Mercedes L608 /Alexander which started out at Norwich before heading south for use on Felixstowe town services before finishing its career back at Norwich all the Ivecos only lasted at the most 2 years whilst the Dodges only 1 year at most, by the end of the 1990's Eastern National began supplying Plaxton Beaver Mercedes to Eastern Counties as replacements for the early Minibuses.

REMEMBERING THE IMPS

Ah the Imps, the Ipswich Midi Bus Passenger Service was implemented in 1986 by Ipswich Buses to serve parts of the town where only smaller buses could serve such as areas around Castle Hill, Gainsborough and Rushmere, below shows route the route diagram of the 31/39 which some of exists in the form today of the 19, while the 32 served Rushmere Village the above photo shows the addition of a 32A in 1988 seen here in a photo from Stuart Ray of Dodge 202 D202 YDX which saw the Britannia Road section withdrawn due to car parking with the Hail and Ride abandoned due to timing constraints, the route operating in a clockwise and anti clockwise direction ,the following year saw the 33 to Halifax and Belstead now the 16 and the 35 to Brazier Wood and Gainsborough begin the area is now largely served by the X3, the current 14 to Gippeswyk Park began as the 34, while 2 commuter routes the 38/39 the 38 served Felixstowe Road, Broke Hall and Bixley Farm and the 39 Dales Road and within a short period were withdrawn.

In a picture from Stuart Ray we saw Dodge/East Lancs 201 D201 YDX joined by sister 200 C200 WGV and Northern Counties 203 D203 YDX outside of Constantine Road in 1986.

MONDAY'S BITS AND PIECES

Kings Tours of Colchester VDL Bova Futura KC15 ABC was a visitor to Ipswich today.

Not a great deal again to report just a few Ipswich Buses oddities to report again, on the 13/8 routes today Branded 4 Darts 85/86 with Trident 20 and Dart 84 on the 4, seems to be a shortage of Single Deckers at the moment, anyone know? Christmas and New Year operating times are now up on the Suffolk on Board timetable http://www.suffolkonboard.com/news/buses-christmas-and-new-year-operating-times/
Also up on my pages is an updated Arriva Kent Thameside fleetlist.

Seen Yesterday at Broke Hall shops on a Sunday and Evenings variation of the 6 is IB Transbus Dart 136 SN53 AVM.

RECALLING WINTER 1985/86

Copyright Peter Horrex.        Eastern Counties Bristol VR 275 TAH 275W in Kesgrave heading back to Ipswich.

The winter of 1985/86 which i have covered before certainly sticks out amongst the many i have lived through including 1981, from memory the snow was around from the December through to the January at this time i was a paper boy and each day my round lasted around 3 hours before people started to complain and half was given to someone else, my round was heading out towards Foxhall and Bixley Farm and if you know the area, is quite up and down certainly on foot. These were the days when you still went to school in the snow crossing Copleston School playing fields in several foot of snow, and wearing your outdoor jackets in class because the radiators had packed up, unlike today, so here's a few pictures to get those memories flooding back.

Copyright Peter Horrex. Here we see Eastern Counties Leyland National LN 593 WAH 593S also in Kesgrave

Copyright Stuart Ray. The winter of 1985/86 saw IBT borrowing Great Yarmouth Swifts due to shortages and the late delivery of the Northern Counties Falcons 107-13, here we see 59 LEX 859H at Tower Ramparts, with John Grose all over ad Leyland Atlantean 12 RDX 12R behind.

WHO HAS HAD THE MOST IMPACT IN IPSWICH?

20514 WV02 EUP an Volvo B12M/Plaxton was one of three repaint/refurbishment this year in Ipswich, the others being 2 E200's for the 59/70/A routes.

As it's coming to the end of the year, it's time again for the end of the year polls, this particular will concern the two major operators in the town who compete against each other Ipswich Buses and First Ipswich, First have had a year of stability in Ipswich with some gains and some losses, whilst Ipswich Buses have appointed a new MD, had three new Mercedes Benz Citario's, and 3 Darts and 3 Tridents from Lothian as well as numerous route numbering and timetable changes. This year in the bus industry has seen companies suffer from a shortage of drivers something which is set to continue, oil prices have dropped meaning less passengers using the bus, and many established companies folding during the course of the year, mostly due to concessionary passes and a lack of funding to blame. As mentioned on Thursday IB have on order 3 E300's for next year, while with First it will be concentration on the Norwich fleet with Ipswich unlikely to receive anything new during the year, a lot of rumors still seem to persist with the future of the depot which has been denied by management, but who knows. Both companies have wagered war on the cost of fares, with First in the summer announcing £1 single fares and £2 returns, Ipswich Buses responded with an £3.50 day ticket and reduced their fares to the same as First on selected routes, so who has had the most impact this i'm going to leave it up to you to decide.

One of three Mercedes Benz Citaro's added to the fleet of Ipswich Buses this year was 155 BF65 HVV.

FRIDAY FLASHBACK

Two new images for you today travelling back to a time when all over adverts were the thing, during this period many of Ipswich's Atlantean's appeared in such schemes as Roe Bodied Atlantean 34 the penultimate Atlantean in the batch of 21-35 appeared in an advert for Britannia Stores i would presume this would be very early 1980's as Tower Ramparts School had been demolished.

The date on this one would be late 1980's as Eastern Counties Bristol VR 243 JAH 243V is fitted with a new blind set introduced from 1986 onwards, seen here on the forecourt of the Ipswich Garage in Star Lane.

One for Mr Speed i think showing the difference in style of the East Lancs body which i always found to be rather boxy compared to the more elegant style of Great Yarmouth's, Ipswich Swift's were never that popular for many reasons and had rather shorter careers than normal, during the hard winters later on in 1985/86 we saw a brief  period when Yarmouth's Swifts came on loan to Ipswich, here we see Ipswich's 91 DDX 91L, ironically Great Yarmouth bought and then stripped them for spares when withdrawn.

JEREMY COOPER INTERVIEW IN CBW

A rare event today to see an IB Scania/Optare Olympus 68 YJ60 KGX anywhere apart from the 10, however in years to come that may not be the case, seen today on the X.

If you want to read the Jeremy Cooper full interview it can be found in Coach And Bus Weekly available from WH Smith until next Wednesday or by subscribing on-line at http://coachandbusweek.co/.

I have selected a few bits from the interview mainly as i have covered some of the facts in the interview with him during the Summer.

Ipswich Buses have a near perfect record of MOT passes, mainly due to the buses being slightly over maintained however this gives them a low rate of breakdowns, currently the fleet average is 11 years which some may see as being high, this partly due to the company breaking even, recent changes, such as introducing School Buses back into Afternoon peaks and switching buses from Double Deckers to Single, have minimised the amount of time the larger buses are in use therefore saving costs,this result will see 4 ADL 200's being delivered next year possibly replacing Double Deckers, X Reg Spectras 51-53?

£3.50 Day ticket got First Ipswich worried to the extent that over the summer holidays they introduced a £1 single fare on services both companies were competing, he also mentioned that it was sad to see First cut the frequency on the 66 to Martlesham, that they also get complaints about First services as buses now use the First Ipswich fleet name.

Visitors to the town see Beestons Volvo B12BT/Van Hool 523 FN and Thompsons of Framlingham WJ02 VRT a Volvo B12M/Van Hool Alizee T9 ex Soames.