THURSDAY FLASHBACK

 Two rather different photographs converted from slides portraying rather different aspects of the Eastern Counties operations during the 1980's, firstly we see the unremarkable ECW body on the Leyland Leopard LL 882 CAH 882Y many with this type of body were later re bodied due to the poor build quality if memory serves me right particularly at the rear around the boot area? The second picture sees two of the remaining Bristol RE's serving out their last year with Eastern Counties at Bury St Edmunds particularly as the Leyland National wasn't welcome, here we see RL 509 CNG 509K and RL 687 DRX 631K which came from Alder Valley in 1981 during April 1986 when the allocation was as followed RL 503/08/09/13/674/87/92.

MONDAY OBSERVATIONS

Today some observations taking from yesterday's travels, seen above First Ipswich 44519 was on the 60/61 while Mini E200's 44928/45119 were both on the 53, they certainly seem to be moving away from the 59/70 of late. Ipswich Buses had Dart/ALX 200 143 out on the 4 with Lowlander 59, and today a Trident the number i didn't see and Dart 86, with Dart 84 parked up. Scania/Optare Olympus 69 was on the 15A and Enviro 200 82 was taking the place of an Optare Versa on the Park And Rides, it's worth of that 146 YK08 EPC seen below has now received the new style numbering as per the ex Lothian Tridents. My cautionary tale today is be warned if you take pictures in Ivry Street near Ipswich High School is that a certain ex First driver now working for Norse and his friends at Beestons don't like there pictures taken, and were taking steps to stop me taking a picture of Beestons new coach, i can understand that some drivers don't like there pictures being taken, so i avoid them as  see us as being crackers.

FLASHBACK SUNDAY: AN IPSWICH BUS SPECIAL

Taken in the Summer of 1993, when it was in it's twilight years with Ipswich Buses was Leyland Atlantean No 3 HDX 906N seen on the now defunct 2 route to Warren Heath, later on it's history the two was curtailed back to Gainsborough, pressure by First Eastern Counties to stop encroaching on it's territory on Warren Heath? I always liked the N reg batch of Atlanteans for their distinctive opening doors sound, which were always slower to open than the later batch.

 Seen heading out of Lloyds Avenue and on to the Cornhill in the late 1960's is AEC Regent V 49 PPV 49 on the Ipswich Station X service a route long since vanished.

I have fond memories of the ECW bodied Atlantean's that Ipswich had that passed to Eastbourne this interpretation of the Ipswich livery never passed much favour and was very soon phased out here we see 74 LDX 74G parked outside the Constantine Road Depot. 

EASTERN COUNTIES LODEKKA FLEET MAY 1966

Eastern Counties Bristol Lodekka FLF 473 KPW 473D when allocated to Ipswich during the 1970's pulls out of the Old Cattle Market.

LFS 1-16 Bristol FS5G/ECW H33/27RD 5601-16 NG 1960/61
LFS 1/-3/15/16 Norwich, LFS 4 Cromer, LFS 5/9/10 Yarmouth, LFS 6 Ely, LFS 7 March, LFS 8 Kings Lynn, LFS 11-14 Peterborough

LFS 17-25 Bristol FS5G/ECW H33/27RD 1117-25 PW 1961
LFS 17-20 Cambridge, LFS 21/22 Norwich, LFS 23/24 Ipswich, LFS 25 Peterborough

LFS 26-35 Bristol FS5G/ECW H33/27RD 2926-35 PW 1962
LFS 26/27 Norwich, LFS 28 Lowestoft, LFS 29/31/32 Ipswich, LFS 30 Kings Lynn, LFS 33/35 Cambridge, LFS 34 Peterborough

LFS 36-40 Bristol FS5G/ECW H33/27RD 8036-40 PW 1962

LFS 37/38/40 Norwich, LFS 36 Yarmouth, LFS 39 Bury St Edmunds

LFS 41-43 Bristol FS5G/ECW H33/27RD 41-43 BNG 1962
LFS41-43 Norwich

LFS 44-50 Bristol FS5G/ECW H33/27RD 44-50 CNG 1963
LFS 44/45 Ipswich, LFS 46 Lowestoft, LFS 47 Cambridge, LFS 48 Bury St Edmunds, LFS 49/50 Norwich.

LFS 51-55 Bristol FS5G/ECW H33/27RD 51-55 CPW 1963
LFS 51-53 Cambridge, LFS 54 Ipswich, LFS 55 Peterborough

LFL 56-61 Bristol FL6G/ECW H37/33RD 556-558 BNG 560/61 BPW 1962/63
All allocated to Norwich

LFS 62-72 Bristol FS5G/ECW H33/27RD 62-64 DPW/65-69 DNG/70-72 DPW 1963
LFS 62/71 Peterborough, LFS 65-67 Norwich, LFS 64 Ely, LFS 68 Lowestoft, LFS 69 Yarmouth, LFS 70 Cambridge, LFS 72 Kings Lynn

LFS 73-100 Bristol FS5G/ECW H33/27RD AAH 173-75B/AAH 614-16B/AVF 579/80B/BNG 881-86B/CNG 287-92B/CVF 294-97B/DAH 398-400B 1964
LFS 73/91/95 Cambridge, LFS 74/76/93/96 Ipswich, LFS 75/85/92 Peterborough, LFS 77/79/80 Cromer, LFS 78 Ely, LFS 81,83 Yarmouth, LFS 82 Wisbech, LFS 84 Saxmundham, LFS 86/87/98 Lowestoft, LFS 88/90/97 Norwich, LFS 89/99/100 Kings Lynn, LFS 94 Bury St Edmunds

LFS 101-26 Bristol FS5G/ECW H33/27RD DNG 401-04C/DNG 105-07C/DVF 108C/ENG 109/10C/EVF 111C/FAH 112-18C/FPW 319/20C/FVF 421-23C/GNG 124-26C

LFS 101 Wisbech, LFS 102/08/12/17/21/22 Norwich, LFS 103/09/16/25 Ipswich,  LFS 104/11 Yarmouth, LFS 106 Lowestoft, LFS 110 Bury St Edmunds, LFS 107/20/23 Cambridge, LFS 124 Ely, LFS 105/13-15/18/26 Cambridge, Kings Lynn LFS 119

FLF 440-50 Bristol FLF6G/ECW H38/32F GPW 440-42D/GVF 443-46D/HPW 447-50D 1966
FLF 440/41 Ipswich, FLF 442 Cromer, FLF 443 Peterborough, FLF 444 Yarmouth, FLF 445/48-50 Cambridge, FLF 446 Norwich, FLF 447 Newmarket

LFS 82 BNG 882B is an example of the Bristol Lodekka with Conductor operated rear door, at the time of 1966 it was allocated to Wisbech but by the seventies had moved on to Great Yarmouth as seen here.

AN IPSWICH THURSDAY IN THE COLD

Purely caught by chance today was First Ipswich Volvo B7TL/ALX 400 32489 AU53 HKG which made an extremely rare visit to town routes 60/61 Greenwich/Gainsborough, while Ipswich Buses Dennis Dart/ALX 200 140 Y272 FJN made also an rare foray on to high intensity routes 8/13, while Dart 84 was on the 15A and Dart 86 on the 8/13 while the X3 had Trident 15 as did the 4 with Trident 16.

Final picture of the day see's Lakeside of Ellsemere Setra DD59 LAK visit Ipswich on behalf of GB Tours.

RAINY DAY MONDAY

If you are not aware i am now cutting down the amount of posts per week as i was getting seriously run down so i will be only posting when there is something to report, today saw a massive tailback caused by an RTA on the Orwell Bridge which led to most buses being held up in traffic causing delays from eastbound buses of around 45-50 mins and in a way i was fortunate today as my bus was Scania/Optare 69 from Ipswich Buses driven by a driver celebrating his 65th Birthday, can't remember his name but what a lovely driver. The Old Cattle Market was particularly full up with 7 First Buses parked up anywhere they could find, hence the picture below, i pitied the First Ipswich Controller who was taking some grief from other companies drivers, seen below is Carters Leyland Olympian 427 G727 XDL now with an LED display and a nice hole in the roof where a tree branch has hit, which was subbing for one of the Tridents, one oddity of the day was First Ipswich E200 44928 which usually finds itself on the 59 or 70 was on the 60/61 see below, while Ipswich Buses had Dart 84 on the 12 and Dart 85 on the 8/13.

END OF LINE FOR EX EASTERN COUNTIES SCANIAS/VOLVO B10BLE'S AND DARTS AT FIRST ESSEX

Ex First Ipswich 65630 V830 FSC seen here back in August 2013 on the 61 was withdrawn in December.

With the DDA compliance now in full effect has meant that all the Ex FEC Scanias/Volvo B10BLE'S and Dart SLF's within Essex were no longer able to be used buses now withdrawn from service include Scania L94's 65566/65574/86/87/65630/31 plus Volvo B10BLE 66165/66177 and Dart SLF's 43480/83/85. Below you see Dart SLF 43480 R680 DPW on the 22 in Norwich and Scania L94 65574 on the 14 both taken in 2005.