MONDAY'S SPOTTINGS

Ipswich Buses Dart 144 Y295 FJN complete with new panels and X5 branding passes through the Old Cattle Market yesterday on diversion because of roadworks in Tacket Street.

Yesterday saw a raft of buses straying from there usual routes, so here goes as seen above Dart 139/44 were both on the X1, followed by Trident 16 on the 4 and 13 today, with Lowlander 59 also on the 4 supplemented by Trident 19 and Scania Omnidekka 60 on morning peaks, the 6 had both Darts 84/86, the X3 saw Trident 13 and Optare Spectra 53, the 8/13 had Darts 85/87, the 10 surprisingly had Tridents 21/23 with Lowlander 57, the 12 saw 2 Scania Omnicity's 71/73 and finally Scania/Optare 69 was on the 15A.

 Ipswich Buses Trident 16 LG02 FDN was on the 4 yesterday.

First Ipswich will be transferring 3 of the 4 E 200's to Norwich in late March, so snap them while you can, seen yesterday was 44519 on the 60. 

SUNDAY RECALL

Shame it's not in colour, but nevertheless what a wonderful bus the Bristol RE was  the distinctive engine whine as they ascended Ashdown Way first thing in the morning was a joy to behold, as every trip into town became a disappointment if one of the batch would appear, as the picture shows this particular one 122 TRY 122H along with sister pressed into service from Leicester by Ipswich in 1980 still with the cream intact with the stripe on the middle waistband in green and the Ipswich crest applied, part of a batch of five one 120 TRY 120H didn't enter service until 1983 and was withdrawn within 2 and a half years the end came in 1987 when i witnessed 118 TRY 118H roll out of Constantine Road in May 1987.

Here we see Eastern Counties Bristol LC 556 3003 AH in Dogs Head Street, near the old Post Office along with an unidentifiable Bristol MW on the 239 Circular around the outskirts of Ipswich, this would put the date somewhere in the later 1960's.

FIRST IPSWICH CANCEL 53 TO PINEWOOD

Usually the preserve of 3 of the 4 transferred in E 200's 44516-44519 back in 2014 when they were being refurbished freshly repainted Volvo B7RLE 69008 AU05 DMV appeared on the 53.

Due to further cuts in the amount of reimbursement from Suffolk County Council, First Ipswich are to cancel the 53 to Pinewood which was in competition with Ipswich Buses 13, originally starting out as an every 10 mins services this slowly evaporated into every 15 mins last year, with the level of funding now being reduced for concessionary fares more routes are likely to vanish, so the big question is why are their free passes when a lot of elderly people can no longer use the bus because there are no bus services to use. Other changes announced see mainly timetable alterations to existing First Ipswich routes 64/A/X64,65,964,X7, the change to the Aldeburgh routes i believe is to tie the services into connections with the Ipswich to Lowestoft Rail service. The H66/X66 to Martlesham BT will also see changes to the route and timetable alterations.

Possibly my favourite bus in the Ipswich fleet is Volvo B7TL/ALX 400 32479 AU53 HJV in a livery which suits the body style seen here yesterday on a rare foray on town routes 60/61, i can confirm that she should be appearing at the Ipswich Bus Rally in March.

EASTERN COUNTIES FLEET PROFILE 1951

Leyland Titan TD1/E.C.O.C was originally new in 1932 as A188 NG 2723 and converted to an Gardner 5LW oil engine in 1937 was rebuilt by E.C.W in June 1941 and was rebuilt with an new E.C.W body in October 1949, renumbered to A193 in 1956, then A7 in 1957 and finally A396  in 1960 a year before withdrawal, seen here in Ipswich OCM in the late 1950's by which time it had done the rounds, Cambridge, Norwich, Yarmouth, Peterborough and finally Ipswich .

Originally LS1 in 1939 as a Bristol L5G/E.C.W C26F and renumbered LS 491 in 1946/7 these coaches had long careers as they were converted to bus use in 1954, originally these would of had glass roof lights but were panelled over and repainted in bus livery as seen her and were withdrawn 3 years later.

A CHANGE OF BLINDS/FLASHBACK

Ipswich Buses have changed there style of destination blinds and for the first time have the Destination at the bottom rather than the top, which is to the same pattern that London's Buses run to with the intermediate places at the top as illustrated by Lowlander 57 PN52 XBJ seen here on the 15, currently some buses are working with the Bus Diverted destination due to the roadworks in Tacket Street, which affects routes X1/X3/4/6/38 although i have only seen this on the 4 so far, there was also Bus Diverted on the blinds on the X5 this morning due to an RTA.

Ipswich Buses Scania Omnicity 71 YN56 NVC did a turn on the X5 this morning due to late running traffic because of an RTA.

FLASHBACK

Today's flashback takes us back to the 1976 when some of the Eastern Counties Bristol MW class were repainted into bus livery for one man operation, LS 805/06/10 3805/06/10 PW were also downgraded with bus seats becoming B41F while sisters LS 804/08/09/11/13 3804/08/09/11/13 PW retained their coach seats as seen by LS 811 above in Norwich Bus Station, LS 814-23 3814/15 PW/816-23 BNG were also downgraded to bus use becoming DP41F in 1975, all received front dome destination blinds, strangely LS 805/06/10 didn't last that long being withdrawn the same year, LS 804/08 in 1977 and LS 809/11/13/16-23 in 1978.

AMONGST THE GREY SKIES

Amongst the gloomy skies of Tower Ramparts this afternoon i spotted an rare event, since the appearance of the Mercedes Benz Citario's on the 9, other buses appearing on this route have been basically non existent, well not today as can be seen above by Ipswich Buses Lowlander 56 PN52 XBK meanwhile the 4 Branded Darts for the 4 route continue there wanderings, yesterday 84/85/86 were on the 8/13 with 87 on the 12 while Dart/ALX 200 141 was on the 6 and 144 on the X1, today saw 87 back on the 4 with 84 on the 15A then later on the 6, 85 on the 8/13 with 86 spare in the Cricketers Lay By, while a strange choice for Ipswich Buses on a peak time working for the 15A was Dart/ALX 200 141 Y273 FJN , see below while below First Ipswich had Volvo B7TL 32490 AU53 HKH on the 60/61

BEESTONS SINGLE DOOR CONVERSIONS

Many thanks to Dave Burrows at Beestons who has sent me these photos of two of the recent Scania Omnidekkas originally from Metrobus converted to Single Door at the top we see YV03 PZY and the bottom one is of YV03 PZL.

MORE ON THE GER BUS/FLEET NEWS UPDATE

Many thanks to David Kindred for allowing me to use this picture for my blog, this updates the feature i did back in December on the Great Eastern Railway Buses, the photograph sees either CL 200 or CL 201 numbered 9 or 10 a Stratford built bus with 2 seats beside the driver and a luggage compartment seen on the nearside behind the drivers seat, notice how little the main station buildings of the railway have changed very little over the 110 years, and the distinct lack of traffic, all the buses allocated to to the route were withdrawn over a six month period between 11/1913 and 05/1914, little is known about there careers after withdrawal, although 5/6 BJ 319/20 became lorries.

IPSWICH BUSES UPDATE

Ipswich Buses have withdrawn the first of the three ex Park And Ride Optare Spectra's now in their sixteenth year, 51 X151 LBJ is seen 3 years ago, IB Dart 96 is not withdrawn yet but is kept mainly for school contracts.

 2 Ipswich Buses on the 4 today DAF Lowlander 55 PN52 XBO and Dennis Dart/ALX 200 141 Y273 FJN ironically back on the route they were displaced from!