FIRST IPSWICH NEWS UPDATE

Seen here in Felixstowe yesterday is Volvo B10BLE 66112 R912 BOU heading back into Ipswich on a 76.

Well it's been a few days now since the last blog, due to sickness and so on, first of all we have two arrivals back the above pictured 66985 KX05 MHO after it's arrival thanks once again to James Long and the depot staff for the picture and Volvo B7TL 32492 departures this week were Volvo B7RLE 69427 and Volvo B7TL 32655. From next week onwards the remaining Scanias should be gradually be swapped with First Essex Colchester depot with more of their 05 Plate Volvo B7RLES, the remaining Scanias are Wright Axcess Ultra Low's 65579,65588/89 and Wrightbus Solars 65670/72-75.

 Now i'm just showing off my new cameras abilities  here with a another shot of 32490 reversing out of the 66 bay just a shame it was about to rain at the time.

WI FI branding seen on the side of one of First Ipswich's Enviro 200'S 44516 YX09 ACV with Enjoy the Chilled Air one of a series of adverts with Enjoy the Beach another one used on Felixstowe services

66986 BACK IN SERVICE

Many thanks to James Long and the depot staff allowing him to take the photo  for supplying me with a photo of 66986 KX05 MHU as twice today i missed a photo opportunity first another bus blocked it in the second time i misjudged where to stand, entered service on the Sunday on Rail Replacement duties followed by working on the 88 today,coming back this week thanks again to Chris Speed for the information will be 66985 on Wednesday followed by 32492 on Friday.

IPSWICH BUSES THE EIGHTIES

Coming in at the start of the decade was 4 ex West Yorkshire PTE and formally Leeds City Transport Atlanteans registered UNW 401-04W one 42 only lasted 2 years and never got repainted, never popular with drivers and passengers due to poor ventilation and heavy driving. Seen here is 41 UNW 401H at Ipswich Station in 1984.

Arriving in 1980/81 was 5 East Lancs bodied Atlanteans 36-40 RBJ 36W/RGV 37-40W which were sold after only 10 years to Hyndburn Transport seen here in Nacton Road in 1982 IS 37.

1981 also saw further second hand buses in five Bristol RE's 118-122 TRY 118-22H from Leicester seen here in Princes Street is 122 TRY 122H

1983 saw the first new single deckers for the Chantry routes since 1973 100-105 YDX 100-105Y were Dennis Falcons with East Lancs bodys,105 had a dot matrix narrow blind which in later years got replaced.

1985 saw the trial of two Double Deckers being bought 82 B82 NDX a Dennis Dominator and 45 a Leyland Olympian both with East Lancs bodies, 82 was the more popular with 45 being swapped in 1987 for Dodge mini buses from Eastbourne. Photos copyright James Long

The beginning of 1985 saw 4 unusual B21'S 114-117 later 144-147 B114-17 LDX originally destined for export these were converted to left hand drive and i believe were the last Bristol badged buses to be built, 117 was significantly named Bristolian in memory of the Bristol works seen here are both 114/15, 115 is now preserved by Richard Walker.

 In a break from the norm the next batch of Falcons were Northern Counties and IB were one of only two companies along with Hartlepool who bought them, 107-113 C107-113SDX were also joined by a solitary East Lancs bodied C106 SDX.

The middle Eighties saw a swing towards smaller minibuses to penetrate smaller areas of Ipswich the first was a Dodge with a East Lancs body 200 C200 WGV which had a redesigned front before entering service, was one of three in the batch along with 201/02 D201/02 YDX

Seen above is 201 D201YDX another Dodge with East Lancs body along with Ex Eastbourne 213 D473 UHC after that came Northern Counties Bodied 203/04 D203 YDX/C204 WGV followed by the above pictured 206 E206 GPV part of a batch of 4 205-208 E205-08 GPV.

 

1987 saw Ipswich Buses saw them go back to East Lancs for their next batch of Dennis Falcons with 114-117 E114-17 KDX, seen here is E116 KDX.

Ipswich then decided that they needed bigger buses than the smaller Dodges and rapidly changed their allegiance first with this MCW Metrorider 220 F220 PPV in 1989 then of course in the nineties with Optare.

 

 Then the first Double Decker appeared in 1989 in F81 ODX an East Lancs Dennis Dominator seen here in the Ipswich OCM on a Sundays only 635 to Walton on the Naze.

The last new buses of the decade saw more East Lancs bodied Dennis Falcons in the form of G118-24 VDX seen here heading out on a 13 to Chantry and Brookwood.
I haven't featured any of the taken over fleets such as Bickers and Bantams as thats a whole different story, most pictures have come from Flickr.

32486 ENTERS SERVICE AND FURTHER UPDATES

Welcome to another blog this week and a start of an new era for my photography as this is the first one with a new Sony A58 camera and as you can see from above i think the results so far are pretty good, seen above today is Volvo B7TL/ALX 400 32486 AU53 HKD which hasn't gained branding as yet, seen below at the tail end of last October is Volvo B7RLE 69422 AU58 FFJ which departed today while also confirmed is sister 69425 AU58 FFN which departed last Thursday, returning tonight should be either 66985 or 66986. In other news Volvo B7TL 32488 AU53 HKF collided yesterday into a former Estate Agents on the corner of Great Colman Street when it tried to avoid a broken down van which was parked on the other side corner, damage was just to two top windows on the offside which has been quickly repaired and the bus is now back into service. It is also worth noting thanks to last nights Ipswich Star that travel on buses in Suffolk has increased by 3% in the last year however as many have said, there are still cutbacks to rural services happening across the county which isn't good news.

66957 seen here today shows a side view of the new livery application.

65630 GOES TO ESSEX/44516 LOGOS AND MORE COMINGS AND GOINGS

Lets kick off with more on how First Ipswich are applying their branding in different styles with different buses seen here today close up is Enviro 200 44516 YXO9 ACV which has a smaller First logo applied to the rear of the bus near the top of the roof as pictured above. Seen below is the different application with a larger First logo applied to the rear of 69011 AU05 DMZ with the logo just appearing on both sides on the last window.

In other news Scania L94 65630 V830 ESC left at the end of last week for pastures new at First's Essex Colchester depot, while i can report once again thanks to Chris Speed that Volvo B7TL 32486 should appear this evening followed by Volvo B7RLE 66985 or 66986 on Thursday.

More from Showbus including this ex Oxford Trident 129 T117 DBW in the Hedingham fleet.

Something a touch unusual in the Ensignbus fleet is this Volvo B10M bendy coach is the best way i can describe P563 MSX originated with Stagecoach East Scotland.

Here's Stagecoach Midlands ex Eastern Counties Bristol Lodekka FLF 452 JAH 552D now 19952 in the Stagecoach numbering scheme.

Now back on the road from the EATC is this gorgeous Bristol K LKH 133 HPW 133.

SHOWBUS SELECTION

 First Kings Lynn entered  Enviro 400 33813 from the X1 service.

To begin with i must thank the following people for making yesterday's trip possible, especially Chris Speed and Graeme Bessey my traveling companion and meeting the other blogs such as Sam Larke who all made the day worthwhile, for someone who has never been before this one huge event, we were parked right down the bottom end of the field towards the Tank hangar, where we were parked with other First buses from Essex, the Midlands and Leicester, all sections are grouped together for instance a Bristol field and older coaches and preserved buses were down behind the Tank Hangar, all of Ensign's recent projects wear parked outside the next hangar including the brilliant restoration of the Scania Metropolitian, you then had the stalls from all of the companies like Buses magazine and other Model Bus dealers, then at the far end was all or most of the modern and older coaches which were still actively in service, this brings you an rough idea of what happens on the day so following this here comes a selection of what happened to be about 125 photos.

First Essex Basildon depot entered two buses one was this very smart Volvo 7900 Hybrid 69909 BV13 ZB0.

One of the very first pictures taken of are very own Volvo B7RLE 66957 WX55 TZU resplendent with all the correct fleetnames

You have to admit that Ensign have done a superb job on i believe the only Scania Metropolitan in existence in the UK? MD 60 KJD 260P

Being used on the site shuttle was First Essex Plaxton President Trident LT52 XAB in the Westcliff on Sea heritage livery.

Now as one excepts wherever you go you can't escape from the Routemaster but out of the many i pictured i have gone for this one as it is in an unique NBC London Country livery being RML 2334 CUV 334C which plied it's trade at Godstone garage.

Sapphire Liveried Arriva E400 4400 YY14 LHD from Arriva Midlands?

Delaine's two Volvo B9TL/Wright Gemini 2 AD14/64 DBL

BBC Suffolk's Luke Deal entered this beautiful Eastern National Bristol RE 1546 SVW 274K

Sadly there was very few Eastern Counties preserved buses there but this is a real beauty RE 896 SVF 896G.

44516 NOW IN SERVICE AND MORE FIRST IPSWICH LOGO PICS

All photos Copyright James Long

 Once more James Long has supplied me with more pictures illustrating more of First Ipswich's new logos including the above 66950 WX55 TZM seen here on Landseer Road on the 60 to Gainsborough, we follow that with 69011 AU05 DMZ on the 61 this time and finishing off with Enviro 200 44516 YX09 ACV on the 53 yesterday, typically it went into service in the afternoon after i had been in town in the morning. Arriving yesterday was Volvo B7RLE 66957 which won't enter service until after Showbus.Don't forget its Showbus on Sunday, so you may bump into me and hopefully for the people who aren't going i will put photos up on Monday.

Bonus photo time and another GO Whippet coach in Volvo B12 LK53 KVP on the E service to Clacton calling in to the OCM on Thursday.