EASTERN COUNTIES ALLOCATIONS FEBRUARY 1976

Eastern Counties Bristol MW LM 605 AAH 912B was an Cambridge allocation at this time in 1976 seen here on the 155 to ST Ives and is seen in Cambridge, Drummer Street.

February 1976, well i'm too young to remember it for a start, well i was only 4 and what was happening was the beginning of the gradual reduction of the Lodekka fleet, with LFS 12/13/15/16 going into storage in March, and the 900 series Bristol MW class slowly going down in numbers and of course the large amounts of Bristol VR's coming in, with it the change to one man operation. 

Bristol Lodekka LFS 86 was allocated to Great Yarmouth in 1976 but is seen here when allocated to Norwich circa 1980, as a Leyland National 2 is seen lurking behind.

CARTERS RECALL

Copyright John Law

Today's flashback shows three different Carters Buses, the first one we see is ex Eastern Counties Leyland Leopard/ ECW LL 877 XPW 877X heading into Colchester Bus Station in 1991, followed by another of Viv's passion for the Bristol/ECW combination is another ex Eastern Counties Bristol RE 896 SVF 896G, still in it's Eastern Counties pre NBC Coach livery, followed lastly by Ex National Welsh Bristol LH MD 8023 GTX 758W on the 777 at Hadleigh with thanks for the last two photos from Peter Horrex.

SOAMES CALL IT A DAY/THURSDAY OBSERVATIONS

Firstly further sad news has reached me today, with the news that Soames(Forget Me Not Travel) will cease trading at the end of July, seen here back in 2014 is Volvo B12M/Plaxton Paragon.

Today's observations compared with Monday's are not as wide ranging, however they are certainly worth mentioning firstly Scania/Optare Olympus 68 was on the 6, Dart 144 was on the 16 with i would think the last Non DDA East Lancs Dart 96, 139 was on the 15A, 61 was on the X3, whilst Trident 12 was on the X1 with Dart 142, whilst the 4 went back to Double Deckers with Trident 20 and 23, whilst 4 branded Dart 84 was on the 8/13. First Ipswich also had another Double Decker on the 60/61 today this time Volvo B7TL 32486.The first new ADL Enviro 200 for Ipswich Buses out of the 4 due has been seen up at ADL in Falkirk it's registered SN16 OGH.

And she lives the final Non DDA East Lancs Dart is defying it's withdrawal seen today is 96 X96 LBJ.

First Ipswich Volvo B7TL 32486 AU53 HKD today on the 60/61.

MONDAY OBSERVATIONS

Yesterday saw many different allocations to what we are used to on both Ipswich Buses and First Ipswich town services, as seen above Ipswich Buses Enviro 200 81 YX63 LGE appeared on the Park and Ride, in place of the one of the usual Optare Versa's, continuing this theme, IB had Trident 23 on the 9 in place of one of the usual Mercedes Benz Citario's, other observations included ALX 200 Dart 139 on the X1, sister 138 on the 8/13, 141 on the X3 and 144 on the 4, it's noticeable that most of the branded Dart's now appear on routes other than what they should, as was 84 on the 12, and 86 on the 8/13 both branded for the 4, Deckers 20 and 59 were also on the X3,First Ipswich had ADL Enviro 200 44928 out on the 53 instead of the 39/59, while 44517/19 were on the 60/61, with 44518 the solitary one on the 53, numbers made up with 2 Volvo B7RLE's, double deckers are also common these days on the 60/61 with heritage liveried 32479 whilst today 32655 appeared.
In regards to the Carter's takeover by Ipswich Buses, i believe that the Leyland/Volvo Olympians are for sale with just the 4 Trident's and the MCV Evolution passing to IB, Viv Carter will still carry on with their excellent heritage fleet and have already registered a school service. The reaction to my comment on the news was taken to be negative in regards to the comments i made, unfortunately i was rather negative on the whole which has upset people, especially the owners and peoples jobs rely on this takeover, my comment regarding the burden on the tax payer wasn't factually correct, apologises for that i do hope IB will make a go of the Colchester services, although they have operated rural services in the past, Suffolkbus was the identity of the buses/ coaches taken over by them from Bickers/Squirrells in the late 1980's.

First Ipswich Volvo B7TL 32479 on the 60 yesterday

 The Mini E200's brought in for the 59/70 occasionally escape on to towns illustrated yesterday by 44928 on the 53.

Ipswich Buses Lowlander 59 on the X3.

SUNDAY RECALL

This is quite an rare picture in that it could of only been on loan to Ipswich at that time from Eastern Counties Bury St Edmunds depot as by this point Ipswich was Bristol RE free, RL 872 XAH 872H had pretty much been an Norwich allocation until late in it's career, it's seen here at East Bergholt outstation in April 1985.

Copyright Michael Dryhurst

Now this is a real beauty with out any doubt and it has an family connection as being one of the Trolleybuses built by Ransomes in which my late uncle helped to build 81 PV 4789 is situated outside Ipswich Corporation Transport's Constantine Road  depot, note the typical advertisements of the time for Player's cigarettes and Gordon's gin, which wouldn't be allowed now.

IPSWICH BUSES APRIL CHANGES

Ipswich Buses ex Lothian Trident 24 SN51 AXO had a rare turn out on the 4 late yesterday morning and afternoon.

The following routes will be amended, with timetable and stopping places from Monday April 11th, 4 Broke Hall & Bixley/Martlesham Heath, 6/6A Ipswich Hospital Via Ravenswood/Northgate, X3 John Lewis, X5 Ipswich Hospital, 9/10 Whitton & Castle Hill, 15/A Stoke Park Via Maidenhall/ Via Chantry. Other routes which will just see timetable changes are the 8/B Whitehouse and the 12 Chantry(Cambridge Drive) whilst the 13 to Pinewood & Tesco will see a route change, stopping places and a timetable change.

CARTERS BUYOUT

Carters ex Stagecoach Midlands Volvo Olympian/Northern Counties Palatine P915 RYO

News has just reached me in the last hour that confirmation of the sale of the Bus operations business not the heritage fleet to Ipswich Buses has been reached quite why in my opinion, there is quite a few non DDA buses in the fleet which will need replacing by next January and to be truthful the Colchester route doesn't actually carry many passengers another burden for the poor tax payers of Ipswich.

EASTERN COUNTIES ALLOCATIONS FEBRUARY 1991

 The first Leyland Olympian's bought after deregulation occurred in 1989 were DD1-5 F101-05 AVG  with Northern Counties bodies, here we see the first in the batch DD1 heading into Great Yarmouth.

Looking back to the allocations of February 1991 we can see that there was a still a healthy amount of Bristol VR's and Leyland Nationals, the awful Freight Rover Sherpa's by now 5 years old had dwindled down to only 15, and the only coaches were 7 Leyland Leopard/Willowbrook's which by and large had been downgraded for bus use.

Also seen in 1991 was a now 14 year old Leyland National LN 590 WAH 590S in the Ipswich OCM,within a couple of years some were modernised as National Greenways by East Lancs and would finally be withdrawn in the mid 2000's, one of course is preserved by Richard Walker WAH 587S, while the only original Leyland National to survive is the ITM's LN 770 XNG 770S.