EASTERN COUNTIES COACHES RECALLED

Today we recall the early 1970's looking at Eastern Counties coach fleet, first up we see CB 848 one of 4 Bedford YRT Duple coaches, being pretty lightweight these only lasted a year being transferred to National Travel South East in 1975 and sold on after only 2 years. Much more successful were the Bristol RE Coach all though by reports they were pretty gutless, seen here parked overnight in a London Country garage is RE 855 LPW 855L. Finally at the bottom a Bedford VAM/Duple CB 845 PPW 845F from the second batch,freshly repainted into the hideous National Express livery, which certainly didn't do it's lines any good, note the Mascot National fleet name.

FIRST LOWESTOFT 45118 ON LOAN

 Due to both Mini Enviro 200's being out of service, First Ipswich have 45118 ST09 JPT on loan for the week, with Volvo B7RLE 66850 going the other way other spots of the day was First Ipswich Volvo B7TL 32489 AU53 HKG on the 60/61, while Ipswich Buses wise the 4 was back to Double Decker Operation with Trident 13 and Lowlander 55, while of the Route 4 Branded Darts 87 was on the 15/A and 85 on the 8/13. For the next 10 weeks of Summer, is that a joke 40 life sized Pigs will be seen around town as part of  Pigs Go Wild racing money for St Elzabeth Hospice a charity very close to my heart seen below is an Ipswich Buses Sponsored Pig championing the cause of the Ipswich Transport Museum.

CHANGES TO PARK AND RIDE THINKING

Optare Versa 152 YK08 EPV, part of the current Park and Ride Fleet for Ipswich Buses.

Courtesy of Steve's Bus And Train Blog /http://busandtrain.blogspot.co.uk and confirmation from my good friend Chris Speed of First Eastern Counties, is that the new thinking is for the current 63/4/5 and not the 66 as originally thought, to serve the Martlesham Park And Ride, with a 30 minute frequency, with an extra fast service between Martlesham and the Town Centre combining to give a 15 minute frequency.This as all subject to Confirmation. Seen below on the current 63 to Melton via Woodbridge is Volvo B7RLE 69428 AU58 FFP.

THURSDAY FLASHBACK: THE NINTIES

By the 1990'S I had become rather disillusioned with the bus scene, thinking it was time to grow up!, so i missed quite a lot during those years, although when my place of work moved sides in Tacket Street, i found myself during those long Winter Days making use of the rather big windows, to look at all the Buses coming past, during that time the 66 was launched by the privatised Eastern Counties,in 1994 , we see DP79 M379 YEX  a Dennis Dart/Plaxton Pointer with  branding on Ipswich Station forecourt from the James Long collection.  After many years of being in Julian Patterson's hand Eastern Counties sole Leyland National survivor has moved back to Suffolk in the ITM'S hands once again, LN 770 XNG 770S certainly spent it's time moving around, including a time with the Rosemary Coaches unit, which didn't last long before being phased out for Eastern Counties, 1770 by this time finished it's time with First Thamesway, before the ITM purchased her.

FAREWELL JIM

One from Jim's massive collection shows 414 N346 CJA a Volvo B6 Alexander Dash which had a short career with Ipswich before heading Leicester bound.

Many people who have followed the blog over the years will remember the contribution of photos over the years of Jim Long who i can announce passed away yesterday, not only was Jim a contributor to the blog, but just over 9 years he was a personal friend who was always around for me when my own mental health suffered, he too suffered from depression having had a breakdown earlier in his life, his catalogue of knowledge and photos was legendary particularly Eastern Counties and although he suffered from a fear of crowds was still able to get about with his devoted wife Eve, Jim was well known for chasing around for any new repaints, he was especially helpful when choosing a new camera Jim, helped me along considerably and as my photos have gotten better he was equally pleased, and above all he kept faith with me even though i spouted a lot of nonsense, Thanks Jim it was an honour to know you.

Jim also collected a massive collection of slides during his life including this very rare shot of a Bristol K LK 1 FAH 107 with it's original Strachans body from 1944, it was renumbered LK 31 in 1947 and fitted with an new Series 2 ECW L27/28R body in 1953, finally being withdrawn in 1967.

BEESTON SCANIA N280UD/ADL E400 MMC DEMONSTRATOR

Many thanks to Russell Young who contributes photos to the blog for this rather excellent shot of Beestons on loan Scania N280UD/ADL E400 MMC Demostrator YN16 CFU

on it's way to Sudbury from Ipswich on the 91 on Friday, unfortunately due to the bad weather this weekend i have been unable to get a shot myself, previously this has been on loan to Stephensons.

SUNDAY FLASHBACK

A nice chance to look back at the Tillings livery on a Bristol RE RL 508 CNG 508K, which was new in September 1971 before being repainted in 1974, this picture taken at Norwich Bus Station was taken roughly around a year before it was repainted into NBC livery.

CBW INTERVIEW WITH STEVE WICKERS FEC BUSINESS DIRECTOR

First Ipswich Volvo B7RLE 66981 on the 61 to Greenwich in April this year.

Today i feature highlights from the interview with First Eastern Counties Business Director Steve Wickers, from which i have included the pieces concerning the Ipswich Operations, for the full interview you can purchase a copy of the magazine from WH Smith or http://coachandbusweek.net/

First the basics FEC have a turnover of £34 Million, with a fleet of 240 Buses, with just over 700 staff, the last year they recorded an increase of 1.7% growth with revenue up by 2.2%.
Over the last year £5.6 Million has been invested in new Buses, for Norwich. Later this year 22 Volvo B9TL/Wright Double Deckers will be cascaded to the company. Now on to Ipswich, in the past Customer and Stakeholder feedback for presentation of the fleet was poor, however over the last 2 years much time has been spent on changing the travel experience, this has seen investment in the fleet and drivers, now talking to the customers, as a result First Ipswich has seen the biggest improvement in customer satisfaction within the group, which recently lead to First Ipswich being runner up in the best depot within First, congratulations to the team there including Barry Spurling, Joe Thorpe, Chris Speed among others for this excellent achievement. As a ticketing initiative Ipswich now offer a Young persons ticket to Under 20's that discounts their fares by 30%. Below is Volvo B7RLE 69428 AU58 FFP which introduced an new livery to the Ipswich area, for faster journeys on the X7 to Felixstowe, but seen here on the 65 to Aldeburgh