Snap on Sunday

With thanks to one of my regular contributors I can bring you back to around 2005/6, years of large change at the depot. Of course the Tridents entered service in 2005, which saw off many of the VRs, leaving on LFJ 844/6/7W still running by the end of the year. K802 ORL joined the fleet in early 2006 and some great photos of her negotiating Hounster Hill can be seen. This itself is now from a bygone era. The old 80B used to run down here, but withdrawn in 2007. Buses did still work up the hill on school duties, though First then decided it was too dangerous, largely because the short 1 lane section leaving Millbrook is very tight for a Trident. You may also remember that C412 HJN failed to make it up the hill leaving Millbrook and pupils were forced to walk up the hill, leaving C412 light enough to power herself up the rest of the hill. K802 would have been the ideal bus for the service, with plenty of power, and being short enough to get round the corner with well, less trouble than the Tridents. K802 is seen after just arriving at the depot still retaining her old headlights and blind. 

These two photos show the 2 penultimate VRs, LFJ 844W of course being the last operating in South Devon. LFJ 847W is seen at Tregantle while 846 is seen conquering the very tight section around Anderton. This part of the route was withdrawn soon after being the Tridents were un-able to negotiate the tight corners. There was a limited services throughout 2006 where it was rostered that only Olympians, Varios, and the Dart would use this road, but of course inevitably Tridents did escape onto the certain duties and therefore the decision was made to route all services via Maker, when the 81C was set up in 2007.