Snap on Sunday
This week's SoS is of one of Western Greyhound's brand new Optare Solo SRs. WK11 APY, and sisters have been bought brand new to operate WGL's 3 routes between Newquay and St Austell. The SRs are certainly stunning looking vehicles, and really suit the Western Greyhound livery well. I took a trip on the 527 down to Newquay on one, and indeed they really do seem to be built well. The engine certainly pulled well even on some of the steeper hills. The last time WGL operated a Solo SR was back in 2008, when they took on a demonstrator to see how the bus would handle the Cornish roads. If memory serves me correctly, this was the same Solo that Plymouth Citybus had on trial, which would make it YJ57 EHD. It hardly seems 3 years ago to the week, that this was in Plymouth!
STOP PRESS: Indeed the bus did see service at Western Greyhound. I've just found a comment from one of the drivers when looking for a photo of it. "I once drove this bus when it was an Optare demonstrator. We had it at Western Greyhound, but found it to be woefully underpowered." Perhaps some improvements have been made since then, because WK11 APO certainly didn't disappoint on my trip.
What can I say! WOW!
ReplyDeleteI love that Western Greyhound have the green digital blinds. They make a big difference to the look.
The colour of that demonstrator is terrible though, does the vehicle down.
Nice looking vehicle and good to see further investment by WGL.
ReplyDeleteSome of their buses, particularly Varios, are, however, looking decidedly down-at-heal and running around without destination displays - a company Spring Clean is needed, I feel!!