Trade Union Tailback!

A few interesting photos taken by Tom Pearce today of the manic scene caused by the marches through the city centre today by public sector workers. As you can see buses queued right up Western Approach where at least 13 buses can be seen. 

Tamar Belle is back

The Tamar Belle has returned to its duties operating the Cremyll Ferry for another winter season while the Northern Belle goes in for her annual refit. You will notice this year the Tamar Belle is no longer adorned with the Union Jack livery, but has now been put into the standard livery used on the Northern Belle. I hope to be able to bring you more details when the time is appropriate. With no heaters on the Tamar Belle, passengers will have to wrap up warm for the next few weeks, me included! I may just have to huddle around the engine for some heat! 

Tamar Belle is pictured here in the old Union Jack livery, to refresh your memory! 

Snap on Sunday

Well, the weather wasn't that brilliant yesterday for good quality photography, but here's a couple that were at least half decent from yesterday. 

Firstly here we have Stagecoach South West Alexander bodied Dennis Dart S472 BWC. These older Darts are becoming increasingly rare with the recent influx of '60' and '11' plate Enviros which make up the mainstay of the fleet today. She is seen in Exeter Bus Station on the 56 to Exmouth, having arrived in from Exeter St Davids.

And here we see Western Greyhound's Dennis Enviro 400 WK58 EAC awaiting its next run on the 510 in the lower bus station. I took advantage of the limited greenery in the bus station to use the green filter on the camera to highly the bus and the plants! 

When things don't add up!

Today, First Devon and Cornwall were forced to use Dennis Dart MPD S549 SCV on the 981 Torpoint School run in place of the usual Dennis Trident! This of course naturally on its own creates problems, but it gets more silly when you consider what's been going on behind what's floating on the surface. 

So, a Dennis Trident that was allocated that morning lost reverse gear, so 43809 was taken out of public service to take onto the school route. Why was there no spare bus? That's because Torpoint is currently 100% low floor! Torpoint is currently running 6 Tridents, and 3 Darts, leaving no spare buses available if something goes wrong. So where are the Volvos? K801 ORL has a major air leak being seen to at the moment. K804, is generally unreliable, so again is likely being seen to in Plymouth. But K803 I have no idea! She's disappeared for the time being. Makes you wonder why they got rid of K802 ORL when there seems still to have been work for her to do! So, Torpoint had an X80 Trident, so the X80 working usually a Trident was substitued by Leyland Olympian K616 LAE! 


So to sum up, a Trident was at Torpoint that 'shouldn't' be, leaving X80 1 bus down meaning an Olympian had to be used, and a Trident broke down where a Trident should be so a Dart had to be used! Got that!?!

Snap on Sunday

A photo today of Ex-Airbus Volvo Olympian A123, now 34193, VJT 738, in the First Devon and Cornwall fleet, along with Ex-Bristol S684 AAE bringing up the rear. This photo was taken in Helston on a market day, with Christmas decorations already up in the town, on a crisp November afternoon. These Volvos still are stunningly good buses, I'd go as far as saying my favorite buses FDC currently run. Just a shame they no longer use these on the X80! I defy anyone to say that they'd prefer a Trident. You can't even argue that there's no disabled facilities, these have wheelchair lifts! 

Citybus repaints continue

FROM THIS

TO THIS


Despite many people's opinions on the now redundant 'Route 34' livery, I really liked it! Wait, let me re-phrase that, I liked it when it was new! The livery really stood out, the pictures looked great on the sides and rear and it really did draw people's attention to the 34 as a whole. Unfortunately over time the livery faded quite rapidly, and soon was taken off to reveal the plain windows, leaving half a Northern Belle on the side, as well as various odds and ends of Plymouth buildings! The three 34 Enviros WA56 HHN/O/P are quite rare to see on the 34 these days, and have been for some time since the official contract ended for the Enviros on the 34, bought in conjunction with the Royal William Yard developments. Its much more common to see these 3 on 5s, 40s, 41s, 42s, 43As, 44s, and so on. 


I must admit, I think this livery looks even better on the Enviro than it does on the Dart and B7s! The lines of the livery match perfectly with the move curvy body of the Enviro 200, and with the larger windows aiding in balancing the colour, this really does look fantastic, even on such a dull day as we have seen today in Plymouth. I may well have caught her on her very first trip out in the new livery, I saw her exiting the depot at around 1ish today, to take over a broken down Citaro on the 43 just outside the depot, so may well have been her first run since completed. On the topic of the Citaro, that's the bus I'm really looking forward to seeing this livery applied to, but who knows how long we may have to wait to see that!

Snap on Sunday

This week's Snap on Sunday comes from Maker Heights with a view across to Maker Church. The bus seen here is the only Dennis Dart to be liveried in Tamar Link branding S764 RNE, 40002, rolling  through the evening November sunlight. In fact, who would have thought it was November with a view like this! Simply stunning. I think this might actually have been better than the summer we had this year! 




More of these photos can be seen at http://www.flickr.com/photos/11717981@N02/sets/72157627936283395/

Totting up the Tridents!

If you were to go down to Torpoint depot this morning, you might just have been 'lucky' enough to find 7 Tridents, instead of the normal 5! Unfortunately, Torpoint has gained another Trident, this one being 32761. She came over for operation for the first time yesterday, this being the first time the ferry lift will have been used on 32761. She joins 32762 which has been acting as the spare but at Torpoint for nearly 2 1/2 years now, and we presume that eventually all of the X80 Tridents will make it over to Torpoint to replace the aging K-ORL Olympians. 


This is the first time that the incorrect route branding will have been used on Torpoint routes, 32761 carrying the new adverts for the X80/1. A 7 year track record of the correct livery isn't bad at all though! It is a shame that slowly and steadily the Olympian duties are dwindling, its quite frustrating when a Trident turns up in place of the usual Olympian on allocation! I'm not particularly looking forward to if/when these become full time members of the Torpoint fleet though! A fleet of VRs and 811s, replaced in 7ish years by Tridents and Darts! How dis-heartening! 

Pacers going home...

Love them or hate them, the Class 142 Pacer has become part of the scenery across branchlines in Devon once again, over the past 4 years. The 142s have been on loan from Northern Rail, and a short gap filler has turned into many years of successful running for the 142s in the South West. 


There was public outcry, when the 142s first entered service again in 2007, prompting the local news stations to take a trip to experience the 'horror' themselves. The media mocked the bus style doors, seats and general layout, as well as the boneshaking ride. But these trains have something that a lot of modern trains don't hold, and that's bucket loads of character. The 142s are quite frankly, charming little trains. There's never a dull moment when you're onboard a 142. Something that many people seem to look straight past is the extra seating capacity on these with the 3+2 seating, which is very useful during the summer seasons, and on the popular school runs. 


Final details are yet to be confirmed, but the scheduled run for the farewell tour, taking place on Sunday 27th November should be: 


Exeter St Davids - Marsh Barton - Exeter St Davids - Newton Abbot - Heathfield - Newton Abbot - Exeter St Davids.


Exeter St Davids - Crediton, Oakhampton, Meldon, Crediton, Barnstaple, Exeter St Davids then fast run to Plymouth and back to Exeter St Davids.

The train is expected to comprise of 142001, along with one but possibly 2 extra units providing the extra capacity if needs be. The track that they should be running on is quite rare, so could be the one and only time to experience some of these sections on a Class 142. The tour is expected to be around £30-35, but again, this isn't yet fully confirmed. I shall post more details as and when I receive them.

PTOTPA goes live!

Public Transport of the Plymouth Area has entered a new era in technology. I will now be posting all updates on the blog to a page on Facebook, and PTOTPA has also gained a Twitter page. 

This means that you will now receive live notifications of new posts on this blog, as well as live updates and observations from myself out and about on my travels. This will enable me to post news that isn't always 'blogworthy', but will be of interest to you! These sites can also be used by yourself to post your own observations and news, as well as photos that you've taken out and about. I'll also let you know when I've uploaded new photos to the Flickr account, as well as new videos to youtube which will be of interest to you.


I've added the site links to the side of the blog to the right here -->>>>

Or use these links below to find the sites:

PTOTPA - FACEBOOK


PTOTPA - TWITTER 

ENJOY!

Just when you think its all over...

... another one appears! Step entrance Dennis Darts have again returned to the region, but this time, not with Go-Ahead! Firstly, and most interestingly is with FDC! FDC lost their final step entrance Dart around 3 years ago now, although incidentally, this bus is now in service with Target Travel. But, here we see Bristol/Bath based Dart N235 KAE in Redruth operating the 39 from Helston! I'd spent a majority of the day looking for the bus with no luck! After returned from Helston into Redruth incidentally on a different bus, I then proceeded to catch a Volvo B7 to go towards Truro to catch my train. I then realised, that actually, I didn't have time to get to Truro before the train left! So from the nearest possible stop right at the top of Redruth I ran all the way back down to the station, and as fate would have it, there was N235! And they say things don't happen by chance... 

Second Dart that has been introduced, is with Jackett Coaches. Ex Plymouth Citybus Dart L119 YOD is now within the fleet, and has been used on several weekends on their new X85 from Barnstaple on a Saturday. Nice to see that at least one is living on in Plymouth, with more finding new homes as we speak! More on that later though.  

Snap on Sunday

Today, a view from the very pretty little harbor village of Watchet in Somerset. The bus seen heading towards Taunton from Minehead is Volvo B7L YG02 GLO. These B7Ls are surprisingly nice to ride on, although in half term really you do need something bigger on the service! 

Snap on Sunday

What's that I hear you say? Am I sure this is local? Well yes, if you are mistaken, then this is Truro, but with a non-native bus! This Volvo Olympian, P559 EFL is currently on loan to FDC from its home in Southampton, the giveaway being the non-standard black parts added to the standard livery. There has been much debate in the past as to whether this black paint enhances the livery, or makes it look worse. It does depend on the bus, and even bus to bus in some cases, where we see subtle changes between liveries. So what about P559, well its certainly one of the better ones, but I'm still not totally taken in by it. It does smooth out the lines a bit, but when you compare it directly to the standard livery, its really not that good! It just makes it look untidy, in particular the black around the lower deck windows. P559 is probably on loan at the moment due to the Rail Replacement currently taking place between Plymouth and Par. You certainly see some interesting workings while the B7s and Solos take on the RR duties, but more on that later!  

Teamwork!

Now, its certainly not everyday that you hear of First Devon and Cornwall, and Plymouth Citybus working in partnership! In fact, its rare enough to see any of the Big 5 subsidiaries working with another. So when Plymouth Citybus posted the following, I was quite taken by surprise:


"During the duration of the road closure affecting our Oreston services 5 and 5A First Devon and Cornwall have kindly agreed to accept key cards as flash passes on their service 2 for customers boarding or alighting at bus stops in Plymstock Road, Randwick Park Road, Foresters Road, Pomphlett Close and Pomphlett Gardens ONLY. Thank you FDC."

Well, what can I say, what a lovely gesture. Its certainly something I'd like to see more of, as I'm sure any passenger would. Many people ask bus companies if there is joint ticketing available between FDC and PCB, and of course, the answer is no. This isn't really a surprise, that's the whole point of their being two bus companies in Plymouth, to keep competition within the industry, so that the passenger should receive a higher quality of service across the board. But certainly in situations such as this, it would be great to see the companies working together to deliver passenger's the best service possible. Its at the root in situations like this, that because of the delays passengers may receive, or the missing of their all important deadlines for whatever it ends up being, that people stop using public transport, and move into private transport! 

For the greater good, FDC may not be making money directly doing this, but almost undoubtedly, it will mean people will stick to using a bus service rather than using the car, full stop, or will encourage people to use FDC's services in the future. Its a win win situation for the industry as a whole, and that's the important factor in this. Many people call for companies to make it 'easier' for people to interlink with buses and trains, and that they should operate under the bracket "Public transport", rather than in competition with each other, or without 'care' for each other. Its all about making it easier for the passenger, to keep them there. A passenger lost is hard to bring back. 

Snap on Sunday

Here we see Tally Ho's Mercedes 709 laying over before working to Noss Mayo on the 94, usually in the hands of the slimline Optare Solo. Tally Ho took the route over from Target Travel a few months ago, who were operating it on behalf of FDC. This 709 really did look stunning in the new livery of which pretty much the whole fleet is wearing now. Certainly a lot better than the red livery, which never really did the 709s any favors, but this livery has made them look much more modern. Believe it or not, this photo was actually taken using my phone! Even when you click on the photo to enlarge is, it loses very little clarity, I've been very impressed with it so far! 

Snap on Sunday

Heading for Devon in the glorious low October sun we enjoyed last Sunday we see Tamar  II (?) crossing the river from Cornwall. Beautiful! 

Beautifying Bretonside

Finally, Bretonside is actually starting to look like a place where you wouldn't mind spending time, not that many people have to regularly venture down here these days anyway...

Bretonside has been getting a splash of paint over the past couple of weeks in a range of really bright and bold colours. I must admit, this small amount of effort has absolutely transformed the lower station, it genuinely looks inviting! There doesn't seem to be any real pattern to the colour scheme, and that's possibly why its worked so effectively. Then again, it may also develop your thoughts into, is this paint just a variety of leftovers that PCC found in their stores? Even if this is the case, its really brightened the dull appearance of the pillars the are so dominating along the lower station. I'm really hoping we'll see more of this if and when they refurbish the rest of the concourse. Bretonside hopefully will now become somewhere they is pleasant to waste away time waiting for a bus or coach to whisk you away. Then again, I doubt some paint will cure the 'scene' that we still find in Bretonside, but who knows! The radio idea never really worked in clearing these people, although it does still make it more enjoyable for the people who are down there. Those safety announcements are dreadfully annoying though, especially when you've had to hear it in 4 languages. But still, I will say a well done Plymouth City Council on this one! 

Welcome back Winkleigh!

After 3 years scored off the rally calender the Winkleigh Rally at the West of England Transport Collection will be making a return tomorrow. 


If you've never been before, Winkleigh is a rally that is just completely different to any other you'll visit. The photo I've posted at the top sums it up quite well really! A rally with copious amounts of half cabs, a huge selection of buses both rotting, and in preservation waiting for their chance to be restored. Some people describe it as a scrapyard, I wouldn't go that far, but Winkleigh is indeed a place where buses are acquired, and 'dumped' before their fate is decided. Its fascinating looking through what's on offer, looking at what's reached the end of their lives, and what we may see back out on the road in the future. The dis-used (well no, not dis-used, they're filled with buses now!) hangers that many buses are kept in also add to this atmosphere. 

Really worth coming along for something different. There are due to be many more trips operating this year, departing every 5 minutes from the rally site! All kicks off at 10 if you're interested. 

Snap on Sunday

Hmm I think some more Kingsbridge is in order! VRs for this weekend, and to kick of off, here's OTA 290G operating a 101 to Bigbury, passing VDV 141S returning into Kingsbridge. 

Here, VDV 121S leads Devon General Nimbus XTA 839 into Kingsbridge. 

And lastly we have VDV 141S resting at Bigbury before returning to Kingsbridge on the 101. 

Incoming models

Tom Peace's enterprise, South West Transport Models, will be receiving stocks of two new local models in the coming month.


Firstly will be this Royal Blue liveried Bristol LS (apologies for incorrect information supplied before, don't blame me, blame Tom!), VDV 776, fleet number 2213. The model shows her working a Torquay, Sailsbury and Exeter service.






Secondly will come Leyland Olympian A680 KDV, 1804. This Olympian of course still survives in preservation, and the model depicts her in the cream and red Devon General livery she currently wears. She is seen on the model operating an X80 service to Plymouth.

Tom's offering the models and £21 each, and both are avaliable to pre-order from his website, www.southwestbusmodels.co.uk

BOTH PHOTOS COPYRIGHT TO EFE THROUGH SOUTH WEST BUS MODELS.