Snap on Sunday

Snap on Sunday this week comes to you from glorious Penzance with a couple of increasingly rare types in this day in age. First up are two of First Kernow's surviving Varios (are these the only two now?), S526 RWP and S554 RWP. The Mercedes minibus continues to decline ever further in a majority of the UK, but Cornwall is most definitely the exception, with numbers in use still very high. It's hard to argue that anything is more suitable for the narrow twisting lanes of the county, and with the price of the smallest of Optare Solos still being relatively high it's understandable that many operators are keeping their Mercs going for as long as possible. Come the end of the year though, buses under 7.5tonnes will be required to meet DDA unless they have a suitable wheelchair lift, or are COIFed at 22 seats or under. It is quite possible therefore that some operators may choose to decrease the capacity of their Mercedes on their lightly used routes, so that these can continue to operate. It almost seems the wrong way round when you consider the smallest of buses are having to be withdrawn first under DDA, with the deckers going last (excluding coaches). Although of course the double deckers have a higher initial value, the deckers are far more likely to pay their way, with them most often being used on routes which have high ridership. I know this is somewhat of a generalisation, but the principle stands. The mini/midi buses however are there for the routes of generally low patronage, and therefore profit margins are lower; again, this stands to reason. So the number of years it takes for them to pay for themselves in general is likely to be higher than that of a decker. It therefore seems pretty unfair on these small operators in such places as Cornwall who struggle to turn a profit as it is, to then have to be the first to get rid of what could be seen as perfectly useable and reliable vehicles, before that of the larger companies running deckers, reaping in the cash. Food for thought maybe! 

Anyway, talking of deckers, amazingly, the K-LAE duo are STILL at work in Cornwall. A stop gap they appear to no longer be, and K615 and K629 LAE continue to ply their trade throughout the county. Unfortunately I really wasn't expecting to see K615 thrash out of Penzance Bus Station, and hence the shot is fairly poor - but better than nothing I thought! 

A passenger's perspective on (most) of the new Plymouth services

With an afternoon spare earlier this week I decided to pop into Plymouth to sample some of the new offerings within the city, taking advantage of the new 'Skipper' ticket. For those of you that haven't heard about this, there has (at last!) been a new multi-operator ticket introduced for Plymouth, covering all operators including First, PCB, Western Greyhound, Target Travel and Jackett's Coaches; I just wish it had been introduced earlier, could have saved me untold amounts of money over the years! At a reasonable £4 it's a fair amount cheaper than buying the two main operators day tickets, and of course has the added advantage of including the 'deeper' urban routes which may encourage some extra patronage on these. 

Anyway on with my short review! I must point out that these are purely observational and are by no means an accurate representation of how the routes are doing as a whole. This is exacerbated by the fact that this was during a period many people were still off work, with possibly slightly more people than normal journeying into the city centre off peak for the January sales, so take these with a pinch of salt! The first route I had a go on was First's 83, with the '12 reg Enviros now the norm on this route in response to Plymouth Citybus' Blue Flash. The service had pretty reasonable loadings considering this was a morning outbound trip, but there was certainly several that decided to hang on for the Blue Flash, and even a few passengers that tried to get on the First service before being told they had a Plymouth Citybus ticket! Undoubtedly these were the people that just got on whatever came along first. First offer double the number of journeys during the day, as well as operating slightly earlier, and substantially later than Plymouth Citybus' Blue Flash, with First's services running either 5 minutes in front or 5 minutes behind (or 10 minutes in front) of PCB's. Heading back I journeyed with PCB and again, loadings were fairly good, they certainly appear to be steadily picking up, and talking to the driver, things are looking encouraging. A couple of my relatives recently traveled on the Blue Flash initially unaware of this new service, but were certainly very impressed with the quality of vehicle, with him describing it to me as "The Pullman buses"! 

I then headed for Torpoint; a corridor I've grown to know very well over the years. Right from the off I was surprised that Plymouth Citybus were risking this route, as there are most definitely extra operational challenges with operating across to Torpoint, along with the very loyal passengers that First have been carrying for many years. PCB was met with quite a frosty reception from Torpoint from the off, as the introduction of the 32 timed in with one of the three ferries being away for refit - reducing capacity substantially during this period. This meant that often, two First services would end up on the same ferry because the ferry can't sustain the normal timetable with 2 ferries, and with a 3rd bus chucked in as well in bright red, people were quick to criticise them, particularly seeing as all three would still be receiving priority boarding. Quite obviously, there isn't the demand to fill 3 double deckers, with some 265 seats on offer, and hence the public seeing 3 deckers with low load factors travelling together was understandably frustrating. On the few trips I have now done, several months into the 32's operation, loadings are still very poor. On a number I have been the only person aboard the vehicle for most of the journey, although inbound morning journeys do collect a number of passengers whilst going through Stoke; an area no longer served by First. As afore mentioned, Torpoint's residents are a loyal bunch, with them having built up strong relationships with the drivers at Torpoint over many years. Having their own local depot, with only around 20 drivers allocated to service has meant the drivers have got to know their passengers well, with many of them having worked out of the depot for a substantial amount of time. This has meant that they haven't wanted to let them down when it matters, and indeed, very few appear to have made the switch. I'd presume Plymouth Citybus are now holding out until the tender for the Torpoint stage carriage and school work comes up for renewal in the very near future, where they may be able to get a decent foothold from which to build on, but for now, First certainly appear to be ruling the roost. 

Purple 6 was the next route I sampled, aboard one of the shoddily branded Ex-Tavylinx Volvo B6BLEs. Loadings seemed fairly good, but as has been commented, they need to be good to even have a chance of breaking even. Running at £1 per person means the load factor has to be high for them to even start to make a profit, and although there were around 15 other people joining me on both the inbound and outbound journeys, these loadings would need to be consistent on every trip. It's a brave effort, and it certainly hasn't been a total flop, but neither has it completely decimated the competition like First were quite possibly hoping. 

The surprise of the day was actually service 3A though, the new extension of the 3 through West Park, Honicknowle and Peverell. I boarded on a mid afternoon trip at around 1530-1600 expecting loadings to be very light at that time of the day, on a route I presumed would have been quiet anyway, but I was pleasantly surprised by the numbers using the service. Few boarded through West Park, but once into Honicknowle fairly substantial numbers boarded the service, many of which were paying cash fares, with actually very very few being OAPs. By the time we'd gone through Peverell the Dart was carrying a good load of around 25 passengers which I certainly thought was very good for the time of day and direction of travel. This may have been an anomaly as I have only done one trip on the 3A, but if other journeys are carrying in the same vein as this one, then First appear to have made a really good decision pulling out of Barne Barton; an area which had really dried up for them. 

Some photos come, courtesy of Kameron Allan at www.swtransportnews.blogspot.com, with many thanks from me. 

Snap on Sunday

A couple of Snap on Sunday's this week, depicting something interesting but unfortunately of fairly poor quality, and another, quite mundane, but pleasing to the eye! 

Firstly, the interesting, with the rare occasion of a Volvo Olympian nonetheless operating on the PR2 on Friday afternoon. As Plymothian Transit reported recently, there has been widespread displeasure with First after moving the '12 plate Enviro 400s off the Park and Ride services, and onto the Tavistock routes, leading to a variety of older Dennis Tridents replacing them on the Park and Rides. It was interesting to hear of the Council's reaction to this, but later did seem very ironic that they themselves appeared to be making the 'commercial' decision of introducing parking charges to the Park and Ride sites. A gesture of spite towards FDC? Who knows; but since this story was published I've heard no more of it, so perhaps they came to their sense before it was too late! Anyway back to the bus, and P568 EFL had the honour of appearing likely due to the severe congestion experienced on Exeter Street on Friday afternoon, with her coming in to try and restore a frequent service. That, or perhaps an Ex-London Trident failed; also a likely explanation! Unfortunately a poor point and grab shot with no time to set the camera up properly for the photo; it certainly took me by surprise, but thought I better at least get a record shot! 

Now onto the better quality shot, and to a subject I actually very rarely include in the blog. The photo here depicts Plym II as she plods her way across the Tamar on the 1300 departure from Devonport to Torpoint in the low winter sun; the dockyard buildings providing a satisfying backdrop. 

Multiple Mercs!

Hello and welcome back once again to PTOTPA whilst I'm back in the South West for the Christmas period. Unfortunately (and unusually for us students!) the Christmas break has started very late, with myself only managing to get back to the region just in time for the festivities; late on December 21st. Thank god I did manage to get all the travelling done on the Saturday though, as no doubt I would have come across far more problems if I'd left it any later! 

A quick update then; University continues apace, with this year already being far, far more intense that my first year. Weekends seem to nearly purely now be filled with endless hours spent in the library with my head buried in books, or my fingers blurring away on a keyboard to keep up with the pressures of University life. Even in my final week before Christmas I'd handed in a 6'000 word report for the Managerial and Enterprise Skills module, along with another 17 pages of Logistics Planning Techniques and Applications (in essence, using many complicated algorithms and computer software to come up with logistics solutions). Other activities have included coming up with a 50 page tender response to a 'fake' manufacturer of personal care products, with us having to come up with a total logistics solution. This included everything from working out every single route for every single delivery the company needed to make, working out fuel, tax, depreciation, maintenance costs, right through to coming up with health and safety policies, KPIs, and even lorry liveries (any resemblance to a well known bus operator's livery is purely a coincidence; along with the company name ;-) ). It's certainly very interesting, but my days is it all time consuming and hence bus spotting is unfortunately being cut to a minimum. Thankfully we're having a small reprieve over the Christmas holidays from work, so the camera is ready and primed to get out and capture all the exciting stuff I've missed in the area over the past few months! 

So to kick us off, a photo of a sight which is becoming increasingly rare as DDA looms ever closer. In just over a year's time, a scene like this will be just a memory; a trio of A-Line Coaches Mercedes minibuses lined up for battle! Reliable and dependable workhorses soon to be lost from the bus industry. Somewhat oddly, two of these are Ex-First vehicles, and the other, Ex-Plymouth Citybus; an unlikely group of stablemates! 

Coaches through Cornwall

Cornwall has recently seen an influx of Ex- First Rail Air coaches from Reading, introduced to the region for college work for the longer routes, in particular the Callington route. Cornwall currently seems to be suffering vehicle wise, with native coaches quite regularly appearing on stage carriage work, surprisingly most often on prime route 14/18 from Truro through to Camborne and Penzance/St Ives. Indeed, YV03 UBB appeared out in service on the X18 on the day I visited, with no blind visible at all, not even a paper destination, and also with no ticket machine fitted. It seemed possible therefore that this was only a temporary cover, but it did precede to work the service all day, taking no fares whatsoever! I later found WSV 408 out on the 18, although unfortunately a photo wasn't able to be grasped! 

The use of these two coaches was even more surprising when I later found Volvo B7RLE MX56 AEN on the 27 from Truro to St Austell and Par! In fairness to First, this is the first time I've ever seen one of the B7s off route in the 6 years I've been spotting down there! Usually the depots are very good at indeed allocating them onto the correct route. 

A video of WSV 408 operating in servicecan be found below: 

Snap on Sunday

Unfortunately my time in the South West has come to an end for now, although a couple of extra posts are in the pipeline for the next week, and no doubt odd bits of news may crop up from time to time as they did before. It's a shame I'm going to be missing out on so many interesting developments over the coming month within Plymouth and the surrounding area, I very much look forward to Christmas when I can come and see it all in the flesh. No doubt Graham Richardson's capable hands over at Plymothian Transit will keep you well updated as things progress. 

For now I shall leave you with one of my favorite spots in the region; that of St Ives Malakoff, with one of the stalwart Volvo B10M Citybus' still hard at work on the glorious 300 service. Well worth a trip if you get a chance before the end of the month, before these are put away for the winter once more! 

Snap on Sunday

Tuesday produced the unusual event of a Western Greyhound vehicle winding its way through Torpoint, a scene that has become a rarity since April of 2012 when the Torpoint to Liskeard route passed to A-Line Coaches. Vario WK02 SUN is seen here working what I thought would have been a 572 which is the usual Vario route from Plymouth, although appears to be blinded up for a 593 to Plymouth, despite heading the opposite direction into Cornwall. WGL were diverted through Torpoint due to an RTA on the A38, forcing all of the Tamar Bridge traffic to go across the Torpoint Ferry instead, and hence as can be seen from the photo, the queues were huge, eventually leading right out of Torpoint.  

President for the Peninsula

Torpoint Depot has recently gained a new addition to the ranks of vehicles that are able to operate across the ferry, this being the first Plaxton President Dennis Trident to be converted for use, LR02 LYP. My belief had always been that the fuel tank was mounted too low on the Presidents for them to be able to negotiate the ferry ramp, but evidently this isn't the case, or at least, it has been found this is no issue. We would usually expect to find the front/rear cut away to give added ground clearance, but this hasn't been the case with 33172 which has only had the suspension modified to include a ferry lift. It seemed an interesting choice to me though that the first President to be modified is the one in the new livery, with possible overtones that this may be for added capacity come the time Plymouth Citybus introduce their services to Torpoint. I can only speculate of course, as we still wait for First's official announcement on their game plan. From what I hear though, extra Presidents will, or already have been fitted with ferry lifts, so expect to see them become more common on the Torpoint routes in the near future. The drivers certainly seem impressed with LYP's performance, although I have to admit, these are far from my favorite buses on offer. 

Snap on Sunday

This week's SoS is a few more photos taken up at the idyllic bus photography spot in Barne Barton. I've been worried that the recent development works in the area would mean that the great backdrop from this corner in Barne Barton would disappear forever, but thankfully, the gap in the houses is still sufficient to be able to get some really good photos. 

Red Flash looking flashy

Monday marked the start of Plymouth Citybus' new network of premium routes with the introduction of 4 ADL E40Ds to the established 21/A linking Plympton in the East with Barne Barton in the West. The vehicles certainly look very smart indeed in the new 'Red Flash' branding, with the simple yet stylish livery creating a very good impression. Unfortunately  as several photographers seemed to have found out already, including myself, the darker red bands are very difficult to photograph clearly, but in the flesh, compliment the design very nicely indeed. The trend of ever decreasing fleet number size continues though, with the rear one actually being quite difficult to find unless you know where to look for it! 

The E40Ds are certainly very pleasing vehicles to ride on, even from an enthusiast's point of view. Usually I'm not a huge fan of the Enviro, particularly the more recent incarnations  but these are surprisingly pleasing to the ear which I certainly wasn't expecting. The somewhat jerky gearbox previously found in the Enviro has also been modified, and the changes are now far smoother. The interior itself though I found to be really quite dark, even on the upper deck, largely due to the grey rood and side panels, as well as the grey of the leather seating which in all honesty I didn't find particularly inviting. The layout though is certainly very nice, with plenty more seating than what is currently found on the Ex-London Volvo B7TLs, as well as much more space set aside for pushchairs. This is a feature we seem to be seeing increasingly in the modern bus, as parents continue to discover the benefits of not having to unpack and fold down the pushchairs to fit into the car. It seems slightly ironic though that the people occupying all this extra space don't actually pay! 

My one criticism of the 'Red Flash' is actually the red itself. My thinking would be that considering people in the areas the 21/A covers are already used to red buses from Plymouth Citybus, they aren't standing out as much as they could, or indeed should do considering the sheer amount of investment put in to these high spec brand new vehicles. Should red have in fact been reserved for one of the new routes where the impact would be fully felt, freeing up another colour for the 21/A, for example blue, which would stand out from the crowd, and hopefully attract the attention of non-users to the fact that the local companies has just invested many hundreds of thousands of pounds, and that they'd like to have a go. Most non-bus users I would doubt will really take a huge amount of notice of the branding "It's just another red bus". On the other hand though, are PCB keeping it red in this area for familiarity, so the people don't end up letting the vehicles go by thinking that they're being operated by another company. Although we all too often see passengers completely ignore the colour, route number and destination of a bus they put their hand out for, undoubtedly some of the more savvy users may be wary of a strangely coloured bus heading towards them. 

The next four operating on 'Blue Flash' service 12 will shortly commence service on the new route to Tavistock. 

Patched up PUI

Following on from the Snap on Sunday last week, the bus featured, PUI 6627 was unfortunately broken into whilst parked at it's overnight location one evening a couple of weeks ago. The handbrake was subsequently let off by the offender, and the bus careered down the hill and somewhat thankfully hit a tree rather than rolling into the road. This caused severe damage to various front body panels and the blind box, but luckily this was mostly cosmetic damage. Replacement body parts were sourced from one of Target Travel's withdrawn T reg Varios, and although in a somewhat sorry state, she is now back on the road. During this period no spare buses were available, so it was a case of make do and mend as quickly as possible to make sure service was maintained. A sterling effort by all involved, particularly under the circumstances. 

Snap on Sunday

This week's Snap on Sunday comes from South East Cornwall on A-Line Coaches service 80, on which there are many lovely scenic photo opportunities available. This particular one is taken right at the top of Lower Anderton Road just before the junction to turn to Cremyll, with the backdrop of Insworke and Foss Quay. The relaxed atmosphere of the route is embodied in this instance by the driver pausing on his break to feed the horses which belong to the farm by which L813 SAE (PUI 6627) is parked. Nothing like a good rural Cornish bus route for harking back to old times! 

Going for Gold!

Stagecoach now seem to be well prepared for the launch of their new Gold services, linking the English Riviera with Plymouth and Dartmouth. With many thanks to Nathan Bentham I can bring you these exclusive photos of 3 of the 9 Scania N230UDs that are currently in Plaxton's holding yard in Leyland awaiting registration onto '63' plate, and then delivery. The fleet numbers are believed to be 15924 through to 15932. As we now expect from Stagecoach Gold the vehicles look very impressive indeed, and are certainly a huge step up from First's flimsy seated Ex-Bath Park and Ride Tridents. 

The timetable is certainly an interesting read though, with service timings not necessarily what I was expecting to see. I have to admit to thinking that Stagecoach would opt for a classic tactic, timing their services 5-10 minutes ahead of the competing First routes in order to cream off the passengers, using the tactic of getting people on the first bus that turns up, but no! Instead, Stagecoach have been very sensible with their service timings, slotting the service right in between the X80 and X81 between Torquay and Totnes, the busiest part of the corridor, and then 15 minutes ahead of each from Plymouth and Dartmouth respectively. This seems interesting. Although this will be the ideal situation for Concessionary Pass users, offering a more frequent service to them, I would doubt this would attract normal fare paying passengers. Certainly on trips I've done on the routes, a high proportion of the users do use Concessionary passes, but still, running 5 minutes ahead will still mean they get more of them, rather than hoping that they will be sitting around a fair amount of time before the normal offering leaves. 

Stagecoach's Gold certainly appears to offer a more usable service though, with services starting earlier, and finishing later in the locations that I would presume matter most, in what I'd presume would be the directions that would potentially see the largest demand. Indeed from Plymouth, Stagecoach run 2 1/2 hours later into the evening than First do - a huge leap. But of course, this is vice versa on the Torquay end, where Stagecoach's last service departs 2hours 45 minutes earlier than First's final service. Of course I haven't got any figures infront of me, and this is purely speculative, but I would guess there is a bigger shift in the morning towards Plymouth, and hence, a larger move outbound from Plymouth in the evening, and hence the opposite would be seen further up the route. Then again, Totnes passengers I would presume generally head West to Paignton and Torquay rather than to Plymouth and Dartmouth, so both companies likely have their own advantages. 

Another interesting thing to discover was that Stagecoach have added in an extra stop on Royal Parade, departing from the already busy A11 outside Poundland. With 12 minutes layover, this could be interesting, even if they do wait time in the now reduced amount of space available outside the Theatre Royal. Although there is of course added convenience with a stop on Royal Parade, it will be 8 minutes before passengers actually depart the City Centre, as Stagecoach will also drop down to serve Bretonside before heading off towards the A38. 

Very interesting times ahead on the route though, and I look forward to seeing how passengers will react to Stagecoach's very impressive new routes. 

Snap on Sunday

It's not often I actually seem to post about the local rail scene in and around the Plymouth area, but what better way to make a return to it than with this glorious locomotive. This is the stunning looking Class 50, 50017, better known as Royal Oak, meandering her way along the Plym Valley Railway yesterday afternoon in all her Network South East glory. 50017 spent a fair amount of time down in the South West during her working life, so it's lovely to see her working hard in the region once more. The Class 50 is a type I have a great admiration for; there's just something about that little face, and of course, the biblical sound of the 2'700 horsepower English Electric 16 CSVT. Absolute credit to all who've been involved in her restoration. 

GOD-dard: A small tribute to a great man

It is with deep regret that I report on the passing away of a man I held in the highest regard.  Jim Goddard of A-Line Coaches, and indeed, Jim's Taxis prior to this, unfortunately passed away on Wednesday, just a matter of hours after completing his final duty on Service 80 the evening before. As I'm sure many of you realise, with the regular postings on the company over the years, A-Line held a special place in my heart, and indeed, that's all down to the wonderful man behind it all. 

I've got some quite early memories of Jim, soon after starting school at Fourlanesend Primary. The school being right at the top of a steep hill meant that on wet days, the walk wasn't particularly inviting, and even on a good day, the steepness wasn't kind to 5 year old legs, so more than often, Mum and I would hop aboard 'Jim's Bus' and journey to Fourlanesend. The way he looked after us on there was quite unforgettable and indeed, completely selfless. Not only would he get out of the bus and help us cross the road, not only would he let all the kids have a toot on the horn as they got off, but every Easter and Christmas he would always buy chocolate for all the regular kids. What a fantastic impression he gave of the industry. It's the small things you remember, such as on the old 270, where there was always extra time built into the timetable at St John to allow him to park up, pop into his house for a cup of tea and to read the post, before then continuing on to Trago Mills again with many happy regulars aboard. 

Jim on many occasions would also act as a bit of a mentor for me as soon as I began taking an interest in buses. Although not an enthusiast himself, he was always very accommodating of my strange hobby. He was never one to hide things from anyone, and over the years I've learned a lot from the constant feed of information about the goings on behind the scenes of a small independent bus company. Undoubtedly many would try to keep a lot of the things I got told under wraps, but Jim always thought it was best for me to learn what went on, and indeed, it was this that began to inspire me to take up the path I am now taking in life. Transport Management wasn't actually necessarily the thing I was looking to do, and we used to talk about my prospects regularly. It was Jim who planted the seeds in this respect, moving me around from my original thoughts of going into engineering, to what I'm doing now, and without any shadow of a doubt, without his supervision, I may well have ended up making the wrong decision in the long run. Again, there aren't many bus drivers who are so enriching to your life in such a deep and personal way, and I owe a huge amount to Jim in this respect. Even the day to day things, he was always there as a shoulder to lean on, offering proper, realistic advise that really helped. 

The way he always looked out for people was another trait that was always so endearing. Again from the little things such as his constant waving to people around the Rame Peninsula from the wheel of the bus. When people wave at the vehicle, despite whoever may be driving, really, they're waving at Jim. New drivers have always commented how everyone's always waving at them, and they have no idea who they are! Goes to show how well known and loved he was among what is quite a tight-knit community. He'd look out for you in other ways though. When I first started at Devonport High, LFJ 847W failed on us at Insworke. Jim was soon there though with Iveco J234 KDL to cover the journey, and as he loaded everyone on, he told all First's passengers not to worry about paying him "I just want to make sure you get to your ferry". Not a journey he had to do, not a thing he had to oblige to, taking no fares, but again, just one of an endless stream of selfless things he did to keep the community moving. During snowy periods he was unable to move the bus out of St John, as the roads were never gritted, so rather than give up the service for the day, he'd park the bus up on the main road a good mile away up a very steep hill, and walk there at around half 5 in the morning, to make sure his service was maintained, whilst First in some cases wouldn't run to the villages at all on these days. His commitment to the community was just fantastic. Leading on from this, he used to run the local Youth Club in his very limited spare time; always an integral part of the community, even though it made his life more difficult, the people always came first. As posted above, another classic example of him stepping in at the last minute was recently at the Torpoint School's Leavers Prom, where the group's original transport failed them, so Jim stepped in and provided M698 HPF as their transport with a difference to make their evening that bit more special. 

He was always very hands on in the running of the business as well, if there was a problem with your bus, he was the one on hand, he'd instantly drop what he was doing and head down to, very often, fix it at the roadside. His knowledge of raw mechanics was boundless, but it was also the way he came up with such simple solutions to problems, that few other people would even think of, that was so brilliant. You could always tell when a bus had been 'Jimified' to coin a term I've used previously for a repair this is just so obviously, only a thing that he would do. His whole thought process was truly unique, such a clever, thinker, if that makes any sort of sense. I did once ask him, why A-Line Coaches was named A-Line Coaches, and his answer was the perfect embodiment of his type of thinking. "Well, I named it A-Line so that it would appear as the first entry in the Yellow Pages, so that I would usually be the first person they contacted". Just a totally straightforward piece of logical thinking. 

After their working lives were up, the buses would often find a good home, not always one that would be expected either. The two Ex-Southern Vectis Ivecos were donated to a local charity to transport people to beach cleaning sessions. The R reg Iveco has now been sold on to be converted into a camper van, and as you know, R178 NPN the Volvo B6 has now been passed on into preservation. I'm sure Allan will testify that Jim helped him a fair amount during this stage once he knew his plans for it, with him helping prepare for the move and so on. Again time and effort put into something that didn't directly benefit him, but meant a lot to others. 

I could go on for far longer, I have so many great memories of being with him over the years, as do many others around the Rame Peninsula. It's come as a great shock to many people, particularly because it was so unexpected, he was always so fit and well. If there was ever a man who deserved his retirement, it was Jim, and indeed he did have plans to semi-retire come early September when he intended to let his licence go and not complete the CPC training. But as was so typical of Jim, he decided that this life wasn't for him, he wouldn't know what to do with his time, and hence he did complete his CPC training ready for more years at the helm of A-Line Coaches. 

My little tribute to in all honesty, one of the greatest men I ever had the privileged to know. His advise given to me over the last 10+ years will undoubtedly stay with me forever. He has been a true inspiration to me, and I intend to honour this as I progress through life. Without his guidance, who knows where I might be now. Rest in peace Mr Goddard, one of life's true gentleman's gentleman. 

Progression in preservation

Volvo B6LE R178 NPN, or as she is more commonly referred to as now, HM 2053, has continued her progression in preservation with new owner Allan Wagner, having recently been moved to a more permanent storage site in Plymouth. The bus had previously been stored in Millbrook after being removed from A-Line Coaches' depot after the sale to Allan. 

After issues with the original recovery company that was selected to transport the bus to her new home, well respected Field Services were taken on to transport her to Plymouth, using stalwart Mercedes wrecker P778 FOD and a draw bar to complete the journey. 

Through the Facebook page, there has been a growing community of Hong Kong based enthusiasts becoming interested in the preservation of the bus, with many excited by the plans to restore her into her original Hong Kong spec. The B6 was certainly a vehicle Hong Kong took a liking to, referring to them as the "Smiley buses", thanks to the Alexander body's curved front panel. R178 NPN is a somewhat unusually capable example of the type despite some overheating issues, and appears to have been appreciated through the generations thanks to her notably loud engine and gearbox compared to what you'd expect from the sluggish B6 you will more commonly come across. It is hoped that R178 will soon be out on the preservation scene, with plans currently in place to have her running during 2014. 

To follow the continued escapades of the bus, please take a look at the Facebook page for the bus which is can be found at; https://www.facebook.com/HM2053?fref=ts

Photos come courtesy of Allan Wagner, many thanks! 

Snap on Sunday

Yesterday marked the 110th anniversary of the very first Great Western Railway motor bus service, running between Helston and The Lizard. To mark the momentous occasion, Colin Billington brought down his immaculately restored Guy FBB from Fifield. This was joined by First Kernow's Ex-Truronian Dennis Dart, TT03 TRU, which has just been painted into the GWR chocolate brown and cream livery specially for the event. Bristol VR VDV 141S was also present, wearing her version of the GWR livery as well within which she is currently preserved. The trio really did look the part traveling together through the Cornish countryside, and hence I decided to travel in the vehicle following behind, this being sister VR, VDV 137S. I was able to take advantage of her relatively rare hopper windows (seeing as it was raining fairly heavily) to take photos of the trio on their way between Helston and The Lizard, an example of which is seen above. A really slick and well organised event, and a very pleasurable day out, despite the atrocious weather Cornwall put on for us! Many thanks to all involved. 

An RM on RP

With Royal Parade a hive of activity after the annual National Firework Championships in the City, it was surprising to find South Devon Railway operated Routemaster ALD 872B out earning her keep on a private hire trip. It's been quite a few years since an active Routemaster has been seen working within Plymouth, with the last (if I'm not mistaken) being First Devon and Cornwall's use of Cummins engined examples. Quite a delight to see among the sea of deckers flooding Royal Parade at 11pm, always a delight! Somewhat strange though in the fact that PCB's Volvo B10Ms no longer make up the ranks on these evenings anymore; once a common feature on these services purely down to the fact there were no other deckers available within PCB at the time. My apologies for the quality of photography, I didn't have time to set the camera up correctly to photograph in these conditions, and I needed to board the bus behind to get me home, I certainly didn't want to be at the back of the queue with the possibility of being turned away due to capacity. Thankfully though 32761 did manage to swallow up all its passengers for Torpoint and beyond!