Class 37 visits Plymouth!

Louis and I took a trip into Plymouth station today for most of the day. Though the most exciting bit was nearer the end of the day. Around 10 train spotters turned up to witness DRS's Class 37, 37605 pull into Plymouth from its trip all the way from Derby. The beast even arrived 30 minutes early so none of us were ready when she roled not so gracfully into Plymouth. More astonishing was that she was 7 minutes late to start with. Show how good these old girls still are!

She is currently parked up in Platform 2 at Plymouth where Gunnislake trains rest until needed. The unit is down here for route training duties. Its last day here will be Thursday. Tomorow she will be doing the following:

PLYMOUTH (Dock 4) depart 19:45

Gunnislake 20:28 - 20:33 (Reverse)

Plymouth (Platform 5) 21:16 - 21:25 (Reverse)

Liskeard 21:55 - 22:00 (Reverse)

Looe 22:28 - 22:56 (Reverse)

Liskeard 23:22 - 23:27 (Reverse)

PLYMOUTH (Dock 4) arrive 23:53.

She will leave Plymouth on Thursday for her run back up the country. I will try to find out timings for you if possible.

Troubles on 32760

On return home from todays events which I will post about later we boarded the ferry as normal. Though as we pulled into position: WHAT! that Trident is facing the wrong way! There was then after looking properly also a First Support Van on the ferry facing the wrong way! The fitter was underneath the bus at the time with driver Eddy watching as he worked. He attempted to start it up on the crossing though it failed. So I'm not sure how many journies back and forth it made. What I wonder is did it have to pay each time!!

More to come on the days events shortly.

Brittany Ferries' new ship Arrives!

Sorry for the lack of posting this week. This is due to it being the last week of term and a lot of coursework etc has had to be handed in. So with a quiet week forthcoming hopefully it will bring plenty of posting!

SO as promised and right on time Brittany Ferries' new ship MV Amorique has started operation on the Plymouth to Roscoff route. This began on February 10th and the picture shown is of her on her maiden voyage. She did leave late as the crew are not yet fully acquainted with their new vessel though the boat apparently set a new record of time for this journey. Though I know this to be wrong as the high speed Catamaran has done it much faster than this.

This ship is very modern and high tech inside and looks cutting edge from the outside. I lot of time, effort and money looks like it has gone into the ship and I am sure that she'll be good to us for many years in the future.

Hopefully a better picture can be posted soon taken in the daylight though I had to try and take a picture on her maiden voyage however bad the quality may be!

Trip to Truro

Today saw myself and Louis Rawlings take a trip down to the capital of Cornwall, Truro. Though as usual living where I do the fun started far before we got to Truro!

I caught the 8:45 81C from Cawsand which was due into Plymouth Rail Station at 9:51, 7 minutes before the train down to Truro. Though this started off badly. The bus turned up at 8:54 because of a lorry blocking the road in Millbrook which was not the best of starts. Though by the time we got to the Torpoint ferry we were on time. Though what wasn't expected was the ferry leaving 5 minutes late. That meant we arrived in Devon late. This was then not helped at all by roadworks on Stoke hill and I was starting to get worried. People joining the bus in Stoke delayed us further and we arrived at the station at 9:55, 4 minutes late. I met Louis and we rushed into the Station. Darting towards the fast ticket machine we saw it was out of use. We then went straight to a booth where the ticket buying process was very swift. We then ran out towards the Platforms with the aid of the nice ticket barrier man. From across at Platform 3 came a cry "Do you want the Penzance train" we shouted "Yes please!" So thanks to the very nice train dispatcher we made the train. Without him we would have had no hope so thank you very much!

When we reached Truro we had the aim or trying to track down 2 ex-Torpoint buses. These being 30065 which left the depot a while ago now and also 34809 which has left during the course of this week. The trip into Truro Centre was made on one of the 56 reg Volvo B7s. When we got to the Bus Station we were simpley inundated with Darts, and 1 B7. Pretty boring considering the amount of G reg Olympians we saw last time along with some Alexander Royale Olympians. Though when G905TWS turned up we jumped at the chance of a ride to St Austall. This was a very enjoyable and fast ride, the Olympian ran very well. ON the journey we also spotted Western Greyhound's brand new 58 reg Optare Solo (older style). Sadly we didn't get a picture though.

On return we went and got a quick pasty and then did a bit of spotting. A couple more example of G reg Olympian turned up though again 30065 failed to show as it didn't last time aswell, along with 34809. A great shame!

Though this did make me think. Why if Torpoint's buses are being transferred to there are they not using them?And therefore why does Torpoint therefore get left with no spare buses at all. We have even got 2 on loan from Plymouth depot in the form of Varios 52519 and 52559 (I think). Why not send these buses back here if they are not in use down there! The Vario's can't cope with volume and after the withdrawal/suspension of 50306 and 50301 also needing a major overhaul things are set to get worse. Tridents are also starting to gather problems thick and fast and this again leads me to Torpoint really needing its maintenance facilities and staff which I'm sure would help with some of these problems.

Pictures of today can be seen on my flickr site link below:

http://flickr.com/photos/11717981@N02/

93 Bus Crash!

Today at around 11:30 Ex-London Dennis Trident 32812 was in a fatal accident on route from Dartmouth to Plymouth. I will leave the Hearld and BBC to explain it to you on the links below. The bus is pictured above still in tact just 4 days before the crash.

http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/news/man-seriously-hurt-bus-crash/article-670413-detail/article.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/7869771.stm

A day out with Louis (Part 5)

Though it was a while ago I though I had to do a blog on this bit!

Well the fifth part of the day was to take a trip on the 11 with bus driver Paul Revell. Though the first event of this part was on Royal Parade! While waiting for the 11 talking to Paul and Louis the 11 came in behind me, mounted the curb and hit me! Was not bad but if I had been an elderly person etc something much more serious could have happened!

So we joined Paul and went round on 2 rotations in Dennis Dart 42753 (S753 SNG). Though when we boarded the bus the centre console had copalped so we could see no warning lights. ON the second rotation coming down past Toys R Us we went over a small pot hole in the road, the dash colapsed further and a warning alarm came on! We stopped the bus before Royal Parade to inspect the bus. The emergency door was fine there was no fire so the problem was not found. After resetting the system the alarm still went off. We drove the bus upto Royal Parade to let teh passengers off and radioed control. They told us to do checks we had already done again and this again resulted in no luck. After around 15mins they told us to take the bus down to Bretonside and to swap it with Optare Solo 53012. This we did, though as there were no spacing this meant leaving the Dart in the road to get the Solo out, then to get back in the Dart, park the dart and get back in the Solo. We then rushed upto Royal Parade where the 11 behind us had already left and Paul drove to make up time. By the 4th rotation he had caught up all the 20mins lost and booked off duty on time! What fun a bus driver can have!

Bus bay being retarmaced

Today saw 2 tipper trucks, 2 road rollers, a van, and the all important tarmac laying vechical decend on Cremyll. None of the bus companies were warned about there being re-surfacing going on today and this did cause some problems for Olympians and Tridents turning in Cremyll, even in a Vario it was a challenge. It also seemed like they were trying to get it done in one day with the amount of machinery and men there and it being the weekend but only the staff car parking bit was actually completed in the day. So a lot of wasted effort I think was made bringing all the machines down when they were all gone by 4pm. Will be interesting to see when they return!!

Sorry about the quality of the pictures, they were taken with the phone!

A day out with Louis (Part 4)

The next thing on the list well non bus related was having a nice pasty!

Then it was off to see driver Mike Hudson who had just pulled in on a 39, driving Optare Solo 53007 in place of the more usual Vario on route. There was also a man from the council on the bus doing a survey on how many people used the bus, where they were going and why they were there. So we confused him a lot. The question was "Where are you going", we're going to Royal Parade, "But your in Royal Parade", yeh we're going to Southway and back "So your getting off at Southway" no we're getting off at Royal Parade. And this went on until we came to the right conclution!

After that the trip was largely uneventful but was interesting to know that Mike's VR (XDV 608S has now been sold on to someone at the Plymouth Citybus Preservation group.

More to come

A day out with Louis (Part 3)

Here are a few interesting coach pictures from Saturday. A few interesting things turned up and there seems to be an increasing number of tri-axel coaches around.

R.I.T 34809

News has come to me of the absence of an Olympian at Torpoint. C409 HJN has now left Torpoint and has moved into further retirement in Truro. 34809 was the first Olympian to be tranfered to Torpoint back in 2005 when LFJ 847W came to the end of her working life. She has been a very reliable and brilliant edition to the depot and I am very sad she has gone.

More recently she has become what I would call the best Olympian at the depot. With 34812 spending all its time off the road, 34813 becoming unreliable and 34817 the same, 34809 has been hardest working of the lot. A great shame she was the one that has gone.

So therefore this looks like the end for the Olympian's life at Torpoint and very likely soon to be the end of there working life. To think this time 4 years ago they were the newbys in town, now I can't imageine Torpoint without them.

The film shows her departing Cawsand on one of her last weeks of service, film is quite fitting seeing her disapear from our bus scene.

R.I.T 34809
(Rest in Truro)

A day out with Louis (Part 2)

Continuing the story from Saturday.

The next event of the trip was when we reached the Torpoint ferry. I got off to take photos of the buses disembarking. Unusually there were 4 different buses on the ferry. These being 2 MOD Volvo B10Ms, a Dennis Trident and a Mercedes Vario. Though when 50306 went to start up a huge cloud of smoke arose. The picture was taken about 10 seconds after the startup so I'll leave you to imagine what it was like at first!! The video below also shows the other 3 buses coming up the ramp and more fumes coming out the back of the Vario. You will also notice the suspension is somewhere lower than usual. Does show that this one is pretty shot and likely at the end of its life unless a major overhaul is undertaken, similar to the other 2 Torpoint Varios which have already had this overhaul.

Trident troubles

Talking to driver Tony Body yeseterday, it came aparent that since the buses have been working in Torpoint they have been more mistreated and used in different ways.

32760 and 32759 were seen in Plymouth because of differnet parts going wrong. Obviously the work would usually have been carried out in Torpoint though the 2 were sent to Plymouth. As another of the Plymouth Tridents were already off the road parts were taken from 32760 to get it back on the road. later when 32759 was brought in and more parts were taken from 32760. So it seems like the bus is already being cababalised even though it is perfectly roadworthy and only 4 years old!

Poor old 812

Breaking news has come to me that my favorite Leyland Olympian C412 HJN has again broken down. I saw her with driver Tony Body at around 6:30 this evening at the Torpoint ferry on a run to Crafthole. But it was quite literally Crafthole. When Tony went to pull off again the drive belt snapped and left him stranded in the pooring rain with a leaking bus which was immobile. As there are no fitters at Torpoint now a support van was sent out from Plymouth. As they don't bother with spare parts for Olympians anymore therefore a drive belt from another bus had to be used. This can only therefore be temporarily to "Limp" her back to the depot. She is now awaiting a new drive train. All of the Olympians have recently been becoming very unreliable and they do seem to have finally well are coming to the end of there working lives. If i'm honest as I have always thought drivers do really need to learn the ropes when it comes to driving an elderly bus like that. Drivers espeically the newer ones just do not know how to treat an Olympian anymore. I could literally count on one hand the drivers who can still 'drive' at Torpoint, including Tony Body, Mike Jacobs and Johnny Walker (soon to retire).

Trip with Louis will be continued in a quiet gap possibley 2 days.

A day out with Louis (Part 1)

Hello!

Saturday saw myself and good friend Louis Rawlings take a trip out as usual, but this time staying in the local area! And we never though you could have so much fun in a day in Plymouth!

My days started out catching the 8:45 81C from Cawsand. Sadly it was a Trident but was the best one at least (32758). It didn't take long for troubles to start though. Coming towards Witsand bay holiday camp, 10 minutes into my journey we came across an Ambulence. I know it has every right to park where it was but if I'm honest it was inconsiderate parking as you can see in the picutre. If he had parked just a few feet further back, driver Terry could have threaded her through with no problem. But after an unsucessful attempt we reversed back and waited. After going down to the beech wear I alearted local "1st responder" Brian he came up and explained the situation to terry. Terry then convayed this information to the passengers saying that a young boy had, had a heart attack on Witsand bay and the crew of the ambulence were too busy. Brian could not move the Ambulence because of scrict rules.

A few passengers cam eup with alturnatives while we sat there. Such things arose as "Can you bring another bus from the depot. The responce was that no other buses were avalible (though 52557 was sitting in the depot) and that no other drivers were avalible. Another idea was reversing back down and going via Millbrook like the old 80B used to do back in the good old days!!! Though Terry rejected this after declaring it too dangerous to perform a reversing monover. Another idea was when the bus bound for Cremyll arrived we could switch to that one alturnate buses taking alturnate passengers either side of the Ambulence. Though there was not a bus for another 45 minutes. Therefore this meant a wait of around 45minutes until the Ambulence was moved and we could proceed.

Terry therefore drove at a fast pace to try and make up time, also shouting to the passengers "Is there anyone for Great Park". No was the responce and as 40002 had just turned up that way Terry took the desistion to miss it out to make up time. By the time we reached the ferry we had caught up around 40 minutes and missed our feryr by around 5. Therefore after trying to hard we lost another 10 minutes after waiting for the next ferry.

Something to be learnt from the expierience though was while terry was trying to contact control to let them know he would be delayed there was no one in control, and no one at Torpoint depot. This meant terry having to ring up the fitter at plymouth to let them know the situation. really control should be managed at all times the buses are out though this is rarely the case.

Luckily Louis was also late after oversleeping and his 11 not turning up!! Ahh buses these days!!

More to come tomorow!

A-Line update

To start with I have to correct myself on the new routes. The 80 is how I said though 80A is a Cawsand to St Germans service and 80B is a St Germans to Trago Service. I have done this with a driver now and the route is very well timetabled and is very convienient for the users meaning they can go and do shopping in multiple destinations.

The school contracts were also slightly wrong. Because of timings the Torpoint Narkus is actually Antony-Narkus with FDC providing the link between Torpoint and Antony. And there is actually a Cremyll, Cawsand, Witsand bay school service and is not seperate as stated before.

This has also meant that sadly M152 LPL has not been brought out of retirement. The picture shows her current state in A-Line's depot and she will sadly very likely not be used in service again. School buses are operated by either of the 2 coaches and the Narkus is operated by X891 YGU, leaving R651 YCR to operate the services.

E920 EAY has now had branding put onto her in the smart new A-Line livery as seen on the Varios. I will hopefully get a picture of this soon.

And lastly welcome to new driver Steve who now drives many of the afternoon 80s and is soon to start the 80As and Bs aswell, so good luck to him.

More news to come when it happens.

More problems at Torpoint

More problems have been happening at Torpoint this week with several buses that have been unseen by myself.

On Wednesday while in Cremyll driver Mike Jacobs had a failed C413 HJN before doing the Cremyll to Torpoint School run. This bus wouldn't get going after layover in Cremyll after the run from Torpoint that morning. More details will hopefully come avalible as I get them. You can also note that for the past month odd she has had a dent where the fleet number is. Likely on a tree or lampost etc.

Thursday saw either a broken down or very late Millbrook school bus. The bus usually reaches Millbrook before my 80 service gets there though it was not seen for the 10 mins we were in the village. Again I will hopefully get more details on this in the near future.

Talking to a driver today (non FDC) we both came to the decision that 3 of Torpoints buses have disapeared. Olympians 34812 and 34817 have not been seen by either or us for the last week 34817 and 2 weeks 34812. Any sightings please let us know. But I would guess again these are in Plymouth for the same reasons as has been highlighted in the previous post.

50306 has also been seen in Plymouth, reading Plymothian Transit it looks like with the wrong destinations aswell!

(New driver in the picture above, its ok no one can see who you are)

PTOTPA will keep you informed of all the happenings at Torpoint in this time and as previously said I'm sure there will be many more.

Troubles in Torpoint

Since the news that the Engineer (fitter) at First Devon and Cornwall's Torpoint depot was made redundant there have been a lot of goings on with the fleet at Torpoint concerning the bus' health. At the end of last year and early this year problems were often occurring with the Varios. This saw as many as 3 Marshall Varios moved to Torpoint at one point to cover these. These being 52596/7/8 all ex-Essex vehicles.

This also saw Torpoint Vario 50306 on trips on the 2 hour+ 93 to Dartmouth. Something usually covered by route branded Tridents. Just the wrong branding on this bus. While coming into Plymouth the bus was packed and is no where near big enough for the amount of people that travel on the service.

More recently the Tridents have had to make a trip into Plymouth to be repaired. Though this has caused problems with workings at Plymouth and Torpoint. ON a Coombe Dean school duty 32756 replaced the more usual Volvo B10M Citybus, either 38015 or 38016. This therefore also went onto the routes this would then carry out 2s for the day. This would have confused Torpoint travelers as the terminus for the 2 is the same stop as where the 81 picks up from! This happened again a couple of days later with 32760 being used on 2s and 3s in the day.

Next on the list was 40002. Routine Maintenance would often be able to be undertaken at Torpoint but now this does mean a trip to Plymouth. This bus was kept in the depot and not on any other routes. Though this did mean a bit of an Olympian revival with Olympians replacing her on all of her duties that week. Also pictured is 50306 working one of her duties when an Olympian was not available.

Photo courtesy Louis Rawlings.

This therefore leads me onto the next and most recent event. This was 34817 regarded by most drivers as the best Olympian in the depot. Though problems with her obviously meant a trip to Plymouth. When fixed she was kept for 2 extra days. She was therefore seen on the 2 and even more amazing the 83! Nice to see a proper bus on the 83 instead of the more usual Volvo B6.

So so far its been going pretty bad at Torpoint and its probably costing just as much to keep sending them over to Plymouth. Though has been very interesting to observe the happenings at Torpoint and un-doubtabley there will be more to come!

Route changes at A-Line

For many many years A-Line travel have been operating the 270 between Cawsand and Cremyll and the 270 Cawsand to Trago Mills. Bus recently major route changes have happened and expantion has taken place on school buses so here is all the up to date news!

Starting with the school buses! When the new contracts came up A-Line jumped at the chance of taking over 2 of the routes currently run by FDC. These were taken over because the contract prefers seat belt fitted vechicals which A-Line have on all of there buses. Therefore 2 extra contracts were signed. A-Line will now operate:

Cawsand-Torpoint-Cawsand school bus

Cremyll/Anderton-Torpoint-Cremyll/Anderton school bus

Narkus-Torpoint-Narkus

Now to the services! There has been a lovely new timetable produced. very smart and very imformative. It even includes the times of the ferries that each bus to Cremyll links up to. I great help for ferry users! So the bus to cremyll is now called the 80 and now runs from 6am till 9am and then again from 3pm till 7am a brillient coverage of the day and a very good oposition to FDC. Then there is 80A which is once daily Cawsand to Torpoint and back. Then 80B Torpoint to St Germans and back once daily and then 80C St Germans to Trago Mills and back twice daily! though all are only operated Monday to Friday!

The R reg Vario has now had its new electric blind fitted and is working very well!

And with the new routes this will see the re-intrduction of our good old friend M152 LPL will be glad to have her back!

So well done A-Line keep up the good work !

B7s visit Plymouth

A Volvo B7 has been spotted in Plymouth depot by driver Paul Revell! This apeared late last week though with only a very shakey picture. I then did some research to find out that it is ex First Somerset and Avon 69350 registration YJ08 CFE! With further infestigation (reading the FDC employee newsletter) I found out that these would now be being transerfered from them to Cornwall to replace aging Darts on routes 14 and 18 in Cornwall. Definately something out of the ordinary then for Cornwall and probably most of the south west! Will be interesting to see how these fair in the coming months! Picture in service with Somerset and Avon can be found on the link below

http://buspicssouth.fotopic.net/p52156470.html

And its goodnight from her

C344 FTT has served A-Line Travel for many years.

She started life when new to Seawards Coaches in 1986. Thought after this very little is known about her history so if anyone could help with news or maybe even an old photo of her that would be much apericiated.

I don't know when she joined A-Line travel all I know is that she replaced the older bedfords that used to operate there.

She was in frontline service but was mainly used in her life for the Cawsand-Torpoint school bus. But don't think she was mis-treated. Even after many years operating this she is in very good condition. Always has been a very strong and reliable bus. But shortly (i.e. within days) after this photo was taken she was driven away for......scrap!

I was to be honested shocked and dismayied that this desistion was taken as she was still such a good little runner and was in very nice condition. I'm sure someone would have taken her on for use in service, as a camper or maybe even preservation. I was even tempted to buy her but the scrap dealer wanted over £1000 for her which I wasn't prepared to pay. So sadly she is just a memory broken up into many pieces.

What a waste of a brillient bus. And now she's in that big bus depot in the sky. R.I.P C344 FTT

A167 VFM is alive!

Ex Torpoint Leyland Olympian A167 VFM has been recently sighted working in Truro!!! Famous man of youtube Simon aka Video47. She as reported by Derrick Cuff has been transfered to the newly taken over Truronian routes. He had a ride on her while operating a T1 service so maybe it'll be worth a trip down there on my local community bus to go and find her!

Reported by Simon she has been making knocking noises though is looking very smart as has had a minor overhaul of the interior and as said before the grill and other minor touch ups.

Will post more on her as it comes to me!

Driver to leave the depot

On Sunday 24th August Derrick Cuff will drive his bus out of the depot at Torpoint for the last time. This comes after months of needing change from his daily routine for many years with First and living in the area.

Told to me last week by his new employeer Jim Goodard, that he will be coming to him on September 1st to start at his company, A-Line travel. He will run his routes and school services in place of the other drivers to give them a well earned rest after the resent expantion of rotues which I will write about in a further post.

Though this is a tempory move. Soon he will be house hunting in Bristol, his home city, where he will work the Airport Shuttle buses from Bristol airport. These will be the bendy and non bendy near new Mercedes Citaros which get people around the airport. With only two stops on route he says " At least I won't be being asked do you go to plymouth!"

So it will be sad to see him go but I'm sure he'll have a far better time up there. Even though he won't be driving our Olympians, and seeing many of the friends he has built up in his time down here.

So farewell Derrick. We'll miss you!!

A-Line travel's new buses!

It was only around this time last year I was writing about local company A-Line travel getting a new Mercedes 709 to run the routes.

Since then big things have happened and a grant for £40'000 was aproved earlier in the year.

Soon after this Jim got to work bus hunting. He was after a Mercedes Vario with wheelchair capeabilities. I low floor Dart was not an option because of the route into St John on the way to Torpoint where it gets very narrow. And of course running costs would be higher!

So within months the first new Vario arrived. An extremely smart looking X891 YGU was sitting in the depot as I came down to it on a proper summer's day in April! Not like the weather we have now. This bus had the wheelchair lift, had just 30'000km on the clock I think it was, was amazingly clean and tidy inside and out, very comfortable, with a very strong engine! This waited in the depot along with the old Bedford which I will post about in the near future!

Then later on came another Vario. This time with different bodywork. R651 YCR was a elderly person's transport vechical in Bristol. One of a large fleet being sold off. X891 YGU was also used for that kind of thing though not in Bristol.

There is very little known to my knowledge about the 2 buses and if anyone could help with some history that would be much apericated. But who would have taken a photo of an old folk's bus!

Both have also now been painted in A-Line's brand new livery, much more of a corperate image has now been built up.

He's back!

Yes friends I am going to try and restart this silly old thing I used to do. I know I know I never told you I was even going to stop sorry about that. but time just wasn't on my side! Now I'm a bit more organised so hopefully we'll get some nice constant blogging in the near future!

So Lets kick things off!

A trip to come on LFJ 862W

l


News has come to me that preserved ex Devon Genaral Bristol VR LFJ 862W owned by James Pratt will soon be doing a trip from Exeter around Devon.

I received news from a friend that James was inviting fellow enfusiasts like ourselves to to come up to Exeter on the 24th of this month to come and have a long distance trip around the country roads of Devon for a Sunday afternoon with a difference. The bus will depart Exeter at 10:00 and will not return for another 7hours and 30 minutes pulling in at approximately 17:30. So a very good trip to look forward to and might turn out very popular. Contact James for further details.

She's away and she can stay away

The Dart of Torpoint 40002 (S764 RNE) is currently away from the depot having her MOT. She has been away since Wednesday meaning that my Thursday evening bus I get was my favourite Leyland Olympian 34812, my favourite bus at Torpoint. She will stay away probably until Wednesday but well in my opinion she can stay away as long as she wants. She is seen here with her new blind and a new driver (well back then he was) in Cremyll on 81B

LFJ 844W replaces OTA 290G

Torpoint's last Bristol VR LFJ 844W/1200/38844 has now replaced OTA 290G/1056 as the main show bus for the Western National Preservation Group. She will now take over many of her duties and shows that she would have gone to and has been doing for many years. This is done as OTA 290G is currently going throught refurbishment and repaint so may become the main bus again when this has been completed. But I would be much happier to see LFJ 844W ay as the main showbus.

Do we need a big yellow bus?

For some time now First have run a scheme trying to get big yellow school buses like seen in America onto the roads of Britain in a campaign to make it safer for children. But I want to pose the question do we really need them? First say that they are much safer and that they are more efficient than a normal school bus while trying to campaign to the government for money to buy them therefore making more money. But I think in this area we don’t need them. They are much bigger than a normal bus like a Volvo Citybus or Leyland Olympian but only carry around half of the people that those buses would. For example the Olympian will take 76 and these will only take around 40 at the most 60 for a bigger one which won’t even fir on the country roads around here which is the whole point of the school bus. To get people who can’t use a bus service or live close to the school they are trying to get too. To extend if they do happen to fit on the roads they use a lot more fuel than a standard bus. It will cost a lot on money to get the buses over to England in the first place which is also very un-environmentally friendly. I have also filled out a questionnaire (which I’m not supposed to do as I am a student) in a manor which goes very against what First are trying to campaign for. I have said that it will force the other companies out of business as school routes play a key part to the success of the companies. I have also put down that the children are always very good which they are on my bus but I know are not on all buses thought around my part they are always well behaved. So hopefully other people in the area have also put them off putting them here but who knows. The campaign bus has already been? So will it come for good.

How hard can it be?

Stagecoach has been asking the nation recently “How do you use a bus?”

They have been surveying the nation about if they know how they should travel on the bus. Their research shows the many members of the UK have no idea on how to use the bus. Therefore with their research they have launched advertising campaign to try and educate the public on how to use a bus service. They say that them not knowing how to use a bus service puts many people off getting the bus and forces them into they’re cars simply because they don’t know when to ding the bell or how to ask to get somewhere. So they have produced the idiots guide to catching a bus to get them onto a bus. But that’s not all they have also had T.V adverts on that you may have seen advertising them as “The bus of Britain”. This advert is there to advertise there new buses (Dennis Enviro 400s) what they can be used for, who uses them and how cheap it is to get the bus. So Stagecoach are pulling all the stops out but will it work?

How hard can it be?

Stagecoach has been asking the nation recently “How do you use a bus?”

They have been surveying the nation about if they know how they should travel on the bus. Their research shows the many members of the UK have no idea on how to use the bus. Therefore with their research they have launched advertising campaign to try and educate the public on how to use a bus service. They say that them not knowing how to use a bus service puts many people off getting the bus and forces them into they’re cars simply because they don’t know when to ding the bell or how to ask to get somewhere. So they have produced the idiots guide to catching a bus to get them onto a bus. But that’s not all they have also had T.V adverts on that you may have seen advertising them as “The bus of Britain”. This advert is there to advertise there new buses (Dennis Enviro 400s) what they can be used for, who uses them and how cheap it is to get the bus. So Stagecoach are pulling all the stops out but will it work?

Getting set for Plymouth Hoe 2009

The 2009 Plymouth Hoe bus rally is set to be one of the biggest and best ones there has ever been in the Southwest. The rally is already unusual by being done on a two day basis. One on the Saturday for running, and the Sunday for exhibits and short rides. There is also usually 50 buses attending on the exhibit day. This year will be pretty similar held at the start of August but the 2009 rally will be different. This rally will be special as it is celebrating the 80th year since the Western National Omnibus company started off in 1927. And it is the 10th anniversary from when the company moved from there old depot at Laira Bridge to there current depot at The Ride. Well for 2009 it will be either a two or three day event run by the Western National Preservation Group, West Country Historic Omnibus and Transport Trust and First Devon and Cornwall. There will be memorabilia on sale with many treasures from the past. Talks from WNPG and WHOTT. FDC will be copying Stagecoach and putting some of there modern vehicles into old liveries. Buses operating old routes with classic buses. And over 300 buses on display from all the groups and privateers. We all look forward to the 2009 rally.

My photos short listed?

I returned from school today where there was an e-mail for me saying:

Hi Laurence Mayhew

,I am writing to let you know that two of your photos have been short-listed for inclusion in the fourth edition of our Schmap Plymouth Guide, to be published early February2008.http://www.schmap.com/shortlist/p=11717981N02/c=SF1016153Clicking this link will take you to a page where you can:i) See which of your photos have been short-listed.ii) Submit or withdraw your photos from our final selection phase.iii) Learn how we credit photos in our Schmap Guides.iv) Browse online or download the second edition of our Schmap Plymouth Guide.While we offer no payment for publication, many photographers are pleased to submit their photos, as Schmap Guides give their work recognition and wide exposure, and are free of charge to readers. Photos are published at maximum width of 150 pixels, are clearly attributed, and link to high-resolution originals at Flickr.Our submission deadline is Wednesday, January 30. If you happen to be reading this message after this date, please still click on the link above (our Schmap Guides are updated frequently - photos submitted after this deadline will be considered for later releases).

Best regards,Emma Williams,Managing Editor, Schmap Guides

I was obviously very excited about this having my own pictures put into a published guide. This was also helped as Luke Farley being onto me all day about his picture of the Plymouth sound being shortlisted as well. And how brilliant his was compared to my pictures. Well Luke have that I have 2 shortlisted. Pictures below are of my two photos short listed.

Bus driver saves life

News came to me on a morning earlier this week that a bus driver, from Torpoint had saved someone’s life. Bus driver Carl based at the depot was running the first 81C of the day to Cremyll. Well on his way there (is not known where this happened) he came across at first what he thought was a rabbit, them being common at that time of the day. But at a closer glance he found it to be a small baby only around 10 months old. He stopped and got them on board and all I have found out from there is that he did return it to its parents. He may have known the family or someone on the bus knew who it belonged to. I will try and find out more details on this in the coming week. All I can do now is congratulate Carl on this achievement.

"No sorry I'm not going any further."

On Tuesday of last week a Dennis Trident had to be taken out of service because of damaged caused by the severe gales on last week. The bus believed to be 32756 was driving around Whitsand Bay with a Southerly direction force 8 gale blowing on her. Some passengers were upstairs holding the windows closed but this after a while was considered too dangerous so this was abandoned. The wind ripped off the front panel and the rear engine door also came off its hinges. The driver took the decision to call her un-road worthy. Therefore he rang up the depot and asked for another bus to be brought out. That being 34813 as the Leylands are thought to be the most stable as they are just as wide or wider but are not as tall so has a smaller surface area. The mechanic stayed out at the Trident and made her as road worthy as possible so could be driven back to the depot so that full work could be done to her. So after 23 years of service the Olympian still actually stands over the Trident if you want a bus that works in all weathers even better than a Vario or a Dart, that very rarely breaks down if maintained well, can carry most passengers and that people enjoy being on.

More news on the Olympians

More news comes to me about the Leyland Olympians that were due to come to Torpoint. One of them has been transferred to Camborne depot but this is not been confirmed thought this would make sense as one of the six is missing from Plymouth. Derrick Cuff has now told me they should all be being transferred to Camborne thought some still think that the buses will be coming to Torpoint. As I have said these buses might be replacing the Mercedes Varios and/or our lovely Leyland Olympians with proper engines in them unlike these with there horrible Cummins engines the same as seen in the Dennis Darts and the ultra modern Enviros. We’ll just have to wait to see where they go thought. Many mixed opinions. There are still also rumours about them going to Callinton. Maybe Penzance. Who knows? All I know is I don’t want them here.

Partial repaint scheme

Just to start I apologise for the post the happened that was Luke Farley as he still has the details of my account from when he was posting on the site for those few days.

Anyway on with the post. Plymouth Citybus have recently been painting some of there Dennis Darts on what they are calling the partial repaint scheme. The things done are that the normal grey bottom line going round the bus is repainted into the red that is seen on the top half of the bus. This is being done before the full repaint to save time when they do the whole repaint and most say that the partial livery looks better than the normal livery anyway even when it is partial thought I do not personally agree.

Laurence is rubbish