LFJ 844W then and now

As you know I am following LFJ 844W's progress in preservation very carefully and today for the first time went to have a look at her in her new livery. The picture at the top is used courtacy of Terry Partridge of LFJ 844W back in her glory days in Torpoint. My picture hasn't got the colours quite right but prity much the same as she really is. They have acctually done very well with the position of the colours just where they should be. But the blue isn't quite deep enoght in shade the red the same but the cream is too dark. Could just be the photo but I think that photo by Terry is prity good. The only other things are the top deck windows whic are now non-opening ones and there is a plate or cover over the front of the old picture. That might have been just when the change over of companyies was I am not sure but apart from that brillient. Very good job. Looking forward to the WHOTT rally her first outing. And if Terry is reading Paul the owner of her is reading this Derrick Cuff wants her to do 81B aswell on a commemerative journey.

Double Deck 34

Plymouth Citybus 34 is as you know the route of which the Dennis Enviro 200s run on exculsively to 34. But you do still get the odd Dart now and again. But today going to Derriford 179 (G612 OTV) a Volvo Citybus turned up usually used on school services. Its rare to get a Dart let alone a Citybus. I was very pleased. You never get double deck services with Plymouth Citybus anymore and found the journey a lot more pleasent than the journeys on the low floor buses. Its rare to get those buses on any route and probebly from tommorow even less likely because its back to school for most children tommorow. And if you didn't notice 179 was in the Black thunderbus livery from Plymouth Sound radio station but not anymore. But you can still make out the outline of the words.

Eurostar

Sorry its a bit out of the area but it was too good to miss out.

Today it has been announced that finnally the new section of high speed railway between Folkstone and London has been completed.

The trains have since 1994 have been able to hurtal through France at 186mph but have had to go a lot slower because of other commuter trains this side of the sea. It was put by the old French Priminister in 1993 that:

"Next year, we will set off at high speed across the northern plains, then push into the Channel Tunnel, and afterwards we will be able to dream at a very slow speed in Britain to admire the landscapes"

But not now but still 13 years on. Now it possible to get from London to Paris in just over 2 hours. Thats only an hour longer than it takes me to get from Cawsand to Plymouth.

Another day at Loddiswell

Today I went up to Loddiswell again. Home of most of the WHOTT's preserved bus fleet. The jobs on the Agenda today were first to fit the new fleet number and 'One Man operated bus' signs to Bristol VR 1157. But that was left to Colin. I got the job of polishing up Bristol FLF Lodekka 2019 (824 KRL) to make her ship shape for the WHOTT Westpoint rally which I will come onto in a later blog. This took about three hours to do only the outside though but that includes polishing and watering it down. Then it was to take all the notices off all the buses owned by the WHOTT ready to put the new ones on for the Westpoint Rally. And then to replace some of the seats on First Devon and Cornwall AFJ 749T. For this I got the honour of getting to start her up and reverse her out of the garage. The thrill I got from having 13litres of Gardener Engine at my foot was phenomenal. Then came to replace the seats which took about an hour and a half. Then that was it. I am back there next Saturday with all hands on deck to finish preparing the buses. Can't come the day before the rally but the day of the rally they want me there by 6:30. Might have to ask my Dad for a lift at that time of the morning there being no bus at that time. More to come next week.

Cormerant Catstrophe come Cawsand

Yesterday as now rostered because of the School Holidays two Dennis Tridents were running the 81C. Now since they have been meating in Cawsand because of the new timetable it has been casuing major disruption in the village. This timetable has meant buses having to reverse considerable distaces up or down the road to let each other past. This is not helped by the amount of Holiday Makers down here through the Summer where they park on one side of the road meaning just a single track lane through most of the roads. And the parts they don't park in it's too narrow to get two Dennis Tridents past. And this has been happening for the poor Torpoint Drivers since the new timetable started way back in April. The pictures above are all of the same incident.

They meet at the Fort Cormerent reverses back a long way along the road and they still only just get past.

Lost but found again

The old Maker with Rame LDV Convoy 400 series was sold around two years ago. When first bought she was just sitting in the ar park in Cawsand for quite a while until she passed hands again to the Rame Kids Club who used the bus to transport kids from Millbrook to the after school club at Fourlanesend or in the Summer to Cawsand Watergate Scout hut. But for a year she has not been used and no one knew what had happened to her. Weather she had been sold away or scrapped no one knew. Well on a walk out to Rame Head I took a different longer route than normal. There is a three car car park on the hill towards Penlee Point and laying there was N511 MEU looking in a very sorry state. A lot more rusty than before lot of moss grown in on her and n her been inhabited by many spiders very dirty. And looked like she hadn't moved for a while considering the amount of leaves on her. Well looks like the end is nigh for our good old community bus; if anyone can find her.

Burnt forever

On the news today was a story of a tragic death of a man living in a coach near Exeter. The coach I don't know but there was a ex-Tally Hoe! Bristol LH much like the one now perserved by Terry Partridge pictured above. A tragic loss of life and bus.

93 Maflower Link

Well yesterday I though I would go and have a journey on the newly re-branded '93 Mayflower Link' from Plymouth to Dartmouth. I got aboard the Dennis Trident pictured above 32803. I also picked up from the driver a new booklet with a route map and timetables in. I've never been on an older Trident like this one but was expecting it to be quite fast just like our Torpoint Tridents but I was shocked at the speeds we were accelerating at and especially going up the hills. I would go as far as saying slower than the old VRs. And they weren't that comfortable either. But oh well. It is a lovely route lasting around two hours thought it took me 2hr 20mins because of a broken down lorry in Streat. And we were sat there idel for about 15 mins. I think the best bit of the route is the stretch of road along Slapton sands. I would have loved to have done the route back when the VRs used tto run it. Just makes me regret it more that I hadn't been a bus enthusiast when they were the norm in Plymouth. I then had an hours wait for the next 93 in Dartmouth so took the opportunity to take a few pictures of the fast number of boats up there and maybe have a ride on the Edgcumbe Belle. Sadly the ex-Millbrook Steamboat was not operating that day but did get the picture of her above. Then it was back on the bus again but sadly on a low floor Dart and an old one. It was actually one I had been on at the start of the Summer in St Ives 46420. Not the nicest ting to be on when the bus is crowded and you are on it for 2 hours.

Losing and Gaining

Found this on didbygrayham's brillient blogspot 'Plymothian Transit'.

Well as I mensioned when I came bac from St Ives we have lost our oldest Olympian 30065. Now transfered down into deep Cornwall. Well not to worry we have been sent an Olympian from down there. As is on my fotopic site a picture of 31542 opperating the 314 as pictured above. Well didbygrayham spotted her today up here but not in service. If you go on this link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/didbygraham/1217713968/

you will notice that the front left of the roof looks badly damages. That could be the reason that the came up here and might be fixed in Plymouth.

The video link below is of 30065 in her last days at Torpoint and the last days of 81B opperating the route via Anderton:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=6nPZR4Ehiqw

And I yesterday went up to Dartmouth on the bus which I will post about tommorow but coming back 93 was being opperated by 46420 which I was on when down in Penzance. More on this tommorow.

Citybus Dart

Just a quick mension of a short video I have just found on youtube of Plymouth Citybus Dennis Dart R117 OFJ. Link is below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18VbDXyOsRw

Re-surfacing on the Torpoint ferries

At the moment re-surfacing is taking place across the fleet of the near new Torpoint ferrys. This comes just a few years after they were introduced in 2003. The material used is proving to not be tough enough for the amount of traffic using it. This was not so on the old ferrys. They were better built. Anyway they are currently

doing parts of the ferrys bit by bit and closing parts off at a time. Not the best thing to be doing really in the bank holiday weekend.

Brake down for A-Line

A-Line's newest bus to the fleet M152 LPL suffered a breakdown on the 7:07 Cawsand to Cremyll yesterday. It happened on the way to Cawsand. Therefore this left people stranded until the next bus as after he did get in running but dodn't bother to come to Cawsand. As I said. He shoul have kept using the Ivecos. They never went wrong.

LFJ 844W/1200/38844 BACK ON THE ROAD!!

I have heard brilliant news today that my beloved Bristol VR LFJ 844W/1200/38844 is back on the road and painted. I got an e-mail just now from the Chairman of the Western National Preservation Group saying that she has now been painted into her old livery of the Cream, blue and red just before the takeover of Western National of Bagerline of as was rumoured. She has reattained her ferry modifications so can still be used on her old routes (hint hint to Paul). He says subject to her passing her MOT which of course she will she will be going to the WHOTT rally on the 16th August along with LFJ 847W/1203/38847 which wasn't been quite as well looked after as 1200. And will also likely be going to Winkleigh which last year was her first preservation day but in nowhere near as good condition as she is now. The chairman says that they pacifically wanted 1200 so they could have one of the first batch of Bristol VRs to Western National being 1056 and one of the last batch being 1200. Really looking forward to seeing her at Westpoint. Hope you are too.

34002 off again

Torpoint's only Volvo Olympian 34002 was seen on the move again yesterday. She was seen by me on the 76 which is the Callington out depot route. This is her second visit there and her third or forth time away from the depot since she returned after her overhaul. It seems more like she is a area bus more than a Torpoint bus. She is Torpoint's best suited route as she is shorter than the Tridents so can fit round Anderton and more powerful and quicker up the hils than the Tridents and her very comfortable air suspension and her lovely semi-coach seats but I would say they were better that a acctual coach's. Hopefully she will return shortly. Well at least I hope so.

Western Maid breaks

The Normag cruises boat the Western Maid which operates the route to Cawsand suffered engine fail in Cawsand Bay yesterday. She set out as normal heading for Plymouth. The engine is quite loud so you can hear it very clearly when all of a sudden she went silent. We thought that it was just letting something passed or in the words of local women Anette Blackwell "Maybe there are dolphins" but no. She started drifting and was doing this for around half an hour to forty minutes until she was fixed and started again by the crew.

This is the third time in a week this has happened to the ferries. Could this be SABOTAGE?

Tamar Belle breaks

The newest but not newest boat in Tamar Crusings Tamar Belle suffered a small breakdown on Wednesday as a head gasket blew. She was out of action for the rest of that day but was back the next day as good as ever. She will soon be taking over the Northern Belle's dutyies on the Cremyll ferry sometime in September.

Another non-Torpoint bus in Torpoint

Found a ticket on the floor of Mercedes Vario 50301 which was a journey from Torpoint to Tregon Hawke. It was printed on Monday and had the fleet number as Mercedes Vario 52540. So she had been brought over here to run a non-Plymouth bus which is rosstered as a Dennis Trident even though I know for a fact that two of the Leyland Olympains were sitting in the depot that day. All Torpoint ever seems to get is non-Torpoint buses.

Ticket tantrum

Over the pasted couple of weeks I have obvisously been on the buses quite a bit. Mainly the Dennis Tridents as they are nearly always used on the 81C now. But the tickets on the buses have been coming out with the wrong fleet numbers. The one below at the bottom says that it was bought on bus 34817 one of Torpoint's Leyland Olympians when it was acctually bought on Dennis Trident 32757. And earlier in the week I was on 32756 and came out with bus number 34813 on it. What is it all about?

Happenings on the ferries

Forgot to mension that yesterday was my 100th post. Doesn't seem like it. Its all gone very quickly.

As I said yesterday Plymouth Sound is currently out of action. I have been down to Cremyll today to see what was happening with Plymouth Sound. All Riece told me was she wasn't running. Luckily Luke Farley was on hand to tell me that she is currently sitting in Mashfords boatyard in Cremyll fitting the new part probebly the pipe that was ordered last night. I forgot this but Luke pointed out that they really need her running by this evening as they have some 120 odd passengers booked on the boat for Plymouth's Annual firework champions happening tonight and tommorow and they wouldn't be able to get a replacement boat as nearly every boat on the Tamar is giving opperating the show.

The Cawsand ferry Western Maid has been out of action today because of the bad weather so are having to go all the way round via the Torpoint ferry or via the Cremyll ferry.

And thee was a boat catamaran I spotted in Cremyll today being passed by the 'Spirit of Plymouth' and I have no idea what it was. If anyone knows please leave a comment. Thanks.

Plymouth Sound going down

Tamar Cruising flagship vessel Plymouth Sound today was involved in what could have been a fatal accident. She was opperating the Dockyard and Warship cruise when there was a shout to the crew that there was water leaking into the boat at the stern next to the two scania engines. The crew most likely Max got around 100 passengers on the top deck within a minuite. The helmsman Adrian was still driving along as normal and had to be told by the crew that water was coming in. Few passengers were rescued by the coastguard as luckily this happened near Cremyll so Tamar Belle was sent out to get them and bring them into Cremyll and back to the Mayflower steps. It is thought that the cooling pipe which sucks in the water to col the engine was only pumping in and not out leading to the filing up. I will bring you news as I get it but it might be a quick fix it might not. Luckily she did not sink. This could lead to the Vessel 'Silver Crest' being hired in again to cover for Plymouth Sound or Tamar Belle. As Slver Crest was hired in one afternoon about a month ago as Northern Belle had a probeblem with her engine. Plymouth Sound survived but will it happen again. An investigation is taking place tonight.

Seabus in her new home

Photo used with kind permission of Luke Farley. Copyright Luke Farley.

The Seabus built recently at Voyager boat builders in Cornwall famous for building local cruising vessel Plymouth Sound has now been operating the route run by Strathclyde Passenger Transport from Gourock to Kilcreggan for five months now. Seabus replaced the 71 year old ferry Kenilworth 10 years younger than Northern Belle. Just a interesting part of Kenilworth's history was a radio message sent to Kenilworth at 9:40am 23rd October 2006. The message was as follows:

"Unidentified vessel approaching on my Starboard side please identify yourself. If you fail to do so we will open fire on you with live ammunition."

This came from a US navy warship taking part in training exercise 'Neptune Warrior'.

I e-mailed a William Murry a regular traveler and enthusiast where Seabus is now used asking him about how Seabus was getting on and what he thought of her. He says that she is proving to be very popular as the route transports many people who live on the north side of the river but work on the south. One of the major pluses of her is that she has a very spacious enclosed cabin which is heated and has double glazing with central heating so is welcoming when it gets cold especially as it is Scotland. But most do not like the fact that there is no open deck space and you have to be inside which is a disappointment after Kenilworth as she had lots of deck space. Probably more than Northern Belle. But he says that we must move with the times and that Seabus is a very capable boat fit for her purpose and is now an established cruiser in the area.

Luckily Kenilworth was not put onto the Scrapheap and has been saved. She now operated special school services which transport them for educational cruises in the upper part of the river. William says "Nice to think that we'll still see her around in her retirement".

If you would like to see footage of Seabus and Kenilworth in action please take a look at William's excellent films of both of them on youtube the links are below:

Kenilworth: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=GGc8fEdV4QI&mode=related&search

Seabus: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=bVJI6se6BiY

Opentop X80!

The route run by First X80 now competing with Stagecoach's X45 has been quite evenly matched, Well First has steped up a gear or down a gear on the hills by introdusing open top Leyland Olympians such as 34750 (follow link for picture) has been spotted running X80 as she used to back in the good old days . They are running between Totnes and Torquey as that is the most scenic part of the route. Stagecoach already opperate an open top service along Torquey so likely won't do the same. But it was reported that the service was running with little or no passeners. I wouldn't mind having a ride on an open top Olympian. Though I hope they bring one of the VRs up to run the service that would be heaven.

http://busesindevon1.fotopic.net/p32448329.html

A day Loddiswell

Today as I am a member of the WHOTT I went up to one of there stores at Loddiswell to help out with Roger. We were working on accident damage VR VDV 137S (pictured). First we cleaned the whole bus including vacuuming using baby wipes on the seats and the roofs and moping. Then we painted a couple of the wheel rims to make them look a bit more presentable. Then Roger fitted the new aluminium where she had been dented on the wall entering the farm at which she is kept. And re-fibreglassed the front side panel at the front. And I had a look round all the buses. What I didn't know was they own two of the retired First Bristol VRs the one First still owns though they only store it there and 847. Couldn't name them all but I would say there were around 30 of them. The more interesting ones were an old Bristol Loddekka (pictured) which was completely stripped out. She hadn't run for 22 years but a couple of months ago they put a bit of diesel in her and charged the battery and she started first time with no smoke and no clacking. And there was a Bristol K waiting to be restored.

Nearly forgot to mension they also store the first First Dennis Dart. And the first dart ever put into preservation.

Long delays on the 81C

Today is the day of Mount Edgecumbe car rally and there have been a lot of people attending as there is also a very large jumble sale. The main car park was apsolutely full up and the field opposite was too expensive for most peoples liking so they parked right across the road. And in some places further up parked on each side making it litirally impossible for the buses to get through. So there have been major delays of 1/2 an hour even with the 15 minuite turn around time. Nobody seems to have had the sense to come on the bus or get the Cremyll ferry right next to it.

The picture I added is of the day that Rame gig club held their regatta and people flocked to the village holding up the buses.

Ship Simulator 2008

I go and say I am going to start blogging more often and then I go and not post for 4 days. Well there isn't loads of nexs at the moment.

So today I am going to talk about Ship Simulator 2008. The game is a simulation of many different boats including passenger ferrys, tugs, water taxis and even container ships with controlable cranes. Then there are sevaral differnt places to sail such as ports (New York) and seas (English Channel). Then you can do differnet mission such as sail a P&O ferry from Portsmouth to Rotterdam or Tow a ship into dock with tug. Or you start from where ever you want and then just cruise around. There will also soon be add-ons for new boats and locations just like in Train Simulator.

A very good game. I would definately recommed it.

It is avalibe for around £25.

http://www.shipsim.com/

Enjoy!

The routes of Penzance

Around Penzance they have been replacing the older Dennis Darts and Leyland Oympians and the departed Bristol VRs with mostly '53'reg Dennis Darts with various route branding for different places. As is shown with the picture above of route branding for routes 14 and 18 Penzance to St Ives. This is all done as part of the rural bus scheme. Its all very good but I would much prefer as a bus spotter to have a big long rural route linking everything up and with the old buses like the VRs. I know its not practical but they shoild do it just for us.

30065 where she is now

Spotted in St Ives today on route 314 ex-Torpoint Leyland Olympian 30065 (Sorry I didn't get a picture) was spotted going to Camborne. She was transfered to Plymouth early this month and has now been trasfered to a depot somewhere near the bottom of Cornwall. She will probebley be running routes like the 301, 314, and 2 which are often covered by Leyland Olympians. So they are not done with her yet. I think the Olympians will last quite a lot longer down there.

I am back!

Hello.

I am back again. This time I will be doing news from deepest Cornwall in short blogs instead of 1 big blog and I will now try to be a bit more constant with my bloging as I haven't been at the moment.

So here we go.

Optare Solo for Torpoint

Just to let you kow I am on Holiday again until Friday so I will not be posting. I will bring some news back from there.

And to let you know another Optare Solo was seen at Torpoint on Friday and Thursday. The rumour is Torpoint might lose its Varios and be replaced with Solos. We will have to wait and see. I would probebly prefer the Varios

Plymouth Hoe bus rally

Today was the 22nd annual Plymouth Hoe bus rally which saw around 40 buses attending with about 8 of them doing trips around Plymouth but more frequently this year in place of the runing day on Saturday which didn't go ahead. There were also Limos on display, fire engines and a few stalls. And to finish it all of the weather was lovely. And I was wrong about the Torpoint VRs not being there. Colin Billington speciallly MOTed LFJ 847W just for the rally this week. Well done Colin it was lovely to see her again.

34002 returns again

Hello.

34002 the Torpoint Volvo Olympian has returned from her short visit to Callington. She has now been fitted with an LCD blind. She has been working the Millbrook school run in place of a Trident because of a Trident shortage at the moment. And has been used on 81C.

Plymouth Hoe bus rally

On Sunday the 2007 Plymouth Hoe bus rally will he held on Plymouth Hoe. This will be held from 10am until 4.30pm with a few free rides thought THE SATURDAY RUNNING DAY IS NOT HAPPENING. There will be stalls which will sell model buses, programs, DVDs and other memorabilia. There will be around 30 buses a bit down from usual. There won't really be many real local buses as OTA 290G won't be there, LFJ 844W is waiting for painting and is in so fit state to be on dosplay, and LFJ 847W has no licence at the moment. I am sure it will be a good day just without the real highlights that I love about the show.

No OTA 290G

Preserved series 1 Bristol VR 1056 (OTA 290G) will likely not be running this weekend at the Plymouth Hoe bus rally because of recent problems involving her gearbox. The gearboxes for series 1 VRs are in very short supply and it will be very difficult to source one. And the gearboxes have little or no resemblance to those in previous models. The gearbox has probably been warn out simply because the bus has been well over used for such an old and fragile machine. The top windows also are having to be replaced because they have been smashed. Its a shame because they were the bus’s originals as well and have now had to be replaced with series 2 windows.

No stagecoach buses at Plymouth Hoe

Stagecoach Devon have been a regular provider of a wide range of buses at the Plymouth Hoe bus rally each year. But they will not being showing anything this year because of new tachograph rules brought in recently now allowing the buses to travel from there home in Torquay to Plymouth because they are limited to 35 miles away from the depot. This will mean that the rally will have around 5 less vehicles than usual. Stagecoach says they have done this because of law and not because of heated competition with First Devon and Cornwall

Let battle commence

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago Stagecoach Devon would be going into direct completion with there rivals First Devon and Cornwall. It was announced that Stagecoach would launch new route X45 Plymouth-Paignton which runs exactly the same route as First’s route X80

Stagecoach has done this because of First increasing the frequency of the route between Torquay and Paignton. Both companies run the same type of bus though First’s are a bit newer so one will win there. They both run the same frequency as well. But the loyalty of the customers is at the moment with First as Stagecoach has never even come here before. And First are offering the journey for cheaper. First have advertised this at Paignton bus station owned by Stagecoach giving hand outs out about there cheaper fares cost in £1 cheaper than Stagecoach. This resulted in the Police being called in as Stagecoach thought they were breaching the peace.

Virgin bites the dust

Today the department of transport announced that Virgin would no longer be running the service that they currently run in the countryside. This was given to the European wide company Arriva branding it as 'CrossContry'.

Arriva plc, one of Europe’s leading bus and rail operators, today welcomed the decision of the Department for Transport (DfT) to award it the new Cross Country rail franchise.
The Cross Country network is the most extensive rail franchise in the UK. Stretching from Aberdeen to Penzance, and from Stansted to Cardiff, it covers around 1,500 route miles and calls at over 100 stations.

Arriva will run the franchise under a new CrossCountry brand and livery. The centre of operations will be in Birmingham, at the heart of the network and the largest city served by it.
Arriva’s successful bid for the franchise featured the following benefits for travellers:

35 per cent increase in seating capacity in critical evening peak on principal routes by June 2009

At-seat catering on all routes, for all passengers, not just First Class

Radical improvements in ticketing and reservation booking, including home printing of tickets and tickets by mobile phone, with discounted tickets available much closer to the start of travel

Investment in improved rolling stock, with all other trains refurbished to the standard of the popular Voyagers

The reintroduction of HSTs to provide 550-seat trains on busy routes

Wi-Fi available to all Voyager and HST passengers, free in First Class.

The franchise will run from 11 November 2007 to 31 March 2016, with the last two years and five months conditional upon achieving agreed performance targets. Annual revenue is expected to exceed £600 million in its first full year, including franchise support payments which reflect the current inability of the franchise to cover its operating costs through fares alone. However, by supporting growth in passenger numbers and improving the quality of services, Arriva is committed to reducing government support on the franchise to almost zero before the end of the franchise.

Arriva will make cheaper fares easier to obtain closer to the point and time of travel. Saver tickets will continue to be available on relevant services at regulated prices. Whilst prices of the most flexible, full-price fares will rise by an average of 3.4 per cent above RPI, becoming more focused on those who need the added value of maximum flexibility in their travel plans, almost all travellers will have lower-cost alternatives.

David Martin, Arriva’s chief executive, said: “We are delighted to have been chosen to operate this major franchise, which advances Arriva’s UK rail presence significantly.
“The Cross Country network has many existing strengths but our stakeholder research has helped us to pinpoint important areas where we can improve the passenger experience and make the business more efficient. Our proposals and substantial targeted investment will make rail travel more attractive and support growth in passenger numbers by increasing seating capacity.

“Arriva’s new Cross Country operation will support growth in regional travel by rail, help to ease congestion and contribute to improving the UK’s environment. With innovations in technology, and expertise which benefits from our existing success in rail operations in the UK and across mainland Europe, we are confident of meeting both rising demand and passengers’ rising expectations for quality of service. With franchise support payments almost eliminated by the end of the term, we are confident of providing an excellent result for the taxpayer as well as improved services for passengers and a reasonable expectation of fair returns for the risks borne by our shareholders.”
Website link: http://www.crosscountrytrains.co.uk/

Notes to Editors

Arriva is one of the largest private sector providers of passenger transport in mainland Europe, employing more than 34,000 people and providing more than one billion passenger journeys every year.

Arriva provides transport services including buses, trains, commuter coaches and water buses in nine European countries: Czech Republic, Denmark, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the UK. Operations in a tenth country, Poland, are due to start later this year.

Arriva’s rail services operate in Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and the UK with Polish services scheduled to start in late 2007.

Franchise Highlights

More and better trains:
35% increase in seating capacity in critical evening peak on principal routes by June 2009

Nearly 20,000 extra seats through Birmingham every weekday

Introduction of five High Speed Train (HST) sets each with eight state-of-the-art refurbished coaches (total of 550 seats), providing longer trains with more seats and luggage space on the major North East-South West route

Longer Voyager trains on other key services

Internal reworking of Voyager and Class 170 fleets to meet customer priorities for more seats and more luggage space

Additional services to base service pattern providing through journey opportunities between

Edinburgh and Reading, Bournemouth and Newcastle, and Penzance and Manchester

Additional late evening services to and from Stansted Airport

High quality service on board:

Introduction of at-seat catering, reflecting customer preferences

Wi-Fi access for all seats on all HSTs and Voyagers, and improved mobile phone reception on Voyagers

First Class accommodation on all trains, including ex-Central Trains service

Hot plated food available to First Class passengers

Three members of staff providing on board service on long distance trains

Staff more accessible and visible to passengers

A ticketing and information revolution:

Centred around a new internet retailing service, providing:

Easy to use service, guiding towards the cheapest fares and best interchange options

Print at home and mobile phone ticketing

Personalised journey information, with text updates on itinerary

Wider and better information on stations and connecting transport services

Flexible reservations systems to cope with late changes to journey plans
£1 million investment in more ticket machines and information screens at key stations
Information campaign on alternative locations (to Birmingham New Street) for interchanging between trains

Additional staffing to provide help and assistance during December 2008 timetable change

A railway contributing to environmental improvements:

Training staff in environmentally-friendly ways of working

Reducing on-board waste and increasing recycling

Cooperating with industry and Arriva initiatives to develop alternative fuels

Encouraging modal shift to rail by providing more trains with more seats

A secure railway:

Introducing a new ‘Secure Trains Scheme’ to give passengers confidence about their on-board security

Working with industry partners to extend Secure Station Accreditation across key

CrossCountry calling points

Employing additional security staff

Staff and stakeholders:

£1.4 million to be invested annually in staff training and development
Regular employee surveys

Consultation on new staff uniforms

Regular stakeholder events across the whole franchise area

Stakeholder and customer consultation on restructured December 2008 timetable

Source from Arriva website.

Virgin responded to the decision with this:

Virgin Rail Group (VRG) said today it was extremely disappointed at the announcement by the Department for Transport (DfT) that its bid for the New Cross Country franchise was unsuccessful.

The DfT announced that Arriva plc has been awarded the franchise to operate the New Cross Country franchise from 11 November 2007.
Commenting, Tony Collins, VRG's Chief Executive, said today: "We are understandably extremely disappointed at today's announcement and will be seeking an early meeting with the DfT to understand why we were unsuccessful. Our bid was extremely competitive, built on our experience of operating the CrossCountry franchise for the last ten years, during which time we almost doubled the number of passengers and increased performance to regularly exceed 90%. We attempted to strike a balance between an affordable and deliverable deal for the taxpayer, and continuing the high quality customer service that Virgin CrossCountry has created."
Despite today's announcement, VRG confirmed it would continue to operate the Virgin CrossCountry franchise to the highest standards until the 11 November handover. Chris Gibb, Managing Director of Virgin CrossCountry, said: "Our aim through our people has always been to provide the best possible service to our customers and we will continue to do this to the end of our franchise. Although November will mark the end of Virgin's stewardship of CrossCountry, the new franchise will build on the legacy of our investment in new trains and improved services, and the skills, experience and loyalty of our people: skills that will be invaluable to the new operator when they begin the New Cross Country franchise."
Today's announcement has no effect on Virgin Trains' other franchise, West Coast, which runs services from London Euston to Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Preston, North Wales and Glasgow. The current Virgin CrossCountry tilting services between Birmingham, the North West and Scotland will transfer to Virgin West Coast in December.

Source from Virgin website.

New buses at A-Line

As promised here are the pictures of the new A-Line buses. The whole set is avalible at www.ptotpa.fotopic.net
Local bus company A-Line Travel of St John have recently been going through fleet modernisation by acquiring two new buses to replace other agingvehicles in the fleet currently in storage with no MOT. The first to be acquired was ex-Williams coach E920 EAY a Volvo B10M with Plaxton Paramount bodywork replacing the oldie faithful C-Reg Bedford, which will be used on the Torpoint school run between Cawsand and Torpoint and on other coach trips, as well as private hire as has recently been used for the children of Fourlanesend school on one of her first trips. The second bus is ex Rigg’s Minibuses of Swansea a Mercedes 709 registration M152 LPL. This will replace the ex-Southern Vectis Iveco J238 KDL and another will follow to replace another Iveco J234 KDL. This bus will therefore run the service 80 Cawsand to Cremyll and the 270 Cawsand to Trago Mills. I say very good choices have been made. Well done A-Line Travel!

Lucky old Pont L'Abbe

It was announced in March that the Pont L’Abbe would have her charter extended until 2009. But the ex-Duke of Scandinavia on charter from DFDS has been extended so that she will now run Plymouth-Roscoff until late 2008 and then will transfer to run Portsmouth-Cherbourg until the completion of the new multi-million pound new vessel the M/V Bretange which will take over the running of Pont L’Abbe. Pont L’Abbe will leave here in 2008 to make way for the brand new vessel the M/V Armorique costing 110 million pounds which pictured to the left. So therefore Pont L’Abbe could be still running until 2010. So she is saved by the skin of her teeth again.

Torpoint fleet list correct today

Leyland Olympian ECW Gardener 6LXB 1984
Registration Fleet number Name
C409 HJN 34809
C412 HJN 34812
C413 HJN 34813
C417 HJN 34817

Dennis Trident East Lancs Transbus 2004
WA54 OLN 32759 Swan
WA54 OLO 32756 Heron
WA54 OLP 32757 Cormorant
WA54 OLR 32760 Spoonbill
WA54 OLT 32758 Egret

Dennis Dart MPD Plaxton Cummins 1998
S764 RNE 40002 Kingfisher

Mercedes Vario Plaxton Mercedes 1998
S407 GUB 50301
S412 GUB 50306
S529 RWP 52529

Enviro 400 modle to be made

Sorry I have not posted for a while school has been getting in the way a bit.

Very recently it has been announced that there will be models made of the hugely popular park and ride Dennis Enviro 400s. This was announced on First Devon and Cornwall’s official site that the models will be made by the very good model makers ‘Creative Master’ the same people who made the model of the Tamar link Dennis Dart which had as fine detail as adding the actual notices that were in the bus at the time pictured to the left. The model will be avalible in Antics for £30 or at the first travel shops for the same price. It is a limited edition.