Stagecoach North West Discussion

goldisgood · 13 Apr 2019

ste898 said:
Looks like Carlisle is the official dumping ground for stagecoach rubbish

We now have 08 plate versos from Scotland replace 15 reg solos

Not quite true... Carlisle has a fairly modern fleet with lots of fairly new Enviro 200s and the new Enviro 400 MMCs. From what I heard the 62 needed bigger buses. Carlisle tried to get some of the ex-Kilmarnock Enviro 200s but were unsuccessful, so these are going to replace the solos until newer buses come.

RailUK Forums

ste898 · 13 Apr 2019

We have the old darts running on the 60
And 10 year old Scottish cast offs on the penrith 104
So not a very uptodate fleet

madannie77 · 13 Apr 2019

goldisgood said:
Not quite true... Carlisle has a fairly modern fleet with lots of fairly new Enviro 200s and the new Enviro 400 MMCs. From what I heard the 62 needed bigger buses. Carlisle tried to get some of the ex-Kilmarnock Enviro 200s but were unsuccessful, so these are going to replace the solos until newer buses come.

The 62 got new buses in 2014 when Carlisle received over 40 new Enviro 200s. These were then replaced by those awful Optare Solos (hence a capacity decrease) and now the route needs bigger buses. Seems a great shame that the Enviro 200s were replaced.

Similarly the 2014 Enviro 200s on the 76 were replaced by Solos which were subsequently replaced by Enviro 200s dating from 2010, so another retrograde move in terms of the fleet age. Not as bad as the mixed bag of Darts now working the 60, but not fantastic.

Of the 41 Enviro 200s received in 2014 only 14 remain in Carlisle, and of the 26 Solos bought to replace some of those Enviros a year later 16 remain, with some presumably moving on soon when more old buses arrive for the 62.

There might be some newish buses in Carlisle, but it is nothing like as good as it was in 2014 or 2015.

goldisgood · 13 Apr 2019

madannie77 said:
The 62 got new buses in 2014 when Carlisle received over 40 new Enviro 200s. These were then replaced by those awful Optare Solos (hence a capacity decrease) and now the route needs bigger buses. Seems a great shame that the Enviro 200s were replaced.

Similarly the 2014 Enviro 200s on the 76 were replaced by Solos which were subsequently replaced by Enviro 200s dating from 2010, so another retrograde move in terms of the fleet age. Not as bad as the mixed bag of Darts now working the 60, but not fantastic.

Of the 41 Enviro 200s received in 2014 only 14 remain in Carlisle, and of the 26 Solos bought to replace some of those Enviros a year later 16 remain, with some presumably moving on soon when more old buses arrive for the 62.

There might be some newish buses in Carlisle, but it is nothing like as good as it was in 2014 or 2015.

It's not as good as it was, but it's seen some investment and isn't a 'dumping ground' as the OP said. Some new buses would be good, and I wouldn't be too surprised if there were some new buses this year. Do the 61/61A manage ok with Solos, or could they have Enviro 200s on their current frequency? It seems like Solos are trying to be moved on to routes that can only run with themwhich has seen routes such as the G1 in Leamington go to a lower frequency with bigger buses allowing for the Solos to go to Wales which is, I believe, where the recently withdrawn examples from the 62 are due to go.

chiltern trev · 14 Apr 2019

The Versas seem ok from the outside and will provide more seats and more space for wheelchair/buggies. When the 26 Solos appeared, replacing the new E200s, there were many comments in the press about lack of space, particularly for buggies, and people being left behind. So which is better - a new bus with not enough seats or an older bus with seats?

And the newest and most expensive bus in Carlisle is the E400MMC, 11157, new end December 2018, in service start January 2019 - but you will not see much of it in Carlisle as Monday to Saturday it is out all day from about 07.10 and back around 21.00 doing 3 round trips on the 685 to Newcastle. The previous brand new buses for the 685 were E300s with coach type seating, SN64OGE/F 27141/2, supported by one of the new Solos, on the Brampton short runs.

randyrippley · 2 May 2019

Surprised to see one of Morecambe's 12-plate deckers today in the post-NBC livery of poppy red with grey and yellow stripes with yellow "Ribble" branding. Actually looked better than the "real" buses did, as those used vinyls over the old worn-out NBC red, while this one was newly painted. It was running on a university 1 service.
I can't remember if this was the livery Ribble adopted prior to sale after the Ribble/Cumbrian split, or the livery used by the management buyout team prior to the sale of Ribble to Stagecoach
Either way, it only existed for a couple of years and seems a strange livery to reproduce

TheGrandWazoo · 2 May 2019

randyrippley said:
Surprised to see one of Morecambe's 12-plate deckers today in the post-NBC livery of poppy red with grey and yellow stripes with yellow "Ribble" branding. Actually looked better than the "real" buses did, as those used vinyls over the old worn-out NBC red, while this one was newly painted. It was running on a university 1 service.
I can't remember if this was the livery Ribble adopted prior to sale after the Ribble/Cumbrian split, or the livery used by the management buyout team prior to the sale of Ribble to Stagecoach
Either way, it only existed for a couple of years and seems a strange livery to reproduce

There were two Ribble/Cumbrian splits with the first one taking place under NBC auspices in Sep 1986 when Penrith and Carlisle transferred to Cumberland. That Ribble livery was adopted at deregulation in Oct 1986 and was quite a nice updating of the poppy red.

Stagecoach bought Cumberland and then bought Ribble in 1988 (by which time Stagecoach stripes were already the group standard), transferring the Kendal, Barrow and Lakes operations to Cumberland in 1989.

It is Ribble's centenary year and an interesting choice for a livery - mind you, didn't they do the BET Ribble red for the 90th??

randyrippley · 2 May 2019

TheGrandWazoo said:
............... didn't they do the BET Ribble red for the 90th??

and that red bus was still trundling around the Wirrall on school services 18 months ago, possibly more recently

childwallblues · 3 May 2019

randyrippley said:
and that red bus was still trundling around the Wirrall on school services 18 months ago, possibly more recently

18156 you mean.

childwallblues · 3 May 2019

There have been many changes at Stagecoach M & SL as a result of Selwyns winning all of the schools contracts on the Wirral. The main changes have seen gold E300 27255/56 transfer from Rock Ferry to Chester, 65 reg E300 27294-300 from Gillmoss to Chester and Rock Ferry and E200 36813/21/22 from Rock Ferry to Gillmoss to replace Darts on route 204.
E400 15577 has now moved from Preston to Gillmoss.

KendalKing · 3 May 2019

randyrippley said:
Surprised to see one of Morecambe's 12-plate deckers today in the post-NBC livery of poppy red with grey and yellow stripes with yellow "Ribble" branding. Actually looked better than the "real" buses did, as those used vinyls over the old worn-out NBC red,

I must be the only person, to think that this Enviro looks horrible in this livery!

However, I did like the look of 18156, in the traditional Ribble poppy red livery.

childwallblues · 3 May 2019

18156 certainly looked out of place in Ribble livery when at Rock Ferry, an ex-Crosville depot.

KendalKing · 4 May 2019

childwallblues said:
18156 certainly looked out of place in Ribble livery when at Rock Ferry, an ex-Crosville depot.

I never understood, why it got allocated to Rock Ferry. Possible somebody at Stagecoach, didn't realise that Rock Ferry was never a Ribble depot.

Whistler40145 · 4 May 2019

KendalKing said:
I never understood, why it got allocated to Rock Ferry. Possible somebody at Stagecoach, didn't realise that Rock Ferry was never a Ribble depot.

Indeed, rather unusual that 18156 got reallocated to Rock Ferry

randyrippley · 5 May 2019

Whistler40145 said:
Indeed, rather unusual that 18156 got reallocated to Rock Ferry

Wasn't it just a case of somewhere to dump it when the remaining Olympians were removed from Morecambe?

TheHovisKid · 5 May 2019

randyrippley said:
Wasn't it just a case of somewhere to dump it when the remaining Olympians were removed from Morecambe?

Well, other than it wasn't an Olympian, and never worked off Morecambe....

mbonwick · 5 May 2019

randyrippley said:
Wasn't it just a case of somewhere to dump it when the remaining ~~Olympians~~ ALX400s were removed from ~~Morecambe~~ Preston?

Fixed that for you

randyrippley · 5 May 2019

mbonwick said:
Fixed that for you

I'll just blame it on senility..........could've sworn it was an Olympian

childwallblues · 5 May 2019

Reported that 18156 has now moved to Chester depot.

F262YTJ · 6 May 2019

Preston Scania E400 has been repainted into the Timesaver livery launched by Olympians 2170 to 2179 C171-179ECK in 1985.

randyrippley · 6 May 2019

F262YTJ said:
Preston Scania E400 has been repainted into the Timesaver livery launched by Olympians 2170 to 2179 C171-179ECK in 1985.

One of those had a different branding: same paintjob but a blue bird (swift? swallow?) painted on the upper deck. Saw it a couple of times at Lancaster - I think it must have been used on the 555???

TheHovisKid · 12 May 2019

randyrippley said:
One of those had a different branding: same paintjob but a blue bird (swift? swallow?) painted on the upper deck. Saw it a couple of times at Lancaster - I think it must have been used on the 555???

This, maybe?
I think that batch of coach seated Olympians carried the blue version of the timesaver, not the red. 2170 carried this for a while.

PS- I've seen mentions of on of Preston's allocation carrying the Timesaver livery for the 100th- not seen any pictures of it online, has anyone seen it?

gka472l · 12 May 2019

TheHovisKid said:
This, maybe?
I think that batch of coach seated Olympians carried the blue version of the timesaver, not the red. 2170 carried this for a while.

PS- I've seen mentions of on of Preston's allocation carrying the Timesaver livery for the 100th- not seen any pictures of it online, has anyone seen it?

Yes, 15566, it turned up at Preston bus station on Friday.... http://www.flickr.com/photos/dmc1947/33945583338

randyrippley · 12 May 2019

TheHovisKid said:
This, maybe?
I think that batch of coach seated Olympians carried the blue version of the timesaver, not the red. 2170 carried this for a while.

the bus I'm thinking of was in the red timesaver livery, but had a blue swallow or swift where the "Timesaver" branding is, and had different branding from the rest of the batch

abbo1234 · 12 May 2019

https://www.flickr.com/photos/132545487@N06/44685491550/

Is this the bus you are thinking of.

TheHovisKid · 12 May 2019

gka472l said:
Yes, 15566, it turned up at Preston bus station on Friday.... http://www.flickr.com/photos/dmc1947/33945583338

Looks all right, that!

KendalKing · 12 May 2019

gka472l said:
Yes, 15566, it turned up at Preston bus station on Friday.... http://www.flickr.com/photos/dmc1947/33945583338

Timesaver use to be Blue, NOT red.
https://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7321/16501798326_74d21dd81f_b.jpg&imgrefurl=http://picssr.com/photos/21715948@N04/favorites/page198?nsid=21715948@N04&docid=rk9SmrOJsCL-fM&tbnid=pr_dxYprA23zfM:&vet=10ahUKEwju8cGr5ZbiAhXGSRUIHRgkAz8QMwhLKAswCw..i&w=1024&h=683&bih=662&biw=1024&q=A157OFR&ved=0ahUKEwju8cGr5ZbiAhXGSRUIHRgkAz8QMwhLKAswCw&iact=mrc&uact=8

TheHovisKid · 12 May 2019

KendalKing said:
Timesaver use to be Blue, NOT red.
https://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7321/16501798326_74d21dd81f_b.jpg&imgrefurl=http://picssr.com/photos/21715948@N04/favorites/page198?nsid=21715948@N04&docid=rk9SmrOJsCL-fM&tbnid=pr_dxYprA23zfM:&vet=10ahUKEwju8cGr5ZbiAhXGSRUIHRgkAz8QMwhLKAswCw..i&w=1024&h=683&bih=662&biw=1024&q=A157OFR&ved=0ahUKEwju8cGr5ZbiAhXGSRUIHRgkAz8QMwhLKAswCw&iact=mrc&uact=8

Or red. Or grey, sort of.

Blue on the first batch (A reg, 2156-2159), some of which worked on the Keswicks for a time, Red on that later batch that worked on the Prestons and Blackpools (C reg) as well, with 2170's livery an oddity for a time.

The B reg batch (2160-9) were, I think, standard red- I think these all ended up with North Western? There was never a 2156-9, and the G-reg Olymians after the Stagecoach takeover carried on with 2180

randyrippley · 12 May 2019

abbo1234 said:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/132545487@N06/44685491550/

Is this the bus you are thinking of.

No
bus I'm thinking of had the red/grey timesaver livery, but without the timesaver branding on the upper deck. Instead there was a blue flying bird sillhoutte with a different brand name, fairly certain it was one of the C17X batch, but not one that normally worked to Lancaster, where I saw it twice, I think on the 555.
its not that lakes advertising bus

randyrippley · 12 May 2019

TheHovisKid said:
Or red. Or grey, sort of.

Blue on the first batch (A reg, 2156-2159), some of which worked on the Keswicks for a time, Red on that later batch that worked on the Prestons and Blackpools (C reg) as well, with 2170's livery an oddity for a time.

The B reg batch (2160-9) were, I think, standard red- I think these all ended up with North Western? There was never a 2156-9, and the G-reg Olymians after the Stagecoach takeover carried on with 2180

there was at least one Y-reg one with coach seats - were these transplants?

Stagecoach North West Discussion

Member

RailUK Forums

Member

Member

Member

Member

Established Member

Veteran Member

Established Member

Established Member

Established Member

Established Member

Established Member

Established Member

Established Member

Established Member

Member

Established Member

Established Member

Established Member

Member

Established Member

Member

Member

Established Member

Member

Member

Established Member

Member

Established Member

Established Member