• Our booking engine at tickets.railforums.co.uk (powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!

First Aberdeen

Jordan Adam

Jordan Adam

Established Member
Joined
12 Sep 2017
Messages
5,529
Location
Aberdeen
Some fleet changes.

60197 and 62181 have now been scrapped.
62150, 62154 & 68000 will leave for scrap imminently.
23021 & 23305 have now been sold to a dealer in Bolton in exchange for a pair of B7Rs which will go to Scotland East.
It seems pretty likely that First will acquire the 6 Vanhool A330s currently on loan to Stagecoach later this year.
 
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R

RailUK Forums

Jordan Adam

Jordan Adam

Established Member
Joined
12 Sep 2017
Messages
5,529
Location
Aberdeen
Offside view of the new livery (Photo by aidancampbell3)

39915904573_a8d8ea6648_b.jpg
 
Jordan Adam

Jordan Adam

Established Member
Joined
12 Sep 2017
Messages
5,529
Location
Aberdeen
JumpinTrainz said:
I really like the Aberdeen livery. It’s something different. FSE and Aberdeen have a very strong livery. Just one criticism is that I wish they’d perhaps fixed the wheels and did a light refurb inside. The ex-FSE buses look like they’ve had a hard life...
Click to expand...

It would be much better if they painted the wheels the darker shade of green and actually kept up with polishing the trims. I really like what they've done with the Aberdeen & FSE liveries, i think they've got the balance of standardisation and local feel just right.

I'm not yet sure what they've done with regards to the interior (if anything), but i do really hope they've gave the seats a retrim and tidied up the cab area a little. The interiors are actually not too bad in them, they just need a little tlc.
 
A

alangla

Member
Joined
11 Apr 2018
Messages
1,178
Location
Glasgow
That does look good, personally I’d probably finish it off with bright polished alloy wheels and deep green leather seats inside, but that probably won’t happen. Assume the new deliveries are the standard greyish leather inside?
 
Jordan Adam

Jordan Adam

Established Member
Joined
12 Sep 2017
Messages
5,529
Location
Aberdeen
alangla said:
That does look good, personally I’d probably finish it off with bright polished alloy wheels and deep green leather seats inside, but that probably won’t happen. Assume the new deliveries are the standard greyish leather inside?
Click to expand...

Black fabric seats with green leather headrests and some "Aberdeen" text stitched in, brown floors and cream internal panels would be really nice. However very highly unlikely as the funds for such things are not present just now. A seat retrim at the very least would suffice.

As with the Vanhools i'd assume the new deckers are technically council owned so it's hard to say what route they'll go down with the interiors.
 
Jordan Adam

Jordan Adam

Established Member
Joined
12 Sep 2017
Messages
5,529
Location
Aberdeen
Some updates... I love how i'm literally spamming up this thread o_O

Repaints
That's 69294 now returned from repaint, another bus should (or already has) left for repaint. At a guess they could possibly be 69263 or 69290 as i've not see them for a while. Sadly 69294 has not yet had any interior work (yet).

Fleet replacement
The Barbie liveried B10s (62149/52/53/55/80) will come off the road once the Vanhools from Stagecoach arrive, this will probably be a good few months away as we need to await the E350Hs from Perth to release the Vanhools for First. They also will not move directly to First as modifications are being done to them to improve reliability.
Barbie liveried 62151 will remain in service a little longer.

New Vehicles
Two of the new Hydrogen powered Wright Streetdecks are currently in build at Wrightbus, however Wright are going to be doing some trials in Ireland with them prior to the rest of the batch being built and delivered. Delivery dates are not yet known, however as before i'd hazard a guess at some point during Summer while the University's are on holidays.

Others
First have invested in new "schoolbus" signs for vehicles operating the Lochside Academy school services.
 
G

Gingerbus1991

Member
Joined
30 Jul 2018
Messages
992
So First has bought Stageys Perth based Hybrids, is that right? Any idea how much they’ve payed?

Thought by now the batteries would need replaced.
 
Jordan Adam

Jordan Adam

Established Member
Joined
12 Sep 2017
Messages
5,529
Location
Aberdeen
Gingerbus1991 said:
So First has bought Stageys Perth based Hybrids, is that right? Any idea how much they’ve payed?

Thought by now the batteries would need replaced.
Click to expand...

Not quite.

Stagecoach's Tullos depot will acquire the Perth Hybrids soon in order to displace the six council owned Vanhool Hydrogens which will move to First.
 
B

Blackpudding

Member
Joined
5 Feb 2016
Messages
393
Volvo B9R 20806 YX11HPO and 20807 YX11HPP ex Reading were noted heading northbound on the M6 on Friday. I assume these are two of the additional coaches for Aberdeen.

I notice Volvo B12B 20021 is currently out of MOT and tax. However it still retains it's 'cherished' plate which makes me think it is just waiting its turn for MOT. I don't think it was on any list for replacement or may that have changed?
 
Last edited:
Jordan Adam

Jordan Adam

Established Member
Joined
12 Sep 2017
Messages
5,529
Location
Aberdeen
Blackpudding said:
Volvo B9R 20806 YX11HPO and 20807 YX11HPP ex Reading were noted heading northbound on the M6 on Friday. I assume these are two of the additional coaches for Aberdeen.

I notice Volvo B12B 20021 is currently out of MOT and tax. However it still retains it's 'cherished' plate which makes me think it is just waiting its turn for MOT. I don't think it was on any list for replacement or may that have changed?
Click to expand...

20021 was in use on Monday so that sounds like the DVLA site being slow to update details, it's due to have it's kitchen removed to allow unseating soon so certainly not up for replacement.

20806/7 i assume are the vehicles for Aberdeen (I've not heard anything lately to say otherwise), there should be a third one though.
 
Last edited:
Jordan Adam

Jordan Adam

Established Member
Joined
12 Sep 2017
Messages
5,529
Location
Aberdeen
Blackpudding said:
20807 and 20807 are both for Aberdeen. The third one for Aberdeen is Volvo B12B 20613 LK07CDN.
Click to expand...

I heard 20806/7/8/9 elsewhere, however we'll have to wait and see!

Edit: As i live just along the road from the depot i'm away to go along and see if anything is there, i'll report back here!
 
V

Volvodart

Established Member
Joined
12 Jun 2010
Messages
2,391
It was reported that they were to be fitted with toilets before they arrive
 
Jordan Adam

Jordan Adam

Established Member
Joined
12 Sep 2017
Messages
5,529
Location
Aberdeen
Volvodart said:
It was reported that they were to be fitted with toilets before they arrive
Click to expand...

Yeah they're meant to be getting fully refurbished too. Will be interesting to see what's changed since the original plans were put forward.

Blackpudding said:
Here is the link Jordan.
www.provincialsociety.org/potm_latestnews.htm

It is always reliable.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that, couldn't see any round the depot. 69294 is at the the back of the depot in the new livery, but is obscured by another bus so i couldn't get a photo.
 
Deltic1961

Deltic1961

Member
Joined
30 May 2018
Messages
645
You would think if they were tweeting about the Aberdeen service they would show the Aberdeen fleet then?

I'm guessing the "First Aberdeen" Twitter desk isn't in Aberdeen either as last time I asked them a question about a local service they didn't have a clue.
 
O

overthewater

Established Member
Joined
16 Apr 2012
Messages
8,170
Deltic1961 said:
You would think if they were tweeting about the Aberdeen service they would show the Aberdeen fleet then?

I'm guessing the "First Aberdeen" Twitter desk isn't in Aberdeen either as last time I asked them a question about a local service they didn't have a clue.
Click to expand...

If you think its in Glasgow your waaaaaaay off. Its somewhere in England, either Manchester or Leeds..
 
Deltic1961

Deltic1961

Member
Joined
30 May 2018
Messages
645
Wow. It would make sense to me to have someone in Aberdeen beside operations who could respond to service queries in real time. But I guess that costs money.
 
V

Volvodart

Established Member
Joined
12 Jun 2010
Messages
2,391
I am sure there are still some in Glasgow where these sort of things come from. There is nothing in Manchester.
 
O

overthewater

Established Member
Joined
16 Apr 2012
Messages
8,170
I'm lead to believe it's the depot posting certain tweets but they dont deal with the Q&A.
 
Jordan Adam

Jordan Adam

Established Member
Joined
12 Sep 2017
Messages
5,529
Location
Aberdeen
overthewater said:
I'm lead to believe it's the depot posting certain tweets but they dont deal with the Q&A.
Click to expand...

I think you're right here. The only one who's ever remotely any useful is Liam. Doret is something else!

Deltic1961 said:
You would think if they were tweeting about the Aberdeen service they would show the Aberdeen fleet then?
Click to expand...

To the average Joe it's just a "First Bus" but yeah i agree.
 
Jordan Adam

Jordan Adam

Established Member
Joined
12 Sep 2017
Messages
5,529
Location
Aberdeen
I wouldn't normally post allocations here, but seeing as it's such a rare working i might as well!

10154 has just worked the 16:56 17B from Holburn Junction, due to it catching me very much by surprised the attempt at a photo is rather embarrassing!

lcfH9wt.png


In addition to this 69294 was on the 11 all day.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Top