First West of England (Bristol, Bath & The West)

[ValleyLines142]

32284 and a B7RLE loanee on the 37 this evening, and a rammed B7L working the 42.

One of the white B7RLE's was on the 178 yesterday. My friend had the pleasure of it all the way from Bristol to Peasedown St John!

 

[Private Baxter]

66936 on WM 126 on Saturday.

I've not travelled the full 126 in years. Are 59 plate B7RLEs suitable?

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

I've not travelled the full 126 in years. Are 59 plate B7RLEs suitable?

Yes and no. Had 69446 the other week and it was lovely and comfortable as you'd expect. However, it was a bit tight in Axbridge and a few spots round Westbury and Draycott. Still, had the same compliment of body panels on arrival in Weston!

 

[ValleyLines142]

I've been informed that 69442 has joined 69437 at Bath.

 

[pompeyfan]

PH0006159/63 - FIRST HAMPSHIRE & DORSET LTD, BUS DEPOT, EMPRESS ROAD, SOUTHAMPTON, SO14 0JW
Cancellation Accepted: Operating between Portsmouth, Hayling Ferry and Portsmouth, Hayling Ferry given service number 15 effective from 27-Mar-2016.

3. PH0006159/235 - FIRST HAMPSHIRE & DORSET LTD, BUS DEPOT, EMPRESS ROAD, SOUTHAMPTON, SO14 0JW
Cancellation Accepted: Operating between Hayling Ferry Terminal and Portsmouth The Hard Interchange given service number 16 effective from 27-Mar-2016.

5. PH0006159/289 - FIRST HAMPSHIRE & DORSET LTD, BUS DEPOT, EMPRESS ROAD, SOUTHAMPTON, SO14 0JW
Cancellation Accepted: Operating between Portsmouth City Centre, Commercial Road and Portsmouth North End Shops given service number 19/19A effective from 27-Mar-2016.

6. PH0006159/301 - FIRST HAMPSHIRE & DORSET LTD, BUS DEPOT, EMPRESS ROAD, SOUTHAMPTON, SO14 0JW
Variation Accepted: Operating between Portsmouth Gunwharf, The Hard and Portsmouth College given service number 14 effective from 27-Mar-2016. To amend Timetable.

7. PH0006159/302 - FIRST HAMPSHIRE & DORSET LTD, BUS DEPOT, EMPRESS ROAD, SOUTHAMPTON, SO14 0JW
Variation Accepted: Operating between Portsmouth City Centre and St Marys Hospital/Baffins Pond given service number 13 effective from 27-Mar-2016. To amend Timetable.

8. PH0006159/338 - FIRST HAMPSHIRE & DORSET LTD, BUS DEPOT, EMPRESS ROAD, SOUTHAMPTON, SO14 0JW
Cancellation Accepted: Operating between Lower Wymering, Parr Road and Highbury, Hawthorn Crescent given service number 12 effective from 27-Mar-2016.

9. PH0006159/346 - FIRST HAMPSHIRE & DORSET LTD, BUS DEPOT, EMPRESS ROAD, SOUTHAMPTON, SO14 0JW
Variation Accepted: Operating between Paulsgrove and Paulsgrove given service number 17/18 effective from 27-Mar-2016. To amend Timetable.
[\quote]

Looks like you might be getting them mini enviro's back a lot sooner then you wanted

 

[THarris123]

I've been informed that 69442 has joined 69437 at Bath.

Permanently or is it just at the depot for maintenance? I've many a time seen the Wells vehicles in Bath, normally operating the 5 and then the next day they're back in Wells.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

PH0006159/63 - FIRST HAMPSHIRE & DORSET LTD, BUS DEPOT, EMPRESS ROAD, SOUTHAMPTON, SO14 0JW
Cancellation Accepted: Operating between Portsmouth, Hayling Ferry and Portsmouth, Hayling Ferry given service number 15 effective from 27-Mar-2016.

3. PH0006159/235 - FIRST HAMPSHIRE & DORSET LTD, BUS DEPOT, EMPRESS ROAD, SOUTHAMPTON, SO14 0JW
Cancellation Accepted: Operating between Hayling Ferry Terminal and Portsmouth The Hard Interchange given service number 16 effective from 27-Mar-2016.

5. PH0006159/289 - FIRST HAMPSHIRE & DORSET LTD, BUS DEPOT, EMPRESS ROAD, SOUTHAMPTON, SO14 0JW
Cancellation Accepted: Operating between Portsmouth City Centre, Commercial Road and Portsmouth North End Shops given service number 19/19A effective from 27-Mar-2016.

6. PH0006159/301 - FIRST HAMPSHIRE & DORSET LTD, BUS DEPOT, EMPRESS ROAD, SOUTHAMPTON, SO14 0JW
Variation Accepted: Operating between Portsmouth Gunwharf, The Hard and Portsmouth College given service number 14 effective from 27-Mar-2016. To amend Timetable.

7. PH0006159/302 - FIRST HAMPSHIRE & DORSET LTD, BUS DEPOT, EMPRESS ROAD, SOUTHAMPTON, SO14 0JW
Variation Accepted: Operating between Portsmouth City Centre and St Marys Hospital/Baffins Pond given service number 13 effective from 27-Mar-2016. To amend Timetable.

8. PH0006159/338 - FIRST HAMPSHIRE & DORSET LTD, BUS DEPOT, EMPRESS ROAD, SOUTHAMPTON, SO14 0JW
Cancellation Accepted: Operating between Lower Wymering, Parr Road and Highbury, Hawthorn Crescent given service number 12 effective from 27-Mar-2016.

9. PH0006159/346 - FIRST HAMPSHIRE & DORSET LTD, BUS DEPOT, EMPRESS ROAD, SOUTHAMPTON, SO14 0JW
Variation Accepted: Operating between Paulsgrove and Paulsgrove given service number 17/18 effective from 27-Mar-2016. To amend Timetable.
[\quote]

Looks like you might be getting them mini enviro's back a lot sooner then you wanted

B*gger
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

I've not travelled the full 126 in years. Are 59 plate B7RLEs suitable?

They are a bit tight through places - that's why I think a few of us were surprised when 69457/8 turned up at Wells and not the 54 reg B7s. The ones with the overhanging wing mirrors are probably even tighter (69438/57/8 - think that's all that's left).

 

[ValleyLines142]

On Thursday I will finally get round to doing my X39/173/376 circlular trip!

 

[Private Baxter]

Thanks for info regarding 126. Over the years I've known it to have some pretty good loads at the Wells end, but appreciate it varies depending on season and day of the week. So you suggest that full size buses are indeed appropriate, but due to higher potential of scrapes and dents, older buses have generally been used.

As for 69442, I would suspect that any work in Bath is brief, and it will be back in Wells in no time.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Thanks for info regarding 126. Over the years I've known it to have some pretty good loads at the Wells end, but appreciate it varies depending on season and day of the week. So you suggest that full size buses are indeed appropriate, but due to higher potential of scrapes and dents, older buses have generally been used.

As for 69442, I would suspect that any work in Bath is brief, and it will be back in Wells in no time.

TBH, the better loads have tended to be at the Weston end, especially after they withdrew the Weston to Cheddar shorts.

I'd suspect that given the appearance of Webberbus on there, you could probably get away with Darts on there in terms of capacity but B7RLEs do provide a much better ride

 

[83G/84D]

Reported that 32852 has moved from the Midlands and is now based at Bridgwater:-

http://midlandred.net/cgi-bin/forum/Blah.pl?m-1449167232/s-0/

Residents of Bridgwater rejoice! (not)

 

[CD]

A few observations in Taunton today:
Scania Coach 23010 on 1305 28 to Minehead.
Olympians 34176 on Tiverton 22 and 34178 on 21a.
Non-DDA: MPD 43823 on town services and B10BLE 62193 on 1520 54 to Yeovil.
Trident 32935 on 1415 to WSM (Bridgwater duty).

 

[Whiteway215]

32931 and 32950 working on Bath services today.

 

[THarris123]

32931 and 32950 working on Bath services today.

Looks like Hengrove will be completely DDA compliant if this continues.

It should bring a more accurate prediction that Bath will see new vehicles this year.

So that should be only 32940/1 left at Hengrove. And yet last year this time Hengrove had more non DDA compliant vehicles than LH and Bath had about 7/8 non DDA vehicles and now has 13!

Do we know what's replaced the Tridents at Hengrove? Have 32349-54 moved over to Bristol?

 

[Whiteway215]

Looks like Hengrove will be completely DDA compliant if this continues.

It should bring a more accurate prediction that Bath will see new vehicles this year.

So that should be only 32940/1 left at Hengrove. And yet last year this time Hengrove had more non DDA compliant vehicles than LH and Bath had about 7/8 non DDA vehicles and now has 13!

Do we know what's replaced the Tridents at Hengrove? Have 32349-54 moved over to Bristol?

32349 32352 32353 32354 were still working in Bath yesterday

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

A few observations in Taunton today:
Scania Coach 23010 on 1305 28 to Minehead.
Olympians 34176 on Tiverton 22 and 34178 on 21a.
Non-DDA: MPD 43823 on town services and B10BLE 62193 on 1520 54 to Yeovil.
Trident 32935 on 1415 to WSM (Bridgwater duty).

Luxurious on the 28. One way of managing DDA I guess - reminds me of one day when I expected to get the usual Wright bodied Dart and instead got a TE bodied Tiger from Minehead!

 

[THarris123]

32349 32352 32353 32354 were still working in Bath yesterday

Thought of this earlier - those 51 reg ALXs that have entered service at Hengrove, together with 32333-8 and 37017-20 moving back would have released a few E400s to Weston, Tridents to Bath and replaced the few odd old darts.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Has anyone else noticed that 36 has gone Double Deck as well as 50/51? Whenever I've seen the 36 this week, it's been Geminis with no Darts to be seen. Hengrove probably have too many singles now.

I assume:
47435-47 for 8/9
47448-65 for 24
42955-61 for 5
47567-71 spare
42964-7/9 spare

Is that right?

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Thought of this earlier - those 51 reg ALXs that have entered service at Hengrove, together with 32333-8 and 37017-20 moving back would have released a few E400s to Weston, Tridents to Bath and replaced the few odd old darts.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Has anyone else noticed that 36 has gone Double Deck as well as 50/51? Whenever I've seen the 36 this week, it's been Geminis with no Darts to be seen. Hengrove probably have too many singles now.

I assume:
47435-47 for 8/9
47448-65 for 24
42955-61 for 5
47567-71 spare
42964-7/9 spare

Is that right?

Are all the 36 boards now double deck? They've always had some DD

What about the 72? PVR for the 5 is 4 vehicles (I think)

 

[ValleyLines142]

The 72 has a PVR of 5, which is usually 5 Darts.

Is 42701 still going?

 

[THarris123]

The 72 has a PVR of 5, which is usually 5 Darts.

Is 42701 still going?

I think all our depots in the region are single deck DDA compliant now, so I think that's gone.

Oh and thanks for info on 72 - I always thought it was 4. Of course with the arrival of 39191/2, the 72 should be half single and half decker.

So it should be:
47435-47 on 8/9
47448-65 on 24
47567-71 spare
42955-61 on 5
42964-7/9 on 72

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

The 72 has a PVR of 5, which is usually 5 Darts.

Is 42701 still going?

Sorry but I didn't format that well. The PVR for Service 5 is 4 vehicles.

Isn't the PVR for the 72 now 4 vehicles now it's a 30 min headway? The two VE e400s are supposed to be working that plus 2 other vehicles - two more deckers??

EDIT:

The 2013/4 Streetlites aren't really split as such so you can see 2014 ones on the 24.

 

[ValleyLines142]

I think all our depots in the region are single deck DDA compliant now, so I think that's gone.

Oh and thanks for info on 72 - I always thought it was 4. Of course with the arrival of 39191/2, the 72 should be half single and half decker.

So it should be:
47435-47 on 8/9
47448-65 on 24
47567-71 spare
42955-61 on 5
42964-7/9 on 72

Ah yes, forgot aboit DDA. Duh!

Saying that, the 72 is now only half hourly so perhaps it is only 4. It definitely was 5!

Edit: GW we posted at the same time haha yes 72 may only be 4 now as you say.

 

[THarris123]

Ah yes, forgot aboit DDA. Duh!

Saying that, the 72 is now only half hourly so perhaps it is only 4. It definitely was 5!

Edit: GW we posted at the same time haha yes 72 may only be 4 now as you say.

Well anyway there should be 5 Streetlites spare and a couple of darts - GW you're right about 5 - PVR of 5 so 2 darts should be free. So i expect the 36 is now half deck and half single, but the boards that I've seen are the couple which have been converted to DD.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Sorry but I didn't format that well. The PVR for Service 5 is 4 vehicles.

Isn't the PVR for the 72 now 4 vehicles now it's a 30 min headway? The two VE e400s are supposed to be working that plus 2 other vehicles - two more deckers??

EDIT:

The 2013/4 Streetlites aren't really split as such so you can see 2014 ones on the 24.

What's the PVR of 24 and 8/9 now then? I thought the 63 regs with the TVs are supposed to be on 8/9 (47435-47) and the other 63 regs for 24. Then 47567-71 act as spares for those routes. There's normally a couple of 64 regs on 24, of which i've always assumed they are spares.

 

[freetoview33]

On an ex Southampton axl400 and there is still an advert saying 50% off your Greyhound ticket to London!

 

[JamesGoldsmith]

Just saw one of the VE E400s heading along Parson Street towards town... Driver training?

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Well anyway there should be 5 Streetlites spare and a couple of darts - GW you're right about 5 - PVR of 5 so 2 darts should be free. So i expect the 36 is now half deck and half single, but the boards that I've seen are the couple which have been converted to DD.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---


What's the PVR of 24 and 8/9 now then? I thought the 63 regs with the TVs are supposed to be on 8/9 (47435-47) and the other 63 regs for 24. Then 47567-71 act as spares for those routes. There's normally a couple of 64 regs on 24, of which i've always assumed they are spares.

Remember that the 24 gained a couple of extra boards last April. To be honest, that may have been the plan for Streetlites but it seems that they mix and match quite a bit.

 

[THarris123]

Remember that the 24 gained a couple of extra boards last April. To be honest, that may have been the plan for Streetlites but it seems that they mix and match quite a bit.

They don't half! I had 47570 on 24 this morning and also saw 47435 and 47446.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
There we are thinking the single deck problems on the double deck boards are over, 42961 is on 75 this evening.

 

[Whiteway215]

Ex Leicester 32277 on the 37 in Bath this afternoon

 

[LeylandLynx]

Has anyone else noticed that 36 has gone Double Deck as well as 50/51? Whenever I've seen the 36 this week, it's been Geminis with no Darts to be seen. Hengrove probably have too many singles now.

Today, I saw about two or three Streetlites on the 50/51 (at least), and two ADL Darts yesterday, so it still hasn't gone fully DD yet. While I'm glad to see the back of the Tridents (good riddance!) I think sending E400's over to Weston is a bit of a backwards step for Hengrove when there are clearly still not enough deckers to go around, and they were the second newest deckers along with the Gemini B9's. And I mean what are the Streetlites even doing on the 50/51 anyway? Shouldn't they be on the 8/9 and 24? Or the 5 (which was desperate for some newer saloons)?

Why don't we swap the remaining two Tridents for the two E400's that have gone to Weston? :P j/k

Also, they started building a new bus shelter on Whitchurch Lane for the 51, which is causing some disruption to the traffic (and of course they have to remove the speed bumps that were next to the stop also).

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Today, I saw about two or three Streetlites on the 50/51 (at least), and two ADL Darts yesterday, so it still hasn't gone fully DD yet. While I'm glad to see the back of the Tridents (good riddance!) I think sending E400's over to Weston is a bit of a backwards step for Hengrove when there are clearly still not enough deckers to go around, and they were the second newest deckers along with the Gemini B9's. And I mean what are the Streetlites even doing on the 50/51 anyway? Shouldn't they be on the 8/9 and 24? Or the 5 (which was desperate for some newer saloons)?

Why don't we swap the remaining two Tridents for the two E400's that have gone to Weston? :P j/k

Also, they started building a new bus shelter on Whitchurch Lane for the 51, which is causing some disruption to the traffic (and of course they have to remove the speed bumps that were next to the stop also).

Getting more deckers to WM does make things easier and e400s give it a standardised fleet (though unless anything else has gone, it is 17 e400 for 17 boards?).

The Darts would be fine for the 5 and whilst some SDs are still on the 50/1, there's probably some more allocation changes still working through.

 

[Private Baxter]

Well anyway there should be 5 Streetlites spare and a couple of darts - GW you're right about 5 - PVR of 5 so 2 darts should be free. So i expect the 36 is now half deck and half single, but the boards that I've seen are the couple which have been converted to DD.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---


What's the PVR of 24 and 8/9 now then? I thought the 63 regs with the TVs are supposed to be on 8/9 (47435-47) and the other 63 regs for 24. Then 47567-71 act as spares for those routes. There's normally a couple of 64 regs on 24, of which i've always assumed they are spares.

Thirteen of those 64 reg streetlites were delivered to HE towards the end of 2014, but most of them transferred to LH very shortly after for the 18, leaving just five at HE. I'm not sure what they were originally intended for, but the HE ones have just really been support vehicles ever since, but I think it makes 38 streetlites at HE (33 63 reg & 5 64 reg) so plenty to go round.