Vehicles Re-Entering Fleets?

[TR673]

Has there ever been a case where a vehicle has been sold by an operator but then managed to return to the fleet? And if it did, would it get a new fleet number or re-use its old one? I could quite easily envisage operator A selling buses to operator B, only to take over operator B later on and end up with their old buses again.
To be fair this is a question that might have been asked by someone before, but I'm just curious to see if there are any stories about such things really.

 

[gka472l]

deleted

 

[gka472l]

Yes, when Stagecoach acquired GTL in Liverpool back in 2005, they re-acquired a load of Alexander Dash bodied B6's which GTL had acquired, all got new numbers from 32666 to 32700. May have been a few Dart's as well...

HTH

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Yes, when Stagecoach acquired GTL in Liverpool back in 2005, they re-acquired a load of Alexander Dash bodied B6's which GTL had acquired, all got new numbers from 32666 to 32700. May have been a few Dart's as well...

HTH

That was the one I remembered....

First have just bought from Ensign some e400s from Metroline for conversion to open toppers including some that were new to First London.

 

[A0wen]

Back in the 70s most of London Country's Routemasters ended up being bought by LT as they were retired by LCBS.

Within groups there have been various transfers - I think Blazefield transferred some of Sovereign's vehicles to Harrogate, which subsequently made their way back to Sovereign.

 

[RT4038]

I HAVE HEARD THAT STAGECOACH MIDLANDS HAD A OPTARE SOLO IN THE COUNTYLINKS BRAND TRANSFERRED TO ANOTHER COMPANY AND THEN RETURNED TO STAGECOACH MIDLANDS WITH A NEW FLEETNUMBER

The 'another company' was Silverline of Solihull. The vehicle was owned by Warwickshire County Council.

 

[JetBlast]

TransDev sold some 08 plate wright deckers that worked the Costliner routes to Rosso. TransDev later bought out Rosso so they ended up back into the fold. They got new fleet numbers. I think this also happened with some other busses but I am not 100% sure.

 

[RustySpoons]

Burnley & Pendle's fleet of Volvo Citibuses left the fleet and returned via new owners on more than one occasion if I remember correctly. Maybe not the whole batch but some went to Blue Bus in Bolton and then came back via Lancashire United.

As JetBlast says, Transdev got some of their ex-Coastliners back via Rosso, as well as some of the ex-Spot On/LU B7RLEs too.

 

[Qwerty133]

I think a more rare example is where company A sells a depot to company B which is then repurchased by A several years later and there are buses that are still in the fleet. Unfortunately Arriva reacquired a number of R reg ALX100s at Hinckley when they took over Centrebus holdings, some of which had never made it into Centrebus livery.

 

[mic]

First Greater Manchester 69220/21/24/25/30 new 2006 went to Cornwall then Somerset then back to Bolton of these 69224 is still with FGM the others on loan to Diamond North West

 

[86247]

I think crosvile did in the 80s, it sold some VRTs and national's i think to SUT not 100%sure,then it gained school contracts then brought most of them back, not to sure if they gained their original number or not some one will know on here if they did.

 

[delt1c]

There was the RM's withdrawn and sold by LT in the 80's, repurchased ( many in derelict state) , rebuilt and returned to service in London with their origonal numbers

 

[carlberry]

I think a more rare example is where company A sells a depot to company B which is then repurchased by A several years later and there are buses that are still in the fleet. Unfortunately Arriva reacquired a number of R reg ALX100s at Hinckley when they took over Centrebus holdings, some of which had never made it into Centrebus livery.

The biggest example of this must be Stagecoach's sell of it's London operations, and subsequent repurchase.

 

[fgwrich]

I think Go-Ahead must be experts at this by now, with it's various acquisitions over the years - Ex London Presidents in East Yorkshire etc.

 

[Flange Squeal]

Perhaps not strictly what you intended, but a couple of examples of vehicles sold by their original family owners and passing through other operators, before returning to their original family owners but who by then operated new companies.

T30 TGM was new to Tellings Golden Miller. It later passed through Solus Coaches before joining Falcon Coaches, a small company that had been purchased by the Telling family in the intervening years after selling the TGM coaching operation to Arriva and bus services to National Express.

YJ07 JMO was new to Mortons Travel. It later passed to Travel Guest and then Applegates, and Mortons Travel was later sold to the Lucketts Group. YJ07 JMO is now with Southern Coach Lines, a new operator recently set up by a member of the Mortons family.

 

[TR673]

Oh wow, this is a way more common thing than I first assumed! Thanks for the replies.

There was the RM's withdrawn and sold by LT in the 80's, repurchased ( many in derelict state) , rebuilt and returned to service in London with their origonal numbers

Somewhere in my brain I knew this had been a thing, although at some point I must've just forgot. Didn't know they'd retained numbers though.

 

[CM]

Not sure if it has been mentioned already but didn't London Transport re-purchase copious amounts of Rotmasters that had previously been sold to regional operators(and preservationists) and put them back into service in the capital?

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

There was the RM's withdrawn and sold by LT in the 80's, repurchased ( many in derelict state) , rebuilt and returned to service in London with their origonal numbers

What about the DMS Fleetlines that were sold en masse in the early 1980s as they were so unreliable....only for some to be repurchased for Bexleybus.

 

[delt1c]

Somewhere in my brain I knew this had been a thing, although at some point I must've just forgot. Didn't know they'd retained numbers though.

They regained their original numbers , but most had lost their original registrations.

 

[spuddie]

Back in the 70s most of London Country's Routemasters ended up being bought by LT as they were retired by LCBS.

Within groups there have been various transfers - I think Blazefield transferred some of Sovereign's vehicles to Harrogate, which subsequently made their way back to Sovereign.

There were some crazy moves within the Blazefield group at this time. For example Leyland National AYJ99T was purchased from Southdown, partially painted in Sovereign colours and entered service for a while before transferring to Harrogate & District, initially entering service in Sovereign colours but then repainted red and cream. It later returned to Sovereign and ran for several years.

Some of the former London Country Olympians transferred to Keighley but all eventually making there way back at various stages and regaining their original numbers. 68 (B268LPH) is another good example, transferred up to Keighley in the early 90's, came back south in the mid/late 90's, transferred back to Keighley late 90's before returning to Huntingdon in the early 2000's.

Leyland National FUG323T came from Yorkshire Coastliner, ran for Sovereign for a while and then back to Harrogate.

Greenline Tiger B264KPF went up to Keighley for a while too (Northern Rose) before returning to Sovereign as a backup coach for the Greenline 797.

Can't remember any others at the moment, lots of vehicles did one way transfers (Bristol VR's, Lynxes, Tigers, B10B's, Mercedes Minibuses)

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

How about another one....

United Auto lost its northern operations to Northumbria Motor Services in 1986 including 36 Leyland Olympians. 25 of those were subsequently sent to Kentish Bus (owned by NMS) for use of LT contracted services in Dartford.

In 1999, those Olympians were rendered redundant and so were sent to replace Bristol VRs in some fleets of the then new Arriva empire. Some went to Arriva Cymru, but a number went to Arriva Durham County....the now renamed United Auto

 

[richw]

That was the one I remembered....

First have just bought from Ensign some e400s from Metroline for conversion to open toppers including some that were new to First London.

The 7 for Kernow are (not sure how many were first London before)

33426- LK08NVJ
33427- LK58KHL
33428- LK58KHP
33575- SN09CDU
33592- SN09CFF
33600- SN09CFU
33601- SN09CFV

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

The 7 for Kernow are (not sure how many were first London before)

33426- LK08NVJ
33427- LK58KHL
33428- LK58KHP
33575- SN09CDU
33592- SN09CFF
33600- SN09CFU
33601- SN09CFV

Suspect the 334** are new to First but the random ones 335** and 336** look like ones reassuming numbers

 

[richw]

Suspect the 334** are new to First but the random ones 335** and 336** look like ones reassuming numbers

LK** were new to Metroline
SN09 were new to centrewest DN***** and from Flickr appear to have regained their old numbers

 

[fgwrich]

Come to think of it, doesn't Kernow also have an ex London Bendy in the Eden fleet which left First and has come back into the group?

 

[richw]

Come to think of it, doesn't Kernow also have an ex London Bendy in the Eden fleet which left First and has come back into the group?

11041 was first London

where did 11036 and 11038 come from? I don’t know their original plates to check

 

[theblackwatch]

There were some crazy moves within the Blazefield group at this time. For example Leyland National AYJ99T was purchased from Southdown, partially painted in Sovereign colours and entered service for a while before transferring to Harrogate & District, initially entering service in Sovereign colours but then repainted red and cream. It later returned to Sovereign and ran for several years.

Some of the former London Country Olympians transferred to Keighley but all eventually making there way back at various stages and regaining their original numbers. 68 (B268LPH) is another good example, transferred up to Keighley in the early 90's, came back south in the mid/late 90's, transferred back to Keighley late 90's before returning to Huntingdon in the early 2000's.

Leyland National FUG323T came from Yorkshire Coastliner, ran for Sovereign for a while and then back to Harrogate.

Greenline Tiger B264KPF went up to Keighley for a while too (Northern Rose) before returning to Sovereign as a backup coach for the Greenline 797.

Can't remember any others at the moment, lots of vehicles did one way transfers (Bristol VR's, Lynxes, Tigers, B10B's, Mercedes Minibuses)

Similar Transfers still occur within Blazefield's successor, Transdev. 2763 & 2764 have been back to Harrogate a couple of times!

One of the worst things about the Blazefield era to which you refer was the fleet numbering schemes - when the companies from the former West Yorkshire group introduced their own fleet numbering schemes, they made no attempt to work together, despite inter-fleet transfers being common. Harrogate attempted to have fleet numbers which, in the main, some way matched the registrations, whereas Keighley didn't.

 

[cnjb8]

Come to think of it, doesn't Kernow also have an ex London Bendy in the Eden fleet which left First and has come back into the group?

11041 was first London

where did 11036 and 11038 come from? I don’t know their original plates to check

LK05 FDC new to First London, bought by Uno and then bought by First Kernow.
AN02 EDN and CN02 EDN, I'm not sure. Definitely new to an operator in Ireland and then Aberdeen I think before going to Kernow.

 

[richw]

AN02 EDN and CN02 EDN, I'm not sure. Definitely new to an operator in Ireland and then Aberdeen I think before going to Kernow.

They were First Aircoach Dublin airport car park shuttles. I couldn’t remember which were the Irish ones! They spent 3 years in Scotland but weren’t used.

 

[Alexbus12]

LK** were new to Metroline
SN09 were new to centrewest DN***** and from Flickr appear to have regained their old numbers

Out of interest, what's the reason they get their original fleet number back for rather than a new one?