BRANSGORE BUS BUFF

POOLE GARAGE

Fri Jun 12 2009

Friday 12 June 2009: POOLE GARAGE

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LYMINGTON

Mon Jun 1 2009

Monday 1 June 2009: LYMINGTON

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MCW & OPTARE METRORIDER

Sun May 31 2009

Sunday 31 May 2009: Commentry U/S Ferry

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NEW OPTARE SOLO

Sat May 30 2009

Saturday 30 May 2009: NEW OPTARE SOLO

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POOLE COLLECTION

Mon Mar 2 2009

Monday 2 March 2009: I was the driver in most of the photographs with minibuses on service. Order of photographs not ready at present.

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BUS RALLY COLLECTION

Mon Mar 2 2009

Monday 2 March 2009: BUS RALLY COLLECTION

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CHRISTCHURCH & RINGWOOD COLLECTION

Mon Mar 2 2009

Monday 2 March 2009: 2541 is/was a Poole bus. No photos are in order yet.

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LITTLEDOWN ROAD COACH PARK '84/85

Mon Mar 2 2009

Monday 2 March 2009: I'm uploading old photographs that are stored away in my cupboards doing nothing. Order of pictures is haphazard and will be sorted later. They were taken in the early-mid 1980's and show the Shamrock & Rambler/National Express scene at Littledown Road Coach Park behind Bournemouth Rail Station. They were taken with a 110mm camera - although picture quality is not brilliant, they still may have historical interest for some. Southern National X94 route in 1985: Taunton, Bridgwater, Yeovil, Sturminster Newton, Blandford, Poole, Westbourne, Bournemouth (Holdenhurst Road Coach Station). 726 route: Bournemouth, Poole, Weymouth, Bridport, Sidmouth, Exeter, motorway & Plymouth.

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PAUL'S OTHER PHOTOGRAPHS

Sun Feb 22 2009

Sunday 22 February 2009: I'm uploading old photographs that are stored away in my cupboards doing nothing. Order of pictures is haphazard and will be sorted later. They were taken in the early-mid 1980's and show Ringwood, Lymington. Some were taken with a 110mm camera - although picture quality is not brilliant, they still may have historical interest for some.

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X3 SCANIAS ARRIVE AT RINGWOOD

Fri Sep 26 2008

Friday 26 September 2008: On Friday 26th September the first Wilts & Dorset Scania OmniCity vehicles arrived. They have transverse 9000cc engines (a larger cubic-capacity than the Optare Spectras but with 5 cylinders) and they will be equipped with a device onboard to monitor fuel efficiency. The driver's seat can be heated. The X3 branding transfers have been applied to fleet number 1119 as can be seen. I understand that the fleet number follow on from the recent Southern Vectis Scania delivery. Driver training started on Monday 29th September. I apologize for the quality of the photos as the sun glare was strong and the paintwork on the buses was very, very clean and shiny! Top speed: 55mph ZF Automatic Gearbox Height: 14.5m Seating Capacity Upper Deck: 45 Lower Deck: 31 or 29 & 1 wheelchair 10 Standing Total Passengers: 86 Bristol VR's 4431 & 4432 were suddenly taken off the road at Ringwood Depot after their last trips Friday 10th October 2008. 4431 returned after it's pm school run on service 750 (Twynham School-Hurn, Moors Close); I drove 4432 on the pm service 778 (St. Peters, Southboune-Burton). On arriving back at the depot the ticket machines were removed and the Operator's Licence Disc taken out from 4432. The _160,000 new vehicles commenced service on the X3's, Saturday 11th October. There are three variations of livery to look for at present: one has the Salisbury Graphic on the rear; one has Bournemouth; the third is plain (no X3 transfers) with Wilts & Dorset on the lower panels.

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RURAL PAR LA ROUTE ET LE RAIL EN NORMANDIE

Sun Aug 17 2008

Sunday 17 August 2008: "BY RURAL ROAD & RAIL IN NORMANDY" Photographs of the buses and trains whilst taken on holiday with my family in Northern France. I travelled SNCF between Granville and Paris, Montparnasse Vaugirard (on the particular train in the pictures below) but I did not travel by bus. I think most of the buses I photographed were manufactured by Renault. Rural bus route 116 (operated by MANEO) operates from Granville to Avranches 4-5 times a day; one journey from these daily was extended this Summer to the Mont St. Michel for tourists. The buses on Ligne 116 did not appear to be used much by the public. I was impressed when using the train service regarding timekeeping and good service from train operating staff. I found station staff helpful and the stations I used were kept tidy. I was taken aback slightly by the intermediate rail stations on route. They were very basic, almost derelict-looking, but somehow I did not find it depressing because I was in a different country with different ways and means. Station name-plates at intervals along the low platforms were dark, tiny, almost unreadable and slightly farcial compared to the white, big and bold "Welcome to ..." customer service style plates here in England. I have added non-transport pictures to give some flavour of the rural Normandy area around bus route 116.

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WILTS & DORSET BUS: X35 LAST JOURNEY

Sat May 24 2008

Saturday 24 May 2008: 4432 Bristol VR was not originally scheduled to operate the last ever Wilts & Dorset X35 service between Southampton (Castle Way) and Ringwood (Meeting House Lane). As a Wilts & Dorset driver for the last fourteen years or more I have sunken into the habit of arriving on time for my shift-then looking to see what I had to drive and where to! There had been much conversation amongst drivers and enthusiasts about the last X35 day but I have to admit that I did not realise that I was the driver for Saturday 3414 with this service! Almost on impulse I requested with the Fitter-in-Charge who was allocating vehicles for the day if I could have 4431 or 4432 (the only two VR's at Ringwood). I was not sure of the answer I would get so I put across some reasons as nicely as possible across to him: firstly - that the X35 was not an advertised "Low-Floor" service so a bus with steps as the VR would suit; secondly that the X35 had been running for over forty years - numbered 13/13A (under Hants & Dorset with Lodekkas), then part of X17/X27 with RE's and later Nationals, and lastly X1/X2 with Metroriders, before X34/X35 (with Solos); "Could I do the last service with an ex-Hants & Dorset bus, please" I was quite shocked when he said that I could have one. 4432 runs slightly better than 4431, however 31 has that distinctive Gardner sound but a quick choice had to be made. On this dry but cloudy afternoon no problems as usual were encountered on both journeys with 4432. Nothing unusual happened along the way, if anything it was just quiet. Firstly an all-rounder to Lyndhurst departing Ringwood at 1450 was completed, then the actual final all-rounder to Southampton at 1620. Surprisingly there were no evident enthusiasts about at all for the Lyndhurst trip, only 7-8 passengers. The same applied for the 1620 except that two enthusiasts known to me were ready with cameras, and there must have been good photographs shots taken from Poulner, Burley Street and Southampton, West Quay Terminus. These enthusiasts were incredibly patient and I think that they knew that my bus was going to be over 30 minutes late and were waiting for me on return at Burley and Poulner. A look of surprise and a smile came from a fellow passenger/enthusiast Brian at Southampton as the VR came up to his bus stop for the 1725 to Ringwood. Unfortunately I could not obtain further photographs from the bus on its very last trip as a lady passenger needed to make a connection at Ringwood and I had to rush. Top speed of 4432 is between 45-50mph which is acceptable for single-lane road conditions and gear changes are quite smooth generally. I enjoyed driving back on the last journey through the New Forest through Ashurst and A35 absorbing everything with the feel and sound of this typical 1960's designed British passenger carrying vehicle.

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HANTS & DORSET 779 (KLJ749)

Tue Jul 10 2007

Tuesday 10 July 2007: This bus was present at Avon Heath Country Park on Sunday 8th July 2007 for the Festival of Transport. Photos were uploaded in chronological order: the first lot taken on the Festival of Transport day; the second starts with the Bristol FLF parked in the barn early on Sunday morning before 779's departure to Alton Running Day, 15th July, 2007. After the rally the owner took it home to Kent, kept with other vehicles including a Maidstone & District single-deck and an immaculate 1960's modernised version RF (I think RF28). Mr Robin Banks owned this bus for about twenty years having rebuilt much of it. He has now sold 779 to a buyer near Bristol who told me that he would like to rebuild her again to her former status as a H&D coach.

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VISIT TO ENSIGN BUS 1st OCTOBER 2006

Fri Oct 6 2006

Friday 6 October 2006: Visit to Ensign Bus 1st October 2006 (Paul Donald) On 1st October 2006, (and under a potential stormy looking sky) a party of thirty-strong Wessex Transport Society members together travelled with Bill Santer (of Damory Coaches) to Purfleet in Essex. We were to visit TD895: a Bristol, 'Back Loader' double-deck bus built for Hants & Dorset Motor Services way back in 1949. Although we knew that restoration was not fully complete, we hoped that we might get a ride in it with Bill as he also works as a driver for Ensign during the Winter months. Ensign Bus is very well known for its involvement in selling second-hand buses (especially London types) across the world. However, recently they have started restoring older and unusual types of buses and then either hiring them out for weddings etc or selling them on for a good profit. There is nowadays a good market for this type of trade. On arrival at the garage there was a good selection of vintage and present day vehicles to observe, and we also had an organised tour of the workshops where London AEC RT8 was being rebuilt almost from scratch. New cross members for the body-shell risers had only just been fitted and were made of ash. Shortly, Bill took us out for a short trip on the smart friendly green Bristol for a short circular tour. We drove around the winding, hilly roads around the large, sparse, almost lonely industrial areas, which make up the East-End London suburbs of Avebury and Purfleet. Nearby, we observed a massive chimney of Ford Motor's Dagenham works, and the Channel Tunnel High-Speed rail link that is Britain's newest railway line. By modern standards the bus was quite slow, doing about 30mph and this unfortunately annoyed an elderly motorist on a roundabout. However I felt privileged as passengers as some motorists looked on at our bus with some envy! We enjoyed listening to the distinctive solid sound of the AEC engine in conjunction with the Bristol chassis and to Bill's manual crash-box gear changes on our route. However as we stopped at a typical London Transport bus stop lay-by for photos it was noticeable that some steam was escaping from the radiator water cap. As our party discussed whether to turn back, get assistance or carry on I suggested that I might get water in a watering can from a nearby house. I found an obliging house owner; he showed mild surprise seeing the bus whilst trying to have his quiet Sunday lunch! On return I found Bill phoning for assistance. It thundered and absolutely poured down with rain whilst waiting for the mechanic to arrive and everyone took cover in the bus or the bus shelter. In the shelter I discussed with Bill the possibility of driving the vehicle for the next Wessex running day in 2007. However we concluded that it would probably take approximately three days: Saturday to bring it down; Sunday to show it off and run it in Poole and Monday to take it back again. Quite a difficult task and very expensive if it broke down. The rain cleared a bit and shortly afterwards our man arrived. Checking that there were no serious water leaks, he gave us the go-ahead for us to continue our short tour whilst he followed behind. Another problem with the Bristol is that it needs an alternator although it has had _7000 spent on it already. After the trip I spoke to W&D's Chris Harris who did not seem surprised about the K6's water problem. He explained that it used be quite common for crews to collect water for a top-up if the bus had not properly been seen to in the morning-not much change there then! It is hoped one day that TD895 will visit this area again; these buses were a very common type in the 50's and 60's being popular with crews in the Bournemouth and Southampton areas-2006 Bournemouth & Southampton drivers to note!

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AVON HEATH FESTIVAL OF TRANSPORT 2006

Sun Aug 13 2006

Sunday 13 August 2006: AVON HEATH FESTIVAL OF TRANSPORT 2006

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