Oxford, High Wycombe & surrounding areas

updated Sunday 29th October 2000
The next update will be on Sunday 5th November 2000

Please note that any comments made in this news page are those of the Editors' and in no way constitute 
any official points of view from the bus companies mentioned,  or indeed any other official body. 
As a news page we reserve the right to make valid comments as seen from an editorial point of view.

Problems with the pictures ! - sometimes it seems that the pictures do not load.
I have found a solution which does work normally - 
RIGHT CLICK ON THE PICTURE AND THEN CLICK ON "SHOW PICTURE"
Good luck !

Last Saturday saw some of the very worst weather for photography that I can remember. I was rostered to work the 1515hrs X90 service to London and had hoped to get some interesting Oxford shots before departure. The rain and the wind put paid to that idea with one or two exceptions. Once again much of the week was spent in Sweden and here I was at last able to get come interesting photos of buses in Malmo. Sunday dawned bright and sunny and a short visit to Wycombe provided a few nice shots of the local scene. 

Cambridge coach Services/Airlinks also features this week, since this company provides a rich variety of coaches on the 757/767 services to Oxford. 

The Oxford Bus Company is having a quiet period at this time, as is Stagecoach Oxford. Several correspondents have written in this week to tell me of goings on in the area, including a most interesting brief from Steve Annells on Tappins of Didcot. 

Finally Pete Thomas, a driver with Chester has emailed to tell me of the latest news on the ex Oxford Bus Metroriders sold to Chester City Transport some years ago. some have now been exported to New Zealand.

 Company reports - to 29th October 2000

Airlinks (Cambridge Coach Services)

As mentioned before the effects of the take over of CCS by Airlinks can be seen on most days now with a wide variety of coaches operating the 757/767 group services into Oxford through High Wycombe. This last week saw a Travellers Coach N20TCC operating a late evening service on Friday. It seems that an accident occurred to the bus wash at the Airlinks depot recently and the cleaning is now presenting a great problem. Certainly N20TCC was the very dirtiest coach I have ever seen in 40 years ! Add to that the fact that it proclaimed , by a variety of half screwed up National Express labels to be operating Airbus A6 and it seemed to me that any attempt at running a service for the passenger had ceased. Sorry to say but the wide variety of many liveried coaches, lack of destination blinds on many coaches only serves to create an image of customer disregard. When one remembers the smart turn out of CCS, the fact that one could set ones watch by their coming and going and the happy and friendly drivers - how can the present situation be any advert for people to use this service.

Saturday saw two Airlinks coaches, J555SAS and M717KPD - clearly labelled Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, London - running the 757/767 service into Oxford. I suppose they are at least bright and cheerful with Big Ben and an aircraft on the side but .............  

   Scania/Van Hool S17 - M717KPD departs Oxford on the 757 at 1510 on Saturday last.
The weather really was appalling and not exactly ideal for photography.

Oxford Bus Company (City of Oxford Motor Services)

As mentioned above we are going through a quiet period with Oxford Bus. The service cuts have now been fully implemented and a number of routes are seeing increased load factors due to the reduction in frequency. The apparent absence of some Tridents, back at Dennis for work, has resulted in the appearance of saloons on P&R services. 817 was on 400 last Saturday. The 10 withdrawn Darts 502, 503, 504, 506, 507, 508, 511, 516, 518 and 520 have been offered for sale at £39000 each and Volvo coach 52 appears to have been sold. The older ex Shearings Volvos 59 and 60 still remain at Cowley Road. 

Pete Thomas, who is a driver with Chester City Transport emailed to update me on the ex Oxford Metroriders which wnet to Chester. He sent a picture of a former Chester & Oxford Metrorider which is now in service somewhere in New Zealand. He says this is one of three sold for export at the beginning of this summer, namely G770/5/6 WFC. He cannot tell me which vehicle is pictured but it is nevertheless most interesting to see. The Welcome Aboard also has an Oxford ring to it !

Paul says Chester still has in daily service, G769,71,72,73,74 WFC, though sadly F505 CBO has been demoted to use as a van having had the majority of its seats removed and cream coloured vinyl applied to the rearmost windows on each side. (Seems like a partner for 781 ! - Ed)

Many thanks indeed to Paul for this interesting input. 

Stagecoach Oxford.  

Also a quiet week for this company and I have yet to see Dart SLF - Alexander ALX200 MPD number 100 in service. Whilst waiting at Gloucester Green last Saturday evening for my 2015 departure to London, I was impressed by the number of Tubes coming and going on London services plus the X50 service which is now normally in the hands of one of the M A N coaches. 66 was the rostered coach on Saturday. It is possible to see between 6 and 10 of these large vehicles within a 10 minute period during busy period at Gloucester Green. This only serves to highlight the inadequacies of this coach station where cars and taxis also add to the congestion. One day there will a very serious accident and then something will be done.

Tappins of Didcot.

Steve Annells writes to note that the numbering of the fleet seems to be under way.  This is complicated by a number of re-registrations.  His theory is that  the re-registrations match the old registrations, but if anyone can shoot him down in flames on this, he will have no problem with that!  Tappin numbers seen over the wall today are:

163 - B163FWJ   :  323 - C323UFP  :  325 - ANZ1325 (ex C325UFP?)  : 73-5 - SIL5973-5 (ex D73-5HRU?)  : 260 - E260PEL  : 419 - reg not confirmed
512/3 - SIL9512/3 (ex G512/3LWU?)  : 324 - KUI5324 (C324UFP? : 511 - TIL2511 (G511LWU?)  
There's also a damaged Volvo/Plaxton in their yard with a tarpaulin over the front.

Steve says " If I'm wrong it's a hell of a coincidence.  I've not seen any other new re-registrations - all the vehicles treated are B10M-Plaxton and have the number applied in white at least once"

If anyone else can add to the above information both Steve and i would be most grateful.

Wycombe Bus Company

A short visit to Wycombe this morning revealed that Olympian 229 has returned from roof repairs at Mainline sheffiled and is back in service. This bus was also seen by Steve Annells near Leicester on its way back. 214 is still at Wycombe and I will hope to have information on this by next weekend. 

Wycombe Olympian 229 with roof repaired and looking very smart still in Thames Valley livery.

Wycombe Wanderers Football is at Adams Park, an omission from last weeks report !  Nigel Peach writes to note this and at the same time sent some reminiscences of an earlier time in that area. He remembers Adams Park when it was merely the end of Hillbottom Road. (He went to Sands School) and in those days there were occasional journeys on the Thames Valley 26 & 26A which went as far as "Sherwood's Corner" (ie Hillbottom Road) This was an extension from its usual destination of Mill End Road. The 26 & 26A (one bus each per hour) run by Thames Valley, usually had the oldest double deckers running the service. (Bristol Ks in the 1960s) The 326 (run by London Transport) was more or less a joint route (slight variations at the Micklefield end of it). That was the other 2 journeys per hour & had RTs running that (green, "Country Area" ones of course!)

He also noted that he saw 229 running on the 301, newly repaired & still sporting the Thames Valley livery. Coincidently, in the next bay in the bus station, was 214, the bus that was replacing it !  Many thanks to Nigel for his interesting comments.

  PHOTO CORNER
If anyone has a digital camera and wishes to submit photos for this page please send them to the above email.

Jetlink M308BAV negotiates the small roundabout at the junction with the Oxford and 
Princes Risboro' roads in West Wycombe. 

Travellers N20TCC on the 757/767 in Oxford. The scruffy labels can be seen but as to where it is going, well !!!
Also how anyone waiting en route could hope to realise it was their coach beats me.

Dirty and even somewhat unpainted, Jetlink 323 leaves Wycombe on its way to Oxford
on Sunday morning. At least it has a proper destination blind.

A few months ago Paul Dudfield wrote to ask for some pictures to help with a model of 
an Oxford Trident has was building. Bob Heathcote of the Model Bus Federation took this photo 
of the finished article and it looks superb. It is a "cut up" of a Corgi Hong Kong model. 
Thank you to Paul for keeping me posted.

Red Rose of Aylesbury run the 375 from Amersham to Beaconsfield and Mercedes 
N803GRV is seen at the Beaconsfield terminus.

SWEDISH INTERLUDE.

Although it is now some months since Stagecoach had any involvement in Swebus, the livery lives on. 
This Volvo B10M-50B dating from 1991 carries Van Hool Astral coachwork.
fleet number 3302 - MPO192 had just arrived in Malmo from Stockholm. 
The service departs at 1130 and arrives in Malmo 7 hours later.

One thing I have noticed with Swedish buses is the cab layout for the drivers. 
The seat swivels to allow the driver to face the passenger in comfort.
This would be a nice improvement in British buses. 

I will be pleased to receive your reports for this section
Please send your reports to MalcolmHC@aol.com and thank you for all your sightings, they are most welcome.