Twelve Minutes at Tesco

Classic Bus North West Volvo B10M 899 passes Mereside turning circle on its way to Tesco on route 22

Olympian 324 departs for Cleveleys having replaced the B10M which is seen heading for depot in the background

Contrasting Island origins: Ex Isle of MAN DAF DB250 356 sets off for Fleetwood on the 14 as the Irish Olympian exits Tesco

Solo 248 - the last in red and an early repaint candidate sits on the 16 stop part way through its trip to Poulton

Trident 306 waits as the next departure on the 14

Sister 245 arrives on route 3 - 12 minutes after the Volvo started this sequence

News Update

417 departed for scrap today - the last of the ECW bodied Olympians following 410 which departed on 20th. Both have gone to Partons, Barnsley for scrap. This leaves preserved 401 and 411 as the sole survivors of Blackpool's 20 second hand closed top Olympians. A further DAF has arrived at Blackburn for overhaul. [Now confirmed as 79 FMN502T - thanks to this flickr link

Exit 270, Enter 1064

The old and the older. Metrorider 1064 and its predecessor Atlantean 270

Blackpool Transport's final Metrorider 512 (S512LHG) was delivered to Blackpool Council's Streetscene Department as the new mess bus for the Track Services team today. It is now numbered 1064 in the council series and replaces Atlantean 270 - former Blackpool 350 which has seen six years service with the council.

512 has latterly been used by Blackpool Transport's Tram Overhead department as a mobile mess vehicle, primarily during the major overhead renewal as part of the tramway upgrade. It has been painted in council livery.

J-Plates for DAFs

The first four of the second batch of ex Bus Vannin DAFs - 364-7 have been registered as J70BTS, J90BTS, J200/300BTS resp. They are likely to enter service shortly.

Solos 280 and 281 from the intial batch of Lifestyle Line Solos have been placed in store joining 267-274 - rather than the expected 275/6.

215 is nearly finished in the paint shop with Solo 260 and Metrorider 512 under treatment. 216, 248 and 277 are next in line for repaints.

Missed off last weeks report, 403, 413 and 416 have now gone for scrap.

Repaints Roll On

Following on from 242, 278 and 302 last month, November has seen Excel 212 and Solo 241 receive the new livery. Currently 215 and 260 are under treatment - the latter being the first of the Line 3 buses to receive the new livery.

Also under paint shop attention is sole surviving Metrorider 512 which is understood to have passed to Blackpool Council to replace Atlantean 270 (ex 350) as their track gang mess bus.

Solos 273 and 274 have joined 267-272 in store. More full size vehicles are now in use on the 2, 2C and 17. Minor service changes from 5 November saw the 2 and 2C retimed removing interworking, 3 and 4 retimed in the evening and additional Sunday morning journeys on the 16.