Tuesday 22 December 2015

Palladium Refurbs and other news

Evidence of the recent use of Citaros on service 9 on Sundays - 554 awaits time on Clifton Street (David Umpleby)
Plaxton Centro bodied Volvo B7RLE 527 has become the first of its batch to go for refurbishment to "Palladium" standard at Bus and Coach World, Blackburn. All nine are to be upgraded following positive response to the Citaro. It is not known which route will benefit. DAF 367 has also been at B&CW for accident repairs but is now back.

Trident 336 has now left the paint shop, completing the repaints of the six long wheelbase Tridents (333-7/42). 327 is now under repaint. Excel 219 has also returned to service bring the fleet back to five.

Sunday 13 December 2015

Returns, Repaints, Re-routes and Rescues


Blackpool Transport
Excels 216 and 220 have been noted back in service, 220 returning to use on 1 December, with 216 noted on route learning on 7 December and service 11 on 10 December.

Route 9 has changed allocations with the recent service changes. Not previously reported is the use of Palladium Citaros on the 3 buses Sunday service, while midweek evening workings now regularly see Solos working off service 3 and 4.

Dennis Trident 335 is presently under repaint, following 334 which was treated in late November. 

Catch 22 Bus
Dennis Dart 144 now carries an all-over advert for Domino's Pizza while 365 and 371 have been painted all-over red for the Red Rocket X70 to Manchester. This has been reduced to four round trips rather than the hourly service advertised. As the X70 has no stops within 15 miles of each other it is an 'express' service and thus exempt from bus service registration which allows operators to flex their timetables without statutory notice.

Stagecoach
Service 42 (Lancaster-Blackpool) has been heavily disrupted by the recent flooding in the North West. While Cumbria and Lancaster bore the brunt, the A586 at St Michael's was submerged when the River Wyre burst its banks and the 42 has had a gargantuan diversion from Catterall to Windy Harbour via A6, M55 and A585. 16 miles v the usual 8 miles!

Service 84 is revised to operate every 40 minutes with 3 buses from 4 January.

Christmas Services
The usual early finishes apply on Christmas and New Years Eve. Boxing Day and New Years Day Buses operate as follows:


  • BTS 1 Starr Gate to Fleetwood every 30 mins
  • BTS 5 Halfway House to Victoria Hospital every hour
  • C22 6 Blackpool to Grange Park every 20 mins
  • BTS 7 Cleveleys to Lytham Square every hour
  • BTS 9 Blackpool to Cleveleys every 30 mins
  • BTS 11 Grange Park to St. Annes Square every hour
  • C22 12 Cleveleys to Pleasure Beach every 20 mins (Boxing Day)
  • BTS 14 Fleetwood to Mereside every half hour
  • C22 22 Cleveleys to Mereside every hour (1/2 hourly Cleveleys-Blackpool on Boxing Day only)
  • (Note service 12 also runs 28-31 December)
After-Life
A surprising rescue is new to Fylde Atlantean 96, latterly Blackpool 496. Preserved in 2001, 96 was sold to Whyndyke Farm a few years ago and internally stripped of seats, and late in 2014 passed to a preservationist as a source of spares. After some time in store, partially stripped it has now been rescued and moved to Keighley Bus Museum - see pictures in the "visitor" post section of our Facebook page 

Also recently in the news is former Blackpool Metrorider 505 (S505LHG) which has been advertised on E-bay. This was last with Island Rover on Isle of Scilly converted to semi-open sided (i.e with windows removed!)