New in 2005 to First Greater Manchester, life didn't change much for 12001. It operated out of Bury Depot and did a good job of it, lasting longer than the Wright Streetcars on service 4 in York.
In 2017, Bury Depot closed, this saw off the last of the Scania Omnicities and the remaining Mercedes-Benz Citaros in the FGM fleet. All of the Omnicities would eventually have a date with the cutters torch...all except this one.
Jonny Eaves stepped in and bravely purchased 12001 before it could be towed to PVS Barnsley. Yes, that's right, a PRESERVED ARTIC. I'll tell you what, he's braver than me. 12001 also managed to make a trip all the way down to the Isle of Wight for their "Beer and Buses" event in 2019, just proving the reliability of these things. The net depicts 12001 in it's current condition, though, due to a lack of images, it lacks certain pieces of branding.
Jonny, if you're reading this, you seriously have no idea how long it took me to modify the net for this so I hope you appreciate it.
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55004 was new to First Greater Glasgow in 2004 for service 81 between Clydebank and Duntocher.
The Optare Alero was, and still is, a very rare breed of bus. Instead of the standard automatic gearboxes, these came with manual gearboxes which meant that not many drivers could drive them as if you learn to drive in an automatic car, you can only drive automatic whereas people who learn in a manual can drive both. The Optare Alero was withdrawn from First Greater Glasgow by 2014 and the vehicles were replaced by Marshall Capitals which proved more favourable. All of First Greater Glasgow's Aleros were sold to Alpha Recovery for scrap. To this day, only one operator has Optare Aleros, this being Cumfybus of Merseyside.
Despite not being a very good bus, the Alero has found itself being adored as both a party bus and a motorhome due to the vast amount of space that the interior provides. None are preserved
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68804 was new in 2020 to First Leeds, specifically to operate service 5 between the city centre and Halton Moor. The change in vehicles for the 5 also resulted in it changing depots as Bramley Depot did not have sufficient space to install the chargers. Hunslet Park were given service 5 in exchange for service 42 between Old Farnley and Fearnville.
Curiously, the demonstrator used by First Leeds appeared at Leeds Bradford Airport, leading to speculations that the Airport was planning to take over the Airport services from Yorkshire Tiger. This proved to be partially true in that Yorkshire Tiger would not retain the Airport services for much longer.
After the launch of the PR3, Yutong E10s became a common allocation, usually being covered by Wright Eclipse Urbans on service 5.
Now the net used to make this image was actually made by me and it took absolutely ages. I regularly had problems with the near-side as hardly anybody has a good picture of it with the branding fully applied, meaning that, until today, there was a lot of guess work involved.
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FX54 AOC is an East Lancs Vyking bodied Volvo B7TL which is mainly sighted at Skegness depot but has seen operation elsewhere. The East Lancs Vyking is the Volvo B7TL version of the East Lancs Lolyne which was built on the Dennis Trident chassis, now being born and bred here in Leeds, I have a preference for Volvo over Dennis so this is really one of my favourites. It's InterConnect branding has since been removed with Stagecoach logos left intact.
In 2004, an identical vehicle (Y903 OTL) was involved in an accident outside the Fantasy Island theme park in Ingoldmells, three miles north of Skegness. The driver hit the wrong pedal so instead of hitting the brake pedal, he hit the accelerator which resulted in a crash. The vehicle was reportedly travelling at 41MPH as it mounted the pavement and knocked down pedestrians before colliding with a BMW in the road and pedestrians at the nearby pelican crossing. The Vyking came to rest 176 metres away from the bus stop and the driver was jailed for 5 counts of causing death by dangerous driving (The youngest victim being 4 months old) and reckless driving. Lincolnshire RoadCar were fined for allowing the Vyking to be operated by a driver with no experience and with faulty brakes. Y903 OTL was reregistered and transferred to Scunthorpe to hide it's identity. It was scrapped in 2014.
The 56 is the route that connects Lincoln, Horncastle and Skegness. It is not allocated a specific vehicle type and the Vykings, 16941 (A B7TL Gemini) and a selection of Enviro 400s are known to run it. It is the busiest route ran by Skegness depot which also runs the 1 between Skegness and Chapel St Leonards, the Skegness Town Circular route 2, the 3 between Skegness and Ingoldmells, the 56A between Skegness and Burgh Le Marsh via Southview Holiday Park and the 59 between Skegness and Louth.
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31787 was new in 2003 to First Sheffield and was based out of their depot at Olive Grove for the first few years of it's life. Initially, it was branded for service 41 between Sheffield City Centre and the Halfway Centre.
Around 2009/2010, 31787 was transferred to First Glasgow. Devoid of it's 41 branding, it would continue operating in a plain Barbie livery until the introduction of the simpliCITY branding. It would then be repainted in 2015 into the First Urban livery with simpliCITY branding. The vehicle would continue to operate with First Glasgow until 2022 when it was sold to the South Yorkshire Transport Trust.
With the SYTT, it would make it's rally debut in full First Urban livery (greatly infuriating me as I had personally set my eyes on First Halifax 53302 but was told, by First, that I would need to repaint it before rallying it), completely devoid of simpliCITY branding. It was then repainted back into the First Barbie livery, regaining it's 41 branding.
But it would seem that 31787 was sold at just the right time as it's sisters have long since been purchased by McGill's.
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