69271 was new in 2007 to First Bradford. At the time, the fleet comprised of many older vehicles that had been in service since the days of Yorkshire Rider, some of which were in need of replacement. 69271 was one of the first Euro 4 Eclipse Urbans delivered to Bradford and was one of the first overall.

Originally painted in the company's then-standard "Barbie" livery, 69271 was fitted with guide wheels and was mainly allocated to services along the Manchester Road guided busway. In 2014, 69271 was repainted into Olympia livery.

In 2025, the reliability of electric vehicles in Glasgow caused a severe bus shortage which resulted in First Leeds, First Bradford, First Huddersfield, First Berkshire, and First Essex loaning vehicles to cover. 69271 was one of these. Notably, none of them track so finding them takes a lot of luck.

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2709 was new in 2001 to Transdev Burnley & Pendle. Originally branded for the WitchWay, it wore a livery of cream and red with a black skirt. 2709 would continue operating at Queensgate Depot in Burnley until 2006 when it moved to Starbeck.

2709 was repainted into a revised version of its livery, with no black skirt and its cream replaced by white. Applied over the top was branding for service 770 between Harrogate and Leeds via Wetherby. This was probably my favourite variation of this livery.

In 2011, 2709 was repainted into cream and maroon, a livery which suited the Plaxton President incredibly well. 2709 was also refurbished with new moquette and new lights all around. Unlike its sister, 2708, 2709 did not gain 770 branding again and floated around as a spare while the 36 fleet was refurbished.

In 2014, 2709 transferred to York. Rumours abounded as to the reasoning behind this decision, the most notable being that it would be repainted into the Yorkshire Coastliner livery for use on the controversial winter 2013/2014 timetable. Following use on the 197 to York Racecourse, 2709 would go back to Starbeck.

2709 was last sighted in 2016 and it's believed to have been sold for scrap around the time for unknown reasons.

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19288 was new in 2008 to Stagecoach in Greater Manchester. Originally painted in the company's standard Beachball livery, it has spent its entire life at this division.

In 2024, 19288 was the final vehicle Stagecaoch repainted into a heritage livery, in this case, Magic Bus. 19470 was repainted into Greater Manchester Transport livery, 19532 was repainted into GM Buses South livery, and 19407 was repainted into North Western Road Car livery.

19288 only spent a small amount of time in service in this livery, likely only repainted as a final protest against the Bee Network. 19288 would operate the final journey out of Hyde Road before Tranche 3 of the Bee Network began on the 5th of January, 2025, spending this final day with its heritage brethren, plus 19001 which returned from Devon.

RIP Manchester's bus scene.

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MX59 FFV was new in 2009 to Arriva North West's depot in Manchester with the fleetnumber 3017. 3017 would transfer shortly after to Bootle and has never been repainted out of the Cotswald Stone livery it was new in.

In 2023, 3017 would be transferred to Speke where it mostly spent its time operating the short circular service 188 between Garston and Belle Vale. This was only a short assignment until the arrival of new Enviro 200 MMCs in late 2024 allowed 3017 to be transferred to Wakefield.

Wakefield is currently in possession of a fleet of four Optare Tempo vehicles which are non-standard. In order to facilitate their replacement, Arriva transferred a selection of Merseyside's Pulsar 2s to Wakefield, who already operate a large fleet of Merseyside expats. 3017 has since gained the fleetnumber 1440, but does not wear it.

Now, you're probably wondering why I've posted this. The answer is that I've sort of found my passion for this sort of thing again. I don't mind when people print these nets, that's what they're for. What bothers me is when people modify them without my consent, the majority of these have been incredibly lazy, which often undermines the amount of effort I put into creating original nets like my Streetdeck or my Yutong E10.

Merry Christmas.

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The only one of the First West Yorkshire heritage Geminis I had yet to get to, 37300 was the only non-Yorkshire-native one of the five, being new to First Greater Manchester's depot in Cheetham Hill in 2007. Originally painted in the company's then-standard Barbie livery, it would be repainted into Olympia and was transferred to Bury.

In 2015, 37300 transferred to First Huddersfield's depot on Old Fieldhouse Lane and had its "GREATER MANCHESTER" titles replaced with "HUDDERSFIELD". In November of that year, 37300 would be repainted into Huddersfield Corporation livery, matching Huddersfield-based Royale 30843, which would soon be sold to ConnexionsBuses.

With the Royales withdrawn and Huddersfield's fleet taking a major step down in quality, 37300 would be named "Fred Krigers" after a long-serving driver and would, for no apparent reason, be retrimmed with the 2008 moquette.

In 2019, 37300 was repainted into Holme Valley Connection livery which was disappointing. In 2021, it would be repainted again into Olympia before being repainted YET AGAIN into HD Connect livery in 2022. I swear this vehicle may hold the record for the most liveries ever worn in the First fleet.

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