New in May 1965, RM 2208 was one of the many AEC Routemasters new to London Transport whilst as well as the rest of the fleet, this bus was initially painted into the traditional London Transport red livery when new.

But in later years the bus didn't stay in those colours as it had a very eventful life. RM 2208 was later repainted into the very smart green/cream/red Shillibeer Omnibus livery. Soon the bus would at some point be repainted back into red although would not be staying in London as the bus would later find favour with Clydeside who were also working a few Routemasters already. Whilst at Clydeside the bus would be repainted again but into the new owners red/yellow livery.

Sadly RM 2208's time in service came to an end but would end up getting saved, so the bus once under new ownership would be repainted back into the Shillibeer Omnibus livery again whilst owned by the Big Red Bus Company.

Today RM 2208 still exists but now is sporting her original red livery.

Although in a way sad that the bus no longer wears the Shillibeer livery as the livery looked really eye catching and seemed to suit the lines of the Routemaster very well the livery still exists on a Daimler DMS no.2646 owned by Ensignbus and also in October 2011 RM 2208 was modelled by Corgi in OO (1:76 scale) carrying the Shillibeer Omnibus livery with a choice of two destinations with 2B to Victoria or Crystal Place. The model also features adverts for North Thames Gas as seen in or around the 70s. A similar model is planned to be released by Oxford Diecast for 2025 but the model will depict sister vehicle RM 2191 in TT 1:120 scale.

Shillibeer Omnibus dates back to 1829 set up by George Shillibeer as the company worked horse drawn buses. Sadly no buses from that era exist to this day however a replica has been built and resides at the Covent Garden Museum of Transport.

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37450 was new to First Manchester in January 2009 and was one of many Wright Eclipse Gemini bodied Volvo B9TLs for Oldham Depot. The bus was initially painted into the Barbie livery and was often working the 59 service.

Later in 2012, the bus was repainted into the Olympia livery with text which reads 'We believe in improving your buses' under the lower deck only to be replaced with skyline branding for the 58 and 59. Eventually, the branding was removed and was replaced by Greater Manchester skyline fleet names. All that happened within or around a year!

11 years gone by and the bus had no change until its time in Manchester came to an end when it fell out of favour with First Manchester downsizing their fleet as a number of their Volvo B9TLs were transferred over the Pennines and got transferred to Leeds' Hunslet Park depot.

With 37450, this batch replaced the Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 bodied Volvo B5LH hybrids for the 7/7A/7S/X7 services as the buses were becoming unreliable. These Volvo B9TLs were the only viable replacements for the hybrids as the buses had to use the guided busway and the diesel StreetDecks could not unless it was the X7.

For its time in Leeds, 37450 was repainted into the two-tone green Leeds City livery and was of course fitted with guide wheels as the bus still to this day works from Hunslet Park working the 7/7A/7S/X7 routes whilst often escaping onto the other services.

The 7A was part of the 7 Series routes launched in 2011 upon the hybrid fleet's arrival along with the 7, 7S and X7. The routes were previously numbered as 35, 45, 47, X35 and 71 and were once under the Superbus brand from the Yorkshire Rider era using Alexander Strider bodied Scania N113s. The only chance from then was the choice of vehicle with Wright Axcess Ultralows new in 1997 then Wright Eclipse Urbans new in 2008 but by this time the Superbus brand was discontinued in favour of the Overground Peach Lines.

With the hybrid buses gone the replacements we see now are actually around three years older and there's no new buses coming in at the moment. Instead the now 17 year old buses are gradually being repainted and refurbished into the new 'Ultraviolet' livery and interior same as the electric fleet. This means these 7 services will be using 100% old fleet with the choice of vehicle most likely being worked by a Wright Eclipse Gemini unless a loaner comes in from Bramley.

These services should not be confused with Transdev's existing route 7 which links Harrogate to Leeds using a fresh fleet of new Mercedes-Benz eCitaros. When will see see new buses for the Scott Hall Road services? Only time will tell!

Tags:   First West Yorkshire First Leeds Volvo B9TL / Wright Eclipse Gemini

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This drawing was drawn in memory of bus enthusiast Robert Lidster who passed away aged 40 after being battling leukaemia after being diagnosed in 2021. He was also a keen follower of my page and was following the progress of this drawing but sadly never got to see it complete.

Like me, Robert has also done bus drawings which can be viewed on his Flickr following this link here. www.flickr.com/photos/robertlidster/albums/72157666652258...

For this occasion, Harrogate Bus Company's no.2201 carries his name in the drawing and although not a reality although would love to see this happen.

So 2201 was new to The Harrogate Bus Company and is part of a large batch of Alexander Dennis Enviro400 EVs for the flagship 36 service linking Leeds to Harrogate and Ripon.

The service is still mainly used by Wright Gemini 3 bodied Volvo B5TLs as these buses are slowly being phased in with the amount of technology these carry on-board. Whilst visually similar to the current fleet which is now nine years old, there are big differences with the main one being that these new buses are electric and like the Volvo 7900e fleet these are charged up at Harrogate Bus Station whilst parked up at the stands via overhead charging equipment. The buses are also featuring new features such as more next stop screens, new LCD destination displays which is a big first for any bus to my knowledge and easy to see seats so some with visual disabilities could find it better to locate a seat.

Like the Volvo B5TL fleet, these buses feature two rear tables and a 2+1 seating layout upstairs but unlike them they feature a side mounted table on each seat with a cup holder and of course the '36 library' is still carried on as the bus features a red shelf over the front nearside wheel for books.

Also the fleet carry a unique bit of branding at the rear of each bus like the Mercedes-Benz eCitaros they are sharing the limelight with at the moment as most if not all of those buses are in service right now on routes 1, 7 and 24.

Also, this is the first time since the mid-90s when Alexander buses were bought for the 36 as in the Blazefield era, Volvo single and double deckers with Alexander Strider and Alexander Royale bodies were bought for that service.

No.2201 has only been out a few times so far with the last time being December 2024 but the first debut of this stunning vehicle was back in June 18th 2024 attending a 'launch event' in Harrogate with the help of BF24 AHC the eCitaro demonstrator on long term loan to the company until things settle down with the current fleet, similar older demonstrator MB21 BUS is also here and has spent most of its life with Transdev.

This version of the Enviro400 EV replaces the Enviro400 City-styled version which had running parts from Chinese firm BYD. Unlike the original Enviro400 EV this one is integral using ADL's own parts. The bodywork has been redesigned from the now 10 year old MMC style as for one the front end has been redesigned to comply with the new TfL standards on windscreens, as a result of this Wrightbus' newest buses also show this feature with a lightly facelifted front end.

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New in February 1995 to Yorkshire Rider, 40608 originally numbered 3235 was part of a large fleet of Dennis Darts with Alexander Dash body. The buses were mainly based at Leeds which replaced slightly older Volvo B6s with again Alexander Dash bodywork. Unlike the buses they replaced, the Dennis Darts were initially painted into the then-new Badgerline inspired Yorkshire Rider livery. They were seen on many of the lesser mainstream corridors around Leeds before they eventually split up for transfer to Badgerline and York whilst some stayed in Leeds.

3235 never got to wear the Leeds City Link colours as it retained its original livery for just a bit longer until the bus was repainted into the Barbie 2 livery sometime around 2001.

After being renumbered as 40608, the bus was repainted into the Barbie 3 livery and was eventually working out of Hunslet Park after transfer away from Bramley depot.

Towards the end, 40608 was fitted with an LED destination display before eventual withdrawal in the late 2000s as it was until 2009 when all of First West Yorkshire's step entry bus fleet was withdrawn, preserved or scrapped.

Route 46 had a few changes having replaced AJC's and Quickstep's 68 service. Once the route extended to Woodhouse but the route latterly served Shadwell in the latter years before the 64 replaced it. Today we have the 65 service which is served mainly by Wright StreetDeck diesels and electrics.

Tags:   First West Yorkshire

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New in July 1994, 5401 was new to Yorkshire Rider and was one of a large fleet of Volvo Olympians. They were built to full height or low height as the low height ones were for Todmorden and Halifax. The full height ones were mainly for Bradford and were mainly seen on the main corridors like the popular X6 service linking Leeds to Huddersfield via Bradford.

In later life a few years later, First bought Badgerline who had owned Yorkshire Rider when 5401 was only a year old, this meant for a time 5401 would wear temporary 'Bradford Traveller fleet names and then would eventually being painted in one of the many versions of the two-tone blue/red Bradford Traveller livery.

The bus would later in the early 2000s be painted into the Barbie 2 livery and just later 5401 was renumbered as 30754 whilst by this time was mostly working the 670 and 671 linking Bradford to Leeds but on a more scenic way round. To be fair the bus was on the few Leeds/Bradford services including the now bygone 711 service linking White Rose Centre to Bradford via Pudsey.

Later, the bus would be painted into the Barbie 3 livery whilst also been fitted with new LED destination displays.

Unfortunately the bus never was seen outside Bradford whilst some of the same L-PWR Volvo Olympian fleet were transferred to Leeds when some Wright Fusions were withdrawn at Hunslet and even more sad none of this batch survive into preservation as all are most likely scrapped.

Route X6 has been relatively unchanged right from the Yorkshire Rider era until 2016 as the route originally extended to Huddersfield whilst from 2016 onwards the route only linked Bradford and Leeds using Wright StreetDecks as the choice of vehicle couldn't even work on guided busways whereas the buses they replaced the Wright Eclipse Geminis could. Still to this day the X6 is the main link between Bradford and Leeds with the 72 being the second which that route has also seen some changes including the use of Wright StreetCars for four years between 2012 and 2016 and more latterly the route is now a 24 hour service.

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