New in late 2005/early 2006, 69017 was new to First Glasgow as part of a large batch of Wright bodied Volvo B7RLEs.

69017 was one of those that didn't stay with in Scotland for that long as it was later transferred to First South Yorkshire where it remained for most of its life. It was when it was here when it was repainted into the Olympia livery sometime in 2012/2013.

A few years later 69017 was transferred to First Buses of Somerset where it then sported the new two tone green livery with cream swoop for its stay.

Later on back in 2018 it was transferred back to First South Yorkshire whilst still carrying the First Buses of Somerset green livery. It was during this time when Somerset were ousting quite a few Volvo B7RLEs which made it to a few Yorkshire based depots including both Leeds' Bramley and Hunslet depots and Halifax.

But later that year, 69017 was soon to receive a lot of attention as it was repainted into the old red and yellow Mainline livery and was also given 'fake' fleetnumber 1017. It attended a rally shortly after repaint as a few other heritage repainted buses made it from elsewhere in Yorkshire including 37674 and 69374 (both in Yorkshire Rider livery) which the latter was done not long before 69017 was repainted in this livery.

In Summer 2020, 69017 was transferred to First Norwich however its not known if it'll be used for service work or driver training duties. This move understandably angered some local bus enthusiasts. But the anger didn't last long as a year later, ex-First Manchester 69527 was repainted into the Mainline livery with black front end as it was debuted on 22/08/2021 at the Olive Grove Depot running day.

Just to let you know, unauthorised use of my photos and drawings is strictly prohibited. All my work is done using MS Paint, I don't copy and paste images off Google and use on my work unless stated otherwise.

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I am to post bus drawings more often on Twitter throughout 2021, and the link to my Twitter account can be found right here where I also post about the odd random thing aswell > twitter.com/MetroRider30

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Bringing back a time when the streets of South Yorkshire was filled with Dennis Dominators and other buses which wore the South Yorkshire Transport livery is this Wright Eclipse Gemini, new in 2008/2009.

It was new to First South Yorkshire as it was later repainted into the Olympia livery after spending about four years (already half its own life) in Barbie livery while branded for the 75 and 76 as it later spent time on the 120 aswell once it got debranded. But it also wore an overall advert for Vodafone.

Its time in Olympia livery was short as 37524 became one of the celebrities of the fleet as it was repainted in the once common South Yorkshire Transport livery among a few other similar buses which also were repainted in heritage liveries as five buses altogether all Wright Eclipse Geminis wear them.

37524 was an attraction at a few events, many of them local as it even attending a running day at Sandtoft Trolleybus museum with another heritage liveried Volvo B9TL it operates with as there was the unique and newest trolleybus in the UK which was a Dennis Dominator, one of Sheffield's more popular bus types.

Still to this day 37524 wears the much loved SYT livery but the branding has been revised a little and the fleet number has been changed to 1524 and now is named after Alan Yates who was a bus driver who worked at Greenland Rd for a number of years. On 9/2/2024 the bus saw its first or possibly only spell away from South Yorkshire as she temporarily migrated north to York for a day on route 7 (York Rail Station-Designer Outlet), also a few Wright StreetDecks from Leeds and a Wright Eclipse Urban from Halifax also joined this bus. The reason for the number of loans is because of a power cut at First York resulting in a number of electric buses being out of action as they weren't fully charged causing more criticism against electric buses on social media. One wonders when everywhere turns all-electric and there are power cuts in a number of regions due to bad weather, this is where a diesel back-up generator would be a good idea, Transdev Harrogate adapted this feature at Harrogate bus station for a while when the Volvo 7900es were new.

For people who don't know, I do all my work using only Microsoft Paint, drawing vehicles. I use no other program for scaling or anything else. :-)

**Notice about copyright** It is an offence to steal any of my work, if you do steal, your uploads will be reported, your request if you have one pending will be cancelled and you will be blocked. And this also applies to stealing parts along with stealing whole vehicle drawings.

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Now withdrawn, the Wright Renowns were the last remaining Volvo B10s operating with First South Yorkshire since 1998 until 31/10/15, a rather unlucky day with it being Halloween as their last day.

Interestingly when new, no.822 was seen across the Channel in Rotherham's home town of St. Quentin all the way in Northern France as UK built low floor buses are rarely seen abroad as I only recall the three Wright NB4Ls on their world tour.

No.822 became 60640 when First's national five digit number came into force and had two of its front lights taken out in a bid to probably improve the appearance or to cut operational costs.

60640 is no longer with First South Yorkshire as it was recently refurbished for Driver Training Duties as it now wears the Driver Training Olympia livery as many of First South Yorkshire's Volvo B10s have been scattered across the surrounding Yorkshire and Manchester based depots.

The first Wright Renowns for First Mainline wore the famous red and yellow livery with matching interior as this came after First purchasing the Volvo B10M with Alexander PS body.

First South Yorkshire gave these B10BLEs a generous send off like with their previous legends of Sheffield and the surrounding areas, the Dennis Dominator, and the Alexander PS bodied Volvo B10Ms which have too been seeing driver training duties in other First fleets although many have been replaced by Wright Renowns from again First South Yorkshire.

The Wright Renown was and still is a reliable bus as many operators still find good use with them like Transdev/Blazefield who still refurbish theirs. The Wright Renown was also a substitute for the unreliable (yet near identical) Wright Liberator on the Volvo B10L as the Volvo B10BLE chassis is a mix between the B10B and B10L as the rear comes from the B10BLE, and the B10L at the front with the low floor, as the only visual difference with the interior is the flat floor of the B10L extending beyond the rear axle.

For people who don't know, I do all my work using Microsoft Paint, drawing vehicles.

**Notice about copyright** It is an offence to steal any of my work, if you do steal, your uploads will be reported, your request if you have one pending will be cancelled and you will be blocked. And this also applies to stealing parts along with stealing whole vehicle drawings.

If you like just my bus drawings please like the MBD page, and if you like all my drawings as the range is quite small, please like Transport Art on Twitter and Facebook. Links provided below!

www.facebook.com/Transport-Art-1574891209418822/?fref=ts
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Requested by Steven Butler

The Dennis Dominator was mostly known with South Yorkshire Transport and proved to be well loved particularly in Sheffield as a few survived until they were painted in First's Barbie colours.

The Dennis Dominator also found favour with other operators around the UK and interestingly in Hong Kong along with the tri axle variant of the Dominator which was the Dennis Dragon.

SYPTE was well known for their Dominators right up until 2006 when First South Yorkshire ousted them from regular use. Perhaps the most interesting of the Dennis Dominators in the UK is the sole trolleybus version which is the most recent type of such to be built in the UK.

2243 survived into the late 90s when its final livery would be the Mainline colours before being withdrawn and later scrapped shortly after.

And by request I removed the black lines which have been seen on all of my previous bus drawings and are now a thing of the past.

First's 37524, A Wright Eclipse Gemini now wears this livery as seen on this Dennis Dominator as a few other buses in the First South Yorkshire fleet wear a few heritage liveries. 37524's current state can be seen here. www.flickr.com/photos/73079833@N02/27366748476/in/album-7...

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