Bispham High bus ready for the road

 

Dart 163 with sister 162 in the background.

Our new "Catch22" bus service passes six of Blackpool's eight High Schools and one of these is Bispham High School that lost its direct link for students in South Shore when Blackpool Transport axed the through service 11 to Cleveleys in September 2011. We are working closely with Bispham High to promote our new bus service and restore the school's catchment for students living in the South Shore area. One result of this good working relationship is an all-over advert buus for the school. Ex-Stagecoach Dart 162 has been painted in Bispham High colours and is now ready for the road.

It could be Tottenham!

Left to right: RML2290, RML2391 & RCL2243 after duty on 12s.

It could almost be Tottenham garage from this atmospheric shot of three Routemasters in our Brinwell Road garage. RML2391 was a regular on route 73 in London, based at Tottenham, and this view shows it being shunted after a duty of our "Sea Front 12" service alongside RML2290 and semi-open top RCL2243. Unfortunately, RML2391 has developed a gear selection fault with its gears seemingly going on random selection - something to sort out in the week!

Bristol VRT 528 pulls in the punters!

Illumination Saturdays are often the busiest weekends of the year and Saturday 22 September was no exception. Our Bristol VRT 528 (DCA528X) was back in service following a radiator and water pump change and it is seen here, fully loaded with passengers bound for Pleasure Beach.

ex-Crosville VRT 528 departs North Pier fully loaded southbound for Pleasure Beach

Ex-Stagecoach Volvo 899 enters service

Our former Stagecoach North West Volvo B10M entered service for the first time on the afternoon of Friday 21 September on one of the contracts we operate for Blackpool & the Fylde College. 899 has had a repaint into CBNW fleet livery of London red and looks absolutely superb! It is a fabulous bus to drive and its condition belies its 15-years of age - it was new to Stagecoach in Manchester in August 1997.

899 posed at Wesham following its first passenger carrying run with CBNW following repaint into our London red livery.

22s are back with a vengence!

Driver Roy Binns prepares to depart our Brinwell Road depot with the first 22 departure at 0634 on Monday 10 September with Dart 512 (X512UAT)

Well it was back in April 2001 when the original 22s ran for the last time but on 10 September the number has reappeared with our "Catch22" service operating between Mereside and Cleveleys, along some former sections of the original 22, but with several tweaks. Operating every 30 minutes, the 22 now has its own website (www.catch22bus.co.uk) and a dedicated fleet of low floor Dennis Dart buses.

Ex-Stagecoach London Dennis Dart 162 in full CBNW fleet livery on the 22 - but still awaiting branding for the Catch 22 which will be applied soon.

Darts enter service and preparing for "Catch 22"

Ex-Stagecoach Dart 162 (V162MVX) repanelled prior to repaint & MoT

The two ex-Stagecoach London Darts have both been repanelled and prepared for MoT tests over the last few weeks and they are now ready for receiving all-red CBNW fleet livery. Meanwhile, ex-Transdev Dart 533 (X533UAT) entered service yesterday on Sea Front 12 allowing our existing pool of drivers to be familiarised with these low floor buses.