As promised, here is part two of our special report of the annual Hop on a Bus Day at East Anglian Transport Museum. Whilst Kieran went inside the museum, Sam and I accompanied each other around the region, using a mixture of free heritage services and local bus routes.
Our first venture was out to Lowestoft and Yarmouth, where Sam not only photographed his first ex-Jersey dart, but one with a very interesting display screen!
We were greeted at Anglian's depot by a sudden downpour of rain, and ended up sheltering in a nearby Wright Streetlite which happened to have it's doors open for most of the visit. When the rain did stop, at the back of the yard were a bunch of withdrawn buses. from left to right, these are: X309NNO, T200CBC, HIL5679, X228WRA, R82EMB and AO52LJF.
955 (YN57HPZ) is only temporarily withdrawn and is expected back in service as soon as it is fixed. The main talking point amongst the enthusiasts, was the appearance of advertising boards on all the buses. Anglian seem to have struck an advertising deal with Chapelfield and intu, as all of the buses displayed similar adverts. Regarding the new logo, we have been told that it will be rolled out across the fleet in
the near future, along with a new livery. The new livery is reportedly similar to konectbus, with the colours inverted. This will mean the majority of the buses will still be yellow, with a straight (rather than swirly) blue block across the bottom panels. The first buses to wear this new appearance are likely to be the three recently acquired Optare Excels, which are still in konect's blue livery. We can also reveal that Anglian will be looking to replace the buses that have been withdrawn, and we have been told that the majority of the replacements are likely to be Optare Versas. This, and the new livery have not been fully confirmed and are subject to change.
