2014; Year Review ~ Part 2

Hi all, Welcome to Part 2 of the year review. This post will cover June to September 2014. 

To begin, FirstBus began their Summer 3 Service in Great Yarmouth whilst First in Lowestoft began their route 99. FirstGreatYarmouth sent EY05FYP & also FJ08FYN to Lowestoft for this. But Great Yarmouth didn't miss out, they gained 7 Volvo ALX400s from Leicester. These are numbered 32058 to 32065 (no 32060). One of them, 32061 W221XBD, was sent to Ipswich to cover for their B7TLs being repainted. Summer also saw the annual Hop On Bus Day (EATM) event, which Zak attended.  Shortly after the event, a surprise demonstrator appeared in Norwich. 

Moving on, Reynolds announced in the summer that they were going to sell a few of their fleet. Caetano MidiBus FJ54MOA was one of them and had only been with Reynolds about a year. W600JSB, a Mercedes Benz Vario, was another up for sale. She was never painted out of her white Livery. After a few months, it was realised these coaches were sold so Reynolds could purchase newer, more suitable buses. These were in the form of 2 Plaxton Paragons, immediately painted in to their Silver Livery. 

Konect lost their last East Lancs bodied Trident to Hedingham in July. W827NNJ was new to Brighton & Hove in March 2000 and was acquired by Konect in December 2012. AnglianBus began to apply their new logo onto their fleet at roughly the same point of the year. 

Finally, AbellioGreaterAnglia took the decision to hire a few buses from First over the summer, as a contingency plan for when disruption occurred or lines were blocked. This contract saw the use of: Plaxton Paragons 20514 WV02EUP and also of 20515 WV02EUR from the Norwich depot; 37562 FJ08FYN, a Volvo Gemini; and 2 Scania Irizar PB coaches from First Southampton (23312 YN54NYT & 23314 YN54NYM). The coaches were on general standby from 0600am until around midnight. Other Train Stations, Including Witham & Colchester, also have buses on standby, but from different operators (Such as Panther Travel). 

Part 3 will follow tomorrow, Covering StreetLites, 60622 on loan to Great Yarmouth, the transfer of Enviro 200s to Norwich, The New FirstNorwich livery, and also a recent addition to Sanders. Here's a taster:

33166, In the Purple Line FirstNorwich Livery