Club Canary: Leicester City

807 sits in the sunshine at Carrow Road prior to departure

After hearing that one of Sander's new arrivals would be helping out take Norwich fans to Leicester today, I thought I'd head up there and see if I could photograph it, and take note of the other vehicles used. When I arrived, I was pleased to see not just one, but both of the newly acquired VDL SB4000 Berkhof Axial coaches. YJ12CHK is numbered 806 whilst sister YJ12CHX is numbered 807. Both retain their white paintjobs for the timebeing and are devoid of any fleetnames.

806 also sits in the sunshine, but not from this angle

In total, eleven coaches from Sanders made the trip, with their usual fleet of VanHools and Plaxtons making up the majority. Here's a list of the coaches involved: 801 YJ07JNO, 803 YJ07JWK, 804 YJ07JFV, 806 YJ12CHK, 807 YJ12CHX, 901 RDV903, 902 OGR647, 903 3990ME, 904 SGF965, 907 354TRT and 913 259VYC.

For those who are interested, Norwich lost 1-0.

Suffolk Norse to take on Anglian's 60J

SN56AYL on the 107 having just arrived from Gunton

Melvyn King once again pointed me in the direction of VOSA yesterday, in which Suffolk Norse have registered a new service. Numbered 108, the route will take over Anglian's 60J operating between Lowestoft and James Paget Hospital on the 28th March this year. From that day, passengers will likely be travelling on one of the many 60 seat Enviro300s which were acquired for school use, as they currently do on the 107 route which Suffolk Norse also operate in the town. UPDATE: Steve W has reminded me that the company also have a fleet of minibuses which often operate the 115 service, also in Lowestoft, so it is possible those may be used due to the low patronage of the route.

Fleet Update: FirstNorwich

After a bit of maths and research into the delivery of other depot's Wright StreetDecks, Norwich's Pink Line versions should be numbered 35193 to 35199, with the two standard livery buses being 35200 and 35201. however this is still to be confirmed.

20500 seen in Chelmsford on a hot summer's day in 2014

What can be confirmed however is that the current Volvo B7TL Plaxton Presidents which are Pink Line branded will be debranded shortly, and kept in the fleet indefinitely. Once the delivery of the StreetDecks are complete however will see a number of Presidents move elsewhere in the company to replace non-DDA examples that are still knocking around. Thanks to my contact at First for confirming this.

Also in Norwich, First Eastern Counties Buses Blog has reported the arrival of Volvo B12M Plaxton Paragon 20500 AO02RBX from Essex's Chelmsford depot. She joins sister 20501 AO02RBY as a permanent member of the Eastern Counties fleet. Click the link to find out more.

Fleet Update: Anglianbus

According to the companies official fleet list which was updated on the 22nd of this month, arriving on loan from Konect's withdrawn fleet is Volvo B7TL Wright Eclipse-Gemini 513 LB02YXE. She is needed to cover for some school contracts. This joins Solo 901 VX51RJZ which is also listed as on loan. Over at sister company Hedingham, Anglian Solo 904 MX53FDM is not marked as on loan and can be assumed to therefore be a permanent transfer, which is possibly some sort of swap deal for 712 T812RFG which has recently arrived back in the county from the Essex based company.

At Konectbus, a Wright StreetLite was noted parked up with some other company vehicles. I can confirm that it is one of Anglian's ex-buses but is only there for some repairs before it heads back to the dealer.

Smile and wave boys!

My intention wasn't to use a similar title to my last post for this one, but the jolly crew at Simonds followed Anglian's example today on their first day of operating services 85 and 86. I planned to travel the same route as I followed on Friday to photograph Simonds' vehicles in the same spots as the Anglian ones I took that day. Due to the lack of sun though, and other unforseen issues I didn't quite manage all of them.

Enviro200 MX11JYP looking a bit confused on the '86A'

MX11JYO passes 'the pink tree' as I shall now refer to it

The first stop of the day was on The Street, in Bergh Apton where I could see through the bushes down the road quite far so that I could see the bus about thirty seconds before it would come round the corner which gave me plenty of time to get into position. As it did appear, I nearly forgot to take the photo because I was marvelling at how the driver had seemed to have driven all the way from Norwich displaying 86A rather than just 86. The 86A operates from Simonds' depot in Diss, to the 86's starting point in Haddiscoe, at 0550 in the morning. It's purely for operational purposes so they don't have to run empty all the way to Haddiscoe but I wasn't expecting to photograph it, not until the summer anyway!

Having done that, I headed to Rockland St Mary in order to photograph the 85. I had timed it just right to photograph Enviro200 MX11JYO coming past the same cottage and blossoming tree that I'd watched Anglian's 959 AU08GLY go past just a couple of days earlier. Although the sun wasn't out this time it still made for a rather picturesque photograph.

Smile and wave boys!

Rather pleased with the results so far, I decided to head back to Bergh Apton to intercept the 86 again as it made it's way back from Haddiscoe. The idea was to photograph it displaying the correct destination screen this time and fortunately for me, it was! After a twenty minute wait for the scheduled time sat in my car, MX11JYP re-appeared in the distance so I took my stance at the side of the road where I photographed the bus driving past, complete with three happy looking Simond's employees all waving back at me. 

Thanks to those chaps for making my photo 100 times better with your kind gesture and I'll probably see you again when the sun decideds to make an appearence this week so make sure you save a wave for then!

Anglian wave goodbye to the 85 and 86

959 AU08GLY next to a blossoming tree in Rockland

Yesterday saw the last day of operation for Anglian's service 85 (Loddon to Norwich via Surlingham and Rockland) and service 86 (Haddiscoe to Norwich via Thurlton, Loddon, and Bergh Apton). The services will pass to Simonds of Botesdale tomorrow, where it is expected their Enviro200s will operate the services.

954 YN57HPU in Bergh Apton on the 86

On Friday, I planned a nice little circular route which would see me photograph both routes in some nice rural locations, should everything go to plan. Luckily, everything did go to plan! With the sun shining, and my maths regarding the angle at which it would be shining done, I found various locations in Bergh Apton and Seething for the 86, and Rockland for the 85. 

I will be following the same route tomorrow, which is the first day of Simonds operating the service  in order to photograph their buses on it. The sun isn't forecast to be out though but I'm looking forward to sharing my results with you. Until then though, it's goodbye from Anglian to the people of Loddon, Surlingham, Rockland, Haddiscoe, Thurlton, and Bergh Apton.

Lisa waves goodbye as she drives past me in on Mill Lane in Seething

Sarah follows suit witha  friendly fareweel in Rockland

It's all about the Pink

© Phill McAlinney 35194, the second bus to be photographed

Some people say the Norwich blogs get a bit too excited about new or repainted buses. That may be true in a way as I'm afraid I have another post regarding Norwich's new StreetDecks. After my previous report regarding the first registration of one of the new vehicles, First got in touch explaining that the buses won't be signed off until early March and so the vehicles will be re-registered with '16' plates rather than the current reported '65'. 

First Pink Line StreetDeck Photo

© Phil McAlinney

A photo appeared on my Flickr homepage yesterday of one of FirstNorwich's brand new deckers for the Pink Line group of services. The photographer, Phill McAlinney has kindly allowed me to reproduce it here.

It is captioned 35193 and will be registered SO65LPY.

Ambassador to the rescue

one of the Solos operating Ambassador's 577 service to
Chedgrave, seen outside East Norfolk Sixth Form.

Sorry for the sudden drop in posts, I've been rather busy this week. Contributor Melvyn King has alerted me to a recent VOSA publication in which we learn that Great Yarmouth based operator Ambassador Travel will be taking over Anglian's college service 68 from the 29th of March.

The 68 runs from Rackheath to Great Yarmouth College via East Norfolk Sixth Form and operates one return trip each school day and used to be numbered 731 before Anglian rejigged their network back in September 2013. As far as I'm aware, Ambassador only have two low floor vehicles in their fleet at the moment and so students are likely to be treated to a 2004 registered Optare Solo on a daily basis.

Reader Reports: Sanders Coaches

Regular contributor return2layerroad (on Flickr) to NBP has sent in this report (including photos) from his visit to Sanders Coaches today. In it include details of new arrivals, latest withdrawals and repaints.

one of the new Berkhofs ©return2layerroad

"The two Berkhof Axial bodied VDL SB4000 types which arrived last week are YJ12CHK new to Golden Tours of Victoria London in August 2012, (last recorded as far as I know with Edinburgh Coach Lines) and YJ12CHX new to Reays of Wigton in March 2012.  Currently in dealer white, they are to be repainted in full Sanders coach livery and will be numbered 806 and 807 respectively.  It is likely that one or both will be used prior to repaint on an NCFC away match travel. 

Recently acquired VDL Bova Futura type 805 YVJ677 (BT08LCT) is now in full Sanders coach livery.

YVJ677 resplendant in her new guise ©return2layerroad

On the bus side former Arriva South London Wright Gemini bodied DAF DB250LF type 104 LJ53NHP was in the Holt workshops having destination displays fitted etc prior to entry into service.  Vehicle 103 LJ53NHN should arrive next week.

Former Johnson Brothers of Henley in Arden Optare Olympus Scania N230UD type 120 PN09ELJ has gone for repaint into fleet livery.

Of the once numerous Wright Cadet bodied DAF SB120 types only 216 HE51BUS remains in active service.  Thus the 200 class consists of Optare Solos - 204/5/15, VDL SB120/Plaxton - 206-9 and DAF SB120/Wright - 216.

the refurbished interior of OmniCity 303 ©return2layerroad

Scania Omnicity type 303 YN53GFX has been fully refurbished inside and out in similar fashion to vehicle 301 YS03ZKR  

However, Scania Omnicity 304 YN03UWF becomes the first of the type to be withdrawn from active service and it is currently being stripped for spares.  Other vehicles noted in the withdrawn/stripping row at Holt were Wright bodied Scania L94UB type 310, plus Wright bodied DAF SB120 types 201/213/219 and 225. 

On demonstration loan to Sanders from Moseley (dealer) for evaluation is Sitcar bodied Iveco Daily type mini coach YD65DMF, which has been tried by a number of East Anglian independents.  

On the service front, a new timetable book will be issued from the Easter weekend and as noted in the latest online edition of N&P a new Monday to Friday service 15 North Walsham to Norwich via Smallburgh, Hoveton and Wroxham will commence.

The foggy and icy conditions on the morning of Tuesday 16^th February saw the A140 at Roughton blocked for several hours due to a series of accidents.  As a result service X44 was forced to take a lengthy diversion by using the service 6A route from Roughton to North Walsham (Greens Road) via Thorpe Market and the service 18 route from North Walsham to Aylsham via Felmingham and Colby."

I always welcome reader reports, so if you'd like to get in touch contact me on zak.nbp@gmail.com

Thanks to return2layerroad for the details.

BREAKING: First to run service to Poringland

First in Norwich are set to compete with Go-Ahead's Anglianbus with a service to Poringland. Thanks to Chris Speed for sending me and First Eastern Counties Fleet News the following for immediate publication.

"We are pleased to announce that from Monday 4th April we will be bringing the villages of Poringland & Framingham Earl into our Norwich Network with the introduction of a new fast, direct bus service.

The new route will carry the service number 40 and be known within the coloured network as the Charcoal Line.

It will operate every 30 minutes between Poringland and the city centre and will provice a direct, fast service from the housing areas on the eastern side of the village, and then travel via the main Bungay Road and Trowse bypass, terminating at Stand BQ on St Stephen's Street.

a First bus on diversion in Poringland last year

The introduction of this exciting new service will provide an important link from these areas (at present not served by our buses) onto our established, frequen, Norwich Network services with their range of important destinations such as the UEA, N&NUH and Railway Station etc.

All of our great value Norwich Network zone fares and tickets will be available on the service which we hope will encourage commuters, students, shoppers and families alike not just to use the route but also to continue their journeys on our other services once they reach the city centre. We will also be bringing mobile ticketing to these communities for the first time with our increasinly popular mTicket app.

A full launch plan for the service has been put together and will be rolled out in the coming weeks and months, so look out for more information as we officially annoucne the introduction of the service to the public very soon."

Some of Ipswich's Enviro200s are expected to transfer to Norwich for the service, as explained in Steve's Bus & Train Page post which can be read here.

The Perfect Day

As an enthusiast, we often have bad days when it comes to spotting. You get to your location, it starts raining, then you realise you left your gloves at home, your battery runs out, people are everywhere so you can't get a photo, the driver swears at you or deliberately speeds up to blur your pic, then the bus you want to catch home ends up being an hour late or early and  you're left wondering why you ever became an enthusiast in the first place. Well yesterday was not one of those days. Yesterday was the first days worth of spotting where everything went perfectly. Want to know why? Then read on...

FirstIpswich's 20514 WV02EUP

I arrived in Norwich at about 0800 in the morning before walking down to City College on Ipswich Road. My plan was to take some photographs of the many buses and coaches which were transporting their students to the Norfolk Showground to sit their mock exams. First had registered their special service 100 whilst other companies including Simonds, Norse and Marett's Chariots also helped out. Upon arrival I was greeted by First's Chris Limbach, who told me what to expect and basically outlined the plans for the day. The college had shut off some of the student car park to make room for a line of vehicles which were waiting to load which meant it was possible to get some good photos without loads of parked cars getting in the way. The first coach I saw was FirstIpswich's 20514 WV02EUP. Recently repainted and refurbished, the coach used to operate the X1 between Norwich & Great Yarmouth alongside sister 20515 WV02EUR. Both were transferred from Worcester in 2012.

39480 JJD480D passes 39623 NML623E outside the college

As promised, one of First's Routemasters was also present, but much to my delight it was later joined by a second. This was originally meant to be Great Yarmouth's Volvo Olympian 34111 W431CWX but since the plan was drawn up, it's suffered some damage which is likely to result in the vehicle being withdrawn. Fortunately though, the driver of the second Routemaster was none other than Des Speed, and he kindly allowed me onboard later on in the day when he was running empty to the Showground so that I could photograph at the other end of the operation. When we arrived there, there was a long line of coaches, mixed between Norse and Simonds. One of them, Norse 7175 LKZ4453 was the vehicle I used to travel to school on every day and so it was nice to 'catch up' with it, looking as clean as ever although it seems to have had plastic surgery on it's left-hand mirror.

Norse's 7175 LKZ4453 in green surroundings

My plan then was to walk over to Costessey Park & Ride to photograph a couple of buses up there which I managed successfully before heading over to Sainsburys for lunch. Whilst I was leaving the shop, I came across a route which I didn't even know existed. Sanders Coaches operate a free shuttle service to and from the supermarket and Costessey every Tuesday and Friday. 

Having refilled my stomach I then waited for X1 back to the city centre which arrived bang on time, and to add to my already fantastic day the front seats were vacant so I settled in for the ride back, making use of the free WiFi available to passengers. 

My day was still to improve however when I noted a couple of very rare workings, which you'll be able to read about next month in our Rare Spots series which you won't want to miss! Then to top the day off, my bus home was being driven by the driver who I photographed going through the floods in Saxlingham Nethergate which made local news reports as well as the worlds biggest selling Buses Magazine so I was able to get her contact details so I could send her copies as she was yet to see the photos in print.

So that sums up my 'Perfect Day'. There were no late buses or blurry photos, though I did nearly have a battery calamity before I remembered I'd packed my charger so that turned out ok, and I'll leave you with a list of vehicles noted, and some more photos from my trip, which will all be uploaded onto my flickr in due course.

First: 20501 AO02RBY, 20514 WV02EUP, 32438 LK53LZL, 33055 LN51GKO, 33151 LR02LXK, 33164 LR02LYA, 39480 JJD480D, 39623 NML623E, 66340 MV02VCP

Simonds: EM10GSM, YVF158, 4940VF, FJ06BSO

Marett's Chariots: BG65VXU

Norse: 7112 Y324YUT, 7118 Y334YUT, 7175 LKZ4453, 7179 LB52UYK, 7183 YM51WGN

a standing convoy of Norse vehicles, with First's Routemaster JJD480D at the back

FirstNorwich 33055 LN51GKO displaying the special 100 service

Marett's Chariots newest vehicle which the driver says is only four weeks old

32348 LK53LZL came to help from Great Yarmouth

and finally, Norwich's 66340 MV02VCP passes Simonds YVF158

Lynx to launch new bus service

Thanks to Lynx for sending me the following:

"Bus passengers in West Norfolk will soon benefit from new direct buses operating between King’s Lynn, Heacham & Hunstanton.

2 YJ55BJE in King's Lynn last year.

From Tuesday 29th March Lynx will launch new Service 36 which will be timed to meet trains from Cambridge London at King’s Lynn Railway Station and then after the Bus Station continue direct to Heacham and Hunstanton. The new hourly service will compliment Lynx’s existing 35 route meaning that the company, now one year old, will operate three buses per hour each way between King’s Lynn and Hunstanton.

Julian Patterson, Director of Lynx said “We’ve been inundated with feedback from customers since Stagecoach Norfolk Green withdrew their direct service to Hunstanton last year, so we’ve listened to their feedback and I’m pleased to announce that we’ll be providing a new service that takes just over 35 minutes to reach the seaside”.

Lynx also recently introduced an Oyster style smartcard named holdall, meaning that
customers receive discounted travel when they top-up online before travelling.

You can find for information at www.lynxbus.co.uk"

Norwich School Bus on Ebay

a screenshot of the ebay advert

As East Norfolk Bus Blog reported last week, one of Norwich School's old double deckers has cropped up in Great Yarmouth for sale. The Volvo Citybus is registered H653GPF and has been replaced by one of Norse's ex-Park & Ride Plaxton Presidents. A member of NBP's facebook page later informed me that the vehicles is being advertised on ebay, and at the time of writing, the bid stood at just £820! If I had enough savings I'd buy it myself but unfortunately my dream of owning a bus will have to wait a bit longer. 

Click here to go over to the ebay advertisement where you can see plenty more photos of the vehicle.

Simonds 85/86 Update

It's been a while since it was announced that Simonds of Botesdale would be taking over Anglian's route 85 which operates between Norwich and Loddon, and their 86 which runs from the City to Haddiscoe.

Simonds MX11JYP seen in Debenham back in 2014

It's been widely discussed as to what buses Simonds would use to operate the service. It was questioned whether they have enough buses to run it with their current fleet or if they would have to acquire a couple of Anglian's vehicles, but I can now confirm that they will operate the services with their own vehicles. Although there aren't any official allocations as of yet, they're most likely to be ran by their two 11 registered Enviro200s.

Thanks to Simonds for the info.

Timetables for revised services are now on their website. Click here to see the 85, or here for the 86.

NBP can now provide a Simonds fleet list! Click here and scroll to the bottom of the page to find it.

Red Line to be Replaced

36178 BD11CDX will soon have an all-blue front

Chris Speed has confirmed that Norwich's repaint scheme will continue this year. As said before, the Pink Line will receive a batch of nine Wright StreetDecks next month to replace the Presidents currently on the route. Seven of those will be branded with the pink fronts, whilst two will wear the standard livery.

I've had lots of questions recently regarding the Red Line and the Blue Line imparticular and I can now confirm that that the Red Line vehicles should be replaced this year but I can't say what by or when. I can say however that what has been rumoured on various social media sites is caterogically not true. Over on the Blue Line, the fleet of Volvo B9TL Wright Eclipse-Gemini 2s are expected to begin their repaint programme in April.

Thanks to Chris for the info.

Fleet Update: Anglianbus

©Jack Benee

Jack Benee reports that Hedingham's 712 T812RFG, a Dennis Trident East Lancs Lolyne has returned to Anglian. The vehicle was transferred to the Beccles-based company from Brighton & Hove back in 2012.

He's kindly allowed me to use his photo which is reproduced to the left here, seen at Anglian's depot shortly after arrival.

It is believed to be a permanent transfer.

Turquoise Line on the 27s Explained

© Grahame Bessey

In response to my Rare Spots post which I published a few days ago, I was contacted by a member of the team at First in Norwich who explains the reasoning behind the presence of the Turquoise Line bus on the 27. 

"The turquoise single decker normally operates an X1 relief from Dereham at 0750, and then moves on to the 27s during the day. Then it operates the 1645 service 13 to Spixworth and then spends the rest of the day on the 13A and 13B. I am surprised no one has picked up on it before now since this has been the case since the 4th of January. We have two turquoise single deckers but we cannot use both on the 13 because loadings are such that we need the double deckers on five of the six workings. The 27 doesn't have a colour, but we needed to use the second turquoise single decker somewhere so this seemed the best option in the short term. It may go back on Attleborough in due course but seats are more important that colours!"

He also mentions that the early morning X13 service from Attleborough is operated by a plain liveried B9 Gemini before starting work on the University services for the day.

Thanks to my contact for explaining this and allowing me to use his words on this post and to Grahame Bessey for allowing me to use his photograph. His flickr can be found here.

Sanders Duo in Service

The latest arrivals at Sanders of Holt have both entered service recently, and I was lucky enough to stumble across both of them today. The buses are 401 YH63CXE and 402 YH63CXF. Both are VDL SB200 Wright Pulsar 2's and previously operated for John Fishwick & Sons until they ceased trading in October.

401 in Great Yarmouth operating their service 6 from North Walsham

402 just pulling away from St Stephen's in Norwich having just dropped passengers off.

City College Exam Buses

one of First's Routemasters, NML623E, seen at Hemsby
operating their Summer only service 3 in 2013

I was contacted the other day by First with information about a number of extra buses which will be taking City College students to the Norfolk Showground to sit their exams next week. This is simply because there isn't enough space on the campus for the vast amount of students to all take their exams at the same time, so some have been allocated to take the trip down the A47.

The service has been registered as the 100 which is often used by First for special events, and as always, at least one Routemaster will be operating it on Tuesday the 9th, Wednesday the 10th and Thursday the 11th. This will be joined by either the second Routemaster or the remaining Olympian in the fleet which is based in Great Yarmouth. There will also be three other double deckers and two coaches plus other vehicles in the Simonds and Norse fleet. Buses are expected to leave the Southwell Gates by the pedestrian crossing and bus stop at about 0815 each morning.

FirstNorwich Latest

© Dan High

The latest Yellow Line decker has entered service today, as photographed to the right by Dan High. 32105 LT02ZCU joins sisters 32106 LT02ZCV and 32107 LT02ZCX alongside single decker 66976 KX05MGZ in the yellow livery. This has allowed the Yorkshire Renown 60626 R789WKW to return home.

Check back on the blog tomorrow at 10am to find out why and when First's service 100 will be operating next week, whilst on Saturday you'll find out the reasoning behind First's decision to use one of their Turquoise Line buses on the 27s as reported earlier in the Rare Spots post.

Pink Line Deckers Update

© David Oakley

Thanks to First I can now confirm that they will take delivery of nine Wright StreetDecks from March. Seven will have the pink fronts whilst two will be in the standard First livery so that they can be used elsewhere when needed. The New Livery Page has been updated accordingly.

To the left is one of Bristol's examples, 35106 SO15CUC taken by David Oakley in September last year. Norwich's buses are expected to wear a lighter shade of pink, similar to that already used on the President's branding.

Rare Spots: January '16

I've decided to bring back a popular series which I used to write when I first started on the blog, where I look at all the unusual sightings from the previous month. I'll include vehicles which do not usually operate on a certain route, or routes which I've photographed that don't operate very frequently so they often escape the cameras. 

NJI8242 with the number 558 visible in the windscreen

I'll start with Belle Coaches. The Lowestoft based company operate service 558 between Lowestoft and Norwich via Beccles every Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. One return trip is made so unless you just happen to be in the right place at the right time, you're unlikely to see it. It is usually operated by one of Belle's many Setra S315GT-HD coaches as seen to the left, photographed in Beccles doing the Tuesday route on the 12th.

What colour bus is meant to operate the 27?

Now to First. Not much to report here, apart from Norwich's Gemini 36180 BD11CDZ which was noted on Purple Line service 35 on the 2nd, which is usually operated by the fleet of purple branded Plaxton Presidents. More noteworthy however was the presence of Turquoise Line bus 66982 KX05MHL on the 27 route. According to the timetables, the 27 is the only non-coloured route in Norwich. However at the bus stops it is listed as Blue Line. Since this photo was taken on the 13th, a Turquoise single decker has been a common sight on the route so that's just confused me even more! 

Konectbus 901 operating Anglian's service 82

Over at Anglianbus the allocations seem to be so varied nowadays that I'm not sure anything can be classed as rare. The main news is the arrival of Konectbus liveried Optare Solo 901 VX51RJZ on loan which has been sticking to the less frequent routes in order to keep it out of sight so as not to confuse passengers in Norwich. I'm not sure how long it'll be sticking around which is why I've included it here. Other sightings include MAN EcoCity 112 AU13FBL on the 80/81 services on the 12th, whilst on the 5th, the usual gas bus operated number 7 was operated by 460 YN05HFF which is one of the remaining Scania OmniCitys, and also OmniDekka 556 YN55PZF was spotted on the 61 on the 26th.

Konectbus operated one of the old express branded Enviro400s on the Harford Park & Ride on the 2nd, in the form of 605 SN61CZV.

That's a might big vehicle to run a bus service!

Sanders take the award for the most bizaare allocation for this month however when I spotted 803 YJ07JWK, a VDL SB4000 VanHool T9 Alizee coach operating the X11 on the 21st. The route is usually operated by a single decker, with the occasional double deck-bus but this was the first time I'd seen a coach on it. 

That's it for January's Rare Spots, remember if you see anything which you think should make February's post, please send in reports, pictures or both to zak.nbp@gmail.com.

Fleet Update: Semmence & Co

note the destination screen! This is the first Semmence
vehicle to operate with an LED screen.

I was today informed that a new arrival would be operating Semmence's 10A service today which operates between Norwich and East Harling. FY52PMU is a MAN 14.220 East Lancs Myllennium which was acquired from Lodges Coaches. The vehicles still retains her former operator's livery and is photographed here today on St Stephen's Street. The bus will now be the regular vehicle on the service so there's plenty of opportunity to get snapping! 

I've also managed to acquire a fleet list for the company which can be seen by clicking here, and scrolling to the bottom of the page.

Norwich School Trident Again!

ex-Norwich Park & Ride PN03UMD in her new guise

Following on from my first spotting of one of the two ex-Norse Presidents that have been acquired by Norwich School (in which I only managed a rear shot), I just happened to be passing the UEA yesterday which threw up the perfect opportunity for me to photograph the vehicle properly this time! The empty bus was parked outside the Sportspark waiting for the students to finish swimming, gyming, playing hockey etc. and was even carrying a mini destination "screen" with UEA written on a piece of A4 paper.

Fleet Update: Konectbus

301 in happier times negotiating roadworks
at the Postwick Interchange

As those present on social media may have noticed last week, there was yet another bus fire in the region. Back in December, a Sanders double decker ceased to exist after it was engulfed in flames. This time however and for the first time in my memory the victim belongs to Konectbus. The bus involved is believed to be Optare Versa 301 MX08UZU and by the look of it it won't be back in service for a while, if at all. To read a news report about the incident, click here.

Fleet Lists

It's that time of the month again! All of the fleet lists have now been updated and are correct as of today, the 1st of February. Click on the Fleet Lists tab above, or click here to access them! January's lists have now been moved to the archive section, where a new 2016 page is now present. So if you need to have another look at those, then click here to head over to the archive.