News from Oxford
High Wycombe & the surrounding areas

update Sunday 5th December 1999 by Malcolm Crowe

Please note that any comments made in this news page are those of the Editors' and in no way constitute 
any official points of view from the bus companies mentioned,  or indeed any other official body. 
As a news page we reserve the right to make valid comments as seen from an editorial point of view.

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Problems with the pictures ! - sometimes it seems that the pictures do not load.
I have found a solution which does work normally - 
RIGHT CLICK ON THE PICTURE AND THEN CLICK ON "SHOW PICTURE"
Good luck !

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One of the nice things about driving in Oxford on a part time basis is the variety. Local work was the order of the day this last Saturday and your Editor found himself on 13 and 60 roads which are very different to Park & ride or Citylink. Nevertheless all driving work is interesting and a further route section was recorded with the 13C to Marston Village. Darts were the buses and 402, 410 and 504 provided the days driving. 

The terminus for the 13A at Northway is on Halliday Hill. 
There is a 15 minute headway over the main part of the route on Saturdays.
Here 410 waits time on 4th December in the early afternoon.

The 60 goes to Wolvercote, a place used in a Morse episode, "The Wolvercote Tongue" .  After a busy service along the Woodstock Road, the bus turns left at First Turn and goes down to Wolvercote Green and yet another Oxford housing estate. 

The opportunity was taken on Saturday to catch up with a few buses I have been trying to photograph for a number of weeks now. First to be caught was Arriva's Merc in Sainsburys livery operating the 300 to Uxbridge. Nr 2142, N372JGS, is a Mercedes 709D with Plaxton Beaver 27 seat bus bodywork.

Ironically this bus was operating the 372 in High Wycombe on Sunday. 
Somewhat appropriate in view of its registration. 

The next to be caught on film was Heyfordian's ex London Metrorider and it is seen below in St Aldates awaiting time on service 7C. which has at one time or another been operated both by city of Oxford and Stagecoach.

K428HWY seen awaiting time near Christ Church, Oxford on 4th December 99. 

Finally one of Motts Mercedes , B6RMT is seen on layover in Oxford whilst operating route 37 last Saturday. This coach is an Optare StarRider with 28 seats on a Mercedes 814D chassis which started life with Ralphs of Langley registered K935GWR.

The weather was very cold and in many parts of the country it was snowing. Below we see the first of the Oxford Tube M A N s , number 34 loading in The high by Queens Lane, London bound. This coach is the only one to not have over window vynils as it was all hand painted before delivery by the suppliers. It is also sad to see the lack of wheel trims on the rear wheels, a noticeable and growing feature of the Tube fleet in recent weeks. The coach looks less than appealing with black wheels in my opinion !

Finally in Oxford unusual workings were Stagecoach Merc. 372 on route 7 on Saturday afternoon and very full of football supporters en route to Headington and Oxford United. Thursday 2nd December saw 403 on 51 and 406 on 51A, both unusual workings since this route is normally served by 5xx Darts. Finally Saturday last saw Olympian 208 in service on 300 road, doubtless covering for Trident 105 which was damaged in the incident with the Marks & Spencers clock some weeks ago. Olympians 214, 223 and 224 are still at Wycombe. 

Moving to Wycombe, Dart 522 has now joined 524 though none of these refurbished Darts are yet in service. It is intended that they will be used to upgrade the 326 in the New Year with increased frequencies.

No two buses are alike after a few years and these two Darts have detail differences.
See if you can spot at least one !

It is noticeable that High Wycombe seems to have more than its share of buses with full rear ads. It not just one company either as my next selection of pictures shows. 

Beeline 215 is overtaken by Wycombe 424 by Tesco.
(Thanks to Stephen le Bras for spotting my error on the fleet number 218 !)

Newlands Bus Station was host to Arriva 3113 on Sunday morning, This is a Volvo B6-9.9m
Northern Counties Paladin bodied bus with 40 seat and low floor capability.
This bus also has a rear ad "fighting crime" !

 If anyone has any further news please email below.

Malcolmhc@aol.com 

It adds to the interest of the page which I'm sure everyone appreciates.

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You can still view 
the Tube launch report  
and 
the Oxford Bus P&R Trident launch - Dateline Tuesday June 1st 1999  
Click above

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THE OXFORD BUS MUSEUM