News from Oxford, High Wycombe
& the surrounding areas

last updated Sunday, February 7th 1999 - 1500hrs

Well as a surprise to all our visitors, after limited updates, here we are with an update within the week and containing some hot news items. After a period of quiet we are now starting 1999 with changes in the City fleets.

We are able to inc;include a nice picture of ex London Country Olympian 976 prior to its departure from Oxford works to High Wycombe. It certainly looks very smart.

Stagecoach Oxford has surprised us all with the arrival of three Selkent Olympians on loan to assist with the Brookes University contract. These will be replaced in due course by corporate liveried Olympians from the same batch and which will have been converted to single door. 518 has been deputising for 514 now away for accident repairs and 516 has also suffered from problems as well. It is interesting to note that these London Olympians; are 14' 6" high  which has resulted in a notice in the drivers cab regarding Botley Road railway bridge which is 13'8" high. Driver are warned not to take the red deckers under that bridge! The Selkent portion of the company logo has been replaced with an Oxford one as a temporary measure. They will not receive corporate livery. The three buses are L10 (C810BYY) ,L15 (C815BYY) and L74 (C74CHM). It is not known at this time which three Olympians will be transferred to replace them.

Another interesting development on Tiger coaches 74 and 75, once used on the X50 Stratford-Oxford service, is their reregistration, reverting to their original as new registrations C211PPE and C212PPE, 74 and 75 respectively. They were once of course the pride of Green Line's fleet as STL11 and 12. The "cherished" registrations 4828 VC and 9737 VC have been transferred to Berkhof Excellences 8 (formerly N41 MJO), the original red/gold Anniversary coach, and 12 (N42 MJO), which wears the unique red "12 minutes" promotional livery.

Relating to the Oxford Transport Strategy's changes to traffic in the centre of Oxford, we hope to bring you details in our next edition as to how the bus services will be re-routed. As previously advised Cornmarket will be closed to ALL traffic between 7.30am and 6.30pm. causing services using that route to be diverted. This will include both Park & Ride services and 950, the only ex London Titan to be given P&R livery can be still seen every day operating the 300 Redbridge-Peartree service.  You can review the changes and look at a map on the Oxford County Council Web Site: http://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/     

This week we include pictures in our visiting coaches section and with the onset of the '99 season we expect that many more opportunities will occur. Certainly the working of the 75 Cambridge service by a Wycombe Bus Leyland Olympian double deck coach was unusual in the extreme. 

On the Oxford Bus scene, 512 is presently going through works, one of the last Marshall bodied batch to do so. Also noted in works was ex Wycombe Mercedes 709, being prepared for service with Chiltern Queens, an enthusiastic user of ex Oxford company buses and coaches.

We hope you continue to like this news section, which will give us the opportunity to comment on the local scene in an informal way.