News from Oxford
High Wycombe & the surrounding areas

update Sunday 12th 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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A business engagement in Glasgow precluded me from driving this weekend and so I thought I would take the opportunity to show you some pictures from the past. for some of you I am sure this will revive memories of Oxford, only a few years ago - the late '80s to be precise. Also an opportunity to remember other double deck coaches in the City. My trip to Glasgow produced two endearing memories, of an airport service operated by buses whose windows are most difficult to see out of and a bus spotting dog !  Read on....

A short visit to Stagecoach Oxford on Sunday revealed a few interesting shots and so on to the photos.

Arriva Scotland West operates the Citylink 905 service into Glasgow.
The buses used are DAF SB220/Plaxton Prestige LPG fuelled vehicles. Some are overall 
adverts and here we see 495 (T495KGB) awaiting departure from the airport.
The disadvantage to these liveries are the very poor vision for the passengers.
Many will remember similar gas buses operating in Oxford on 15 road.

Can you make out the dog on the front seat upstairs ?
This young fellow was really enjoying the ride.
I could have sworn he was bus spotting !!
The bus was VO162 - R662DUS in "Barbie" livery and a far cry from the
orange, green and cream Atlanteans seen in the city not so many years ago.

Its that dog again !

Back home and Stagecoach Oxford on a very wet Sunday morning revealed a recent arrival from Midland Red South, a Merc nr 424.

424 - K424ASRW, still with Midland Red vinyls flanked by 331 and 332 with 328 to the left of picture.

The Oxford Tube is now exclusively the haunt of the M A N double deck coaches and an interesting comparison of backs is revealed at Horspath Depot on a Sunday morning, 12/12/99 to be precise.

In addition to the five Tubes, we also see 761, a Dart single deck with the Thames Valley crime advert. 



Finally we can see three saloons resting up which include two of the Volvo B6s ex Manchester . 
For those followers of Stagecoach, this batch have now been scattered far and wide. 
We see 709, 833 and 836. 833 is in Rose Hill Runner red !

OXFORD ARCHIVE

Going back a few years, white was the colour and those Olympians of Oxford Bus
 now at Wycombe had just entered service on the Park&Ride between Seacourt and Redbridge. 
The scene is by Debenhams and the summer of 1989 reveals 226, Seacourt bound 
passing Redbridge bound 227. Cornmarket was still a bus route 10 years ago !!

Remember when ? Oxford Bus had double deck coaches, Metroliners. you can still see
one of two in London, now on sightseeing work. I featured two during the late summer in 
these pages. In 1989, 904 B904XJO, was unusually operating the X70 to Heathrow. 
Drivers who remember those days remark how difficult it was to have these coaches
on the airport service, with baggage all over the place. Sadly they were also not so very
reliable and the interiors soon became rather dated and dark.  

Finally for this week, as a memory of when Oxford Citylink ran the 290 to London Victoria 
via Stokenchurch, high Wycombe and Uxbridge, we see Leopard nr 20 operating 
the very last service from London to Oxford via the old road. 
This service was then taken over by Green Line and now survives 
as the much truncated Arriva 300 service between Uxbridge and Oxford, 
often operated by Mercedes minibuses. !!!
Two of these Leopards (21 and 23) are retained in the driving school.

A quiet week on the City front with little to report. However Edmund Tresham emailed to say that he rode on Cityline Volvo B10B number 602 on the 13A on Thursday evening. Earlier in the day he had seen a Dart SLF at the side of the road near St. Clements church with the Oxford Bus Company breakdown truck in attendance. He suggests that the two events may not be entirely unrelated.  

Thanks to Edward for his report. Do keep the reports coming in as they add interest to the page.

 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