News from Oxford
High Wycombe & the surrounding areas

update Sunday 14th November 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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Having been away for a few weeks, I needed to catch up on goings on in and around Oxford.  Several incidents took place this last week and perhaps the most significant was the screening of Top Gear on BBC when Quentin Willson presented a piece about Oxford, unfriendly to cars, too many buses and claiming business lost by traders ! For those of us involved with operating buses in Oxford this seemed a very biased piece of journalism, leaving one wondering how with the increase of cars predicted for the next twenty years, there could be unlimited access to our cities without an end result of total chaos and gridlock. Many would agree that some tuning up of the present system is needed but Oxford bus patronage is among the very highest in the country and the roads cannot take many more cars !   The Mirror ran an article in their Friday edition, again by Quentin Willson, with the same theme and including a picture of several Stagecoach buses. It will be interesting to see if this story develops. Please let me know if any of you have views on this matter, especially if you saw the programme. The week was rounded off by an altercation between COMS Trident 105 and a clock ! In trying to negotiate the congestion in Queen Street last Friday morning, Trident 105, on 400 road got itself firmly wedged under the clock outside Marks & Spencer. As the removal of the bus could have resulted in the clock "crashing to earth" , the vehicle had to be left until a crane could be brought to the site and the clock was removed. The bus finally returned to the depot around 6.30pm having spent most of the day "clocked" in Queen Street !

I finally managed to get a couple of pictures of the Thames Travel X39 extension to Jericho but sadly the Heyfordian Metrorider evaded my lense and will have to wait for another week. I managed two duties on Oxford Bus this week, the 12 to Brookes University on Friday morning and a duty on Citylink Airports on Saturday. 407 was my steed on the 12, I had expected an older Dart but the fates smiled on me and Citylink produced nr 9 for a Heathrow followed by a Gatwick. 

On the Stagecoach front a surprise return sees Volvo/Plaxton nr 3 back from store to help meet demand. It has spent the week at Witney and was seen operating on X1s during the week. On Saturday it was operating on the X50 to Stratford, though may be expected to also put in some work on the London service. 

Oxford Bus has also seen an increase of demand on Citylink services and has reinstated Volvo/Plaxton 59 for a short period. Coach 52 is nearly ready to return to service in its X90 guise. Others of the batch will follow thereafter.  53 was still operating in its old livery last Saturday covering X70 and X80 duties.  On the 400 , 208 was again in service on Saturday, doubtless covering for wounded 105 ! q.v.

Oxford bus works is host to numerous ex London Darts. 524 is in final stages of preparation with entry into service planned for next Saturday. 522 is in the paintshop and is almost ready to follow 524. I have included pictures of 522 in this report and the excellent work carried out can be appreciated when comparing the before and after photos. Does anyone remember the advert years ago in Bus&Coach for Willowbrook and rebodied North Western guy Arabs ?

Finally I am advised that as yet no decision has been reached as to the fate of OB 782 and 783 and indeed they do appear in service from time to time on routes including 12 and 51 !

Before and After - Dart interior of Wycombe Bus 522. The seats have been retrimmed and grab rails recovered.
An altogether brighter interior results !

The windscreen has been replaced giving an altogether different appearance.
522 is seen here in the Oxford paintshop almost ready for service.

Another almost ready is 52, now in X90 guise.

The newest route in Oxford is the 12 which runs from Pear Tree. Car Park to Brookes in Gipsy Lane.
407 is seen on the additional morning workings and 512 maintains the service throughout the day.
As such it has full blinds whereas 407 requires a board !

The Tube M A Ns do not always work on Express services and nr 50 is
seen above on a Brookes University working last Friday.

Surprise return to service was Tube nr 3 seen here last Saturday arriving off an X50 working

Your Editor at Heathrow Terminal 4 on X70 duty.......

Trathens fielded a fairly new Volvo on the 747 Great Yarmouth service
last Saturday, seen leaving Gloucester Green.

Jericho goes express ! The X39 has been extended to Jericho and the residents 
of that suburb can now reach Henley with a change of bus. Here V309SVV
turns off St Aldates towards the centre.

T465HNH , lacking X39 vinyls picks up in George Street on its way to Henley.
A rather long layover in St Aldates detracts from the " through service" concept.

If anyone else has any interesting news items please send them to me at 

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