News from Oxford
High Wycombe & the surrounding areas

updated - Sunday 27th February 2000

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.

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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Last Saturday provided me with the opportunity to work on Cityline 4 road with two trips to Abingdon and a couple of Elms Rises in between. There was a diversion in place just beyond Dalton Barracks - this used to be RAF Abingdon - which meant retracing ones steps back past the barracks and into Abingdon via the 4B road, a route which does not operate on a Saturday. The last trip unusually returns at 1855 to Oxford - Queens Street and then works empty to depot. Normally 4s finish at Rose Hill. A Stagecoach "blue top" M A N was seen off its normal route and on their 3 to Rose Hill during the afternoon, showing how route branded buses can cause confusion when they stray from their allocated routes ! The City was busy as ever on Saturday and a number of smaller operators were caught in my lense and thus appear in this week's photo corner.

The saddest news of the week came on Thursday evening when an Oxford Tube - nr 42 - was involved in a fatal accident near Woodstock whilst working a late afternoon journey to Stratford upon Avon on the X50. It seems an elderly gentleman and his wife turned out into the path of the oncoming Tube, resulting in their tragic demise.

Buses on the Thames Travel X39 are routed via the Railway Station and so their appearance coming up from the Station is not so unusual after all.

Fleet News week ending 27/2/00

City of Oxford Motor Services.

The buses in works this weekend included 228 having bodywork repairs. Wycombe Bus 529 a Dart being prepared for service, Coach 16 having bodywork attention and a Wycombe National 2 387  also having bodywork attention. 55  is still in the paintshop, although it seems more or less ready for service. This means that 59  is still in service hanging on for "grim death" so to say !! It is interesting that the new EFE Shearings Paramount model is H957DRJ, which became UJI 1761 - 161 later 61 in the Oxford fleet and is now with Swanbrook. One wonders if EFE will follow this models history in miniature ? 

804  was seen operating the 400 road on Saturday. This was caused by earlier damage to the mirror on one of the Tridents and it is noticeable how far out such mirrors lie, often conflicting with various items of street furniture for the unwary driver !!   633  appeared on the 22 on Saturday and 656 put in time earlier in the week, (thanks to Edmund Trensham for 656 info) 

Stagecoach Oxford.  

Olympian 517 is presently allocated to Oxford whilst 516 is away for repaint. SC now have a two year repaint policy and so all these deckers should be receiving attention in the coming months. As mentioned earlier 42 was involved in a fatal accident near Woodstock and will be out of service for sometime to come. 

Surprise of the week was the arrival from Manchester of five Mercedes 709Ds with Alexander Sprint B25F bodywork - 512,3,4,5,7  N 656,7,8,9,61 VSS. There were quickly renumbered and re-vinyled for Oxford service as 456,7,8,9,61. 461 was in service on Saturday on the 44 to Didcot. They are replacing older Mercs of similar seating capacity. It is expected that others will follow. 

For the record the Dodge G13 training buses are TR1 D935TJO and TR2 G313BJO.

Wycombe Bus Company.

Nigel Peach reports that one of the Darts (521-530) was working on the 315 on a recent Sunday and one was on that route one day earlier this week. He says it is very rare to have anything other than an Easy-Access Dart on that route.  National 2s 387, 389 and 392 are now the only remaining ones of this type left at Wycombe and will shortly be withdrawn when all the refurbished Darts have entered service. 

I will be pleased to receive your reports for this section, which I have revamped and hope meets with everyone's' approval. 
Please send your reports to MalcolmHC@aol.com and thank you for all your reports, they are most welcome.

Photo Corner week ending 20/2/00
If anyone else has a digital camera and wishes to submit photos for this page please send them to the above email.

Seen leaving the Chilterns behind, Arriva 3069 (H409ERO) operates a late afternoon service 
to Oxford on Friday 25th February.  The old A40 runs parallel to the M40 at this point and at one 
time this would have been the main road with the B4009 crossing it from Chinnor to Watlington.  
The service is far from well patronised in school holidays and the bus had run from West Wycombe 
to this point with passengers or any stop !!

Operating the 108 service from Oxford through Wheatley, Charlton Services provided this 
ex Brighton & Hove Leyland Tiger last Saturday, in place the more normal ex Oxford Bus Tiger.
TJI6278 was formally C378PCD when with BH&D until 1995and was new in 1986.

Motts Travel still operate in Oxford on the 37 from Thame. The normal fodder for this service
is this Mercedes coach seen last Saturday leaving St Aldates on an afternoon working.

Surprise of the week was the arrival of five Mercedes 709Ds from Manchester.
Seen here are 459, 456 and 457 previously 515, 512 and 513 with SCM.
The quickly received Oxford identities and were in service by Saturday.

Not all buses are at work all of the time and this view of the Oxford Companies bodyshop 
shows a selection of buses under repair. Coach 16 and National 387 receive minor attention,
whilst Dart 529 is the last of ex London Darts going through works prior to service in
Wycombe.  Olympian 228 is having some repair to the offside. 
Oxford works still produce some excellent jobs and there is always something of
interest to see.

The illusive 620, bearing livery for Laser Quest is seen here passing through the bus wash
at Cowley Road following its days work on 35 road. The front of this bus is in standard fleet livery.

As mentioned above 804 operated for most of day on 400 road and is seen here
picking up in Castle Street on its way to Seacourt Park & Ride.
(photo by Vic Gackowski)

Oxford 652 awaits departure on the 1855 to Oxford from Abingdon.
Latterly VN9 in London, these Volvos can show a good turn of speed when needed.

Earlier in the day, Heyfordian Metrorider 481HYE arrives in Oxford on the 7B service.
This little bus now has improved destination blinds, though it could still do with a good coat of paint !

Finally this week, we have a picture of one of the two new training buses, TR1, 
which have entered service with Stagecoach Oxford. They have replaced
the old fleet of a Leyland Tiger and two Bristols. 

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 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