News
from Oxford, High Wycombe
& the surrounding areas
last updated Sunday, August 30th 1998 - 2200hrs
Editorial
New deliveries to the area once again feature in this weeks news update. Stagecoach Oxford have received the first two of a batch of Mercedes Vario 0.814's with Alexander ALX100 bodywork. Seating is B29F and the first one is due to enter service on the Bicester Town route on September 1st. Further deliveries of this batch registered S371-382DFC are due over the next few weeks. A number will be placed in service at Witney depot. After this the first of the MAN saloons with Alexander ALX300 bodywork are due, being 913-941.
When deliveries of the MANB single decks is complete, some of the Dennis Darts with Alexander ALX200 bodies will move within the the group. 821-829 are expected to go to WESTERN SMT. Others of this group may also move on.
Another fine Saturday saw a busy day in Oxford and yet again photography was difficult. Also when the summer sun is strong the shadows between the buildings makes good shots difficult. However a number of interesting shots of unusual workings of both Oxford Bus and Stagecoach were once again obtained.
Once again Oxford Bus had 207, Olympian decker, operating on 4 road and several Volvo single door saloons operating on 15 road which mostly sees dual doors variants.. 950 , Titan, was on Park & Ride, which had heavy loadings once again. Surprisingly dual door Volvo saloon 642 was on 2 road which is one of the first times this has happened.
Stagecoach fielded 746 on X33 once gain and more of interest was Volvo saloon 910 on the X30.
Oxford Bus works were host to Wycombe Lynx 302 & Mercedes 712 plus Oxford Volvos 636 and 654 in the body shop with Wycombe Olympian 235 and Oxford Dart 518 in the paint shop. This means that Marshall bodied Darts 505, 506 and 518 have now been repainted in recent weeks. 302 has had its rear number plate position changed and we have a picture below.
We have also been busy catching up on Cambridge Coach Services who are enjoying excellent loadings on their 75 service between Oxford and Cambridge and two of the coaches on this service are including in our photo gallery this week.
We hope you continue to like this short section, which will give us the opportunity to comment on the local scene in an informal way. Please Email me, Malcolm Crowe, with any comments.
FURTHER PICTURE OF NEW OLYMPIANS IN SERVICE
A nearside shot of 5159, S159KNK operating
the 1505 service from Oxford to Aylesbury
on Saturday 29 August 1998.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Oxford Bus works at the end of a busy week.
Saturday 29th August gave Malcolm Crowe the opportunity to get an interesting shot in Cowley Road depot.
Lynx 302 has had some alterations to the rear of the bus and the number plate has been
moved
from the normal Lynx position to just under the back window.
New delivery 371, S371DFC, Mercedes Vario being prepared for service. Seen in Horspath works on Saturday 29th August 1998.
A rear view shows the family resemblance to the ALX200 Darts and Volvo
B6's also in service at Oxford.
To be replaced by new MAN saloons during September, 825 seen above is due to move to Western SMT.
Oxford Tube nr. 20, J420HDS is seen leaving Gloucester Green on Saturday 29th August on the busy service to London.
22, J456FSR, is seen loading in Gloucester Green , London bound on
Saturday 29th August.
The new 12 minute service branding can be seen on the rear of this ex National Express
Rapide Expressliner.
We take this opportunity to present a two pictures of caoches from
Cambridge Coach Services
on the long 75 service from Oxford to Cambridge. This operates every two hours for most of
the day, 7 days a week.
398 G98RGG, an ex Parks of Hamilton Volvo Plaxton leaves Stokenchurch en route to Cambridge on Sunday 30th August.
309, N309VAV passes the Randolph Hotel, in the centre of Oxford at the
beginning of its journey to Cambridge.
Seen on Saturday 29th August 1998.
Regular Visitors to Oxford.
Our third offering is a Parks Volvo/Van Hool HSK657, working for tour operator Insight and setting down its passengers during a stop in Oxford.
Photo
Miscellany contains updated photos which is being done on a regular basis,with new
photos added from time to time.
New photos were added on 16/4/98.
Take a look at our picture report from Manchester,
featuring ex-Oxford buses!
A VR meet was held on the 22nd March 1998 - and you can see photos
of each VR that attended.
Visitors to this News page since 17th March 1998.
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