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Thursday 13 March 2014

Sheringham Sojurn

Took a trip to Sheringham, and it was all meant to be about Sanders today, but as is always the case someone will throw a curve ball and all the plans go to pot. This happened today not 5 mins out of Norwich while travelling on "Goliath", one of Sanders 102 seater Volvo B9tl's. Konect's rival 2 service is normally operated by Optare Excels, with the odd Loyne bodied Trident. Today though one of their Konect Bus liveried E400's was on the 2, the first one I have seen - so much so I thought I had spotted something new and original. Oh well that bubble has been burst but it is still a rarity on the 2's!

Anyway it was my first trip on the X44 and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Goliath is not a lumbering giant, and gives a really decent ride - and according to the driver can provide a real turn of speed when "he" needs to!  I got some good pics in Sheringham but couldn't resist travelling on Konect's 503 back to Norwich, and for an E400 it gave a seriously good ride - arguably the best journey I have had on an E400. As the weather improves I'll do a bit more in North Norfolk and Sanders in particular.

Sanders 104 Volvo B9 Goliath at Sheringham
Sanders 202 DAF SB120 on the 9 at Sheringham
Sanders 109 Dennis Trident ALX400 at Sheringham with 213 DAF SB120 X821 NWX behind
Konect 603 E400 SN10 CFG at Sheringham - note the class 170 at Sheringham station in background
Looking good in the Sheringham sun

12 comments:

  1. Hi Steve, Konect don't actually use Optare Excel's on the 2/2A, they only have one left and this is usually only on school contracts. The usual allocation for the 2/2A is (if not required for covering 3, 6, 8 or 602) the generic Enviro400's and the leather seated Optare Tempo's :-)

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  2. Hi Steve! Sorry to burst your bubble a bit more, but an Enviro on here happens pretty much every day now! There is a rare appearance of a Wright Pulsar Gemini, and on one of the Norfolk Show days a Mercedes artic was used. There had been an Anglian liveried Solo and a 3/6 decker recently. PS. love the first shot of 603 :)

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    1. Kieran, in response to your comment about the Citaro on 2/2A that was actually due to a driver having to come out of service early on a 2 in Cromer due to personal issues, and the only bus free to work the turn that driver would've been on was 803 which was pulled over in Norwich :-)

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    2. And who was out with their camera to capture this momentous happening?

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    3. Nobody as far as I'm aware! Haha

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    4. Then get him to send it to you man!! Good lord I thought you could get anything bus related!!

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    5. Steve, I believe the driver photographed the Citaro on the 2, he was speaking to me about it just the other week! He doesn't haven flickr though :(

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    6. Haha, I don't him personally, he just saw me taking a picture of his bus as he was finishing his shift and mentioned it to me! I wouldn't recognise him if I saw him

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    7. I got one of one on the 13B on Monday though :P

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  3. Tempos/Excels - what's the difference!!!! I'm blind remember! Anyway thanks, guys - I need proof readers and as the weather improves will be up that way a lot more so will get to know things a lot better. The bubble was nice while it lasted lol!

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  4. The Optare Tempo was officially the replacement for the Excel, with the first Tempo's coming out on 54 regs as were the last Excels.

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  5. Exactly my point!!! Don't like either of them really haha!

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