Weekly News Round Up 14/12/14

Welcome to this week's Round Up which we'll start with the first pics of newly returned 32656 in her new livery. My thanks to Paulo for sending them to me so quickly - you are a true gent, Paulo. We were hoping it would be 69426 that returned last night but alas that was not to be but I guess the decker is more urgently needed in this final run up to Christmas

32656 over the pits in Ipswich depot this morning.   pic (c) Paulo

And from the rear with an ad already applied   pic (c) Paulo

Elsewhere there are a few things to report so here goes..

First 

The end is nigh at Ipswich, with the final vehicle to be painted into the new Ipswich livery going up to Rotherham yesterday. Volvo B7rle 69005 started the whole process so it is only fitting that it should end it too. Still to return from Rotherham are 69006, 32494, and 69426/8 although they will be in the alternative mystery livery. As yet I am still unable to reveal what the new livery is for, or the route involved but I can tell you that none of the speculation you may have seen elsewhere has got it right yet! However I can tell you both vehicles will be out in normal traffic before being branded up for their new route. So from now on as each vehicle returns a First Yorkshire B10B Renown will go back to Rotherham. This week saw the return of the last ex Essex B7rle, 66976 and I caught sight of her in shocking light on her first day back out in service on Thursday. UPDATE: 66980 still has to return from Rotherham, where it is having its MOT done. That has slipped under everyone's radar and thanks to Harry at NBP for enquiring about it.

Nope no filter just crap light! 69976 in her new colours

It is after Christmas I expect the Norwich repaints to really take off. It's going to be a struggle keeping up with everything once it is in full swing so I advise you to look at the Norwich blogs too - links on right hand side of the page.  Norwich Buses Blog reports that 33237 has arrived back in Corportate livery, whilst 33003 is rather appropriately the third Trident to be painted in Purple Line Livery. The big surprise is that Volvo B7tl 32100 has gone to Simon Morris in Ipswich to be painted into Turquoise colours. The rainbow is forming! For the full report click here.

Judging from this week it's going to be a full time job keeping up with the wrong colours on the wrong routes! Ex Lowestoft E200 45118 has been given Purple Line branding so no doubt will be seen on the Sky Blue Pink Topaz Emerald Polka Dot Line at some point next week! Speaking of the Purple Line I got an alternative view of one of the Ribena (original) buses on Friday while shopping in Norwich - amazingly working the Puple Line!

Purple President 33163 seen from second floor of Wilkos in St Stephen's St hence slight refelction

Lowestoft have received a third ex Jersey Dart from Yarmouth in the form of 43863 but it is unclear if that means another E200 will be released to Norwich as previously on loan Plaxton Dart 42921 has moved the other way back to Yarmouth.

Rail News 

The public consultation paper for the new Anglia Rail Franchise, to run from September 2016 has been published. There is so much in it I'll dedicate a separate post to the analysis, but if you want a taster here is a paragraph that will have plenty of eyebrows shooting up. Yours truly will give his opinion on this in the separate post. If anyone wants to plough through the 64 page document you can by clicking here.

5.10

In order to improve connectivity between Cambridge and the

north of England, Rail Executive is currently assessing the

case for the diversion of the current Liverpool Lime Street to

Norwich East Midlands Trains to Cambridge and a new

hourly East Anglia operated service between Norwich and

Peterborough providing good connections to the East Coast

Mainline services to Yorkshire, North East England and

Scotland. The assessment will equally include a sub-option

where the current Ipswich to Peterborough service would be

limited to Ely and connections would be provided with the new 
Norwich to Peterborough service. The option to retain the current
Norwich through service to Liverpool Lime Street will be included 
within this assessment.

Other News

The East of England, Suffolk and Norfolk in particular is quite unique in the number of transport blogs it can boast. This isn't necessarily a bad thing as it keeps all of us on our toes and you can normally be sure that all the news will be available from one or another of us. However this week the blog network took a hit when Sam Larke of Norwich Buses Blog decided to retire from the blog scene to apparently concentrate on being a teenager, whatever that entails these days apart from queue jumping, playing music too loud and saying "like" every other word.

The thing is, Sam, you are a perfectly normal teenager anyway and that means there will be times you annoy adults. I am an adult and I always sometimes get annoyed by teenagers. We have had our disagreements in the past, but what has never been in doubt is the mutual respect we have for each other and you have helped me out enormously at times. You were one of the bloggers who inspired me to start my own blog, and I'm pleased to read you'll continue to contribute to the blogs, in particular NBB. I wish you all the best for whatever you decide to do with your life, unless it involves queue jumping, playing music too loud and saying "like" every other word!

Finally it has not been a good week for a couple of vehicles. Fiirstly I am reliably informed that this Plaxton President over a month late for Bonfire Night belongs to Regal in Essex, although formal identification has yet to be received. It caught fire on the A12 in Essex

Somewhere in there is a Plaxton President   pic eadt

Then in the early hours of Friday morning a coach belonging to Reynolds of Caister was involved in an incident in Beccles which resulted in the coach ending up in a ditch. Three people were taken to James Paget with minor injuries but thankfully no one was seriously hurt. Again formal identification of which coach was involved has yet to be received.

The Reynolds coach after the incident.    pic various sources

This week is going to be pretty busy with Christmas preparations, however I will be publishing the second part of the Thameslink Transition tomorrow, and look out for a couple of quite superb pics. Have a calm week everyone!