Weekly News Round Up 16/11/14

My apologies for no round up last week - I was happily forgetting about buses in Newcastle. Apart from the ones I took pictures of obviously! Anyway there is a bit to catch up on so here goes. I am very grateful to Bryan Dickson for allowing me carte blanche use of his photos. As you know I try to take as many pics as I can myself but when I've been away generosity such as Bryan's is invaluable. You can see his excellent Flickr page by clicking here.  Cheers mate. I owe you one.

First

Oh God where do I start. Only Lowestoft has been quiet this week! OK let's start in Ipswich as usual. Returning from Rotherham since I last reported from Ipswich are B7tl 32653, ex Colchester B7rle 66979 and ex P&R B7rle's 69423/4/7 with either 69426 or 66983 expected imminently. Going the other way were B7tl 32488 and ex Colchester 66980, which spent but a few hours at Ipswich before heading north. The arrival of 66980 meant that 69431 bade a fond farewell to Ipswich and was transferred to Colchester. Only two transfers remain now - 66976 from Colchester, currently in the overall Co-op ad, and 69006 from Norwich, also sporting a Co-op ad, but a rear one, which has now been given a transfer date of end of the month. Again.

Ex Colchester Volvo B7rle 66979 at OCM Ipswich   pic (c) Bryan Dickson

Up the A140 to Norwich and two more repainted Presidents have hit the road. 33154 has been painted privately at Simon Morris in Ipswich and looks rather odd with incomplete paintwork and black "Norwich" vinyls. Take a look at East Norfolk Bus Blog for a pic. Meanwhile fellow Trident 33166 has appeared in its Purple Line paint. Away at Rotherham is 33003, while 33060 is at Simon Morris being painted into generic Corporate livery.

33166 in Purple loads up in a now strangely quiet St Matthews St in Norwich    pic (c) Bryan Dickson

Over to Yarmouth and unless you have been in a cave you will have noticed the stampede of enthusiasts clamouring to get a pic of the two new Wright Streetlites that entered service there this week. I was one of them and if you missed it there is a full report and review of them here. I understand that others are following in the coming days so watch this space as they say. In other news from Yarmouth it's disappointing to report that it seems the last Olympian to ever be built, 34110, which was planned to re-enter service may not be after all as the cost of restoring her to service is proving prohibitive. Let's hope someone can step in and save her.

First Yarmouth Wright Streetlite 47501 sits at James Paget Hospital

Ipswich Buses

By their own admission not much is happening there at the moment. There have been a couple of irregular workings on the Park and Ride but apart from that very little to report apart from the news that another Daf Lowlander has been painted into the new colours. Fleet number 59 PJ53 OLB has been given the treatment. That bus was the first bus I travelled on when I arrived in Ipswich in 2007 so a personal connection there. I'm meeting Malcolm Robson for a drink this week so I'm hoping he has something really juicy up his sleeve for me. Borismasters for the 5/7/11/15 will do please Malcolm!

Ipswich Buses 59, Daf Lowlander PJ53 OLB looking as proud as a peacock outside Revolution in Ipswich   pic (c) Bryan Dickson

Abellio

Poor Abellio. I really feel sorry for them this week. It isn't their fault the network keeps falling apart just as it wasn't National Express's fault that hole appeard in the M25 on Friday. The overhead cable probs on Wednesday brought everything to a virtual halt and certainly stopped me getting down to West Sussex for my hospital appointment. However it's not just on the trains Abellio have had problems recently. They also run buses for TfL out of their depot in Croydon and two of their buses have spontaneously combusted in the last couple of weeks. The most spectacular of these happened in Wallington, when a 157 started smoking. Pretty soon the smoke had turned into a pretty impressive blaze. Incidentally the vehicle involved is Abellio 9068 Volvo B7tl Gemini BX55 XNY

The Abellio Gemini is well alight    pic Sutton Guardian

But that wasn't quite it. you will notice the flames around the rear wheel. Well it's probably fair to say the temperatures around that wheel got a little warm, and that meant only one thing. Keep your eyes peeled around the 11 second mark of this video.

That's just about it for this week. Keep checking in for posts throughout the week starting tomorrow with a special on the Newcastle Metro. I am also chasing up a couple of rumours I have heard regarding activity in and around Norwich early next year and if I get anything confirmed you'll hear it here first. Have a good week everyone.