First Bus (First Group) buses

Tuesday 13 May 2014 (1336) – First 66723 (WX54 XDH), a Wright bodied Volvo B7RLE new in December 2004, seen on the seafront at Weston-super-Mare working local service 7.

Monday 12 May 2014 (0808) – First 69442 (WX59 BYU), a Wright bodied Volvo B7RLE new October 2009, working the 0758 service 376 from Street (Oakfield Road) to Bristol (due 0945). Seen heading into Glastonbury.

Monday 12 May 2014 (0826) – First 66108 (R908 BOU), a Wright bodied Volvo B10BLE new in February 1998 as First Bristol 1908, approaching Glastonbury.

Tuesday 13 May 2014 (1514) – First 66352 (MV02 VEF), a Wright bodied Volvo B7L new July 2002 to First Manchester, seen swinging on to the Esplanade from Pier Street in Burnham-on-Sea. In the wake of the re-branding of First services as the ‘Buses of Somerset’ in these parts the old branding has half-heartedly been removed from this bus. A sticker with the new branding has been applied over the door. Tacky or what??

Tuesday 13 May 2014 (1350) – First Group Ford Transit minibus 54601 (RA04 RGX) seen on driver training duties on the seafront at Weston-super-Mare.

Monday 12 May 2014 (1415) – Colourful stained glass and roughly hewn stone window ledges at the George and Pilgrim Hotel, Glastonbury. The building dates from the 1400s. A bus of First passes by heading for Wells – probably the 1315 service 377 from Yeovil.

Monday 12 May 2014 (0839) – First 42634 (P834 YUM), a Plaxton Pointer bodied Dennis Dart new in July 1997 as Rider York 3321, seen between Street and Glastonbury when working the 0735 service 29 from Taunton to Wells. This service has become part of the ‘Buses of Somerset’ network whose branding has forsaken the First corporate identity replaced by a modern style two tone green livery. The full rebranding of service 29 had yet to happen. Minus First lettering, the new ‘Buses of Somerset; green logo appears to be carried on the front panel.

Monday 12 May 2014 (0838) – First 66100 (R460 VOP), a Wright bodied Volvo B10BLE new in September 1997 (as a Volvo demonstrator?), seen between Glastonbury and Street when working the 0815 service X75 from Wells to Bridgwater.

Wednesday 12 June 2013 (1213) – First Devon and Cornwall 32758 (WA54 OLT), an East Lancs bodied Dennis Trident new in February 2005, leaving the Torpoint (Cornwall) to Devonport (Devon) ferry at Devonport. It was operating on the ‘Tamar Link’ service 81, a cross river link from Plymouth to HMS Raleigh (with some buses continuing to Whitesand Bay, Millbrook and Insworke Quay on the Rame Peninsula). HMS Raleigh is the largest Royal Navy training establishment in the south west located 1.5 miles west of the Torpoint ferry. Taken from inside our car as we waited to leave the ferry. This was the wettest day of the holiday - the day we travelled from Polperro, Cornwall to Dartmouth, Devon

Wednesday 12 June 2013 (1358) – First Devon and Cornwall 32716 (W716 RHT), an East Lancs Lolyne bodied Dennis Trident new as First Bristol 9716 in August 2000, sporting a commemorative livery of the former Tilling Group subsidiary Western National Omnibus Company. Note the decorative foliage near the front upper deck window!

Wednesday 12 June 2013 (1400) – First Devon and Cornwall 32716 (W716 RHT), an East Lancs Lolyne bodied Dennis Trident new as First Bristol 9716 in August 2000, sporting a commemorative livery of the former Tilling Group subsidiary Western National Omnibus Company.

Wednesday 12 June 2013 (1408) – First Devon and Cornwall 33667 (SN12 AEK), an ADL (Alexander Enviro400 bodied Dennis Trident) new in March 2012, seen in Royal Parade, Plymouth working ‘Park and Ride’ service PR1. This is the more recent First livery format which includes a local or regional identity – in this case ‘Devon’. The fleetname also includes ‘Devon’.

Wednesday 12 June 2013 (1532) – First Devon and Cornwall 33174 (LR02 LYT), a Plaxton President bodied Dennis Trident new in July 2002 as Centrewest London Buses (First Group) as TN1174, seen in Kingsbridge when working the 1530 Kingsbridge (School) to Plymouth ‘Mayflower Link’ service 93. Cascaded from London to Devon.

Wednesday 12 June 2013 (1532) – Two former London based Plaxton President bodied Dennis Tridents now cascaded to First Devon and Cornwall seen at Kingsbridge on service 93. Left: 32851 (HIG 1518) in normal fleet livery. (I think this was new to Centrewest London Buses as TN851 (T851 LLC). Right: 33174 (LR02 LYT) in ‘Mayflower Link’ service 93 livery.

Thursday 13 June 2013 (1904) – A First Devon and Cornwall Plaxton President double decker seen from our room at the Royal Castle Hotel in Dartmouth looking across the River Dart to Kingswear. The bus was now out of service. I think it had worked the 1650 service 93 from Plymouth due here at 1905. It carries the more recent First livery format which includes a local or regional identity – in this case ‘Devon’. The brown and cream building on the left, now a restaurant, was once Dartmouth’s railway station although Dartmouth didn’t have a railway! Early railway builders were frustrated in their efforts to create a rail link to Dartmouth and so the line from Torbay terminated at Kingswear on the east bank of the River Dart with a ferry connection providing the cross-river link. As home to the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth generated much traffic and so had its own railway station to sell tickets and provide passenger facilities. It is said that the Station Master at Dartmouth was paid more than his counterpart at Kingswear as a result of salaries being paid according to passenger throughput and ticket sales.

Friday 14 June 2013 (1645) – First Devon and Cornwall Optare Solo 53827 (YK05 CDO) at Dartmouth (Pontoon) when working the ‘Park and Ride’ shuttle. The bus is named after ‘Thomas Newcomen’. Newcomen was born in Dartmouth in 1663 and during the early 1700s he invented the atmospheric steam engine, a revolutionary way to pump water from flooded coal mines. It has been said that the Industrial Revolution would not have been possible without his invention.

Friday 14 June 2013 (1645) – First Devon and Cornwall Optare Solo 53827 (YK05 CDO) at Dartmouth (Pontoon) when working the ‘Park and Ride’ shuttle. The bus is named after ‘Thomas Newcomen’. Newcomen was born in Dartmouth in 1663 and during the early 1700s he invented the atmospheric steam engine, a revolutionary way to pump water from flooded coal mines. It has been said that the Industrial Revolution would not have been possible without his invention.

Saturday 15 June 2013 (1017) – First Devon and Cornwall 32714 (W714 RHT), an East Lancs Lolyne bodied Dennis Trident (New as First Bristol 9714 in August 2000, seen at Dartmouth. It had arrived as the 0940 service X81 from Totnes.