CHURCH LINK
SERVICE STARTS AT 1030
which will take you to the YouTube page.
Then click on the page for today's date.
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Thames Travel
Bus watchers will know that this company just appeared from nowhere and just grew, quite rapidly.
Thames Travel was founded on 14 April 1998 by John Wright with four buses. He expanded his business by winning subsidised bus contracts awarded by Oxfordshire County Council and unitary councils in Berkshire, and by taking over work from operators who ceased trading such as Tillingbourne Bus Company in 2001, and Chiltern Queens of Woodcote in 2011. Thames Travel also benefited from operators including First Berkshire & The Thames Valley, Reading Buses, and Stagecoach in Oxfordshire reducing their commercial operations at various times.
The company, now based in Didcot, has always had well cared for buses and the distinctive blue and green livery is usually accompanied by a distinctive white squiggle.
In May 2011 the Go-Ahead Group bought Thames Travel. Effectively it is now managed by Oxford City Bus but retains its identity as a separate company. Because Go Ahead's companies are all over the place, Thames Travel's buses often arrive from or depart to other undertakings in the group. This double decker ...
...was once with Oxford Bus Park and Ride.
Whereas this in dealership white ...
... also appeared under two different East Anglia labels, both Go Ahead of course.
... for its routes from Oxford to Thamesside communities at Henley and Reading.
This group of services has been developed into a major corridor under Thames Travel's management. Less easy to define in the "Connector" brand which began (possibly - fbb's dodgy memory again) as services linking Didcot with developing business and technology areas at Milton Park and on the former Atomic Energy site at Harwell.
... and it is the X2 that has joined the X3 and 13 and ousted the X13 in the January changes. More tomorrow! (Can fbb drag this story out any more, surely not?) But, nowadays, the "Connector" logo is absent from the web site timetables list with the Harwell route being just plain 98.
So it looks as if the brand is dead, or dying. The little video is still on-line, though.
This smart double decker ...
... once trundled round the streets of London.
Thames Travel has developed several brands, notably River Rapids...
The ST1, also with "Connector" branded buses, links Oxford with Harwell direct Mondays to Fridays only ...
The ST2 is weird and will be part of tomorrow's posting.
The brand expanded to include the X2 from Oxford to Didcot, not serving Harwell at all ...
Highland Heritage
When fbb was c.17 he accompanied daddy on a car tour of Scotland. The plan was to go "up" the West Coast, across the top and "down" the East Coast. It turned out to be a bit of a disaster. fbb was taken ill at Thurso, passing out over a delicious Scottish breakfast (What a dreadful waste!). Then at Inverness the old man caught the lurgi and the indisposed duo were sort of stuck,
Eventually, after at night in the Station Hotel, papa decided to book the car sleeper from Inverness to York whence he hoped to be well enough to drive to Northampton. Anyway, whilst pater was abed, fbb went to visit Faraline Park bus station, where Highland Omnibuses set off for places with strange sounding names. fbb was not yet recovered enough to travel, so he just watched in amazement and learned nothing.
Buses seemed to leave every few minutes for the Kessock Ferry ...
... which carried people and vehicles (not the bus!) across the Beauly Firth.
It is now replaced with the Kessock Bridge ...
... very picturesque, but from a transport point of view somewhat less exciting!
Highland Omnibuses was merged with David Macbrayne ...
... and the company adopted an unusual livery of (sort of) MacBrayne red with a deep teal blue.
As time went on, Stagecoach was circling its prey in the form of Inverness Traction ...
... devouring the Inverness town services; and it was not long before Uncle Brian's capacious maw swallow Highland Omnibuses whole!
A preserved bus in the newer Highland livery shows that memorable destination!
So Stagecoach has just painted one of its buses in retro Highland colours and very smart it looks, too.
The press reports say that the bus is celebrating "50 years of buses on the Isle of Skye".
Yer what?
In 1967, as part of the failed tour outlined above, fbb and daddykins crossed on the Kyle of Lochalsh to Kyleakin car ferry to visit Skye. 
There were certainly buses there then. So what happened in 1970 for Stagecoach to celebrate is not clear to fbb.
Erm, We Don't Have Steam Trains Anymore ...
... it is diesel power on the rails that Andrews Coaches is replacing by diesel power on the road between Sheffield and Lincoln. (Finishes today). So, please Mr Andrews, trains don't go ...
... "choo choo" any more - well not between Sheffield and Lincoln. Please reprogram you destination display with "Peep parp, I'm a train"!
From fbb's In-Box
And there's more:-
If the language beats you, fbb hopes to have found a translation in time for tomorrow's blog!
Whoops. fbb forgot to include the answer to yesterday's puzzle picture. It WILL appear tomorrow, honest! It was bedtime when he realised his heinous omission.
Next Fun With Numbers (and Variety) blog : Monday 22nd March
I would hazard a guess that the 50th anniversary that Stagecoach are celebrating is the takeover of MacBraynes' services on the Isle of Skye by Highland Omnibuses.
ReplyDeleteIndeed. The bus actually says 'serving Skye for 50 years' which refers to Highland's takeover of MacBraynes operations on the island.
ReplyDeleteFbb will find the srvcie to Kessock Fery these days much reduced; a lot of the passengers would have been bound for the Black Isle, and nowadays the route just serves a housing estate which is appaently the most deprived ward in Highland Council's area.
John Wright, who started Thames Travel, was a 'migrant' from Wrights of Wrexham, after the failure of their attempts to dislodge Crosville Wales in Wrexham.