• Shock news is the production of one of the Dennis Dart's main bodies, the Plaxton Pointer 2, is to have its production moved from its current home in the Plaxton factory in Scarborough to the Alexander factory, in Falkirk, Scotland.  This move is as a result of TransBus Internationals merging of Dennis, Plaxton & Alexander, which will result in the complete closure of the Scarborough factory later this year.  The Pointer is said to be keeping its Plaxton name, but may be slightly redesigned, probably when the new lower emission, Euro 3 compliant Dart SLF is released later this year.

• An odd Dart working noted yesterday by me was Supertravel MPD X11 STM on the 222/224 (City Centre Circular). This would have been covering for MPD W365 ABD.  Yesterday for the first time in a while, I saw the On-Line Transport Dart W386 WGE, which was at Fiveways at around 7am, headed north up Queens Drive, its blinds set to 159 Fazakerley Hospital, so at least we know where it has been hiding since being taken off the 86!

• Modern bus fleetnews from yesterday is the arrival of Volvo B10BLE, 2730 Y458 KNF at Arriva NW Green Lane garage.  Thanks to Barry for letting me know about this using Yahoo Messenger.  As expected this vehicle hasn't got a matching registration / fleetnumber.  One odd modern bus working, noted yesterday was the sighting of Arriva NW B6BLE 2807 X807 AJA on the 10A (Liverpool - St Helens).  Since St Helens garage took over the operations of Haydock garage, these B6BLE's are getting more common on the 10A, but interestingly this vehicle was not route branded for the 39/39A, as per my notes, so does anyone know if 2807 has been de-branded, or was it never branded in the first place?

• News from the Manchester area, as reported by Tim Moss, is the First Manchester Northern Counties bodied Dart 618 M618 SBA, now carries an all over advert for Wigan & Leigh College, ex First Manchester livery.  Interestingly too, it now seems that as so many enthusiasts refer to the two FirstGroup liveries as 'Barbie' & 'Barbie 2', that these have now become the official FirstGroup terms for these liveries.  In my view though the original 'Barbie' livery is possibly one of the best bus liveries ever, especially considering everything in it is meant to be double glazed, be fitted with electronic ventilation or air conditioning, and have the nice interior colour scheme of turquoise grab poles and purple seats.  Beats the Arriva spec any day!  Tim also reports the delivery of Dart MPD, Y66 SLT, to South Lancs Transport, and this, unlike expected IS in full SLT livery, with a dot matrix destination / route number indicator.

• Please remember that  if you have any news that you would like to be submitted for the Friday update, and you are sending it after 4pm Thursday, to get it to me in time, please send it via e-mail to my phone.  The e-mail address for my phone is buses7675@mmail.myalert.com - As the server for this address converts the e-mails into SMS to be sent to my phone, please keep the mails to under 100 characters, and write them in the SUBJECT box, as this is all that gets sent to my phone! - Please leave the Main box blank, so if a message is longer than 100 characters just send two mails.  Please just use this address for quick short info about sightings that would enhance the news section of Fridays update, as there will be NO updates next week, and after that, just one or two a week until I go back to Uni in September.  If the phone mail is successful, I will start it again on the next update after next week!

• Further updates that have been made to the site today include a few revisions to the main page, and along with this news update, there are some fleetlist updates.

• Yesterday I saw quite a few odd workings of Darts, including Supertravel X11 STM on the 173/4 (Belle Vale - Penny Lane).  This interestingly was the first time I have ever noticed seeing this MPD on these routes, even though X1 STM has replaced the Smart Eco liveried MPD's loads of times!  Also noted yesterday was Arriva NW Dart 7874 S874 SNB, on the H5 (Liverpool - Warrington), instead of one of the usual step entrance Darts.

• Noted by Tim Moss on Monday were Arriva NW Dart 7875 S875 SNB, on the 660 (Wigan - Warrington), and First Manchester Dart 1122 on the 614 (Wigan - New Springs) instead of the usual minibus.  These workings have of Dart on the 614 have apparently been due to a minibus shortage at First Manchester's Wigan garage!

• Modern Bus Fleetnews noted yesterday is the arrival of further B10BLE's at Arriva NW, Green Lane garage.  Noted yesterday were 2726 Y726 KNF, 2728 Y728 KNF & 2729 Y729 KNF, all of the 14 (Liverpool - Croxteth).  More unusual was B10BLE 2725, which was on the 10 (Liverpool - Stockbridge), which is registered Y425 KNF.  Whether this is a mistake or not I don't know, but I've no idea why Y725 KNF would have been reserved by someone, and Arriva can make mistakes as with 2710 was which is registered X956 DBT, but originally displayed X956 DVT!!!  See the Arriva NW Modern fleetlist for further details.  Also noted yesterday, which was quite unusual was Arriva NW St Helens allocated B6BLE, 2806 X806 AJA, which was operating the 10A (Liverpool - St Helens).  What makes this working even odder is the fact that these B6BLE's have Arriva Manchester legal lettering, which is only meant to be used on the 39/39A (Alder Hey - St Helens), for which most of the set are route branded.

• Continuing this Mega-Update week!, I can now, for a one week trial period, add an e-mail address which will allow you to e-mail my phone, allowing me to keep this site even more up to date!  The e-mail address for my phone is buses7675@mmail.myalert.com - As the server for this address converts the e-mails into SMS to be sent to my phone, please keep the mails to under 100 characters, and write them in the SUBJECT box, as this is all that gets sent to my phone! - Please leave the Main box blank, so if a message is longer than 100 characters just send two mails.  Please just use this address for quick short info about sightings etc, and send most normal mail to my usual addresses.  To help with also my various contact methods, I have now added a Contact page to the site.  If this service is successful, I will keep it permanently!!!

• Many fleetlists have been altered today, including the Arriva NW Modern Bus Fleet and the Citybus Dart Fleet.  A First PMT Modern Bus Fleetlist has been added, thanks to info from John Cooper.

• Sightings seen yesterday include Arriva NW Carlyle Dart 1145 H467 UGO, on the H5 (Liverpool - Warrington), which although had been quite common until recently, since the reallocation of Darts 7872 - 7879 to Warrington, they have been considerably rarer.  Also seen was CMT Northern Counties bodied Dart 2010 N657 CHF, which was on the 79 (Liverpool - Netherley), instead of its usual home of the 100/200/202/204.

• Modern Bus Sightings yesterday included the very odd sighting of Arriva NW Volvo B10BLE, 2728 Y728 KNF, on the 14 (Liverpool - Croxteth).  It appears therefore that not all of the remaining B10BLE's are to allocated to Bootle, as 2728 is allocated to Green Lane.

• Alex Hornby of the Merseyside Bus Club has kindly informed answered my query on Mobility Bus Marshall bodied Dart 7633 V633 DVU.  This Dart in now allocated to St Helens garage, and is used on the Garswood area Mobility Bus route 156.  Ian Henry has also informed me that all of the Haydock Scanias that had not already been reallocated before the end of April, have now been moved to St Helens.

• Further info to be altered during this week in the fleetlists is the Citybus MPD, used on Wirral route 185 is in fact registered Y489 PTU, not Y499 PTU.  Thanks to Barry and Mike for noting this.  Other interesting Dart MPD news regards the registration plate of Supertravel Dart W365 ABD.  For some reason, absolutely unknown to me, on at least the rear plate, under the numbers there is the text 'Volvo Truck & Bus (South)'.  If anyone does have any idea why could they let me know, as so far as I can see, there is no reason for this whatsoever, as Volvo don't produce even produce any parts for either the Dart or the Plaxton Pointer, nor do they sell Darts!!!  Other Supertravel MPD news is that X1 STM was on Thursday operating the 173/4 (Penny Lane - Belle Vale), instead of the usual Smart Eco liveried MPD's.

• Tim Moss has kindly continued to provide news cover on the workings of the former MTL Darts, 7872 - 7879 S872 SNB - S879 SNB.  As you may know from the Yahoo Groups, I pointed out to Tim that these were not MPD's, but the shortest SLF's, and although this is true there is very little difference in length anyway, as with the Pointer 2 body, the MPD's are 8.8M long, and the other ones are only 9M, or 9.2M in some books, but in the end there is very little difference.  Also the ex MTL Darts are only B28F, when the slightly shorter MPD's have a standard capacity of B29F!  I should expect though that since the introduction of the MPD in early 1999 (Late S-reg), very few of the 9M Darts will have been sold!  Tim reports that on Tuesday (15th), 7873 S873 SNB and 7877 S877 SNB were noted in Wigan working 585 (Wigan - Leigh) / 660 (Wigan - Warrington) services, both still carry Arriva Merseyside branding and on Wednesday (16th), 7873 was still on the 660 (Wigan - Warrington).

• Fleetlists will be thoroughly updated tomorrow, now that I have finished all Uni work, including the First Modern Bus Fleetlist (Courtesy of John Cooper), and various other Dart updates. Todays fleetlist update is just a basic one to noting the Arriva NW 1283 K817 NKH, is the second Dart to have this fleetnumber, as P3 SLT originally had this number until later being renumbered 1300, and also noting Dart 7633 V633 DVU, new allocation at St Helens.

• Although there are a few notes hat I have not yet added to the fleetlists, they should all be added next week, as I still have some Uni coursework still to do, and the fleetlists take a lot longer to update than the news! - Just a quick note of thanks is to John Cooper who has kindly provided me with info for a First PMT Modern Bus Fleetlist, which should be added next week.  Also of note is that now as Arriva NW Haydock depot has closed, does anyone know where the rest of its Scanias, have been reallocated too, along with Mobility Bus Marshall bodied Dart 7633 V633 DVU.  Interestingly, I have only ever seen this Dart twice, once in Speke depot in late 1999, with one window removed, and all of the lower panels in white, and once a week later in service, with the window fixed, and in full MTL North livery.

• Odd workings seen be me yesterday was the very odd working of National Trust liveried Arriva NW Dart 1188 M188 YKA,  on the H5 (Liverpool - Warrington).  This at first looked to me as if it was nearly in Greenbus livery as the base colour for its advert is a  dark green similar to that of Greenbus.  The rest of the bus is covered with vinyls for the rest of the advert, including covering the rear windows, although the rearmost offside window has been replaced at some point so has not got the advert on it.  The front of this bus is in normal Arriva livery.  Also noted be me yesterday was the extremely odd appearance of Supertravel Smart Eco liveried MPD V261 BNV on the 899 (Penny Lane - Kirkby). This is an evenings only service that runs just two or three journeys, and normally has a Talbot-Pullman minibus on it.  Only once before have I seen a Dart on this service, but at least that time it was one of the Supertravel liveried MPD's, but a Smart liveried one is very, very rare!

• Other Dart news to report is First PMT have exchanged Plaxton Dart, 963 M963 XVT with First Manchester, who have sent Volvo B10B, 553, which is to be used on service X1 (Derby - Manchester).

• Merseyside Modern Bus Fleetnews includes the arrival of another ex Travel West Midlands Lynx at Merseyline, G175 EOG, which was seen by Barry operating on the 92 (Penny Lane - Bootle) on Monday.  Noted unusually by me yesterday was the odd appearance of an Arriva NW Plaxton bodied Dennis Lance on the 62 (Penny Lane - Bootle), and St Helens allocated Volvo B6 7216, L216 TKA, was also operating on the 10A, which is quite rare for a B6.

• Apologies for the lack of updates recently, this is due to Uni exams and coursework, but as I have now finished all of my exams, I just have my coursework to hand in by Friday.  As a result the fleetlists that are updated today have yesterdays date, 14/05/01 as this is when I intended to upload them!  After the end of next week, there will probably only be weekly updates until September, as I will have finished the 1st year of being in Uni, so will be updating from home.  I will try to keep the site as up to date as possible over the summer holidays! (University summer holidays are VERY long, from the end of May, until late September, though we do work hard in between, honest!)

• As you may now know, the Merseyside Dennis Dart Website is now also a WAP website.  Being a WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) site, a version of it can now be viewed on WAP enabled mobile phones.  The address for the WAP version is http://dennisdart.wapmatic.de/ - The WAP version has the most recent news updates, a guestbook, a links page an an e-mail page (Which mails to my usual address buses7675@dennisdart.every1.net).  It does not have any fleetlists or photographs on it though due to the limitations of trying to display huge amounts of information on a small, monotone screen.

• Arriva NW Dart reallocation news is that Dart 1186 M186 YKA, is now allocated to Birkenhead, ex Runcorn.  Other Merseyside Dart news concerns A1A Travel, whose two new Alexander bodied MPD's, 58 Y258 KNB & 59 Y259 KMB (Note revised registration note for 59!), have now entered service, unlettered in overall white.  Older A1A Dart 53 R970 MGB, apparently left A1A on Friday over the weekend to return to Mistral Bus & Coach, via Lawtons (the Plaxton body place in Alsager) for a repaint.  Dart 54 R954 JYS, was still in service on Monday, as seen by me on the 107/207 (Liverpool Paradise Street Bus Stn. - Mossley Hill Hospital/Penny Lane).  Thanks to John Cooper and Mike for this info on A1A Travel.

• Unusual Dart workings noted me me recently have been further Plaxton died Dart SLF's in the 61/61A (Bootle - Aigburth), but although most of the ones that appear are the unbranded ones, 2238 X238 ANC, was operating yesterday, with route 53 branding!  Also noted yesterday was another odd Plaxton Dart SLF working was Arriva 7570 R570 ABA, operating the 7 (Liverpool - Huyton), instead of a route branded 22xx Dart.  Also another Plaxton Dart SLF, 7872 S872 SNB, was on the H5 (Liverpool - Warrington), still only displaying 5 on the blind, without the 'H'!

• Odd workings reported by Tim Moss on the 10th May were Arriva 7874 S874 SNB, on 660 (Wigan - Abram) and 585 (Wigan - Leigh) services, apparently only the second time these Darts have appeared on theses services since reallocation to Warrington.  Also noted by Tim were Blue Bus (Horwich) Dart MPD 0 X13 LUE, on North West Wigan (Appley Bridge) services, albeit branded for 111 (Wigan - Preston), and on First Manchester service 614, the minibus replacement Dart 1106 M106 RRJ.  Other First Manchester Dart news is a report that a Dennis Dart SLF, reported to be 6079, was in collision with a bus shelter early on Thursday morning in Hindley, near Wigan. The shelter was completely demolished and the bus received major front end damage.

• Merseyside Modern bus fleetnews is of Wright Pathfinder Dennis Lance SLF, N527 SPA entering service with Arriva NW from Bootle garage, but the fleetnumber is still unconfirmed, though based on other numberings, 1927 is possible.  I am actually surprised that this ex Southern Counties Lance was sent to Merseyside, as I noted earlier on this site that as it was the odd N-reg one that if any of the batch were likely to stay with Arriva Southern Counties, as one was meant to be going, then that would be the one.  Maybe they have sent them all up anyway!  Other new buses at Bootle are B10BLE's 2723 - 2724 Y723 KNF - Y724 KNF.  The remaining B10BLE's expected to arrive at Bootle soon are 2725 - 2730 Y725 KNF - Y730 KNF, though as with 2710 & 2720, 2730 may not have a matching registration number.

• New Dart MPD's soon to be delivered to South Lancs Travel (Mk II), are to be Y66 SLT & Y77 SLT.  These are expected to be delivered in allover white.  Like Tim , I also believe that the MPD is possibly the best of the Dart family, as it is the version that has made the most drastic change to services, as when compared to the Mercedes Minibuses that often ran routes now operated by MPD's, there is little comparison - Even the newer Mercedes Benz Varios still have VERY high entrance steps when compared to even some older step entrance buses.  One set of routes on which this is very true are Merseytravel routes 173 & 174 (Belle Vale - Penny Lane), which are and were operated by Supertravel, but they used to be until October 2000 operated by Talbot minibuses, which were noisy and horrible!!! - When the Supertravel Smart Eco MPD's V261 BNV - V264 BNV & V268 BNV came to the route, along with the Smart Eco status, the loadings did drastically improve.  Even I now occasionally travel on the route just as a nice trip, which is something I definitely wouldn't have done with the Talbot minibuses!!!

• Modifications to the main page this week, include the removal of the link to the Dennis Dart Club (As very few people joined it, and the Dennis Dart Yahoo Group, which definitely is still running has lots of members and regular postings!), and the space has been replaced with a link to the Volvo B6 Yahoo Group, which is operated by Tim Moss.  Also a box has now been added to the bottom of the page in which you can rate the site out of ten!!!  Also the Links page will be updated soon to include Chris Woodall's Runcorn buses website, and Tim Moss's North West Volvo B6 Homepage.

• News of odd Dart workings from yesterday seen by me is, as noted in the Guestbook and Dennis Dart Yahoo Group, was of Halton's Marshall bodied MPD 20 X966 ULG, very unusually operating the 14 (Liverpool - Runcorn).  I unfortunately was unable to see which vehicle did operate the 203, but if anyone did could they let me know at buses7675@dennisdart.every1.net  Also noted yesterday was Arriva NW Plaxton Pointer 2 bodied Dart SLF 2218 X218 ANC operating the 61/61A (Bootle - Aigburth Vale).

• Tim Moss reports that First Manchester route 614 (Wigan - New Springs), is still having odd Darts workings on it instead of various minibuses, such that on May 3rd, it was the turn of "Quality Service" Northern Counties bodied Dart 1105 M105 RRJ.  Also noted by Tim on the 8th May was Blue Bus (Horwich)'s MPD 14 X14 BLU which is branded for 528 (Bolton - Belmont) on 534 (Bolton -  Oldhams Estate) and Dart SLF 9 S9 BLU, on the 528! - Sounds to me like something Arriva would do!!!

• Thanks to all who answered the enquiry on the Yahoo Group about the first built Darts, of each type, so far from the various postings:

• As you can see, I did manage to get the fleetlist updates done, and I am on schedule with all Uni work!

• Although I altered the fleetlists on Thursday, noting the disposal of On-Line Transports Dart, W386 WGE, this is incorrect, and has been corrected today - It just seems that this Dart is now used on a Merseytravel service for much of the daytime, and so is not used on the 86 (Liverpool - Garston) as it used to be during the daytime, and 291 in the early morning.

• The new Darts delivered to A1A Travel so not appear to have entered service yet, at least as replacements for there two long Plaxton Darts 53 R970 MGB and 54 R954 RYS, as both of these two Dart were at work over the weekend on the 107/207 (Liverpool Paradise Street Bus Stn. - Mossley Hill Hospital/Penny Lane).  These new Darts will be registered as follows, 58 Y258 KNB & 59 Y259 KNB.  They are 8.5M MPD's to a B29F layout, with Alexander ALX200 bodies.

• Arriva Modern Bus fleetnews is of the arrival at Bootle garage of Volvo B10BLE 2722 Y722 KNF, which I saw on Wednesday (2nd) on the 53C (Liverpool - Thornton) in place of one of the route branded Darts.  As a result of the delivery of new B10BLE's to Bootle, I saw two of its non-route branded X-reg 22xx Plaxton Pointer 2 Darts on routes other than the 53C yesterday, as there was at least one each on routes 62 (Penny Lane - Crosby) and 61 (Aigburth Vale - Bootle).  Interestingly of this batch, 2217 X217 ANC, unusually has large Arriva serving Merseyside logos on both sides.  One of the Huyton allocated route 6/7 (Liverpool - Huyton) branded Darts was recently seen traveling up Brownlow Hill out of service with rear end damage.

• The new Y-reg Dart at Citybus is believed to be registered Y499 PTU, and is in overall white livery, currently seen operating on Wirral route 185.  Tim Moss reports that First Manchester's Wigan garage is having continued vehicle shortages, as First Manchester  Dart 614 M614 SBA, was working 614 (Wigan - New Springs) on April 30th instead of the more usual breadvan, whilst 612 M612 SBA was on the 614 on May 2nd.  Many thanks must go to Tim for his positive comments in the Guestbook - Thanks Tim!

• More Modern Bus fleetnews is the delivery of another DAF SB220GS with ELC Myllennium bodywork to Birkenhead.  John Cooper reports that 2457 Y457 KBU, was in service by May 3rd.

• Odd Dart workings noted recently are of Arriva NW Bootle Dart SLF 2234 X234 ANC, operating the 168 (Bootle - Aigburth Vale) on Monday 7th.  Not only is this odd to see this vehicle type on the 168, this Dart is also route branded for the 53!  Very unusually noted on Sunday 6th, was one of Citybus's Marshall bodied Dart SLF's on the 82 (Liverpool - Garston).  Unfortunately I was unable to identify which of the two it was, but I have only ever seen theses vehicles on the 101 (Vauxhall Circular), so to see them on the 82 was VERY rare.  Also noted unusually on Bank Holiday Monday was CMT's 100/200/202/204 routes, as many of these were being operated with Wright Crusader Dart SLF's, instead of the more usual Northern Counties bodied Dart SDL's.

• Odd Modern Bus workings noted at the weekend were of Volvo B10BLE's 2716 - 2721, actually being on the 86 (Liverpool - Speke) for most of the weekend.  Though this shouldn't be odd, for most of the previous week, they had been on various routes including the 79 and 81.  One that did go it alone though was 2717 Y717 KNF, which was on the 78 (Liverpool - Halewood) on both Sunday 6th and Monday 7th.  I have noticed from various sightings of theses B10BLE's and traveling on one last week that they are equipped with reversing camera's, as they are fitted with a small monitor in the cab, and the camera can be seen directly above the rear number box at the back of the bus.  They also, along with the DAF Myllenniums, are fitted with some LED rear lights as well as some standard ones.  The ones on the B10BLE's appear to be the high level brake and indicator lights, and the small red side makers lights.  These can be compared with those on the X-reg B10BLE's, whose high level rear lamps are far larger than the ones on the Y-reg buses.  On the Myllenniums, from sighting of 2453 Y453 KBU yesterday, whilst operating the 410 (New Brighton - Woodside), the LED lights seem to be the main rear side lamps and the narrow rear horizontal brake lamp, which is similar to those in cars.

• Finally another site now added to the links page is The North West Volvo B6 Homepage.  This excellent, well though out site has fleetlists of all Volvo B6's operating throughout the North West, along with technical details etc.  Just in case anyone was wondering, although the Dennis Dart and Volvo B6 are seen as rivals, no such rivalry exists between this site and the B6 site!!!

• Unfortunately due to University work commitments I was unable to also alter the fleetlists today, but I have covered most of the info in today's news.  Hopefully these alterations should be made before the end of the week.

• It now seems that two of the fleetlists in the Dart section need to be moved to the Former Darts fleet as both Tanner Travel and On-Line have got rid of there only Darts.  Why On-Line has got rid of its I do not know as they have only operated it for just over a year, and it was leased especially for Merseytravel route 291.  Even stranger is its replacement in the form of a Leyland National MkI.  The Dart that was leased to Merseypride Travel may now also be off lease, but this still needs to be confirmed.

• A1A Travel now seem to be getting two new Darts, in the way of two Dennis Dart MPD 8.5M, Alexander ALX200 bodied vehicles.  These are to be given fleetnumbers 58 & 59, and will replace Plaxton bodied 53 R970 MGB and 54 R954 RYS.  Citybus are too operating a new Dart, this time a Y-reg Plaxton Dart MPD.  Registration still unconfirmed.  Thanks to Mike for the above information.

• News from the Manchester area, courtesy of Tim Moss is Blue Bus's Alexander ALX200 bodied Dart SLF, 28 V928 FMS is now route branded for 111 (Wigan - Preston).

• John Cooper reports First Red Rider 882 W809 VMA [REL 905] has passed to First Midland Red at Worcester.  Its last day of operation from Moreton garage was probably 6th April. Route 850 then subsequently passed to Raddoneur, whose operating centre is in Wallasey, commencing 9th April.  John has also supplied further details for the Arriva Modern Fleetlist, with much information on the Birkenhead Olympian Palatine II's branding, livery and capacities.  These should hopefully be added during this week too.

• Odd Dart working seen recently include on Monday (30/03/01), seeing Supertravel Smart liveried V268 BNV on the 165 (Belle Vale Circular).  This is odd as this is NOT a Smart route, but due to Supertravel now operating the 202/204, which too my knowledge has so far not had anything but Supertravel liveried MPD's on it, there is little else but these that they can put on the 165 (And a wrong liveried Dart in a LOT better than the Marshall Minibus alternative!)  Whilst I noted this on the 165, I saw the extremes of Plaxton II Dart length in Belle Vale bus Station as there was the Supertravel MPD, and Norbus's SPD, V897 DNB.  This looks very odd on the route 169 (Belle Vale - Halebank), as its as flush glazed, 11.3 metres long, is fitted with electronic ventilation and look in very good condition.  Even stranger was the way in which it has curved grab poles which I have not seen on any other Pointers.  Unfortunately the image was spoiled by the hand written marker pen on yellow background destination blind!!!

• Modern bus fleetnews is of further B10BLE's that have arrived at Arriva Speke garage, the latest deliveries being 2718 - 2721.  These are registered Y718 KNF - Y721 KNF, except 2720, which is oddly registered Y427 KNF.  I have yet to see one of these on the 86, yet yesterday there were four of the batch, 2717, 2719, 2720 & 2721, all on the 79 (Liverpool - Netherley) - Once again that Arriva for you!

• Finally I must mention new website that will be added to the links very soon.  It is the Runcorn buses website  This site is run by Chris Woodall and has service information and busway history etc.

• Not too much to report from this weekend, apart from the use of an unidentified 53 route branded Arriva Dart SLF on yesterdays 168 (Bootle - Aigburth), and Arriva NW 7878 S878 SNB, continuing the trend of this batch of Darts, by operating on the H5 (Liverpool - Warrington) on Saturday (28th), displaying a route number 5!

• Modern bus fleetnews concerns the arrival of the DAF DB250 Northern Counties Palatine II's at Arriva Merseyside.  Reported so far have been N606 DWY, N608 DWY & N609 DWY, all at Green Lane, along with an unidentified example at Bootle. All are still in Arriva London livery, and there eventual Arriva NW fleetnumbers are still unknown. Based on other recent numberings, 3601 - 3613 seem likely fleetnumbers as the registrations for the whole batch are N601 DWY - N613 DWY and theses fleetnumbers would not only match the registrations, but tie in nicely below the recently delivered Alexander bodied Volvo Citybuses.

• To cover for the lack of news to write about, I have added 5 new Modern Bus Fleetlists.  They are for A1A Travel, Aintree Coachline, Citybus, LMS & Supertravel.  The Happy Al's Modern bus fleetlist has also been updated.  To view the Modern Bus Fleetlists menu page, use the link on the main fleetlists page, or click here.

• A new photograph of Arriva NW DAF SB220GS, ELC Myllennium 2451 Y451 KBU, has been added to the Other Photographs page, courtesy of Andy Jackson.  The thumbnail for the Thomas SLF 235 has now finally been added too!

• Chester City Transport Marshall bodied Dart SLF 374 V374 KLG was involved in an RTA on Saturday 10th and upon investigation into the crash it is to be sent to a contractor for repairs.

• Arriva NW Darts 1193, 1212, 1215 & 1216 are now all at Birkenhead, all being reallocated from St Helens, except 1193 which is straight from Warrington - They will be altered in the fleetlist very soon.  It seem these are being reallocated from St Helens to replace the Atlanteans, and as a result Birkenhead currently only has one operational Atlantean, this being 3001 (1001) A321 GLV.

• It would appear now too that Southport is having problems of water ingress on its CNG powered SPD Darts 6248 - 6251.  It is as a result of this that four Atlanteans are still in service at Southport, to cover for Volvo B6BLE's and Marshall Darts, that are in turn covering on the Smart services.

• New buses soon to be delivered and added to the Modern Bus Fleetlists page of this site are further DAF SB220 ELC Myllenniums for both Birkenhead and Speke, and Volvo B10BLE's for Speke to replace existing B10B's on the 86.

• Further to yesterdays Modern Bus Fleetlist update is that the registration of CMT Lynx 2081 is G474 DHF, with this being the former Halton 27.

• On Saturday, there appeared to be quite a few non 22xx Darts on the routes 6 & 7, and I am sure, but cannot be positive that I saw an Arriva Mercedes minibus late on Saturday night, traveling down Edge Lane, I think with the blinds set to 6 - Does anyone know what this may have been, or if Huyton garage has any minibuses?

• Chester City Transport are soon to be having some more Dart SLF's delivered, probably with Marshall bodywork, as the smaller, older Darts are be transferred to lower capacity routes.  More of there SDL Darts are due to be down seated soon to B29F, ex B35F, as per 252 J52 EDM, as these are replacing Metroriders, and so as to save getting the drivers licences to drive higher capacity buses, they are just down seating the Darts!  Like 252, they will probably be renumbered into the 2xx series.  Chester are also now starting to fit well concealed security cameras to its buses - Of the Darts, at least 64 L64 PDM is fitted.

• Updates to the site today include the addition of the Merseypride Travel Dart fleetlist, and updated to the Arriva Midlands North Dart Fleet, and the ABC/CMT Modern Fleet.  I have now finally finished the film in my camera, so I will soon be able to add pics of First Red Rider REL 905, and Arriva Speke Marshall Darts operating the 212 (Liverpool - Huyton) on Boxing Day!

• Halton Transport have continued to apply the Voith Transmission badges to its SPD's and by today I think they have all been done.

• A new photograph added this week is of one of Arriva Midlands North's Air Conditioned MPD's - This along with the other new pics for this week can be found on the Dart Photographs II page.

• Strange workings seen this week include the almost incredible sighting of Arriva Dart SLF 7561 R561 ABA being used as a driver trainer on Thursday morning.  There had also been Arriva 1191 M191 YKA, operating on the 7 (Liverpool - Huyton) on Wednesday, and an unidentified 75xx Plaxton SLF on the 7 operating on Thursday.  Both were in place of the new 22xx Darts.  Just a note about those Darts is that it seems, following collision damage the front centre panel on 2209 X209 ANC, has been painted into MTL cream!!!

• Another substitution for a Dart this week has been Halton Lynx II, 57 K853 MTJ, (The Last Lynx EVER built) operating on the 61, (Liverpool - Runcorn) on Wednesday the 7th.  This is a correction to the Guestbook information were I quoted 53 (Lynx 53 doesn't exist!).

• I have now added three Modern Bus Fleetlists to the site, those being Arriva NW, CMT/ABC Buses & Selwyns/Starline Transport - Theses can be accessed through a link on the main fleetlists page.  Also added today are two photographs, both taken by Dave Root, one of Arriva 1114 and one of a Barton Transport Dart SLF - Both are on the Dart Photographs II page.  Captions will be added to those photographs that do not yet have them soon.

• Odd working seen this weekend include Arriva 7610 operating on the 3 (Kirkby - City Centre) on Saturday the 3rd, and Supertravel X1 STM on the 224 (City Centre Circular) on both Saturday & Sunday the 3rd & 4th.  Also as noted in the Guestbook, Chester City Transport Dart 369 V369 KLG,  passed along Taggart Avenue, Childwall, Liverpool for some unknown reason.

• First Manchester are soon going to have some more second hand Darts delivered from First Centrewest, of the type Dennis Dart SDL 9.8M, with Plaxton Pointer bodywork.  They are to a B37F layout and are registered N201 XJM - N210 XJM.

• Warrington Borough Transport now have some new Y-reg Dart SLF Marshall's, and as 19 Y619 GRE was on the H5 on Sunday, they are the first operator of Y-reg Darts in Liverpool.  Arriva Midlands North now also have some new Y-reg Dart, MPD's fitted with air-con & flush glazing - Details will appear soon.

• A new operator of Darts on Merseyside is Merseypride Travel, who are operating there service 24 using S782 RNE, a Plaxton Pointer 2 bodied Dart SLF.  It looks as though it is 10.8M, and is probably, though not defiantly B39F. - I shall try to confirm this.  There fleetlists will be added to the page soon, along with the Arriva Midlands North alterations.  The Warrington Borough Transport and Arriva NW fleetlists are updated today, with the above info for Warrington, and some reallocations for Arriva NW 1212 & 1216, which are now at Birkenhead, ex Bootle.

• I have now added the Plaxton Pointer MPD, SLF & SPD spec sheets to the site, which can be viewed through the Dart Facts page.

• As noted by me in the Guestbook yesterday, Arriva Bootle Dart 2237 was operating on the Smart 1 on the 28/02/01, in place of a Smart liveried 13xx Dart.  Also seen working oddly that day was A1A travels 65 on the 207 (Paradise Street Bus Stn. - Penny Lane), which is normally operated by on e of the larger Darts, as 65 is an MPD.  Yesterday, Arriva 7411 K911 OEM was operated by the Training School again as a temporary trainer as it only has small L plates stuck to the screens.

• I have not yet seen any Y-reg Darts, but Arriva do have there ELC Myllennium DAF's in service from Birkenhead depot - I don't think it will be too long before one of the Merseyside companies gets some Y-reg Darts.

• Just another note about the Voith gearboxes on the Haltton SPD's is that 17 now also has a badge on its rear bonnet noting that it is fitted with a Voith box.  I expect that the whole of the batch 15 - 19 & 21 - 22 will soon be fitted with these badges, though as far as I know only 17 & 22 have been done so far. (Dart 20 will not be fitted with one, as it is fitted with the standard Allison gearbox as it is an MPD)