Merseyside Dennis Dart Website

• Arriva NW&W have now received the balance of their order of Volvo B7TL/Alexander Dennis ALX400, with 4100 - 4114 all receiving 55 reg plates, 4115 - 4129 all 06 reg plates. Despite 4102 CX55 EAJ arriving later than it should have (only arriving last week), due to a some sort of failure on delivery, it retained its original 55 plate, making the registrations tidier. One unusual point with them is that some of 06 reg buses have the same ending on the registrations as the earlier 55 reg examples, such as 4109 CX55 EBA and 4121 CX06 EBA. Good situation to cause confusion?! With the arrival of the new Volvos, some of the older Leyland Olympians are being withdrawn, whilst 3221 G521 WJF & 3225 G525 WJF are at Huyton, with more of this batch expected to move their later. The R23x AEY Olympians are also moving one by one to Chester depot in order to replace the older Dennis Dominators at this depot, which are going for scrap.

• Stagecoach Merseyside have received its 75th and final Dart of its 2005/2006 order, the complete set being 34741 - 34770, 34773 - 34794 & 34797 - 34820. Of these, the final 13 34808 - 34820 have arrived during March, and all of these apart from 34808 received 06 plates in lieu of their originally booked 55 ones. Quite why 34808 retained PX55 EHE is unclear, but has been confirmed by several readers of the site! There has been some confusion of the registrations of the final 12 so I've included photos where possible, those reported are 34809 PX06 DVR [photo:Karl Sutton], 34810 PX06 DVT [photo:Karl Sutton], 34811 PX06 DVU, 34812 PX06 DVV [photo:Mark Haldon], 34813 PX06 DVW, 34814 PX06 DVY, 34815 PX06 DVZ, 34816 PX06 DWA, 34817 PX06 DWC [photo:Mark Haldon], 34818 PX06 DWD, 34819 PX06 DWE [photo:Mark Haldon] & finally 34820 PX06 DWF!

• Stagecoach Merseyside, up to last week, had withdrawn all but one Volvo B6/Alexander Dash 30929 L439 LWA and two Dennis Dart/Alexander Dash 32666 K107 XHG & 32672 J520 GCD, which just shows the amazing speed of fleet renewal, I wouldn't be surprised if these two are now withdrawn, now a few more Darts have arrived! As well as these, since Stagecoach took over, they have withdrawn all the Optare Excels, MCW Metrobuses, Leyland Titans, Leyland Lynxes, Leyland Olympians (that they brought in!), the sole Volvo B6LE/Wright Crusader (again that they brought in!), DAF SB220s and are making a good headway on the Dennis Dart/Plaxton Pointers and L reg Dennis Dart/Northern Counties Paladin IIs - The ex CMT N reg Dennis Dart/Northern Counties Paladin IIs, now all at Gillmoss, are expected to survive a few years yet!

• Arriva NW&W have rebranded most of the Le bus 6/7 Darts from Huyton depot, following changes to the services, including doubling the Liverpool - Warrington weekday frequency and providing an hourly Sunday service, in place of the WBT contract operated H5 which operated every two hours. One of the Darts in the revised livery is 2201 X201 ANC [photo:Andy Rigby] seen at the temporary Warrington Bus Station.

• Warrington Borough Transport have launched a new trial livery on VDL SB120CS/Wright Merit 40 DG53 FJU, an excellent photo of it can be seen in the 'Topical Pictures' section of Dave Henderson's Excellent Fotopic Site. As of yet, no more are to be painted into this livery until public reaction is sought, with any further repaints possibly altered with that in mind. Thanks to James McCollom for his info!

• ACE Travel are now operating new Merseytravel route 193 (Huyton - Halewood), replacing part of the now shortened Stagecoach 217 route. Two vehicles which are regulars on the route are new acquisitions Volvo B6/Alexander Dash M845 EMW [photo:Mark Haldon] (possibly surprisingly, this isn't ex an ex GTL example, it is direct from Transit Group) and Dennis Dart 9.8M/Carlyle Dartline H243 MUK [photo:Mark Haldon]. The route does also attract Marshall Minibuses (when they don't break down!), such as P404 KAV which was seen on the route today, along with the B6.

• HTL Huyton Travel have invested heavily in the last few weeks too, with no fewer than six new Alexander Dennis Dart MPDs arriving, all with LEDs, CCTV fitted too! Those reported are SN06 BLZ [photo:Mark Haldon], SN06 BMO [photo:Mark Haldon], SN06 BMU [photo:Mark Haldon], SN06 BMV [photo:Mark Haldon], SN06 BMY & SN06 BMZ [photo:Mark Haldon]. Seating on these is the standard B29F, with Urban 90s (sadly!) for all the main seats, but the rear seat looks like one continuous seat, molded as if separate cushions, similar to the back row on the Stagecoach Darts. I'll have to try and go on one of these soon to find out for sure! Another smaller HTL vehicle photographed by Mark recently has been Mercedes Sprinter/Koch DK03 CWX [photo:Mark Haldon], which is seen on the 883, a service subject to a major diversion and at times delays, due to Chelwood Avenue in Childwall being closed following the collapse of a drain, resulting in a very large whole in the road! Due to this, both the 165 and 883 are diverted to run via Bentham Drive & Bowland Avenue to get around the works area.

• Late last year Supertravel received three new 10.2M long Optare Solo M1020s, none of which have yet been displayed on the site. Mark Haldon has kindly provided a photo of 026 MX55 BXO [photo:Mark Haldon] which he saw last week in Belle Vale, showing off the length of these vehicles quite well!

• News in today is of a fire at the Cumfybus depot in Southport, apparently caused by car being placed inside the depot and being set on fire last night (after the offenders also broke into the depot), resulting in some minor damage to a Leyland Olympian, but sadly causing a lot of fire damage to new Optare Solo 66 MX55 WDF, a biodiesel powered Optare Solo in an orange Edge Hill College livery. News and photos of the mindless event can be read at the Southport Forums Website.

• Final bit of news too is that the replacement for the Dart/Pointer, to be known at the Enviro200Dart (it'll probably just get called the Dart anyway!), has now been unveiled, news of which can be seen on the Bus and Coach Professional Website. Seems similar to the Enviro400 styling, but much like the existing chassis it will be available in all the same five lengths, with the same capacities, 26 fixed and 3 tip ups (thus B29F) for the 8.9M example (aka MPD) for instance! Like the present chassis, it too will be available for for other manufacturers to body, at present in the UK that is ELC, MCV and Caetano! ELCs existing Myllennium bodywork is expected to be replaced some time soon with a new bodywork they announced a few weeks ago too, whilst MCV have only just started to body on the Dart again with its Evolution body (and its still quite Marshall like!), whilst Caetano Nimbus doesn't seem to attract many orders these days.

• Quick thanks too goes to Phil Halewood for promoting this website, and that of the MBC, in the latest edition on Buses in his article about bus competition on Merseyside. Well worth a read!

• Apologies for the delay in this update, I've been working loads of hours of overtime at work, so have been stuck for time to update the website, but a massive thanks to all the people who have sent in loads of photographs for use on the website during this time! Not all of the sadly can make it into the news (due to time constraints sadly, as all the photos are excellent), so any that do not will later be in the Photographs section of the website!

• New into service today were at very least three Volvo B7TL/Alexander ALX400 from Arriva's Speke depot, these being some of the very first vehicles on the road with 06 registration plates (a number having been given these plates in place of their originally booked 55 plates, due to later than expected delivery), those noted by Mark Haldon being 4115 CX06 EAK [photo:Mark Haldon], 4120 CX06 EAY [photo:Mark Haldon] & 4123 CX06 EBD. Further deliveries of VDL SB120CS/Wright Cadet are still coming in now, the latest ones expected to be for Chester depot, although unconfirmed. Reports suggest that four are already delivered 2570 - 2573, of which 2570 is CX06 BGU. These are standard spec, with normal Arriva interior, unlike those at Runcorn. 17 VDL SB200/Wright Commanders are also due, for Rhyl and Llandudno. 2577 CX06 BHF is reported, but it is not confirmed if this is a Cadet or a Commander!

• As a result of the arrivals of new Volvos at Speke depot, the 36xx series DAF DB250s are being transferred away, the plan as far as I know, being that 3601 - 3610 would go to Manchester and 3611 - 3618 to Birkenhead. Only one example is reported to have left Speke, this being 3618 R203 CKO [photo:Mark Haldon] (the first bus I left PSIBS incidentally!), which was seen last week by Mark Haldon, operating from Birkenhead Bus Station.

• Other notable transfers within Arriva are that all of the DAF SB220/Ikarus Citibus from Birkenhead are now at Bolton, whilst some of the Volvo B6/Plaxton Pointer from St Helens have moved to Manchester to replace some of the withdrawn Blue Bus MetroRiders. Of note, for some bizarre reason, MetroRider 86 L686 SUM has been repainted into Arriva livery, this bus being one time Liverpool City Coaches L22 AJB, and is currently the only narrow MetroRider in the Arriva NW&W fleet! Other changes include the movement of some other Volvo B6/Plaxton Pointers to Arriva North East, whilst some of the F reg ex MTL Leyland Olympian/Northern Counties have been sold. The Arriva list is currently being updated, full details should be on the list in the next week or so!

• Stagecoach Merseyside held their Leyland Titan Running Day on Saturday 4th February, although one Titan did just about outlast this, with 10850 A850 SUL making its final run on Monday the 6th February. A few days later too, all the remaining Olympians were transferred away, such that Stagecoach Merseyside now has an entirely single deck fleet!

• I have been sent loads of excellent photographs from the Titan Day, including some from Gillmoss of other buses, so here are just a selection of them, with big thanks to all the photographers involved, to Stagecoach for holding the event and allowing Titan T1 THX 401S to travel up from London for the day and finally to all the drivers and people who were involved in any way running the day!

Stagecoach Titan T1 THX 401S [photo:Karl Sutton]
Stagecoach Titan T1 THX 401S [photo:Andy Rigby]
Stagecoach Titan T1 THX 401S Liver Building [photo:Mark Haldon]
Preserved Titan A910 SYE [photo:Karl Sutton]
Titan Line Up [photo:Karl Sutton]
Gillmoss Line Up [photo:Andy Rigby]
Optare Solo 47157 S22 ABC (Last in Green/Blue) [photo:Andy Rigby]

• Stagecoach have now also started to apply route branding for the 20/21 to some of its new Darts including 34766 PX55 EEY [photo:Mark Haldon]. The branding simply includes route points, but doesn't show the numbers anywhere. Similarly Arriva have started to rebrand the Le bus Darts at Huyton with generic Le bus branding due to changes in routes 5, 6 & 7. Showing a rather interesting spelling of Sheil Road too, is Dart 34801 PX55 EGU [photo:Phil Halewood]! Phil also managed to get a nice pic of 34805 PX55 EHB [photo:Phil Halewood], one of the latest deliveries of Darts that is allocated to Aintree depot, seen on the 79!

• A little bit of independent news to show is that Nip On Transport (aka Hattons) are now operating a new MPD (seems to be a replacement for their previous one), seen last week on Saints Bus duties is MX55 YBA [photo:Andy Rigby], this bus sadly being fitted with possibly the least comfortable bus seat ever, the Urban 90!

• There are many more photos that will get added over the next month or so to the photographs section of the site and odd bits of news that will get added to the fleetlists over the next few weeks! Thanks again to everyone who has sent in info and/or photographs!

• The end is nigh! Well for the Leyland Titan on Merseyside it is anyway, with only a few days of service expected from the remaining four that are still at work with Stagecoach Merseyside! It is expected that all the remaining survivors will be used on the Titan Farewell on Saturday 4th February starting at 10.00 at Gillmoss depot, along with the first LT Titan T1 and an ex GTL Titan, now in Stagecoach livery with Stagecoach North West! Further details will be added to the guestbook as soon as they are know!

• The first of Arriva's Volvo B7TL/Alexander Dennis ALX400 did indeed enter service yesterday (so did just about make a late Jan service!), with at least 4100 CX55 EAF & 4104 CX55 EAM noted in service on the 86, whist another example had been on the 82! Seen a few weeks back at Speke depot was 4104 CX55 EAM [photo:Karl Wilton] which was looking very smart, despite it being dark - Karl was also able to confirm that the buses are DPH47/27F, by way of taking a photo of the internal panel [photo:Karl Wilton]. Other photos of the interior of the bus include the upper deck [photo:Karl Wilton], lower deck from front, [photo:Karl Wilton] & lower deck from back [photo:Karl Wilton]. Big thanks to Karl for supplying these photos! The VDL SB120CS/Wright Cadet that were delivered for Runcorn depot seem to have settled into service well now, with the Strider branding now being applied to them progressively, one of the first to gain it was 2535 DK55 FXY [photo:Phil Halewood].

• Stagecoach Merseyside have resumed deliveries of new Alexander Dennis Dart SLF 10.7M/ Alexander Dennis Pointer 2 with at least 34777 PX55 EFG - 34784 PX55 EFO having been delivered, of which 34780 - 34784 are at Aintree, rather than Gillmoss, these being the first new Alexander Dennis Darts at Gillmoss, the only other newish Darts at Aintree being two TransBus Darts that had been flooded at Carlisle in Jan 2005 and the ex CMT Super Pointer Darts! First of the new batch to arrive was 34777 PX55 EFG [photo:Karl Sutton] - As can be seen, unlike the previous deliveries which were delivered via Stagecoach North West (who applied all branding), these are being branded at Gillmoss. Also noted by Karl was 34778 PX55 EFH [photo:Karl Sutton] and 34779 PX55 EFJ [photo:Karl Sutton]. A few days later 34778 PX55 EFH [photo:Karl Sutton] had all its branding added and entered service shortly after!

• Stagecoach Merseyside are continuing to repaint its Optare Solo fleet, with 47156 S111 ABC [photo:Karl Sutton], 47158 S33 ABC [photo:Karl Sutton] and 47160 T552 ADN all being painted recently, just leaving 47157 S22 ABC to be done as 47159 S44 ABC was done when it was refurbished! This also brings the total of buses in ABC Travel livery down to just two, with DAF SB220s J800 ABC [photo:Phil Halewood] and N600 ABC remaining! Further B10Ms continue to also arrive at Stagecoach, those arriving recently include 20305 L305 PSC [photo:Phil Halewood], 20310 L310 PSC [photo:Phil Halewood], Northern Counties bodied 20674 R647 HCD [photo:Karl Sutton] whilst five Volvo B10M coaches are now at Gillmoss as driver trainers, those being Volvo B10M/Plaxton Première Interurbans 52146 PSU 443, 52210 L640 LDT, 52211 L641 LDT, 52212 L642 LDT [photo:Karl Sutton], & 52257 M943 TSX.

• Stagecoach Merseyside are also repainting its ex GTL buses with Darts 33163 T601 JBA [photo:Karl Sutton] (this buses fifth repaint, having had MTL(new), Arriva, MTL, GTL, GTL Red and Stagecoach, in that order since March 1999!), 33615 T603 JBA [photo:Karl Sutton], whilst an unusual ex GTL visitor from Stagecoach Chesterfield as a crew bus was Optare Excel 35019 P333 ABC [photo:Karl Sutton], whilst ex CMT Volvo B10B/Alexander strider M391 WVX [photo:Karl Sutton] is now getting repainted and has even had an interior retrim [photo:Karl Sutton] in Stagecoach style!

• Paradise Street Bus Station finally bit the dust (quite literally!) on Sunday 22nd January, when at around 08.00 in the morning, following much work overnight was blown up in a controlled explosion, so now the only parts of the entire building that remain are the glass entrances which are being taken apart using conventional methods! With the car park and bus station now raised to the ground, the area does look very odd, but I suppose that is what they call 'progress'!

• Final quick bit of news (sorry for this update being rushed, been busy lately!) is of Avon Buses using Alexander Dennis Enviro300 demonstrator SN54 HXG [photo:Mark Haldon] last week, where is was seen operating in the Wirral, although it did apparently make it to Liverpool one day to run on their services in the Bootle area!

• Happy New Year! The start of another year, which marks some significant milestones! Not only has the first new low floor double decker just been delivered to Arriva NW&W, but also the first Dennis Dart SLF is now 10 years old this month! More on these later! Apologies to anyone who has had difficulty in viewing the website last week, the host of the site has been improving security on the server, which meant that all database files had to be moved around thus the guestbook and counter didn't work properly on Wednesday and for a short time none of the site worked at all! All the problems seem to be solved now, with the guestbook now upgraded again and working better than ever! Thanks to all those people who do regularly post onto the guestbook and keep it going, almost as a news blog!

• The biggest news which has only just happened this weekend is the arrival of the first Volvo B7TL/Alexander Dennis ALX400 for Arriva NW&W, which is intended for Speke depot with primary use on the 86 (Speke - City Centre). The first of which is numbered 4100 CX55 EAF, with the batch of 30 to be numbered 4100 - 4129. They are DPH45/27F, interior is in standard Arriva blue (rather than the green on the Cadets), but with the same seats with headrests, Esteban Civic V3s, apparently! As a side note, I rather surprisingly found out that Esteban who make those nice comfy seats, which are now the Arriva standard seat with/without headrests are the same company responsible for the awful Urban 90 seats, as fitted in the 22xx Darts delivered in 2000 and the DAF SB220/ELC Myllenniums! The only other low floor double decker to operate public services in Liverpool's was LMS Dennis Trident/Plaxton President PO51 UGF [photo:D.J. Denhay] seen back in 2004 just before it was sold and the company collapsed!

• Arriva NW&W Runcorn depot is today launching its 'STRIDER' network, as the depot has 'gone Overdrive' as of today! The depot allocation now consists entirely of the new VDL SB120CS/Wright Cadets, of which all should have arrived by now, 2514 - 2515 & 2519 - 2555, which are all to be STRIDER branded, along with the refurbished Scania L113/Northern Counties Paladin IIs, the refurbished and single door converted Scania N113/Wright Pathfinders and three short Dennis Dart SLF/Plaxton Pointer 2s! The Arriva NW&W fleetlist is now updated with all the changes!

• On Boxing Day and New Years Day, almost all bus services on Merseyside were operated as Merseytravel contracts, resulting in some unusual workings. Amongst those noted by Neil Hilton was that of Stagecoach operating the 75 (Halewood - City Centre), with Alexander Dennis Dart SLF 10.7M/Alexander Dennis Pointer 2 34764 PX55 EEV [photo:Neil Hilton] noted on the route, seen in Woolton Village. Some of the ACE Travel Marshall Minibuses were also noted in service during the holidays, but seen at their home depot by Neil were R107 VLX [photo:Neil Hilton] & older P404 KAV [photo:Neil Hilton]. The front lights on P404 KAV are unusual as they were very quickly dropped by Marshall, to move to the later layout, I think only early Marshall Minibuses and the first two Marshall Capital Dart bodies had the original light fittings!

• Supertravel have now received a total of six 55 reg Solos so far, those being M920s MX55 BYC, MX55 BYD & MX55 BYF along with longer M1020s (which also have fleetnumbers!) 025 MX55 BXP, 026 MX55 BXO & 027 MX55 BXN, with B37F layout Not sure why the fleetnumbers are in reverse alphabetical order, compared to the registrations! It has been confirmed that Dart SLF 10.7Ms S8 STM, S9 STM & S10 STM are all withdrawn, along with Solos YN53 ZWH [photo:Neil Hilton] & YN53 ZWJ. As can be seen in Neil's photo, although withdrawn, at the end of December, all the vehicles remained on site at Supertravel's depot. It is expected that a further three, assumedly M920 Solos will arrive this month to replace Dart MPDs KP51 SXZ, KP51 SYC & KP51 SYE. The only 'non 55 reg' Solo to remain, MX54 KYJ [photo:Neil Hilton] has also had LED destinations fitted, so is near identical to the brand new M920 models. Finally, just to confirm that Dart T74 JBA is still with up [photo:Neil Hilton] it was seen at the depot over the holiday, the blinds set for its usual route! Another operator with brand new Solos now in service is Cumfybus who have four new M780SL Solos MX55 WDD, MX55 WDE, MX55 WDF & MX55 WDG [photo:Andy Rigby].

• At least two of the Scania Omnicities at Arriva's Speke depot have now been fitted with extended luggage racks, with at least 2062 CX05 EOW & 2063 CX05 EOY [photo:Karl Wilton], Karl's photo showing how the new rack is added to the left had side of the vehicle.

• Paradise Street Bus Station continues to be knocked down and is now looking a rather sorry state, as seen by Neil [photo:Neil Hilton] in late December, it seems they are gutting the structure completely, and removing the entrance/exit areas of the bus station which were added on first, then removing the car park structure entirely. Somehow the replacement car park on Liver Street next to Paradise Street Interchange Bus Station has already won a safe car park award!

• The three DAF SB220s at Stagecoach Merseyside appear to have numbered days in service, with the older two Optare Delta bodied examples 26004 J800 ABC & 26005 L700 ABC spending quite a bit of their time at Gillmoss depot as driver trainers. Seen at Gillmoss depot is 26004 J800 ABC [photo:Chris McCann], probably due to enter service later that day, despite the 78B (as the shortened 78s now tend to unofficially be numbered) being an Aintree route, on Boxing Day and New Years Day, all services were operated out of Gillmoss so some incorrect vehicle allocations appeared over the intervening week.

• A very interesting point is that the Dennis Dart SLF is now 10 years old, with the very first examples entering service in January 1996 with what is now First Berkshire. The eldest local examples are the Arriva 7531 N531 DWM & 7532 N532 DWM, new to MTL St Helens depot in April 1996 and now at Rhyl depot! The Dart is expected to live on for a while too, as the present chassis is now available with Euro4 engines, whilst the revised chassis which Alexander Dennis are meant to be announcing later this year will, apparently, still use the Dart name!

• A much newer example that has been through the wars is Dart MPD T458 HNH which is now owned by Avon Buses, ex Norbus. It seems that when Norbus collapsed, all the Darts that were on lease had to be returned to their owners in perfect condition, so any Darts that they did own were used as donor buses in order to get the others up to scratch. As can be seen [photo:Michael Bennett] when T458 HNH arrived at Avon on 02/12/2005, it certainly wasn't in working order, amongst all the obvious things that can be seen to be missing, it was also missing its cab window and many cab fittings [photo:Michael Bennett], it engine and gearbox [photo:Michael Bennett] and half of its seats [photo:Michael Bennett] and even a proper set of working set of doors [photo:Michael Bennett]. Avon's engineering department have worked tirelessly as by 13/12/2005 the bodywork had been tidied up and painted [photo:Michael Bennett], its interior was mid way through retrim by 23/12/2005 [photo:Michael Bennett] and exactly one month later it was very nearly a completely working bus, as seen on 03/01/2006 [photo:Michael Bennett]. Excellent work from Avon Buses and a big thanks to Michael Bennett for all those photos!