Isle of Wight 2007

Early June 2007 saw me and my photographic assistant (and significant other) Stephen Mitchell spend a week on the Isle of Wight. Unlike the rest of June (and the whole of summer 2007) the weather was glorious and the buses were plentiful. We caught the Southern Vectis fleet at a time of transition, as some buses were seen in the remains of previous route colours as opposed to the new two-tone green livery. Almost all were smartly turned out with the exception of damage to front domes, the inevitable result of operating double-deckers in rural areas in these tree-lopper free times.

Without trying, many photos of buses were taken, mostly by Stephen as his camera responds more rapidly when switched on than mine. His photos are credited acordingly, all others being by me, and all have been re-sized to approx 950 by 700 pixels, the originals being rather bigger.  As usual, Stephen's photographs are credited individually: all others are by me.

Due to the number of photos the page is subdivided into the separate days of the holiday.

Saturday 2nd:  A few snaps in Newport

Sunday 3rd: More buses in Newport (and one in Chillerton)

Monday 4th: Buses in Godshill, Shanklin and Ryde

Tuesday 5th: Buses in Newport, Freshwater Bay, The Needles and Yarmouth

Wednesday 6th: Buses in Sandown and Godshill

Thursday 7th: Buses in Godshill, Newport and Ventnor

Friday 8th: Buses in Newport, Freshwater, The Needles and Yarmouth

 

Saturday 2nd June

The day we arrived. After dumping our mountain of luggage we hotfooted it into Newport to stock up on food and drink. Whilst I was searching for a new pair of sandals Stephen staked out Newport Bus Station.

First snap was of Transbus Dart 316 (Ladder Chine), with an annoying shadow for company. This is  one of the Darts transferred in from Solent Blue Line. Photo by Stephen Mitchell

Open Toppers have a long pedigree on the Isle of Wight. Amongst the current vehicles in 2007 was 641, an ex Solent Blue Line Volvo Olympian with Northern Counties bodywork, seen here leaving Newport Bus Station.

Behind 641 was a Marshall bodied Iveco 59.12, which I noted as number 247, but which the most recent Southern Vectis fleet list gives as 047 in the support vehicle fleet. Whatever, it is clearly advertising a local radio station.

Sunday 3rd

The day's activities were a walk from our base a mile from Godshill to Carisbrooke Castle, an afternoon in the Isle of Wight Bus Museum, a leisurely late Sunday lunch, a bus back to Godshill and a mile walk to base.

The route to Carisbrooke took us through Chillerton, where Stephen's speedy camera captured 738 (Osborne Bay), a 1993 Leyland Olympian with northern Counties bodywork en route to Ventnor on route 6. One of the few moans I have with Stephen's camera is it's tendency to completely lose whatever is displayed on some modern destination screens.

Stephen likes to try unusual shots and angles, and is keen on the "bus in landscape" shot. One which worked very well was this shot of one of the open toppers waiting at the traffic lights (possibly the oldest still in daily use) outside Carisbrooke Castle, taken from the Castle ramparts.

Not too far from the castle NCME bodied Volvo Olympian 758 dating from 1998 appeared on a service 6 journey to Newport. Another Stephen Mitchell photograph.

On the walk into Newport we encountered 103 (Brighstone Bay), a Plaxton President bodied Volvo B7 of 2002, on route 7. This route is a little confusing for the unwary, as the two terminal points (Newport and Alum Bay) are linked by three different routes, all just numbered 7. Since this photo was taken this bus has been renumbered 193.

Laying over in Newport Bus Station was 712, a 1989 Leyland Olympian with Leyland dual-purpose bodywork which included carpet on the upper deck ceiling. It is still in an old red livery, used before the introduction of the Best Impressions two-tone green livery seen on the majority of the buses. Photo by Stephen Mitchell.

Also seen in Newport Bus Station is 738 again. Another Stephen Mitchell shot.

The first low-floor Dart in the fleet, and the only Dennis Dart SLF is 300, dating from 2002 and still wearing the livery described as 2004 Greens. Yet another Stephen Mitchell photograph.

Seen in Godshill later in the day was Volvo B7 104 (Brook Bay), operating on route 2 to Newport. Another Stephen Mitchell photo.

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Monday 4th June

Trains was the order of the day. Bus to Shanklin, then riding the Island Line electrics and the Isle of Wight Steam Railway, with a couple of brief interludes in Ryde before a bus back to Godshill.

                                              

The journey to Godshill was made by car. An opportunistic photograph by Stephen Mitchell, taken through the windscreen of the car on the edge of Godshill was Wightbus Dennis Dart P141TDL, runing off service after a school duty.Wightbus is a council owned company which operates tendered routes and school routes with a mixture of Darts and minibuses. Fleetnumbers were carried, but were so small that they were not always seen, hence the use of the registration of the bus.

Having parked the car in Godshill, Wightbus UVG bodied Deninis Dart P138TDL, also running out of service after a school service was seen and photographed by Stephen Mitchell.

Coming the other way on a journey to Newport was Vectis 746 (Colwell Bay), one of the 1995 NCME bodied Olympians. Photo by Stephen Mitchell.

Also seen in Godshill is another of the 1995 Olympians, 751 (Compton Chine) operating on route 3, a very long way round to Ryde via Ventnor, Shanklin and Sandown. The bus shows the commonly seen tree damage as it passes another tree with the potential to damage it further. Another Stephen Mitchell photo.

And in the same place is Wightbus HW54 DCO, off to Shanklin to take up service on a Tesco contract, as seen later, when unfortunately the shadows precluded good photography. Photo by Stephen Mitchell.

Leyland Olympian 726 was seen in Shanklin on the walk from the bookshop to the station. Both of us photographed the bus, this one being by Stephen Mitchell, who had the better of the shadows.

Seen on the Shanklin to Sandown local service 22 is 1989 Olympian 727. The Somerfield supermarket in the background is the major terminal point in Shanklin, and used to be SHanklin Depot.

Olympian 745 (Mount Bay) is seen passing the entrance to the Bus Station in Ryde on the trunk route 9 to Newport, another route with one number and two variations. Just after our visit the Citaros were introduced onto this route. This one, finally, is one of my photos!

Turrning from Ryde High Street is UVG bodied Dennis Dart 810 (Nettlestone Point), numerically the first of the 1996 batch.

In the same place, but photographed from a bit further away is red liveried Olympian 713.

Encountered only once, and very unexpectedly, on George Street in Ryde, was 681, a 1980 Bristol VRT with ECW bodywork. The photo is included here, despite the less than perfect quality, due to the rarity of the vehicle (to us, anyway).

Parked up at the edge of Ryde Bus Station, and photographed from a handy bridge over the railway line, is 1989 Olympian 711, with a bashed dome.

Seen leaving Ryde Bus Station is  NCME bodied Olympian 737 (Watershoot Bay) dating from 1993 and making contact with another tree. A Stephen Mitchell photo.

Photographed from the railway bridge near Ryde Bus Station is Olympian 750.

Transbus Dart 306 is seen leaving Ryde Bus Station, another photo taken from the bridge and nearly ruined completely by the leaning lamp-post. A nice selection of buses can be seen behind.

Another of the Ivecos, 045,  was seen in Ryde Bus Station. Photo by Stephen Mitchell.

Another of the 1989 Olympians, 716, is seen leaving Ryde on the long route to Newport, at this stage only blinded for Sandown, Shanklin and Ventnor, presumably to dissuade passengers form travelling to Newport on this route, which takes almost an hour and three quarters as opposed to the direct route taking less than half an hour.

Often seen on the trunk route 9 (Ryde to Newport) were three Volvo B10Bs with Alexander Strider bodywork, on loan from Solent Blue Line following an increase in frequency in this route pending the arrival of a batch of Mercedes Benz Citaros. One of the Citaros was seen in the depot in Ryde from a passing train, and on the last day of our holiday one was seen between Ryde and Godshill on a special service connected with the Isle of Wight Festival (of which more anon). I believe that the official launch of the Citaros was the week after our visit. 528 is seen here descending Union Street in Ryde, photographed by Stephen Mitchell and carrying Southern Vectis fleetnames.

Also descending Union Street, but photographed from the other side of the road by me, is Transbus Dart 300 on route 3, which seemed to be predominately double decker operated.

And Olympian 715 is also on Union Street, snapped between the parked cars by Stephen Mitchell.

And I got 901, a 1995 Plaxton bodied Dennis Dart transferred in from Brighton and Hove, but originally with Brighton Buses.

Another surprise was seeing 683, a 1981 vintage Bristol VRT with ECW bodywork. Again seen on Union Street, Ryde.

Laying over at Ryde Bus Station was UVG bodied Dart 814, still in blue livery. The six UVG bodied buses were based at Ryde and seemed to spend most of their time on the Ryde area local services. We only saw one anywhere else during our stay.

Seen unloading at Ryde is Plaxton bodied Volvo B7TL 106. It had just arrived on the summer only limited stop service X40 round the east and south coasts of the island to Freshwater Bay and Alum Bay.

902, another of the ex Brighton and Hove Darts is seen parked up in Ryde Bus Station.

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Tuesday 5th June

A walk from Brook to The Needles was the day's major activity, followed by a brief look around Yarmouth. This inevitably involved hanging around at The Needles to photograph the open-toppers and a ride on one.

Following a bus journey from Godshill, the time spent waiting for our bus to Brook was filled with  bus watching at Newport. Wightbus 5825 is a diddly doodle bus.

In Newport Bus Station 2004 Transbus Dart 314 was photographed.

The two buses for The Needles Tour open-top bus service are based at Newport, and both positioning journeys run from Newport in service. 643 is one of the two 1993 Leyland Olympians converted to partial open top and is seen here at Newport Bus Station awaiting departure time for one of these positioning journeys. The chance to ride an open-topper across the island was very tempting, but our plans precluded this. This photo is one of Stephen Mitchell's.

246, another Marshall bodied Iveco 59-12 was seen turning into Newport  Bus Station on route 5 from East Cowes. Unlike 245 and 247 pictured above and which seemed to be used as support vehicles of some sort this one was wearing the current Southern Vectis livery and was obviously still in passenger use. Another Stephen Mitchell snap.

And also entering the Bus Station is Volvo B7TL no 103, soon to take up  the journey on route 7 to Alum Bay via Brighstone on which we travelled as far as Brook. Another Stephen Mitchell photo.

En route to Brook we passed Olympian 735 (Egypt Point), and Stephen got a nice photo of it through the upper deck front window of the B7TL. Our excuse for being on the front seats upstairs is that it is a great way to see the countryside when a tourist, but really it is because we are just big kids at heart.

Leyland Olympian 740 is seen passing the entrance to a car park near Brook Bay, with the chalk cliffs of Tennyson Down visible behind.

Bus in Landscape No 1: This photo was taken by Stephen to show how close the road gets to the top of the chalk cliff on the old Military Road. It seems likely that at sometime (probably quite soon) the road will disappear into the sea, chalk being a rather soft rock. Our walk took us along the footpath seen rising up the hill on the left of the shot.

Bus in Landscape No 2. The path leading from the top of Afton Down to Freshwater Bay allows more good bus in landscape opportunities, with a fine backdrop. Shame about the ice cream van, and there was no sign of Hendrix here. Another one of Stephen's shots.

The walk took us to a brief stop at Freshwater Bay, where Volvo Olympian 751 was captured on camera.

And a few minutes later 735 was seen again, heading in the opposite direction.

The Needles are one of the best known features of the Isle of Wight, made more interesting by the open-top bus route up to the Battery. The road is only open for buses and access, and has some fine hairpin bends. Almost inevitably, there are now several shots of buses on this road. First up is 642, the other converted 1993 Northern Counties bodied Leyland Olympian climbing a straight section of road and nearing the top of the hill. Another Stephen Mitchell photo.

One of the advantages of having a partner who points cameras at buses is the ability to get more than one shot of a bus. Such is the case here, where I was stationed further up the hill to capture 642 as it rounded the last hairpin before the top of the climb.

The same manoeuvre was captured by Stephen, with the multi-coloured cliffs of Alum Bay visible in the background.

The sun was not in an ideal place at the Battery for photography, but Stephen took this picture of 642 as it set off back down the hill.

The next bus up the hill, 643, is seen rounding the lower hairpin, with the Old Battery in the background. Photo by Stephen Mitchell.

643 is seen at The Battery, prior to turning round and taking us down the hill and on to Yarmouth.

Somewhere en route to Yarmouth we encountered Olympian 740 from the same batch as 642 and 643: photo by Stephen Mitchell from the top deck of the open-topper. Although I understand the reasons behind partial open-top conversions, I much prefer the full open-top configuration for several reasons, not least that this photo would have been better, without the frame of 643 getting in shot.

On arrival at Yarmouth Olympian 738 appeared on a School Service from Carisbrooke to Freshwater.

At Yarmouth 642 was seen layng over, with a B7 on route 7 behind and a 1989 Olympian partially visible, also on route 7.

The B7 was 104 (Brook Bay) on a route 7 journey to Alum Bay and then Newport via Brighstone.

The Olympian was 718, which took us back to Newport on route 7 via Wellow and Calbourne. These two photos demonstrate the way that, at the time of our visit, the use of double deckers seemed to me to be fairly random, with B7s and Olympians likely to turn up on any diagram. The 1989 Olympians seemed to be well maintained but somewhat noisy inside.

Back at Newport, another of the Solent Blue Line B10Bs was seen, this time 527 and again on route 9 to Ryde.

Transbus Dart 301 (Chilton Chine) is seen in Newport on the frequent service to East Cowes.

Whilst sister bus 305 (un-named) is seen about to depart for Yarmouth on a short working of route 7, which appeared to be a regular Dart turn on what was a double-decker operated route.

Waiting for departure time on route 10 to Sandown via Bembridge is 1998 Volvo Olympian 758. This part of the Bus Station is rather dark and constricted, with bus stands and the exit road from all the other stands.

Volvo Olympian 746 (Colwell Bay) is seen laying over in the Bus Station

The road to Merstone on route 3 is not wide particularly wide, and Stephen was able to get this photo of Volvo B7TL 106 waiting at a convenient point for our bus to pass.

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Wednesday 6th June

A walk along the old railway line to Sandown, a visit to Brading Roman Villa and a bus back to Godshill.

Sandown yielded an unexpected vehicle, namely ECW bodied Leyland Olympian 674 which originated in 1983 with Crosville, still wearing Wilts and Dorset livery, and photographed by Stephen Mitchell.

Volvo Olympian 748 (Woodside Bay) is seen nearing Sandown at the end of it's long journey from Newport via Bembridge. Another Stephen Mitchell photograph.

1989 Leyland Olympian 720 is seen leaving Sandown for Ryde.

Volvo Olympian 741 (Puckpool Point) is seen in Sandown High Street. Photograph by Stephen Mitchell.

Open top Olympian 639 (Steephill Cove) is seen as it enters Sandown High Street on the Shanklin and Sanwdown area Open top service

And also seen approaching Sandown High Street, this time from the Ryde direction, is Volvo B7TL 106 (again) on route 2, showing again that any double decker could appear on some routes, in this case the Newport to Ryde via Shanklin and Sandown services 2 and 3.

Seen loading in Victoria Road, Sandown, is 1993 vintage Leyland Olympian 739. This bus took us to Brading Villa (the nearest stop for which is not in Brading!)

Whilst waiting for a bus from Brading Villa back to Godshill, Stephen took this photo of Dart 303 on route 3. Seeing a Dart on this route was something of a surprise.

And I photographed Volvo Olympian 751 heading in the opposite direction, and about to transport us to Godshill.

At Godshill Stephen snapped Leyland Olympian 724.

Further along the road Stephen captured similar bus 718.

And he also captured 106 again as it rounded a corner en route to Newport.

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Thursday 7th June

The first part of Thursday was spent waiting in Godshill for the Cider Shop to open, followed by a bus ride to Newport and a potter around the town. The afternoon was given over to a bus journey to Ventnor and a walk round the Botanical Gardens. Rather than getting the direct bus back to Godshill we opted for a ride to Newport on the 6 (front seat, top deck as usual) and a bus form Newport to Godshill.

First bus of the day was Leyland Olympian 712 in red. One of Steve MItchell's photos.

Stephen also captured a shot of this Wightbus vehicle. The miniest of all minibuses?

A bigger minibus photographed by me was Wightbus KF02ZWN.

Closely followed by UVG bodied Dennis Dart P139TDL

And Stephen photographed similar bus P137TDL going the other way.

Southern Vectis Olympian 753 is seen rounding the corner in Godshill

Seen passing one of the thatched roofed cottages in Godshill is Olympian 719, with a VW camper van behind.

Another coach operator on the Isle of Wight was Wightrollers. LKZ 9306 is seen in Godshill, photographed by Stephen Mitchell

Another Stephen Mitchell photo is this one of Southern Vectis 758 outside The George and Dragon in Godshill.

Passing the George and Dragon is Wightbus Mercedes minibus KF002ZWR. A Stephen Mitchell photograph.

Leyland Olympian 710 is seen in Newport at the start of it's journey to Sandown.

A rather snatched photo, but the only one we managed of Solent Blue Line Volvo B10B 526, in red and blue and lea\aving Newport Bus Station. Photo by Stephen Mitchell

Another Wightbus minibus photographed by Stephen was KE04EAK.

Seen entering Newport Bus Station is Olympian 748, photographed by Stephen.

The Isle of Wight Festival was taking place on the final weekend of our holiday. As a result of this, several interesting vehicles appeared, presumably to operate shuttle services from Newport to the festival site. One such bus was Wilts & Dorset Metrorider 2536, pictured by Stephen.

And also seen was Wilts & Dorset 2240, again photographed by Stephen

And another one was Wiiltax MB36, an ex London Transport MCW Metrobus

A joy to behold was Southern Vectis 502, the company's preserved 1939 Bristol K5G. I photographed the front...

...and Stephen photographed the rear.

Almost inevitably there was a Routemaster in town. RML2520 is the bus here.

And Stephen snapped  an RT as well, LYR 910.

Another of Wightbuses Darts is 5803, HW54DCU, seen departing Newport on a service to Ryde which I can't find in the Isle of Wight transport timetable.

One of the few routes where both Southern Vectis and Wightbus both operate is the Newport local serv ice 39. Olympian 720 is seen here, photographed by Stephen.

And I photographed Wightbus 5825 on the same route.

Southern Vectis Olympian 726 is seen approaching Newport on the busy service from Ryde. Photo by Stephen Mitchell

Not far behind was similar bus 714, also photographed by Stephen.

Another "from the top deck" photo by Stephen. This time it is Wightbus P141TDL on the outskirts of Ventnor, waiting to take up service on a school journey.

The closure of the coast road between Ventnor and Blackgang due to subsidence led to the diversion of through buses. The service to Ventnor Botanic Gardens (a wonderful place!) and St Lawrence is now provided by Wightbus and runs as a rail-link service to Shanklin. Laying over at the Botanic Gardens is 5862, Dart HW54DCE.

Seen on the walk back to Ventnor is Another Wightrollers coach, SJI 7054, photographed by Stephen. Wonfder who the woman in the background is?

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Friday 8th June

Last full day on the Island (boo, hiss). The Dimbola Lodge Museum, the Needles (again) and more walking were on the agenda today.

First stop was Newport, to get a bus to Freshwater Bay. In the waiting time, Stephen photographed Dart 302 passing a pair of Routemasters.

The front Routemaster was RML2520, as seen earlier. The rear bus was DRM2516, photographed by Stephen.

From the top deck of a bus again! This time it is Open topper 641 on the Newport based Medina tour. Photo by Stephen Mitchell.

Seen at Freshwater Bay on one of the variants of service 7 is Volvo Olympian 757.

And here is 757 from the other side, snapped by Stephen.

Southern Vectis Volvo B7 101 is also seen at Freshwater Bay. One of Stephen's photos.

Seen approaching Freshwater Bay is 642, snapped by Stephen as we walked to Afton Marsh Local Nature reserve.

A different view of an open-topper. Taken from a room in Dimbola Lodge Photography Museum by Stephen.

Next stop after Dimbola was The Needles. 642 took us there, and is seen here approaching the stop outrside Dimbola.

Cliche, perhaps, but it is a great view. Stepehn snapped 643 climbing towards The Needles Battery, with Alum Bay behind.

This time we walked from The Needles,  over the Warren, thropugh Totlans and along the old Freshwater Railway to Yarmouth. Seen at the bottom of the climb to The Needles Battery is 642 again.

And 642 is seen agian, this time at the entrance to Alum Bay

In Totland, Stephen snapped Olympian 755 on a school journey.

Olympian 757 kept appearing on the 8th. Stephen photographed it this time, in Totland.

Elderly Olympian 715 is seen in Totland.

When we got to Yarmouth, Olympian 714 was already pretty full with people off the ferry wanting to travel to Newport for the Isle of Wight Ferry.  We were advised to wait for the following bus, which left Yarmouth four minutes after the bus seen here, taking a different route into Newport and theoretically arrived at the same time.

This bus was Dart 312, seen loading at Yarmouth. It was almost full when it left, a couple of minutes late. We did get on it, despite being at the back of the queue due to photography commitments!

 

Seen on Newport Bus Station was Dart 308 on the East Cowes service.

Proof that our Dart arrived in Newport earlier than the Olympian! Here is 714 pictured arriving at Newport by Stephen

Stephen also photographed another Wightbus Dart, 5863

And Stephen also snapped this: a Mellor bodied Fiat 59.12 of 1993 vintage, operating route 9. This was the only time we saw this vehicle.

Seen outside Godshill's George and Dragon is 752 on a late running service to Newport.

The following service, operated by Olympian 719, was not far behind.

Last bus photographed, and only bus photographed on Saturday 9th, was UVG bodied Dart 812, snapped from theTesco Express car park in Wootton.

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