Heritage buses on normal services.

On Saturday 12th September, Stagecoach West celebrated the 80th anniversary of the Cheltenham District Traction Company, and the launch of "Stagecoach Gold"- 12 new luxury buses running on the 94 route between Gloucester and Cheltenham.

After finding out about this event by chance at lunchtime on the Saturday, we decided to walk into Gloucester town centre, to view the new buses, and also the vintage buses which were running alternate services on the 94, and the whole service for the day on routes 97 and 98.

I made sure I had plenty of battery life left in my camera, and some money for coffee (and ice cream /milkshakes /crisps, as we were taking the kids !), and we set off for town. We saw the first vintage bus as we got to London Road - 969 EHW, a Bristol Lodekka, and I diced with death by standing on a traffic island to get a few shots as it drove past!

Thirty seconds later, we saw the first of the new Stagecoach Gold buses- VX09 NBK coming up the hill. The 12 new buses are all Scania Enviro 400s, with the main selling points being: full height hand-stitched Italian leather seats, helpful uniformed drivers, and a greener engine to save the planet! (the seats do look very comfortable though).

When we arrived at the bus station, Liz, Lucy and Michael went off to the shops, and myself and Joseph found a good vantage point near the entrance, with a few fellow photographers. Within minutes, we had seen another "Gold" bus, a Bristol RE, and a Bristol VR.

We spent the next two hours taking photos of the various buses in and around the bus station, apart from the time spent queuing for a coffee and a milkshake in the bus station cafe, and when the others joined us, we decided to catch the 97 home.

We got onto the Bristol RELL (KHW 306E) and for the first time in my life, had to pay a conductor rather than the driver! Joseph was particularly interested in the vintage ticket machine with winding handle, and has kept the ticket for his scrapbook. After witnessing a brief argument between two Stagecoach drivers about who should drive; possession being nine tenths of the law, the chap in the driving seat won and we were off towards Longlevens.

I'm not sure that Stagecoach did enough publicity about the vintage buses running on normal services with the launch of Stagecoach Gold, as on the way back I overheard one elderly lady telling her friend that this bus looked older than the normal buses, "and it's not even painted gold" !