Double Deck Vehicles

Double Deck Vehicle Overview

Double deck vehicles have never really featured in any great numbers in either the Midland Red West or First Midland Red/Wyvern fleets. On formation in 1981 Midland Red West was the only one of the four new bus companies formed out of Midland Red not to have any double deck vehicles. Within months three ten year old Daimler Fleetlines joined the Midland Red West fleet from Trent. They were used at Evesham and Hereford garages but had all gone by 1984. Whilst Redditch Garage did not have an allocation of its own double deck buses it did operate a Midland Red South vehicle each day on the then joint 229 service from Redditch to Stratford. The vehicle was required for Alcester schools and for operational reasons a Redditch driver drove it - To balance the working a Redditch Leyland National was parked at Stratford on Avon Garage each night. This arrangement ended in April 1986 when each National Bus Company had to operate as an independent unit ready for deregulation in October 1986. With the purchase of Midland Red Coaches in December 1986 Midland Red West ended up with seven MCW Expressliner double deck coaches. These unpopular and unreliable vehicles were used on National Express contract work with last being withdrawn in October 1990. To combat the competition from first of all Redline and then Kingfisher in Redditch Midland Red West operated a total of 4 (though not at the same time) Bristol VR double deck buses from Redditch Garage between 24th October 1987 and August 1990. Between 1990 and 2002 the company did not operate any double deck vehicles being one of the largest bus operators in the country without such vehicles until the arrival of K123URP from First Northampton in August 2002.

 "2611" or "30524" - A80RRP  

A Leyland Olympian A80RRP arrived from First Mainline or to give their latest trading name First South Yorkshire on Monday 3rd March 2003. The vehicle carries the fleet number 2611. It was unusual in the Mainline fleet in that it has an East Lancs body whereas the majority of their Leyland Olympian vehicles have Roe bodies. 2611 had been operating from First South Yorkshire's Olive Grove depot. The vehicle is currently in store at Worcester. Like the Volvo double deck buses if First Wyvern actually runs the vehicle in service then it will be the first Leyland Olympian First Wyvern or Midland Red West have ever operated. On paper at the very least this vehicle has been allocated a new national Firstgroup fleet number of 30524 though the vehicle does not actually carry this number. The vehicle was sold to First Edinburgh in June 2003. The vehicle  was never operated by First Wyvern.

 31378-80 L166-8UNS

On 2nd June 2004 First Wyvern acquired the first of a number of "new" double deck vehicles (L167UNS) from First Glasgow. The vehicles have a Leyland Olympian chassis with a Alexander body and will once prepared for service enter service at a number of Garages for use on school services as a way of reducing the company peak vehicle requirement. The first vehicle was joined by a second L166UNS on 5th June 2004. 31379 (L167UNS) entered service at Worcester garage on Monday 7th June 2004 after the half term school holiday as a replacement vehicle for the service S40 following the return of F83XBD to First Northampton. L167UNS entered service at Evesham Garage for use on the 535 school service from Stratford to Alcester Schools (Alcester High School and St Benedict's Roman Catholic High School). This Warwickshire County Council contracted service was originally designed for the use of one single deck vehicle. However usage was such that the service had been duplicated using Mercedes Vario S523RWP (52523) which had been reallocated from Worcester Garage for this purpose. 52523 did find its way onto other routes such as the 247 to/from Redditch. Both L166UNS and L167ULS had seen around one months service at First Northampton prior to their arrival at Worcester in August and September 2004 respectively. For the start of the new school year in September 2004 a third vehicle L168UNS from the First  Glasgow entered service at Evesham Garage. This vehicle had moved south to sister company First Northampton with it's two sister vehicles during the summer. L168UNS actually arrived at Evesham via First Leicester where it may have seen service. 

 31451/2/3/4/5 N963/4/5/6SOS

A need for more double deck vehicles to operate school contracts has led First Wyvern to acquiring more double deck vehicles from First Glasgow in the shape of N965/6SOS. They basically similar to the L16xUNS batch of vehicles that were acquired during 2004 from Glasgow. Both vehicles require remedial work before they enter service and are currently in store at Worcester Garage. A further vehicle (31452) from the same batch arrived at Worcester in early October 2005 and is in store at Worcester. 31452 was joined in store by 31451 in December 2005. 31451/2/3 were store at Worcester and in January 2006 were all sold to First Northampton without being used by First Wyvern. 31452 and 31455 were reacquired from First Northampton in preparation for the start of the new school term in September 2006.

 31553 E127DRS

In July 2008 First Wyvern acquired E127DRS from First Aberdeen as a replacement for L168UNS (31380) which was withdrawn during July 2008. E127DRS is part of nine vehicle batch that were being operated by First Aberdeen (E122-131DRS) 31548 - 31557 All are dual door Leyland Olympians. During early August 2008 the vehicle moved to Worcester Garage to undergo work to make it fit for service in September 2008. Part of the work involved rectification of four PG9 defect notices. The vehicle entered service at Worcester during October 2008 as a spare vehicle but has spent most of the time of the road with mechanical problems

 32627 KP54KAO

KP54KAO arrived at Worcester from Leicester in September 2011 in exchange for single deck KX05MGY that went in the opposite direction. With changes to school bus requirements at both Redditch and Worcester garages from September 2011 33404 and 33405 moved from Worcester back Redditch and KP54KAO was moved to Worcester to maintain 3 low floor double decker at Worcester. KP54KAO is part of a batch of 24 split initially between Northampton, Bath and Leicester garages with 9 at Northampton, 3 at Bath and the remainder at Leicester. Currently other than the one at Worcester 2 are still at Northampton, the 3 that were at Bath are at Western super Mare and the remainder are at Leicester. Since arrival at Worcester KP54KAO has spent most of it's time on the service 144

 33401-5 VX54MTV/Y/Z/UA/B

In November 2004 Firstgroup announced a major vehicle order for a total of 125 new low floor buses from Alexander Dennis at a total cost of £15M. As part of the order First Wyvern are to receive a total of 46 new vehicles which include five 10.7-metre Dennis Trident double deckers out of a total of ten ordered. The other five are for First Devon and Cornwall and will be bodied by East Lancs. As a result of this First Wyvern took delivery of it's first new double deck vehicles on Friday 26th November 2004. Double deck vehicles have never figured very much in the fleet but to allow both the conversion of normal bus routes in Redditch to low floor operation and the flexibility of higher capacities on one vehicle for school services a number of these Alexander Dennis have joined the fleet. Initially the vehicles were put into store at Worcester Garage awaiting preparation for service together with staff training for both drivers and engineers. The vehicles are built to the standard First Group vehicle specification both inside and external livery. The first three vehicles were joined on 3rd December 2004 by a further two vehicles 33404 and 33405. Currently the Redditch Union will not allow type training to start on the vehicles because they are not fitted with periscopes and FMR policy on the alternative CCTV equipment is not to switched on. The company would rather to wait until there are problems and then use the CCTV equipment. As the vehicles to be used on school services such as S57 and S58 the union are understandably not happy! To cover a need for extra vehicles at First Leicester 33401-5 were placed on loan from 8th December 2004 pending their introduction at Redditch and they are being used mainly on their services 14 and 14A. All five vehicles were licensed at Worcester before being sent on loan to First Leicester. Non of the vehicles currently carry any legal lettering though each has a type written notice in the front near side window saying on hire to First Leicester. 33405 to Redditch on Friday 28th January 2005 where together with sister Enviro 67643 it was used for the launch of the new vehicles in Redditch. 33405 returned back to Redditch on Thursday 10th February 2005 for promotional use during the visit of the Minister for Transport. After a period at First Leicester the vehicles have moved to First Northampton during March and April 2005. During December 2005 the vehicles gradually started to enter service at Redditch. Due to continued problems with trees the vehicles are only allowed to operate on services 57 and 58. Drivers are under instruction not to deviate off of the registered routes without specific permission. By 8th February 2006 all five vehicles were operating from Redditch Garage. On 25th June 2006 route branding for the redline services 57/8  was added to all five vehicles. It was decided during the Summer of 2008 that 33401 and 33405 would be re-allocated to Worcester Garage and so the route branding was removed. During July 2009 33402 and 33404 moved to Worcester in exchange for 67601 and 67602.

Livery : All 5 vehicles arrived in Barbie livery. Red Line Branding for the  Services 57/58 was added on 25th June 2006. The branding on vehicles 33404 and 33405 were removed in July 2008. Livery Key :  Barbie 3 - is the new corporate Firstgroup livery for all vehicles which is a modified version of the original Barbie livery (The dates in brackets are when the vehicle was last repainted).

In early August 2002 Volvo double deck bus number 123 K123URP arrived at Redditch Garage from sister Company First Northampton. The plan was to use this and a number of other vehicles from First Northampton on the A1 and A2 Alcester Grammar School services, which required  duplication when the current Leyland Lynx vehicles were used. Driver training took place at Redditch throughout August with a view to introducing the vehicles when the school re-opened in September. Unfortunately during the testing of the vehicle it was found that a number of trees on the routes that were to be used needed cutting back and the Company failed to get the County Council to carry out the work. First Northampton were short of double deck vehicles for their own school commitments and the vehicle returned south without being used in service by First Wyvern. The A1 and A2 services continued to be operated by Leyland Lynx vehicles and as part of a general review of school services in January 2003 they have become County Council school contracts rather than operating as normal local bus services. Interestingly as some of the tallest vehicles to be built as they have under floor engines it was even impossible to use them on the 57/8/9 group of services where double deck buses were in regular use 10-years ago again because of low trees. In November 2005 the vehicle arrived back with First Wyvern and is currently allocated to Kidderminster Garage for use on school services operated by that garage. Both vehicles are used on the "Green School Bus Services" which are contract school services for King Edwards VI High School, Five Ways at Bartley Green in South Birmingham. For this contract both vehicles were repainted into the Green School Bus livery during April 2005. In preparation for the start of the new school term in September 2006 K126KRP arrived from Northampton. 34123 returned to First Northampton in September 2008. Following the withdrawal of 34289 from Redditch in January 2010 34123 moved back to Redditch garage in February 2010.

Livery Key :  Barbie 2 - Non low floor corporate Firstgroup livery known as "Barbie2" All three vehicles arrived with First Wyvern in Barbie2 livery. Note 34125 lacks the pink fading on the lower deck. GBS - Green School Bus livery

 34285/7/8/9 P185/7/8/9TGD

With an increase in Warwickshire County Council school contract work from the start of the Summer term in 2005 First acquired two more double deckers for their Evesham garage in March 2005. These vehicles P187TGD and P189TGD were new to Strathclyde in 1996 (now First Glasgow). The vehicles were part of a batch of 60 vehicles delivered between May and October 1996. They took the feet numbers VO44-103 (N944-73SOS & P174-204TGD). P187TGD now 34287 originally had the feet number VO87 and P189TGD now 34289 had the original fleet number VO89. Both originally entered service in September 1996. In common with many Glasgow double deckers the vehicles have a plated over rear emergency exit window on the upper deck. Whilst both vehicles are in Barbie2 livery they are none the less in a fairly scruffy state and have had the minimum  amount of preparation before entering service. On Tuesday 4th October 2011 First Midland Red acquired two more vehicles from the batch from First Essex. These are 34285 and 34288. 34288 entered service on Monday 10th October 2011 at Worcester

 34302 L302PWR

Double Decker L302PWR arrived at Worcester from First Essex on 4th October 2011. It is the first vehicle to be operated by FMR with a Northern Counties bodywork and was new to Yorkshire Rider in Halifax in 1994 and was part of a 15 vehicle batch register L301-15PWR. The whole batch was transferred to the Eastern National operation. The vehicle entered service at Redditch on Monday 31st October 2011.  

 34808 - C408HJN

C408NJN was collected by a driver from First Wyvern's Worcester Garage from the Chelmsford deport of First Essex Buses. The vehicle was new to Eastern National in January 1986 and was a member of a 13 vehicle batch with the fleet numbers C407-19HJN all of which were coached seated. C408NJN arrived in First Eastern National green and yellow livery and was hand painted by had into Barbie3 at Worcester Garage before it entered service with First Wyvern as the "spare" double deck vehicle at Evesham for use on their various Warwickshire and Worcestershire County Council contracts. One closure of Evesham Garage it moved to Redditch Garage. During in the early part of July 2007 the vehicle was operating a school service at Shipston in Warwickshire. The vehicle was hit head on by a Parcel Force van.  It appears the bus driver realized the van was going to hit him as he was stationary at the time of the impact. The vehicle was towed to Worcester Garage on 5th July and following an assessment the vehicle was withdrawn and sold for scrap in August 2007.

 38083/5/97 - F83/5XBD/J297GNV

In early October 2002 First Wyvern was experiencing overloading problems on the school service S40 which operates from Worcester Bus Station to Dyson Perrins High School  and so vehicle 283 F83XBD a Volvo B10M double deck vehicle similar to 123 was transferred from First Northampton to Worcester. Following a period of storage and driver training the vehicle entered service at Worcester Garage after the half-term school holidays on Monday 4th November 2002. The vehicle kept its First Northampton fleet number of 283 and became the first Volvo vehicle ether Wyvern West or First Wyvern had ever operated in service. In March 2004 the vehicle was given the national fleet number 30083. F83XBD is actually only on loan to First Wyvern from First Northampton. 30083 was withdrawn by First Wyvern after service on Friday 28th May 2004 and the vehicle returned to Northampton. During August 2007 38085 and 38097 were acquired for use on school work for the start of the Autumn 2007 term.