Surprise 5th Scania for Borderbus

Sometimes Twitter can be very useful. I was having a chat with Borderbus Chief Engineer Dave Marshall last night, when he casually mentioned that they had purchased a 5th ex Stagecoach London Scania Omni City Decker. I remarked that he'd kept that quiet, and Dave revealed it came as a bolt out the blue to them too, and was totally unexpected. Not only that but Borderbus have bought back the last remaining B7tl Gemini, that has never actually left the Beccles yard, but was loaned back to them by Scania as cover while the other Scanias were being converted and painted. So in effect they have two new deckers!. So this morning I went over there to take a look.

Already converted to single door, former Stagecoach 15137 LX59 CNA has what I'd call 50/50 seats - ie not as well padded as the other Scanias Borderbus have had done, but not as bad as the original non existent Scania padding. I have to confess I do like these buses, but only with decent seats! As yet I don't know what registration the new Scania is to receive, but I bet my bottom dollar that if BB55 BUS is available that will be it,

Gemini 200

The Gemini will be mainly used on school journeys, as the Presidents are beginning to show their age and are needing extra maintenance. As to if it reverts back to its former registration of BB03 BUS, which is now carried by the E200 formerly BB59 BUS,which is now on a Scania (keep up please) remains to be seen.

The two together

My thanks to Dave Marshall for the heads up, and particularly Borderbus' genial Geordie Dave Laverick for positioning the buses for me, co-ordinating screens and just being an all round decent bloke.

The three different types of decker at Borderbus

Rear view of the Scania

One other piece of local news is that Chris Speed, already Head of Operations at First Eastern Counties has added Head of Engineering to his portfolio. Congratulations, Chris, I expect all rattles to vanish overnight, and I'm looking forward to our planned meeting in a couple of weeks.