Wellglade (Trent Barton, Kinchbus, TM Travel, Notts and Derby, Midland General)

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RE: Wellglade (Trent Barton, Kinchbus, TM Travel, Notts and Derby, Midland General)
Solar 638 is now in service on Kinchbus 9

© Matt Burley

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RE: Wellglade (Trent Barton, Kinchbus, TM Travel, Notts and Derby, Midland General)
Alex Hornby has this morning tweeted a pitcture of a volvo in the livery celebrating the centenary, it is gold with the centenary logo in the middle. Above the windows it says "really good people make a really good bus company" and either side of the centenary logo is a collection of names that have made trent barton what it is.

It also appears to have had an internal refurbishment, with headrests the same as those in Solo 500.

I don't know for sure which Volvo it is but I would imagine that it is the former Rainbows bus.

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RE: Wellglade (Trent Barton, Kinchbus, TM Travel, Notts and Derby, Midland General)
Here is centenary bus 724

© Matt Burley

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RE: Wellglade (Trent Barton, Kinchbus, TM Travel, Notts and Derby, Midland General)
Eclipse 751 and Solo 414 have both transfered from Nottingham back to their native Langley Mill depot

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RE: Wellglade (Trent Barton, Kinchbus, TM Travel, Notts and Derby, Midland General)
Spare Volvos 741 and 751 have transfered back to Derby, Solar 667 has moved in the opposite direction

The Rainbow 1 solars have gained new rear adverts. This suggests that the brand will remain for a little while longer, despite being the last of the rainbows.

A number of buses have gained centenary logos, on the side of the buses, towards the back. They are a smaller version of the one carried on 724

Speaking of 724, the livery has now been finished, with vinyls having been applied to the rear

Both photos © Matt Burley

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RE: Wellglade (Trent Barton, Kinchbus, TM Travel, Notts and Derby, Midland General)
Former Langley Mill spare 639 has now joined sister 638 at Kinchbus for route 9 (Loughborough to Nottingham) and is in full livery.

One of the former Felix black cat branded Scania Wrightbus Solars is being repainted into Notts and Derby livery. This is due to the runs operated by Midland General/ Notts and Derby being renumbered 11, due to confusion becuase of a different route and different ticketing options available on the MG/TB services. The other will follow suit.

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RE: Wellglade (Trent Barton, Kinchbus, TM Travel, Notts and Derby, Midland General)
Former Felix Solar 600 is now in Notts and Derby livery. 598 is expected to follow. All three former Felix Solars are expected to be fitted with Mango equipment to allow full use on the Ilkeston flyer. A minor admin change means that the former Felix journeys on the Ilkeston Flyer are run by Notts and Derby and not Midland General. Photo © Guy Arab

After a period out of service, 639 is now out on the Kinch 9. 623 is thought to have left Sutton to be painted for the 9. Excel 260 may be going to Sutton in its place.

A new versa is expected to replace written off 826 which suffured from an electrical fire.

Centenary bus 724 is now at Derby on the next leg of its 'depot tour.' 741 is now at Nottingham in its place.

One member of the older batch of solos is in the paintshop and is expected to come out in a version of the spare livery complete with seats reupholstered in the new style. This could be one of the solos that went to TM Travel last summer.

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RE: Wellglade (Trent Barton, Kinchbus, TM Travel, Notts and Derby, Midland General)
Excel 260 has had standard trent barton livery applied to its pre existing red base coat. This was a 'that's trent barton' bus and as such had the darker red circle at the back, whilst those in the standard livery had the dark circle more towards the front which makes it look a little weird. 266 is set to join it at Sutton.

Also Sutton bound is solo 462. This was prematurely taken off the Allestree last year due to a collison with Red Arrow coach 69 and has been off for repairs since. It is in a new version of the mango livery, which is essentially the same as 500 and 727 but with the came base coat as the former Rainbow 4 solars, in place of the green and orange.

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RE: Wellglade (Trent Barton, Kinchbus, TM Travel, Notts and Derby, Midland General)
MAN Centro 1199 has been spotted in Nottingham and will hopefully join sister 1198 on the short skylink journeys between Nottingham and Long Eaton.

Notts and Derby have launched a website. It's been a long time coming!

Notts and Derby are to run a X62 service to Drayton Manor this summer, as well as running the X52 which has previously been run by Alton Towers Transport. The former will be in place of the service ran in collaberation with Trent Barton last year and the latter will replace the trent barton service and the established X52 so could see some big numbers.

All of the former Lothian tridents, including the two branded for last year's Drayton Manor and Alton Towers services are in Notts and Derby livery.

Excel 266 has returned to service at the Sutton depot. Like 260, it has the darker circle in a different place to usual due to formerly being braned for the Derby County Zigzag play ticket.

Solo 462 is currently at the Sutton depot awaiting a tax disc. I'm still not 100% certain where it will go into service, although Sutton would be a good guess.

For the second year in a row, Trent Barton have been put on the shortlist for the Social Brands 100 awards, which ranks brands across all sectors for the way in which they utilise social media. Trent Barton are the only bus company in the shortlist this year, and are joined in the transport category by London Midland and Virgin Trains. Last year they were ranked 29th.

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RE: Wellglade (Trent Barton, Kinchbus, TM Travel, Notts and Derby, Midland General)
462 and 1199 are both now in service

Notts and Derby 56 has had its front repainted into Notts and Derby livery