A superb day out, lots to see old and new. Sorry about the lack of captions but as I'm going into hospital tomorrow for a new hip (YIPPPPEEEEE) they'll have to wait until I come out.

Windermere Railway Station is busy not only for trains but also buses, Stagecoach Cumbria use it constantly. In the short time I had I saw 3 of the newly converted ALX400's, 18357, 'The Lakeland Pathfinder' (Wainwright), 2 PS's laid up and as I arrived there was a pair of Solo's, one in Barrow Connect livery but by the time I got parked they had gone. also parked up was a VDL Bus Van Hool Alizee T9 of Stainton, Kendal

2:30 on a Friday afternoon, not a car in the car park and the only bus to be seen was this Volvo B10M-50, Alexander RV G616 OTV new to Trent in 1989 but I've no idea who the current owner is.

4 Eclipse 2's for Warrington only.

2 VDL Pulsar 2's for Arriva North West, 1 Gemini 2 for EYMS and 1 unmarked Optare Versa. Outside a Transdev Wright Renown on the fleetwood run.

Today there were 2 Gemini's for First Bristol, 3 Eclipse's for First West Yorkshire and 1 Eclipse 2 unregistered but painted in a livery I recognise but can't name. By common concensus of my peers, this bus is bound for Warrington

First Gemini 2 through Fleetwood is for EYMS also in is a Gemini 1 for First Bristol and an Eclipse 2 for Volvo Bus

In the docks, 4 Gemini's for First Bristol, 1 Eclipse for First W. Yorks. and 2 Eclipse 2's for Volvo Bus. outside Cumfy Bus Solo, Stagecoach Versa and Transdev Renown with a very nice rear advert!!

Stagecoach NW's annual open day was held at the Morecambe depot this year and without doubt the highlight was 5 Ribble Leyland PD3's!! Great show and enjoy the photographs.

2 Gemini's for First Bristol, 1 Eclipse for First W, Yorks., 3 Eclipse 2's for Volvo Bus and 1 Pulsar 2 for Ariva NW.

1 Pulsar 2 for Arriva North West. Is this the first for them?

1 Gemini for First W. Yorks., 1 Eclipse 2 for Volvo Bus and 1 Solo minus reg. plates but has a card in its windscreen with a number which makes me think that it's a Mistral hire on its way back from N. Ireland

5 Pulsar 2's for Arriva the Shires, 1 Eclipse for First Chester P&R and 1 Gemini for First W. Yorkshire, mystery bus as an identically numbered one passed through a few weeks ago!!

Over the two days there were 8 Eclipse's, 4 for First Chester P&R and 4 2's for Volvo Bus, Plus one Arriva Pulsar 2 still in from last weekend, here on Friday gone by Saturday

Quick trip to Blackburn, nothing at all in the yard at Optare and only this Stagecoach East midlands ALX200 at NWB&C.

At last the weekend's buses, apart from one, have been moved into their normal parking areas. A total of five Arriva Durham Pulsar's, three First Eclipse's and an Eclipse for Volvo Truck & Bus just leaving. Better photographs than Sunday's!!!

For some reason the dock staff have parked 8 buses in a block in an area usually reserved for new vehicles going over to Larne. This plus the fact that the area is protected by a close mesh fence has made it almost impossible to photograph any of them, however I tried to get some and here are the results, the Stenna Pioneer spinning around in the background is probably more interesting!!!!!

A few minutes spare in Lord Street gave me a chance to try to photograph a few buses despite the very heavy Easter traffic.

Very quiet weekend in the docks, apart from the Pulsar 2 (in the previous collection) there is only on other bus in and that's an Eclipse for First South Yorkshire in Doncaster P&R livery. Outside in the street there was a Solo of Cumfy Bus out of service on what was presumably a Fylde Villager route.

In today is what might be? the first VDL Bus Pulsar 2 in dealer stock white for Arriva Bus & Coach

A very unusual working on the 42 Blackpool - Lancaster, I saw it passing my house just as I was pulling out of the drive, Quick follow to the Poulton bus stance and then another 4 miles or so until I was able to park and photograph it coming out of Great Eccleston. Great looking bus, roll on the CMNL model!!

Usual fayre, 2 Eclipse's for First, 1 Eclipse 2 for Stagecoach, 1 Gemini for EYMS a Scania Irizar PB for Ulsterbus Tours and a very UNUSUAL chassis!!!!

Quite a bit in today, 1 new Gemini for EYMS, 6 Eclipse's for First H & D, 2 in standard livery and the other 4 in Zip branding. Also just as I arrived 2 new Scania Irizar PB's for Ulsterbus Tours were being parked up for the ferry across to Larne.

2 Eclipse 2's for Stagecoach Cambus, 1 Eclipse for First H & D, 2 Scania Irizar's for Ulsterbus and First Gemini 37688 is still there!!

A bit of time in Colne and photographs of some of the new Eclipse 2's in Mainline livery as well as Renown's and a Tyrer Solo

I new Trident/Enviro 400 Olympus for London General and a (very) unfinished Enviro 200 Dart Esteem also for London General being put on to a low loader, WHY?

4 vehicles to see, Cumfy Bus Solo, Reading Omnidekka, Transdev Keighley & Dist. Renown and an ex Manchester Olympian.

Busy day, 2 Gemini's for EYMS and 1 unregistered one for an unknown First Group company plus 5 Eclipse's for First H & D.

2 Gemini's for First Manchester, 1 Gemini for EYMS and 1 Eclipse for First H & D.

2 Eclipse's for First and 1 Eclipse 2 for Cambus

An hour or so spent in Preston gave me a chance to photograph a lot of both Stagecoach and Stagecoach Preston Bus vehicles on the road and in the bus station, including EL Esteem's and Lolyne's in Stagecoach swoops.

2 more Eclipse's for Trent Barton

2 Gemini's, one for First manchester and the other for First Yorkshire. Also the first '09 plate I've seen, on an Eclipse for Trent Barton

2 buses in the yard, a Volvo B10M-50/Alexander RV and a Reading Scania Wright Solar in for repaint

Ferry just unloading when I arrived, waited for half an hour and saw 2 Eclipse's for Volvo Bus and 1 Gemini for First West Yorkshire

4 Gemini's for First West Yorkshire and ! Eclipse for First Eastern Counties, Ipswich P & R

Fairly standard stuff apart from a fleet of new Eclipse's for Suffolk County P&R.

5 in in total, 1 Gemini for First Bristol, 3 Pulsar's for Arriva Liverpool (1 failed to photograph properly!!) and Lothian 170, Eclipse 2 on its way back to Ballymena after a starring role on the Wrightbus stand at NEC.

A business visit to the NEC also allowed me take photographs of some of the exhibits, time restraints didn't allow me to photograph everything but all the new stuff is here plus Mike Sutcliffes' magnificent restored Leylands

An excellent collection of buses from Arriva, First, Stagecoach, Go Ahead (Wilts & Dorset), Newport, Oxford, Southern Vectis, Manchester Airport and Nat. Ex. West Midlands. Overcast but dry day made for a good crowd watching the action.

A bit to see today, Reading Ethanol Scania, Selnec Fleetline, Pegasus Dart, Metrobus Omnidekka and more.......................

For a bank holiday weekend this was a very quiet coach park, 2 Classic, 2 Marshall, Leighton Buzzard, 1 Arriva, 1 Henry Crawford and a few others.

2 new B9 tri axles in the yard presumably for Wiltax but no legal lettering so I can't be sure. A couple of B9 chassis for Ensign and a Parts van with full Optare livery.

All 8 of the new Versa's were at Fletwood this afternoon albeit one of them 25227 (already photographed and in collection http://alistair268.fotopic.net/c1550333.html) was in the shed. They officially start in service tomorrow (4th.) and a lot of the older Solo's have now gone.

Quick tour around the coach parks revealed a rather disappointing amount of vehicles but what I saw is here plus one of the German registered Pleasure Beach shuttles.

The first resident Versa liveried for the 84 is now in place. 25227, which was on display at last weeks Tram Sunday has now had its vinyls applied and is in the depot awaiting the others prior to going in to service at the end of the month. Only one photograph I'm afraid as it was tight against a Solo on the near side and to close to the fence to allow a rear shot.

Thanks to Peter Weetman Fleetwood saw 3 very unusual buses serving local route 84, 2 Enviro 400's, 19035 and 19043 and 1 Optare Versa 25226. Unfortunately 19043 proved elusive but 19035 and 25226 were in abundance.

Fleetwood's famous transport festival was blessed with great weather, huge entry and so many visitors, photography in some places was completely impossible. I've included everything in this collection, cars, trucks, buses, oh and a couple of trams. Many congratulations to the organisers, especially Peter Weetman who arranged many of the exhibits and who through his own efforts persuaded Stagecoach North West to put 3 'specials' on local services for the day.

Quite a bit to see for a Sunday, at East lancs there was a new Omnidekka for Nottingham and in the chassis park there were B9TL's marked up Kent, anyone any idea who they are for? At North West there was a Reading Buses Solar, a Cardiff Bus Olympus, a First Bristol Trident and a Transdev Lancashire United Renown.

A business meeting that finished early gave me an unexpected chance to take some photographs and then the rain put a stop to that!! Parked the car in Penny Lane then walked along to Hattons Model Shop (as you do) and spent 10 wet minutes photographing as much as I could.

At the East Lancs factory the two Wiltax B9TL/Olympus tri axles are ready for delivery and a Scania Omnidekka was almost ready for Nottingham City Transport. At North West Group (North West Bus & Coach) there were 2 Olympus's for Metroline, ABus, Bristol Omnidekka and an Omnidekka of Metroline.

A varied collection of Coaches including Stagecoach, Nottingham City, Dalesman, Generation and others. At the bus station there were buses from Pennine, First and Transdev

Unfortunately the organisers didn't get the weather right this year, gale force winds, rain showers, sand blowing in of the beach and spume coming in of the waves as the tide reached its height! However all that apart there was still plenty to see with both old and new buses from local fleets (Blackpool, Fishwicks, Transdev etc.) and further afield (First Glasgow). I've just put everything I took apart from the non bus pics on here and I'll sort the captions out over the next 24 hours or so

Half an hour spent at the junction of Manchester Road and Fishergate/Church Street got a lot of both Preston Bus and Stagecoach including 4 of the new Optare Solo SR's.

An hour or so to kill gave me plenty of oppertunity to have a wander around the main bus areas in the town centre. 50% (3) of the new 08 reg. Solo's in action plus all the other usual suspects and a few Stagecoach.

A few hours in Southport this morning nothing very special apart from a substantial portion of the Napier fleet bringing bands in from Liverpool for an Orange Order march. The rest was mainly local Arriva and a couple of Stagecoach. Quick stop at Preston on the way home, being bank holiday it was very quiet but got a handful of Preston Bus and Stagecoach.

Spotted this ex Chase National parked in Fleetwood near the ferry this afternoon. It's owned by John Ashton of Glossop and appeared to be here on a special excursion.

Quick 20 minutes at Skipton Bus Station saw 3 Penine Darts, 2 Transdev Eclipse's 1 Pride of the Dales Solo, 1 First Royale and a Protours Irizar Century

Chance spotting in Blackpool, then followed to the LTT site in Marton and a few quick photographs before it went inside.

After a seemingly very long absence for major track work the system re-opened today albeit in a shortened state from Starr Gate to Cabin only with the rest due to open over the course of the next couple of weeks or so. Main interest today was 723 in its new colour scheme and carrying adverts for a local TVR servicing company.

This collection is an attempt at making it easier for those of you who follow the comings and goings at Fleetwood. Until now I've always filed the Fleetwood photographs in the Misc. file after they come out of their individual collections and it's been pointed out that some times it's not easy to remember where a particular photograph was, hopefully this'll make life a bit easier.

Quick visit to Southport and a chance to grab a few photographs, mainly Arriva North West with a couple of Cumfy Bus and Stagecoach thrown in for good measure.

Yet again LTT do it, all night the rain poured down and come the morning the skies cleared and the sun shone to allow a great day out for enthusiasts both at the depot and at St. Chads headland on the front.

A small show with most of the big players being absent, however new models on display including the Wright MAN Meridian and the Optare Solo SR helped to make up for that.

Fleetwood depot is an out station of Preston and the resident fleet is mainly Solo's with a scatter of Vario's and Dart's thrown in for good measure.

An overcast day but a record entry for the final, all the buses used in the competition are here and any mistakes in the captions are entirely mine!!

This collection should have been added weeks ago but unfortunately the memory card decided to go for a walk and it's only just returned!! Anyway, a pleasant day marred by horrendous rain from about lunch time onwards but the EL staff as always were friendly and helpful, the buses on display in the car park were interesting even if all the buses 'in build' were Olympus's for Metroline.

They say that the sun always shines on the righteous, well the organisers of this years event have every right to feel righteous, all around Blackpool it was raining but on the South Promenade the sun shone on a wonderful display of vehicles. It's a pity that there were no visitors down from Scotland, at least none that I saw but there were plenty of magnificent buses to whet the appetite, thanks for looking and enjoy the photographs.

This gallery will be used to store all the photographs taken at the Darwen East Lancs & Darwen North West facilities in Blackburn. New photographs will be put into the current collection and moved here after about 3 weeks or so.

Photographs taken in the museum and at the rally site on a beautiful summers day

A handful of photographs taken at the depot during the course of the first three hours or so of the event.

Out on the wander this afternoon and spotted this brand new Solo parked on the Esplanade at Fleetwood and thanks to a very friendly driver was allowed to photograph 'his new flying machine'

Odd photographs taken as when the subject appears. Keep looking as updates can be very frequent.

Photographs taken whenever I have got an odd 5 minutes or so.

2 New ADL Enviro 300's bought by Scottish Borders Council for use solely on school contract at Berwickshire High School in Duns. They will also be available at the wekends for private hire work such as school rugby trips etc. and to this end one has been fitted with a tachograph and the other will be fitted shortly. Thanks to Munro's for giving me such free access to the vehicles. All of the interior shots were taken on fleet no. 562.

Passing Seafield this afternoon saw a load of new Gemini's and managed to photograph as many as could be seen from the gates, also one of 757 taken in Central a few days ago. UPDATED Gemini's 800 & 817 prior to entering service

Went to Seafield this afternoon, gates closed and locked, took these 5 photographs through the chain link. 2 new Gemini's and a damaged eclipse, Gemini 801 and 3 Routemasters.

A scatter of photographs I took in Munro's yard on the way home from my visit to Edinburgh and Lothian Buses Seafield Works.

Third visit to Seafield, new Gemini's 'factory fresh', two ex Airlink President's back from being contract re-sprayed and some other bits and pieces. This will be the last Seafield visit for some time as I have been told that Lothian Buses management have been upset by derogatory comments posted on the net along with photographs of the new buses, so it is now a closed gates policy. One person spoils it for everyone!!! Since I wrote this commentary I have received a letter from Lothian Buses saying that the photography ban is NOT as a result of website comments but has come about as a result of tighter health and safety regulations.

A second visit to Edinburgh within a week gave me the chance to go back to Seafield hoping to see 801 in a finished state and it almost is but the best part was seeing 763 in the new route 31 branding. There's a few other bits and pieces as well.

A chance visit to Edinburgh and thanks to a very friendly Lothian employee the opportunity to have a look round and photograph the first of the new Gemini's as well as a few others.

Some of the buses used in the final of the Bus Driver of the Year competition, held in Blackpool on the 10th. September 2006. ONE ADDITIONAL PHOTO (FIRST W. YORKSHIRE) ADDED 16-09-06.

Just a few photographs taken on the Sunday, pouring rain in the morning quite nice in the afternoon!!

This album, whilst originally intended to simply hold photographs I've taken over the last 4 or 5 years has now reached the stage where it's being (fairly) regularly updated with goings on in around Blackpool. New bus and tram liveries will be photographed and put here whenever the oppportunity arises, so keep looking.