Stagecoach 10897 on Sherwood Arrow
It sat so long inside the bus station I thought it would never come, but here is the photo I waited an extra fifteen minutes in the cold and dark for, and I'm absolutely glad I did.
Every previous time that Gainsborough have placed one of their InterConnect E400 MMCs on their Sherwood Arrow board, I've been unable to see it, but on the evening of 12.2.22 one was so close that I thought that even though it was dark, it would be worth sticking around in town in order to spot an allocation I've been wanting to see for so long. After getting an okay-ish photo if it on the way in, I figured my best bet for a better photo was to get it stopped at the lights on the way out. Turned out I had to wait about fifteen minutes outside a city centre pub on a Saturday night... which isn't one of the best places to stand around, it turns out.
Unfortunately, when it did come, it stopped right behind a Pronto blocking the shot, meaning I had to try and get a non-blurred photo at the moment the lights turned green and the Pronto set off, but before the SA got moving. Somehow, I managed it, and here you can see 10897 on Union Road, about to get underway with a Sherwood Arrow to New Ollerton and Retford. Finally I have one of these pillars of my Lincoln spotting, pictured in Nottingham.
While the Sherwood Arrow isn't an InterConnect route, it is set up in stages to make use of the 50km loophole, much like the IC 100 between Scunthorpe, Gainsborough and Lincoln that these MMCs are typically used on. They usually have "connecting for [ultimate destination]" written under the larger, intermediate destination, so it's interesting that this particular vehicle has the Sherwood Arrow blind set up in the same format as a true InterConnect one... only missing the word 'for' on the bottom line.
Stagecoach 10897 on Sherwood Arrow
It sat so long inside the bus station I thought it would never come, but here is the photo I waited an extra fifteen minutes in the cold and dark for, and I'm absolutely glad I did.
Every previous time that Gainsborough have placed one of their InterConnect E400 MMCs on their Sherwood Arrow board, I've been unable to see it, but on the evening of 12.2.22 one was so close that I thought that even though it was dark, it would be worth sticking around in town in order to spot an allocation I've been wanting to see for so long. After getting an okay-ish photo if it on the way in, I figured my best bet for a better photo was to get it stopped at the lights on the way out. Turned out I had to wait about fifteen minutes outside a city centre pub on a Saturday night... which isn't one of the best places to stand around, it turns out.
Unfortunately, when it did come, it stopped right behind a Pronto blocking the shot, meaning I had to try and get a non-blurred photo at the moment the lights turned green and the Pronto set off, but before the SA got moving. Somehow, I managed it, and here you can see 10897 on Union Road, about to get underway with a Sherwood Arrow to New Ollerton and Retford. Finally I have one of these pillars of my Lincoln spotting, pictured in Nottingham.
While the Sherwood Arrow isn't an InterConnect route, it is set up in stages to make use of the 50km loophole, much like the IC 100 between Scunthorpe, Gainsborough and Lincoln that these MMCs are typically used on. They usually have "connecting for [ultimate destination]" written under the larger, intermediate destination, so it's interesting that this particular vehicle has the Sherwood Arrow blind set up in the same format as a true InterConnect one... only missing the word 'for' on the bottom line.