andrewcolebourne
IMG_0549-311022
This picture and others are available on my Smugmug site here: bit.ly/4iTzdRh
The odd couple; HCT Group had seven small Optare Solos in the London fleet that were primarily for route W12. When new to what was then called the CT Plus operation the first pair registered were OS2/3 YJ59NRN/O and the other five similar buses were OS4-8 YJ10EYF/G/H/K/L. The batch were later renumbered 1740 - 1746 in sequence.
With the collapse of HCT Group in 2022 the London operations were taken over by Stagecoach, these vehicles eventually being numbered in the Stagecoach national sequence among other Solos. Unlike some other groups of ex-HCT vehicles there were apparently no convenient gaps in existing sequences to allow the new numbers to relate to the old ones. The two 59-registered buses became 47809 and 10 whilst the 10-registered buses became 47915-19.
This wasn't to place them in date order or even related to type, adjacent numbers in the sequences were of both "classic" and SR-type Solos as well as being different lengths.
So, the 59-registered pair also now had 478xx fleenumbers in contrast to the 10-registered buses in the 479xx sequence.
This is Stagecoach London 47810 looking somewhat battered (note the tape on the rear wheelarch) and with a faulty destination display picking up at The Shrubberies, George Lane, South Woodford on 31st October 2020. Stagecoach fleetnames had yet to replace the HCT Group ones.
At the date of the picture 47809 had not yet appeared in service with its new number.
IMG_0549-311022
This picture and others are available on my Smugmug site here: bit.ly/4iTzdRh
The odd couple; HCT Group had seven small Optare Solos in the London fleet that were primarily for route W12. When new to what was then called the CT Plus operation the first pair registered were OS2/3 YJ59NRN/O and the other five similar buses were OS4-8 YJ10EYF/G/H/K/L. The batch were later renumbered 1740 - 1746 in sequence.
With the collapse of HCT Group in 2022 the London operations were taken over by Stagecoach, these vehicles eventually being numbered in the Stagecoach national sequence among other Solos. Unlike some other groups of ex-HCT vehicles there were apparently no convenient gaps in existing sequences to allow the new numbers to relate to the old ones. The two 59-registered buses became 47809 and 10 whilst the 10-registered buses became 47915-19.
This wasn't to place them in date order or even related to type, adjacent numbers in the sequences were of both "classic" and SR-type Solos as well as being different lengths.
So, the 59-registered pair also now had 478xx fleenumbers in contrast to the 10-registered buses in the 479xx sequence.
This is Stagecoach London 47810 looking somewhat battered (note the tape on the rear wheelarch) and with a faulty destination display picking up at The Shrubberies, George Lane, South Woodford on 31st October 2020. Stagecoach fleetnames had yet to replace the HCT Group ones.
At the date of the picture 47809 had not yet appeared in service with its new number.