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Optare Excel T714NOE is seen approaching Wolverhampton bus station on 24/03/09.
It looks to have been recently re-painted, which would have been welcome given how scruffy a lot of the Excels looked around this time.
The slot for the fourth Olympian on service 1 turned out to be filled in by this Excel, 216 (T216 HCW), which is (I believe) the last remaining native example in the fleet - there are others from Go-Ahead and Reading still in use. I don't know if this was just done for some variety, or if this one is about to be withdrawn as well, but it was certainly turned out nicely for the event.
June 2006
ExCel Exhibition Centre in Royal Victoria Docks, East London. It is not lit up like this anymore unfortunately.
These are Optare Excel liveries done for [https://www.flickr.com/photos/192780442@N06], of Bluebird 'hi-tech low floor', the Museum of Transport Greater Manchester based off their LDV van, plus half & half variants. Presumably they relate to FD02 SFN in some way, although I just kind of winged it with the front panel and other finer details.
Looking up references for Bluebird, as well as rogue images of American school buses there seemed to be Bluebird, and Blue Bus, that appeared to operate up Manchester way, but I couldn't tell if they were connected or not. Bluebird had this two-tone wavy livery for low floor buses, that was actually quite fun to draw on. I'm assuming they didn't have an Excel IRL so I just added the livery how I thought they might paint one, and the centre panel ended up light blue with black light surrounds.
The MOTGM van is red up to just under the waist rail, then cream, with a red roof. On the Excel the red roof is split with the cream half way up the panel running above the windows, so the cream is still visible enough without it being too cream, and all-red round the destination box. Similarly under the windows there's a thin cream stripe so that it's a proper window 'surround', and cream doors to get the right balance of red/cream on a vehicle with bonded glazing. In the end it looks not to dissimilar to something Barton might've had, if their Excel 2s weren't delivered in route branded liveries.
The first half-&-half is widthways with the MOTGM livery offside and the Bluebird one nearside. No idea if that's what Calum meant but, well, I did it. The MOTGM logo splits the cream from the dark blue on the front, but where the red is against the light blue it did give off a bit of a Home Bargains feel as I was making it! The offside, although you can't see it, would be more or less the mirror image of what the red and cream one looks like.
And then just to see what on earth it would look like, the other half-&-half is front half Bluebird, back half MOTGM, which certainly looks... well it looks something and I don't have the right words for it; not bad, just kinda odd. Again, the MOTGM logo comes to the rescue on the lower bodyside, and the top just has the colours curving up/down as they intersect because the Bluebird already had a curve to it. In a way it reminds me of that Arriva heritage bus with the zip, because it looks like it's being unwrapped from one livery into another.
Top right is my favourite.
It's been about 4 years (three years at time of this photo) since I've seen an Excel and all of the ones I've seen were hatchbacks, never a sedan. And I bet the sedans are more rare than the hatchbacks. GLS must've been the highest spec.
TrentBarton Excel 257 still going strong on frontline duty working Rainbow 1 through Langley Mill.
Thu 3rd March 2016.
I sometimes make these quick 'n dirty gantt charts in Excel. You can download the templates from my website.
L-R: 713 T713NOE, 7205 R408HWU, 685 S685YOL.
Ousted by brand new Volvo B7RLE's at Wolverhampton. these Optare Excels await thier fate at Miller Street garage in Birmingham. Probably to be shipped off to NXWM's infamous 'car park' storage site and stored till the scrap man calls.
685 and 713 were new to Travel West Midlands. 7205 was new to Travel London and came to the West Midlands via Travel Dundee.
Optare Excel 2 (X307 CBT) www.flickr.com/photos/138705729@N04/32846793097/in/photol...
Optare Excel 2 (X308 CBT) www.flickr.com/photos/138705729@N04/33913276768/in/photol...
The only Optare Excel that is still operating out of Trentbarton's Sutton Depot 261 Y261 DRC, is seen near Nottingham City Hospital working the 141 on 05-08-16.
After the Delta, came the Excel. Although another futuristic design, the bus wasn't as popular as it should have been. Trent were good Optare customers, so bought the Excel. 194 (V194DRC) is in the famous, and recently demolished, Derby Bus Station on 20 March 2000.
Ipswich Buses Optare Excel YG52DGE, that was new to the operator in 2002.
Tower Ramparts bus station 17/05/16
Springfield also operated the Optare Excel on Easylink services, though these weren't part of the deal when First Manchester took control of the services in 2000.
I'm unsure where this and it's bretheren went after leaving Wigan but this one later turned up with Stagecoach, it being allocated with the rest of the groups Excels at East Midlands.
Wigan bus station is the location of R641MBV not long before the company called it a day on stage carriage work.
First Manchester inherited eleven Optare Excels from the slice of Timeline Travel that they took over [Arriva got the other slice!]. The former 218 is seen on Bolton's Moor Lane bus station having been repainted out of 'Tomato Soup' and into the livery adopted for vehicles that didn't confirm to First's standard interior, not that the travelling public would know this. The lower expanse of white would soon be wrapped in the 'Barbie Pink' fade out vinyls which cost an absolute fortune and quickly became shabby looking [even more shabby than your usual First operated vehicle that is!].
6606 would become 60145 in the new national numbering system and the bus now operates out of Wigan depot, which is currently on the 'hit list' of depots to be sold off in the big First shake up of its UK operations.
Former Stagecoach Devon Volvo B6LE P709 BTA (31709) sits with Optare Excel P101 UNH at Wigley's scrapyard in February 2012.
Stagecoach Chesterfield Optare Excel 35006 YN51VHP is seen on route 54 today. A sad day today, for some of us at least, as it is thought to be the final day of Optare Excels running in public service with Stagecoach. However all 6 are staying and being converted to Driver Training Vehicles, so they won't be vanishing completely for a little while yet!
I was exhibiting at the London ExCel Wedding Show over the weekend so took the opportunity for a little bit of night photography.
Blackpool Transport Optare Excel L1150 bus 226 withdrawn and stored in Rigby Road tram depot, Blackpool. Saturday 30 April 2016.
226 was bought from Reading Buses in 2009.
Photograph copyright: Ian 10B.
Metal lift-off cap from a bottle of soda crafted by the Excel Bottling Company in Breese, Illinois, and purchased at Redbud (Do it Best) Hardware in Buchanan, Michigan.
ExCeL London Exhibition Centre opened in 2001 as an international conference and exhibition centre in London’s Docklands, experienced at staging major events.
ExCeL is the largest competition venue at the London 2012 Games and hosting the biggest cluster of Olympic and Paralympic events outside of the Olympic Park.
ExCeL London is hosting 7 Olympic events: Boxing, Wrestling, Judo, Tae Kwon Do, Weight-lifting, Table Tennis, Fencing.
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LONDON 2012