View allAll Photos Tagged InterConnect
Brylaine are still sending plenty of Tempos over on InterConnect 5, but they tend to be the same few and when it is one of the others I seem to always miss them (missed a 56 plate recently, which is a bugger since it was a Mk1). Still, one I haven't seen for many months is YJ09 MHY, spotted once more crossing Pelham Bridge on 25.5.21
Grimsby had stuck one of their beachball liveried full size saloons on the 53, which pleased me greatly, especially when I realised it was one I hadn't seen before. Wright Eclipse bodied Volvo B7RLE 21263 passes a similar, double deck version in the form of 16939 in Lincoln bus station, on 28.5.21
On 21.2.21, Brylaine Solo YJ05 JXL arrives into Lincoln bus station with an IC5. Last time I got a photo of this bus it was in the old white and blue livery. Given that was only a couple of years ago I expect it has completely missed out on the red front, blue rear livery with the yellow lines on it and gone straight into this current, simplified version. It hasn't been fully branded since the repaint and only has the fleet name on the front, while most of the buses in this livery have branding on the sides and rear too.
Normal branding:
www.flickr.com/photos/108834608@N06/50961127796/in/photol...
There is no direct bus route from Hull to Lincoln, though you can take the InterConnect from Scunthorpe there if you first take the Fastcat 350 to Scunthorpe. The InterConnect interurban service was introduced in 1999 under the then-Traction Group-owned Lincolnshire RoadCar with the rebranding and the upping of the frequency of the 'Connect 6' Lincoln to Skegness route, and from there, under the ownership of Stagecoach, it has gone from strength to strength, with routes now connecting towns and cities across Lincolnshire while also providing connections for the small rural communities of the county, buses turned out in a special purple branding for the service.
An example of one of Scunthorpe's latest InterConnect vehicles, Stagecoach Lincolnshire RoadCar's InterConnect branded 10900, a 2017 ADL Enviro 400MMC, is seen here pulling out of Scunthorpe Bus Station to serve the InterConnect 100 service to Gainsborough, the route connecting for Lincoln.
18038 MX53 FMA was taken off Service 100 from Scunthorpe to Lincoln via Gainsborough due to an Engine overheating warning. 18026 MX53 FLF was handed the task to complete the other half of the service.
Following in the InterConnect was a more normal Stagecoach MMC to be seen in Nottingham, as Pronto 10980 arrives down Mansfield Road on 12.2.22
Diluting the sea of ADL buses from Stagecoach is Brylaine with their various Optares, which seem to be the only type of single decker they ever operate. I did once see a BMC Falcon of theirs and they have some ALX400s for decker stuff, one of which I have briefly glimpsed in the past.
Here's Tempo YJ57 EHX in Lincoln bus station on 26.3.21
My updated system...
Speakers: Apogee Stages Ribbon speakers
Amplifier: Pass Labs X150 w/ Furutech fuse
DAC/Preamp: Pass Labs D1 DAC w/ Furutech fuse
Transport: PC
-Zalman TNN 300 Fanless case
-underclocked 1.2Ghz
-esata SSD HD located externally
-RME 9632 sound card
-Foobar accessed by VNC
-Monitor and Windows MCE used for photo only.
Cables: Nordost Frey biwire speaker cables, Jena Labs Symphony XLR interconnects, and Nordost Whitelight glass optical cable.
Power: Oyaide R1 outlet, Shunyata Hydra 8 power filter and 3 VH Audio Airsine power cords (2 with Furutech Rhodium plugs, 1 with Oyaide P004 & C004 plugs used for the DAC). Z squared Ultra power cable for PC.
Misc: Assorted Black Diamond Racing (BDR) cones for Dac, Amp, speakers
Strobist info: Flashes behind each speaker, 3rd flash bouncing off a reflector behind the camera. Triggered by PW.
A Skegness based ALX400 arriving on the InterConnect 56, sitting in Lincoln for an hour, then doing a lap of the Simplibus 18 before heading back home on the 56 again isn't what I was expecting from an overcast Sunday in November, but it's what I got and I certainly can't complain about that.
Seen here outside the Museum of Lincolnshire Life on Burton Road is 18416, looking a little better than last time with a cleaner front and both headlights working. Other than that she's much the same as before, although the blinds programmed at Skegness look to have had some attention recently as they have the new format of fleet name and logo.
29.11.20
iss050e037546 (Feb. 1, 2017) --- Peggy Whitson, Expedition 50 Flight Engineer; Shane Kimbrough, Expedition 50 Commander; and European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Thomas Pesquet pose with Robonaut in the U.S. Destiny laboratory.
Bizarre as it was, they really did have an Enviro 300 on a normal 56 board. I did wonder if this had become more normalised while I've been away from the Lincolnshire stuff, but a quick look through Bustimes appears to show that aside from the occasional early morning run, an E300 is definitely not the vehicle of choice for the Skegness to Lincoln trunk route!
27794 had made its way onto a daytime board, which still show as being rarely operated by anything other than deckers, so it does seem that I managed to stumble across quite an unusual working. I don't know if the 56 typically picks up or drops off more passengers as it heads towards Horncastle, but if it's the former then the case for using bigger vehicles on the route is clear to see; most seats on the single decker are occupied right from the very first stop.
Also hitching a ride is a plant hanging from the front bumper.
Richmond Drive, Skegness, 31.8.22
After the MMC on the 107, to then get an ALX400 Trident on the 100 40 minutes later felt like the reward for sticking around. 55 plate 18335 passes along in front of Lincoln bus station, working the evening 100 to Gainsborough only, in place of one of the usual MMCs (in place of 10899 because it was on the 107, probably!). This had the unintended bonus of me getting my best pictures of this vehicle so far, and the first ones of it on my DSLR too.
Unusually for a Gainsborough vehicle, this one lacks front wheel trims, plus it has rear trims but not front ones! Still, I'd say it looks the part. There's no offside advert or side fleet names, and the front Stagecoach logo isn't faded, so very presentable despite being just over 15 years old.
28.5.21
YN64XTE Scania N230UB / Alexander Dennis Enviro 400.
Stagecoach East Midlands (Grimsby) 15177 interconnect livery in Tetney village.
i use this 1 meter audiophile grade AudioQuest Evergreen interconnect cable from iPad to tube amp.
Wider soundstage. Forward sounding. Detailed Mid and High. Clean bass.
Waiting around in the wet for some E200 I've been trying to spot for ages also provided the chance to get Gemini 16944, yet another bus spotted in one day that falls into the category of "I haven't seen that in months."
This is one of the instances where the blind alternates to the new exact fare/contactless message instead of scrolling. This makes more sense on the 56 since having the 'connecting for Skegness' always shown under the Horncastle destination is preferable to having it on the scrolling part, where it could easily be missed. The wording is also slightly different, because the static blinds say 'pay exact fare if you can' and the scrolling ones say 'exact fare if you can'. On the back they say 'catch me if you can'*
Surprisingly, this Gemini is looking quite clean and well kept despite the weather and the long journey it has made to get here. Well done Skeggy.
*not true! Only the route number is shown on the back.
Painted in Lincolnshire InterConnect livery.
Stagecoach East Midlands
ADL Enviro400 MMC
YX67VCO (10901)
Frenchgate Interchange, Doncaster
19 March 2022
Stagecoach East Midland Gainsborough Based 10896 YX67VCJ Alexander Dennis Enviro 400 MMC ' Interconnect 100 ' Is Seen Here on St Mary's Street Working Service 100 To Lincoln Bus Station On Saturday 3rd March 2018.
Stagecoach East Midlands ADL Enviro 400 19195 (NK57 DVY), is seen passing the Clock Tower on Lumley Road in Skegness on 1st July 2024.
New to Stagecoach North East 2007.
Back when we used to see Vykings from Skegness work 56s to Lincoln before they went and shoved them all up at Scunthorpe, here's 16902 in Lincoln bus station on 11.2.19
The bathroom of the Kassandra Bay Hotel Interconnecting Family Room. Double basin, bath, 2 mirrors. Visit www.kassandrabay.com/interconnecting-family-rooms-skiathos for more information.
Wait a minute, I know you… This was one of the Lincolnshire RoadCar vehicles loaned out to Hull for Hull Fair last year! I was chasing this one down with my point-and-shoot camera when I finally got a good chance to get a photo of it, now here it is in its native territory of Scunthorpe. Thankfully not far to look, and very thankfully, a well-composed shot of this bus.
Seen here heading into Scunthorpe Bus Station while presumably preparing to begin the InterConnect 100 service to Gainsborough then Lincoln is Stagecoach Lincolnshire RoadCar's InterConnect-branded 10898, a 2017 ADL Enviro400 MMC. Note that this was captured at Hull Interchange during Hull Fair last year.
Tempo YN58 FXH making its way out of the bus station on 16.3.20 with an Interconnect 5 to Boston.
This is one of the ones that feature the panel directly below the windscreen painted black - a few of the others have it red, much like Stagecoach varies it on their Plaxton and Alexander Tridents.
When TrentBarton operated their Tempos they painted both the panel below the windscreen and the strip at cant rail height the same colour as the livery instead of black when they rebranded or re-liveried them. Having said that I think originally when they were new Trent's Tempos did have the front panel and cant rail parts black, as per this: www.flickr.com/photos/108834608@N06/18779492961/in/album-...
while in comparison the Mainline ones were a bit crap in the newer version of the livery:
www.flickr.com/photos/108834608@N06/20771273059/in/album-...
As part of fleet modernisation, 14 Enviro 400s (full height) are in the process of transferring from Stagecoach East's Cambridge depot to East Midlands' Skegness and Lincoln depots. They are being replaced off Park & Ride duties in Cambridge, and before transferring are being repainted and having their central door removed at Bus & Coach World in Blackburn.
Stagecoach in Lincolnshire ADL Enviro 400, 19296 (AE07 KYW), is seen parked on Grimsby Victoria Street depot on 17th February 2017.
It is Lincoln based, but is resting on Grimsby depot between working services on the Interconnect 53 Lincoln to Grimsby route.
New to Stagecoach East 2007.
Another Louth Bus Station shot sees Stagecoach InterConnect liveried East Lancs bodied Volvo B7TL type number 16913 loading up passengers prior to operating the above service 59 journey to Mablethorpe, which up until recently was numbered as service 9. Upon arrival at Mablethorpe this journey will continue as service 59 through to Skegness. The vehicle behind is PC Coaches Wright Streetlite FX61 AAJ which has vacated the Grimsby stop in readiness to resume operations on Louth Nipper Town services 40/40A.
Taiwan aborigines interconnect many snail shells together.
If they were all living snails ,you could imagine!
I had a wander down in the direction of Lincoln depot on 15.7.21, where I saw a few buses returning and the roofs of two E400 MMCs from Hull for the F1 shuttle. Then I had a quick look at Bustimes to see if there was anything good out this late in the evening and, well, there was this, so I hot-footed it over to the bus station! [https://www.flickr.com/photos/190713720@N06] was there too, so we had a catch up while we waited for the Scania to leave.
Recently repainted into InterConnect purple and white is Scania 15654 - part of the same batch as Lincoln's 15651/3/6 - departing with a 56 to Horncastle and Skegness. It looks immaculate in its fresh coat of paint on what must be one of the first, if not the very first, run in service after repaint.
Unlike most of the other purple E400s which are unbranded, this does have a Stagecoach logo on the front and rear, plus all the fleet numbers except the rear one are in the conventional location for Beachball livery. As ever, they've held off with a full application of InterConnect branding, but it's nice to see the livery is alive and well. The reluctance to brand up the rest of the purple E400s might be because a revision to the branding is coming in the future, or perhaps it's something Stagecoach will get round to once more repaints into Local have been completed.
21216 begins its lengthy journey back to Skegness via Horncastle on the evening of 29.3.21, setting off from Lincoln bus station in the shade.
Can't seem to get away from this thing at the moment! Yet again, here's Grimsby based E300 27198 on the 53 in Lincoln bus station.
26.4.21
Following on from my picture of it on St Mary's Street, where it was already around 10 minutes late at 17:50, here's 34530 emerging from the worst of the diversion traffic and turning onto Carholme Road at 18:29... yes; that's 39 minutes later and the distance travelled is just shy of half a mile, or 800 metres in metric... basically between there and here it's done 0.75 miles per hour the whole way - I've seen a Little Tikes Cosy Coupe powered by a toddler go faster.
Again, the lack of traffic in the photo seems to contradict the situation, but the strange traffic light timings might have something to do about that, as I think things would flow a bit faster if all of the road was utilised all of the time. Another misleading thing is the 'not in service' blind on the front of the bus, which is lying because it's actually working a 100. I can only assume that being a Scunthorpe Dart, nobody expected it to end up loaned to Gainsborough and put on the 100, so they didn't programme the blind (although it has the 107 on, so IDK).
12.6.21
The Scunthorpe Dart was back, still on loan to Gainsborough and seen here on St Mary's Street, Lincoln with a 100! Now, I know it says 'not in service' but it was tracking in Bustimes as a 100 and it was definitely in service as there were people on it, so I don't know what the deal with the blind was... perhaps a single decker on the 100 is so rare they don't actually have the route programmed into the blinds?
While it looks like a fairly normal trip through the city in this photo, the bus was stuck in the bridge diversion traffic at one of its worst times; the traffic lights had gone through about three cycles with it stuck not moving, because two cars joined from High Street and the traffic had only moved two car lengths in about five minutes, so 34530 and everything behind it didn't move for that entire time.
Despite the bus station being just down the road, this was already ten minutes late when I took this at 17:50, when there was enough clear space on the other side for the bus to be able to advance over the junction. As soon as it reached the other side the driver shut the engine off as they wouldn't be moving again for another five minutes or-so!
12.6.21
It took a little while and unfortunately the sun wasn't out for the photo, but I've finally managed to document 10900 with the large Stagecoach logo it has gained on the front after having a blank panel for so long. The rest of the E400 MMCs for the IC 100 have a small Stagecoach logo with InterConnect written above it, so this is still the unique one of the batch.
A couple of months back I was sitting on one of the stone benches in front of Central car park, poking around with some plastic bags I had, but looked up to where 10900 was parked right by me, saw the Stagecoach logo on the front and spent a moment wondering why something looked 'off' about it. I forgot they normally had InterConnect above it and only realised later that 10900 used to have a plain front. Since then I've been waiting for it to come back so I could get a photo! Well, here is that photo, of it on the shorter 100 working to Scotter.
Much ado about a Stagecoach logo :P
Lincoln bus station, 3.6.21
I had a wander down in the direction of Lincoln depot on 15.7.21, where I saw a few buses returning and the roofs of two E400 MMCs from Hull for the F1 shuttle. Then I had a quick look at Bustimes to see if there was anything good out this late in the evening and, well, there was this, so I hot-footed it over to the bus station! [https://www.flickr.com/photos/190713720@N06] was there too, so we had a catch up while we waited for the Scania to leave.
Recently repainted into InterConnect purple and white is Scania 15654 - part of the same batch as Lincoln's 15651/3/6 - departing with a 56 to Horncastle and Skegness. It looks immaculate in its fresh coat of paint on what must be one of the first, if not the very first, run in service after repaint.
Unlike most of the other purple E400s which are unbranded, this does have a Stagecoach logo on the front and rear, plus all the fleet numbers except the rear one are in the conventional location for Beachball livery. As ever, they've held off with a full application of InterConnect branding, but it's nice to see the livery is alive and well. The reluctance to brand up the rest of the purple E400s might be because a revision to the branding is coming in the future, or perhaps it's something Stagecoach will get round to once more repaints into Local have been completed.
Stagecoach East Midlands Alexander Dennis E40D / Alexander Dennis Enviro 400 MMC YX67 VCJ (10896) , in the Interconnect c/s, passing through Gainsborough bus station, 11/07/20
19207 arrives at Lincoln with a 56, seen on Pelham Street and bumping my number of photos of it up to two.
25.5.21
I was out for so long I ended up seeing three different 56s arrive, the second of which was worked by 15615 - another required Scania - seen here parked up in the layover bay, basking in the sunshine while displaying the Skegness-bound 56 blind the whole time, ready for the next journey.
Lincoln bus station, 3.6.21
Stagecoach East Midlands Volvo B7TL/East Lancs Vyking, 16907 (FX53 TXA), is seen at Riverhead Exchange in Grimsby on 20th April 2017.
It had just arrived on the Interconnect 53B from Lincoln, operating from Market Rasen via Binbrook and the Lincolnshire Wolds to take school children home. From here it would return on the second to last 53 of the day to Lincoln.
New to Lincolnshire Road Car, as their 907, in 2004.