View allAll Photos Tagged OceanTerminal
Another special visitor to Hong Kong is this US Navy vessel which is visiting the city for a short while before returning to its homeport of San Diego, California.
The motto of the USS Boxer is: Honor, Courage, Strength
Some impressive details on the vessel:
Keel Laid: 1991
Launched: 07 Aug 1993
Commissioned: 11 Feb 1995
Builder: Ingalls Shipbuilding , West Bank, Pascagoula, Miss.
Propulsion system: two boilers, two geared turbines
Propellers: two
Aircraft elevators: two
Length: 840 feet (256 meters)
Flight Deck Width: 140 feet (42.6 meters)
Beam: 106 feet (32,.3 meters)
Draft: 26,5 feet (8.1 meters)
Displacement: approx. 40,500 tons full load
Speed: 23 knots
Aircraft: (depends upon mission)
Source: Navysite (navysite.de/ships/lhd4.htm)
Built by John Brown's shipyard on the River Clyde, Britannia was HM Queen Elizabeth II's ship from 1954 to 1997. The ship played host to many Heads of State over the years. The Queen is famously reputed to have shed a tear at the ceremony to mark it's decommissioning in 1997.
The ship was taken to Leith Docks in Edinburgh where it is permanently moored as tourist attraction. It is well worth a visit and gives a real insight into the life of Queen Elizabeth II . The ship is tastefully decorated but restrained.
This bus was new to Lothian Buses as 1071 in 2019.
This is one of Lothian's Alexander Dennis Enviro 400XLB brand new 100-seat Enviro400XLB three-axle double decker, developed in close collaboration with Alexander Dennis & Volvo. 42 of these high-capacity buses will enter service in Edinburgh in March 2019 on the 16 & 11 routes.
Fleet number 562 was seen at Ocean Terminal at Leith awaiting departure on route 34 which crosses the city to Heriot Watt University at Riccarton. The bus wears a wrap for Poppy Scotland which certainly makes it stand out from other vehicles. Not so visible on this member of the fleet is the
“Low Emission Zone “ tick above the top left of the destination screen. This is appearing on buses in the fleet which conform to Euro VI standards. The City of Edinburgh Council introduced a Low Emission Zone (LEZ) in the city centre on 31 May 2022 although enforcement doesn’t start until 1 June 2024. The LEZ is roughly bounded by Tollcross and Meadows in the south, Palmerston Place in the west, along Queen Street to Picardy Place, around Abbeyhill and Holyrood Road, and Pleasance in the east.
In its early years, the Cunard ocean liner 'Queen Elizabeth 2' is tied up alongside the renowned, and now sadly demolished, Ocean Terminal in Southampton Harbour, England. The QE2 was the successor to Cunard Line's 'RMS Queen Elizabeth', coming into use in 1969.
Image was taken by my parents on a boat tour of Southampton Harbour area in the early 1970's. The Queen seems to getting attention from a group of painters or cleaners hanging down the ships side.
Epson V500 scan of this vastly over-exposed Agfa slide, and then extensively PhotoShopped to remove the effects of mold and other surface growths from being stored in damp conditions for over 40 years.
Fleet number 927 was seen on Ocean Drive where it will turn round and terminate opposite the Ocean Terminal shopping centre. The bus was operating route 10 from Bonaly in the southern suburbs and was captured from the tramstop (opened 2023) on a gloomy afternoon after some rain. Behind 927, fleet number 35 is arriving on the 36 from Gyle Centre. The flats of Portland Gardens in the background are built on the site of the ex-Caledonian Railway Leith North goods station.
Ocean Terminal, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
PS. Test using the new "FUJINON XF35mmF2 R WR" . Click to view the images.
McGill’s Big Bus Edinburgh Gemini 2 number 2908 (CKZ 35) ‘Iain Murray’ is seen here on Ocean Drive operating a Britannia Tour / Blue Route tour, with ‘Spirit of Tasmania V’ in the background.
Taken on Wednesday the 10th of December 2025.
Story behind the photo
This photo shows much better than the one of ‘Stuart’ quite how big the ferry is, and how much it dominates the background here at OT. I went into quite a bit of detail on ‘Spirit of Tasmania V’ in the descrption of the afforementioned photo, including how it’s meant to be on the other side of the world by the summer.
McGill’s of Greenock Scotland East Big Bus Edinburgh Wrightbus Eclipse Gemini 2 bodied Volvo B9TL number 2908 (CKZ 35) ‘Iain Murray’ – now that’s quite the description of a bus! – was delivered new on the 18th of September 2010 to First Centrewest in England as their VN37896, with the regstration plate (BF60 UUJ), first registered on the 1st of October 2010.
It later went to metroline and gained the fleet number VW1848. In December 2017 it had its centre door removed, It also had the rear half of its roof removed and then operated for London City Tours, Julia Tours, still in London, England.
In the summer of 2019 Lothian bought it along wi 5 other similar buses, and it became fleet number 255 here, used primarily for extra summer capacity for the City Sightseeing tour. The reason it was bought is largely due to competition from First in the form of the then-new Brighr Bus tours.
After spending a few years here, mostly sitting around in Marine not doing much, this and the rest of what Lothian numbered 251-256 (despite clashing wi tram numbers!) were sold to McGill’s.
At McGill’s this was originally numbered 2854, but soon renumbered to 2908 when it went to Bright Bus Tours in Edinburgh. This is also when it gained its new reg plate. When Bright Bus Tours became part of Big Bus in 2025, it was repainted into the livery we see here. The name vinyls are quite new, as it didn’t have them for the first few months after being repinted.
I genuinely don’t know the story behind name ‘Iain Murray’, but anyone who does is welcome to say!
The Big Bus Edinburgh Blue Route, also known as the Britannia Tour, goes back to the 27th of May 2021, when Bright Bus was still operated by another company, who launched it alongside their city tour (launched in 2019), to compete with the Majestic Tour, now the Regal Tour.
Ironically. 2908 ‘Iain Murray’ here originally came to Scotland in 2019 as Lothian’s 255 as extra capacity to compete wi Bright Bus, which it later operated. It really does have quite a story, this bus.
Vehicle Information
Operator: McGill’s Scotland East
Service: BBT2 - Big Bus Edinburgh Britannia Tour Blue Route (15:05 departure)
Vehicle type: Wrightbus Eclipse Gemini 2 bodied Volvo B9TL
Vehicle engine: Diesel
Vehicle fleet number: 2908
Vehicle registration: CKZ 35
Vehicle name: Iain Murray
Vehicle depot: McGill’s Scotland East Livingston Deans
Vehicle livery: Big Bus Edinburgh livery 2025 version
Vehicle destination screen: White LED screen
Vehicle destination: Britannia Tour / Blue Route
Vehicle Chassis: Vo B9TL YV3S4R123AA142552
Vehicle Body: Wt AE548
Vehicle Seating: PO39/27F
Operating area: City of Edinburgh
Registration prefix area: (private registration plate)
Year of manufacture: 2010
Date of first registration: 01.01.2010 (Day T40451)
Original operator: First Centrewest
Original fleet number: VN37896
Original registration: BF60 UUJ
Age of vehicle: 15 years, 2 months and 9 days (total 5549 days)
Photo location: Ocean Drive, Ocean Terminal, Leith Harbour and Newhaven, Leith, City of Edinburgh
Taken on: Wednesday the 10th of December 2025 (10.12.2025)
Taken on Day U3632
References
Bus Lists on the Web (2025) BF60UUJ. Available at: www.buslistsontheweb.co.uk/ (Accessed 11.12.2025, Day U3633)
Bustimes.org (2025). McGill’s Midland Bluebird - Vehicles - 2908 (CKZ 35). Available at: bustimes.org/vehicles/trdu-2854?date=2025-12-10 (Accessed 11.12.2025, Day U3633)
GOV.UK (2025) Check MOT History – CKZ 35. Available at: www.check-mot.service.gov.uk/results?registration=CKZ35&a... (Accessed 11.12.2025, Day U3633)
Scottish Community Councils (2025) Find a Community Council. Available at: www.communitycouncils.scot/community-council-finder (Accessed 11.12.2025, Day U3633)
Early morning mist over the River Clyde at Greenock as the Cunard Ocean Liner Queen Elizbeth approaches the Ocean Terminal
I would say that this is probably been the hardest bus to get my camera to despite still having about 300 buses yet to capture this one has had one of the weirdest histories in recent Lothian history with 3 significant layoffs already and that is on top of it having only been with Lothian since the summer of 2019.
So, back to the summer of 2019, Lothian bought themselves 14 more Ex Londoners 1 standard bus and 13 this time with exit door still in tact to go alongside the 50 they had purchased the previous summer. Originally basing them at Marine depot for usage mostly for the service 4. Fast forward just shy 9 months and the pandemic of Coronavirus hits. So, here comes 1153s first layoff (like the at some point the whole fleet) for approximately 3 months as buses were on a critical timetable with about only 20% of services running.
Then for about 2 years there isn't too much to report for 1153 as it runs standardly until summer of 2022, when their is a timetable change and leaves only 1143 in service and puts the others into reserve, the likely reasoning behind this is that due to the exit door downstairs there is a significant reduction in seating downstairs which means that capacity is significantly less and they struggle to deal with a full load of passengers.
Yet again it returns in September 2022 this time based out of Longstone primarily on service 33 duties as it requires slightly less capacity however, this change shall we say was short lived as 2 months later poor old 1153 found itself yet again in the reserve team at the back of Marine looking rather miserable with the talk being that 1153 would never return to service and would be sold off which would have made it one of Lothians' shortest lived buses in the fleet as through service changes it still did not return and I genuinely thought I wouldn't even manage a ride on it (I like to get a ride on each bus).
However, in yet another change in the tale of 1153 on the 1st of July it decided it would return to service and made its appearance back for the start of the summer season due to an increase of one bus being needed so the call up finally came.
And i finally got a ride on 1153 taking absolutely no chances in this life of it, and just as I got off I thought I could get a pretty decent capture and with a touch up to brighten it, I think it looks pretty epic. So, here we see at last Lothian Buses 1153 terminating at Ocean Terminal on a service 35 as it waits to go back to Heriot Watt university as it embarks on a the student route on a rather miserable Thursday afternoon in September.
This bus was new to Lothian buses a 449 in 2016.
Seen here on Easter Road.
During the lockdown, Lothian Buses were running limited services with some not running. All routes were run out of central garage, Livingston and Musselburgh depots only, using madder buses which have screens to protect the driver from attacks, which were at the time used to protect the drivers and public from contamination. Buses were drafted in from all depots and used for 2 weeks before deep cleaning, meaning unusual workings were seen.
Leith Walk was closed northbound due to tram works construction.
Services 7, 14, 16, 22, 25 and 49 towards Leith were diverted via London Road and Easter Road. Citybound journeys continued to serve their normal route up Leith Walk.
Service 11 towards Ocean Terminal was diverted via Annandale Street, Bellevue Road, McDonald Road and Broughton Road. Citybound journeys continued to serve their normal route on Pilrig Street and Leith Walk.
This is officially my 500th Lothian Buses photo. Down at Ocean Terminal on a sunny Friday is Tuesdays LED job 863 about to take up service behind her is Roller blinds 882 both seen terminating at Ocean Terminal.
Fleet number 1090 was seen across the platform of the new tramstop at Ocean Terminal which is due to open later in 2023. The bus is loading for its next trip on route 11 from Ocean Terminal to Hyvots Bank via the city centre and Morningside.
Lothian Buses keep their fleet in excellent condition. Volvo B9TL / Wright Eclipse Gemini 826 (SK07 CAA) new back in August 2007 had obviously recently been treated to a repaint. Here it is seen at Ocean Terminal, Leith on February 22nd 2018.