Tuesday 16 June 2009

339 into use

A wet welcome to Blackpool for 339 on Line 1 Wed 17 June (cJames Millington)


The first of the two ex Blue Triangle Dennis Tridents 339 has entered service on Line 1. It was in use on Mon 15 and Tues 16 June. 338 (PO51UMG) and 339 (PO51UMJ) were new to Blue Triangle Buses in Sept/Oct 2001 as DL911/3 as 66 seater dual door buses. They were acquired for route 248 between Romford and Cranham - a route taken over by First London in September 2008.

BTS acquire them in October 2008 and converted them to single door, up seating them to 75 seaters in the process. They are the oldest Tridents in the fleet and feature an earlier style of East Lancs bodies compared to their sisters.

Other news sees Solo 267 in the paint shop for Line 4 livery - its first repaint since c2003. Trident 314 is also under repaint following its accident repairs and Excel 218 is now off-site for engine renewal.