Tuesday 17 December 2013

Open Top Farewell

City Sightseeing 858 (D258FYM) - new as London Buses L258 and a Blackpool resident since 2007 has now gone for scrap as the disposal of the last open toppers in the fleet progresses

Parton's are busy collecting the four open top Olympians for scrap. 858 departed on Wednesday 4th; 873 departed on Tuesday 10th and 818 today, Tuesday 17th - leaving just 857 awaiting departure. Open Top buses were common in Blackpool in the inter-war period, but since then operation has been fitful. Three Titans were converted in the 1950s; then PD2 532 was purchased from Eastbourne in 1989 - lasting until 1999 but only sporadically used in service.

The Fylde takeover bought veteran Atlanteans 451-454/7 into the fleet in 1996, but all were gone by the end of 1998. 

The City Sightseeing operation commenced in 2001, initially using Metrobuses and continued in various forms, latterly with Olympians until ending in 2012.