The number of Municipal Bus Companies remaining today is severally reduced compared to their Heyday many years ago. Indeed locally, examples such as Chester City Transport and Halton Transport have gone within the last 20 years. In Chester’s case the business was sold to First Bus and unfortunately for Halton, the business went bust. One that bucks that trend is Warrington’s Own Buses which continues to be owned by Warrington Borough Council and is operated as an arms length company. This is something the council and town are extremely proud of, hence the name, and indeed on the side of a number of their buses is the wording “We’ve been an essential part of Warrington since 1902”.
The business has a fascinating history but for the sake of this piece I want to concentrate on a small selection of the fleet today. As of June 2024, there is just over 100 buses on the books. Mainly made up of single-deckers but with a healthy number of double-deckers too. When I first got into buses (over 30 years ago) vehicles I loved and would probably have considered ‘Heritage’ were Leyland Atlanteans, Lynxes and Olympians. Time and technology has moved on and I’m at a place where vehicles that replaced those types previously listed at the end of their working lives are now probably classed as ‘Heritage’ by me.
One such example to me is the Wright Eclipse Gemini. Now in the early 2000’s when these were being rolled out and they were replacing vehicles such as Leyland Titans, Olympians and perhaps the most famous bus of them all, The London Routemaster, my mindset was that they were just modern crap. It’s natural to dislike change and when you see something you like being replaced by something more modern. If you’re passionate about something, the negatives will generally overshadow the many positives. A similar situation in the UK railways occurred in the late 1990’s when the General Motors Class 66, the locomotive that saved British Rail freight, replaced hundreds of ‘Classic’ British Rail diesels such as Class 31’s, Class 37’s and Class 47’s. Many enthusiasts simply stopped following the hobby as the new locomotives “didn’t have any character”, “didn’t clag” and “didn’t sound exciting enough”. Nearly 30 years on from that, whilst still not quite universally accepted by enthusiasts, their impact is immeasurable.
So, what has the above rambling got to do with Warrington’s Own Buses you may ask? Well, the sake of this post is to talk about what I consider to be the Heritage vehicles still on the road. Warrington have a diverse fleet of buses covering several types and of various ages. Over the years the business has predominantly purchased second hand vehicles (whilst to be fair they have also bought new at times). Several double-deckers that started life in London have found their way to Cheshire once their working lives in the Capital were over and have gone on to play a useful and important part of the business’s operations.
At the time of writing (June 2024) there are 36 double-deckers on the books here. This fleet consists of
16x ADL Enviro400
2x ADL Enviro400 City
6x VDL/DAF DB250 Wright Pulsar Gemini
5x Volvo B7TL Wright Eclipse Gemini
2x Volvo B7TL East Lancs Myllennium Vyking
5x Volvo B9TL Wright Eclipse Gemini 2
Volvo B7TL Wright Eclipse Gemini
The 2 oldest vehicles in the fleet are 51 plated and carry the fleet numbers 188 (BD51 YCR) and 189 (BD51 YCS) both entering service in 2002 in London.
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| No.188 BD51 YCR is a 2002 Volvo B7TL with Wright Eclipse Gemini bodywork. It's been with Warrington since 2011 and is currently the oldest registered vehicle in the fleet. It is seen here on 01/05/2024 whilst working service 20 'The Pops' circular between Warrington Bus Interchange and Orford. |
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| Sister machine No.189 BD51 YCS arrived with Warrington at the same time as 188 in 2011. It is seen here on 17/06/2024 at Gorse Covert having worked in on service 25 from Warrington Bus Interchange. |
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| No.191 LX53 AZW is slightly newer than 188/189 and has been here since early 2012. Here after it's weeks work complete, the bus is approaching the depot running dead from the nearby interchange on Friday 21/06/2024. |
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| Still carrying London red base livery, no.198 stands withdrawn at Dallam Lane depot in May 2024. One of a couple added to the fleet in 2018, it retained its double doors and was predominately used for school work. It did however on occasion operate on everyday routes as and when required. This has since left the fleet. |
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| Whilst it's livery may not be to everyone's taste, it certainly stands out! CSZ 7913 which was previously registered LJ04 LEF is fleet no.186. New to Arriva London, the vehicle still carries Arriva moquette on the seats inside. Before landing with Warrington this bus served with Reading Transport after it's useful days in London were considered over. |
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| With Warrington since 2016, no.194 LJ04 LGF was one of four DB250's purchased from Routemaster Buses who were based in Nantwich. Again this started life in the capital with Arriva London. Seen here passing the Halliwell Jones Stadium on the short trip running dead from the bus station to the depot at the end of it's weeks work on 07/06/2024. |
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| Sister no.195 LJO4 LGG is seen awaiting it's next duty on Winwick St on 14/05/2024. Same as no.194 this passed to Routemaster Buses before ending up with Warrington in 2016. |
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| Another that arrived in the batch from Routemaster is no.196 LJ04 LGK seen here working a rather delayed service 21 'The Pops' on 10/06/2024. |
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| Carrying the Warrington's Own Buses livery as opposed to the Network Warrington livery worn by the majority of the deckers is no.300 LJ04 LFG. This was brought in from Vision bus and carried the fleet no. 182 prior to repaint. I last saw this bus broken down on the hard shoulder of the M62 west bound on 24/06/2024. |
Volvo B7TL East Lancs Myllennium Vyking
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| No.319 seen operating service 20 'The Pops' on 10/06/2024. |
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| No.322 DK09 NRU is seen on a relatively rare evening duty on service 20 'The Pops' on 12/06/2024. New to Isle Of Mann and originally registered JMN-53-R. |
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| No.324 is seen in the same spot on Poplars Avenue again working service 20 on 17/06/2024. This one originally carried the registration JMN-55-R when off the mainland. |
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| No.307 SN09 CDV is seen running dead to the depot on the evening of 07/06/2024. This served with both First and Metroline in London earlier in it's career. |
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| No.303 SN16 OVA is normally restricted to school duties however with the summer holidays, it along with its sister 304, have been seeing use on regular services. Today 303 was seen working service 20 'The Pop's'. Summary As briefly outlined above, the double-deck fleet at Warrington's Own Buses is varied and quite interesting. 188 and 189 must be amongst some of the oldest vehicles still on the road in the country and still put in solid performances throughout the week. With Warrington moving to a 100% electric fleet over the next few months, the entire diesel fleet will be withdrawn. This will not be the end of double deck operations though as a number of the new electric buses will be double-decker's. UPDATE AUGUST 2024 Since writing up the majority of the above in June, a number of changes have taken place. 198 and 318 have officially been withdrawn and disposed of. Also since the end of June, the majority of the deckers with the exception of the ADL Enviro's and Volvo B9TL's have been off the road. I'm unsure as to the reason why but assume it is due to a reduced PVR for the time of year. Volvo B7TL No.188 was pushed back in to service on the 10th July when it performed a service 25 to Gorse Covert and back but has been parked up since. Time will tell what the future holds for these vehicles as we know with the impending complete fleet replacement with electric buses, their time is ticking anyway. I hope they just soldier on just a bit longer though... |
