Southampton Maritime Festival

Many months work has gone into the first Southampton Maritime Festival to held in Southampton Docks. The festival which is being organisedby Southampton Heritage Federation and the Hampshire and Wight Trust for Maritime Archaeology with kind sponsorship from ABP and support fromSouthampton City Council. The event being held on Sunday 5^th & Monday 6^th May 2013.

Our involvement is providing a free bus service to various parts of the city centre. Back in December 2012 we attended a planning meeting for the festival where a number of routes were talked about. Bus stops around the city that needed to be served were mentioned. The stops are West Quay Car Park, Central Station, City Centre and Ocean Village. A number of routes were disused over a few weeks and in the end 2 routes were picked. The main route will serve West Quay Car Park, Central Station and City Centre. The other route will serve Ocean Village.

On 28^th February 2013 to make sure the routes would work a trial was done and a few changes were made. The Ocean Village route will serve the Town Quay area and then head to Ocean Village due to work being carried out in Ocean Village and the bus being unable to stop in the coach bay by the Ocean Car Park. Also with major work being carried outside Dock Gate 4 extra time was add to the timetables.

1 - JOW 499E in Southampton Docks

Both routes will be every 30 minutes and extra buses on standby if needed. Buses that will be used are 1 – JOW 499E, 64 – FTR 511, 71 – LOW 217, 133 – TTR 167H and a number of other buses may be used. A number of local bus groups will also be coming along. As it’s the first event held numbers are not known and how many people who are going to use the buses is unknown so only when the events starts will we know how successfulit’s going to be. A lot of planning has gone into getting buses in the right place to be used and in the coming weeks they will be fuel washed and checked over to make sure they are ready for service in Southampton once again. After the event we will look back at the event.

The Easter Trip

A local event for us which takes place every year in April is the Brijan Tours Charity Open Day in aid of the Hampshire Air Ambulance. This year the event took place on Monday 1^st April - Easter Monday or April Fools day. This year we decided to take buses 1 – JOW 499E; our Swift which has been out and about a lot over the last few months after being restored last year (that’s another blog for another time though). The other bus that was chosen to go was 133 – TTR 167H.

                                                Brijan Tours Fleet

You may think that taking a bus to a show is just a case of turning up and going but there is a lot of planning that goes on behind the scenes; like making sure the bus is fit to use and looking smart, finding drivers to drive, ensuring there is enough fuel to get us to the event and back, along with a few other things. The week before the event a work party was carried out at out yard ‘Mini Portswood’ as we like to call it! 133 was washed at the work party and a few jobs had already been carried out on the Swift and it was decided that fuel would be got on the way to the event to save fuel and time as the petrol station was on the way.

So 1^st April came and another thing that comes with going to a bus show is an earlier start. This time around it was not too bad with a start of 9:30am. Some shows that are further away need an earlier start. With the weather being so cold of late a few problems were always going to happen and they did. 133 started but after trying about 10 times to try and get the gears and doors working it was decided that 133 would have to be left at home and be fixed another day. The Swift was by this time started and was moving around the yard ready for the off. After leaving the yard a quick stop for fuel was made and we were off to Brijan Tours.

Southampton: Then & Now

Arriving at Brijan Tours Open Day at their yard in Curdridge, it was pretty busy and there was the usual paparazzi taking photos of the visiting buses. The Swift surprisingly parked next to an ADL Enviro200 Dart SLF; one of the latest Southampton buses. Another buses which was on display at the event was 335 – 335 AOW which is at Brijan Tours being restored, which has included a full repaint and a number of other jobs being carried out. It’s hoped that 335 will be back on the road soon.

                                                335 - 335 AOW

A number of free services ran at the event; one to Eastleigh Bus Station and the other was a Meon Valley Tour. No. 1 was used on the Meon Valley tour which went though Bishops Waltham and to Wickham and then back to Brijan Tours yard. Around 35 people were carried on the journey which took about 40 minutes and was enjoyed by all. As it was very cold and we had a fun few hours at the event catching up with a few friends we decided to leave just after 2pm and start the journey back home to the yard. The journey home saw no problem with the Swift and once back at the yard the Swift was parked up and put to bed for the next few weeks.


The Swift lives next to the Seddon which sadly has not been used for many years and it’s hoped that work will soon start on getting it fit for the road once again. A few weeks ago a job that was needed to be done was to get the tyres pumped up and thanks to a local tyre fitter they have been pumped up, which has lifted the front of the bus up.

                                                      15 - BCR 379R

We hope you are enjoying our new blog and hope it gives a ‘behind the scenes’ look at what goes on at S&DTHT. Over the coming weeks will we be getting ready for the Southampton Maritime Festival taking place on Sunday 5^th and Monday 6^th May at Southampton Docks. Until then thanks for reading!

All aboard for the new blog

Hello and welcome to our new blog! This blog is going to go behind the scenes at Southampton & District Transport Heritage Trust and will give an inside view on what goes on and what members get up to in their spare time. From the restoration work carried out, going to shows/rallies and other events we hope to give an insight of what we get up to.

 

Information about the trust can also be found on our website www.sadtht.co.uk. The website itself started in late 2011 and has grown ever since. The website is looked after by Tom our Website Manager and friends. All of the buses that are connected with the trust can be found on there with a lot of other useful information. 

 

 

Over the coming months the rally season will be kicking off and we will be attending a number of events. Thanks for taking the time in reading our new blog and be sure to come back soon to keep up to date with us here at S&DTHT. Later in the week we will look at our trip to Brijans Tours Open Day.