Replacing the Rails in Sussex: The "Away" operators

[Chris]

One final set of pictures from Saturday, handling the out of Club area operators who came to play for the week. With it being a 9 day blockade there were some operators who may not have been available for every day, and of course, you can't be in the same place at the same time. I didn't see the Tomorrow's Travel vehicle(s?), for example, who came up from as far away as Poole. 

First up in this quartet is The Big Lemon/Seaford and District, who now have a much reduced presence in Sussex and mostly operate in Bath and Bristol. KX04 RCZ is an ex-Stagecoach Omnidekka usually used on Heathfield area school services. It's seen here leaving Battle on a trip to Hastings, working for Southeastern.

Spirit of Sussex is the coaching brand for the Go-Ahead companies in East Sussex, giving the opportunity to comment on a Go-Ahead brand operating for Transport UK rail replacement, on a contract previously run by Go-Ahead, covering a previously Go-Ahead rail network! Tourismo BN17 JHY departs Hastings for Bexhill. 

SouthEast Omnibus is another company of relatively recent heritage, set up in 2023 by one of the former owners of Southdown PSV on that company's sale to Metrobus. E200 LJ12 BZE was captured on the way to Ore. 

Finally, Chaseside Propulsion are the newest of the bunch, dating from early 2024. They have a small fleet of very smart vehicles, again mostly with London heritage, and all with cherished registrations. Their 201, W44 CSP, which the internet tells me used to be Metroline's TE1580 (LK08 FNA), was caught up with at Ore. It wasn't raining when I arrived at Ore, promptly fell out of the sky for 15 minutes, then the Wealden vehicle moved... hence the odd dry patch! 

Chris

[Nik Anthony]

Surprised that Big Lemon still has deckers. I knew that they got some when they expanded their network in Brighton, but I thought they were only leased pending the delivery of extra SDs, but perhaps not. Any idea what routes they get used on?

Nik

...

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Invicta Bus & Coach Newsgroup" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to mdekbusclub...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mdekbusclub/63f35106-eb53-43ae-b0e2-a9b037ca6bbfn%40googlegroups.com.

[Chris]

The Big Lemon trading name is now used for both the "original" operations and those they acquired from Seaford & District. The S&D livery is now down to one vehicle - the second vehicle noted in this year's Southdown Enthusiast Club Other Operators listing has now gone for scrap. 

They are used on services to Heathfield Community College (as noted in my original caption) and Chailey School: https://bustimes.org/operators/seaford-district

Chris

[JFO]

That Tomorows Bus Travel MMC HF75YSA was the standby vehicle at Bexhill, and as far I know just sat in the same spot outside the Station all week, and I captured it there on Oct 29th.