Search Results

STOP PRESS ... The running schedule for the Connexionsbuses 20th Birthday Bash is now available, detailing the services and heritage vehicles operating during the event - Sunday 17th July ... The plan is to have a main event base at Wetherby Racecourse, with classic buses running over truncated versions of Connexionsbuses routes to York and Harrogate. The classic bus services will be accessible by car, bus and train - linking to the railway network at both York and Harrogate. We all of us involved will make a huge effort to run the highlighted vehicles to the specified timetable - but issues often arise with older traction so please don't be upset if the allocated vehicle is substituted or a service does not run. Lets hope for some sunshine to help Craig Temple and family celebrate 20 years of public service throughout Yorkshire! It is a pleasure to be able to join in with the party and hope to see plenty of people riding the buses during the day.

Dear readers, please feel free to distribute this flyer in appropriate locations.

Good afternoon readers!... I'm pleased to let you all know that I have finalised the preferred route for the Leeds running day 2022. As anyone from the Leeds area can clearly see, the city has been subjected to "improvement" works during the pandemic period and these "improvement" works continue to cause major problems for the residents of the city. As a result of the changes to road layouts and the very poor traffic signal sequencing in the Leeds area, the route for the heritage bus service on Sunday 14th August 2022 is amended and will now operate to the following detail... Please be aware, since we last organised this event in 2019, all of the bus stops in the city centre have been re-named - don't expect to find heritage buses at the bus stops used prior. By kind permission of METRO, heritage buses will be able to stop at Kirkstall Forge railway station, offering a connection into the event for railway passengers travelling on the Airedale, Wharfedale and Bradford FSQ lines. There is also the opportunity to enjoy a wonderful accessible canalside nature trail from this station, leading to the Leeds Industrial Museum which is also served by the heritage bus service. You'll also find a second bus route running at the event in 2022, as a nod to the West Riding bus company, you'll see former West Riding buses connecting Thwaite Watermill with Woodlesford railway station offering a connection into the event for railway passengers travelling on the Hallam and the Pontefract lines. I have decided to colour code the two routes with the Leeds running day route being red and the West Riding route being green. The text below details bus stopping arrangements, the line of route which the buses will take for anyone who might want to go "lineside" for photography or video, the exact locations of sites and stops involved and local facilities, transport connections. Car parking is in short supply at most of the sites along the way, especially Thwaite Watermill so please don't come there with a car if it is at all possible to avoid! The Middleton Railway has limited parking, as does the Leeds Industrial Museum... Kirkstall Forge has plenty of parking and Kirkstall Abbey has a reasonable amount available... If you want to ask anything about the day please just send me an email at blackprincebuses@outlook.com and I'll do my best to answer asap. Cheers All! Bradley The Leeds Running Day 2022 - Route Guide Red Route Thwaite Watermill, Thwaite Lane LS101RP - Bus Stop B Thwaite Lane, Low Road, Church Street, Balm Road, Moor Road Middleton Railway, Moor Road LS102JQ - Bus Stop 45010116 Hunslet Distributor Road, South Accomodation Road, East Street, St. Peter's Street Leeds, Eastgate LS27LY - Bus Stop “Victoria G” (for Leeds City Bus & Coach Station) Eastgate, The Headrow Leeds Town Hall, The Headrow LS13AD - Bus Stop “Civic P” (for Leeds Art Gallery, Leeds City Museum, Leeds City Railway Station) The Headrow, Westgate, Wellington Street, Kirkstall Road, Viaduct Road, Canal Road Leeds Industrial Museum, Canal Road LS122QF - Bus Stop B Canal Road, Viaduct Road, Burley Place, Kirkstall Road, Commercial Road, Abbey Road Kirkstall Abbey & Abbey House Museum, Abbey Road LS53EH - Bus Stop 45011559 Abbey Road, Great Exhibition Way, Private Road Kirkstall Forge Railway Station LS53NF - Metro Bus Stop (for rail connections & Aire Valley Towpath canalside walk) Kirkstall Forge Railway Station LS53NF - Metro Bus Stop (for rail connections & Aire Valley Towpath canalside walk) Private Road, Great Exhibition Way, Abbey Road Kirkstall Abbey & Abbey House Museum, Abbey Road LS53EH - Bus Stop 45011553 Abbey Road, Commercial Road, Kirkstall Road, Viaduct Road, Canal Road Leeds Industrial Museum, Canal Road LS122QF - Bus Stop A Canal Road, Viaduct Road, Burley Place, Kirkstall Road, West Street, Park Lane, Westgate, The Headrow Leeds Town Hall, The Headrow LS13AD - Bus Stop “Civic K” (for Leeds Art Gallery, Leeds City Museum & Leeds City Railway Station) The Headrow, Eastgate Leeds, Eastgate LS27LY - Bus Stop “Victoria D” (for Leeds City Bus & Coach Station) St. Peter's Street, Duke Street, Mill Street, East Street, South Accomodation Road, Hunslet Distributor Road Middleton Railway, Moor Road LS102JQ - Bus Stop 45028679 Moor Road, Balm Road, Church Street, Low Road, Thwaite Lane Thwaite Watermill, Thwaite Lane LS101RP - Bus Stop A Green Route Thwaite Watermill, Thwaite Lane LS101RP - Bus Stop B Thwaite Lane, Pontefract Road, Leeds Road, Holmsley Lane, Church Street, Station Lane Woodlesford Railway Station, Station Lane LS268RA - Bus Stop 45011587 (for rail connections & Aire & Calder Navigation canalside walk) Woodlesford Railway Station, Station Lane LS268RA - Bus Stop 45011587 (for rail connections & Aire & Calder Navigation canalside walk) Aberford Road, Calverley Road, Leeds Road, Pontefract Road, Thwaite Lane Thwaite Watermill, Thwaite Lane LS101RP - Bus Stop A

Please feel free to distribute this flyer where you feel appropriate :-)

Volunteers required for the Leeds running day 14/08/22 - both for running day preparation and assistance on the day. The most pressing issue right now is that certain areas along the route which are required for bus stabling and operation need vegetation clearance and tidying up, the site manager has asked if we could group together and form a working party to action this requirement on a date TBC. Is anyone interested in coming along to help out, primarily at the Thwaite Mill site where most vehicle movements will take place? If you would like to get involved please mail blackprincebuses @ outlook.com and I shall send further info when the work date is confirmed. Cheers for now!

Hey All. I've been following with great interest the epic journey being made by Adam Smith and friends, who have travelled from the UK to the UK - raine in recent days! I'm sure many of you will already be aware of this project but if not, Adam - along with project organiser, railway employee (and former owner of North Somerset Coaches) David Fricker and a small group of volunteers have taken a Volvo 9700 coach (GDZ435) - branded "Teddybusz" all the way from South West England to the border near Lviv. The Volvo has been stuffed with cuddly toys destined for the Ukrainian children displaced by the Putin land grab and subsequent invasion of their homes. The teddies "and friends" have been donated over recent weeks and placed in storage, with the use of the Volvo being facilitated by Greenslades coaches. The amount of donations seems to have been epic and I'm certain these lovely toys will at least give those poor children a little smile and a friend to cuddle up to in the light of the nonsense they are having to go through right now. Teddybusz departed Britain (Portsmouth) on Sunday evening, docking in Caen, France and heading through Europe via France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Czecho, Slovakia and finally into Hungary where the operation will be based. The plan is to distribute the toys at churches and other refugee shelters along the Hungary/Ukraine border area over the coming days, with the coach being used as required once the toys and aid are/is distributed. It is awesome to see such amazing and honestly brave operations happening right now to help those poor folk who have been attacked by Vlad Putin - Adam Smith and co will be literally a few miles from the advancing army and it really does deserve high praise what these guys are doing to help those children feel a little more comfortable in the worst conditions. There are some interesting links below, I'm sure you'll all join me in wishing them a safe return after the epic mission is completed. One more thing... If you want to help in some way, there is a bank account link here which goes directly toward fuel contributions to keep the Volvo 9700 fed for the journey!... Fuel contributions for the 1500 mile journey : 40-34-39 41488724 HSBC https://www.facebook.com/teddybusz/https://www.facebook.com/Greenslades-Tours-102147248237817/ https://www.facebook.com/teddybusz/ https://www.somersetlive.co.uk/news/somerset-news/man-sets-up-teddy-bus-6769784

Sunday 14th August 2022 will see the streets of Leeds play host to classic vehicles once more, after a large break because of the pandemic related restrictions... Please keep looking back on this blog for periodical updates as planning progresses...

Hello, thank you for reading the Blog!... Whilst I'm grounded under the control of Covid-19 I thought it a great time to reflect on Black Prince bus action from 2021, a year which seems to have passed us by as quickly as 2020!... January 01/01/21 was a cold and icy day to start with, but 441 was out on service providing the FREE bus link between the White Rose Centre and Morley, which was very well patronised considering the continuing Covid "new world" situation... The service was also really well supported by the WRC, Metro and volunteer staff - Metro were kind enough to go to such lengths as updating the realtime travel displays to show Black Prince buses as operating during the day - Brilliant!... During February, I took a trip across to meet Cyril Kenzie of Kenzie's Coaches in Shepreth. Cyril had been the proud owner for several years of former Black Prince 948, B948ASU which had been subject to a full rebuild after accident damage. Cyril sadly died late 2021 and 948 was sold on to a firm in Wales, I'd love to see some recent photos of the bus and hope it has gone to a good home. It was a pleasure to meet Cyril, this legend of the coach world a very sad loss... April 12/13 saw some action with attention needed to 577, Dave worked on the bus whilst 441 and 814 were shunted out of the way to release 577 for the work. The day after, I headed off to Connexionsbuses on road test with 577, which was given a wash and brush up at the depot in Tockwith. The opportunity was taken to pose the Black Prince bus with some ex Midland Classic buses decorated very tastefully in red and yellow - a definite case of what might have been, with this type probably a natural successor to Brian's older Scania fleet?... April 2021 saw Leyland PD2 recovery vehicle CCK368 (368) moved from the garage to another location for rebuilding work to commence on the framework of the vehicle. This rebuild has been ongoing for several months and I shall post a new blog detailing the works more toward the end of the project... The restoration works are in an advanced stage now (Jan 22) so I hope to see this vehicle return to the road shortly. After a period idle, 441 and 577 were given a leg stretch in June, with a clean and tidy-up prior to the Dewsbury Bus Museum running event over at Heath Common, Wakefield... 577 was used as a static exhibit at Heath Common, with our Black Prince sales stall and tombola going down a treat with the visitors. 441 was entrusted with the free bus service from Pontefract to Wakefield and Heath Common and operated some additional free bus services during the day, with Covid capacity loads noted on the service toward Wakefield. We all had a great time manning the stall or working on the buses and both buses performed superbly during this event with people pleased to see them after the Covid break!... July saw Volvo Ailsa 814 taken for a ride over to Connexionsbuses for a wash via Stringers Pontefract Motorways, where the Ailsa was fuelled... The opportunity was taken for a pose up at both sites, with the smart coach fleet of Stringers on display in the yard and Craig's former Kenzie's Volvo recently returned from refurbishment proudly shown to us at Tockwith. During August, Scania F380JTV (380) was sold for scrap by Liddell of Auchinleck and as the bus was in a right old state it ended up moving by recovery vehicle to new owners at the Tyneside Heritage Vehicles organisation in the north east. 380 was to be dismantled and the recovered parts used in some way to keep another former Black Prince bus, JFT413X (RND882X) in traffic, the engine from 380 possibly transplanted into our old friend 882. Though it is a great shame 380 could not be saved for preservation, (last of a kind I believe?) if anything it is great to know parts from the bus live on in 882! Thanks to Lee at Tyneside HV for the information and the photographs of 380 just prior to breaking up... As you can see from the cab photo, 380 was really beyond restoration for anyone other than a millionaire, the floors rotten due to water damage having been parked in a field for several years and various bits missing... More information about the organisation here... https://tynesideheritagevehicles.co.uk/ September 24/5/6 was a busy time in Morley, with the Arts Festival in full swing. A Black Prince bus was requested to be the control point for the weekend of events, so 441 was duly decorated and parked in Morley town centre for the weekend, complete with sound system and balloons! 441 of course attracted much attention and prompted many happy memories for Morley folk, recalling holidays with Brian and Sheila many years ago!... Around the same time as the Arts Festival it was brought to my attention that Arriva (Yorkshire Woollen) were looking at withdrawal from the 205 service due to major staff shortages and lack of patronage. The 205 is a long standing and well known route in the area, previously serviced by Black Prince buses of old. I was interested in developments and as a result of this news started to plan for a possible finale running day with some classic bus involvement, starting with a run on the 205 between Morley and Pudsey on the last day of the Arts Festival to create a bit of inspiration around the idea!. Several former Black Prince staff and friends jumped on for the ride to Pudsey where we had fish and chips. 441 was posed on Roker lane on the 205 service. As news became clearer about the 205 cancellation, I decided to run Black Prince buses between Arriva buses on the Morley to Pudsey section of the route, with two journeys in the day extending to Dewsbury Bus Station. A timetable was drawn up and vehicles planned accordingly. The final day of operation was to be 23/10/21 and the running day was penned as a farewell event, but the eleventh hour saw a last minute attempt by Metro to salvage the service with the Bradford operator TLC Travel able to pull a revised service together at short notice, thus ensuring continuation of the 205 from the following Monday 25/10/21!... The event therefore became "All Change" on the 205. Black Prince buses ran alongside Arriva Yorkshire for the day, TLC came along to Pudsey to distribute leaflets and make themselves known to the travelling public... a TLC minibus duplicated the Ailsa for a round trip to Dewsbury acting as a route learning special for the new drivers!. The day went really well with some good numbers carried on all the buses. Metro were very accommodating as always and many thanks were due to the volunteers who staffed the buses and the bus station in Pudsey. The photographs show Arriva Yorkshire 1057 operating the 205 on Roker Lane, 814/441 prepared for service after a full day of cleaning and prepping by my dad and myself, 814/91043 en route to Dewsbury occupying the 205 stand at Morley Town Hall and 441/814/91043 posed outside Morley Leisure Centre prior to the final run of the day which ended with fish and chips in Pudsey. The Black Prince buses ran a final journey in service from Pudsey to Morley in the evening, drawing the curtain on many many years of Yorkshire Woollen operation on this route. Wish the best of luck to TLC with the new operation! After the excitement of the 205 running day had settled it was time to start thinking about the seasonal bus services... It was decided to operate the Christmas Day X51 to a much reduced timetable, in light of ongoing and once again more severe Covid-19 safety restrictions of the time. The X51 was scheduled to run 5 hours on Christmas Day, extending to the hospital on the first and last trips of the day offering potential hospital visitors plenty of time to see sick relatives. The service was a success once again, carrying 64 passengers during the course of the shift, including very special guests all the way from Singapore, who had travelled to Leeds specifically to catch a ride on a Mercedes-Benz 0405! Many thanks extended to Driver Woodward for sacrificing his Christmas (alongside myself) to provide this free bus service for the people of Morley. The photographs show 441 standing at Morley Town Hall, the guys from Singapore (Cheers Calvin and Maxson!) enjoying the 0405, Dave Crowther and Jim Woodward having a chat at the terminus and 441 awaiting departure time at Jimmy's... Black Prince year 2021 was drawn to a close on a misty Boxing Day night, with 441 posed for a few nostalgic photos around Morley, before returning to storage in readiness for New Year's Day 2022!... Another topsy turvy year for everyone, I'm am pleased to see just how much we managed to achieve with Black Prince buses in the face of the uncertain times encountered - we can only hope for more normality in 2022!

Dear Passengers, Here you see the final running schedule for my classic bus services due to operate alongside Arriva Yorkshire to mark the final day of Arriva operation on route 205. Metro have most kindly given permission to use the official 205 departure stand in Dewsbury Bus Station, number 9. If you are coming along for a ride, please do respect the rules of the bus station (and indeed everywhere and everybody else along the way) which are there for the safety of all persons on the site!. The journeys are colour coded, with Arriva shown in turquoise, Black Prince bus one shown in red and Black Prince bus two shown in yellow. The last journey from Morley to Pudsey at 1600 will be "double-headed" and will be the fish "n" chip run for anyone who might want to have a ride out to Pudsey to get themselves a chippy tea! The buses will return to Morley at 1750. Normal Arriva fares and conditions of carriage apply to all journeys highlighted in turquoise. Red and yellow journeys operate free of charge for all to enjoy an afternoon ride on a classic bus. I hope we have nice weather and an enjoyable running day!... Cheers for now, Bradley

As previously posted on this blog, the 205 service has been de-registered by long time operator Arriva Yorkshire, formerly Yorkshire Woollen District. This service was run by Black Prince under contract to Metro in the 1990's thus holding interest for Black Prince enthusiasts!... It would be great to mark the end of such a route with an appearance of some heritage traction for the final day!... Since the original announcement was made regarding the cancellation of the 205 service by Arriva, Metro have been extremely busy hunting for a replacement bus operator to run the service and ensure continuity for the passengers. It is therefore great to hear TLC Travel LTD have been awarded the contract to run the 205 on behalf of Metro from Monday 25/10/2021. To mark the final day of Arriva operation over the route, I intend to provide Black Prince buses to run regular FREE bus services alongside the final Arriva service on the 23/10/2021 (Normal fares and terms apply on Arriva buses!)... The timetable will see the buses running the full route with several short journeys during the day between Morley and Pudsey. I do hope the weather will be kind to us on the day, and many enthusiasts can enjoy a ride on a classic bus over a classic route!

Stop Press... The 205 service is to receive a bit of "TLC" from Monday 25th October 2021, with independent operator TLC Travel LTD taking over the operation of the route from incumbent Arriva Yorkshire... This is great news for passengers and I'm sure everyone is pleased to see that this long standing local bus service will not be lost after all!... Councillor Simon Seary (Pudsey) has posted comprehensive information (re-posted below) regarding the continuation of the service, the extension of the service from Pudsey Bus Station to the Owlcotes shopping centre and the provisional timetable. Update regarding bus service 205. "Having been made aware last month that Arriva Yorkshire gave notice to the 205 service, I’m pleased to say that communication between The Combined Authority and ourselves has brought forward a new contractor which will also see an extension of the service to Owlcotes Shopping Centre, improving links to New Pudsey Railway Station" -Please share- Dear Councillors, You will be aware that Arriva Yorkshire have given notice to cease operation of bus service 205 which currently operates broadly hourly between Dewsbury and Pudsey via Morley. The service is due to end this coming weekend. (23/10/2021) Combined Authority officers have been exploring options to retain a service and have been assessing levels of passenger use, the types of passengers and journeys made. Service 205 provides some links which cannot be made by other bus services and is the only bus service for some communities in south Pudsey and Crackenedge, Dewsbury. Therefore in line with the Combined Authority’s Transport Committee guidelines arrangements have been made to secure the continuation of service 205 from Monday 25 October. Following an open procurement process, TLC Travel Ltd has been awarded a contract to operate service 205 from Monday. The company will need to recruit additional staff for this contract and you will be aware of current difficulties with the availability of bus drivers affecting the country at present. It has therefore been agreed that TLC Travel will operate a reduced timetable using existing staff and buses until such time as the company has the resources to resume the full hourly service. The reduced temporary timetable is attached FYI. The new timetable allows the extension of the service to Owlcotes Shopping Centre which we hope will be welcomed by passengers and help to generate additional journeys going forward" This means that a "Farewell" running day for the 205 is no longer appropriate, though it may be possible to have some sort of running day to mark a huge change in the history of the route... Stand-By for updated information about Saturday 23/10/21, the new (Temporary) TLC timetable is attached... Well done to TLC for stepping in to ensure the continued operation of this age old bus link!. The new (Temporary) timetable for route 205, operated by TLC Travel LTD from Monday 25/10/2021..