A cold, grey 14th October. The perfect day to be sat on a rail replacement bus...
Nevertheless, it was fast and whisked me down the A13 to Benfleet (with a short diversion to serve Pitsea Station), barely any slower than the train! This was an Ensignbus Gemini and an Olympus had departed Basildon at the same time on an express run to Leigh-on-Sea, where the engineering works ended and trains picked up the service for the rest of the way to Shoeburyness. However, Canvey Island Transport Museum were holding their annual rally at Labworth Park, so had laid on hourly shuttles from Benfleet Station, timed to meet with the replacement buses. Then, as I was walking round to where I assumed the bus stop was, a heritage coach ran round from the station.
I was beginning to doubt whether I'd missed the bus and that was it; soon after though, I turned a corner and got to the Thamesway Dart which was actually running the route to Labworth Park. A short but pleasant run ensued and we were soon at Labworth, where I could already glimpse a mass of colour from all the 60-odd buses there for the day. I wasn't expecting much and it had already exceeded my expectations!
Two Dennis Darts were parked up in the hard standing area, so when Thamesway 909 went to join them it made a rather nice line-up, which I unfortunately only captured from the rear.
Soon after, the museum's own Southend Transport Leyland pulled in on one of the frequent shuttle services from the museum to the rally - about 10 minutes in duration.
Now, as I have photos of all the static exhibits that day, I shan't bore you with the majority of those - this post is about the movements, as I believe they are a much more interesting side. However, here is a rather nice capture of the London line-up (unfortunately with one intruder from a lot further east!)
and Arriva's contingent for the day, taking almost an entire row to itself! The double deckers were the only ones to operate in service on the museum shuttles, save for one trip with the Park & Ride single decker which can be seen just off-screen to the right.
As I went to board a museum shuttle (these would take up the rest of my day) after around an hour focusing on the stationary buses, I caught this rather pleasant view showing all of the buses that day.
Then, it was time to move. Arriva Southend's ELC Myllennium was loading up and ready to leave, but I decided against a trip on a bus that I could get any day and hung around for a little longer. I had my eyes on VNO859, which seemed to be behind the Arriva bus and about to load up on a museum service. Within a couple of minutes, it pulled round to the stop and I obtained a second-row seat.
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| My next bus is visible just behind the Southend duo. |
The upstairs arrangement is rather abnormal, even more so than the low-height RLHs, as the seats are staggered - staggering!
That took me the short distance out of Labworth, then left at the roundabout to head up Furtherwick Road, before taking a right turn onto Elder Tree Road and continuing down the High Street to reach the Transport Museum. After that, I decided to browse the stalls and purchased a couple of models to add to my ever-expanding collection of over 100. A little time was spent in the cafe, so I was able to see a bus or two leaving throughout the 20-odd minutes I spent there.
Then, it was time for another trip on the buses to/from Labworth, because... well, why not? The next bus in was one I'd been eyeing up since the start of the day, as it was very different from all the other preserved buses operating that day.
The ex-Hedingham coach duly pulled up and loaded up with a few people before setting off for Labworth Park. I'd got a great seat, giving a fantastic view through the main window. This made for a surprisingly enjoyable run through the centre of Canvey. Nearing the end of the trip, we met with the open-top Eastern National 2102, somehow still providing rides with few braving the upstairs seats in the drizzle!
Soon after I arrived, the Arriva Streetlite and Versa packed up and went (by now it was only around 1300), but I decided it was time for another trip to the museum - this time on the well-restored RM1804, a new bus for me and still with blinds set for the Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway (RHDR) bus rally a good 6 weeks beforehand! Another bus had decided to head home early, which was the little Plaxton Beaver minibus, then we set off for the short run to Labworth with around a half load, where we arrived around 10 minutes later and DT29 was sat waiting to load up for its next trip back to the rally site.
I hopped on board and took a seat near the front, which turned out to be a fantastic choice as my legs were right by the heater! A pleasant run back to the site ensued, where Arriva's 6500 was already loading up for the next trip out.
Luckily, as upstairs was relatively quiet, I was able to grab the second-best seat in the house - behind the stairs! The ride wasn't as comfortable as the heritage buses, which shows the amazing 'development' of buses through the years... By the Museum, M394 had caught up and I hadn't been on it before, so it seemed like an obvious candidate for my next ride.
The Metrobus gave a much better ride than the Enviro 400 MMC earlier. That took me back to Labworth, where I knew I could fit in one more ride to the Museum and back. Tower Transit had brought along one of their DMVs, so I hopped on for a quick run to the Museum...
...where, unfortunately, M394 was the next bus going out. I had to catch it, otherwise I wouldn't have made the 1510 shuttle back to Benfleet. Still, getting a good bus twice is no big deal! That took me back to Labworth where, with barely a minute to spare, I got on 6500 again for the return service to Benfleet. We whizzed up Thorney Bay Road, then took a left. Long Road then turns into Canvey Road, which takes you all the way to Benfleet station. It barely took 10 minutes, so I don't understand why there weren't more services throughout the day.
I headed home on a c2c via Grays, looking back upon another brilliant day out.
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