Scania / Irizar Century

The first Scania / Irizar Centurys, 210-1 arrived in November 2003, introducing a new green goGOLDLINE.com livery for the fleet. 212-3 arrived in March 2004, and 214-5 (which were additions to an initial order for four) sometime after that. Below is 210 at Reading Station on 8th March 2004.

210 on 8 March 2004 (83647 bytes)

The front profile of 211, seen at the depot whilst taking a day off on 1st January 2004:

211 on 1 January 2004 (20052 bytes)

Below is 213 leaving Broad Street on 11th March 2006 having spent the day outside the Oracle advertising the company's 2006 excursion brochure.

213 on 11 March 2006 (59380 bytes)

By 7th December 2005, and probably earlier, 215 had back-to-back seating and tables fitted, reducing the seating capacity to 41. It is primarily for the use of Henley Hawks Rugby Club as an executive vehicle.

Following a decision to finish Goldline tour and private hire operations 210/11/14/15 went on loan to Stewarts of Mortimer to assist with the transfer of the Goldline coach hire and contracted services from 6th October 2008. 210/1 returned from Stewarts towards the end of November before returning off lease to Scania (dealer), but actually being collected by their new owners Chalkwell Coach Hire in December 2008. A few days after returning from Stewarts, 211 returned there for a few days in exchange for 214 which suffered accident damage. 214 returned to Reading during January 2009 and 215 during February 2009. 213/4 were sold to Chalkwell Coach Hire in late April 2009. 215 was collected by the leasing company Alliance & Leicester in May 2009 to go on short term loan to Home or Away, Luton, and 212 was collected by Alliance & Leicester on 3rd June 2009 after being repainted white. It was sold to Blueline, Liverpool in June 2009, and advertised for sale from there in March 2010.

A demonstrator with an earlier version of the Century body was operated between August and December 2002. The demonstrator, numbered 230 was powered by liquefied natural gas and operated in a bright yellow livery as seen below on 6th August 2002. It was first seen in the depot the previous week.

M76 HOV on 6th August 2002 (53044 bytes)

230 had lettering on the rear to advertise the fact that it was powered by Liquefied Natural Gas, the same fuel used by MetroRiders 614/24 whilst they were operating from Reading. A week later the coach received a paper in the front and side windows saying "This coach is on hire to Goldline, powered by Liquefied Natural Gas, a fuel that does not cost the earth." By the fourth week it had also received Goldline fleetnames on the front and side, along with extra liquefied natural gas lettering. It is seen below with these on 23rd August 2002. Interestingly Reading chose to use the alternative spelling for the word liquefied on all of their lettering - "liquified" when Scania use "liquefied" on the rear! Both appear to be equally valid alternatives according to the dictionary (but not my computer's spell checker)!

M76 HOV on 23 August 2002 (47773 bytes)

Last updated: 22-03-10

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