Scania N230UD / East Lancs Olympus
The first six Olympuses 835-40 were ordered for use on the Loddon Bridge Park and Ride service. One of these is seen below nearing competition at East Lancs on 26th June, followed by partially branded 835 in the same location on 28th June and then 838 complete on 1st July. Thanks to Alistair Liddle for these photos:
Originally ordered for May 2007, 835-40 were delayed until early July because the real time equipment sub-contractor wasn't able to deliver their equipment to the bodybuilders on time. The exact delivery dates were as follows:
- 835 - 30th June 2007
- 836 - 2nd July 2007
- 837 - 2nd July 2007
- 838 - 4th July 2007
- 839 - by 17th July 2007
- 840 - 5th July 2007
839 was due to visit Ireland on demonstration duties, however its late delivery from East Lancs meant that this never came to happen.
Following reductions to the FastTrack service from 31st March 2008 (the short lived extension to Winnersh Triangle was withdrawn, and the peak frequency was slightly reduced), 840 was repainted into generic silver livery. It is seen below pausing at the Station on 10th April 2008 prior to re-entering service after repaint, still with some of the route 500 branding on the back window and its old silver swoop instead of grey. Thanks to James Cusworth for this photo:
Following further reductions to the FastTrack service from 10th January 2010 (peak frequency reduced from every 8-10 to every 12-15 minutes), 838 and 839 were repainted into dark green route 4/5/6 livery. 838 was the first to return by 21st January 2010 and was in service by 23rd, with 839 going away the week after and returning to service by 28th. 838 is seen below on 23rd January 2010:
A further 21 examples were ordered for delivery in late November 2007 to convert routes 12/20, 31/33 and 63/65 to premier status. However, following the collapse of the East Lancs Group, and the subsequent takeover by the Darwen Group the order was delayed until February 2008. Deliveries were expected to commence in December, with arrivals continuing through January 2008 until 25th February when the buses were to be launched on a revised network of routes. In the event deliveries commenced in early February 2008 as follows:
- 841 - sometime between late on 8th and early on 11th February 2008
- 842 - sometime between 10th and early on 11th February 2008 (present outside East Lancs on 10th)
- 843 - sometime between 10th and early on 11th February 2008 (present outside East Lancs on 10th)
- 844 - sometime between late on 8th and early on 11th February 2008
- 845 - on or around 13th February 2008
- 846 - on or around 13th February 2008
- 847 - by 22nd February 2008
- 848 - by early on 18th February 2008
- 849 - 22nd February 2008
- 850 - 23rd February 2008
- 851 - by 24th February 2008
- 852 - 8th or 9th March 2008
- 853 - 8th or 9th March 2008
- 854 - 8th or 9th March 2008
- 855 - 13th March 2008
- 856 - 1st or 4th March 2008
- 857 - 28th March 2008
- 858 - 3rd April 2008
- 859 - 28th March 2008
- 860 - 31st March 2008
- 861 - 31st March 2008
Further delays were caused by the collapse of seat manufacturer MTB, meaning that the second half of the batch have Esteban seats. Following this, the well respected seat moquette supplier Holdsworth's also went into administration in late February, meaning that negotiations were required to secure moquette for the final two vehicles. The plans for the liveries also changed slightly, with the light blue examples moved to the start of the production run, and the final two which were originally to be maroon were switched to silver following the decision to use the Scania OmniDekkas from route 17 instead.
844 is below outside the East Lancs factory on 8th February 2008. Thanks to "Bunny" for this photo:
The first four entered service "early" on 15th February to cover for vehicles being repainted in readiness for the forthcoming service changes. 844 is seen below on route 37 on 16th February with its full Quality Travel lettering applied, but without the full route branding for the 15/16:
845 is seen below on its first day in service on 25th February 2008:
Service changes from 10th January 2010 saw the destinations printed along the side and on the rear of 841-7 removed and replaced with commercial advertising frames.
851 is seen below on its first day in service on 25th February 2008:
Service changes from 10th January 2010 saw routes 63/64 replaced by new routes 12, 13 and 14. 848/9 were left surplus to requirements and repainted into dark green routes 4/5/6 livery, whilst the branding on 850-54 was revised with "Woodley" lettering. 849 had returned from repaint on 1st February and was back in service by 3rd, meanwhile 848 was away for repaint in its place and back in service by 28th. 854 is seen below on 23rd January 2010:
856 is seen below on route 35 on 30th March 2008:
Service changes from 1st September 2008 saw Sunday route 35 withdrawn and replaced by journeys on Monday - Saturday routes 15 and 33. Consequently the branding on 855-9 was revised to omit the 35. 857 is seen below on 13th September 2008:
Further service changes from 10th January 2010 saw the destinations printed along the side and on the rear of 855-9 removed and replaced with commercial advertising frames.
838, 839, 848 and 849 had their route 4/5/6 branding modified to read route 5/6 following the withdrawal of route 4 from 25th October 2010. 848 is seen below on the first day of the revised service also sporting lettering to promote the increased 10 minute frequency of route 6 from the same date.
On 28th or 29th February 2012 838 and 848 had their lettering modified to promote £1 fares between Whitley Street and the Town Centre. 838 is seen below on 16th March 2012:
In June 2012 850-54 received lettering on their front windows to promote £1 fares anywhere in Woodley. This was updated to £1.20 following an increase from 24 September 2012.
861 is seen below on 10th April 2008 during its first week in service. Thanks to Stuart Curwen for this photo:
In October 2013 repaints commenced into a revised Sky Blue livery for routes 15 and 16 which was similar in style to that which was introduced with the ADL Enviro 400Hs a couple of years earlier.
- 840 repainted out of generic silver, returning to service on 26th October 2013
- 841 returning to service on 9th November 2013
- 842 returning to service on approx 18th January 2014
- 843 returned to service on 16th February 2014 (being treated after 844)
- 844 was repainted at Renault Trucks, being noted there completed on 29th January, and it returned to service on 2nd February 2014
- 845 returned to service on 1st March 2014
840 is seen below on 30th October 2013. Thanks to James Cusworth for this photo:
In addition 861 was repainted into dark green from generic silver, returning to service by 21st December 2013.
835-7 were advertised for sale during the summer 2014, and following the entry into service of Enviro 200s 651-3 on 10th September 2014 had their Loddon Bridge branding removed. They received temporary Reading Buses fleet names for temporary use on any route pending the delivery of delayed Enviro 400s 751-7 a few weeks later. 835 was the first to return to service, being noted on route 17 on 13th September. They are thought to have been withdrawn after service on 22nd October 2014, and were sold to Uno, Hatfield by 28th December 2014.
Pending the entry into service of Enviro 400s 759-74 on 10th May 2015, dark green route 5/6 branded 838/9, 848/9 and 861 were advertised for sale during 2014. Due to a closure of Reading Bridge 839, 849 and 861 lost their route 5/6 branding and remained in service as float vehicles until 31st May 2015. 861 was first observed in this state on 18th May, 849 on 19th and 839 on 20th. Meanwhile 838/48 were withdrawn on 9th May, with 838 sold to Wealdon PSV and 848 to Abus, Bristol, departing on 15th. 838's official sale date to Wealdon was June 2015, from where it went to Autocar, Five Oak Green by September 2015.
The rear branding on 855 was updated in June 2015 to reflect the 10 minute frequency on route 33 introduced in September 2014, followed by 859 on 30 or 31st July 2015. 856 was done by October 2015 and 858 was confirmed by November but probably done earlier.
861 gained an overall livery for Berkshire Rugby in July 2015, which was modified to include a Sky Blue front in July 2016 following the extension of route 15 to IKEA. It retained dark green interior branding with route specific information removed. It gained a full colour front LED display by 3 September 2016.
839/849 gained temporary coming soon lettering for Claret Spritzer in September 2015 pending the return of 802/7-9 from refurbishment. 839 was sold to Wealdon PSV in November 2015, whilst 849 lost it's coming soon vinyls at this time whilst remaining in service pending disposal along with 860 to Wealdon PSV sometime between 27 and 31 December 2015.
844, 845 and 847 gained illuminated Christmas adverts for the Oracle in December 2017, along with OmniCity 1103.
850 went on loan to Somerbus from 3 October 2016 until 4 January 2017 when 804 became available for sale, and was then sold to Wealdon PSV on 27th January 2017. 856-9 were sold to Wheelers, Southampton following replacement by Scania / Enviro400 MMCs 701-5.
One additional example was acquired with Courtney Buses on 30 April 2019, and allocated fleet number 862. It was sold to SBC Leisure on 30 June 2020, and replaced by 1209 cascaded from Reading.
Disposals have been as follows:
- 835 to Uno, Hatfield by 28th December 2014
- 836 to Uno, Hatfield by 28th December 2014
- 837 to Uno, Hatfield by 28th December 2014
- 838 to Wealdon PSV in May 2015, then to Autocar, Five Oak Green by September 2015, then to Redfern Travel in February 2017, then to Supreme Travel, Zejtun, Malta in mid-August 2017 following open top conversion reregistered EPY 049
- 839 to Wealdon PSV in November 2015, then to Redfern Travel in February 2017, then to Supreme Travel, Zejtun, Malta in mid-August 2017 following open top conversion reregistered EPY 051
- 840 still in use - see below
- 841 to Wealdon PSV in November 2017, then to Supreme Travel, Zejtun, Malta following open top conversion. It entered service there in blue livery (North Tour) registered LPY007 on 5th March 2018.
- 842 to Wealdon PSV in November 2017, then to Supreme Travel, Zejtun, Malta following open top conversion. It entered service on 26th April 2018 in red livery (South Tour) registered LPY008.
- 843 to Vision Bus, Bolton in July 2018 though Ensign (dealer), arriving there by 15th August
- 844 to Vision Bus, Bolton in July 2018 though Ensign (dealer). It's last day in service was 13th July, and was at Vision Bus on 15th.
- 845 to Vision Bus, Bolton in July 2018 though Ensign (dealer). 845 was at Vision Bus on 15th July.
- 846 to Wealdon PSV on 22nd November 2017, then to Supreme Travel, Zejtun, Malta following open top conversion. It entered service in mid March in red livery (South Tour) registered XPY023.
- 847 to Wealdon PSV on 22nd November 2017, then to Supreme Travel, Zejtun, Malta following open top conversion. It was registered LPY010.
- 848 to Abus, Bristol on 15th May 2015
- 849 to Wealdon PSV between 27-31 December 2015, then to Autocar, Five Oak Green
- 850 to Wealdon PSV on 27th January 2017, then to Autocar, Five Oak Green
- 851 to Wealdon PSV by 27 November 2017, having still been in use on 9 November, then to Autocar, Five Oak Green
- 852 to Midland Classic on 2nd October 2016, before being replaced by 1102 in January 2018 and reacquired in October 2018
- 853 to Midland Classic on 2nd October 2016, before being replaced by 1103 in January 2018 and reacquired in October 2018
- 854 to PC Coaches of Lincoln on 9th November
- 855 to PC Coaches of Lincoln on 9th November
- 856 to Wheelers in late October 2016 where it was re-registered 9195 PU in January 2017
- 857 to Wheelers in late October 2016 where it was re-registered 7969 RU in January 2017
- 858 to Wheelers on 10th November 2016 where it was re-registered 9423 RU in January 2017
- 859 to Wheelers on 10th November 2016 where it was re-registered 3471 RU in January 2017
- 860 to Wealdon PSV between 27-31 December 2015, then to Autocar, Five Oak Green
- 861 to Vision Bus, Bolton in July 2018 though Ensign (dealer)
840 was withdrawn from Reading on 13 August 2018 and sent to Ensignbus to be seat belted. As the original seats were not suitable for this, Esteban seats similar to those in the later examples were sourced from another vehicles in an unusual black graffiti moquette. It then transferred to Newbury & District upon acquisition in September 2018, still in base Sky Blue livery. Officially it was advertised for sale through Ensignbus prior to the N&D acquisition and additional school work being confirmed. It was repainted into base N&D black in late October 2018.
852 and 853 were reacquired from Ensignbus in August 2018, having been exchanged with 1102/3 through Ensignbus back in January. The vehicles were seat-belted at Ensignbus, 853 arriving in Reading for MoT work on 22nd August in base Midland Classic livery. 853 entered service at Newbury & District on 22nd September 2018, followed by 852 in late October. 852/3 were repainted into base N&D black in December 2018.
The vehicles were seat-belted at Ensignbus, and arrived in Reading in base Midland Classic livery. 853 entered service at N&D on 22nd September 2018 followed by 852 in late October. 840, 852 and 853 operated in plain black for just over a year before having Newbury & District branding added during October half term 2019 - 852 on 31st, 840 on 30th October and 851 on 1st November 2019.