National Express wanted all of it's contractors to not only paint coaches in their livery for a better job rate but also purchase these Plaxton bodied Volvo B10M coaches of their specification which if I remember rightly they christened 'The Expressliner'. A lot of the former NBC companies did just that including Cumberland whose coach on the Rapide 572 Service to London was seen passing through Gaol Square in Stafford one winter day.
Whilst new to Cumberland, I'm pretty sure she was operating for Ribble by the time your photo was taken, particularly as she was carrying a fleetnumber in the 1xxx range.
ReplyDeleteYou are probably right as Ribble used to come in from Burnley Depot whereas Cumberland didn't really figure here.
ReplyDeleteUrs you are right, J122,23&24 were transferred to Ribble as Cumberland received N128-32 VAO, we retained J120/21 AHH. I had 7 years on national express 97/04 running out of whitehaven and witnessed the decline of the service. In my opinion the Rapide service was what the customer wanted on long haul services and believe it still would be a major success today.
ReplyDeleteYes, not urs sorry.
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