Ensignbus’ Warwickshire expansion remembered

Over two decades ago, Ensignbus embarked on an expansion programme that involved the rapid roll-out of a new open-top tour brand and its blue and silver livery expanding beyond Essex. Richard Sharman takes a light-hearted look back on his time at the firm’s Stratford-upon-Avon depot

It is rare that the bus industry manages to go 365 days without experiencing some moments that come completely out of the blue. It has had a few shocking moments and the passing of the Newman family’s admired Ensignbus operation to First Bus was pretty much near the top of the list!

At the time of the announcement I was still at the helm of this great industry publication and made one call to secure an interview with Peter Newman on that very afternoon back in March. I made the 4-hour drive straight down to Purfleet as the deal was unfolding; Ross and Steve Newman were rushing around getting everything in place and Peter Newman kindly found time to talk to me, in the process introducing me to Piers Marlow, Managing Director of First Essex. During our conversation Peter took me through the reasons for the sale, which were well documented in these pages at the time.

Watershed moment

For those of you who have been in the industry many years – or followed them as an enthusiast – during the many years that Ensignbus had been going, it was a watershed moment for the industry. Although Ensignbus has of course carried on under First Bus ownership, it will never be quite the same without the Newmans at the helm.

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My visit to Purfleet took me way back. I had probably made the long journey down the M40 and around the M25 hundreds of times, but that was normally at 40mph – if I was lucky – not the 70mph my car afforded me for this visit.

Those hundreds of times were probably some of the most memorable of my early career, as somehow, I had managed to add Ensignbus to my CV at a young age. Not only that but it was also in an operation that was 30 minutes from my home and nowhere near Essex!

Starting out

It is funny how things work out sometimes, but back in the early 2000s I recall visiting a WHSmith to pick up my weekly copy of CBW (little knowing that I would later spend five years working there, or indeed at the helm of it!), and within the news pages was a picture of an MCW Metrobus in City Sightseeing’s distinctive bright red livery. The news story was about how this at the time new venture called City Sightseeing was expanding, and that its next move was to open up in Stratford-upon-Avon. I thought this was it, my opportunity to work for Ensignbus, but not to have to travel to Purfleet everyday from the Midlands!

I quickly found Ensignbus’ advert in the back pages of CBW and immediately made a call asking if they had any vacancies. They put me in touch with a Darren Birch, the Operations Manager at the time of this new operation. I duly contacted Darren and a few short weeks later found myself at the gates of a yard in Shakespeare’s town.

Darren arrived and let myself and another new starter into the yard. The location was in the same area as the famed Bird’s bus scrapyard in the town, which was long gone, and whilst there was no sign of any MCW Metrobuses ready to take the tourists around the town at this point, there were a couple of Leyland National 2s in the yard from the previous occupier, Stratford Blue. Not the Midland Red South one, but the one reincarnated by Newmark Coaches.

Starting as we ended up going on, my first job was for me and my new colleague to get a lift to collect two buses and drive them from Choice Travel at Wednesbury to Purfleet. The first two vehicles driven were another pair of Stratford Blue motors going to Ensignbus for sales stock, and what a pair it was, a Leyland National 2 and an ex Brighton & Hove Leyland Lynx.

Getting behind the wheel of the National 2, I recall thinking this is the life, cruising at near enough 60mph on the M25 with the Lynx in tow. We changed vehicles at the services half way and I lead us into Purfleet, using a thing called a map!

It was quite a hot day and I recall us both sitting in Ensignbus’ previous yard waiting for two shiny MCWs to be fuelled and sorted for the trip back North, when a guy with long hair boarded the Lynx and welcomed us to the company. It was of course Ross Newman. Not only did he give us a warm welcome, but he also supplied us with a cold can of Pepsi each, much needed on that hot day. We also met Steve Newman later than day, whilst waiting for our MCW Metrobuses to be made ready for departure north.

The MCW Metrobus

This day was to be my first encounter of a Birmingham-built MCW Metrobus. I had been around Bristol VRTs, Leyland Olympians, Fleetlines and many others very early in my career, then experienced the much newer generation Volvo Olympians, but had never come across one of these before.

Jumping in the cab I was confronted with a very unconventional looking dashboard, for this was not a simple London Transport specification one, but a former South Yorkshire Transport (SYT) one that made the cockpit of a Boeing 747 look simple.

Unlike, the London examples, the SYT specification has a vast array of square coloured warning lights for every occasion. But these were not mounted on or within the dash binnacle, no, they were to the left of it and completely flat on the dashboard. Not very practical, but I turned on the ignition, pressed the big green start button and the Garner engined roared into life. EWF 465V and JWF 490W were the vehicles in question. Moving out onto the M25, I thought ‘let’s see what she can do…’ and the disappointing maximum speed of 45mph was quickly achieved, and just as quickly back to zero via a rather harsh retarder once we had hit the M25 traffic.

The vehicle movements continued over the course of a few weeks and we soon had built up a small fleet of fully open and half-top double-deckers. But it wasn’t as simple as putting some stickers on and starting the service.

Those 1970/80s interiors needed an update, and by this point we had built up a team of drivers, so it was now time to apply our painting skills and apply Ensignbus’ light and dark blue paint to the interiors by hand, followed by fitting of the City Sightseeing seat cushions. This wasn’t a quick process, which was fine, as it allowed time for the Pedro Cabanas-designed vinyls of Stratford-upon-Avon’s attractions to be applied.

The opening fleet consisted of 205 (GVV 205), 219 (BYX 219V), 265 (EWF 465V), 266 (JWF 490W), 350 (EWF 450V), 367 (JHW 137W) and 370 (DTG 370V). As with all different batches of buses of the same type, they all drove differently, with some being better performers than others. For example, former SYT 367 could manage nearly 55mph, whilst former London 219 could only muster 38mph. All were pretty smooth to drive, and whilst ex Newport Transport 370 was quite a lively performer (with excellent cab heaters!) it was an extremely bouncy ride in comparison to the others.

Top speed isn’t really an issue with tour buses, apart from Stratford-upon-Avon was slightly different to most town tours. It features a long section of the route that is out in the countryside, where having the ability to get across the main road and maintain some form of speed is important… but with competition, it became a little more important.

For those unfamiliar with the Metrobus, the Voith gearbox comes with three oversized gear selector buttons, reverse (which includes an interlock button to be activated), drive, and a button with marked with a 3 and a cross through it. This button holds the vehicle in second gear, which was later to prove very useful on the hilly section of the tour route towards Wilmcote.

Service launch

Whilst all this preparation had been going on, it hadn’t gone unnoticed by the local press. After all, we were in the UK’s largest open-top bus tour provider’s home town, that being the famed Guide Friday.

On that note, this wasn’t just a simple launch of an open-top bus service, especially when Guide Friday had been there and established for so long. It quickly became clear that the local residents were not particularly keen to see another operator in the town, with press reports indicating that they didn’t like the fact that more tour buses would be ‘clogging up the town.’

However, the service launched in May 2001 with the help of some street sellers, and the tours were up and running seven days a week. Whilst Guide Friday had its main departure point outside the Pen & Parchment pub, next to the tourist information centre, we had secured a spot outside Cox’s Yard, as you come over the bridge into Stratford-upon-Avon, which still maintained high footfall.

Pre-Covid there was more than enough trade for both operators and we both enjoyed good loadings on a daily basis.

Some months later the locals were still not happy and had taken to protesting in front of our buses as we arrived at Anne Hathaways House; we were referred to as ‘those red buses’ but we all remained professional and continued to offer our customers a great service. Not only that, but we all got along with the vast majority of Guide Friday drivers, waving as we passed each other and so on.

Going back to the previously mentioned speed topic, a slightly frustrating – but entertaining – issue for the drivers was that Guide Friday’s fleet consisted mainly of Leyland Atlanteans – and they might have been old, but boy could they go! In the middle of summer you would go along the Ridgeway section of the route, stop at Mary Arden’s House and then head back to town along the main road. At this point you were normally down on time and were heading back to the terminus. Often you would have an Atlantean in front of you and you would accelerate fairly evenly, but once the Metrobus had reached 40mph, you just saw the Atlanteans disappear into the distance, with the passengers’ hair waving in the air like they were part of Sega’s classic 90s game OutRun!

Whilst all this was going on out on the road, some interesting developments had also occurred behind he scenes. Operations moved to the purpose-built former Stagecoach Midland Red depot at Avenue Farm, which meant that all vehicles were now under cover and we had room to store other vehicles from within the increasing City Sightseeing fleet.

I had also started the process of taking company vehicles to bus rallies, with the first being Metrobus 205 to Showbus, were it won an award and led to me appearing in the Stratford Herald to promote the fact, giving us some positive publicity in light of the locals protesting about the additional buses in the area.

We had also made strides in terms of exhaust emissions and some of the Metrobuses started to receive after-market exhaust systems, which reduced the visable ‘exhaust clag’ of that era of buses to zero, which further enhanced our reputation in the area.

I have no doubt, though, that the main beneficiaries from competition in the area were the tourists visiting it. They enjoyed value for money fares thanks to that competition. In addition, operations were set up to operate all year round thanks to having half-top buses, which also helped elderly residents get to town to do their shopping, as single stage fares were also offered on the service.

The Guide Friday era

A year on and City Sightseeing’s operations had vastly expanded in 2001, and by the end of that year 30 directly-operated open-top buses were running in the same towns and cities as Guide Friday.

The vast majority of the fleet had been formerly employed on Ensign’s London Pride tours, which it acquired back in November 2000, but due to rapid expansion of the City Sightseeing brand globally, it had decided to sell the operation to The Original London Sightseeing Tour but retained the fleet, allowing it to expand UK operations quickly following vehicle repaints.

On Thursday 29 May 2002 it was announced that Ensignbus had acquired the entire share capital of Guide Friday. This effectively meant that we now had two depots in Stratford-upon-Avon, and two tours. It took some time to rationalise operations and due to the timing it meant that Guide Friday tour staff could be integrated with existing City Sightseeing operations to offer an increased frequency to keep up with the demand of only now having one operator offering tours in the town.

Integration of Guide Friday’s work also meant that new tours under the City Sightseeing brand were also introduced, so the expanded rota also had to cover the Warwick Tour and the Cotswold Tour along with a feeder from the railway station and the coach park, for which a small number of Guide Friday vehicles were retained – including some of those fast Atlanteans – but the main tour remained to be operated by City Sightseeing vehicles with added Guide Friday vinyls.

Guide Friday’s Stratford-upon-Avon operations also included a portfolio of Warwickshire County Council (WCC) subsidised ‘CountyLinks’ services and a town service. This brought into the fleet some WCC-owned Mercedes-Benz Citaros, X438/9 KON, a re-bodied single-decker Leyland Atlantean with a Northern Counties body, and a Plaxton Supreme IV-bodied manual Leyland Leopard as backup and school buses. A host of former Reading Buses Optare Metroriders were also inherited for the town service work. Some school service work was also undertaken, using former Plymouth CityBus Leyland Atlanteans.

Rationalisation of the Guide Friday tours around the UK happened fairly quickly, and by the summer everything had moved to the Avenue Farm depot site. By this point the workshop area had already started to convert buses and paint them.

The mass withdrawal of the Guide Friday fleet meant that we acted as a staging post for nearly every single Bristol VRT, Daimler and Leyland Fleetlines/Atlanteans and Olympians whilst on the way to Purfleet. Stratford drivers would collect them, they would then stay a week or so and move on. Former Berlin MAN double-deckers also appeared.

As you can imagine, this was an extremely interesting time, and in fairness it was a testament to Guide Friday that at least 95% of the vehicles were driven hundreds of miles to Stratford without issue, with some Fleetlines travelling down from as far as Inverness.

The integration of Guide Friday’s operations meant that Stratford depot went from operating seasonal tour times to operating bus services from early in the morning until late at night, and a peak vehicle requirement that almost tripled. In addition, City Sightseeing’s operations from the depot later expanded to include separate tours of Coventry and Birmingham.

Stratford Blue

The takeover of Guide Friday was not only good for the sightseeing side of the business, but it also meant that the Newmans had the opportunity to introduce the Ensignbus livery to both Cambridge and Stratford using the Cambridge Blue brand and restoring the Stratford Blue name to the town.

Repaints were carried out on-site at pace and the Metroriders were soon wearing blue and silver, whilst the single-decker Atlantean and Leopard were ousted by a former Oxford Tube Plaxton Paramount 3200-bodied Leyland Tiger and a former ECW B51-bodied Leyland Tiger, which now sported a rather boxy East Lancs body. Both of these vehicles also appeared at Showbus.

Over time, the town service fleet was upgraded with John Worker Styling-updated Carlye-bodied Darts from Anglia, and a pair of proper Carlyle-bodied Darts. The school fleet was also updated with MCW Metrobuses, and later a pair of ex Stagecoach Grimsby Cleethorpes F-reg Dennis Dominators, mostly used on rail replacement.

By 2004, Stratford Blue’s operations expanded with the addition of the daily X20 Stratford-upon-Avon to Birmingham service and the X50 Birmingham to Oxford service on Sundays and Bank Holidays. Three WCC-owned Alexander Dennis Enviro300s arrived for these services, along with a Pointer as a fourth vehicle.

The reincarnation of Stratford Blue was one that was definitely welcomed by the local residents, and it was rather ironic the the brand was back operating out of the same depot on the same routes that its forerunners had.

RML 2565

A particularly well known member of the Stratford-upon-Avon depot fleet was RML 2565, new in 1966 to London Transport; it was the new era’s heritage and wedding bus.

However, the story behind this vehicle could have been very different. Back in October 2003 I had driven a bus down to Purfleet to join the sales stock. Upon arrival I was met by Ross Newman who told me that I had a special task to perform that day, he gave me the fleet numbers of five RMLs formerly operated on route 15 by Stagecoach London.

He asked me to go through the five RMLs and choose the best one to take back as for use as our heritage and private hire vehicle.

For some reason RML 2565 stood out as the best. It retained a full set of destinations blinds, had a good interior and the paintwork still had a shine to it.

This was my first drive of an RML, and as I joined the M25 I found out I had probably picked the slowest! That was a long drive up the M40, but it made it.

A lot of work was undertaken before it went into revenue earning service. Care was taken to match paint codes of the original Stratford Blue livery, the interior received a refresh and a digital tachograph was discreetly fitted in the cab.

Some time later I took it back to London for the last day of the 159s in December 2005; it might sound strange, but the handling of the RML in the streets of London was amazing, you could tell it was what it was built for.

RML2565 is still, currently, retained by Stagecoach Midlands as its heritage vehicle at Warwick depot. It is hard to think that this vehicle has now worn Stratford Blue heritage livery for the best part of 20 years, and is still wearing its original coat of paint that was applied at the Avenue Farm depot.

Going electric

An exciting development in summer 2003 was the arrival of an electric ‘Minitram’ for use on a trial service around the town centre. VO52 AFA, registered in February of that year, was a Transport International Design ‘Orbit.’

Looking back, you have got to remember that this was over 20 years ago. The ‘Minitram’ vehicle used on the service around the town was pioneering not just because it was electric, but because it was bidirectional, meaning that it could be driven from either end.

The trial operated a circular service throughout the summer, and proved popular with both residents and tourists.

The batteries in the vehicle were stored under the floor, and due to the vehicle’s narrow and short dimensions, the entrance doors were quite high. This lead to a makeshift wooden boarding platform being built outside the main stop at the Swan Theatre. On the rest of the route, the vehicle’s step was deployed and the driver would assist with boarding and alighting. The vehicle returned to the depot for charging overnight at the end of the day’s service.

It went on to operate for First Bus in a trial around Bradford city centre, and also operated around Althorp Park. I only got to drive it around the depot, but it was a very interesting concept, and according to the manufacturer’s website, it can still be ordered today – albeit with some updated features!

Fleet investment

2004 saw the arrival of the first brand new open-top tour bus for the fleet, Ayats Bravo City-bodied Volvo B7L 384. City Sightseeing said in a press release that the order, which was for five vehicles split across its operations, was the ‘first new, purpose built open tops for an English operator since before the Second World War.’

These vehicles will be 20 years old in 2024, but at the time they were a revelation in terms of styling, emissions and comfort, not to mention the ability to be able to close off the open-top section when raining. They, importantly, also offered passengers a low floor entry, a far cry from the Metrobus, and were widely welcomed by the elderly and disabled.

I took 384 to Showbus when new, where it received an award. I also had the pleasure of taking it to the Honda F1 team’s base in Brackley to take the team on a victory lap of their home town. The following year a half-top version arrived in the form of 275.

Going full circle

Early in 2007 staff received a letter from Ensignbus stating that the Stratford-upon-Avon operations were to pass into the ownership of Stagecoach. This shouldn’t have really been a surprise as a similar situation occurred with the Cambridge operation in December 2006.

This effectively saw Stagecoach returning to the same depot it left in 1999, although this time it had a significant sightseeing operation to add value to it. Things changed fairly swiftly and the service fleet was quickly updated, although the ex-London and Oxford Alexander Dash-bodied Dennis Darts still had destination blinds, as did the Leyland Olympians transferred in from Warwickshire, so I fitted these with our original white on blue blinds.

Many of the Ensignbus-owned open-top assets remained whilst Stagecoach sent a number of Volvo Olympians for conversion into open-tops at South East Coachworks, although we did receive a Northern Counties-bodied DAF open-top that had been converted to a Cummins Marine engine to reduce emissions; that was an interesting drive.

Other interesting developments was the depot becoming an outstation for Stagecoach in Oxfordshire, staffed by City Sightseeing uniformed drivers in the off-peak season on service 50 from Stratford-upon-Avon to Oxford via Chipping Norton. The drivers would work down to Oxford and do a number of shorter journeys to and from Woodstock before returning in the evening.

Today, Stratford depot is still going under Stagecoach as an outstation of Warwick depot and operates many of the original Stratford Blue routes, whilst the City Sightseeing tour still operates from there using Alexander ALX400-bodied Dennis Tridents. The paint shop has also been recently reinstated.

My time at Stratford depot was a joy, I learned so much about both the tour and service side of operations, learned how to develop and maintain the company website, experienced so many vehicle types, got to work with the Newmans, and made friends for life – it ticked a lot of boxes. I now, ironically, find myself as the General Manager at the Bus & Coach Centre in Oxford, where I cannot help feeling that those years working in a company owned by the Newmans have rubbed off on me!

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