The South Coast Explorer

For the final (and well-subscribed) club tour of 2006, Autocar provided a 23 year old ex-Scottish Citylink Gardner-engined, Leyland Tiger/Plaxton to carry members on their journey around the South Coast .

First port of call was Redhill and, in between dodging some rather heavy showers, vehicles of Metrobus (in three different livery styles) were seen rubbing shoulders with the smart fleet of Southdown PSV and the occasional Arriva offering. We then saw more of the Southdown fleet in their depot at Copthorne where a number of ex-London DAF deckers were noted as well as various saloons and two older Olympians of the Roundabout, Blackheath fleet which were well-presented in spite of their age. Of particular interest were vehicles in the dealer stock which included ex-Metroline Optare Solos and a rather sorry looking Dominant bus previously in Autocar’s fleet.

	Southdown PSV X188 BNH leaving Redhill bus station (photo: Derek Jones)
	T132 AUA in Southdown PSVs yard (photo: Derek Jones)
	Duple Dominant JTM 109V in the yard at Southdown PSV (photo: Derek Jones)

Next stop was Crawley where, again, Metrobus vehicles abounded. Particularly noteworthy were the Fastway guided bus Scania OmniCity saloons and the RML in London Country Area green. Moving on to Brighton, members were able to see the smart (and considerably expanded) Brighton and Hove fleet together with vehicles of Eastbourne , Stagecoach and Cavendish Coaches plus numerous visiting coaches. A first for a club trip was seeing a Solent Blue Line Olympian receive a parking ticket at Old Steine!

	Metrobus Routemaster RML2317 departing Crawley for Tunbridge Wells (photo: Derek Jones)
	Metrobus 308 (P308 HDP) in Crawley town centre (photo: Derek Jones)
	One of the Fastway guided buses, Metrobus 532 (YN03 UWY) (photo: Derek Jones)
	Brighton & Hove ex-Southdown T675 KPU approaching Old Steine, Brighton (photo: Derek Jones)
	One of Brighton & Hove's convertible open-toppers 819 (T819 RFG) on the seafront in Brighton
	Countryliner's MAN Evolution AE06 VPY in Brighton (photo: Derek Jones)

Then it was off to Eastbourne and a chance to catch up with the new liveries and route branding variations of the town’s fleet. New MAN/Evolution saloons were in evidence in all over white livery plus ex-Dublin Olympians, DAF/Ikarus saloons and, thanks to a local air show, numerous Brighton and Hove Scania deckers on a shuttle service.

	Latest arrivals in the Eastbourne fleet were a batch of MAN MCV Evolutions, including 64 (AE06 XRS) (photo: Derek Jones)
	One of the deckers in the Eastbourne fleet 275 (R875 MDY) (photo: Derek Jones)
	A Cavendish Dart in Eastbourne, P691 RWU (photo: Derek Jones)

Final scheduled visit of the day was to Hastings where local Stagecoach vehicles and Coastal Coaches Darts were seen at the modernised rail station plus a number of AKS buses. While in Hastings members also visited Stagecoach’s Silverhill depot which provided an opportunity to photograph the H&D traditional liveried single decker and a former Southdown Queen Mary in addition to the operational fleet.

On the way home a brief stop at Hawkhurst depot allowed members to catch up with some of the older Olympians, Darts and a Lynx of the AKS fleet. As usual everyone enjoyed their day and thanks to David Cobb for yet another successful and well-organised trip.