Stagecoach in the East Midlands
by Tony Wilson
Added to website 9 October 2011
The origins of the Stagecoach Group, now one of the largest public transport operations in the United Kingdom, can be traced back to 1976.
However, when Brian Souter (now Sir Brian since a Knighthood was bestowed in 2011), and his sister Ann Gloag (nee Souter), joined forces in
1980 they created the company that currently exists.
Closer to home though, operations in the North and East Midlands developed over several years as various companies were acquired in the
region.
First up was the East Midland Motor Services sold by the National Bus Company (NBC) to the then management, who later sold the business to
Stagecoach in April 1989. This was then run under three names East Midland, Mansfield & District and Rainworth Travel, all in the East Midlands
area. In addition two further operations were established under the Frontrunner banner in Essex and on the borders of North West Derbyshire and
the Eastern fringes of Greater Manchester. However, these two were soon dispensed with, Essex to Ensign Bus and Derbyshire/Manchester to Ribble
Motor Services, the latter themselves the subject of a subsequent Stagecoach acquisition.
1. Retford depot during the 1980s when operated by the East Midland subsidiary of the National Bus Company. A couple of fine Albion Lowlanders are
accompanied by a Bristol LH.
2. During the NBC years the Bristol VR was the favoured double-decker for much of the time in the majority of subsidiaries. Number 191 is shown
as it departed from Sheffield City Centre along Sheaf Street bound for Mansfield in August 1980.
3. Successor to the Bristol VR was the Leyland Olympian. By May 1986 almost all the NBC subsidiaries had been sold off into private hands.
Here 330 showed off a limited version of the privatized livery as it lay over between duties at the Crich Tramway Museum.
4. By May 1991 when this picture was taken the privatized company had been acquired by Stagecoach. Here outside the museum’s gates number
52 a Leyland Tiger with Alexander TE bodywork worked route 256 to Alfreton.
5. In 1992 Stagecoach celebrated 65-years of the East Midland company by allowing Eastern Coachworks bodied Bristol VR number 204 to be
painted into this celebratory livery. The brickwork of the new shopping precinct was the backdrop for the bus as it waited time on the stops
in New Beetwell Street, whilst on the long route 72 to Sheffield.
6. Bawtry in July 1994 and fleet number 414 operated route 21 from Worksop to Harworth. This was one of five Leyland Leopard coaches built
in 1979 with Willowbrook bodywork. In 1985 all five were rebuilt for bus work, four with Duple Dominant bodies and one as illustrated here, with
an Alexander P type body.
7. The picturesque village of Wellow provided the backdrop for number 451, an Alexander Dash bodied Volvo B6 in April 1994. Spring
sunshine beamed down onto the white and stripey livery as it passed by the Red Lion public house.
The coach operation previously Rainworth Travel was re-named Midland Travel. The bus operation was concentrated on the main areas of
Chesterfield, Mansfield and Worksop and included an element of crewed (not crude), Routemaster operation for a couple of years until 1991.
In 1993 the coach operation was sold off to Skills of Nottingham.
During 1993 several municipally-owned bus companies came onto the market and included Grimsby-Cleethorpes Transport. After a bidding process
this company was acquired by Stagecoach in November 1993.
8. The Grimsby-Cleethorpes operation was acquired by Stagecoach in November 1993. Fortunately it took time to repaint the fleet into the
corporate livery and many vehicles continued to operate in the orange and white livery. Number 72 here one of a handful of Eastern Coachworks
bodied Leyland Olympians in the fleet.
9. Daimler Fleetlines were popular in the fleet for a while as illustrated by number 64 a Roe bodied version. Here the bus swung around
the island adjacent to the terminal point at Cleethorpes Pier on a rather overcast day in April 1995.
10. Much more pleasant weather was on offer as this Dennis Lance pulled away from the stand with the Cleethorpes Pier in the background. There
was nine of this type built with East Lancs EL2000 in the fleet during the changeover.
11. One of the first vehicles in the fleet to receive the corporate Stagecoach livery was this Wadham Stringer Dennis Falcon, number 33. And
indeed it looked as though it had come straight out of the paintshop when photographed.
The following year 1994, Stagecoach announced an intention to purchase a 20% share of the former South Yorkshire Passenger Transport
Executive’s bus operation, by then referred to as Mainline. This operated through an area that included Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield.
Regrettably (or not as the case may be), this action attracted the attention of the Office of Fair Trading and resulted in the course of
action coming to naught. Mainline was subsequently acquired by the rival FirstGroup plc.
12. Had the acquisition of a percentage of the Mainline fleet been allowed, then who knows what may have happened. Here one of the more
interesting vehicles in the then fleet was this articulated Leyland DAB seen crossing the tram lines in High Street, a network that itself
became part of the Stagecoach empire.
1994 was not just about knock-back, for by October that year Stagecoach was back on the acquisition trail when they added Cleveland
Transit to their portfolio. This included a 51% capital share of Kingston upon Hull Transport. The remaining 49% owned by the then Employee
Share Ownership Plan was also acquired. For some years this was then overseen by colleagues in the North East at Newcastle.
13. A variety of buses and coaches came into the Stagecoach empire when the Kingston upon Hull fleet was acquired. Included was a number of
Scania N113 with East Lancs bodywork. Number 812 still sported the pleasant blue, white and yellow livery of the previous operator as it passed
along Queens Dock Avenue in June 1994.
14. A similar livery was applied to this Dennis Dominator again with bodywork supplied some years earlier by East Lancs. 113 turned off of
Queens Dock Avenue and onto the bus stops that served the Princes Quay shopping centre on a bright January afternoon. Beneath the KHCT letters
can just be made out the statement “Part of the Stagecoach Group”.
The following year, Employee-owned Chesterfield Transport was acquired in July 1995 and placed under the management of East Midland. This
resulted in the closure of the long established depot at New Street with all the fleet based in the former council-owned and much larger
Stonegravels building on the north side of the town. However, this was not an easy acquisition as it, like some others up and down the
United Kingdom, was the subject of an enquiry by the Monopolies and Mergers Commission. After protracted deliberation though approval
was granted and the Chesterfield Transport and East Midland operations were merged under common ownership along with fleet numbering.
15. A few months after the takeover of Chesterfield Transport Leyland National fleet number 55 continued to display the fact of
its previous ownership, whilst on local town service 37 out to the Boythorpe suburb.
16. Now a long term preservation piece, this Roe bodied Daimler Fleetline still turned a head or two as it headed a line-up of
other buses in Vicar Lane in July 1995. This facility has since disappeared beneath a new shopping area.
17. September 1995 and buses were still able to travel in both directions along Church Way in Chesterfield town centre. Here two
Leyland Nationals with a few years between them display the old and the new liveries respectively on numbers 49 and 52.
18. With the merger of Chesterfield Transport and the East Midland fleets the opportunity was taken to transfer a number of older
double-deckers to the Mansfield depot. One such was 260 here resplendent in the corporate livery on the Ladybrook housing estate, previously
number 150 in the Chesterfield fleet.
19. In 2000 a visit to Cleethorpes found this former local Roe bodied Daimler Fleetline on seasonal duty on the seafront service to the
holiday camps. Since then the bus has been transferred over to the Chesterfield depot and now sports the current corporate livery.
20. For a while an express service 909 ran between Sheffield, Grimsby/Cleethorpes and Hull and was operated from both ends by a fine fleet of
Volvo B10M articulated single-deckers. Chesterfield supplied a couple of Plaxton bodied versions whilst Hull used the Jonckherre bodied type.
One of the latter, number 96 is seen here as it raced away towards Hull from the outskirts of Doncaster.
Some years passed before the final pieces of the jigsaw were arranged and the East Midland puzzle was completed. In December 2006
the Traction Group was acquired by Stagecoach and included Roadcar (formerly Lincolnshire Road Car Company). The latter operated across
almost the whole of rural Lincolnshire from places as far away as Cleethorpes in the north, Skegness to the east, south at Grantham and of
course the City of Lincoln, an area bounded by the Humber River, the North Sea, the Fens and the River Trent.
21. A couple of years before the takeover of the Traction Group by Stagecoach a fleet of six Scania N94UD with East Lancs bodywork were acquired.
These were placed into service on a route that served the then recently opened Robin Hood Airport on the former Finningley air base near Doncaster.
803 as was in the Yorkshire Traction fleet is seen as it waited for passengers right by the terminal’s main entrance.
22. In the March before the December 2006 takeover, one a fleet of MCW Metrobuses previously operated by Travel West Midlands sped along a
dual-carriageway near to the Rotherham town centre. The livery was almost like that applied to the London fleet in the late 1980s early 1990s.
23. With the acquisition of the Traction Group came that of the Roadcar subsidiary. Here a representative view of the variety in that fleet at
the time was possible at the Retford bus station in June 2006. Visible are another MCW Metrobus, two single-deckers from the Optare stable (Delta
and Prisma) and an Alexander bodied Dennis Dart.
24. Several of these Optare Prisma bodied Mercedes-Benz 0405 were acquired during the takeover one being number 202. This was previously
operated by the Black Prince company in the Leeds area, but was found here as it arrived in Gainsborough town centre on route 96.
25. Another from the Optare stable was this DAF SB220 with the Delta style body again seen at the Retford bus station in June 2006, this time on
route 97 to Gainsborough. The registration possibly suggested a previous ownership by the Trent Motor Traction company, but I believe this may
have been a demonstrator for Optare at one time.
26. The fine cathedral at Lincoln provided the backdrop for Roadcar fleet number 917 in June 2006. Here it descended the dual-carriageway
towards journey’s end at the bus station after a long run to the city from Cleethorpes on the route 3. It bore the rather pleasant Coastal
Connect livery applied to several buses on services that did just that, link the city with the coast at Cleethorpes and Skegness.
Subsequently upon a re-distribution of assets the Chesterfield element of East Midlands was taken under the management of Stagecoach in
Yorkshire in September 2008. This meant that the remainder of the East Midlands operation was managed from Lincoln under the guidance of Gary
Nolan, now responsible for a vast area. This included both sides of the Humber Estuary, the East Coast of the North Sea, across the top of the
Fens and the M1 Motorway from around Junction 28 to Junction 31 and the M18 Motorway from Junctions 1 to 7, and has remained the status quo ever
since.
27. Two of these handsome Dennis Tridents with Enviro400 bodywork were acquired new by Stagecoach East Midlands in 2007, along with a small
number of Enviro200 single-deckers. These were bought in order to serve the then relatively new Robin Hood Airport and all had this eye-catching
livery applied, being as they were used on contracted services provided by Nottinghamshire County Council. 19132 is shown here at a junction
on the road between Ranskill and Blyth. However, the two double-deckers have recently been repainted into the current corporate livery.
28. And finally. Displaying the current Stagecoach corporate image is one of a number of Plaxton President bodied Dennis Tridents operated by
the Worksop depot. They were previously operated in an all-over dark blue livery on the Brookes University services in the city of Oxford. 18053
rushed along New Beetwell Street, Chesterfield in March 2011 on the joint service 77 operated by both Worksop and Chesterfield depots even
though the latter is outside of the East Midlands company area.