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New World First Bus

The first new double-deck vehicles arrived in the 'wave' livery, as carried on the first model released, No 44401. The 'wave' soon disappeared from newer vehicles, thus enabling the space 'between decks' to be used for advertising, as demonstrated on the next three model releases, all ex-CMB Volvo Olympians, Model Nos 43211, 43212 and 43213, released over the period December 1998 - January 1999.

In February 1999, to celebrate the Year of the Rabbit, New World First Bus decorated Fleet No. 1088, an Alexander bodied Dennis Trident in red/orange, with patterns that symbolised luck and happiness. The bus carried the God of Wealth to all districts on Hong Kong Island, bringing best wishes to the community, and passengers were able to write their personal New Year messages on lucky gold ingots attached to the bus. The model No 44402 was released in June 1999.

Model No 44505 was the next release, in August 1999, this being the first Duple Metsec bodied Dennis Trident in the fleet and the 100th new bus.

Also released in August 1999 was the Dennis Dart SLF with Plaxton Pointer bodywork. This carried the standard livery. This new model was the first to carry NWFB branding on the base of the model, and is known as Model No 99004 in Hong Kong. Subscribers to EFE were given an opportunity to purchase this model, known as Model No 26901 in the UK.

Model No 99005, another Dennis Dart, was issued in November 1999, and carries the 'fruit' livery celebrating the first anniversary of the Company. The model comes in an attractive 'fruit box', whilst inside the limited edition certificate is in the shape of an orange.

To celebrate the start of the year 2000, New World First Bus applied a special livery to Alexander bodied Trident No 1008. Model No 99006 follows the example of the previous NWFB issues, having NWFB on the baseplate. The model comes with a key, which when inserted into the underside rear of the model, opens the engine cover!

To celebrate the Year of the Dragon, NWFB specially decorated a 'Dragon Bus of Prosperity' with New Year greetings. The model was released at the end of February 2000.

After a spell of almost five months without releasing a model, as buses do, two came along at once! These were short Leyland Fleetlines, and were the first in the 'Heritage Collection' series. First was SF8, which carries the green/white/orange version of the route 15 "Peak" livery. Second was SF31, in purple livery, again advertising route 15 to The Peak. It was around about this time that the actual SF31 arrived back in this country, making its way to the Scottish Vintage Bus Museum. Both models are produced by Collector's Model.

Announced towards the end of August 2000, was the third model in the 'Heritage Collection' series. NWFB had applied special decals to LV30, to commemorate the end of twenty years service of the Leyland Victory in Hong Kong. The model is a Corgi casting and is expected to be released in late September.

New World First Bus have a policy of not releasing any of their models, with the exception of the EFE/NWFB Dennis Dart in standard livery, in the UK. As a result, premium prices apply to all their models in the UK.

Since the launch of their Cybershop in July 2000, NWFB's own model number (product number) has been retrospectively applied to their previously issued Corgi models. This number consists of five digits, the first two representing the year in which the model was released, whilst the last three indicate whether it was the first, second or third issue in that year -  e.g. model number 98001 was the first model released in 1998, whilst model number 99003 was the third to be issued in 1999. With the arrival of the year 2000, this policy changed slightly, and NWFB is now using the series 2xxxx, the first issue being 20001. 

The New World First Bus brand ceased on 1st July 2023 with all its routes and buses transferring to Citybus. Prior to this date, the company applied the original 'wave' livery to several of its buses, which resulted in several models being released subsequently.

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This page last updated Thursday, 16th November 2023

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