I can confirm the Hong Kong Bus Review 2010 by Dominic K H Kung and published by OverGround Publishing is now available. A new page has tonight been added to the  section of the site. The Kowloon Motor Bus/Long Win fleet book is due to be published shortly. I plan to publish a full review of this book, and the Hong Kong Transport Yearbook 2010, in due course. 

 Photographs courtesy and copyright of
80M Bus Model Shop

My thanks to EriC Lee of MY Tramways for confirming the new trams from Bachmann China are 1:76 scale. They use a new casting   and each version is limited to 500 pieces, although they come with no limited edition certificate. I hope to add new pages as soon as time allows.

My thanks to Peter Harrison for drawing my attention to the following page (link no longer available) - which shows there is a further release, CE00601, which features tram no. 56 in green livery with Hong Kong Tramways 1904 decals. This model is not on general release.

I have received confirmation from the JRTeam that they have released the latest 2010 version of Hong Kong Transport Year Book series. The Deluxe (hard copy) (code:YB10) and normal version (code:YB10S) were released on 23 January 2011. These books are available from Concorde Hobby Shop (Sham Shui Po) or all 80M Bus Model shop, the price is HKD$220 (YB10) and HKD$168 (YB10S). A new page will be added to the  section of the site shortly giving more details.

 Photograph courtesy and copyright of The Busman Web

My thanks to The Busman Web for allowing me to use photographs of the Kowloon Motor Bus 'Year of the Rabbit' Enviro500 - these have now been added to the  section of the site. I would recommend that you take a look at the Fotopic site - just click on the image below.

CE00602 - Tram No. 78 - Anniversary 'High Frequency'
CE00603 - Tram No. 45 - Anniversary 'Prime Routing'
CE00604 - Tram No. 106 - Anniversary 'Icons of Hong Kong'
CE00605 - Tram No. 84 - Standard green livery

Photograph courtesy and copyright of 
Philip Chan 

80M Bus Model Shop is offering the above 2011 calendar poster (35cm x 100cm) when you place an order in their e-shop and the payment is over US$40.

 Photograph courtesy and copyright of
80M Bus Model Shop

Set for release on Sunday (30th Jan) is this Kowloon Motor Bus Alexander ALX500 bodied Dennis Trident (38501), as reported on 13th January. The quantity is now recorded as 2,000 pieces and further photographs have been added. 

My thanks to Alex Cheng and Gary Chow for sending me photographs of two New World First Bus Enviro500s - 5503 decorated in Year of the Rabbit decals and 5518, the latest addition to the fleet, which have been added to the  section of the site.

Details of two new books, due for publication shortly, have been posted on the OverGround Publishing Facebook page. The first is a Kowloon Motor Bus/Long Win fleet book, whilst the second is the Hong Kong Bus Review 2010. I hope to provide further details in due course.

Several new pages have now been added to the  section of the site. These include the actual 'Year of the Rabbit' buses from Citybus, Kowloon Motor Bus and New World First Bus, the new Enviro500 for New World First Bus and Danny Chan's latest Hong Kong Buses Yearbook. 

I would welcome further photographs of the actual 'Year of the Rabbit' buses from all three operators. 

Photograph courtesy and copyright of 
Dennis Law

The Hong Kong Fire Service Department launched their latest 'Fire Safety Education Bus' yesterday. Bodied by Gemilang on a MAN NL323R chassis, this bus will be allocated to Kowloon Tong Fire Station for public education purposes.  Further photographs will be added to the  section of the site as soon as time allows.

The Hong Kong Buses Yearbook 2011, by Danny Chan, is now available.

Photograph courtesy and copyright of
Venus Collectibles

Due for release in Hong Kong on 29th January is this Kowloon Motor Bus Alexander bodied Dennis Dragon Alexander from Venus Collectibles (M3N01c). Again featuring fleet number 3N1, in its original livery, it is on route 112 to So Uk. Limited to just 149 pieces, it is expected to retail for HK$339. A new page and further photographs will be added shortly.

Photograph courtesy and copyright of
Gary Chow

My thanks to Gary Chow for sending me photos of the latest addition to the New World First Bus fleet. Alexander Dennis Enviro500 no. 5518 is the first 12 metre Euro 5 engined bus in the fleet and is seen today, running on trade plates, undergoing tests. It is the first of a batch of twenty-four similar buses.

Photograph courtesy and copyright of
Issac

Pictured above are models of tram nos. 28 and 128. They are made by Heritage Workshop and are believed to be either 1:50 or 1:60 scale. Any additional information would be most welcome. My thanks to Issac for providing the photos and information.

Photograph courtesy and copyright of Mark Chua 
(buses[IN]gapore!) @ http://busesingapore.blogspot.com

As reported below (see 18th January) SMB137A, SMRT Buses' ZhongTong LCK6121GHEV Diesel-electric Hybrid demonstrator ha s now entered service, operating on route 945, a Bukit Batok feeder service. The official press release was slightly inaccurate (it was stated it would commence on service 106).

Photograph courtesy and copyright of
Dennis Law

MTR's first Enviro500, fleet no. 801, has been repainted into the company's latest livery, as pictured above. A new page has been added to the  section of the site which includes not only some higher resolution photographs of this bus, but also features other MTR vehicles.

Photograph courtesy and copyright of
Watt Yung

Photographs of the Hong Kong Transport Society's Bus Rally have now been added to the  section of the site.

Photograph courtesy and copyright of
Watt Yung

My thanks to Watt Yung for allowing me to use his photographs of the Hong Kong Transport Society's Bus Rally held last Sunday. These will be added to the  section of the site shortly.

Photograph courtesy and copyright of
MY Tramways

Details of this previously unrecorded tram have now been added to the Trams section of the site. My thanks to EriC Lee for providing details along with photographs of this and a couple of other models.

Continuing its focus on customers, SMRT Buses has put on trial two environmentally-friendly buses. It will introduce its first diesel-electric hybrid bus made by Zhong Tong, one of China’s premier bus manufacturers. This new environmental-friendly bus runs on both diesel and electricity - using up to 30% less fuel and emitting up to 30% less greenhouse gases, making travel on public transport even greener. SMRT’s first hybrid bus also emits less noise, making it a more pleasant journey for passengers and road users. The hybrid Zhong Tong bus will be put on a six-month trial starting 19 January 2011 and will ply on Service 106 first, before being put on Service 945 from April 2011.

The full press release can be found on the SMRT Buses website.

Photograph courtesy and copyright of Philip Chan

My thanks to Philip Chan, Neo Cheung and Thomas Kwok for providing information and photographs of the next Kowloon Motor Bus to be modelled, former Long Win Dennis Trident ATR400, as pictured above (38501).

 Photograph courtesy and copyright of
80M Bus Model Shop

The second Kowloon Motor Bus 'Year of the Rabbit' liveried bus has been unveiled and is pictured above, operating on route 102 and with the appropriate destination of 'Happy New Year'. Fleet no. AVBW44 (MM 2801) will be the subject of a Drumwell model (DW10508).
 

 Photograph courtesy and copyright of
80M Bus Model Shop

Another bus about to be modelled is this Kowloon Motor Bus Mitsubishi Fuso with Astro Boy 2011 decals (92704).
 

 Photograph courtesy and copyright of
80M Bus Model Shop

As confirmed on 6th January, New World First Bus has applied the same 'Year of Rabbit' decals to Enviro500 no. 5503 (20032). 

Further photographs of SBS Transit's new Wrights Gemini 2 bodied Volvo B9TLs have now been added to the  section.

Two new pages have tonight been added to the  section of the site. 

The first features the various models of Xian Silver Bus, following the recent release of the 1/43 scale model. My thanks to Mini Pointer Dart for providing the bulk of this information.
 

Photograph courtesy and copyright of Samuel's Bus

The second features the Alexander Dennis Enviro200s presently being delivered to Kowloon Motor Bus, but which have yet to enter service.

Photographs courtesy and copyright of
Neo Cheung

The above photographs show a recent specially commissioned model from Buspak Advertisement Company. They have used New World First Bus Dennis Trident/Alexander ALX500 Model no. 44401 and have applied their own advertisement to celebrate Christmas. My thanks to Neo Cheung for sending me this information.

 Photograph courtesy and copyright of
80M Bus Model Shop

Details of the Citybus and New World First Bus Year of the Rabbit models have now been received. As mentioned in yesterdays news, the Citybus version (CM072) features Enviro500 No. 8102, which is on route 930 to Admiralty. The NWFB version (20032) features Enviro500 No. 5503 and is on route 111 to Central (Macau Ferry). Both are set for release shortly and each is limited to 1,088 pieces. 

 Photographs courtesy and copyright of
Citybus

As reported yesterday, Citybus has decorated Alexander Dennis Enviro500 No. 8102 with Year of the Rabbit decals. New World First Bus has applied the same decoration to its Enviro500 No. 5503. 

Kowloon Motor Bus has again applied its Year of the Rabbit livery to Wrights bodied Volvo B9TL AVBW44. 

The KMB Mitsubishi Fuso featured in the poster on 3rd January carries AstroBoy decals, which have been applied to actual vehicle AM159, the same bus that carried Roadshow's Christmas livery.

Photographs of any of these vehicles would be most welcome!

 Photograph courtesy and copyright of
80M Bus Model Shop

The first 'Year of the Rabbit' models have been unveiled on the 80M Bus Model Shop website. Once again there are two Kowloon Motor Bus models, one featuring Alexander Dennis Enviro500 ATE236, produced by Cars Workshop (39413). This model is the only one to have full details and a release date. 

The second KMB model features a similar liveried Wrights bodied Volvo. Both Citybus and New World First Bus examples are shown and again feature Enviro500s. In addition, a further KMB Mitsubishi Fuso is shown. More details, when known, will be added. Hopefully the following poster will make it all clear!
 

 Photograph courtesy and copyright of
80M Bus Model Shop

Released at the same time as the 1/76th scale example is this 1/150th scale version from 80M (TT150601). 

 Photograph courtesy and copyright of
80M Bus Model Shop

At the larger 1/43rd scale and measuring 28cm in length is this impressive Volvo 9300/Xi'an Silver Bus Corporation coach. 

The recent spate of new releases has delayed the uploading of photographs to the  section of the site, however I have tonight added new photos to the KMB section - several night shots of the Wrights Gemini 2 bodied Volvo B9TLs and a few of the MCV Evolution bodied Volvo B7RLEs.

 Photograph courtesy and copyright of
80M Bus Model Shop

I can confirm that the Po Sum On liveried tram announced on 30th December (TT33661) is limited to 1,500 pieces. A new page and further photographs have just been added.