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Wishing you a happy, peaceful and prosperous New Year
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I can confirm
that a model is to be produced of the Bus Fan World Wrights Gemini 2 bodied Volvo B9TL
featured in yesterday's news. Further details will be published when
known.
31st December 2011
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Kowloon Motor Bus has applied a third 'vintage' livery, this time to
the short Wrights bodied Volvo B9TL (AVBWS1). It carries additional 'Bus
Fan World' lettering marking the 20th anniversary of the organisation.
My thanks to Bus
Fan World for allowing me the use of their photographs, more
of which have been added to the  section
of the site.
Reported on the Across
website is the registration of the last three Citybus Enviro400s, fleet
numbers 7037-7039.
30th December 2011
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Photograph courtesy and
copyright of Philip
Chan
Currently Hong Kong's
newest bus,
Kowloon Motor Bus AVBWU229 (RE2303) is a Wrights bodied Volvo
B9TL, registered on 23rd December and pictured above
on 27th December.
It is reported that KMB
Bus de-registered nine non air-conditioned Volvo
Olympians today, these being S3V2, S3V4,
S3V9, S3V14, S3V16, S3V19, S3V24, S3V28
and S3V30. My thanks to Anthony Sham for providing this update.
29th December 2011
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New pages have
tonight been added to the
section
of the site - one for the KMB Year of the Dragon Enviro500 and the
other for the new Euro V engined Enviro500s for KMB. Errors regarding
the ATEU class of Enviro500s have also been corrected.
27th December 2011
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May I take this opportunity to wish you all
a Merry Christmas
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Photographs courtesy and
copyright of Philip
Chan
As reported yesterday,
Kowloon Motor Bus has allocated a new classification code for its
recently delivered Euro V engined Alexander Dennis Enviro500s. ATEE5
(RE1411) is pictured in service today, thanks to Philip Chan.
25th December 2011
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Photographs courtesy and
copyright of
80M Bus Model Shop
Released in Hong Kong
today are
two Kowloon Motor Bus short Dennis Dragons from Cars Workshop. ADS213
is on route 109 to Ho Man Tin (92505)
whilst ADS228 is on route 212 to
Whampoa Garden (92506)
Each is limited to 900 pieces.
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Photographs courtesy and
copyright of
Vincent Chong
My thanks to Vincent
Chong for providing this nearside shot of KMB's 'Year of the Dragon'
Enviro500 ATE236.
The excellent Across
website gives details of ten new KMB buses being registered yesterday
(23rd December). AVBWU225-AVBWU229 are Wrights bodied Volvo B9TLs
whilst the other five are
Alexander Dennis Enviro500s
fitted with Euro V engines, which have received a new
classification - the ATEE class (ATEE1-ATEE5).
24th December 2011
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The
following announcement has today been made by Tony Price of the Model
Bus Website:
"I am
delighted to announce that Kevin Ellis will be taking over The Model Bus Website
with immediate effect. Kevin will be well known to all of you for his Model Bus Zone
Web sites.
Over coming months, Kevin will integrate The Model Bus Website with his
own sites, and safeguard many of the features that viewers valued. In
particular the Model Kits pages will be brought back to life, and I
will be in touch with individual manufacturers early in the New Year
about the transfer of News to Kevin for release to potential customers.
From a personal point of view I would like to thank all who have
provided information, pictures, reviews, comment and all the other
aspects that made The Model Bus Website such a success. The input has
been hugely appreciated over the years by a huge number people in the
model bus fraternity.
To the model kit producers and enthusiasts, particularly, I send my
best wishes. It was always my intention to promote this aspect of the
hobby further than was the case some years ago – hopefully I have
succeeded for you in some respects, and I regret hugely that I have not
been up to the task over the last year or so. I’m pleased that this
aspect of my endeavours will be taken forward by Kevin into the future.
I would particularly like to thank Kevin Ellis and Peter Harrison for
their input over the years – it has been reliable, robust and of huge
value to those bitten by the model bus bug. I am delighted to inform
you that Peter’s Model Lists will continue to appear as before, the
next release being an update to the 31st December 2011. Peter’s lists
are invaluable for the extent, depth and reliability of the information
they hold.
I am not moving away from the hobby, just taking time to adjust now,
after what has been a very difficult couple of years following my
retirement. I very much look forward to contributing to Kevin’s
expanding source of reference as time goes by.
Please feel free to circulate this information.
With all good wishes,
Tony"
On
a personal note, I would like to thank Tony for all his
efforts over the years and wish him the very best for the
future.
At the same time time I wish Kevin every success in
the
coming months as he integrates The Model Bus Website
with his other popular sites.
23rd December 2011
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Photograph courtesy and
copyright of Philip
Chan
Captured today in
daylight and operating on route 26 is Kowloon Motor Bus Enviro500
ATE236 decorated for the Year of the Dragon. My thanks to
Philip Chan for allowing me to use his photograph.
Two more photographs have
been added to the 'Brand
Hong Kong - Asia's world city' page in the
section of the site.
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Photograph courtesy and
copyright of Philip
Chan
KMB's
Volvo Olympian S3V26 has recently been decorated in this attractive St
John Ambulance livery and it is seen here on 18th December.
22nd December 2011
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Photograph courtesy and
copyright of
Hon Fai Wong
As reported yesterday,
Kowloon
Motor Bus has decorated Enviro500 ATE236 in a Year of the Dragon
livery, as pictured above. My thanks to Hon Fai Wong for allowing me to
use his photograph.
21st December 2011
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Photograph courtesy and
copyright of Concorde
Hobby Shop
2012 is the Year of the
Dragon and Concorde Hobby Shop have issued photographs of the two
models to be issued by Citybus and New World First Bus, whilst a
photograph has appeared on a social networking site of Kowloon Motor
Bus Enviro500 also in Year of the Dragon livery. The Citybus model
features
Alexander Dennis Enviro500 no. 8138 (PG3570) on route 102 to Shau Kei
Wan whilst
the New World First Bus model features Enviro500 no. 5538 (PV3587) on
route 680
to Admiralty. The KMB bus decorated so far is believed to be
ATE236 (ME8933).
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Photograph courtesy and
copyright of
Tramric Product & Design
Tramric Product &
Design are to issue the above tram - I hope to provide further
details shortly.
20th December 2011
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Some
further 'Brand Hong Kong - Asia's world city' photographs have
tonight been added to the
page created yesterday - thanks to Andy Higgins.
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Photograph courtesy and
copyright of ATENVIRO
The last four Enviro500
chassis
for MTR Bus have been delivered to Hong Kong and left
for Zhuhai on 17th December. The above photograph shows one of
the
chassis at Kwai Chung container terminal.
19th December 2011
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A new page
featuring 'Brand Hong Kong - Asia's world city' liveries
has tonight been added to the section of the site.
18th December 2011
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Photograph courtesy and
copyright of
Grant Ng Kwok Kuen
A
new page has tonight been added to the section
of the site for 'Vintage' liveried buses of KMB.
17th December 2011
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Photograph courtesy and
copyright of Hong Choi
Kowloon Motor Bus has
applied a
second 'vintage' livery, this time to Scania K230UB
ASB13, as
pictured above. My thanks to Hong Choi for allowing me to use his
photograph.
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Photograph courtesy and
copyright of Philip
Chan
What is certainly, in my
opinion, one of the most attractive liveries currently
operating is 'Hong Kong Asia's World City', adorning
Kowloon
Motor Bus Dennis Dragon S3N369. Whilst I managed to snatch a few shots
of it during my recent visit, none are as good as this one from Philip
Chan. Now there's an idea for a model!
Following on from the
above, my thanks
to Donald MacRae for sending me his photograph of the same livery - but
this time on Dragon S3N351. I plan to add a few more photos to the pages shortly.
16th December 2011
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The first two
buses of what is believed to be a
second batch of thirty MCV bodied Volvo B7RLEs for Kowloon Motor
Bus, AVC41
(RD7861) and AVC42 (RD7996),
were registered yesterday. Full details can be found on the excellent Across website.
15th December 2011
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Further to
yesterday's news, my
thanks to Peter Lau for advising that two Volvo B9TL/Wrightbus Gemini
2s are to be released, both on route 281A and one
carrying 2010
decals on the side. Each version is limited to 1,000 pieces.
A new page has now been
added for the KMB Dennis Dragon kit (92507)
featured in yesterday's news.
14th December 2011
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The December
edition of 'KMB Today'
gives details of three four (see above) new models. The
first features a Volvo
B9TL/Wrightbus on route 281A and is limited to 1,000 pieces.
The
other two feature short Dennis Dragons on routes 109
and 212
and each is limited to 900 pieces.
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Photograph courtesy and
copyright of Leung Tin Shun
On the subject of short
Dragons, my thanks to Leung Tin Shun for
sending me photographs of this recently released diecast kit of a short
Dennis Dragon, produced by Cars Workshop (92507). Further photographs
will be added shortly.
13th December 2011
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Released in Hong Kong
today is the Kowloon Motor Bus short Trident in vintage
livery (92002)
and further photographs have now been added.
My thanks OverGround
Publishing
for advising that they are going to publish three books
between
now and February 2012, as detailed above. Due later
this month is 'The Fleetbook of Hong Kong Buses
-
Citybus/NWFB', followed by the 'Hong Kong Bus Review 2011',
which is due in January
and finally the 'Illustrated Book of World's Bus - Shenzhen',
which is due
in February. Further details will be added when known.
12th December 2011
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A look back
at Buses
magazine for thirty years ago sees a China Motor Bus Alexander bodied
Ailsa on the front cover of the November 1981 edition, with the same
photo appearing inside the front cover of the December edition!
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Photograph courtesy and
copyright of Stephen Cho
My
thanks to Stephen Cho for providing details and photographs of former
China Motor Bus Metrobus MC9 which is now operating for City
Sightseeing Sydney, Australia - a new page has just been added to the
section.
11th December 2011
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In anticipation
of the forthcoming
release of Kowloon Motor Bus short Trident in 'historic' red and cream
livery, a new page has now been added (92002).
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Photograph courtesy and
copyright of John Bennett
My thanks to John Bennett
for
providing photographs of this Beijing BK560 trolleybus,
further
details of which have been added to a new page - just follow the link.
I have recently been made
aware of a website entitled 'The
Hong Kong Bus Photography Manual' - well worth a
look and I especially like this page!
10th December 2011
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I have tonight added a
few
photographs of some of the new Enviro400s that have
recently
entered service with Citybus - just follow this
link to the
section of the
site.
A
new page has also been added for the previously unreported book
mentioned below, 'Hong Kong Buses - 90 Years' - again follow the link
to the
section of the
site.
8th December 2011
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Two new books purchased during
my recent visit to Hong Kong are pictured above. That on the left was
mentioned back in July whilst that on the
right came as
a surprise - both feature Chinese text only.
The
first (left) was published in July and is the latest in
the series of fleetbooks from BSI Hobbies and covers all the major bus
operators in Hong Kong. A new page has been added to the
section of the site - just click on the image.
The
second (right) is, I believe title Hong Kong Buses 90 years and
again was
published in July this year. Whilst featuring several photographs from
Mike Davis, there are many photographs that I have not previously seen.
If anyone can provide any
further details I would be very grateful. A new page will be
added
shortly.
7th December 2011
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| Singapore Update |
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Higer KLQ6129GQH2
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Photograph courtesy and
copyright of Mark Chua @ http://busesingapore.blogspot.com/
The Higer Fuel Cell
bus brought in for the Youth Olympic games last
year was used to ferry the competitors to the events. It is
registered as RD6066L, which the RD prefix stands for Research and
Development.
According to the Nanyang Technological University Website:
“This
project involves
the development of a single deck fuel cell bus in collaboration with
Land Transport Authority (LTA) and SBS Transit. Through the fuel cell
bus platform developed in this project, it’s our aims to:
- Develop the
technical know-how for the fuel cell bus design, operation, testing and
maintenance.
- Collect
data concerning safety and operating behaviour of the fuel cell bus
under differing conditions on Singapore roads
- Develop
relevant standards for fuel cell and/or electric vehicles operations. “
The Higer Fuel Cell bus
was parked within NTU’s fenced up compound for
quite a while, though revenue equipment was fitted to the bus, it never
entered service. It was recently moved out of the fenced
compound to one of the public car parks located at Wee Kim Wee School
Of Communications and Information, with the revenue equipment removed.
The fate of the bus is not known yet.
Volvo B9TL (Wright
Eclipse Gemini II) 3rd
batch.
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Photograph courtesy and
copyright of Mark Chua @ http://busesingapore.blogspot.com/
The 3rd batch of Wright
B9TLs entered service on the 23rd November,
and are registered in the 3XXX registration range. SBS3000G is the
first of the new batch of Wrights.
There are two major differences:-
1) This batch of Wright B9TLs are using LECIP Electronic Destination
Signage (EDS) instead of Hanover signage used in the previous two
batches.
2) This batch is configured to 100% low floor, instead of low entry.
The two pairs of side facing seats in the previous two batches nearest
to the exit door are now configured to be front facing (now designated
as priority seats, while the step is removed).
My thanks to Mark Chua for the above information.
5th December 2011
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Two new 'Yearbooks' have
been
announced, the first 'Hong Kong Transport Yearbook 2011'
is from
the JRTeam and the second, 'Hong Kong Buses Yearbook 2012' is from from
Danny Chan. Further details will be published when known.
4th December 2011
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Having arrived
home earlier today, a quick update on current news.
Kowloon Motor Bus Dennis Trident ATS38 appeared in this historical
livery earlier this week, and subsequently information regarding the
model was noted in the various 80M Bus Model Shops. The model will be
limited to 2,000 pieces, on route 5C and is expected to be released
during December.
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Photograph courtesy and
copyright of Philip Chan
A possibility for another
model
is this Kowloon Motor Bus Volvo Olympian, S3V15, which is now carrying
a banner 'Farewell KMB Non Air-Conditioned Buses (2012)'.
3rd December 2011
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