birch1

So, the last day of 2016! Over the past few months I have been working on three projects, and have taken advantage of the school Christmas holidays to complete them. Anyway, enough rabbiting, and on to the models! During the October half term, work was completed on a school coach to allow the company to take on a school bus service which had (at that point) been recently given up by another local operator. This vehicle is T184 UWL, an ex Padbus Volvo B10M/ Plaxton Premiere that had been up seated to 70 seats by its previous owner. With interior and exterior in excellent condition, it was decided to simply paint the rest of the Crossways livery over the yellow paint, therefore helping to denote it as a school bus. It is not expected that this will be repeated in future however. The route in question is Latton to Marling School (Stroud), with various stops in between, and as a result the vehicle shall be based at Cirencester. The route has been operated by the company since September, using Scania/ Irizar PB tri axle GL65 RTZ, with a minibus also used to reach the required seating capacity as a short term solution. This purchase means that this vehicle is split from its sister vehicle, T183 UWL, for the first time in many years, however it is likely that the vehicles will be meeting each other fairly frequently, with the sister vehicle being sold to fellow local independent Allen buses of Tewkesbury. In reality, this is a repainted Corgi OOC, with Paragon 3+2 seats fitted by the previous owner. Being a small independent means that our occasional brand new purchases must be supplemented by good quality used vehicles from larger operators. The ex Padbus Premiere is just one example, whilst our second vehicle is another. Purchased for the continued development of our services in Cirencester and Stroud is this ex Arriva Caetano Slimbus, registered RX07 KPJ. She was given a full refurbishment inside and out before entering service on the 28th of December. In reality, this is a Paragon Kits Kit. Currently the newest member of the Crossways fleet is this ADL Enviro 500, which was delivered just this morning and will enter service tomorrow. Registered GL66 VFB, she was fitted with ADL's flywheel hybrid technology before delivery, and can seat around 90. This large vehicle will find a home on the events and private hire work that is rapidly becoming part of the company's core business, with the vehicle destined to operate at the Cheltenham Race Shuttles in March next year, before spending the rest of the year on loan to KHCT on city of culture work. In the meantime, she shall be used on private hires as well as on our school bus services to try and iron out any teething problems that she may have. She will be allocated to Gloucester. In reality this is a repainted Cars Workshop diecast. Having a livery base colour of white sometimes has its advantages, allowing me to take advantage of some of the many recent releases of plain white models in both the UK and Hong Kong. This model is just one of them. This concluding my posting spree for today, it remains for me to say a belated Happy Christmas, and finally Happy new year to you all.

Wow!!! I had been following this thread, then was away for a while. The fuelling point has really come on in the past few months, well done!

Hi James For the best part of half a year now, I have been following both this and your Loftus road threads. I have to say, well done on all the models, they are brilliant! (I think one of these is needed ). A standard for all to aspire to, even if we don't ever make it! I shall look forward to the next update Ryan

Hi Thanks for the compliment. The vehicle you question is actually a Vito, it is a model of the mk1 version like at http://resources.carsguide.com.au/styles/cg_hero_low/s3/dp/albums/album-1432/lg/Mercedes-Benz-Vito-113-Flexivan-1998-1.jpg . I can see where you are coming from though, they are similar looking vehicles! Birch1

The latest additions to the Crossways fleet come from two different ends of the size spectrum. Whilst one is massive, the other is tiny! The gold star goes to RANGERS, as the first of these vehicles is indeed a Plaxton Elite Interdecker on Volvo B11RT chassis, this being an example of the shorter version as used by Stagecoach in Scotland in real life. Registered GL66 ENR, this vehicle will be used an a new coach service linking Gloucester to Cardiff with initially one return journey daily. The vehicle has caused quite a stir within the company, with it gaining a lot of attention on test runs before the service starting tomorrow. It wears Crossways livery with special branding for the service. The other arrival is a nearly new Ford Galaxy, registered LR65 TWJ. This vehicle retains its as acquired colour scheme, however has been sign written with branding for the company's small tour programme. This was started recently, with the slogan 'tours direct to you'. The Galaxy shall be used as a feeder vehicle for these tours and for private hires. In reality, the Elite is Scratchbuilt by me, with wheels, seats and steering wheel from Mark Hughes Models, whilst the driver is from RTC models. The Galaxy is a modification of the recently released Oxford Diecast. In other news, the service U (Gloucester to Cheltenham via uni campuses) was withdrawn at the end of July. Two new school routes were started at the start of the month, the first being a route linking southern Gloucester to Cirencester College, using Van Hool T8 CR55 GLS, the second being a route linking Quedgeley to Sir Thomas Rich's, using transit minibus AG14 NPR. Thanks. Yes I have seen their work, it is a standard to aspire to! Good luck with the Atlantean, hope it turns out well.

A sneak preview of what will be coming to Crossways within the next few days... (Sorry for bad picture quality)

I have just looked on Bus lists on the web, it shows two GL05 BUS's, one the Tourismo above and the other the older Touro. The Touro is in fact listed as new 03/2005. Looks as though I got it wrong. Sorry! On the subject of the T8, I shall take a gulp of modellers license and keep it as GL05 BUS, I am in my own fictional world!

I fully accept and agree with what you are all saying, however there really is in reality some exception with this particular reg. I really can't remember what it is and now I wish I could. The GL05 part of the reg looks like Glos, which is slang for Gloucester, which is Crossways home town, and the home town of the independent which uses it in real life. The independent named above in real life until a few years ago (around 2012/13) used GL05 BUS on a 2003 merc Touro, when it was transferred to a 2013 merc Tourismo. As a result it has been used in this way before.

Under normal circumstances that is true yep, but the reg GL05 BUS was never used in the main reg series due to some sort of technicality. However, it was available for purchase as a private reg and my local independent Bennett's have used it on various coaches of various ages over the years. Therefore, all perfectly legal!

Thanks again for yet more kind comments! ___________________________________________________________________________________ The summer rush has meant that another vehicle has been completed by the workshop staff: This Van Hool T8, registered S179 GNW, has been purchased from a local independent via Eldorado Sales and Service. It will be used from September on a school bus route, linking the southern half of Gloucester (including Quedgeley and Tuffley) with Cirencester college. It will be based overnight at Gloucester depot, whilst being parked at Cirencester Depot between school duties, unless it is otherwise needed for a short distance private hire duty. The previous owner had made a number of modifications to the vehicle, including fitting WiFi access and increasing the air conditioning capacity. We decided that the WiFi would be kept and made available to any private hire customers, whilst not to the school children. It is the third vehicle and second coach in the fleet to have this capability. To hide its age, it has been re registered GL05 BUS. In reality, this is a repaint of a corgi diecast. Wheels and air con pod are from Mark Hughes models, whilst the mirrors and sun blinds come from Paragon Kits. The Van Hool logo and grille transfers came from Dave Jessop. We are grateful to Eldorado Sales and Service for providing the vehicle and preparing it for repaint by our own workshops.

The summer break has meant that three vehicles have been completed and so as from today two minibuses and a van enter the fleet: The first of these vehicles is a Ford Transit Connect van, registered NJ09 EWF. This will act as a maintenance vehicle at the newly opened Cirencester Depot, where operations are due to start towards the end of the summer. In reality this is a repainted Oxford Diecast model. Purchased almost a year ago from the local fire service was this Mercedes Vito, which has only been recently completed to enter service with the company and makes the second recent addition. It is allocated to Gloucster depot to replace Sprinter SB57 TMB as the Depot Hack/ staff transport vehicle and to allow the sprinter to be used on more private hire contracts. In reality, this is a repainted Cararama diecast. The third and final vehicle of the three is this Ford Transit minibus. Seating 14, it will be used for private hire duties from Gloucester Depot. In reality, this is a conversion and repaint of the Oxford Diecast diet coke model, like the one found at <a href="http://www.anticsonline.co.uk/1972_1_107794275.html"rel="nofollow">www.anticsonline.co.uk/1972_1_107794275.html</a>

I had thought about it yes, but in the end decided that it was a little too old for that.

With the annual exam time shutdown now over work has now resumed in the Crossways workshops on a number of projects for the fleet. Two of these 'work in progress' vehicles are minibuses, the first being this Mercedes Vito. It is repaint of a Cararama diecast, and awaits registration plates and fleetnames. The second vehicle is this Ford Transit Minibus, converted from the Oxford Diecast Diet Coke van. There is still quite a way to go on this model, with the old paint needing stripping, and the new roof needing detailing before painting, as well as an interior being needed. A new coach is also nearing the painting stages, as well as two second hand vehicles. In other news, the Heritage fleet has been withdrawn, as the DDA deadlines have meant that they can no longer be also used as spare vehicles for our bus services. A new depot has also been opened in Cirencester.

Hi Thanks for yet more kind comments! It may just be me, but I never thought that the Platinum livery gave as high a class a feel as some of the other offerings from Stagecoach, Arriva, Blackpool, GHA etc. In other developments, I stumbled accross a Corgi Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 at over half price in a local model shop yesterday, I managed to dismantle it today (and clumsily break both front and rear windows in the process! I shall have to try and find replacements at some point.), pic below: Would people be interested in more 'work in progress' pics like these, or simply to stick to the finished pics as above?

I have just found another photo of a fleet member so thought I would post it on here. The sprinter on the right is BX63 YTR, as featured above, however on the left is our other Sprinter, registered SB57 TMB. This our current depot hack/ staff transport vehicle. However, it will be replaced in the next couple of days by another smaller vehicle to allow it to undertake more private hire work for the company. The model is a CMNL diecast.

Hi Thanks for more kind comments , following are some replies to a couple of posts. As for the comment on the crafty paper, that is another reason behind people not using transfers. I once tried to get round the problem by printing slightly off white. Whilst it printed fine and you could see it, for some reason the text never showed up when you put the transfer on the model, so I gave up eventually. As for the above comment, there are a number of reasons for this. One could be that they have only just acquired the vehicle, and so are waiting for a chance to get it to the paintshop. Another is that it could simply be a low quality low cost operator, Who don't want to bother with expensive paint jobs. However, in my experience most do keep to a certain livery style, and to be honest I like having a general fixed livery as to me it gives some unity! That is very true, the cabs have been popular with some other operators that I know of. Anyway, there should hopefully be some more pics within the next couple of days. Ryan

Hi Apologies for the change of accounts firstly, I have finally managed to work out the password for my main account, so hopefully my activities shall be on this one from now on. Unfortunately not! A depot hack/ staff transport vehicle is currently in progress though and nearly complete. There are a number of reasons, particularly for fleet operators like me. Any transfers would have to be custom made, which is always expensive. Unlike making a real model these transfers are unique to whatever operator they are for, so you cannot just go and buy some stock transfers from somewhere. The other option is to use the Crafty computer paper, which I have now started using and the PB uses it (all others use the paper method like you state). Which many people don't get along with, as they are deterred by having to varnish them afterwards and many find that the ink still runs anyway. Therefore some just find it easier to use paper. As for photo's, if you go onto the fleet section of the Crossways website you will find a photo of every fleet member, but I will post some more pics on here in due course once I have found them. Finally, someone messaged me to see a larger version of the Crossways logo, so here it is for you sir!

All of the coaches above look very nice, well done!

I recieved the FGW 143 back in March and after running in it proved a very quiet and reliable runner. Detail is great too. Well done all of you at Realtrack, and I hope to order again from you soon when something else of yours takes my fancy!

Some have said that the '66' image is just an image of the Bachmann model and that they have not made the model yet. As with you, though. I hope it is either a runner or at least a dummy.

Very nice Mixing and matching

Hi I am very interested in these, what time do you think the delivery date will be very roughly now?? Many thanks Birch1