RE: Cumbria & North Lancashire Bus Operations
(03 Sep 2017, 12:45 pm)peter wrote https://www.flickr.com/photos/williamson...otostream/
Wish it had been on it's normal Honister Rambler duties! Ended up with 47616 instead which was struggling to cope...the bus arrived late in Buttermere after already having to stop at Honister Pass...we ended up departing 30 minutes late as we had to wait for the bus to cool as there was smoke coming from the wheel-arch. Had to stop again near High Lorton due to a warning sound from the dashboard but the driver was told to continue. In the end we were just 5 minutes away from reaching Keswick in Braithwaite when the driver told us all to get off, again due to the smoke, and ended up having to wait 20 minutes for an X5 (in the meantime though 47616 had sufficiently cooled down and tbh I think the driver could have kept going after having managed to get the bus all the way there with only a short flat stretch on the A66 left to go). The driver blamed it on the fact that "some buses are made to go up those mountains and this isn't one of them...can't be helped when the usual bus is in for a service." As we were getting on the X5, 47774 also pulled up behind us which seemed a strange exercise as the driver had already rang and it had been agreed we would be transferred to the X5 (though the driver had been told it would only be a few minutes when it was timetabled to be due in 20 so perhaps they sent it in case the X5 was late) plus there were no remaining 77/77a journeys for the day that 47616 would have had to run onto. Later saw 47774 in Keswick Bus Station with our original driver which seems strange to have it run light to Keswick to run light back to the depot, when after sufficiently cooling the driver probably could have just taken 47616 back to the depot.
Yeah, I wouldn't have allocated 47617 onto Honisters..! It's the re-engined Cummins one (originally MAN) and has recently made a come back after being off for about 3 months, it's nippy but a tad ropey and normally kept local.... Driver must have been flogging it to make up time with lots of heavy breaking! 47774 has been religiously working the X5 Broughton Roadworks Shuttles the past couple of months during the day, so perhaps the depot arranged quick cover in case 47616 did need to be left at Keswick for a bit, until a fitter could come and collect it. Sounds like the topsy turvy world of Lillyhall to me.
47721 went on the 50 later on in the afternoon - hence my spontaneous outing up the road for a photo of it
![Wink Wink](https://northeastbuses.co.uk/forums/images/smilies/wink.png)
. So assume the Solo was indeed in for servicing/defect fixes.