Red Rover Buses - Paul Coley
Red Rover Buses is a modern fictional operation and is possibly where the original Red Rover Omnibus Company may have been today, had it not been bought by Luton & District in November 1987.
We operate a variety of local bus services from depots in Aylesbury, Bicester and Chesham throughout Buckinghamshire and in to Berkshire, Hertfordshire, Luton, Oxfordshire and Milton Keynes using a fleet of modern vehicles.
The following selection of photos show a variety of the vehicles operated and are taken on a purpose-built diorama completed in 2016. The diorama is not based on any particular location, but was designed for photography of the fleet.
4 brand new Citraros were delivered in 2018 for Chesham and Amersham town services. Paul Ellender resin kits.
2 of 3 new Gemini 2’s are seen in the depot yard, shortly after delivery. OOC diecasts.
A single Marshall-bodied Dart is operated, this seen in the bus wash. Resin model.
2040 is a ADL Enviro 200 MMC used on Tring town services. Saltire resin kit.
In October 2018, 2 new ADL Enviro 400 MMC buses were delivered. 2 are seen in the depot yard. Northcord Diecast.
An internal photo of the Red Rover depot, showing the lighting in use.
Plenty of step entrance buses are still used on ‘closed’ school contracts. This Wright Handibus-bodied Dart is one example. RTC white metal kit.
Further maintenance inside the depot, with a tree deflector being refitted to our remaining Volvo Citybus. MIM resin kit.
Red Rover operates a single Spectra on local services from Aylesbury, this being a low floor example. PSG resin kit.
This elderly Dennis Dominator joined the fleet in 2016, after a considerable period of work by the Red Rover engineering team. MIM resin kit.
Arriving in to the fleet in 2017 is 2061, a (fairly) rare Dennis Dart SPD. At the time it was allocated to Aylesbury, but is now a back up bus for our Bicester-based services.
Whilst Red Rover’s fleet is extremely well maintained, breakdowns do occur sometimes and we have a Scania recovery vehicle for such occurrences.
A general view across the yard late one evening showing a variety of buses parked up.
I have tried to add as many details as possible to the diorama, to add some realism when taking photos. This includes safety notices at the entrance and weeds, a common feature on Bucks’ pavements these days!
A recent addition to the diorama is this modern phone box, plus road names (the road names were created very simply on Microsoft Word and then printed on to card). Oil stains have also been added to the road surface.