the villager relaunched with a host of animals.

17/02/2009
Six Scania saloon buses entered service on the villager group of services on Sunday 15th February. The buses, previously used on the Rainbow 5 route, each carry individual branding, based around a farm animal theme. This consists of several images of the selected animal, accompanied by a related slogan on the back of the bus.

The images carried on each vehicle are as follows:
613 (FJ03 VWB) Horses - Slogan "Hi Ho Silver".
614 (FJ03 VWC) Sheep - "Slogan "flock to Derby or Burton ".
615 (FJ03 VWD) Ducks - Slogan "all your ducks in a row".
616 (FJ03 VWE) Cows Slogan "til the cows come home".
617 (FJ03 VWF) Pigs Slogan "this little piggy went to market".
619 (FJ03 VWH) Rabbits (bunny bus) - Slogan "run rabbit run".

Above: 619 is seen here in Tutbury.


615 complete with ducks, seen here by the church in Stretton.
The 6 Scanias replace 6 Dennis Darts 927 (R927 RAU), 940-4 (S940-4 UAL). (R941 UAL) is now with Midland Classic, Swadlincote and (R942 UAL) is with Proctors, Hanley. The others have yet to be sold (16/8/09)

Aswell as being larger, more modern vehicles, the Villager buses have been fitted with new ticket machines that allow passengers to use an Oyster type smart card (Mango) to pay for fares.

Above: back end of a bus: 613's horse slogan.


Above: Flying pigs? 617 crosses the Crewe railway line.

For more details on the Villager service see: www.trentbarton.co.uk