Burtons Coaches T104 KGV at Rattlesden - 15 Dec 2005 (554-09)

Thursday15 December 2005 - Burtons Coaches T104 KGV, a Plaxton Beaver bodied Mercedes-Benz Vario new to Burtons in May 1999, seen on Rising Sun Hill at Rattlesden when working the 1220 service 386 from Stowmarket to Bury St. Edmunds. This Vario had a manual gearbox - most, if not all of the others, were automatics. Consequently it was regularly assigned to the rota I was on with two other drivers. We three being a dying breed of bus drivers possessing a 'stick licence'. The terrain on this route required plenty of gear changing where a driver would have felt the benefit of an automatic gearbox. A few weeks later effective Monday 30 January 2006, Suffolk County Council assigned Beeston's Coaches of Hadleigh as a new contractor for this service. (To see a photo of a Mulleys Optare Solo photographed in almost the same spot nine years later in December 2014 see: www.ipernity.com/doc/davidslater-spoddendale/36180256/in/album/649445 )