Looking at Buses at Crewe in January 2022

 On the 14th and 29th of January, I visited Crewe Bus Station. Both times I saw some buses which caught my eye, some of which that won't be in service for much longer.

CX07 CRK 2633

CX07 CRK 2633 is one of Arriva Winsfords Latest Arrivals. It has come from Arriva Laird Street in Birkenhead. This is one of the newer cadets seen around the country, made in 2007. It has Free WiFi or so it says on the front which is quite a nice touch and a rarity to the older buses yet these will be withdrawn in the upcoming years, so modifications on buses like these are somewhat pointless. It is seen here leaving Crewe Bus Station on a shortened version of the 84 route between Crewe and Nantwich, the longer version being between Crewe and Chester.

CX55 EAW 4107

 CX55 EAP 4106

Something that I was very interested in seeing, 2 B7TL ALX400s, CX55 EAW 4107 and CX55 EAP 4106, both seen leaving Crewe Bus Station on a 37 to Northwich. These are 2 out of the 4 B7TLs remaining at Winsford, 4102 and 4120 being the other 2. 4120 is a recent aquirement from Arriva Speke. It is very nice to see older buses coming to Winsford and they have been coming to Winsford quite often lately with 2549 coming from St Helens and 2633 from Laird Street. 4106 is surprisingly seen here in the new arriva livery and not only that, 4106 and 4107 have been refurbished to leather seats. This is a very nice touch however I don't think it would be as profitable as refurbishing the newer buses, for example the batch of 3 MX14 plate Pulsar 2s Winsford have as they will be in service much longer as they are nearly a decade younger than the B7TLs. Plus, the B7TLs will most likely be scrapped in the near future as they are nearly 17 years old now. I will have have try and catch the remaining 2 as these B7TLs are living on borrowed time. 

K100 ABW 4421 - (CX58 GBZ)

Finally, we have Enviro 400 K100 ABW 4421(CX58 GBZ) leaving Crewe Bus Station on a longer 84 to Chester. These were new to Arriva in 2008 for Laird Street depot branded as CrossRiver Express for services like the 437 from West Kirby to Liverpool. The reason it was called CrossRiver Express is that it went under the kingsway or queensway tunnel depending on which route it was on which goes under the Mersey River. 11 of these then went to Arriva Wrexham in 2013 for the Number 1 Route between Chester and wrexham. 

They got refurbished and were given leather seats, plug charging and next stop announcements. A large batch of Volvo B5LH Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 replaced them at Laird Street and branded as CrossRiver. 8 of these E400s went to arriva Rhyl in 2017, 4402, 4403, 4404, 4405, 4406, 4407, 4408 and 4409 while 4410, 4421 and 4422 went to Winsford where they are today. ADL E400 Cities were then bought for the 1 route which included USB Charging, Free WiFi, Next Stop announcements, tables and leather seats. 

The 8 Enviro 400s then departed Rhyl in 2020 to go to Winsford as a swap for 3 sapphire Gemini 2s, 4489, 4490 and 4491. These only had a short spell at arriva rhyl as 4402, 4403, 4404 and 4405 went to rhyl as a replacement for them 3 geminis which went to arriva Speke, meaning 4406, 4407, 4408, 4409, 4410, 4421 and 4421 are the remaining E400s at Winsford. These are 13 years old meaning they will have quite a bit of time left in service but in a few years will be in the same position as the B7TLs are now.