DREADFUL CONDITION: Trent Barton The Villager Volvo B7RLE Wright Eclipse Urban [701 - FJ58 KJK]

Recorded on 31/05/24. This is a video of Villager-branded Volvo B7RLE Wright Eclipse Urban 701 (FJ58 KJK) on its journey towards Derby. Some key timestamps are listed below:
0:35 - Skip the interior showcase
1:30 - Nice acceleration
2:00 - Slight low-pitched deceleration
2:29 - Start of 40 mph section
3:38 - High-revving deceleration
5:10 - Loud acceleration
6:01 - Cooling fans turn off

Well, where do I begin? The Volvo B7RLE Eclipse is my favourite vehicle type in the Trent Barton fleet but my word, does 701 need repairing. The engine fans are jammed on whenever the bus is in motion, there's an air fault at the front of the bus, and the turbo has blown. The rear seats also got extremely hot.

Clearly, if the fan is constantly on, then not enough heat is being extracted from the engine. And, according to one of my friends, the air fault indicates an issue with the brakes. I don't know how anyone at 'the really good bus company' can deem it acceptable to put a vehicle like this out in service. It is an obvious safety hazard.

One final remark - 701's doors do work properly (at 0:35). It was just the Trent Barton staff member trying to help out the driver.

Now that I've addressed 701's condition, we can turn our attention to The Villager's history. Between 1997 and 2004, this service operated with red Optare Vectas. Such vehicles included 801 (M801 PRA), 802 (M802 PRA), 803 (M803 PRA), and 804 (M804 PRA). These Vectas had previously worked on the Spondon Flyer.

In 2004, the Vectas were switched to Dennis Dart Plaxton Pointers. These retained the red and cream colour scheme. 927 (R927 RAU), 940 (S940 UAL), 941 (S941 UAL), 942 (S942 UAL), 943 (S943 UAL), and 944 (S944 UAL) were six of the vehicles employed on the route.

Two years later, in 2006, the Darts were slowly refurbished into The Villager's new dark yellow colour scheme. Then, in early 2009, the Darts were phased out in favour of ex-Rainbow 5 Scania L94UB Wright Solars. The six Solars chosen carried fleet numbers 613 to 617, and 619 (FJ03 VWH).

In 2011, 624 (FJ03 VWP) joined the other six Solars on The Villager. The additional vehicle was required to provide the new V4 service (which replaced the Dash between Burton town centre and Centrum Business Park).

The next major change happened at the end of 2014, when the existing Villager Solars were switched out for heavily refurbished ones. Customers could now benefit from USB power sockets and free Wi-Fi. Moreover, the colour scheme changed to a lighter yellow (the same colour that is still used to this day).

Six of the upgraded Villagers were displaced from Rainbow 1. These included 657 to 661, and 664 (FN54 AEC). 616 (FJ03 VWE, from the 2009 era of The Villager) was also refurbished to the same standard.

In 2017, The Villager network was overhauled. Routes V2 and V4 were withdrawn, with the V2 service being incorporated into the V1. The network shrank further in January 2019, when the V3 route was separated from the V1. V1 officially became the sole Villager route while V3 became an unbranded service (which meant that it deployed buses from Derby's spare pool).

At the same time, the aging Solars were replaced with former Indigo Volvo B7RLE Eclipses. The five refurbished Volvos had the addition of a wood-laminated floor and air conditioning (701 being one of those buses).

On 27/07/24, 701 re-entered service now branded for the Swift. 701 and 702 (FJ58 KJN) were refurbished into Swift livery to accommodate a frequency increase.

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