Alfa Coaches

Who originate from the Lancashire town of Chorley are a common sight in Torbay, especially in Torquay, as this is where their regular hotel, The Regina next to the Harbourside, is situated. Most weeks from Spring through to Autumn you are likely to find at least one or two from the fleet staying here; their fleet consisting now mainly of Mercedes-Benz Tourismos, with the reaming batches of Plaxton Paragon bodied Volvo B12Bs gradually being replaced. Another batch of 16reg Tourismos has recently joined the Alfa fleet. 

 

Pictured above we see the newest of the company's remaining Plaxton bodied Volvos, YN10EOK, heading through Preston bound for Torquay back in May 2014.  





 

 

 

 

 

 Since 2011 the company has been replacing their Volvos with brand new Mercedes Tourismos, the first batch of 5 11reg examples, BN11UFK, UFL, UFM, UFJ, UFP were registered in late April of that year. The final one from that batch, BN11UFP (64), is pictured back in April 2013 heading along below the Royal Terrace Gardens, Torquay, bound for The Regina Hotel where it would make its pick up to take that week's holiday passengers out on a day tour.

 

 

 

After the first batch of 5 Tourismos in 2011, the company has acquired more each Spring since, 5 more in 2012, BN12CLU, CLV, CLX, CLY, CLZ.

 

In 2013 their largest batch to date, 10, BU13ZTO, ZTP, ZTR, ZTS, ZTT, ZTV, ZTW, ZTX, ZTY, ZTZ.

 

A further 9 in 2014, BX14LCJ, LCK, LCL, LCM, LCN, LCO, LCP, OMM, OMO. The last 2, BX14OMM, OMO being registered in June, rather than their usual March, April. The examples bought in 2014 were the company's first Euro 6 spec coaches.

 

2015 saw a further 5, BX15OEA-E.

 

And most recently 6 16reg examples, BU16HBB-G

 

 

   

The second from their 2014 batch of Tourismos, BX14LCK (81) pictured one evening when only a month old outside The Regina Hotel, Torquay, bringing back passengers from their night out to The Babbacombe Theatre, a regular occurrence on Tuesday/Wednesday nights during the Theatre Show season.

Kicking us off above and on a weekend stay in the Bay we see 1st Call Travel of Merthyr Tydfil, S11AUN, a 12 year old Plaxton Panther bodied Volvo B12M pictured outside Princess Theatre, Torquay. (20th March 2016)

Welcome to a new blog based on Coaches visiting Torbay. Posts will include visiting holiday coaches, as well as day trip visits etc. Torbay is a popular destination for coach holidays, with it large number of hotel situated nearby to the sea and the main town area. A wide variety of operators from across the country visit, with operators from Wales being particularly common. Some of the most common visitors are Alfa, National Holidays & Shearings. Daish's also are a common sight, due to one of the Daish's Group hotels being based in Torquay. I'll be doing longer featured posts on the major operators to visit the area over time, as well as more typical shorter posts including rarities, brand new coaches, etc.

The area also sees numerous visiting European coaches, mainly staying due to the many language schools situated locally.