Subject: Stagecoach Red & White 556 (P56 XBO) Chassis: Dennis Dart SLF SFD322 Body: Marshall Capital B43F Location: Llanfarian, A487 Date: Mar-1998
A most surprising vehicle to find on the 701 and presumably a last-minute substitute due to a problem with the regular Volvo coach. It would at least be easy to get luggage on board due to the low floor design, however as it was a bus there was no choice but to take luggage inside, there being no boot or luggage lockers on this vehicle.
It is just leaving Aberystwyth on its return journey and is passing the war memorial at Llanfarian, just off-camera to the left.
Llanfarian was the location of the last station on the Manchester and Milford Railway (which ended up nowhere near either of those two places). The line passed just in front of the white houses visible above the bus and there was a station here called Llanrhystyd Road. On December 14th 1964 the railway was severed by floods at Llanilar, just down the valley and never re-opened, replacement buses running from Strata Florida to Aberystwyth until the passenger service was withdrawn on February 22nd 1965.
