[Thames Travel: X40 Reading to Oxford via Woodcote & Wallingford] Wright Eclipse Gemini2 Volvo B9TL

[@-M0LE]

I bet new drivers on this route need a few days to pick up all these turns This driver was very careful and smooth Beautiful scenery though Lovely Volvo

[@haveyouhadyourkitebix]

I never get tired of the X40 especially going over the Chiltern Hills. That's a different bus than the regular X40 ones. It is less direct nowadays, you used to be able to get into Central Oxford off peak in 1 hour 15. Now you need to do double decker S3 to Chipping Norton and double decker 50 to Stratford-upon-Avon 😊 - I did all 3 in a day and loved it.

[@paulmark63]

You made my day this is the one I wanted to see thank you so much Paul in Kent

[@EurasiaTransportExplorer]

Thanks for your appreciation. 😝

[@davidaarthur]

Some nice countryside in there!

[@haveyouhadyourkitebix]

Also in two acts of geekery, I caught a double decker X39 on the very last day the Didcot Coal Power Station was fully standing in summer 2013 and got a spectacular front seat view (there was a guy filming the view of Didcot going down the hill in the opposite front seat) , I got off at Dorchester and climbed and walked around Wittenham Clumps (one of the best viewpoints in the Thames Valley) looking over the power station which was built in the 60s and could even be seen from just outside Reading. I also got a front seat ride both ways on the very last day of the X39 - I went from Reading, then caught S1 to Witney, X9 to Chipping Norton then S3 back to Oxford. The last X39 trip went a bit pear-shaped due to a kamikaze pigeon deciding to fly head on into the window on Iffley Road (BANG) then the driver forgetting it was an X39 and turning into Woodcote but he didn't go around the triangle so it was a one off special X39.5!

[@mikecarroll6358]

Lovely Chiltern Hills route north of Reading. Some great pubs sadly now in decline. The first few miles was known as 7 bends of death due to number of fatal vehicle accidents.

[@JoshHodginsTrains]

Great 😮

[@bryantsanders6869]

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

[@EurasiaTransportExplorer]

Thx

[@haveyouhadyourkitebix]

Bit of route history. The predecessor 105? was operated by Reading Buses til early 2000s, and ran via A329 then Reading Buses cut out the Wallingford to Oxford section before cutting the route back further to Pangbourne, now Thames Travel 143. Thames Travel started a new service from Oxford to Wallingford via Dorchester on Thames, then cut out Dorchester (there is a stop on the bypass instead) and created a new faster X40 route in mid 2000s to Reading via A4074. It was mostly single decker until mid 2010s. A faster offpeak X39 service just missed out Woodcote. Late 2010s a new longer X38 route from Oxford to Reading via Henley was introduced. This had double deckers too and I bemused several drivers who couldn't understand why I didn't want to go to Oxford or Reading via the more direct route (change of scenery) but it was axed either during or shortly after the pandemic. There was also an X41 variation which served RAF Benson evenings and weekends. I once walked from my home in Reading to Ewelme (near Benson) and caught it back.

[@GordonShuffell]

❤it certainly goes round the houses for something that is supposed to be a express bus😮

[@EurasiaTransportExplorer]

Unsure the ‘X’ stands for Express or not for this route.

[@haveyouhadyourkitebix]

Try it in the evening 😉. It goes through Littlemore and Sandford too! This bus used to be a feasible scenic alternative to the train, but not anymore. It used to go straight in out of Reading on the A4074 then into Oxford via Abingdon Road, on a good journey the X39 missing out Woodcote could take as little as 70 mins (train takes 25 mins plus 15 min walk in Oxford).

[@haveyouhadyourkitebix]

O.M.B! Oh My Bus!

[@pjaygeorge8016]

Is there a bus that goes on the west side of the Thames from Reading to include Pangbourne, Streatley, Dorchester then to Oxford ? Equally picturesque.

[@-M0LE]

22:24 the lorry could have waited but I assume he thought another professional driver would let him out