Saturday the 28th of March saw the annual South East Bus Festival take place, at the Kent County Showground in Detling in Kent. This was my first visit to this rally and I was very impressed. There was a wide variety of vehicles at the event, with a big emphasis on preserved Maidstone & District vehicles, and indeed this event originates from the centenary event of M&D hosted in 2011. There was around 120 vehicles at this event, including preserved former M&D 5928, former Metrobus 834, and a rare Nu-Venture Irisbus Agora-Line new to Norfolk Green for use on Coasthopper services. The event was hosted in conjunction with the Kent Heritage Transport Show, which saw vintage cars, vans and lorries also present. Also at the event was brand new Arriva Southern Counties Enviro 400 6479 present, new for route 101 to replace older 58 plate Enviro 400's at Gillingham depot. This vehicle had not entered service when the event was being hosted, so I was lucky to be able to see this vehicle before entering service. I enjoyed this event very much, and I look forward to visiting the event next time it is hosted on the 2nd of April 2016. I hope you enjoyed reading this post.
