Trent-Barton High Peaks Volvo

 Whereas many former NBC operators gaining their freedom took a very much see how it goes approach Trent buckled down bought new buses and thought it through. This included branding and the buses on the Alexander bodied Volvos on the Buxton to Manchester service were chistened Trans Peak doing away with traditional route numbers.

Hvide or White Bus to Helsingør Volvo B57-60 VBK/Karsen No.6

 One of my favourite Independents in Denmark was Hvide or in English the White Bus based at  Hørsholm. Some of the buses on this 188 route which followed the coastal road up to Helsinger from Klampenborg were branded 'Strand Buses'. It operated DAB-Leyland, Volvo and I even saw an AEC at the garage. Here in 1982 now ten years old we can see how good B57-60  VBK/Karsen bodied No.6 bus looked in that livery. 

Chaserider Enviro 99

 Not so long ago one of the regulars on the 841 Stafford to Uttoxeter and when it was running the local 10 Service was Chaserider Enviro No.99. The last time I saw it was some moths ago when it was being towed back to Stafford. I was told the gears suddenly failed which wasn't surprising really as the gearbox was dropping off. 

HT 448 DAB-Leyland in Copenhagen

My latest scanner doesn't scan colour prints as well as black and white and some of them look a bit too rich. However it can make for s nice enlarged postcard look and who doesn't want to see a street-scene of an HT DAB-Leyland in Copenhagen.
 

Former Ribble Leopard with Staffordian Travel LCW732W

 After Greatrex Travel sold it's business it was rebranded as Staffordian and wore an attractive silver and black livery. This former Ribble Plaxton bodied Leopard might have arrived in all-white and bought mainly for schools contracts was given a cheap livery 'facelift' but still looked rather attractive. Another explanation for the livery change is more likely that by this time Staffordian iteslf had been merged with Happy Days with which it had close family links and who initially had to keep the name alive for various reasons. Unlike today's buses the Leyland Leopard was quite loud and this one particularly so as it had a none standard sounding exhaust that boomed even more than usual and in my opinion at least it sounded lovely as one could hear it's roar from miles away. 

A225VWO A National Welsh Tiger Bound Fror Brighton

The driver might be waiting to get a nod from the inspector but a Duple bodied Laser bodied Leyland Tiger of National Welsh is ready to depart from Marlborough Street Bus Station in Bristol on the long journey to Brighton.

 

You Have To Look Twice L503-CPB

 Seen in Stafford, at first glance I thought this was one of the East-Lancs EL2000 bodied Dennis Darts L503 BNX delivered to Midland Red North but it was in fact an almost identical bus which came from London and Country L503 CPB.

Lothian White Liveried Atlantean in Edinburgh GSC664X

Although always beautifully turned out I always felt t that the stark black and white livery was a bit too different from the usual dark red on the city's buses in Edinburgh 

Niels Søndergaard Sørensen, Vorgod

This is one of the many places in Denmark where I stopped for half an hour or so to catch the the various liveries of the lovely danish buses. I thing this Aabenraa bodied Volvo B9-60 of the family firm called Sondergaard  meaning in English 'South Farm' and was probably at the Herning on it's short journey to Videbaek. It was new in 1983 and after leaving Denmark in 2004 and ran in Poland till 2009 

An Eastern Counties Ambassador at Norwich

 One of my favourite places for bus photography was Norwich especially as it was a late Bristol Lowdekka stronghold. Also it had an interesting large bus station on a slope with a good sized bus garage attached. One thing I liked about the Tilling Group and firms like Eastern Counties was the way it built attractive bus stations in brick with good facilities and kept them clean and smart even in the normally less proud cost-cutting NBC era. In that respect it often outshone parts of the BET Group like Nortern General which even in some important locations seemed to have rows of sad concrete and or cast-iron shelters, but of course that might have been on the part of the Authority which owned the land and provided the facilities. Perhaps it's worth mentioning too that standards were different in a grirrt working class town whereas Norwich was considered to be the unspoken capital of East Anglia I guess. Probably the only drawback here buswise was being at it's heart one only really saw Eastern Counties buses even if in the NBC era it was by another name. Now called Ambassador one of it's coaches a Duple Dominant bodied Leyland Leopard  makes a call on it's way up to Great Yarmouth.    

Jones of Market Drayton RAW735X

In the NBC days PMT was hit with a lot more service cuts than many of companies almost wiping out it's rural network. Not surprisingly this hit Stafford hard as the small garage closed leaving it with just the Hanley service that still operates today. One of it's services was a very infrequent Tuesday and Saturday service to Market Drayton via Eccleshall and Woodseaves which Jones took on and which often brought Duple bodied Ford RAW-735X into Stafford. 

Ride On Top Of A Fox M166GRY

 To think way back in 1962 Midland Red despite having a large rural empire to serve actually operated slightly more double-deckers than saloons if one discounts coaches. By the end of the NBC era thanks to it's buy Leyland National policy and the loss of it's most lucrative Birmingham and Black Country area to the PTE double-deckers were few and far between. The one exception was the more urban Leicester but because of their age the remaining Daimler Fleetlines had dwindled away too. Not surprisingly the Privatised eastern area called Midland Fox reintroduced them and typical was this East-Lancs bodied Scania.