Bank Holiday Blackpool 1996: Some Good Spotting

Blackpool has always been a mecca for bus enthusiasts for as well as obvious delights like the trams, sometimes a couple of hundred coaches arrive from right across Britain especially on an all-day excursion for the Blackpool Illuminations, and as well as the old Industrial Lancashire, of course they particularly arrive from Yorkshire, the North East, Scotland and the Midlands. Some spotters collect everything from trains to Eddie Stobart lorries but I gave up that hobby many years ago when there were still proper half-cab buses on the streets, excepting maybe when I went to Switzerland as a little holiday exercise. But from the spotters perspective I guess a rare vehicle they want to see from a major operator counts for a lot more than the odds and ends that arrive from the smaller Independents like Hague of Sheffield and Silver Knight from Edinburgh. I suppose I too used to be a bit guilty at times of trying to collect buses allbeit with a camera and especially those smart Leylands with proper operators in a distinctive livery. Even though Hague's well kept Plaxton bodied Leyland Tiger was a bonus the star here was the red painted example with a much less common Duple Calypso body and numbered 114 with Coachline part of the then rapidly expanding Stagecoach empire and originally carrying the registration C495 CET. Yes one gets quite a buzz when they see something nice like this next to another good Tiger in a line of nondescript or modern rubbish.