As these road signs seem to suggest with Leyland stuck in a British-Leyland rut, during the Seventies operators didn't know quite where to go for the sort of reliable buses they wanted. Even if Leyland still built the buses they liked for political reasons they probably wouldn't let them have them. So along came a number of manufacture's like Dennis, Foden and MCW all trying to stem the breach and grab a market share. None of them really hit the bulls-eye to start with and Foden soon fell off the board altogether. Dennis made some friends with it's Dominator and MCW too when it teamed up with Scania to produce an exciting new sophisticated single-decker called the Metro-Scania and this the Metropolitan double-decker. Although fast and lovely to ride in these buses were thirsty and not 100% reliable and I'm not sure but there might have been some corrosion problems too. However after Reading took 33 of these Nos.101-133, in 1983 they knew a bargain when they saw one and bought 21 cheaper second-hand examples from London Transport who were becoming experts at throwing money away. I wouldn't risk it but were two of these no-entry-signs to be misaligned like that I doubt whether the police would be able to prosecute the motorist for turning the wrong way down a one-way-street but they might just get you for something else. This was the Eighties, probably the number of road signs here have doubled and they have added some metal railings for good measure just in case you walk into them or want to cross the road.
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2 comments:
Thanks Christopher,
I grew up in Reading at the time these buses were running and remember them well.
In addition to the ex-London vehicles, Reading Transport later also acquired a number of ex Tyne and Wear buses of the same type. Of course there were numerous smaller and larger differences between the vehicles depending on their origin, and small smaller differences within the batches as well - all of which made life interesting for bus spotters in those days. Two Tyne and Wear buses were retained in their Tyne and Wear livery for driver training duties.
For some reason that I never quite understood, bus spotters in Reading referred to the Metroplitans as Borises. The name "The Boris" or just Boris was reserved for the first of these to have been delivered, number 1, later 101 registered GRX 1N.
My memories of those days recall that Reading Transport took good care of its buses. Dents and scratches were rare and when they occurred, normally fixed within a couple of days. I don't think I ever saw traces of rust, but maybe on the less visible parts this would have been unavoidable. Of course back then window scratching and such things hadn't started yet, but littering was a problem.
Andrew
Yes Andrew I knew you had links with Reading, any yes there are plenty more where this came from as I went there once or twice. The first time was in 1968 which was great as not only did I go around the depot I did Thames Valley and Smith's too. I have a Portuguese coach in a similar blue and red livery further back on the blog. As you intimate Britain was a less violent yob-free place which may be one reason why we also feel nostalgic about these buses of not too long ago.
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