Cardiff Bus Station CTX 390V

Cardiff  in the Sixties had a very mixed fleet with varied chassis and bodywork which I guess was the result of tendering out it orders for price. Things were more a little bit more predictable by the Eighties when more than one-hundred Bristol VR's were in service here mostly with Alexander bodies like CTX 390V in the not very inspiring orange livery of those times and was still very much in evidence in June 1992.

Maidstone & District S13

Perhaps not one of my sharpest pictures but it's a nice one all the same as in Autumn 1967 S13 BKT828C a two year old  Marshall bodied Maidstone & District AEC Reliance S13 heads out on the Tonbridge Road bound for Tunbridge Wells. EFE made a scale model of this actual bus but at the rear it has a TW garage disc when it should have been M for Maidstone.

4959 doing the London Official Sightsseing Tour

Once a familiar part of the London scene were Obsolete's former Midland Red D9's working the London Transport Open Top Tour. This one seen at London Bridge Station, former 4959 was new to Dudley Garage along with 4960.

P24290: Cold but sunny in La Chaux

Switzerland is the classic destination for a winter holiday and when it's cold and sunny it's almost magical. In the old watch making town of La Chaux PTT Saurer RH P24290 was loading for Biafond on the border with France.

UPK 139SCrawley Bus Station

This photo is a favourite of mine anyway but I also rather liked those towns to the south of London like Horsham and East Grinstead where London's Country Area buses met with BET's M&D etc...By the mid-Eighties it was all a leaf-green NBC in Crawley New Town but as usual there was always something to turn it into an interesting photo. The local Park Royal bodied Leyland Atlantean AN68's carry the local C-Line logo.

Esjberg Bybus (Town Bus)

When we sail to Denmark from Harwich the first town we encounter is the port of Esjberg. It might not be the prettiest place but as the DFDS boat berthed almost British DAB Leyland buses were there to greet us on the quayside. Seen near the railway station with a lorry passing it heading for the dock was a late Seventies memberprobably  No.27

Perhaps they were from Waterloo Road?

I'm glad I managed to do something with this one as the negative was a bit thin, but then this about two or three years old tEllen Smith Plaxton Panorama bodied Leyland Leopard coach FDK 94D on a school trip to Manchester looked very smart: Perhaps they were from Waterloo Road which was filmed in Rochdale.

A pair of Optares in Preston

Two Optares seen in Preston. Thankfully the minibus era is behind us and even though the still rather useful Metrorider won't be greatly missed by enthusiasts like M404 TCK on a Preston Buses 'Park & Ride', many including drivers will regret the passing of the rather good Delta like the ABC Travel bus bound for Southport.

Happy Days VRF200X

Seen in Stafford when new Happy Days No.144 was one of three similar Duple bodied Volvo B10M coaches

GR 38: Snow is no problem in Davos

In 1992 VBD the local operator in Davos was still operating this Ramseier & Jenzer bodied FBW which later gained a repaint. In Switzerland the registration number remains with the owner not with the vehicle and I'm sure a lot of people would like to to have GR 38. These low numbers were once often seen on Taxis. Not only are the Swiss well prepared for winter weather they welcome the snow as it is the life-blood for the many alpine resorts that rely on decent amounts of the white stuff.

ANJ 309T at Haywards Heath

Lettered up for Limited Stop Service 770 was this Plaxton bodied Leyland Leopard of Southdown seen outside Hayward Heath Garage.

1992 Bright Winter Sunday at Meiringen

Meiringen was home to eight of these Hess bodied FBW 40 VH-R buses of 1977-78 fitted with small Mercedes engines. I never rode on one but I understand they were rather noisy.  Despite this little town famous for it's connections with Sherlock Holmes having a PTT garage with twenty-two buses about seven were outstationed up the Brunig Pass whilst another five moved away in winter as the longer routes through the passes were cut right back leaving just a couple of local runs to villages. So when I arrived one one  Sunday in 1992 there was just P23418 numerically the last of the nineteen to be seen loading for Gadman.

Preserved RTL 453 on The Embankment

Former London RTL 453 was seen on the Embankment in about 1982. It was one of a small number of these Leylands that gained roof-route-box bodies from off AEC RT's when they passed through Aldenham Works enhancing their appeal. Judging by it's fine condition it was in the caring hands of preservationists.

I quite miss Switzerland; as it was

I haven't been since 2000 so maybe I ought to go to Switzerland. I stopped going as by then there was little left of the schooldays transport I remembered with not just the loss of proper Swiss buses but things like boggie trams and ancient carriages once added to the rich cheesy fondue. Of course I could see it in a different light enjoying the changes and the wonderful scenery that never changes but since that last visit the price of a budget week's holiday with a Swiss Pass rover ticket has more or less doubled and it would cost  a thousand-quid skimping it. Not so bad if the sun shines for a day or two. I'll have to think about it, and it won't get any cheaper. Maybe a stay in Bern would be good as I still can't come to terms with the city painting it's fleet a luminous pinky-red when for me they will always be a slightly depressing but very tasteful military-green and cream like this Seventies FBW trolleybus No.54.

Strathclyde Bus Metrobus Mark-2 MB57

Strathclyde Buses before it was bought out by First was best known for it's huge fleet of Alexander bodied Atlanteans, but there were other buses including Metrobuses like MB57 G395 OGB going somewhere on the 53 via Penllee.

Bern via Bethlehem: PTT's longest route?

It might look as if this Swiss post bus was just arriving in Bern from somewhere in the Holy Land but there is a village nearby called Bethlehem too. The boring but reliable Mercedes-Benz 0405 like P25369 was very typical of the PTT in the 90's.

When I was a teenager I spotted all the red Routemasters with I discovered later the exception of RM 1108, but there were another fourteen very early ones I needed too including RM 27 seen here about to cross The Thames which couldn't be seen as when these former West Ham Routemasters went for their first major overhaul they disappeared inside Aldenham Works for a number of years. By the time I snapped this one looking quite smart in the Nineties my spotting days were a distant memory.

EUF's Southdown's smartest Leopard buses

Seen at Worthing Garage in 1967, more or less fifty-six-years ago to the day was this year old Weymann bodied Leopard and one of the last vehicles to be bodied at Weybridge late in 1965. Taken In dull conditions this Ilford Sporty image might not be one of my sharpest but I'm putting it on to illustrate both my favourite batch of this style of BET same-at-both-ends bus and the livery combination. It's a shame when EFE picked on this batch they didn't try to create a different version of this type instead of fiddling with the numbers.

Geneva; New Years Day 1989

An interesting mix of buses here with a Saurer-DAB looking rather sober and very Seventies, a conservative red and grey and rather British with it's Leyland wheels and windscreen from a Leyland National plus also that destination of Wilson not sounding very local at all.  On the other hand the very new looking Hess bodied NAW trolleybus No.685 heading for Merle d'Aubingne where no doubt they drink black coffee and eat croissants for breakfast sounded very French and it looked continental and progressive too with it's low floor and flush almost tram-like floor-line. I must admit I'm not a big fan of orange and white but somehow that looks much better on these Swiss buses which are kept smart and clean in the same observed way that they run to time. No doubt the trolleybus was as silent as it looked modern but being a bus enthusiast I know which would have been the most memorable ride.