DSB Volvo Aabenera Buses in Kolding

When I visited the Danish town of Kolding in 1979 it still had it's own town bus fleet. But a few years later the locally distinctive DAB Leylands had been replaced by even more DSB Railway Buses and even though they operated a few DAB's here too all of these were the much more common Aabenera bodied Volvo B10M buses. Unlike Britain public transport is much more coordinated and so one minute it's awash with activity and the next everything disappears again for maybe up to an hour.

OSR 204R: Happy Days Scottish Bristol

Before the County Council introduced it's own fleet of dedicated yellow school buses we were treated in Stafford to an interesting array of second-hand vehicles especially Leopards but Happy Days operated as No.115 this former Tayside Bristol VR OSR 204R.

Nottingham City Paliament Square Garage

Whether we were teenage spotters or not some bus garages were mouth watering places like here at Nottingham, Parliament Street. The Nottingham Standards varied considerably and here they include Atlanteans and a rebobied Fleetline,  also there is a Duple Dominant Leopard coach just to break up he monotony. If this wasn't interesting enough just a little bit down the road was the Trent Garage.

K244 SFJ Plymouth Citybus: Minis, Darts, Atlanteans

I suppose we should be thankful that Plymouth Citybus didn't get swallowed up and probably if Northampton is anything to judge by get spat again like something bad it ate by First Bus. But even GoAhead is slowly remodelling it on it's own image so it's loss is still a pity. The regular livery changes made it quite easy to date many photos and this one from the mid-Nineties show a favourite of mine as I didn't care too much for the addition of all that black that preceded it. Still none of that really matters any more for as long as I could remember this was a place where we could hear the sound of Atlanteans

Former Jones of Aberbeeg Tiger Cub in NBC Blue.

Jones of Aberbeeg was one of the best know Welsh Independents but sadly like many others they sold out to the National Bus Company. At first even in NBC colours they stood out from their sisters as because they had been blue and cream they were allowed to wear the much less common blue version. But this policy didn't last and very quickly buses like this well know Willowbrook bodied Tiger Cub would have been for apart from a few enthusiasts  indistinguishable alongside the ranks of similar former Western Welsh machines. In all white the first Panorama Elite bodied Leopard came from Rhondda but as you can see the whole National Welsh fleet looked as though it had been taken over by Red & White as it inherited their interesting fleet numbering system which didn't show the make but the year and type instead.

Southdown Leyland TD4 takes a bow at Stratford

It always pays to have your camera at the ready as I was walking along in Stratford on Avon to pick up a car and this fine 1930's Southdown East Lancs bodied Leyland Titan appeared. Interestingly it was AUF 670 and in 1962 arrived 670 AUF a 36ft Leopard Marshall but there was no confusion as the rather smokey TD4 had long since been sold by then.

B.V..2340: 1982 Halleches Tor

For me this photo catches the in-limbo atmosphere of a still rather empty looking West Berlin in my early visits there. Here a deliciously tuneful Bussing of 1972 prepares to leave the still war scared views around Hallesches Tor at Easter in 1982 for the less graffiti more sparkling concrete greener suburban area of Rudow to the North yet like almost everywhere else also like this spot still quite close to the Wall. The East Germans might not have let it's people cross but they weren't so bothered about the pollution and acrid smells which gives "waiting for The Berlin Spring Revival" shots that slightly vintage sepia or trust your luck 'Boots Processed Feel'. The U-Bahn train brings back fond memories as well, and you can still ride these in North Korea but I doubt if in a slightly chilling way the oppressed there hear before setting off full of menacing echoes the announcement which sounded to me like "Zuriplan" which I discovered later just meant "Mind the doors" as they slammed shut. No unlike buses underground trains like handling snakes have terrified me in a surreal dreamlike way but here maybe I was just scared and much to the delight of my brother who I was staying with and saying "I told you so." I might venture onto the wrong train and get arrested in the East like some British Spy.

J210 HFR. Proudly bearing those Stagecoach Stripes

Looking back at them now maybe those Stagecoach Stripes weren't so awful after all and they seemed almost to belong on Alexander products like this new Olympian seen in Lancaster where everyone was enjoying some pleasant weather. This of course used to be Ribble territory but this North Lancashire area and The Lakes became amalgamated with what had been Cumberland which Stagecoach also owned. Their buses carried local names at this time and this naturally was 'Stagecoach Lancaster' something that creeps in and out of fashion, but sadly we have yet to lose that tight grip on corporate liveries as none of them are so wonderful we want to see them literally everywhere.

Recycled: BV52 OCM Travel Coventry.

I don't know if digital cameras wear out but my last Nikon Coolpix seemed to. None of them were that brilliant but this one produced images with a grey sheen a bit like those old darkroom negatives from stale developer. They got so bad I ended up giving the camera to my brother and now he feels wronged and feels I should pay to have it back! Anyway I'm slowly going through my files and trying to improve and save some of the best. This was taken a couple of years ago where there was a museum rally and open day at Harnell Lane Garage in Coventry. It was nice that National Express West Midlands gave the local fleet it's own livery which reminded me of Cambus. But I have to admit it was a bit insipid even from a decent lens. Anyway now I no longer need to use the camera, I'm tagging all these photos recycled then you won't blame me for the poor quality. lol

P24283: A much missed Saurer RH

Despite it being squeezed into the far North East corner of Switzerland where it meets Austria and Italy, for post bus fans the ski resort of Scoul was always worth a visit even if it was just to get the perfect photograph of one outside the station at Tarasp situated above the town. However the once important post bus is viewed upon with less high regard today and in many situations they no longer depart from close to the platforms so it's more of a trek to bus stands across the road or on the car park. I'm afraid modernisation is not always for the better. Even though there were only about thirteen buses here there was a bit of variety for as well as the more typical members of the fleet like this once ubiquitous Saurer RH-525 there was also a need for smaller narrow Mercedes semi-coaches and ski-buses.

OSR & PBC: Secondhand for Lincoln.

In the early Eighties 'City of Lincoln' updated it's fleet with secondhand buses. As well as some former Leicester G-Reg ECW bodied Atlanteans arrived some much newer R-Reg Alexander bodied Bristol VR's from the Tayside fleet at Dundee.

Three Burnley & Pendle Oldies

There was an open yard at the side of the Burnley and Pendle depot at Queensgate where one could pull up briefly to take a couple of photos. On this one occasion in 1980 the damp day and partially painted red brick dwellings behind compliment perfectly three interesting members from the fleet including one of the final delivery of both half-cab Leyland PD2's from 1967 and for some years new double-deckers, and looking far more ancient than their actual 1954 vintage were a pair of PS2/14's also with East Lancs bodywork, one delicenced whilst the other like the decker was retained as a training bus.

F986 TTF: Chiltern Queens

Had the demise of so many much loved bus operators not been so gradual most of of us would have just despaired long ago. But at least we get a little comfort when we were at the right place to photograph them, and at Reading this applies to a Chilton Queens Optare bodied Mercedes in their then coach livery even if it isn't exactly what make the company famous.

Pool of Vernons at Aintree

Liverpool can be associated with many famous household names including before the National Lottery became the nation's favourite way to flitter away money, Vernons Pools. I'm sure they are still trading in other areas like retail but there was a hushed silence as those potential winning scores draws were read out Saturday Tea Time. These two old Leylands were parked at the the former Ribble Aintree Garage. The Atlantean UKA573H of course ran for the local PTE whilst I believe the Duple Commander HTM646H came from Jeffs of Helmdon. One of the Greatrex drivers used to work for them and boasted that he was the only driver to take perhaps this Leopard through the gates into Buckingham Palace with a load of disabled kids.

A little Danish Free Love?

I'm sure the well laden young lady having alighted the Abeneraa bodied Volvo B10M at Aarhus wasn't complaining. Without too much research it was quite possible to work out a new date for Danish buses as registrations went they went through the alphabet so a higher letter like HU might have come next. HT had a DAB 1486 which was HT 88 248 dating from August 81 so this bus would have been about a year old when I took it in 1982. I'm not sure though quite how it worked as cars might have been kept apart from PSV's,  must study some of my many photos taken in this hardly explored country.

WVM893S: Warstones Atlantean in Wolverhampton

In it's final years Warstone's Green Bus was not the jewel it once was but even in the Nineties it could turn out some very smart buses such as this Park Royal bodied Atlantean in Wolverhampton which looked very different from the it's days in orange at Greater Manchester.

SJA267J: Alder Valley 57 in Local Coach Livery

1n the Eighties the NBC started to relax it's strint livery rules especially for the marketing of shorter express services such as the commuter runs into London. Alder Valley No.57 was a former North Western Alexander bodied Leyland Leopard SJA 367J seen have just departed from Victoria Coach Staion.

A736THV: An Anxious Wait at Euston

As travellers anxiously wait for a similar Metrobus to take them through the traffic to Heathrow Airport South London T1036 heads a queue of idle buses outside Euston Station.

BVG 3609: Springtime in Berlin's Leafy Suburbs

Springtime miraculously arrives in Berlin, and when the sun finally comes out  every time as though it has never happened before the poor film crews for the evening TV news go out filming everyone out enjoying it including of course the children and what the Berliners seem to love even more their messy Dogs. Of course accompanied by a saccharine comentary we have to enjoy clouds of blossom and hosts of daffodils nodding their innocent car polluted heads plus the odd insect or frog if they can find one. But not so many of the equally proific yellow dandilions and unless you happen to be waiting for one, plentiful of normally now hot to ride on yellow buses too. Of course the new three axle Lion double-deckers have what I found to be not terribly effective forced ventilation when it is working. Still it is nice to be there in Springtime but sadly these much nicer earlier and much more sprightly MAN double-deckers are now just another memory on normal bus routes unless you ride a preserved example from Wannsee..