Leicester R Series Metrobus at Loughborough

Corrosion was the biggest problem with the MCW Metrobus so I imagine the outside Scotland not so common Alexander R Series bodied variant was a much better bus, they certainly looked good in their day. Following Deregulation Leicester City Bus found themselves well outside the city such as here at a rather dreary Loughboriugh Bus Station still with it's old concrete shelters.

RHY 787M: Digbeth Mass Departure Time

A host of mainly Leyland Leopards take their turn to leave Digbeth Coach Station one Friday in the Eighties, but adding a bit of variety is a DAF from Midland Fox

Spot the real Cat amongst the Leylands

Plenty of cats to be found at the Ellen Smith premises near Rochdale but sadly unlike the real feline the playful days for the old Leyland Tiger Cubs had long gone. The one at the centre has a Duple body whilst the other one and the partly grimpsed old Leopard were by Harrington of Hove. This operator was a staunch Leyland fan but a few AEC's found their way into the red and white painted fleet as well from time to time.

Special Swiss Ski-Buses

Height can often be a problem with buses as when they have two floors can be just too big. In Switzerland they had the opposite problem and an unusual one at that. It needed some buses to serve the Ski-Lifts at Scoul right in the top R/H corner overlooked by Italy and Austria. The problem was as the standees packed inside the headroom was not adequate for some upright skis. So a few elderly Saurer DUK's had their roofs raised for the job. Two PTT owned examples were seen here alongside a more normal contractor's small Mercedes in the Nineties.  .

KSD 109W: Kingdom of the Black Prince

Deregulation threw up all sorts of new operators and a few of them were interesting enough to become memorable probably because they included a 'have-a-go' enthusiast element. In Leeds could be found the intriguingly titled Black Prince which was partial to Volvo products like this lovely Ailsa new to Western Scottish.

Old Crosville Bristol FSF DFG 79 in Warrington

Just like my old Voitlander camera which was making scratch marks as the film was wound on, this old Crosville Bristol FSF6G DFG 79 was nearing the end of it's days. In 1979 it was on school bus duties in it's hometown Warrington.

Basle Tram 475 Crosses the Rhine in 1990

My knowledge is not sufficient to enlighten you on Basle trams but I hope that won't spoil it for you.

Edinburgh: First-SMT Atlantean ORS 204R

First Group was formed from a merger of the Privitised Groups Badgerline and Grampian. Grampian of course was formerly Aberdeen Corporation which in later years built up a large fleet of Alexander bodied Atlanteans. ORS 204R was still in Scotland when I caught it hard at work in Edinburgh with First-SMT and looking rather scruffy compared to the similar but always  immaculate Lothian examples

Geneva Saurer 423

When I came to Switzerland in 1963 to go to school the buses there in Geneva to greet me looked very different from their British counterparts. Thankfully there were still a few of these not unpleasant looking Saurer's still on the road in the early Nineties.