F14 BUS: Nice Reg but old Coach

The other Sunday I went up to Manchester for the Trans Lancs Rally in Heaton Park but a newer but most unusual vehicle was to be found picking up outside Piccadilly Station on a rail replacement for First heading for Mansfield.

GLJ 871N: Alton Bus Running Day

I'm not a huge fan of sparkling pristine buses all parked up in a field somewhere but when it comes to a bus running day I like to be there for even though it is never quite the same experience they live again with sounds and interiors which bring more memories flooding back like this former Hants and Dorset Leyland National at Alton.

BF52 OAE Arriva: Sorry Not in Service

When a bus has a major breakdown in the centre of town and takes ages to be recovered it does not do the image of a company like Arriva any good. A Wright bodied VDL and the usual type of Wednesfield garage bus to be found on the 76 from Wolverhampton, I think think I actually went on it this morning and it sounded okay but 3718 obviously failed big time in Stafford. Worse still it was next to a tight mini-roundabout and other buses had trouble turning out of Greengate Street on to South Wales here in Stafford adding to the entertainment..

The Bee Line F758 OJH at Victoria Coach Station

Carrying it's brand boldly the Jonckheere plus Jubilee P50 wording I always found these coach bodies to be rather unattractive but I have been told they were very solid and freer from corrosion than many British models. So no doubt coupled with the reliable Volvo B50M this coach with it's Dutch inspired livery might well have outlived it's operator born out of Alder Valley called The Bee Line perhaps.

828 Goes Past My House it's My Lucky Number

I've always had a special affinity for my favourite number 28 but 828 is extra special for not only was the red Austin Mini Countryman I learnt to drive and passed my test in ARE 828D by coincidence it is also my birthday. Although I'm not a big fan of these Plaxton bodied Darts they use on the new Stafford to Brereton via Great Haywood route it's rather pleasing that Arriva love me enough to number it 828. Not that they've told their staff for if the drivers reply to a polite greeting the best one might expect is a grunt for I feel sometimes their attitude is we can't stop you riding on my bus but we don't have to like you. Sometimes I think it's just because I'm Jojo but a lady getting off a 76 the other day enquired of the driver if he was able to speak as it obviously wasn't part of his job.

Nottingham PAU 205R: A Leyland or a Daimler?

Although Nottingham seemed to favour the Atlantean there was always a decent fleet of Daimler Fleetlines buses too. From the front though it was difficult to tell which was which but numerically the Daimlers never went beyond 224 whilst the first Atlantean was 401 in 1964. One of each can be seen here with Leyland No.593 in the background.

Signs of the Time

I'm afraid many of our towns are starting to look a bit like the Amazon Jungle as the advertising and brand names reach out trying to grab more of the available light. Add to these the mass of often confusing road signs and other bits of street furniture that make pedestrians feel like second rate citizens compared to the much more important car. So the bus home is a bit of a Diamond like YT51 EAO in Bilston when it takes the more sensible shoppers home for a welcome cup of tea and to reflect on all the things we forgot to get because they couldn't remember the name.

The Bexleybus Bexley Hoppa in Bexley E929 KYR

The Bexleybus Bexley Hoppa for LT. As well as these they also had some Northern Counties Leyland Olympians in this livery which could be also be found on some similar Eastbourne buses but I'm not sure why. Some designs start to look better with age but like all the vehicles in this shot none of them have exactly become classics including the MCW Metrorider.

Stevenson's Atlantean JKE 339E at Pitcher Bank in Stafford

After buying some former Portsmouth MCW bodied Atlanteans Stevenson's of Uttoxeter bought some similar but much more unusual Massey bodied buses from Maidstone. As a bus enthusiast over the years I've been amazed at the number of times I've enjoyed a kind of deja-vu for how could I have imagined that this bus from Kent which used to spend it's days going up and down the Tonbridge Road just outside my window when I was art college should turn up at Pitcher Bank in Stafford.

Southampton Olympian with R. Bullock at Stockport

In the same way that the Leyland Tiger was not as good as the tried and tested Leopard so was the Atlantean replacement the Olympian not so popular. Some like Southampton and Plymouth who bought a few unsuccessful trial buses like East Lancs bodied C285 BBP quickly sold them on leaving the many still highly regarded later generation AN68 Atlantean to soldier on.

BXI 2599: Girls can snap buses too

There is no reason why they shouldn't but rather than just tag along and say "That's a nice one." some women are really into buses too but maybe because it's not so common it does still raise a few eyebrows. Modest as I am I quite enjoy it when people look at me and not only wonder about it but how I know so much about the Fifties and Sixties. This Ulsterbus Bristol RE seems to be attending a lot of everts as here at Alton is not the only time I have seen it this year as it was also at Gaydon.

Hodson's of Penkridge on the Move

The car dealer hasn't ceased trading but they have moved to new premises next to their workshops further out of the village. But sadly it is another once familiar landmark that has gone and no doubt the centre of Penkridge will no longer look quite the same when it is replaced I expect as usual by a boring block of retirement apartments. Of course the Arriva Wright bodied VDL's are still on the 76 which from today reverts back to it's old route missing out Brewood and all other diversions apart from Coven and the i54.