I suppose for most people the centre of London is Trafalgar square or Oxford Street but for bus enthusiasts it has to be Victoria with it's bus station beside the station, Victoria Coach Station and we must not forget the Green Line departures from Eccleston Bridge. Here was a good spot for photos and there were often other coaches to get in the shot too like this MCW Metroliner of Eastern Scottish passing a Green Line ECW bodied Tiger bound for Windsor on the 701. After Deregulation and the sell off of the various London Country units Green Line fragmented and went into decline and more focus went on to the airport links and busy commuter corridors.
I do like this shot, Christopher, as it nicely sums up the era when I was first travelling around on my own and reaching places such as London Victoria (although I couldn't afford a ride on a London Transport bus, not with only 50p or £1 in my pocket for the day!)
ReplyDeleteYou've even caught that now almost extinct creature, The Bus Inspector...
I was going to suggest that this picture was perhaps taken in the (to me) halcyon years before deregulation was mentioned, maybe around 1983, as the Metroliner has the pre-Citylink SBG "People going places... GO SCOTTISH" branding on the side (you can just see the first word!).
But, Googling for info on TL19, and comparing liveries, it seems it's in the later two-tone-green variant of Venetian Blind livery without NBC logos, so I'm now assuming that you caught these two sometime in late 1985 or during 1986, which leaves me intrigued as to why SBG had left the Metroliner in the old colours so late.
Aha Ross you are obvious well into this period, your golden age as a youngster and it was interesting a kind of 'Indian Summer'for bus enthusuasts before Stagecoach and Arriva became present, I enjoyed it too with lots of trips out.I have to confess mine was up to the mid-Sixties and I spent a lot of time in London, only wish I always had a camera with me then for one of my most interesting sightings was a brand new AEC Renown demonstrator 8071 ML at Gillingham Street Garage.
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