Travel West Midlands Hybrid Electric Enviro 5404 BX13 JOV

Sometimes I feel a bit sad to let go of the good years but as 2020 rapidly approaches in a few hours time I have mixed feelings as will it get any better than a troubled 2019. Well at least if it hasn't happened already which I doubt the light rail extension in Wolverhampton to the station should be fully open hopefully bringing a bit of life back to the city streets. I'm sorry they pained the green electric hybrid Enviro buses into normal livery as they added a bit of welcomed variety.

Huyton Travel in St Helens

Huyton Travel seems to have quite a stong presence in St Helens and it's Optare Solos were very much in evidence even on a Sunday whereas we get almost no bus at all on a Sunday in Staffordshire. Huyton is a suburb of Liverpool and best known for being the parliamentary seat of former Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson in the Sixties.

LWS 40Y City of Gloucester Roe bodied Olympian

Despite the Christmas decorations I don't think it was the festive season yet but they obviously go up very early in  Gloucester. The NBC bought both but the Roe bodied Leyland Olympians were not so common as the more familiar ECW bodied buses but  new to Bristol Omnibus as seen here here and London Country had a lot of them. I thought these looked a bit more attractive in a quirky way when they were new with the extra brightwork but perhaps not so much once they had been allowed to get a bit scruffy.

Peterborough Levante: Once I was a know-All

I still know more than I should about buses in the Sixties but these days I can't even guess a lot of it any more. Unlike on this East Yorkshire coach at Peterborough working for National Express once not only did each operator have it's own colours we could guess where it was from by it's registration and even though Y is for Yorkshire it's hardly precise like Hulls KH, RH and AT. And it could be a Volvo, a Scania or a Hungarian Goolash for all I know. No sadly if I really need to know I have to look it up so forgive me if sometimes I just take the pictures and get it wrong.

Birkenhead & Liverpool: Our Day Out With Dad and Mum

I have a good memory but who would know as a child what they would remember and what they would forget, what leaves a lasting impression and what is just blandness or just unpleasant. I suppose we still remember the everyday like how the dining room or how big our bedroom was but conveniently forget it in a way as it is not relevant but if I could go back and revisit my childhood it would be for good days out like this to Birkenhead with great views across the Mersey to Liverpool. Buses always fascinated me as a child and I expect that was partly because my older brother liked them because they were where it was like a Crosville. Of course Crosville and Birkenhead Coropration are long gone but everything has it's time and even this Arriva Wright bodied VDL No.2905 CX58 EWU at Woodside will be a vague memory in years to come of hopefully a wonderful childhood to these children taking an old bus ride.

A201 MEL; Hampshire Bus in Southampton

Some of the Deregulation liveries worn by former NBC companies were not so radical but also rather pleasant like this scheme of Hampshire Bus former out of hants and Dorset. Despite it being a dreary December day it's ECW bodied Letland Olympian looked quite bright.

Bern Boggie Tram 629 on Line 5

Switzerland has changed a lot since I started going back in 1989 and ten years later when I last went much of the elderly traditional very Swiss buses and trams had vanished. This military-green was a bit dour but it seemed to suit rather provincial sleepy Medieval Bern. 629 was one of the last boggie trams which could be found on this line.

Arriva Going Green on Merseyside

A late arrival at the Birkenhead Tram running day last October was Arriva Merseyside 7002. I'm glad you noticed something different indeed it is an unusual bus outside London indeed we don't see many of their buses that are that new lol. LJ67 DLZ is of course a BYD D9UR but that might mean more to you.

Stagecoach Dennis Trident in Exeter WA04FOD

By coincidence this Stagecoach Alexander Dennis Trident seen leaving Exeter Bus Station carried a reminder of the old registration system with it's FOD as that was a Devon marque. Once it was a hive of activity especially in the days when the lower coach station was full of tour coaches or a Bank Holiday Serge of express coaches and reliefs heading to and from the West Country. I went there many times before it was run down and then closed yet I still can't remember if it's Paul Street or Paris Street. 

Burnley & Pendle Tayside Bristol VR

With Deregulation looming in the Eighties the Municipal general managers often had to start making previously unheard of economies which meant they even had to buy second hand buses. Burnley and Pendle acquired some unusual Alexander bodied Bristol VR's from Dundee's Tayside.

Western super Mare First Coaster Open Top Bus

A reminder of Summer. It might fill cool in the breeze but we can still get sunburnt. I forgot to put any sun cream on that day but I was lucky as I didn't burn.

Setra of Boons of Boreham Wood RSU231

Partly caused by the demise of Leyland and it's products the The Nineties saw an invasion of imported coaches like at Trafalgar Square this still impressive looking Setra of Boons and a Garrett's DAF Bova Futura another model which enjoyed a long run. Many of these had so-called cherished number-plates to hide their age and the bus enthusiast had to keep a bit of an anorak to sort out what was what.

Midland General AEC Regal 111 KRR 255 at Showbus

Three classic AEC half-cabs at Showbus in 2016 including two from Carras in Lisbon and a 1949 Weymann bodied Midland General Regal 111 in that attractive blue and cream.