London Central Optare Spectra SP1 at Trafalgar Square

New buses for London routes are two-a-penny and no doubt most go unnoticed by the public but a bit like the Borismaster later these Optare Spectras looked just that bit different and enough to catch the eye. I always tend to think of here at Trafalgar Square or Piccadilly Circus to be the centre of London or maybe it's Parliament Square but buswise I think Victoria which acts like a transport hub could claim that honour. I thought this was fitting for the new month as the bus was number SP1.

United Counties London Routemaster RM 2192 with Stagecoach at Bedford

When Deregulation opened up the bus market operators tried anything to get one up on their competitors and that included the populist idea of bringing back traditional double-deckers with a friendly conductor like this Routemaster with United Counties at Bedford and it might looked a bit 'washed out'  but these were the only buses I saw there which were not in Stagecoach stripes

Western National Volvo B10M F446 DUG

I don't suppose the driver of this Plaxton Paramount 3500 bodied Volvo B10M will be telling his tour passengers on a trip to Bournemouth that they have just gone passed where the wonderful two-storey Hants and Dorset bus station used to be or their coach is a cast-off from Wallace Arnold. However if he likes to set off on the right foot and entertain his most likely more elderly passed he should say his name is Doug just like the coach whether it is or not lol.

Greater Manchester Transport END 820D at Stockport

SELNEC or as it later became known Greater Manchester Transport after it was enlarged inherited a large fleet of Leyland Titan half-cabs from Stockport but these were soon diluted with other types and two former Manchester Corportation Atlanteans from the END-D batch can be seen in this view.

Nottingham City Leyland Lion D394 TAU

Nottingham went through a phase where it thought it worthwhile to have bumpers added to the front of it's new buses. In the past it was not very common and unlike these solid looking cast-iron affairs probably the bits of rather cosmetic chrome seen on the likes of M&D stock would not have been substantial or robust enough to bare a hot drivers weight on sunny day never mind withstand a collision. Nottingham has always been legendry for it's interesting buses and at least the City Transport was able to continue that tradition these rare Leyland Lion buses in 1985 also delivered to Eastern Scottish for service in the Edinburgh area.

Hampson of Oswestry Bristol LH BNU 674G

Oswestry had a small Independent who operated a town service with a number of interesting vehicles over the years including this Bristol LH which had formerly been with Midland General.

First North Somerset & Bristol Enviro SN58 CFV

The only good thing to say about First's current grey based livery is there are parts of the country where they manage not to use it and this Dennis Enviro at Weston super Mare looks rather pleasing in it's North Somerset and Bristol livery.

Swindon & District Leyland Titan GNF 11V

In the Nineties it seemed everywhere one went there was something of interest like this Swindon and District Leyland Titan which had been one of a trial batch for Greater Manchester PTE.

Remember Summer 2018

Remember the baked gardens and endless hot weather of 2018 well it will be a tragedy if we have a repeat this time but can't go anywhere. In recent times Arriva has pulled out of the less important and rural routes out of Stafford and buses from D&G and two from Select dominate the scene here at Pitcher Bank.

Grey Green Volvo B10M Duple E891 KYW

Cowie's Grey Green Coaches was one of a number of traditionally loyal Leyland customers who cherished the Leopard but quickly became disenchanted with it's replacement the Tiger and turned to the ever populat Volvo B10M. It's a shame after it's buy-out by Plaxton, Duple ceased building bodies as this it's final offering was most attraactive. Always one of the best places to see coaches in London was along the Thames Embankment.

Damp Sunday in Liverpool

Double-deckers were once vanishing fast on Liverpool's streets but Stagecoach and Arriva have built up their fleets again.

DONT MISS THE LAST BUS!

To think except for during the war there must have been a continuous direct bus service between Stafford and Wolverhapton.  But today that comes to an end as it's i54 sponsored National Express West Midlands 54 Service will cease to operate and Staffordshire County Council failed to make other arrangements. I think it's a step too far and dangerous when important trunk networks get broken up, also they don't do things by degrees any more as at least they could have left the people who use it a few buses. Anyway in the good old days it was served by Midland Red every hour and D9's were used on it for some time before Stafford got any and especially as Bearwood got the third production bus 4851. By 1963 though they were a familiar sight and a later Bearwood bus had had plenty of time to get grubby as it set off back on it's fairly slow two hour trip to Birmingham.

Plymouth CityBus Atlantean TTT 164X and Dennis Dart L112 YOD

Plymouth Citybus more or less stayed with a red based livery but never seemed satisfield with the right scheme, I can see the thinking for either there was too much black or should it tempered down with some grey etc.. I must admit I prefered it when during the AN68 Atlantean Era when they returned to the more tradition red and cream scheme with black wheels and typeface in gold. Unlike the Atlantean and buses like the Western National Bristol VR also very much a feature here I doubt many of us will really miss the little Dennis Dart but do feel a bit of affection for that ubiquitous workhorse. I think perhaps I warm to it as new buses usually replaced more exciting types but many of these replaced the minibus which I think we all despised so for once they gave us a plus..

F105 YVP Leaside: Blood On The Tracks

This is a slightly strange photo I took. As usual I was hoping to get the girls in as an excuse to snap the very ugly Leaside Metrorider. I don't know if the driver was just too ashamed to be seen driving it as he pulled up as closer behind the transit in Whitehall than usual in traffic. He also seems to be waving his arms around in protest but I didn't notice anything too much at the time and at least the red is not my blood on te pavement. It might be flawed but here's another example of the way I managed to record those buses most wouldn't bother with which only goes to prove it pays to participate in two hobbies at the same time.

Berlin BVG MAN SD 84 3403

How the years fly by, I used to regularly go to Berlin at this time of year but a lot has changed since the early Nineties and even though these far too ubiquitous MAN Wagon-Union double-deck buses weren't liked at the time by enthusiasts as in Britain I'm sure they are now in favour as 'real buses' and more importantly real Berlin buses.  3403 was one of the last of this generation and built in 1985.

Crosville Wrexham Depot Gems

Crosville had it's largest allocation at Wrexham and there was a large parking area at the rear but it was not easy to get around. On another occasion I turned up at lunchtime and one of the fitters told me the boss had gone for dinner but I could do it if I was quick before he got back. On the day I took this photo I wasn't so lucky but shot these two interesting buses through the open doorway as one of the Northern Counties bodied Daimler Fleetlines acquired from Southdown had been converted to open-top and by then the faithful old Lodekkas were starting to get very scarce even here. 

Leyland National NOE 591R at Bretonside

Even if we didn't all love the Leyland National it was interesting how they got spread far and wide following Deregulation and the sell-off of the NBC. This is one I knew well from it's days at Chaserider in Cannock but it looked rather different here at Bretonside in Plymouth in Ferry Bus livery.

The Day Of The Triffids

I don't think we are used to it when science fiction drama becomes real life. Apart from it being here and a reality of course Corona Virus might not be quite as terrifying as a stroppy Triffid but there is a similarity here as one still needed to keep at least two meters away in case you got lashed across the eyes and blinded. In Summer 2019 the locals had nothing worse to fear than Jojo out with her camera in Stafford trying to select decent shots and when it's nice nice who cares if the Select Dennis Dart has already passed.

Maidstone & District AEC Reliance 32 YKK at Knightrider Street Garage

The BET Group used this pleasant frontal design on it's first 36ft sallons for a short time only before curved screen came along and with the exception of Midland Red which was able to order one-hundred they were delivered in relitively smallish numbers. I was at Maidstone in 1967-8 and it's two DP's were there at the same time having previously worked from Sheerness. It looks as though SC32 which had been renumbered to 2532 had just had a fresh coat of paint in this view at Knightrider Street.

Solent Blue Line BFX 576T in Southampton

Similar bus sounds could be enjoyed in two cities which are also slightly similar having had to be hurriedly rebuilt after the War giving them an understated low-rise  flat-roofed Fifties 'New Town' feel. Southampton and Plymouth both standardised on the Leyland Atlantean amassing a large fleet and in the Nineties both Solent Blue and Western National paraded their inherited former NBC tuneful  Gardner powered Bristol VR's making interesting contrasts.

Stagecoach Enviro PX08 CTE in Morecambe

Of course with some good weather they are enjoyable but I found days out to heritage bus events be be a bit false and I felt a lot more gratified when I could take some of the current local buses like this Stagecoach Eviro at Morecambe two years ago. The trouble is this bus is almost identical to other Stagecoach buses one might also see in say Peterborough or Petersfield and I certainly wouldn't have made a special visit so I have no complaints and especially as this was a very good one.

Voyages Remy in Lausanne with Van-Hool 388

Both the Remy Voyages coach driver and the driver of the newish Lausanne Van-Hool have a bit of time to twiddle their thumbs as they patiently wait outside the main railway station in 1996. But unlike Germany which always seemed to be busy with coach activity however in Switzerland except for on ski work one hardly ever saw a proper any coaches except post-bus types so I was quite pleased to snap this smart  Mercedes with it's smart Vaud number-plate showing us it was local.  

Berresford's of Cheddleton ex-Silver Star Atlantean 1013 MW

I wonder how many of us managed to visit Jim Berresford's depot and rambling bus graveyard at Cheddleton. I was lucky enough to do it twice and even though I'm a bit sentimental and don't like looking at pictures of decaying buses recording their demise for posterity was a different matter and of course it was a chance to do some bus photography. Thankfully the former Silver Star Atlantean has been preserved in it's original colours but like most of the others that finished their days and languished here the former North Western Willowbrook bodied AEC Reliance wasn't so lucky.

A Contrast Premier Travel Volvo B58M E361 NEG and E365 NEG at Heathrow

I expect most people with time to kill before their flight from Heathrow Airport would head for the Duty Free area and enjoy the perks setting them on their way. Of course being a bus enthusiast the busy comings are goings here are almost worth a visit in itself. Two Premier Travel Plaxton B10M coaches are in different liveries but I know which one I prefer! 

Heritage Liveried RM 2130 at Victoria

I feel Britain has changed greatly since the Eighties when one could take images like this in London which had a timeless feel about them, . A world of quiet no-nonsense gentlemen who lived in Tunbridge Wells and who were prepared for everything except perhaps sunshine but definately ever single on of those beastly  showers.