Trent-Barton High Peaks Volvo

 Whereas many former NBC operators gaining their freedom took a very much see how it goes approach Trent buckled down bought new buses and thought it through. This included branding and the buses on the Alexander bodied Volvos on the Buxton to Manchester service were chistened Trans Peak doing away with traditional route numbers.

Hvide or White Bus to Helsingør Volvo B57-60 VBK/Karsen No.6

 One of my favourite Independents in Denmark was Hvide or in English the White Bus based at  Hørsholm. Some of the buses on this 188 route which followed the coastal road up to Helsinger from Klampenborg were branded 'Strand Buses'. It operated DAB-Leyland, Volvo and I even saw an AEC at the garage. Here in 1982 now ten years old we can see how good B57-60  VBK/Karsen bodied No.6 bus looked in that livery. 

Chaserider Enviro 99

 Not so long ago one of the regulars on the 841 Stafford to Uttoxeter and when it was running the local 10 Service was Chaserider Enviro No.99. The last time I saw it was some moths ago when it was being towed back to Stafford. I was told the gears suddenly failed which wasn't surprising really as the gearbox was dropping off. 

HT 448 DAB-Leyland in Copenhagen

My latest scanner doesn't scan colour prints as well as black and white and some of them look a bit too rich. However it can make for s nice enlarged postcard look and who doesn't want to see a street-scene of an HT DAB-Leyland in Copenhagen.
 

Former Ribble Leopard with Staffordian Travel LCW732W

 After Greatrex Travel sold it's business it was rebranded as Staffordian and wore an attractive silver and black livery. This former Ribble Plaxton bodied Leopard might have arrived in all-white and bought mainly for schools contracts was given a cheap livery 'facelift' but still looked rather attractive. Another explanation for the livery change is more likely that by this time Staffordian iteslf had been merged with Happy Days with which it had close family links and who initially had to keep the name alive for various reasons. Unlike today's buses the Leyland Leopard was quite loud and this one particularly so as it had a none standard sounding exhaust that boomed even more than usual and in my opinion at least it sounded lovely as one could hear it's roar from miles away. 

A225VWO A National Welsh Tiger Bound Fror Brighton

The driver might be waiting to get a nod from the inspector but a Duple bodied Laser bodied Leyland Tiger of National Welsh is ready to depart from Marlborough Street Bus Station in Bristol on the long journey to Brighton.

 

You Have To Look Twice L503-CPB

 Seen in Stafford, at first glance I thought this was one of the East-Lancs EL2000 bodied Dennis Darts L503 BNX delivered to Midland Red North but it was in fact an almost identical bus which came from London and Country L503 CPB.

Lothian White Liveried Atlantean in Edinburgh GSC664X

Although always beautifully turned out I always felt t that the stark black and white livery was a bit too different from the usual dark red on the city's buses in Edinburgh 

Niels Søndergaard Sørensen, Vorgod

This is one of the many places in Denmark where I stopped for half an hour or so to catch the the various liveries of the lovely danish buses. I thing this Aabenraa bodied Volvo B9-60 of the family firm called Sondergaard  meaning in English 'South Farm' and was probably at the Herning on it's short journey to Videbaek. It was new in 1983 and after leaving Denmark in 2004 and ran in Poland till 2009 

An Eastern Counties Ambassador at Norwich

 One of my favourite places for bus photography was Norwich especially as it was a late Bristol Lowdekka stronghold. Also it had an interesting large bus station on a slope with a good sized bus garage attached. One thing I liked about the Tilling Group and firms like Eastern Counties was the way it built attractive bus stations in brick with good facilities and kept them clean and smart even in the normally less proud cost-cutting NBC era. In that respect it often outshone parts of the BET Group like Nortern General which even in some important locations seemed to have rows of sad concrete and or cast-iron shelters, but of course that might have been on the part of the Authority which owned the land and provided the facilities. Perhaps it's worth mentioning too that standards were different in a grirrt working class town whereas Norwich was considered to be the unspoken capital of East Anglia I guess. Probably the only drawback here buswise was being at it's heart one only really saw Eastern Counties buses even if in the NBC era it was by another name. Now called Ambassador one of it's coaches a Duple Dominant bodied Leyland Leopard  makes a call on it's way up to Great Yarmouth.    

Jones of Market Drayton RAW735X

In the NBC days PMT was hit with a lot more service cuts than many of companies almost wiping out it's rural network. Not surprisingly this hit Stafford hard as the small garage closed leaving it with just the Hanley service that still operates today. One of it's services was a very infrequent Tuesday and Saturday service to Market Drayton via Eccleshall and Woodseaves which Jones took on and which often brought Duple bodied Ford RAW-735X into Stafford. 

Ride On Top Of A Fox M166GRY

 To think way back in 1962 Midland Red despite having a large rural empire to serve actually operated slightly more double-deckers than saloons if one discounts coaches. By the end of the NBC era thanks to it's buy Leyland National policy and the loss of it's most lucrative Birmingham and Black Country area to the PTE double-deckers were few and far between. The one exception was the more urban Leicester but because of their age the remaining Daimler Fleetlines had dwindled away too. Not surprisingly the Privatised eastern area called Midland Fox reintroduced them and typical was this East-Lancs bodied Scania.    

Saurer Trolleybus in Montreaux with VVMC

 VVMC operated almost all trolleybuses and did one 12.8km main route taking it along the side of Lake Geneva. All were Saurers like Ni.10 at Montreaux and dated from 1956-8. They were replaced by eighteen Van-Hool/Kiepe in 1991

Western National Leyland Olympian A755 VAF from Plymouth to Torquay X80

 Once it stopped getting Bristol VR's Western National bought very few new double-deckers till Privatisation. The only exception was eight of these Leyland Olympians which fitted with coach seating must have clocked up huge mileages on the longer services to Exeter and Torquay. 

It Haas a name, Haas Reisedienst of Aachen

 In Britain bus and transport enthusiasts have fairly catholic tastes liking a bit of this and a bit of that and knowing a good thing where I see it. My feeling is abroad there are less of us and perhaps they specialise. That's a shame as had I been growing up in Germany in the Eighties I might have gone potty to see such wonderful coach of that period like this wonderful split level creation with Reisedienst Haas of Aachen in Berlin. No doubt based on a Mercedes-Benz it was marketed as something else it would seem, apart from taking lots of pictures I never got too much into German coaches as there is little to read up.

Blackpool AEC Swift

 A murky damp Summer Sunday in Blackpool but being able to photograph some interesting old buses still at work makes it enjoyable. Amongst the delights were the remaining AEC Swifts with Marshall bodywork like this one on a cross town service to Mereside.

SMY630X Green Line Leyland Tiger Plaxton Supreme

 At Victoria in London stands a Plaxton Supreme bodied Leyland Tiger which started life here with National Travel but had by now become a Green Line coach. I had about three images of this one to choose from but I picked this one.

Go-Goodwins AEC Reliance CAR 354K

The driver of this Plaxton Panorama bodied AEC Reliance of Goodwins finds time to stop in a South Manchester lay-by to spruce up his coach which had been new in London to Randall  in March 1972. Across the road is the huge Whithington Cemetery, I don't know where but my grandfather who lived till he was ninety-eight is buried in there somewhere.  

 

No Pandas Just A Pandane At The Zoo

 I don't have that many big favourite coaches but I always loved the Pandane. This one was in Berlin at The Zoo whilst on contract to Globus. What always amazes me is how tiny the registration numbers are in Italy. I can understand them not liking bus spotters but you would think they would be more than happy to make them visible for the traffic police lol.

563-TD Lancashire United 99

 In the early Sixties Lancashire United was luke-warm about the merits of the Daimler Fleetline and when it placed orders with local bodybuilder Northern Counties they were included as a smaller addition to it's much preferred trusty Guy Arab. No doubt the operator realised that they were the way forward and it looks like No.99 leaving Swinton Garage in about early 1980 when had just had a repaint. 

Preston Leyland Lynx H23YBV

 With the H.M.Prison in the background a Preston Leyland Lynx approaches the bus station followed by a similar bus.

Top Tour Berlin

 BVG the Berlin bus operator was running a small fleet of coaches plus a few sightseeing buses in that lucrative market. This Mercedes 0407 had been cut down and de-roofed to make an attractive chara for it's Top Tour. Personally I would much have preferred  to ride on the MAN double-decker with Stadtrunfarht Berlin, another former BVG bus.

Noisy Scania B6-7 WER They were a bit different

 Since Arriva pulled out of Stafford we have seen a wide variety of buses come and go from both Select and Chaserider. Looking like a Volvo or VDL Cannock based 748 was one of a pair of Wright bodied Scanias. New arrivals from Centrebus always stand out as they run around for a little while in their more attractive orange based scheme till one discovers if they will go back as being on loan or will stay. Sadly both have gone as one is being scrapped whilst the other returned to Leicester, i will certainly miss those transmission sounds they made a very different ride.

A Is For Augsburg

The letter 'A' in the German registration codes is for Augsburg as carried on this rather overpowering red and black Neoplan coach of Reim.  WIS carried by the by then quite elderly Setra might be a lot more difficult to guess but it's for Wismar, formerly part of the DDR and situated on the coast half way between Rostock and Lubeck. I've learnt something today as I had to look that one up and even though I've been to Lubeck I've never heard of Wismar before.

Merseyside PTE's Only New Leyland Leopard

 Unlike other PTE's which set up a coaching division Merseyside PTE only had a small fleet for coachwork. No. 7003 was a single Leyland Leopard which was fitted with a Duple Dominant 'Express' body and whose driver with arms folded seemed to be going nowhere as it took it's turn to leave a busy Digbeth whilst on hire to National Express and bound for Southport..   

From Brighton to Rossendale with a Lynx G994 VWX

 After Deregulation many former Municipal buckled under the pressure from ruthless predators like Stagecoach, but the former Rawtenstall renamed Rossendale bucked the trend and not only survived it expanded. This was done thanks to the the purchase of secondhand buses and coaches. They were mostly Leylands like this former Brighton Lynx.

Portcawl Omnibus Volvo B58M JBO 461N

 Porthcawl Omnibus was using this Plaxton bodied Volvo B58M with lots of  stickers for it's TOWN Link service between Wildmill and Bridgend on what looks like a more local service.

Post-NBC South Midland Rides Again in Oxford

 Having been sold off and severed from the clutches of the NBC most operators were quick to adopt or modify their liveries to exclaim that air of freedom and independence. Whereas City of Oxford was an exception and clung onto NBC poppy red for some time afterwards it's hived off country area now using the once familiar local coach title South Midland  initially adopted the dark red and cream too before going for something a lot more racy even 'jazzy'. Most of us bus enthusiasts of a certain age probably preferred  them like this.which showed sympathy for the rather elegant lines of the ECW body on this Bristol VR AUD464R 631. City of Oxford had been part of the huge private BET and as South Midland was part of the nationalised BTC it had come under the arm of Thames Valley in Reading but was based in Oxford. 

H192 JNF Arriva Wadham-Stringer Dnnis Dart

 Arriva had many Dennis Darts but this one seen in Stafford was a little bit unusual as it bore attractive Wadham Stringer bodywork and had been new to Jim Stones.

BVG Berlin 3534 at Reinickendorf

 Looking at the photos I took in Berlin and elsewhere I'm glad I used to get off the beaten track, but a consequence of that is I often can't consciously remember where they were taken it has gone fuzzy. This is a good example but the route displayed as 72 means it was taken before Reunification and indeed the still new looking MAN 3534 dated from 1986. I expect this is the opposite terminus of the 57 min 16 Km trip to Gartenfeld and was taken at Reinickendorf

 After buying the early Atlantean, Trent changed to the Daimler Fleetline including some with ECW bodies like 553 seen in Derby.

East Berlin: If It's a bus or coach it's an Ikarus

 I complain because some of my colour prints came back with the wrong colouring, but I'm afraid there's nothing much one could do about those taken in East Berlin as the air was so fogged with pollutant from burning brown coal the air was thick with it. No doubt in the same way we miss the smell of the steam railway and industry older people in that part of the city must miss their smells too. Ikarus supplied most of the buses for much of the Eastern Block and they came in all sizes and even as a not too convincing luxury coach.

I Spy With My Little Eye

 Yes there's certainly plenty to see in this view I took of Chester from the City Wall  as Northern Counties Daimler Fleetline CFM 86S approaches nearing the end of it's journey to the town hall terminus.

West Midland Travel Leyland Fleetline WDA924T at Coventry Pool Meadow

 Not quite ready to load for it's journey to the Walsgrave Hospital in Coventry POOL MEadow BUs Station was 6924 one of the last batch of Fleelines delivered to West Midlands PTE and bore attractive MCW bodywork.

All Of A Rush on London Bridge

  It must be mid-afternoon as the shadows are already lengthening on London Bridge as the commuters start making their way home. In the background a Red Arrow National GUW465W 2 LS465 overtakes what I think is B15 Titan T932 A932SYE.

Stroud Valleys National in Cheltenham

 This Stroud Valleys Leyland National didn't look too out of place amongst Cheltenham's Edwardian architecture.

The Midland Red Bus Home D7 4126

 Till the late the Sixties the Midland Red garage at Stafford was almost exclusively double-deck with a large number of D7's especially from the first 100 4078-4177. Displaying the wrong service number instead of S98 No.4126 is resting after making the climb up to The Crown at Hyde Lea. Once it reaches the Top of the World on the Newport Road it will change to an S88 and continue to Castle Church. Buses which managed to spend their whole lives at just one garage were a rarity and this was one of them.

A Kind of Nationalism NHA 265M

 In the old days when we still used film, when we got our prints back from the high-street processors they were often quite poor and rather disappointing and this was no exception. Thanks to digital software it's nice to be able to put some life colour and detail back into these views especially when they were as good as this for it certainly makes me feel nostalgic for Stafford as it was. I reckon it was taken in about 1982 when the town was full of Leyland Nationals and numerically the first 265 spent most of it's life here mainly on the town services.  

Flying The Ensign

 Bus dealerships and scrapyards hold a certain fascination for bus enthusiasts and especially when viewed from outside. I regularly had to drive passed the large Ensign premises at Purfleet. I am sure the old East Kent Guy Arab converted to open-top had a bright future but I cannot say the same for the Wast Midlands East-Lancs bodied Daimler Fleetline 4462 TOE462N ordered by Coventry Corporation on former LT DMS Fleetline OJD 449R but you never know.  

A Manchester Routemaster 136 CLT

 After Deregulation it seemed everyone in the business found an excuse to buy some iconic Routemasters. I think Manchester bought eight with Leyland engines but London Transport was not happy that they blatantly ran them in the same red and with a similar LT roundel. One has to admit former RM 1136 does looked rather smart as it headed towards West Didsbury. This is not the first time they operated them in the city as in the Sixties RM1414 was loaned for evaluation, but it was probably just out of curiousity as by then the future was already accepted to be rear-engined. 

South Wales Hestair Duple 425 131 999BCY

A one-off with South Wales was this quite rare Hestair Duple 425 to National Express Rapide specification. No doubt 131 with it's cherished registration 999BCY was a familiar sight at Heathrow Airport as it regularly passed through travelling up to London. .
 

Not A Pigeon OR A Dove: Vision BJ11-DUV

 Vision Bus had quite a presence in Bolton with a good assortment of vehicles. These included some Wright bodied Volvo B9TL's from First Capital

Job Done! Ipswich TRY 121H

Initially at least when Ipswich bought four ECW bodied Bristol RELL buses off Leicester they didn't really need to paint them. All they had to do was paint over the maroon band and paint it green. 

Wilts & Dorset Roe Bodied Olympian

 The Privatised Wilts and Dorset bought a number of used Leyland Olympians including this example in Bournemouth with a less common Roe body that had been new to London Country as LR45, and then part of the North East after the LCBs was split-up. 

Skibby Rejser in Roskilde

 In Denmark there was still that feeling of catching the village bus as many long established family owned independents operated one or two routes from there like this Skibby Rejser DAB-Leyland about to make the return trip from Roskilde.

Arriva VDL 3784 in Stafford

 Arriva buses in Stafford used to be a very familiar sight but not so much these days. Even though like this bus which has come in from Telford the service terminates at Earl Street so the buses can only really be seen going passed the sttion and the park. That's rather a pity as I rather like their bodied Wright bodied VDL's like 3784. 

Frormer Glenton AEC Reliance EUU 117J

 In Summer Blackpool could offer a fascinating assortment of buses along with so many visiting coaches. Some were very unusual like this former Glenton AEC Reliance with a rare centre-entrance body built to their specification for touring..

Warstone's (Green BUs) Leyland Atlantean No.9 UET-678S

 In the Eighties and Nineties Wolverhampton was alive with interesting Independents with Warstone's Green Bus being the most interesting. As time went on it's fleet became a lot more modern but nevertheless in it's old-fashioned dark green and yellow livery and graphics buses like this quite modern looking former South Yorkshire PTE Alexander bodied Atlantean still had a curious vintage look about them.

Reviving the old East Kent

 The best liveries have a timeless appeal and this East Kent Plaxton Paramount bodied Leyland Tiger standing on the London Embankment looked particularly pleasing and smart in an updated version of it's traditional colours which had been swallowed up by the NBC till now. No.8641 had been FKK-841Y. 

The Snowdon Hoppa!

 A most unusual vehicle in National Express livery was this Iveco minibus No. MCF277 Reg. F77 CJC belonging to Crosville Wales (Cymru). Having arrived with London on the blind it was in reality just doing a feeder to meet the London coach at Shrewsbury and then returning to Pwllheli.