Esjberg Ice-Cream Girl looking Cool

 In Britain we are currently experiencing extremely hot weath in the region of 33'c, and it reminds me of when I arrived in Demnark off the ferry at Esjberg in 1986. It was hot and humid and people were trying to stop the sweat going in their eyes. Then along came a very cool loooking blond girl with her ice-cream. As usual out of town buses depart outside the railway station and a fairly new DAB-Leyland of Strandgaad is on the bus stand for Varde and Skjern a bit further up the Jutland coast. That evening there was a very loud thumder storm.

National Travel (SE) Travelscene Bova SMY 624X

Sometimes we accidentally take photographs which have enough added interest to become talking pieces. Although I say it myself this view of coaches in Elizabeth Street after exiting Victoria Coach Station is a bit of a gem. It seems rather appropriate that the National Travel (SE) Bova should be heading home to Holland, a lovely sleek coach the clumsy application of NBC's striped-blind scheme only spoiling the subtle clean effect. But what I love in this photo is the classic Seventies Ford Granada always ready in every crime drama episode to give chase but the Sweeney's expressionless leather gloved trained police driver with mouthing off Carter and Reagan on board always ended up crashing through an advertisement hoarding before doing a complete spin to stop it crashing down a cellar on a demolition site as the bad guys with the shooters got away in their old red Jag. My alter-ego is Jojo and even though the big brash probably metallic gold Ford was a bird-puller I think instead I can see Jojo trying to still look cool clutching onto the deep leather seats in the back as the XJ screeched around corners hub-caps coming off and me wondering which to do first, pee myself or be sick hanging on for dear life! Anyway the local floozies can't all be adrenaline hungry gangsters molls and I think this Essex Man stayed in the inside-lane and liked to cruise looking for pub car parks and quiet lay-bys to ply the ladies with Babycham. I call him Essex Man not out of disrespect but WOO of course was an Essex registration number, and no doubt had he the gall to try to pick up a classy lady like Jojo then she would have told him to go back to school as 69 was the year he was born lol.

Once Wrexham was the heart of Crosville country and up to about 1982 one could still find it's rather fine Bristol Lodekkas gracing the busy bus station the Chester to Oswestry corridor like 1965 DFG 184 EFM 633C on the D2.

30 Years Ago Today: Crosville DFG 219 in Liverpool

No it doesn't exactly seem like yesterday but more like Fifteen Years Ago. It upsets me at times but it's hardly surprising that the bus scene has changed so much since my youth. Towards the end of 1979 I got busy with my camera recording the buses from my teens before they departed from our streets for the last time. At this time in Liverpool Ribble was still running it's full-fronted MCW bodied PD3's out to Litherland and Old Roan and Crosville too had a few half-cabs like FS Lowdekka DFB 219 of 1966 heading out to Prescot on the border of St Helens.

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A stranger rolls in to town

Yes this for me rare Phillips of Ruskington coach parked at Pitcher Bank made my day as I had the good fortune to have my camera with me too. I was particularly fond of smart Leylands like this Duple Dominant bodied Tiger complete with it's wheel-trims and a later added Leyland badge. However I remember there was a problem as I couldn't get a decent enough view from the front because of the tree or maybe there was also another bus parked in front. Okay there was the sun-lit profile of half the coach but as it was it looked wrong like half a picture but then to my delight the lady stepped into shot adding that spark of interest to the composition. Yes I know it's a terrible vice when one starts letting photographic considerations get in the way of those shaky snaps but I'm glad now I tried to make good photographs if possible. The coach was a bit of cracker too as it was new to National Travel NE before being transferred within the NBC to West Riding and no doubt many would remember seeing it.

Today: One-Thousand-Posts

Yes this is post No.1000 so I thought I had better find you something a bit special like this Brush bodied Maidstone Coprporation Daimler CVG6 from 1948 seen some twenty years later. Not only was it one of by now only three buses in the fleet that weren't Leylands it still wore the old ginger and brown colours that suited this rather smelly town with it's brewery and toffee factory. I've a feeling too this was one of the buses that was lent to London Transport when it was new to ease a chronic bus shortage. Also of interest are the collection of vehicles manufactured by BMC, the Peugeot 403 Taxi with it's cherished number-plate, and of course the horrible new Sixties office block marking the start of the ruination of another once charming English town.

The relentless march of progress....

Two forms of road transport in Bradford City Centre, one modern and sophisticated the other an outdated flash from the past. As the bus mechanic told me when one thing packed up the whole Anglo-Swedish MCW Metropolitan Bus broke down. Pity there's no room left on the cart.

Of the people: Porto's old Trams

Progress is not always so brilliant, I would much rather travel on an old bone-shaker of a tram with it's windows open to the elements than to be sealed up in an air-conditioned glass box on wheels. But on a cold winter's day in Russia it might be quite a different story and modernity and comfort would be welcomed. No.273 was of Bogie Americano type delivered between 1926-8 and built by CCFT whilst the bogies came from Bergische of Remscheid of Germany. What a wonderful place Porto was with it's ancient trams, British Buses and even double-deck trolleybuses.

A10 is not quite perfect: But being there was A1

I read recently that West Midlands PTA were very pleased with their fifty odd Alexander bodied Volvo Ailsa buses and would have liked to have bought more but for political reasons they had to stay British and especially as the current standard bus, the Metrobus was built right on it's doorstep at Washwood Heath. There is some evidence of this as a borrowed new Strathcyde Volvo-Ailsa Citybus was painted in West Midlands colours and operated alongside the existing Swedish products from the former Midland Red Garage at Oldbury. I was glad to catch such a good shot of the bus still carrying it's Strathclyde fleet number A10 as it left the Bull Ring Bus Station in Birmingham as the direction of the bright sunlight was a bit tricky. I had to play with the contrast too to make it really sharp as at the time I was trying to get Ian Allan interested in my photography but even though they did use this one I'm afraid as you can all judge I didn't quite make the grade or as someone once told me, they didn't have a double-barrelled surname. True or not it always seemed to me like a cosy little club where they took it in turns to publish books using their own photos, sometimes time and time again to get the reproduction fees. Indeed the first time they used one of mine they attributed it to another author so that initially at least they got the 1.25p fee. (LOL)

Zurich : Timeless Tram

Zurich's immaculately turned out trams always seemed to have a timeless quality about them such as this example No.1381 which in the early-Nineties was already over forty years old. Taken in the early evening rush hour I think this atmospheric busy shot of one of these beautiful old trams approaching the stop called Central complete with typical Swiss tidy wiring is surely one of my all time favourite tram pictures.

Nottingham Atlantean

An unmistakable Nottingham Leyland Atlantean with it's own custom built Northern Counties bodywork climbs into the city on the wide derby Road through Lenton with two similar buses heading out of town during the Eighties. I would have been working when I took this shot but whereas it's often difficult to park legally in the City, further out one is often afforded convenient restriction-free side streets or even an hour or two's free parking and either I could walk back or just pause. Ten minutes though was usually enough for me if I wasn't somewhere a bit special, and I must have liked this spot as I took some nearby quite recently which I will also post. I've had to alter this post as a viewer pointed out that I had made some location errors, it's amazing how the memory plays tricks over time.

Leyland Atlanteans as far as the eye can see!

Taken in 1982 I had to ask to visit the yard of Plymouth City Transport at Milehouse where these impressive buses were parked in rows but I remember way back in 1967 there used to be a public right of way going right through here before the age of wanton vandalism and other crimes. Sorry I had to retrieve this one from a scrapbook, and as you can see not only do Playmates get staples through their pride and joy so do the Plymouth Brethren!

Walter Raleigh & The Spirit of Plymouth

Here in the Eighties there is a good turnout for the Western National Bristol LH heading for HMS Raleigh on the 81 Service with rather fewer tourists taking the Plymouth open top Leyland Atlantean for a more enjoyable breezy ride to Bovisland where there are cliff-paths, a delightful small sandy beach and wonderful views of seaborne traffic entering the harbour opposite.

A vetter Picture

At first glance this bus looks like a Mercedes but it is a Stuttgart built Vetter and they were quite common in the ranks of the Swiss PAH Post Bus contractors. For me because of the clear air and afternoon light Tarasp was the perfect spot to take photographs and with plenty of mundane activity seemed to sum up the atmosphere of busy moments at the small Swiss railway station. Swiss trains are famous for their punctuality and one can usually plan on getting almost any hour before returning but once or twice when I got here I had to rush down to Scoul on foot in the slippery winter conditions to visit the Post Bus Garage with a hard slippery slog back up the steep hillside expatiated by breathlessness caused by the high altitude here in the South East corner of Switzerland. Still if I had any sense I would have waited for a bus but with the train being late they would have already gone.

Plymouth Milehouse Depot

Plymouth Corporation painted Park-Royal Leyland Atlantean No.79 like this to celebrate it's anniversary and in a simplified form it became the fleet standard for a time in the Eighties. I was lucky enough to get around the depot that Sunday as they were obviously in a good mood that day. The Milehouse Depot showed more links with it's 100 year heritage as not only did these modern buses sit on Victorian cobble-stone sets there was still evidence of the system's tram rails.

The road to Aluguer: who needs speed bumps

In Continental Europe they seem to like putting down these rough sets in the street perhaps partly to slow down the traffic. I'm sure the drumming noise the tyres make must get tiresome and I do feel sorry for ladies trying to cross in high-heels. Also I know from experience, they can be slippery too when wet. But this is a glorious photograph of one of the later Utic bodied RN AEC Reliance coaches fully laden taken in 1984 on it's way to Aluguer. I'm not sure where this view was taken but not only was it a beautiful part of town everything was so spotlessly clean just like a Commercial. Indeed had it not been for the water-stained driver's blinds this could almost have been a perfect advertisement photo for RN as well as Portugal.

Leicester: On the way to Portsmouth

I love crowd scenes and lots of activity so I don't particularly mind and even quite welcome it if people get in the way of my buses. Express coach arrivals and departures are always good for a bit of low-key drama, but having said that I like to be able to remember which vehicle it was and this brand new United Counties W-Reg Leyland Leopard No.160 was worthy of a snap on two on it's own as it paused at Saint Margarets in Leicester on the long run down to Portsmouth on the South Coast.

Who needs Dragons anyway?

When one is out for the day photographing new buses in a strange town any girls who might get in the shot can be seen as a bonus. But when it comes to the familiarity of our home territory it's too easy to take everything for granted and as with Stafford those rather mundane Arriva Mercedes Minibuses won't be around for ever. Here like cracking little more than an egg with a bit of imagination I've made a worthwhile shot capturing the bus an a slightly bemused girl enjoying a quiet moment. I took this view last year but apart from a fresh cover of leaves not much has changed so I've tagged this one as recent.

Desert Storm

Well it's not quite a British Tank charging across the desert but Leyland did build them during the war when bus production stopped. Lucky not only was I was able to visit Israel during one of it's more peaceful periods also by then getting quite elderly Leyland's still seemed to outnumber other makes except of course on prestige city and top-line work. But despite it's age and well used look this Leyland Royal Tiger Worldmaster was still able to turn out a good performance as it approached it's destination the Kibbutz of Neviot on the Red Sea, South of Eilat. Even though it was way back in the Early-Eighties I can still hear in my head the roar and transmission whine of TAN 89-256 creating a minor sand storm.

Freedom to Snap: That wonderful world before the shuttered minds clicked shut.

Today if one were foolhardy enough to try to take a photograph of a colourful scene like this with children in it they would probably find them self spending the afternoon sitting in a police station trying to get their point across with some hard-nosed impervious copper who has apparently never heard of anyone wanting to take photographs of buses before but who will eventually release us anyway because they know all too well that we have a home filled with nothing more sinister than a pile of Ian Allan Books, notebooks and maybe model buses. But I do believe that it is unfair that our little slightly eccentric community of enthusiasts should be marginalised and even bullied by authority when probably the worst most of us have been guilt of is perhaps a little minor trespass and dandruff. All this institutionalised killjoy paranoia is all a bit sad really because at one time all individuals were free to take valid pictures like this and we were accepted as not only having a good hobby but even doing our bit by making some sort of savable record. Now over twenty years later the young people in this photo probably with children of their own would be most interested to revisit a bit of their lost childhood, and not only that we can also see Uncle Jack and young John plus of course daft Jasper before he went after a cat and got run down by a bread van. Back in those less complicated times of 1982 it's Pageant Day in Mere near Longton, Stoke on Trent and a small number of interesting old buses are arriving from all around the area full of well-scrubbed majorettes and dancing troops. The bus is a still attractive looking East Lancs bodied Leyland Atlantean, a vehicle which started life with Bolton Corporation before it was absorbed into Great Manchester and painted orange and cream..