Atlanteans Gone in Plymouth

For many years the Plymouth City Transport fleet was all double-decker and comprised entirely buses of Leyland manufacture. Atlanteans followed Leyland Titan PD2's in 1960 and unusually like at Nottingham some examples like this bus of 1975 carried the sort of bodywork Park Royal normally supplied to the National Bus Company. Number 78 was photographed outside the large depot at Milehouse.

Blackpool Atlantean

Photographed when this bus was fairly new Blackpool recently saw the withdrawl of it's very last Leyland Atlantean.

Let it Snow, let it Snow!

As I write this there is no need to travel to Switzerland to find a total covering of uninterrupted white snow as Britain is enjoying a cold snap too. Of course as travel more or less grinds to a halt in U.K we wonder why it is that we can't cope with a few centimeters of snow when our European neighbours just take it in their stride. In this scene that resembles an arctic white-out the only thing that stands out against the whiteness of the snow and the grey sky and buildings is the bright yellow Post Bus which is always there and departs on time whatever the weather. This view was taken as the Zurich to Chur train halted in Wangen and maybe some of it's passengers were about to take the Saurer RH bus to it's home base the small town of Uznach.

Winter in Sweden

Winter with it's long shadows, and short dull days isn't usually the best time to take photographs. However cold crisp sunny winter days are not too bad especially when the snow reflects the light. Here in Sweden in the 1980's not only did I get quite a nice atmospheric view of a small community and it's small bus garage I took the opportunity to photograph one of the oldest Scania buses before it was withdrawn.

Neuchatel

I think Neuchatel situated on the lake is about the most pleasant town in French Speaking Switzerland, and like many other places in Summer 1990 one could still find Swiss 'classic' elderly trolleybuses at work like this FBW dating back to the early-Sixties.

Potsdam

After Reunification the former East Germany which had long been starved of investment cried out for modernisation, and as far as buses were concerned as well as buying new machines second-hand purchases played an important part too such as here at Potsdam where some Mercedes-Benz articulated buses helped replace the once ubiquitous Hungarian Ikarus.

Crich Tram Museum

Many found it hard to believe they could build a model of the world's climate and growing conditions for plants and trees in an old clay pit which they did at The Eden Project in Cornwall, but for many years just as impressive is the working tram museum at Crich in Derbyshire in an old quarry. When I went in the Nineteen-Seventies amongst the glorious reminders of the past was this former Glasgow machine.

Exeter City Transport

In 1966 Exeter City Transport had just six single-deckers in it's fleet, these were 1950 Daimler CVD6's with flared skirt panels which was typical of Weymann bodywork of that period. Although still in excellent condition they were replaced by short Massey bodied Leyland Leopards in 1966.

More Sion: Christmas 1988

Unlike in Britain where coordinating public transport to give good information and provide reliable through journey connections is not permitted as it is unfair to the poor old motorist who pays so much in taxes already, Switzerland's transport system works like clockwork. The busiest time is at mid-day when the school kids go home and all over the land local and country buses gather alongside the railway station, and once they've departed it can become almost empty for a couple of hours till the approach of the next key departure time.

A Bad Dream: Those Bread Vans, I mean Minibus Britain

As a bus enthusiast one of the low points for me was the invasion of the minibus on high frequency services and quiet city centres like Exeter started to resemble New Delhi as they jostled for position in the high street. Harry Blundred a former Devon General driver who was the MD of Transit Holdings was something of an eccentric and he believed minibuses, or rather bigger minibuses were the solution to all transport problems including long distance express services like the busy one they operated between Oxford and London. Fortunately his day had passed before he completely achieved his goal. As for this photo it was hilarious, moments later the snoozing driver woke up and fell right out of the bus to his great embarrassment

Winter Sunshine in Sion

After Lugano in the Canton of Ticino, the bus station next to the station in the town of Sion in the Valais boasts the largest number of Post Bus departures daily where in 1990 the PTT's own fleet comprised largely these fine Saurer RH buses with ten coming from the last batch delivered in 1985 like P24412 and P24414.

Another Basle Trolleybus

The future of the trolleybus system in Basle is somewhat uncertain as the management would like to replace it with motorbuses.