Chester Guy Arab 42

A fond look back to Chester City Transport whose very traditional smart dark maroon almost brown half-cab Guy Arab buses once graced this historic city with their charm. Captured on film in the early Eighties it looks as though this Northern Counties bodied bus had just come out of the paint-shop ready for hopefully it's last couple of years. Very typical of the fleet were also Daimler Fleetlines with the same make of bodywork to be followed by more of the same on the later Dennis Dominator chassis.

Volvos in Bern

A R&J bodied Volvo B10M articulated bus threads it's way past a normal-sized rigid brethren as it's driver waiting time to leave for Blinzern struts the pavement in the late mid-90's winter sunshine. Even though on my trips to Switzerland I used to stay in the delightful Swiss Capital I didn't get so much opportunity to photograph the buses as being out all day it was usually too dark by the time I returned in the evening. Even so with bright sun and awkward shadows most of them are atmospheric rather than good record shots but I feel in every collection there is space for both as in reality same buses are very similar to each other and a feeling of place and time is more important.

Maidstone & District: Gillingham Atlanteans

In the Sixties Maidstone & District took a large number of MCW bodied Leyland Atlanteans before turning to the Daimler Fleetline in 1963 numbered DL43-56 and DH 490-632. These two clean looking Medway examples with large numbers on their domes for the Chatham Monitoring Cameras Nos. DH 624 and 626 were amongst the last delivered in 1963. Some thought M & D buses looked better in NBC leaf-green and white but I personally loved the dark green and cream of the BET days. Perhaps the biggest change was the lack of those ubiquitous advertisements for the Kent Messenger Newspaper.

Euroskan Rejser

Danish is not the most easy language to understand in the world and even the graphics on the side of this very smart looking Setra seen in Berlin is difficult to follow as I would expect it to say REISER.

Snow in Davos

Many must dread the snows of winter but resorts like Davos in Switzerland pray for bucket loads of the white stuff even if it does make driving difficult. By the end of the Nineties the old very Swiss FBW town buses had gone and been replaced by the cool looking white and silver painted Scania 113's one would expect to see in this sophisticated resort.

Plymouth Buses: Whiter than red?

Actually this the earlier livery with more white and some grey as well as the red. In my opinion it is much more attractive than the latest version with just white in the centre. There are still a few Plaxton Pointer bodied Dennis Darts running about in these old colours including No.74 from the 2004 delivery.

At Shearings: A Busman's Holiday

As a bus enthusiast some driving jobs suit me just fine like the local collections on the way to Birmingham I did the other week down to Shearings large coach station at Exhall near Coventry. In the background is a Euro Cruiser one of the last remaining traces of the once mighty Wallace Arnold following their merger several years ago. This little Mercedes is the bus I normally drive.

Ellen Smith Rochdale: Black Mercedes

One of a small band of most fondly remembered coach operators of the past was the red and white coaches of Ellen Smith of Rochdale with a Leyland inspired leaping cat as it's motif. Today it still functions but as part of Rossendale Transport one of the few remaining former Municipals , it is a very different beast. Still I'm sure this Mercedes Rouru coach on tour last year must have been a most welcome sight in Plymouth as this tourist market seems to have died the death. Maybe it was partly due to the terrible Summer but I saw hardly any vehicles bringing day trippers to the city, not even a Shearings from Torquay.

Potteries Daimler Fleetline 1021 in Hanley

Because of a number of low bridges and especially one at Stoke most of the PMT double-deckers were lowbridge or lowheight like this Alexander bodied Daimler Fleetline of 1964. These thirty-five fleetlines from 1964-5 were the last new double-deckers bought before ECW Bristol VR's ten years later. Before it became part of the NBC vehicles carried type letters in front of their numbers and not only was this L 1021 buses always wore the legend PMT on their sides. However towards the end of it's life like the rest if the fleet it carried the rather unsentimental NBC branding POTTERIES but no doubt despite the poppy red livery the people of Stoke still fondly called them the PMT.

Sequeira, Lucas and Venturas No.12

The family in this ccene look more as if tey are returning from the beach but in fact this Utic bodied AEC of Sequeira, Lucas and Venturas has finished it's break and leaves to take up service during the hot Porto Rush Hour in Summer 1984.

Blackburn Coachlines

With the break up of the National Bus Company leading to many of it's members shedding their coach fleets other operators that one wouldn't consider coach operators built up their own fleets or started operating them from scratch as everybody wanted a share of the goodies and nobody could predict exactly how the bus market would go. One of the best known newcomers with municipal coach units was Blackburn Coachways whose vehicles wore similar colours to the bus fleet at home. No.320 a plaxton 3500 bodied Leyland Tiger was seen entering Exeter Paris Street Bus Station in the early Nineties on a West Country tour.

Bath Bus Station: Manvers Street

An interesting selection of vehicles could be seen one wet Saturday Afternoon in Bath. Nearest the camera are two Leyland Tigers giving us a contrast between the earlier frontal treatment on the Pilgrim Coaches of Southampton example whilst the more local Bristol Omnibus vehicle in the livery of National Express wears a grill that in my opinion at least is not so attractive and distinctive. Perhaps the best bus is the former King Alfred Roe bodied Leyland Atlantean that was in service here cut down for the open-top city tour. Last but not least in this Eighties view is one of Yelloway's gorgeous Plaxton bodied AEC Reliance coaches homeward bound for Rochdale.