To Llandudno with Barton

Barton as an Independant was know for running a very mixed fleet but few would associate it with DAF or any other non-British manufacturer come to think of it. But towards the end in 1983-5 it bought batches of these Plaxton Paramount 3200 bodied vehicles rather than the previous choice Leylands. No doubt unlike the much loved Leopard it was obviously not so impressed with the later Tiger only taking one batch of five. The first of the 1984 DAF order No.623 is pictured halted outside the appropriately named travellers Rest on the road between Nantwich and Chester as the vehicle makes it's way to the Victorian seaside resort of Llandudno on the North Wales Coast on Express Service X34 when the coach was still fairly new.

You can't beat the real thing?

Compare these two Swiss P-Registered PTT Post Bus thoroughbreds pictured at Yverdon in December 1988 with the version of bodywork that was more usually found on the Contractor's Canton registered buses below.

Which is your favourite style of Saurer RH?

In the good old days of the Swiss PTT one could tell which of the yellow Post Buses actually belonged to them as opposed to their far more numerous contractors vehicles as they carried a P-letter suffix. With the Saurer RH fleet however it was usually very easy to tell from a distance as almost all the true Post Buses carried a totally different more rounded in-house style of bodywork to this. But as you can see the smaller P-reg fleet did make things more interesting as it also took some of these fairly square looking buses too which they numbered P25647-66. Even with these twenty non-standard buses it was still quite easy to tell them apart from the Canton Registrations because unlike their contractors version where there was a black lower front panel where it says Saurer, PTT buses like P25650 seen here in the early Nineties at Chur loading for Flims had all-yellow fronts right down to the bumper. I'm sure opinions are divided on which body style was the most attractive but I'm pretty sure that the true PTT version wins hands down as it looked crisp and well designed from all angles unlike these rather more square and ungainly buses including some with very boxy rear ends: Besides even though these were still quite nice and so very Swiss the main fleet of RH's was a true classic which will be missed for years to come.

Cardiff: And Almost Perfect

I have to say despite the rows of horizontal scratches caused when the film all those years ago was wound through my old Voitlander Camera I still quite like this picture. Probably because it was from hand loaded bulk-film didn't help either but somehow thanks to Sods-Law the tightness attacking the emulsion as it was wound through seemed to happen the most to the best images. But as far as posterity is concerned it is not a problem as I'm sure should someone have the motivation or incentive these scratches could be removed with little trouble in Photoshop. I guess you have probably guessed already, I work on the contrast and sharpness but apart from that I choose to serve them up as they are whether they have brown spots marks or the Loch Ness Monster on them. Few look at them as it is and I suppose at least it will put off those cheapskates who try to flog other people's material on Ebay.
As for the bus it came from the one-hundred-strong Rhonnda fleet whose base was at Porth near Pontypridd in the Welsh Valleys. The bus livery was pretty much the same as it's large BET Group neighbour Western Welsh but unlike WW who ran a high percentage of lowheight double-deckers Rhonnda had few height problems on it's major routes. After the NBC was formed in 1969 these two fleets were merged along with the BTC Tilling Red & White to form National Welsh. Rhonnda's vehicle policy had been for Leyland single-decks and coaches, particularly of course the Welsh favourite the Tiger Cub, but deckers came from AEC with the Regent. But as half-cabs went out of favour Rhonnda like WW turned to Leyland's Atlantean taking attractive buses like this 1969 Northern Counties bodied bus bound for the Royal Hospital at Cadoxton.

Quick: Before it gets too dark!

A girlfriend used to travel all around the country with her job and as a treat she took me with her on a visit to Bitterne, Portsmouth and Worthing. Sadly by the time we reached Portsmouth it was already mid-afternoon with the winter light fading fast despite the sunshine. So I bought a roll of fast film and photographed what I could. Once confined to the Gosport and Fareham area Provincial didn't run in to Portsmouth as the city was the realm of it's Corporation Buses and of course Southdown. By the Deregulated Nineties Southdown now a part of Stagecoach was still here, but the once fine Corporation fleet had been replaced by a tranche of Harry Blundred's horrid eccentric minibus empire so it was left to People's Provincial to provide most of the proper full-sized local buses. As you can see former London Transport Leyland National Mark1 buses were popular and I have to admit they did look rather smart in the operators traditional dark green.

Florence - Pisa

I was in Italy a few years ago for the Florence Biennale Art Exhibition where I was showing my work. A cloud hung over the last day at the end of the stay as this being Italy a national rail and bus strike was threatened making it difficult to catch my plane home to Stanstead. In the end all turned out well as it did not affect private operators like Bus Europe who supplied this Irizar bodied Scania on their service which competes with the railway to Pisa.

First a Solo: Navy Day Chaos in Dartmouth

I had so little time when I went to Dartmouth last Summer I had to catch the same bus back but I was determined to catch something even if Navy Day Celebrations (30-8-08) meant all I had time for was a quick beached Optare Solo or two from upstairs.

Grijo AEC

Here is a rather grubby Utic bodied AEC belonging to Grijo seen in Porto in 1984.

West Midlands PTA

Two of the once vast fleet of West Midlands PTA's Daimler Fleetlines negociate the Bull Ring Roundabout in the centre of Birmingham. 1978 built MCW bodied No.6648 was fairly typical of the later buses but 6263 was rather more interesting. This Alexander bodied example came to WM along with their services and garages in the PTA area which included Midland Red's profitable densely populated heartland called the Black Country. Once with a dual-entrance but still carrying it former number 6263 came from the final batch of 33 of these D13 Fleetlines delivered in 1970-1 and as most of them had been allocated here and to garages like Sutton Coldfield the vast majority ended up in the PTA's not unattractive dark blue and cream.

North Birmingham Busways

Birmingham is one city that couldn't be associated with the Leyland Atlantean as even though the Corporation tried a small batch of ten in the Sixties before placing orders for the Daimler Fleetline, and Standerwick Gay Hostesses passed through too, it was left to the sadly missed Independent North Birmingham Busways who operated about ten on routes out towards Sutton Coldfield to offer them a distinguished swan-song in their final days many years later. They snapped up well built and well maintained Northern Counties bodied examples from Greater Manchester plus other equally attractive examples with NBC-style Park Royal bodywork that started life with City of Plymouth. However these later AN68 buses of the Seventies and Early-Eighties were a far cry from the troublesome early PDR's of the Fifties and Sixties that people still moan about. Indeed many concerns that took well-tried AN68 Atlanteans preferred them to the new fangled Olympian which like the early Atlantean was also a flawed bus.

Voyages Remy

A smart Voyages Remy Mercedes coach and TL Van-Hool low-floor bus pause outside Lausanne Railway Station on a cold winter's day in the mid-Nineties.

Greatrex of Stafford

Greatrex grew up during the War and was the main Stafford coaching concern till it's demise in the Eighties when it passed to the Austin family who also ran buses and coaches from nearby at Knightley near Woodseaves. Happy Days coaches as they are better known now have their premises just a stones throw away from the site used by Greatrex before this scruffy area off Greyfriars was redeveloped as small business and retail park. Once like many others till the early Sixties the distinct light metallic-blue and maroon fleet was full of interesting gems but the lightweight era brought firstly Duple bodied Commers and then it was the same combination on Thames and Ford. By the time Ford 1114 No.153 YRE 465S had arrived the metallic finish had been replaced by a more managable light blue. With a change of ownership and fleet name to Staffordian Travel the livery was changed again to silver, gunmetal and orange but the fleet numbers remained the same. Staffordian was eventually taken over and merged with Happy Days but a few coaches still wear and white livery with Staffordian names.