The day someone shouted bring back the back-loaders

With the exception of one semi-preserved heritage bus, having not too long ago celebrated the end of it's half-cab back loaders Southampton Citybus joined the operators who jumped on the band-wagon by acquiring a fleet of ex-London Routemasters as part of their deregulation-offensive. A welcome sight and smart they looked too but I much preferred the real thing, their extremely smart dark red and cream East-Lancs bodied AEC Regents that made such a pleasing a striking contrast against the more modern Atlanteans here.

Two faces of Midland Red

Under Bagerline ownership Worcester based Midland Red West deliveries comprised firstly the Leyland Lynx and then another common bus for the Group as a whole, the Plaxton Verde bodied Dennis Dart. Drawline on the other hand which owned Midland Red North based in Cannock preferred to shuffle it's older buses around like these Northern Counties bodied Volvo double-deckers that previously worked on London's tendered routes for London and Country based at Catford. At this time MRN was trying to emulate the traditional Midland Red image but not only did they get a too dark and dull shade of red the paint itself was of poor quality and it was in every sense a pale limitation of the still much missed real thing. However these two liveries still have more character and charm than the corporate look of First Group and Arriva, especially Midland Red West which was rather smart .

Nice Timing: Shame about the weather

This passed for a nice day last Summer as we got more than our fair share of rain. You might think it was pure luck that these two girls were captured boarding Plymouth Citius Mercedes Citaro 91 but I thought I would wait for the right moment.

Arriva: Rebodied Dart

In Stafford we don't get buses from the Arriva Garage in Burton any more as we do it which is a pity as it brought in a bit of variety including on this occasion M804 MOJ one of four Marshall bodied Dennis Darts delivered to Shrewsbury where three were painted in a special livery for the Park-and-Ride. The others came to Stafford excepting the former MRN No. 804 that found it's way to Burton-on-Trent where it was involved in an accident and received the new body seen here.

Byrnes of Leek

Unlike Stoniers, Byrnes of Leek was a lesser know part of the Berresford of Cheddleton and a still quite smart former Ribble Plaxton Panorama bodied Leyland Leopard was to be seen at the garage along with a former North Western AEC Reliance with Willowbrook bodywork in the background.

Barraqueiro Volvo 119

I guess from the clean fresh appearance this Volvo was a new addition to the Barraqueiro fleet in 1984

I keep thinking I'm in Switzerland

A light aircraft crashed near my home at Colwich sadly killing the three occupants. But this has meant a busy weekend for me as one of my jobs is doing rail replacement work mainly sorting out the stragglers with my minibus. It hasn't been too boring as I've been able to nip home for the odd cup of tea but it's been bitterly cold hanging around stations, that dry deep penetrating cold I remember from my hours getting on and off trains in Switzerland. One place I really miss is Davos with it's crisp snow and for me often allusive Post Buses. The Garage here had a few of these quite attractive NAW BH 4-23 buses. Even though they were basically a Mercedes badged as Swiss and marked the end of true Swiss bus manufacturing they hold a certain affection with enthusiasts as they looked the part alongside the other more blatant Euro-Boxes. I managed to see all of then except one P24434 from Uznach Garage which was sold off early to a PAH in Ilianz without me knowing where it had gone.

PTT: A Consuming Passion

Sometimes I think I'm the only one who was passionate about the great days of the PTT and their wonderful Swiss post buses. Considering the interest of the subject I'm surprised more of you aren't still interested in the good old days. However it's surprising how much material one acquires over the years books, fleet allocation lists, travel information and models. With that in mind I assembled my collection just to show how it accumulates over the years. The C40U FBW Alpenwagen of which we can see a rear view looking downwards was P21501 which was used on some mountain roads into Italy to make some suitability trials when they were new in 1955. Later in 1963 it was renumbered P24001, and by this time allocated to Chesieres-Villars where I was at Aiglon College and it was my interest and enjoyment of riding on this fine bus that sparked my lifelong interest in Swiss Post Buses. Fortunately as with several others this vehicle has been preserved as a 'wedding bus'.

Britain: Our ugly towns

I don't suppose Ipswich is worse than anywhere else but this scene seems to sum up Britain much of the time with it's ugly faceless concrete architecture, property always up for sale or development, traffic going nowhere and of course Rain. Still fortunately even today Ipswich still has it's smart green and cream painted buses even if most of the East Lancs bodied buses were also far from beautiful like No.106, probably it a Dennis and was seen when still fairly new in the mid-Eighties.

1990: Lausanne's Finest

When I think about Lausanne's trolleybuses belonging to TL I tend to think of this long lived batch dating from 1964 and numbered from 657-679. It might be something to do with my remembering them from my school days but these FBW's with their locally built Eggli bodywork were certainly fine looking and much admired beasts. Following down the hill was a typical later vehicle with much a more square fronted profile by Hess. 1984 No. 743 was also an FBW, but the following batch of similar looking trolleybuses were all built by NAW.

Something Old: M&D Tonbridge

This is one of my oldest photographs taken with my Ilford Sporty Camera which I had probably just had for Christmas in 1964. I went down to stay for the New Year with a school friend who lived in Crowborough and during my stay I managed to visit Tonbridge, Tunbridge Wells and Brighton as well. This Tonbridge 1960 Metro-Cammell bodied Leyland Atlantean No.DH 530 was one twenty-one I saw operating from T and TW, the companies largest depot with an allocation over one-hundred .

Manchester: Something New

At one time not so long ago it seemed the British double-decker was doomed but thankfully their numbers are increasing again in both our large cities and towns. The large groups particularly Stagecoach tend to allocate the new ones to it's busiest areas like Manchester cascading older buses in turn to quieter places like Exeter. Here a still new 08-Series Alexander-Dennis double-decker passes Painswick Park in Wythenshaw but seems to be going in the opposite direction to the Airport. Maybe this is the reason why he doesn't want his face to be seen, a trait more usually found with the rather surly First Group crews..