Two generations of Duple Leyland Coaches

A Leyland Leopard belonging to Crosville in National Express colours leaving on the 825 which I think was to Holyhead on Anglesea, prepares to slog it out out of Digbeth as a fairly new Duple Caribbean bodied Tiger in the attractive metallic blue livery of Premier Travel heads off on the much more gentle flat run east towards Cambridge. The Leopard dated from 1979 but because of the high-line continental styling on the Tiger few would have guessed there was only five years difference in their age.

Silverline at Elmdon

I don't take enough interest in the current bus scene to know everything but my guess is this rather attractive Mercedes Benz 814 has bodywork by the Optare subsidiary ACI as a block of them were registered together at the same time. This Silverline coach is in those classic silver and blue airline colours that remind me a bit of Samualson New Transport who used to be based at Eccleston Place next to Victoria Coach Station. YX54-BHA carries a registration of a earlier generation of buses that once visited here when Birmingham Airport was known as Elmdon as Midland Red BMMO D7's from the 1957 batch were numbered 723-772 BHA and Digbeth's 4732/8/41/52 and no doubt others passed through on the 159 to Coventry. However even this shot has become the stuff of nostalgia as following the car bombing a few years ago at Glasgow Airport only taxis and shuttle buses get this close to the terminal and we have to pay to use the car park whether we're picking up or dropping off.

A BIGGER SCAN: 8037

Looking through my photos I'm left with the impression that RN buses were usually smartly turned out but the smartest ones seemed to be from Evora like this spotless Leyland that looked as though it had just been returned from the paint shop.

Fylde: New buses for old

One of the effects of deregulation was that operators needed new low cost buses and one answer to this was to rebody older vehicles with more life left in them. There seemed to be a shortage of useful single-deckers too and Flyde next door to Blackpool, like Southampton rebodied some elderly Atlanteans. When Fylde was absorbed in to the larger Blackpool fleet in the Nineties the former Bradford Corporation PDR buses once fitted with Alexander double-deck bodywork stood out as their fairly recent Northern-Counties retained the two tone blue latterly used just up the coast.

Don't worry Dad, there can't be any more crime in Rio than there is in Liverpool

No of course even the most notorious areas of Liverpool aren't as dangerous as living in the poverty ridden cities of Brazil I expect. This VDL Wright bodied bus Arriva uses a rather more attractive more blue coloured version of it's usual corporate livery for it's airport services from the city centre and to Manchester. Up till the Seventies each Vehicle Licencing Centre had it's own set of registration letters and most big towns had their own personal identity to make one feel at home. Today it is done by the region but even the buses on Merseyside don't carry a more local marque as these buses starting with C for Cymru are registered in Wales next-door perhaps I expect because of it's close links with the former North Wales operations of Crosville Wales nearby. However I still like looking at registrations and a reminder of the good-old-days is the totally random BKF at the end which indeed would have been from Liverpool as they had a whole block from KA to KF including quite valuable if you owned one, K on it's own.

Bulwell Bus Station

On the northern outskirts of Nottingham stands the former mining village of Bulwell where not only was there quite a large bus station Nottingham City Transport even had a small bus garage. When I took this view in the mid-Eighties the allocation seemed to be comprised of these Nottingham Standard bodied Leyland Atlanteans like this East-Lancs bodied example AN68 No.600 which seemed to typify this mainly double-deck fleet.

DSB Aabenraa Volvo 833 & 771

These Aabenraa bodied Volvos were the standard Danish Railway's bus at the begining of the Eighties and four of them are see here in Kolding working the Town Service which when I came in 1979 was still being worked by it's own DAB-Leyland buses. Kolding and Horsens were sub-depots of Vejle with a total allocation of some ninety buses. I have to say like the post Bus I rather like railway buses as they have a rugged big company image and tend to be scattered around the country whichever it may be somewhat disproportionately in little pockets of activity.

Kidderminster: The exhibits arrive

One bus rally I always used to enjoy was the rail and bus gathering at the Severn Valley Railway at Kidderminster. Sadly the bus side was killed off by our insurance liability claims culture after someone sued the organiser's for compensation after a minor incident. Vehicles used to come from far and wide as you can see here with a former Swindon (Thamesdown) Northern Counties bodied Daimler CVG6, a rare Roe Dalesman bodied AEC Reliance of West Riding, plus a once common ECW bodied Bristol RELH coach that operated for United Counties.

Another World

Amongst the towns and cities I visited in Portugal Aviero stands out somewhat as it has a distant set apart feel as if maybe it might be somewhere in South America with only tenuous links to the homeland. Perhaps it had strange influences because it is a port which give it the air of the frontier town, also too it has a faded ghostly charm like many towns that were once far more important and prosperous. Some of the buses were slightly unusual too like this rather attractive AEC with a rather narrow fronted high sided squared body that I imagine was built by Utic. Some other nice machines here too including a big Mercedes and that classic Citroen 1D, but we had better not mention the carefully ridden rather underpowered looking motorcycle awaiting the next bus photographer or pothole so the yellow helmeted guy coming home from work could fall off.

Midland Red: Ford R192 in Rugby

In the early Seventies Midland Red having ceased construction of it's own advanced but also quite unsophisticated single-deckers and it needed a no-frills equivalent to replace it's 30ft long S14 and S15 types buses on country routes. Lightweight Ford R192's with Plaxton Derwent bodywork seemed to be the answer and the company built up a large fleet of them with an initial large batch of one-hundred. However they were not intended for a long and busy life and operator's who chose them paid for it later with increased downtime and higher running costs. They looked what they were and made an interesting contrast with the bus at the other end of the spectrum, the integral Leyland National pictured behind it in Rugby. Perhaps the ideal single-decker was something in between the crude and the contentious, and fortunately Midland Red had those in the bucket load too the rugged and reliable Leyland Leopard.

Zurich: Bellvue

A busy scene in Zurich beside the lake a Bellvue as people scramble to get on tram No.2069 even though it's terminus at Klusplatz is only a couple of stops away.

The Yellow Brick Road: Yelloways

I have Family living in Devon so the journey to Tavistock not too far from Plymouth has been a regular one. I've driven, taken the train or even National Express coaches. But my fondest memories were the days when Mother was alive, and I mention this as it would have been her Birthday today, as one could go all the way on one of Yelloways fine Plaxton bodied AEC Reliance coaches. Also as well as brief halts like here at Taunton there was also a meal break at Bristol Marlborough Street Bus Station where I could easily use up a whole roll of film.