ATGH

In the same way as the companies that run Switzerland's mountain railways are famous some of the private bus companies with their long history are also well known. One of these is ATGH which are the initials of places it serves including Thun where this photo of an FBW C50U was taken in 1990.

1984: Lisbon M.A.N

On different chassis Lisbon seemed to have a variety of similar buses but amongst the most angular were vehicles like M.A.N No.2053.

The Fishing Port of Grimsby: Not so Palatial

I hate to be the one to say it but Grimsby does rather live up to it's name. When I took this view in the Eighties one of the pleasant memories of the past for the elderly was about to disappear and that was the old theatre in the background called The Palace. The pub of course, formerly known as the Palace Buffet was still going strong but who knows whether it is not crumbling too in today's difficult climate for the Pub Trade today. Typical of the local Municipal fleet with about one-hundred buses was this late example Roe bodied Daimler Fleetline.

Plymouth Bretonside: Snapping towards the Bright Sun

Even though Plymouth Bretonside Bus Station has rather a forbidding reputation as a hang-out for drunks and vagrants especially at night, during the day at least it is a great place for bus photography. Not only is the sun usually in the right position there are any number of places to get decent views including panorama shots like this and what's almost becoming a rarity one can snap away without the Police arriving to ask what you are doing. Stagecoach buses on former Devon General routes are something of a minority as this is very much First Group territory but as before they still depart for Torquay and Exeter like this plaxton bodied Volvo.

Those we have loved.....

....and hated.

I have to confess I never really disliked the MCW Orion as I grew up with this style of bodywork but I can understand why older enthusiasts hate them so much when not only were they 'cheap looking' they heralded the lightweight era of cost-cutting too which included spray painting and simplified monotonous liveries. Not that anyone could accuse Chesterfield Corporation of slumming it as they knew how to make a Leyland PD2 with a tin-front look very nice indeed. However few would say it was anywhere near as beautiful as the elegant liveried East Yorkshire Roe bodied AEC Regent with it's specially tapered roof for the Beverley Bar. These buses were seen at the Sheffield Meadowhall Gathering last summer.

Grey Skies in Berlin but Spring is here or is it her Elastic

Berlin is rather a grey city and not only do the eye-catching advertisments on the Kurfirstendam brighten the place up before the trees come back into leaf the bright yellow white and black painted buses do far more to liven things up than that traditional German porridge colour that might be described as Outmeal. These MAN double-deckers which arrived in the mid-Nineties were the first to wear these colours that were probably inspired by some of the Dutch fleets. However time flies by too fast as always and now these buses too are heading for the scrapyard as the whole Berlin BVG double-deck fleet has been replaced by jumbo-sized air-conditioned three-axle MAN Lion double-deckers numbering four-hundred altogether. I imagine the 9.90 DM includes the bikini-pants too but as you probably might have guessed you have to pay extra for the German Frauline.

Ashton Bus Station

Like many industrial towns in Lancashire Ashton-under-Lyne had it's own fleet of about seventy buses and trolleybuses. Indeed some thought it's blue and cream Roe bodied Leyland PD2's were some of the smartest buses in the Manchester area. Although not quite as beautiful the Leyland Atlanteans that followed like No.52 were still rather attractive but as you can see they looked as though they had seen better days by the time they were painted in the rather unsubtle orange and cream livery of Greater Manchester PTA. By about 1980 when this winter view was taken the Ashton garage formerly just across the road and that of S.H.M.D at Hyde had been closed and replaced by a new one covering this locality called Thameside hence the TE code on the front.

Lisbon: Brill Car 340

The bogies of these Brill Cars were delivered in 1906 but No.340 was one of those rebodied in the Thirties. With their big open windows these cars were ideal for Lisbon's sunny climate.

Bee-Line: Manchester Piccadilly

Competition on bus services seems to have died out in Manchester but in the Nineties everyone seemed to be having a go. Many of the operators ran Leyland Atlanteans like this Park Royal example built for the NBC and Southdown It was operating for a subsidiary of the reformed North Western called Bee-Line which already had plenty of examples of it's own from the days before it was devolved from Ribble.

East Berlin: Umbrella's up it's that Grey Sunshine

Both East and West Berlin next door had a greyness about them that reminded me of the unhealthy days in Britain before smokeless fuels, and one can actually see the soot filled atmosphere like a rain in this scene, one in which those Trabants belching out their two-stroke fumes did not help. Now of course the air seems cleaner but there are still just as much in the way of car fumes as the former East Berlin has joined the high-octane traffic-jam culture of The West. I quite miss East Berlin as it was as it was so different to the West which still bore scars from The War whereas in the East with it's pinched economy and eerie feel one was made to feel it never quite ended and they had entered a different world and time.

OK Motor Services: Dennis Dominator

Select any area of the UK and one can come up with a leading Independent from the past. Of course the choice can be highly subjective but mention the area of Durham to the south of Newcastle upon Tyne and many will think of the large fine kept interesting fleet belonging to OK. As usual with the Independent sector there was a rich variety of secondhand stock yet the operator was a able to hold it's head up high by putting new double-deckers on the road too. Northern Counties bodied Leyland Atlanteans were the normal choice but the Consett based concern also tried a Dennis Dominator in 1979 which looked different with it's upright radiator grill.

Arriva: I see the not so yellow DAF's are already out

Even though we had some pleasant sunshine as well as all that cold last winter the only DAF's out in Stafford were not the yellow variety Wordsworth was so excited about but these Wright bodied buses that work the Rural-Line that was created making a frequent through connection to Telford whereas in the past it was not possible as Happy Days (formerly G.H. Austin) operated across the Shropshire border into Newport, something that had been wished for even in the bygone days of Midland Red. The dedicated buses have recently had a repaint which has oblitered all the areas of black relief on the fronts making them look rather less distinctive. This particular batch of buses have not had a 100% history of reliability and rumour has it that before too long they might be moved elsewhere in the Arriva empire. As you see BU03-HRE carries a reminder of the past as RE, RF, BF and E by itself were Staffordshire numberplates.