Aviero

The driver of Utic bodied AEC No.2322 of RN waves to a colleague working on the town buses in Aviero as it heads out of town in 1984.

Stagecoach Ribble

Even though Stagecoach was the first to paint all it's fleets in a corporate livery at least like the previous National Bus Company it retained individual company names for a while and it's quite reassuring to see what was obviously a former Ribble Duple bodied Leyland Leopard carrying the much respected Ribble name. However this bus passing through slightly posh Heywood at the foot of the Pennines and the residence of ITV's Coronation Street stars originally wore the all-white National Express (West) livery before being demoted to dual-purpose status. Funny isn't it how we much we hated these Stagecoach stripes but somehow looking back at it nice old departed vehicles it starts to look raher lovely.

Travel in Berlin

Berlin has a very good day and night transport system by British standards but not only do people take the more healthy option and use their bicycles a lot more the city is almost as flat as Holland. It's certainly better than using a car and should you leave it unattended at the side of the fashionable Kurfirstendam at least you won't come back to find a parking ticket. I expect with the arrival of more three-axle MAN Lion double-deckers all of this earlier type of MAN from the Eighties will be gone by now.

X'mas Eve in Glasgow:: Wouldn't you rather be at the Snooker

Now that we're coming in to the winter season there is snooker on television again but this time it's coming from a new venue called Kelvin Hall in Glasgow. I was there many years ago in the late Eighties delivering on Christmas Eve or thereabouts and stopped to visit the Art Gallery at Kelvin Hall and to take a few bus views before the 270 mile journey home. Glasgow is not a pretty city at the best of times and it can be very grim on a cold damp December day. The Scottish Bus Group companies had not been included with the formation of the National Bus Company in England and Wales and consequently apart from Glasgow Corporation becoming the Strathclyde PTE there still lots of nicely painted buses wearing their traditional colours. However it would not be too many years before Deregulation would hit the streets here too and as elsewhere in Britain the local bus fleets would gradually become members of the big groups namely Arriva, Stagecoach and First. So okay it might be horrible outside but rather than watching the snooker I would rather be out here beside the venue but back in the past taking pictures of the buses as they were like this Alexander R type bodied MCW Metrobus in it's attractive blue and cream livery. Alexander Midland was to become part of Stagecoach along with Western Scottish but First bagged first prize as it bagged the city's Strathclyde Buses.

It will soon be snowing in the mountains

It was the middle of September and high up on the Jullier Pass in Switzerland and menacingly the winter snow was already making it's way down the mountain slopes and before too long as usual the pass would be closed to the Post Buses buses making their way on the lengthy service from St.Moritz and Chur. Two similar buses pass and 1982 Tuscher bodied P24287 coming the other way was typical of the PTT owned Saurer RH buses found in The Alps during the Eighties and Nineties.

Burton-on-Trent: Driving Jobs for the Girls:

I wasn't a huge fan of Derby's buses and especially the current cold blue and grey which was no improvement on the more dignified traditional olive green and cream. But interest came and nicer liveries too when following the purchase of Blue Bus of Willington the Corporation added coach types including some smart AEC Reliance Plaxton grant coaches for the Blue Bus routes to Burton.

Something to sing about: The Welsh Eisteddfod

A number of the Municipal fleets in the South Wales Valleys had such a liking for Leyland products they were at various times almost 100% like Merthyr Tydfil with it's half-cab Titans and later Leopards also bodied by East-Lancs.. A second-had aquisition was this short Duple Dominant Leopard which had been Chester No.77 and arriving with not dissimilar brown colours to Merthyr's old traditional maroon livery it looked as though as an economy it had on been partially repainted. Now numbered 239 and advertising the Welsh language Eisteddfod singing competition it is easy for us to see when this view of it was taken as it halted somewhere off it's usual haunts whilst doing a spot of driver training.

Southdown Rides Again

After the Nation Bus Company was re-privatised some former companies went for a new modern or snazzy image whilst others tried to recreate a spirit of the past. This Southdown did with the use of it's old apple green and cream livery but it's application and appearance did not really do a great deal to evoke the true spirit of this once much loved operator. However it was pleasing enough and helped to make this 1975 Leyland National No.69 seen in Eastbourne look rather pleasant.

Autumn in Arnheim

Arnheim has the only trolleybus system in Holland but pretty girls you will see everywhere. This view of Volvo No.175 was taken in about 1992.

The Caetano Algarve

As a percentage Portuguese Caetano bodies are not as numerous as they once were in Britain. They were first imported by the Loughborough dealer Alf Moseley, and were quite a hit as no doubt the first rather over-ornamented style of bodywork appealed to former devotees of another coach-builder the then in 1969 already defunct nearby coachbuilder called Yeates who used over-decoration and lots of Fifties American inspired ugly brightwork to spice up products from the lower end of the market like Bedford, Commer and Ford. By the time the Algarve had arrived on the scene Caetano styling was much more subdued as can be seen on this 1982 DAF of Majestic Coaches of Walsall. Judging from the Leicestershire registration this one came from Moseley's imported stock.

By 1982 the Loline was becoming a rairity

As this Alder Valley bus was immortalised as a diecast model by Britbus in it's former attractive Aldershot and District colours I presume it must also be preserved as they often choose the saved examples to mimic. Back in the early Eighties seen in a withdrawn state at the Lower Thorne Street compound beside what was once the Thames Valley Bus Garage in Reading following an extended life as a trainer this Alexander bodied Dennis Loline of 1962 still looked as though it had life left in it yet.

Bitterfeld: Don't be afraid to look

I suppose once the Iron Curtain fell tour operators could have made a nice little depressing itinerary of environmental disaster areas for outraged citizens to come and snap instead of the more usual sunsets and churches, one of these being a completely dead silver coated lake beside a former East German colour film factory at Bitterfeld. As one party hovers along the edge of it using more film the driver of the chunky looking MAN coach takes a short nap.