Queen Mary with H & M Coaches

Southdown's Queen Mary Leyland PD3's were popular second-hand additions and one found it's way to H & M Coaches of Chasetown near Burntwood.

Copenhagen-Lund-Malmo

The journey from Copenhagen to Malmo used to involve a short sea crossing with the buses but today as it is bridged it is so much quicker and no doubt there are more Swedes than ever visiting Denmark at weekends on cheap booze trips. In the Eighties one of the regulars on the route was this Van-Hool bodied Scania.

Large Barker Street ate up these Minibuses

Even though one had to resort to snapping minibuses Barker Street Bus Station in Shrewsbury had so much photographic charm one could easily forget they were not proper buses like those old Midland Red BMMO's that once ruled here. As with buses of course progress meant that the perfect had to be replaced by the truly mundane

Former Gliderways Leopard

With it's mild climate Cornwall meaning less corrosion mean't that this part of the world not only could boast many interesting coaches like this former Gliderways of Smethwick Harrington Cavalier bodied Leyland Leopard of 1962 they didn't just rust away. 4426 HA was seen on the coach park at Plymouth Milehouse.

Porto: Could it be a Hino?

A mixture of former Corporation Buses at Wigan

Until some Bristol LH's arrived Wigan had been a 100% Leyland fleet. GMT PTA brought in rear-engined buses to replaced the many Titan half-cabs but once again these Atlanteans from Salford or ordered by Bolton they were Leylands

Alder Valley's London Link

One of the best innovations of the National Bus Company was the introduction of it's so-called venetian blind liveries on dual-purpose coaches which allowed it's various operators to show some of their original colours or to experiment. Perhaps the boldest of these was that worn by Alder-Valley whose London links vehicles looked very striking in their red and black stripes. This was helped by the rather pleasing lines of the ECW bodies worn on the long wheelbase Leyland Olympian coaches by the NBC on busy commuter express services into London.  No.1510 was seen in Victoria during the Nineties seems to sum up this increasingly colourful period prior to the big break-ups in the industry.

Goodbye to Manchester

I was sorry to see the last of the half-cabs go and especially as they had plenty of life left in them like these former Greater Manchester Leyland PD2 Titans heading off to that place which buses most dread, Barnsley or maybe even Rotherham. The first bus with an East-Lancashire body came from the Stockport Corporation fleet which the other former trainer still looking quite smart came from Wigan and carried a body by Massey Brothers built in the town.

Birmingham: New wine in old bottles

It's always interesting to see how modern vehicles fare in the traditional liveries we remember from better times. However despite Alexander R-Type 3225 looking rather brighter than it's fellow Birmingham buses the Corporation livery doesn't look too happy on this angular modern design.

We went to Stratford but all we saw was Bloody Cones!

I expect if William Wordsworth was alive today he would be writing poems about traffic cones rather than daffodils. They certainly seem to flower in the tourist season and no doubt these happy trippers are hoping to take one or two home with them as a souveneir of their lovely day out. But at least it wasn't raining in Stratford on Avon as this Duple bodied Volvo B10M arrives with it's true identity hidden behind that of a former Wallasey Atlantean.

RN AEC 4523

Leicester 96 becomes City of Lincoln 96

In the early 80's City of Lincoln had themselves a pretty good buy when they purchased some mid-life ECW bodied Leyland Atlanteans off Leicester City Transport not too far away. Not only were they in excellent condition their new owner didn't even need to do a full repaint retaining the primrose base and only needing to replace Leicester's crimson with naturally a  'Lincoln Green' hue.