RHY 787M: Digbeth Mass Departure Time

A host of mainly Leyland Leopards take their turn to leave Digbeth Coach Station one Friday in the Eighties, but adding a bit of variety is a DAF from Midland Fox

Spot the real Cat amongst the Leylands

Plenty of cats to be found at the Ellen Smith premises near Rochdale but sadly unlike the real feline the playful days for the old Leyland Tiger Cubs had long gone. The one at the centre has a Duple body whilst the other one and the partly grimpsed old Leopard were by Harrington of Hove. This operator was a staunch Leyland fan but a few AEC's found their way into the red and white painted fleet as well from time to time.

Special Swiss Ski-Buses

Height can often be a problem with buses as when they have two floors can be just too big. In Switzerland they had the opposite problem and an unusual one at that. It needed some buses to serve the Ski-Lifts at Scoul right in the top R/H corner overlooked by Italy and Austria. The problem was as the standees packed inside the headroom was not adequate for some upright skis. So a few elderly Saurer DUK's had their roofs raised for the job. Two PTT owned examples were seen here alongside a more normal contractor's small Mercedes in the Nineties.  .

KSD 109W: Kingdom of the Black Prince

Deregulation threw up all sorts of new operators and a few of them were interesting enough to become memorable probably because they included a 'have-a-go' enthusiast element. In Leeds could be found the intriguingly titled Black Prince which was partial to Volvo products like this lovely Ailsa new to Western Scottish.

Old Crosville Bristol FSF DFG 79 in Warrington

Just like my old Voitlander camera which was making scratch marks as the film was wound on, this old Crosville Bristol FSF6G DFG 79 was nearing the end of it's days. In 1979 it was on school bus duties in it's hometown Warrington.

Basle Tram 475 Crosses the Rhine in 1990

My knowledge is not sufficient to enlighten you on Basle trams but I hope that won't spoil it for you.

Edinburgh: First-SMT Atlantean ORS 204R

First Group was formed from a merger of the Privitised Groups Badgerline and Grampian. Grampian of course was formerly Aberdeen Corporation which in later years built up a large fleet of Alexander bodied Atlanteans. ORS 204R was still in Scotland when I caught it hard at work in Edinburgh with First-SMT and looking rather scruffy compared to the similar but always  immaculate Lothian examples

Geneva Saurer 423

When I came to Switzerland in 1963 to go to school the buses there in Geneva to greet me looked very different from their British counterparts. Thankfully there were still a few of these not unpleasant looking Saurer's still on the road in the early Nineties.

M&D: Exactly Fifty Years Ago

I'm sure I'm only forty years old but believe it or not I took this M&D Atlantean DH 530 in Tonbridge Fifty years ago when I went to stay with a schoolfriend in Crowborough fort he New Year 64-65. We had a day out to Brighton too and that was my first proper introduction to Southdown territory as well. So long ago but in my minds eye it should not change as first impressions are those that set our mental template.

Cricklewood Garage

Today of course it's hard to understand why we wouldn't have wanted to have a photo of those Metrobuses parked in a row outside Cricklewood  Garage but at the time of course, a defunct type the Covent Garden Museum RT was the point of interest here. Taken I guess in about 1981 there were still Routemasters here and even Leyland Nationals.

Devon General Aec Regent No.511

Despite having a large fleet of Leyland Atlanteans, Devon General could boast long and short AEC Regents with a similar style of MCW, Willowbrook or as in this case Park Royal bodywork. One Saturday in 1979 or 1980 NBC poppy-red liveried  CTT 511C was seen arriving in Exeter from Newton Abbott.

United My Christmas Puzzle

Seen after it's takeover by United was this Plaxton Derwent bodied AEC Reliance of Wilkinson of Sedgefield seen in Stockton-on-Tee KPT 875C No.4002, it also brought Leylands into this BTC typical ECW bodied Bristol fleet..

Now I have a puzzle for you as in my Ian Allan British Bus Fleets I have found two lots of United and Durham buses with exactly the same  registration within the 990-999 EHN series.