Hot Evening Rush-Hour in Lisbon

It has felt as hot as it looks here in Lisbon this weekend in Britain. Here is a study of then modern and more traditional minibuses in 1984.

The Glory Days of Warstone's 'Green Bus'

Warstone's of Great Wyrley in Staffordshire had a reputation amongst the bus enthusiast fraternity for operating a fascinating fleet of elderly vehicles in a beautifully turned out traditional livery. Most of the vehicles came from the smaller Municipal fleets and were Leylands whether they be half-cab PD3's or Atlanteans or more typically East Lancs bodied Leopards like this former Rossendale bus. Behind is similar bodywork on a Bristol RE chassis and still in Halton (Widnes) red and cream colours and belonging to the four vehicle concern of Pedley from Hammerwich which were used on culled Midland Red services here in Cannock and at Tamworth. Today a slimmed-down Warstone still operates but most Mercedes mini-buses.

A trip round the Naval Dockyard

A popular attraction for the visitors of Plymouth has been a boat trip to the Naval Dockyard and here in the late Eighties an orange and cream Smith's Happiways Van-Hool bodied Leyland Tiger heads the queue. Later this company would become the familiar Shearings we know today with that distinctive blue livery.

Brugg: Early Nineties

Brugg near Baden in Switzerland was a good location to see the yellow post buses, but the only P-Reg examples to be observed were these three-door Saurer RH's that came in from the village of Frick where Aarau had a sub-depot with eight buses.

A little reminder of the real Midland Red

The transition from Midland Red North to Arriva today had been full of twists and turns which have been reflected in the numerous liveries worn by the buses. Since the fleet lost that NBC poppy-red it has not been the predominant colour but at one point under General Manager Chris Hilditch it was decided to restyle the whole fleet on the legendary Midland Red of old when BMMO buses were almost all-red with gold lining-out and DP's and coaches had black tops. It didn't go well as firstly they bought a poor quality darker red paint which soon looked shabby and the effect was ruined by those unsympathetic blue destination blinds. Although similar examples had it former Stafford rebodied Tiger bus No. 1719 rebodied by East Lancs never had a black roof but the enthusiasts who bought it added one all the same. This view was taken in Stone when the bus was doing a free bus service as part of the POTS Barlaston Rally in 2008. Sadly it was not there this year and the fact that I saw it heading north up the M6 motorway on trade-plates a few weeks ago strongly suggests that it has had to be sold but hopefully not for breaking.

Newport Borough Transport No.98

The green and cream buses of Newport in South Wales always had a strange fascination as the livery was very similar to my Dinky Toys fleet of half-cabs buses which are still in the cupboard. Sadly by the Eighties all the not dissimilar unusual life-size Fifties Longwell Green bodied PD2's had gone but Leylands were still to be seen as the Corporation bought some Alexander bodied Atlanteans plus a Leopard. However apart from a couple more Leyland coaches in the shape of Tigers a liking for firstly Metro-Scania, Scania itself and MCW's own Metrobus kept Leyland firmly out of future orders. As you can see my old superb Voitlander camera was on it's last legs but thankfully like West Mon and Cardiff in Wales the former Municipal fleet of Newport just down the road is still with us today.

We always come to Blackpool on yelloways

Many older people go on holiday to the same destination every year, maybe it's where they spent a glorious honeymoon many moons ago when the world was a nice simpler place. Of course blackpool is still there but the Coliseum Bus Station in not and more sadly they cannot arrive the way they once could on dependable Yelloways of Rochdale.

RN 8030 on Evora Town Service

A little speciality of mine was photographing Leylands complete with their badges and Leyland wheel-nut covers and as you can see this freshly painted RN bus in Evora ticks all the boxes. Perhaps it was the mid-Summer heat or it's distance from the larger cities but unlike other parts of Portugal everybody here seemed a lot more laid back and in rather less of a hurry which was rather refreshing and enjoyable in itself. Even the buses didn't rush away too fast giving me plenty of time for photography in the town.

Bee Line Buzz

Fortunately the minibus heyday is long passed but they were quite interesting times are new liveries appeared as often the big companies set up special small-bus units to counter the moves by rivals and newcomers alike. Bee Line was set up by North Western to operate to the south of Manchester. The Mercedes might not have been much loved but the rather basic big Dodge like No.42 was much despised by everyone

Eastern Counties: Kings Lynn in 2001

It's amazing what an attractive livery will do to improve these rather functional looking Wright Handybus bodied Dennis Darts. As is the custom within the big groups older buses get relegated to the uet backwater areas like First's rural Norfolk of Eastern Counties and in the days before even old buses had to wear a version of Barbi this former red London Bus was happily trundling around Kings Lynn.

RML 2753 on Oxford Street

Even in the Nineties as we see here apart from a solitary Metrobus the London Routemaster still dominated busy Oxford Street.

.96 Tram to kirchsteigfeld: Potsdam

These more modern trams are not as beautiful as the old more traditional rounded types and you might wonder why I keep taking photographs! Terrible isn't it how these girls always seem to get in the way.