For for Pet's: Blackpool

Retired coaches often find new lives as motor sport transport or display units. I was baffled at first but obviously this former Yelloways AEC Reliance beside the Blackpool Pleasure Fun Fair was being sponsored by Petox Pet Foods.

Iveco in Lisbon

Carras Lisbon 3052 in 1984 and lots of drying washing.

Three Leopards at Barker Street, Shrewsbury

Somewhat surprisingly with it's urban operations especially around Leicester under NBC ownership Midland Red was not allowed to buy new double-deckers and was made to buy large numbers of it's state-owned flag-ship Leyland National bus instead. However the operator managed to win one useful concession as it was able to continue buying it's comfortable much liked dual-purpose bodied Leyland Leopards. These were particular useful as can be seen here at the former Barker Street Bus Station in Shrewsbury where they were ideal for it's longer runs like 1973 S27 No. 217 heading west for Oswestry and from the second batch of these Marshall bodied buses 1974 S28 No.358 travelling south to Ludlow. In the background is former National Travel ECW bodied No.1501 ANA 91Y another of the fifteen Leopards at SY in 1984.

Bradford: Bum's on Seats

Basically that is what bus operation is all about and in the early Eighties the West Yorkshire PTE was having a highly visible campaign. Also to be seen is part of an advert for the Royal Insurance Group a regular user of bus advertising in the North. The nearest bus is a typical WYPTE standard AN68 Atlantean with a Roe body, but No.2437 the Alexander bodied Daimler Fleetline across the carriageway was a former Bradford vehicle

WM Metrobus Running Weekend?

No it was the V Festival at Weston Park which brings all the traffic for thirty miles to a standstill but on the plus side for me at least brings some double-deckers back in to Stafford. No doubt the trusty old Metrobus2's will not be back next year and maybe WM Buses will have a new owner too. At the moment there are still about sixty in service with West Midlands but at the end of the month it will be down to forty-five and by the end of the year none. On 28th August I get my bus-pass so shortly afterwards I will be making an expedition to take a few rides on buses like 1984 No.2830 before they go.

Mayne's in Manchester: Those Ugly Buses

People used to really knock the poor old MCW Orion family of bodywork in the Sixties. I know it was rather plain looking and of course often unpleasant to ride in due to it's flimsy lightweight nature. But I feel even though standards of noise accessibility and comfort might have improved over the decades not always have the designs of our buses. East-Lancs has produced some rather uninspired buses in it's time including this example whose incongruous appearance isn't helped by Mayne's rather bitty livery highlighting the broken lines of the bodywork. The biggest problem here is that it's no good mixing gentle curves with such a jagged profile as the top of the bus doesn't go at all well with that curved windscreen. Indeed everything looks as though it was added on as an afterthought unlike the rather more sleek Alexander-Dennis Enviro on a similar Trident belonging to Stagecoach Manchester. This view was taken a couple of years ago and sadly Mayne's no longer run it's buses only coaches and so they now also operate in Stagecoach colours.

A short journey to Berlin

There are always plenty of visiting coaches to be seen at The Zoo in Berlin and with it's borders being so close not surprisingly many of these come from Poland. No doubt after being imprisoned behind the Iron Curtain for fifty-years, after the travel restrictions were lifted nobody minded too much if their old Autosan coaches were not quite state-of-art.

Scania-Vabis CF76: A Swedish Classic

Built between 1963 and 1967 these urban semi-integral buses were once very common in Sweden but sadly I was too late to photograph any of them except this old bus loaded with bikes and full of noisy kids seen in Copenhagen in 1982.

Leicester: St Margaret's Bus Station

Outside Birmingham and the industrial Black Country the biggest centre of operations for Midland Red was Leicester where there were three garages. The busy St Margaret's Bus Station was the hub of the Leicester operations and as a youngster I was too excited by the buses I might see to notice the grim utility appearance of the horrible concrete bus shelters. However they did their job keeping out the wind and rain and should a nice new bus collide with them I know which would have come off worst. Half way through own built D9 production Alexander bodied Daimler Fleetlines began to appear and these became the standard double-decker for the fleet. One of the garages with about seventy buses was situated right beside the bus station in Sandiacre Street where this bus No. 6116was allocated along with 6115 and 6117. Under the NBC standards dropped and in the more watchful old BMMO-Midland Red days you would have been able to see that the bus was bound for Uppingham via Belton.

Volvo in Porto

In red and grey this one looks like it's owned by the Railway.

SELEC Cheshire Bristol VR No. 408

I'm sure my RN fans from Portugal will heartily agree that in the early Seventies SELNEC made a good choice when it selected this orange and cream livery for it's combined Manchester area bus fleet. I admit they were quite cheerful colours and looked rather pleasing on this ECW bodied Bristol VR with it's cream window mounts which had been ordered by the old North Western Road Car Company. The trouble was like with the big groups today and even RN, the new look swept away all the fascinating variety and individuality that went before. When Wigan was added SELNEC became known as the more memorable Greater Manchester Transport but stood for South-East Lancashire and North East Cheshire PTA. The now preserved bus was blinded up to work the Stockport to Altrincham 80 Service but was seen last year at the Meadow Hall Bus Rally.

Victoria Coach Station: Evening Departures

At London's Victoria Coach Station just as things had quietened down after the evening rush-hour activity started to quicken again as the Evening long distance departures started to gather. As well as National Express former United Automobile services to the North East there were of course plenty of coaches heading for Scotland. At 8.pm in Summer it is often still light enough to take photos and I was able to catch a shot of Northern Scottish NPEX71, a Duple Dominant bodied Leyland Leopard waiting before getting ready to return to Aberdeen.