4552: I'm afraid Numbers just make me think of more numbers

This is National Express West Midland 4552 but when I see these buses I can't help thinking of the old Midland Red as the numbers mirror some of the fleet. 4552 was notable as it was the very last of a series of 200 D7's built in the mid-Fifties but it was not a bus that graced the bumpy Black Country streets as it was a sandiacre St. Leicester bus for much of it's life but it did later move on which included a spell at Digbeth. I'm sure I will rather miss these Alexander-Dennis 400's when they go as they are almost as familiar as the local Metrobuses were in the Wolverhampton area. Their numbers (forgive the pun) have been dented somewhat as Wright bodied Volvo single-deckers have made an impact. 4552 was seen on Wellington Road in Bilston. 

Parks of Hamilton in Copenhagen

A cyclist passes a pausing Van-Hool B10M of Parks in Copenhagen on a Global Tours contract. As you can see there was no health and safety paranoia here, indeed the cyclist doesn't even need to watch where he is going. Another Volvo this time of HT passes but as you can imagine they get used to errant cyclists.

A National Express Rapide Neoplan Leaves Chester C178 CET

Passing through Chester on the 532 was I expect a well worn SUT Neoplan. Today this service is certainly a long one going all the way from Edinburgh to Plymouth but unlike ths one it sticks to the M6 and does not call in at Chester. Those Crosville Olympians in M&D style green and cream lifts the spirits as does the Chester double decker. Indeed despite it just being mid-summer in perhaps 1990 it even looked as though the sun might come out.

B44 PJA: Is Fazakerley a bit of 'Scouser' for Exactly

Following Deregulation there was a lot of tit-for-tat rivalry even between the biggest operators much of it pointless. GM Buses of Manchester even set up a depot in Liverpool to do the extra work in the area as MTL buses plied their trade in Central Manchester as can be witnessed by this NC bodied Leyland Olympian with the depot code letter L on the front.

Red Arrow S443 GUW 443W at Victoria Station

London Buses had about 500 Leyland Nationals but they were not a familiar sight in Central London till a new fleet of Red Arrows arrived in the shape of the National2 who's lively engine roar culd be heard some distance away but I expect these lively buses were quite popular with the drivers.Ok i know someone will tell me different.

An Insight at Plymouth Bretonside: C151 SPB

Following Deregulation the marketing men went a bit mad with new names and liveries. I think they should have reinforced well-respected existing names like Green Line instead  for had I not been an enthusiast I would never have guessed this Berkhof bodied Leyland Tiger belonged to London Country. It was seen at Plymouth Bretonside bathed in bright light whilst alongside it was one of Wallace Arnold's oddities a Mercedes O608 with a Plaxton body. I guess this was very much a one off and must show how much the Scarborough bodybuilder must have valued this major customer. I imagine it was bought for the Torquay operation where a little coach like this was the ideal tool for squeezing down those Devon country lanes.

Ny Easter Quiz Question: The Answer

I asked if anyone could guess which BTC/Tilling operator with a seventeen bus allocation at one of it's depots found on my 1967 PSV News Sheet on every single bus had at least one number nine in it's registration. The answer was Southern National at Seaton.

696 EDV 559D
980 KUO 993
986 KUO 999
1341 LTA 997
1342 LTA 998
1343 LTA 999
1344 MOD 971
1607 LTA 976
1762 RTT 981
1847 LTA 957
1851 LTA 994
1877 RTT 996
1913 UOD 496
1914 UOD 497
1915 UOD 498
1945 VDV 779
2613 911 AUO

Word Play: Don't Call me "A Lag!"

No I didn't say anything but what looks like two sisters in Copenhagen look very disagreeable and don't look happy despite the sunshine of Copenhagen. With all the blinds pulled down it must have been quite warm on the Belgium Galexy bodied Renault here for the St Josef Fanfare.

Scrap Midland Red C3 at Sid Taylor's Snows Yard in Stafford

Based in a large old quarry with grand views from the edge of mainly condemned Birmingham City buses,  Bird of Stratford on Avon  was probably the best known of the more traditional muddy scrap yards in Britain before the Yorkshire lads elevated it onto an more industrial scale. But another significant one in the Midlands was here at Stafford where Sid Taylor was well placed to collect the scrap Midland Red buses from the Lichfield dump fifteen miles away. I picked up the old tax disk off 3977 the LA Prototype which had been lying in the dried muddy clay and now wished I had kept it despite being so faded it was hard to read. Probably more worthy of being saved would have been one of these Willowbrook bodied C3 coaches as I'm not sure any are in preservation which is a pity as Black and White of Cheltenham had similar bodies on some AEC and Guy's. But  I think one of the problems was the timber frames rotted away and even some of the BMMO's had been rebdied in 1962 by Plaxton to update the touring fleet for even though not too ugly did look dated.  Although I say it myself, not a bad photo for my very first camera an Ilford Sporty with no adjustments just a viewfinder with point and shoot

Berlin: Cities Change Too Much for My Liking

I'm lucky as I don't feel my age too much so far as ageing hasn't slowed me down to greatly apart from being on chemo at the moment of course. But the worst thing by far is how the world changes for innovation might excite us when we are young but somethings we wish would never change like my favorite buses and even the ordinary ones like this 1978 Berlin MAN double-decker on the Ku-damm in about 1982. I know it's sad but I don't really even want to go to a fantastic city like Berlin any more, but on the other hand you haven't met my brother who lives there and that puts most visitors off lol. The 19 was at the time perhaps the busiest route in the city as it went from end to end of this always busy thoroughfare and also short hop tickets were made available for shoppers so buses were always full. This one was not going all the way as it was garaged at Cicero str..

A Post Card from London: Two Routemaster's at Victoria

I'm sure most tourists would prefer to see the famous sights of our Capital but for bus enthusiasts it is far more satisfying to see some nicely turned out buses like these two Routemasters at Victoria which I always regarded as perhaps the London bus and coach mecca. Despite these RM's looking very much the same and their registrations being so close together one thousand more Routemasters were delivered between them and it's quite hard even to imagine such huge bus types going to one operator in the UK today as LT had about 2800 RM's in total if you include the BEA fleet and it would seem at times most of them have been preserved as one will keep popping up in my travels!

FEK 1F: GM Massey bodied Leyland PD2 in Wigan

It was no secret that both the earlier Leyland Atlantean and Daimler Fleetline were a load more troublesome than the old half-cabs they had come along to replace. In Lancashire many of the municipals tried to either order just a few of the rear engined buses preferring  to stick to the old order as happened at Wigan. Consequently when it was absorbed into Greater Manchester they inherited a fleet of often not too useful buses including the shorter PD2 like this Massey bodied example and no doubt they continued to work the same old routes but I'm sure the conductors enjoyed a stay of execution.