Stroud Valleys National in Cheltenham

 This Stroud Valleys Leyland National didn't look too out of place amongst Cheltenham's Edwardian architecture.

The Midland Red Bus Home D7 4126

 Till the late the Sixties the Midland Red garage at Stafford was almost exclusively double-deck with a large number of D7's especially from the first 100 4078-4177. Displaying the wrong service number instead of S98 No.4126 is resting after making the climb up to The Crown at Hyde Lea. Once it reaches the Top of the World on the Newport Road it will change to an S88 and continue to Castle Church. Buses which managed to spend their whole lives at just one garage were a rarity and this was one of them.

A Kind of Nationalism NHA 265M

 In the old days when we still used film, when we got our prints back from the high-street processors they were often quite poor and rather disappointing and this was no exception. Thanks to digital software it's nice to be able to put some life colour and detail back into these views especially when they were as good as this for it certainly makes me feel nostalgic for Stafford as it was. I reckon it was taken in about 1982 when the town was full of Leyland Nationals and numerically the first 265 spent most of it's life here mainly on the town services.  

Flying The Ensign

 Bus dealerships and scrapyards hold a certain fascination for bus enthusiasts and especially when viewed from outside. I regularly had to drive passed the large Ensign premises at Purfleet. I am sure the old East Kent Guy Arab converted to open-top had a bright future but I cannot say the same for the Wast Midlands East-Lancs bodied Daimler Fleetline 4462 TOE462N ordered by Coventry Corporation on former LT DMS Fleetline OJD 449R but you never know.  

A Manchester Routemaster 136 CLT

 After Deregulation it seemed everyone in the business found an excuse to buy some iconic Routemasters. I think Manchester bought eight with Leyland engines but London Transport was not happy that they blatantly ran them in the same red and with a similar LT roundel. One has to admit former RM 1136 does looked rather smart as it headed towards West Didsbury. This is not the first time they operated them in the city as in the Sixties RM1414 was loaned for evaluation, but it was probably just out of curiousity as by then the future was already accepted to be rear-engined. 

South Wales Hestair Duple 425 131 999BCY

A one-off with South Wales was this quite rare Hestair Duple 425 to National Express Rapide specification. No doubt 131 with it's cherished registration 999BCY was a familiar sight at Heathrow Airport as it regularly passed through travelling up to London. .
 

Not A Pigeon OR A Dove: Vision BJ11-DUV

 Vision Bus had quite a presence in Bolton with a good assortment of vehicles. These included some Wright bodied Volvo B9TL's from First Capital

Job Done! Ipswich TRY 121H

Initially at least when Ipswich bought four ECW bodied Bristol RELL buses off Leicester they didn't really need to paint them. All they had to do was paint over the maroon band and paint it green. 

Wilts & Dorset Roe Bodied Olympian

 The Privatised Wilts and Dorset bought a number of used Leyland Olympians including this example in Bournemouth with a less common Roe body that had been new to London Country as LR45, and then part of the North East after the LCBs was split-up. 

Skibby Rejser in Roskilde

 In Denmark there was still that feeling of catching the village bus as many long established family owned independents operated one or two routes from there like this Skibby Rejser DAB-Leyland about to make the return trip from Roskilde.

Arriva VDL 3784 in Stafford

 Arriva buses in Stafford used to be a very familiar sight but not so much these days. Even though like this bus which has come in from Telford the service terminates at Earl Street so the buses can only really be seen going passed the sttion and the park. That's rather a pity as I rather like their bodied Wright bodied VDL's like 3784. 

Frormer Glenton AEC Reliance EUU 117J

 In Summer Blackpool could offer a fascinating assortment of buses along with so many visiting coaches. Some were very unusual like this former Glenton AEC Reliance with a rare centre-entrance body built to their specification for touring..