Five Faces of Arriva

Arriva built up a large number of Dennis Darts in Britain, but as well as the favoured Plaxton Pointer the fleet carried a wide variety of bodywork. These five examples at Burton on Trent garage might just all be Darts yet carry totally different makes of body. Nearest the camera is a Northern Counties 'Countybus' which came from Kentish and probably ran in South London from Catford. Next to it is a typical Arriva 'Plaxton Pointer SLF'. 2337 may not be a Dart but there are similar vehicles that are with this distinctive East-Lancs 'Flyte'. The company operates a good number of these slightly different not so common Marshall buses too like re-registered 2038 which once bore the old Midland Red '100 years' colours hence it's unusual M100 PHA marque. The Alexander ALX200 at the far end is most likely to be a Scania and came from the Leicester operation, and although Arriva has some of these bodies they are more typical of Stagecoach and First Group.

Not a very nice day Mister Macadam

A grey winter day in Hanley, but then again it might be summer with all that English cloud and sticky hot tar-smoke in the air. No doubt all this leaning on shovels was causing congestion at the exit of the bus station as Stonier's former Lothian Seddon Pennine CFS 109L leaves followed by a by contrast smart PMT Bristol VR. Of course these workmen would be wearing bright but as usual filthy reflective jackets today, but somehow they all seemed to survive without being rolled flat like the black macadam.

Majestic but hardly Regal

Well hardly regal or majestic but ahead of it's time in the sense that if this Majestic of Walsall's  Algarve DAF in new condition turned up today one would hardly guess it's age, Certainly one of Caetano's more attractive coaches.

Arriva's homage to Southport Corporation

On my day out, to get out of the cold wind and rain in Liverpool I thought I would test out my 'bus-pass' and visit Southport again. Thankfully 28 years on not only were the lamp-posts still the Corportation 'red and cream' of my youth but Arriva was running a token pair of 'Southport' painted Enviro's on the park and ride which with a little brightness was a  nice sight..

A nice try!

I was hoping to do something a bit more artistic with this shot from Coimbra but it didn't quite work out. However one can still enjoy a glimpse of the coaches awaiting their returning tourists including RN 0630 or is it 0830..

Liverpool DockS; Staff Transport

After withdrawl this former Leicester City Transport East Lancs bodied AEC Ronown found work aa a staff bus at Liverpool Docks.

My lovely day-out!

I had a rail ticket to Liverpool and I was determined to enjoy it whatever the English 'Spring' weather threw at me. But my expectactions were not high as the forecast for Liverpool was snow flurries and 25mph winds. So it was not a nice day for standing around on street corners but I had to do some photography. Trying to keep the squally rain off the camera lense I shot this year old Wright bodied VDL, the current favourite with Arriva here in the North West.