5677 EL: Hants and Dorset in Hants at Alton

A former Hants and Dorset ECW bodied Bristol Lodekka of 1961, and even though the Tilling fleets had more to make them similar than their BET counterparts each company had it's quirks and on 1450 we can see the canopy sun-visor over the windscreen. Orange on black was Woolston on the edges of Southampton.

JFR 393M: Preston The Lancashire Rain Reigns Supreme

I tend to try to get my posts to match the day in question and this image of a secondhand Ribble Atlantean with East Lancs bodywork leaving Preston Bus Station just about gets it right as that was another mild but foul wet Saturday. The Route 111 to Leyland one normally associates with Fishwick's so I expect even then the bigger competition was trying to run them off the road.

United Bristol LH in York

Horrible bus drivers is nothing new but it was not something I regularly came across in 1992 so I was taken slightly aback in York when this United Bristol LH kept pulling tightly up behind the vehicles in front so I could not get a photograph. But I won out in the end with an even better shot as it sped away from me lol.

Arriva 3731: An old Friend in Shrewsbury

I must admit I was always more fond for some reason of these earlier Wright Prisma bodied VDL's first used on the Stafford to Cannock Hospitals 74-75 Service than he later buses. Maybe they sound slightly different or is it they are slightly more attractive but it was nice to see a couple of them in Shrewsbury coming in from Oswestry.

Lothian Atlantean Alexander GFS 422N

Very much an icon of Edinburgh was it's smartly turned out fleet of locally bodied Alexander Leyland Atlanteans which were not just a great asset to this fine city but a reminder of the days when Municipal Transport gave a proper service to the ratepayers. Just think if we still had it and Beeching had not pulled up all the railway branch-lines many of which could have become viable again with cheaper light rail Britain might not now be quickly heading for road lock-jam in urban areas.

JVV 267G: Just like the back end of a bus

No not exactly a compliment but going back to the Thirties and War Years the angular profile was hardly inspiring on double-deckers. However for those with a trained eye many later more rounded designs may not be beautiful but they have a pleasing subtle functional elegance like the rugged Roe body on this former Northampton Daimler CVG6 whose significance is that it was the last example built JVV 267G No.267 in 1968 and seen here at Lincoln.

JVL 619L: Nothing Ventured Nothing Gained

The wonderful thing about digital photography is one doen't have to worry about the cost of film and of course some might just snap away at nothing, if one looks around photographs occur at the most unlikely moments and even if they could be better it is can be a nice reminder such as this on preserved Lincolnshire flat-front ECW bodied VR JVL 619H.