Robertson Buses - Ten Years!
Robertson Buses has now existed for a whopping TEN YEARS, as the 10th of May is what I regard as the fleet’s “birthday”. Of course for bus companies – and even just model fleets – ten years isn’t all that long when many have histories spanning multiple decades, but there’s something special about reaching double digits.
To celebrate the tenth anniversary of RB, a whole slew of exciting (?) new stuff is here. I didn’t quite make it to ten new things, only seven, but hopefully during the rest of the year there should be more to follow. As ever it’s the lack of time which is the main barrier, and the various things in this picture I’ve been working on for between a couple of months, to several years.
So, a quick run-down of what’s new, from left to right. First are the pair of Solo EVs, which occupy some of the longest vacant fleet numbers 21 and 22. Then there’s the MCV Evolution which has become no. 39, next to which is yet another re-engined Pointer Dart joining the ten already in the fleet. The two on the right were teased in the last RB depot photo and they are Scania recovery wagon S2 and P&R liveried Optare Olympus 54. The seventh new thing is a new route, the 207, which 39 and 108 are showing blinds for.
More general thoughts on Robertson Buses being ten:
As a by-product of Robertson Buses as a whole turning 10, another thing that also gains the same accolade is the standard fleet livery. I know quite a lot of the fleet doesn’t carry it, but it is still the single most prominent livery RB uses and I don’t have any intention of changing it. A lot of real operators can’t keep a livery for ten years, and actually I’m kind of surprised I’m still satisfied at something I designed in 2015.
Another thing that hasn’t changed is how RB is basically bargain basement modelling, with paper fleet names, brush painted liveries, and models that were bought cheaply to begin with. Most of them have scuffed window units, drawn on wipers, missing mirrors and sometimes they get chipped paint when I pack them in the box together. I just do it more for the fun rather than aiming for it to be perfect.
Robertson Buses was first inspired by model (and paper bus) fleets I found online in the early 2010s; a time when there seemed to be a lot of people doing home-made dioramas and posting pictures of their models lined up on their windowsills etc! I can’t remember which specific ones, but the fleets that initially inspired RB have long since disappeared off the radar. It seems weird to think RB is just as established now as those fleets were when I started.
Of course that’s not to say new model bus operators haven’t come along since, which still offer a lot of inspiration (along with the ‘big time’ model fleets like Padbus which have been going years), although I still associate more with that more grass-roots modelling seeing as I tend to do it on the cheap in my spare time. Really, the only difference between 2015 and now is that I own more models.
Do I have a plan for what happens in the future for Robertson Buses? No, not really. Everything that’s happened with the fleet since about 2020 are plans that I’ve had for years and am only just fulfilling because of the time required to complete the modelling work, or been able to find the right models for sale cheap enough. There are still about eight models that need finishing (both already in the fleet and waiting to join) which need a lot of work to bring them up to how I want them to be, and that’s as far as the plan goes.
Basically, the RB of 2025 is what I spent the early years hoping it would become; big enough to be interesting but small enough to be manageable. It took a bit of time but in the past couple of years I really feel like RB has finally been able to start doing ‘big’ operator things like having (rough) fleet number blocks, a few different route brands, a decently sized network and actual fleet cascades when new vehicles arrive.
I have no idea if it’ll make 20; I suppose we’ll just have to wait and see. But if it does, it’ll probably be the only operator in the country still running Darts :P
Robertson Buses - Ten Years!
Robertson Buses has now existed for a whopping TEN YEARS, as the 10th of May is what I regard as the fleet’s “birthday”. Of course for bus companies – and even just model fleets – ten years isn’t all that long when many have histories spanning multiple decades, but there’s something special about reaching double digits.
To celebrate the tenth anniversary of RB, a whole slew of exciting (?) new stuff is here. I didn’t quite make it to ten new things, only seven, but hopefully during the rest of the year there should be more to follow. As ever it’s the lack of time which is the main barrier, and the various things in this picture I’ve been working on for between a couple of months, to several years.
So, a quick run-down of what’s new, from left to right. First are the pair of Solo EVs, which occupy some of the longest vacant fleet numbers 21 and 22. Then there’s the MCV Evolution which has become no. 39, next to which is yet another re-engined Pointer Dart joining the ten already in the fleet. The two on the right were teased in the last RB depot photo and they are Scania recovery wagon S2 and P&R liveried Optare Olympus 54. The seventh new thing is a new route, the 207, which 39 and 108 are showing blinds for.
More general thoughts on Robertson Buses being ten:
As a by-product of Robertson Buses as a whole turning 10, another thing that also gains the same accolade is the standard fleet livery. I know quite a lot of the fleet doesn’t carry it, but it is still the single most prominent livery RB uses and I don’t have any intention of changing it. A lot of real operators can’t keep a livery for ten years, and actually I’m kind of surprised I’m still satisfied at something I designed in 2015.
Another thing that hasn’t changed is how RB is basically bargain basement modelling, with paper fleet names, brush painted liveries, and models that were bought cheaply to begin with. Most of them have scuffed window units, drawn on wipers, missing mirrors and sometimes they get chipped paint when I pack them in the box together. I just do it more for the fun rather than aiming for it to be perfect.
Robertson Buses was first inspired by model (and paper bus) fleets I found online in the early 2010s; a time when there seemed to be a lot of people doing home-made dioramas and posting pictures of their models lined up on their windowsills etc! I can’t remember which specific ones, but the fleets that initially inspired RB have long since disappeared off the radar. It seems weird to think RB is just as established now as those fleets were when I started.
Of course that’s not to say new model bus operators haven’t come along since, which still offer a lot of inspiration (along with the ‘big time’ model fleets like Padbus which have been going years), although I still associate more with that more grass-roots modelling seeing as I tend to do it on the cheap in my spare time. Really, the only difference between 2015 and now is that I own more models.
Do I have a plan for what happens in the future for Robertson Buses? No, not really. Everything that’s happened with the fleet since about 2020 are plans that I’ve had for years and am only just fulfilling because of the time required to complete the modelling work, or been able to find the right models for sale cheap enough. There are still about eight models that need finishing (both already in the fleet and waiting to join) which need a lot of work to bring them up to how I want them to be, and that’s as far as the plan goes.
Basically, the RB of 2025 is what I spent the early years hoping it would become; big enough to be interesting but small enough to be manageable. It took a bit of time but in the past couple of years I really feel like RB has finally been able to start doing ‘big’ operator things like having (rough) fleet number blocks, a few different route brands, a decently sized network and actual fleet cascades when new vehicles arrive.
I have no idea if it’ll make 20; I suppose we’ll just have to wait and see. But if it does, it’ll probably be the only operator in the country still running Darts :P