Bellowing around Southport.
Its only when a famous type which used to be around in vast numbers has gone and time instills a mental buffer zone that you notice characteristics you'd forgotten about until presented with another example later in life. So it was with a Class 50 Diesel locomotive a few weeks ago, but more recently the Leopard in the picture.
Plaxton Supreme IV bodied Leyland Leopard KAD 359V was strutting its stuff around Southport last weekend in anything but a discreet manner. I don't think it could have done otherwise if it had tried. The beautifully presented ex Black & White Motorways coach wearing National White made its presence known to anyone within a half mile radius. The crisp clattery engine note when pulling away gave way to a deep bellow as each gearchange approached. These were the sound effects I recall from my youth, not the apologetic hushed whirrings of the modern Diesel bus where the fan noise often drowns out the shoe box size engine. An environmental vandal to some, but what a great sound track for the discerning!
Bellowing around Southport.
Its only when a famous type which used to be around in vast numbers has gone and time instills a mental buffer zone that you notice characteristics you'd forgotten about until presented with another example later in life. So it was with a Class 50 Diesel locomotive a few weeks ago, but more recently the Leopard in the picture.
Plaxton Supreme IV bodied Leyland Leopard KAD 359V was strutting its stuff around Southport last weekend in anything but a discreet manner. I don't think it could have done otherwise if it had tried. The beautifully presented ex Black & White Motorways coach wearing National White made its presence known to anyone within a half mile radius. The crisp clattery engine note when pulling away gave way to a deep bellow as each gearchange approached. These were the sound effects I recall from my youth, not the apologetic hushed whirrings of the modern Diesel bus where the fan noise often drowns out the shoe box size engine. An environmental vandal to some, but what a great sound track for the discerning!