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The last vehicles delivered to Southdown Motor Services that wore traditional colours were the batch of twelve Northern Couties bodied Volvo B10M-50 Citybuses dating from 1989. Seen here at The Hard Bus Station in Portsmouth on July 23rd 2005 is 15204 (F304 MYJ) in corporate swirls. Behind and looking altogether more comfortable is 15202 (F302 MYJ) another example of the batch restored to original livery to commemorate 90 years of Southdown.Could someone kindly tell me what the company name on the legal lettering of this vehicle would have been at this time?
When the KC Class GAC(Ireland) Citybuses were withdrawn from regular service some had their lives extended by going to or staying with Bus Éireann and becoming school buses, Ex Cork City KC143 and 166 are seen in the Summer of 2000 at Louth Commercials just after conversion
Cornwall's open-top Citybuses have been out in force in their final season. 38004 (D704 GHY) is seen leaving St. Ives for Penzance having done the full loop via Land's end.
Apr 4 2017 [Rain] Back to rain and gray skys again.. Where's my downtrodden lady crossing the street??
The buses of Scotland - Strathclyde’s Buses
Seen here is LA1408 (RDS597W) quite a significant bus in the history of Scotland’s greatest and biggest city. Now you may wonder why given on first glance its just a boggo-standard Atlantean from the last big batch of such buses, albeit these were built to a high standard with fancy walnut design interiors with patterned ceilings, Subway style patterned seating and short-bay windows. However it’s claim to fame is that bus was apparently the last Atlantean to operate in regular public service, coming off in late November 1998, four months after the actual celebrations for the last Atlantean earlier that year in July. By this stage it carried Greater Glasgow fleetnames, as Strathclyde’s Buses traded under.
Although Strathclyde’s Buses can trace its lineage all the way back to the horse trams of Glasgow Corporation Transport, the company in its current form owes its existence to the Transport Act (1985). This mandated that direct operations of local bus fleets by local authorities had to end. Instead, separate arms-length companies had to be set up, which could still be owned by the local authorities but run separately and commercially and importantly, at a profit. As such Strathclyde’s Buses Limited (SBL) was separated and created from Strathclyde PTEs bus fleet. SBL was owned by Strathclyde Regional Council.
At its formation the company had around eight hundred vehicles and ran these from six garages - Gartcraig, Knightswood, Larkfield (which is where the company’s headquarters were), Newlands, Parkhead and Possilpark. To prepare for this brave new commercial world, services were recast, costs cut and routes extended into what was traditional Scottish Bus Group (SBG) territory. Newlands and Gartcraig depots were closed. At the same time, however, SBG was eying up city services as Glasgow had some of the best bus operating territory in the whole UK. It restructured it’s Glasgow operations, creating new subsidiaries Kelvin Scottish and Clydeside Scottish to be added to Central Scottish to fight for Glasgow’s bus passengers. Glasgow would be surrounded by the SBG which would run the high-cost and bureaucratic SBL off the road. On top of this the then fledging Stagecoach registered services in the city to be run as Magicbus.
The Act - known as Deregulation- would come into force on 26 October 1986. However rather oddly the local transport commissioner gave all competing companies authority to start their new services from the end of the local school holidays in August that year. This led to excessive over-bussing which came to a head one Saturday when the newspapers had pictures of wall-to-wall buses jammed in city streets. In fairness, a lot of the jams were down to roadworks and inconsiderate parking, not solely just extra buses but these didn’t help . But it was clear that the fight was on for passengers in Glasgow.
It was a battle that SBL was expected to lose. However, it confounded it’s critics. Freed from the shackles of the PTE it restructured and massively lowered it’s costs and even replaced SBG as the main operator in East Kilbride. It also launched competitive minibus services using MCW Metroriders.
However one of the most sensible things the company did was to keep the same livery and same design of fleetname of its PTE predecessor. This gave the impression of continuity where SBG’s buses were changing liveries and colours and services frequently. It’s Transcard monthly tickets also gave good value and there was loyalty to what was still seen as the ‘Corporation’. Glaswegians may have grumbled about the bus service but it was their service....
Strathclyde’s Buses didn’t tend to order regular yearly batches of buses. It tended to order big one-off batches of buses every few years. It’s first buses after privatisation were minibuses, although to be fair it had been operating these under PTE ownership and they were initially van conversions, as was typical at the time. These tended to be used on tendered services. However MCW then launched the Metrorider, the first purpose-built minibus by a mainstream bus builder.
Strathclyde’s Buses (SB) went for the type in a big way but used these minibuses differently, as competitive tools. Where SBG would compete on a key SB service, SB would flood the route with them at high frequencies and run SBG off the road. These were branded as ‘Your wee happy bus’ promoting the friendly service. It also used the Metroriders to launch services in Paisley, to compete with SBG subsidiary Clydeside Scottish. As older minibus types were phased out, the MCW Metrorider became the standard and some were added second-hand from Colchester and Dublin Bus and an Optare MetroRider (note the capital R) demonstrator. Despite well publicised issues of corrosion with the Metrorider, SB has got the best out of the type and even developed a chassis repair option available to other operators, which addressed the corrosion issues.
For big buses, the Atlantean formed the backbone on the fleet with these forming nearly half of the fleet strength but SB recognised that these couldn’t go on for ever. Under the PTE it had turned to the Volvo Ailsa B55 after Atlantean production ended supplemented by smaller batches of the MCW Metrobus and the Leyland Olympian. When the Ailsa ceased production, it had purchased a small amount of Volvo Citybus double-deckers based on the Volvo B10M, which included the prototype vehicle. SB also had as other oddities which included some pre-production Ailsas on fleet strength plus the only Ailsa built from new as a single-decker. It also had an early prototype Leyland Olympian, which was actually licensed as a Leyland B45 (it’s Leyland product code) and carried the first Alexander R-type body built anywhere. Sadly, both this bus and the prototype Citybus were destroyed in the Larkfield depot fire, more of which later.
Single-deckers were limited in number but no less interesting. The biggest type was a batch of Leyland Nationals but these were limited in use and all bar one was sold by 1988. There were also some Seddon Midibuses and some single-deck Atlanteans, which had started off as standard PTE Atlanteans but were cut down into single-deckers. An early Ailsa joined them in the same format. A small coach fleet was also run, mainly for private hires and excursions which was supplemented by buses from the main fleet.
When the first orders were placed for big buses, these represented one of the biggest orders for buses placed so far in the post deregulation era. Initially 65 MCW Metrobuses and 55 Volvo Citybuses with Alexander RV-bodies. Sadly MCW hit its own issues - in no small part linked to the corrosion issues on the Metrorider - which saw 40 knocked off the order for Metrobuses and replaced by a similar number of Citybuses. It also ordered two Volvo B10M single-decker with Plaxton Derwent bus bodies for a tendered service to Balfron, which could also double up as coaches if needs required. Two other similar single-decker buses were acquired from the fleet of the collapsed independent operator Graham’s of Paisley.
SBG began scaling back its city services and as its subsidiaries were privatised, tact understandings were reached with the new companies which saw mutual understandings reached over territories. This led to SBL reverting to its dominant position in the city with the former SBG subsidiaries very much playing second fiddle. A period of stability ensued, with the only new vehicles being three all Leyland Olympians, mainly to cover for warranty work on the Citybuses.
However, in 1992 a disastrous fire ripped through part of Larkfield depot destroying 60 buses, including the ones mentioned earlier. Operators around the UK stepped in to help by loaning buses until new buses could be sourced but the fire happened at a critical point in the company as it was due to to sold its employees and management from SRC. The sale was postponed to allow the value of the lost buses and new ones to be factored in. Initially it looked as though these new buses to replace the lost vehicles were to be Dennis Dominators as three were ordered with East Lancs bodies. However at the last moment these were cancelled and 52 Leyland Olympians with Alexander RL-type bodies were ordered. By this stage the Volvo Olympian was on the horizon but SBL preferred to order the original design. When delivered, these were amongst the last Leyland buses delivered in the UK. Incidentally, the Dominators, which had been in build when the order was cancelled ended up with Maynes of Manchester. However three Scania K93s single-deckers with East Lancs 2000 bodies were ordered to replace them.
The company eventually passed into employee/management ownership in 1993. One of the first things the newly privatised company did was set up a subsidiary under the snappy title of Comlaw 1313 Limited but which fortunately traded as GCT - sounds familiar - and using a green/yellow/black livery. GCT was not solely a low-cost operation but would act as route for new recruits to enter the company and to bid for tendered routes. Some routes passed to GCT from SBL, one of which was the former Magicbus route which Stagecoach had sold previously to Kelvin Central. That service was then passed on by Kelvin Central to SBL along with some vehicles. It was rumoured that Stagecoach had sold that route to remove any competition concerns to allow it to bid for SBL.
It’s first new buses as an independent company were four Volvo Olympians, two with Volvo engines and two with Cummins engines. Also two of the four had Alexander Royale bodies and the other two had Northern Counties Palatine 2 bodies. Apparently they were ordered to assess future fleet ordering requirements.
Former competitor Kelvin Central was then bought by SB Holdings in 1994 - the holding company for SBL - and consolidation took place between the two companies, which led to depot closures on the Kelvin Central side. Despite this increasing SB Holdings market share to over 60% in the Glasgow area, the sale went through with no issues. However, potential trouble was on the horizon and it was in the form of Stagecoach again. Frustrated by its inability to acquire SBL, Stagecoach began to set up a Glasgow subsidiary - Stagecoach Glasgow - managed and run by its new Stagecoach Western Buses Company. It secured a fleet of Alexander bodied Volvo B10Ms and B6s to run the new services it proposed to introduce. SBL began to scour the country for good second hand vehicles and planned to set up services in Fife and Perth to retaliate.
At the last moment peace broke out. SBL cancelled its services in Perth and Fife in return for Stagecoach cancelling its and taking a 20% stake in SB Holdings. As part of the deal SB Holdings bought 10 Alexander PS-Type/Volvo B10Ms from Stagecoach, which it allocated to Kelvin Central. The second hand buses bought in anticipation of the Stagecoach onslaught were also used to ‘upgrade’ the Kelvin Central fleet. One odd thing was that the initial Stagecoach Glasgow launch service had been due to start just prior to the sale of the stake. This meant SBL had to take this service on and had to run it until it could be cancelled. This led to SBL buses, crewed by SBL staff, operating the new service on hire to Stagecoach Western Buses competing with existing SBL services....ho hum hoots.
The Stagecoach stake did lead to a very Stagecoach influence in subsequent vehicle purchases made at that time with Stagecoach spec vehicles being added. However the former Monopolies and Mergers Commission (MMC) took an interest in the stake and decided Stagecoach should sell it, despite protests and an appeal by Stagecoach, which it eventually won. However it was ultimately rendered unimportant when SB Holdings was sold to Firstbus in May 1996 for a seemingly astronomical £110million, the transaction making FirstBus the largest bus operator in the UK. Stagecoach was happy to have walked away with a handsome profit on its investment.
SBL had ordered several batches of Volvo B10M/Alexander PS types to upgrade the KCB fleet to clear our older types, largely to a Stagecoach spec. Just before it was acquired by Firstbus, it had placed an order for 150 Volvo Olympians with Alexander RL-type bodies largely to a Stagecoach spec. This was one of the largest orders Volvo had received for the Olympian from an independent operator. However when Firstbus acquired it, the order was scaled back and only 60 arrived as that, with the order changed for some single-deckers and Firstbus style Volvo Olympians.
Initially little changed as at the time Firstbus, was still working out its corporate look and the only clue to the change was ‘Welcome to Firstbus’ logos on the windows next to the entrance door. However a few months after the purchase, Firstbus revealed that all the SB Holdings fleets would share a common allover dull red livery with Firstbus style fleetname. On top of that two of the fleets would be renamed. Kelvin Central would be known as just Kelvin and Strathclyde’s Buses would be renamed Greater Glasgow, although the legal lettering was still unchanged. The fact that Strathclyde was disappearing from the side of the buses was hardly a surprise as Stathclyde Regional Council had itself been abolished in 1995.
The launch of the allover red livery happened to coincide with another attack by Stagecoach into Glasgow. This led to a rapid modernisation of the fleet of First standard buses and the new Greater Glasgow fleetname was added to buses still in the orange/black livery. However the MMC again stuck its oar in, stating that it was investigating the purchase of SB Holdings by First, claiming that it put First in an unusually dominant position in Central Scotland. This was given it also owned First Midland Bluebird, First SMT and First Lowland too. It wanted First to sell Midland Bluebird plus one of the Glasgow depots to a single purchaser. If it couldn’t, First world have sell SB Holdings.
First lobbied hard on the decision but hedged its bets by freezing investment into Midland Bluebird and selecting a Glasgow Depot - believed to be Possilpark - for the sale. It argued that there was now healthy competition in Glasgow - a happy coincidence says a cynical me - and was successfully allowed to retain the company.
In early 1998, Firstbus was renamed FirstGroup, to reflect that it now didn’t just include buses. It also launched its corporate livery and this started to appear in Glasgow with buses having small supplemental Greater Glasgow and Kelvin fleetnames. GCT had been closed down by this stage. However on the 29 May 1998, SB Holdings was renamed First Glasgow Limited and Strathclyde’s Buses was renamed First Glasgow No.1 Limited with Kelvin renamed First Glasgow No.2 Limited. Buses would just carry small supplemental Glasgow fleetnames until these too disappeared. Although First Glasgow No.1 is still trading as an operator license, all buses now just carry First Glasgow Limited legal lettering.
So what else remains of SBL? In short, not much. All former SBL-bus depots have now closed, the last being Parkhead in early 2016. However Gartcraig is still active as Depot for Glasgow City Council’s vehicles. Some services are still recognisable as SBL services although some of their route numbers have changed. However the orange - well Strathclyde red - and black livery is still fondly remembered and of course it also survived on trains too well into the millennium.
In 1989 the Volvo Citybuses of Lincoln City Transport were regular performers on National Express service from Lincoln & Leeds.
This one is seen passing Lonsdale coach station, Blackpool on 22nd July 1989
AH101 (G545RDS) was the last of a batch of 95 Alexander bodied Volvo Citybuses delivered to Strathclyde Buses in 1989-90. It remained in service until 2008 and is now being preserved by Sean Reilly for eventual return to its original orange and black livery. Whilst in service it carried a number of overall adverts, and is seen promoting the regeneration of Cadogan Square, Glasgow in this view taken in Jamaica Street in Glasgow on 23rd August 1996.
Actually the MTT had been renamed State Transport Authority at the time of this photo. Main North East Road, Klemzig 1979. © Henk Graalman 11056
The number of new double-deckers arriving at A1 slumped after 1980, but there was a brief flurry in early 1985, with a pair of Alexander RV-bodied Citybuses being joined by a one-year old former demonstrator. Meney's example was sitting in the A1 terminus in Ardrossan.
It actually spent more years with Stagecoach than it did here, passing to them in 1995 when 10 years old, and staying for another 14 years. It then managed a further couple of years with McColls at Dumbarton, and was finally sold for preservation in 2011. That came to nothing, though, and it was scrapped a year later.
A1 bus station, Ardrossan, 19/8/85
Katakolon is situated on the west coast of the Peloponnese, Greece. It is actually a very difficult place to reach by public transport. A severed railway branch line which only runs twice a day, with no connection to absolutely anywhere or 6 hours by coach from Athens. Cruise ships call at the town port as it is around 1 hour away from the ancient historic location of Olympia. That is also when the streets come alive to the sound of volvo citybuses, so timing is everything ! One of three former L` open tour Paris East Lancs volvos now ply their trade here after disappearing from the French capital a while back. After a full overhaul and repaint don't they just look amazing !
2nd life.
Solid Star Transport 888-EE
Company/Owner: Solid Star Transport, Inc.
Route: General Trias - Plaza Sta. Cruz (Carriedo)
Area of Service: Metro Manila (NCR), Cavite, CALABARZON (R4A)
Type of Service: PUB City Operation Bus
Classification: Airconditioned Bus
Coachbuilder: Scania CV AB/Marcopolo B
Model: Marcopolo Torino
Chassis: K310 4x2UB
Engine: DC09-310
Transmission: A/T
Speed: 6 Forward, 1 Reverse
Suspension Type: Electronically-Controlled Airsuspension
Seat Configuration: 2x2
Maximum Capacity: 37+6+1+standees
Shot Location: Taft Ave. cor. Gen Luna St., Ermita, City of Manila
Date Taken: October 2, 2025
#TransportPH #BusPhotography #BusEnthusiast #Buses #NewBus #NCR #MetroManila #NationalCapitalRegion #CityBuses #CityOperation #SolidStarTransport #Scania #MarcopoloBus #Torino
Two former Notingham East Lancs bodied Volvo Citybuses in the fleet of Marbill, Beith. Unusually, these featured a cab door, albeit a sliding peice of glass. Tayside were the only other operator to specify Citybuses with cab doors.
1984 saw ten new double deck vehicles enter the fleet, all with East Lancashire bodywork. The order was split between five Leyland Olympians and five Volvo Citybuses and 132 from the latter order is seen here in June 1984.
The Citybus was seen as the natural successor to the Ailsa, of which Derby had grown fond of and the five enjoyed long lives. The Olympians weren't so lucky and were disposed of at Deregulation in October 1986, four being taken by Warrington and the remaining one heading to Lincoln where it replaced a fire damaged Bristol VR.
now have 2 of these kits ready for building, hoping to leave these until my painting improves, will do these in first barbie livery will spray them white/grey and handpaint the rest. if i could afford to i'd have bought several more of these though with several citybuses coming this isn't possible yet.
Kalisz, 15 June 2021.
Not just citybuses from Kalisz itself can be seen in the town, there is also a service from Ostrow Wielkopolski some 25 km to the southwest.
Handsome. Well-proportioned. Powerful. Fast. Characterful.
Six words that, for me, concisely & accurately describe Strathclyde Buses' large batch of Alexander RV-bodied Volvo B10M-50 Citybuses (numbered AH7-AH101).
GGPTE/Strathclyde PTE had put tentative feelers out on the Citybus in the early 1980s in the form of the Marshall-bodied prototype AH1 (ESU 378X; new Mar. 1982) & the 'A-Class' Ailsa lookalikes AH2 through AH6 (A600-604 TNS; new April/May 1984). However, it was Strathclyde's Buses that was to go for the type in a big way with the aforementioned 95-strong batch being delivered from July 1989 to Feb. 1990. For the reasons outlined above plus their high seating capacity and in spite of their rather lofty height of 14' 7", they quickly became popular with drivers and passengers alike.
All of SBL's Citybuses (with the exception of G289 OGE (AH41), which perished in the disastrous Larkfield Depot fire of May 1992; AH1 had also suffered damage, but was repaired) passed to First Glasgow in Oct. 1996.
Initially staying put with Glasgow under First ownership, a number were gradually dispersed to other First divisions to see out their final years (namely Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire & Midland Bluebird/Scotland East/Edinburgh). A small contingent clung on in their home city (latterly complemented by similar ex-Northampton examples); this contingent was gradually whittled down until the final pair (AH64 & AH67) were withdrawn from Parkhead Depot in the summer of 2009, their last months being spent primarily on the 46 (Easterhouse-Castlemilk).
AH101, being among the last to be withdrawn aside from the last pair, was secured by Sean Reilly for preservation. Restored to Greater Glasgow Red, 2018 was it's debut year in this guise. While this livery choice may be a point of contention for some, seeing/hearing one of these handsome, screaming beasts after so long is infinitely refreshing; any such niggles go right out the window as a result. :)
Caught parked up on Broad St after completing a mini-tour of the East End with Ewan Grey's N94 OGG (SV494).
Photo Date: 14th October 2018
I knew WJC owned B145GSC, the last survivor of the 4 double deck coach bodies built by Alexander - 2 Olympians for Eastern and 2 Citybuses for Fife. B145GSC was last used by the Jesus Army and is fitted out with bunks upstairs and a servery area and seating downstairs.
I didn't know WJC owned XSU913, the 'Ebdons Olympian' exhibited at one of the mid-80s Motor Shows in Ebdons colours, but not taken into stock by them. It entered service as South Yorkshire's 4475WE and was, until the arrival of the former Hong Kong Olympians onto Megabus work, probably the only Olympian fitted with a toilet and servery. It was last owned by Roadliner, Poole who extensively refurbished the interior.
To mark the last day of Stagecoach's participation on the 12 (712) Eastbourne to Brighton service, a number of guest vehicles were drafted in, including preserved buses and company-owned buses that had previously worked the route. 15201 (F301 MYJ), seen here at Denton Corner, Newhaven, and sister 15202 were borrowed from Chichester and Portsmouth respectively. They had been part of a batch of 12, new to Southdown for the 700 Brighton to Southsea service but after a few years were moved to Eastbourne to work the 712 to Brighton where their power made mincemeat of the long, steep climb up East Dean Road out of Eastbourne into the South Downs. These Northern Counties bodied Volvo B10M Citybuses were always highly-regarded by operators and enthusiasts alike. Their one downside, was their very high floor (and thus overall height), simply a result of being built on a coach chassis.
In 1990 Glasgow was European City Of Culture and special tours were put on for visitors. This MCW Metrobus received this livery for Culturebus duties and was photographed outside Glasgow's Museum of Transport. MB52 was one of a batch of twenty-five new Metrobuses delivered in 1989 and there were plans for a further Twenty-five but uncertainty over the future of MCW led to the order being cancelled and Volvo Citybuses being ordered instead.
A few months before the whole operation closed in summer 2013 one of First's remaining Volvo Citybuses is pictured on Welford Road in the Kingsthorpe district of the town.
It had been new to Northampton Transport in 1992, the year before they sold out to the forerunner of First, and still retained a very tired Northampton interior when photographed twenty years later.
Surely one of the most idyllic bus terminus's on First Glasgow's territory, the terminus of the X85 and 88C at Campsie Glen. Situated at the foot of the Campsie Fells, the terminus point has been used for many years as a direct link to and from Glasgow. Hitherto the introduction of the X85 express, the terminus was served by the 175/275 and reversing further the 75 and X75 (peak hours only) under Kelvin Central.
It is interesting to note that despite the outlying nature of the terminus, it has seen a variety of interesting buses over the years, For example, in the days of the Kelvin Central 75, ex Merseyside dominators, ex Hull,Sheffield and Strathclyde's buses atlanteans/leyland nationals/olympians/tigers/leopards and metrobuses all paid visits regularly from the depot at Kirkintilloch.
The amalgamation of Kelvin Central into First and subsequent closure of Kirkintilloch depot saw the routes renumbered 175/275 operating from Cumbernauld depot with again a variety of scanias, metrobuses, volvo citybuses, alexander ps' and ex London tridents.
...but it has a similar place in British bus history, for this unassuming Atlantean is EX1, the first of many Greater Manchester Standards, and of the many essentially similar bodies supplied to operators large and small throughout the country in the 1970s and 1980s. This body was fitted to Atlanteans both PDR and AN68, Fleetlines both Daimler and Leyland and both full height and low height, Ailsas, Citybuses, Scanias, Metrobuses, Dominators, Fodens, Olympians, Falcons and I'm sure others that I cannot think of right now.
In common with many 'firsts', there are subtle differences between this bus and its successors: the wipers are mounted above the screen, different upper deck vents, a unique driver's window and sundry other features. The story of the acquisition and preservation of the bus is told on the The SELNEC Preservation Society's website.
We see the bus here while it was owned by Father O'Leary of St. Michael's Church in Oldham. It's parked outside St. John the Baptist Church on Maclure Road, Rochdale. St. John the Baptist is a rather unusual looking church, in plan shaped like a '+' sign rather than having the more usual cruciform proportions, and with a large central dome. It was constructed in 1924 to replace an earlier building, and was designed to resemble the Church of Santa Sofia in Istanbul.
PNF has also been a star of the small screen, and showed up in 2 episodes of 'Life on Mars'.
40544 is the only double decker at Redditch, and can now claim as the oldest bus in the town too. Due to it being Non-DDA Compliant, the Euro 2 machine only sees service rarely on the Matchborough Circular (the 301 school service being its usual haunt). As a bit of a Christmas special, it appeared on my short visit on Christmas Eve but sadly my other attempt for a better photo was blocked by multiple taxis attempting to enter the bus station. 40540-4 were once all at Redditch depot, at a time where Diamond had just acquired the First depots at Kidderminster and Redditch, along with many Tridents, Darts and a few Enviro 300s, Dennis Lances and Volvo Citybuses. That period during 2013 was to see Redditch have the most double deckers ever in recent times, now 40544 and the hourly Stagecoach X19 are the only regular occurrences, with the rest of Rotalas Presidents either withdrawn at Preston, or in service (in the case of the ex Central Buses ones) at Preston / Atherton. Nevertheless, the need for double deckers is not as high now, with various college contracts requiring them back then, maybe a more modern decker will replace 544 in 2019?
MiM new kit, the Alexander 'R' type Volvo Citybus. The kit comes with various alternative parts to model the various permutations of the body supplied to different operators. I have elected to built mine as one of Fife Scottish's B-FFS batch of Citybuses. This one will go into allover red with ivory waistband and will also carry the SBGs 'Best Bus in the Kingdom' marketing garb.
It's been a while since we've had a Brown Line bus using this fleetnumber. When it was Olympian S456ATV, it originally saw use on the 17 from 2001 when just three years old at the time, however when the OmniDekkas arrived in 2003, it went onto the 15 and 16 along with the R reg examples to see off the Citybuses which were between thirteen and fifteen years old at the time....
456 this time round though is fresh out the box for 17s, pictured pulling away from the Perry Road stop on the edge of Carrington with a 17 to Nottingham.
Sometimes I get things wrong, this being a case in point. I thought I was working on a Volvo Citybus but it is actually a Leyland Lion. Like the Citybus, the Lion was a mid-engined double-deck bus chassis; but it did not enjoy the success of its better-known rival, which was derived from the hugely successful B10M coach chassis. Whereas Volvo built 575 Citybuses (also known as the D10M or B10MD) between 1982 and 1993, Leyland only managed 32 Lions between 1986 and 1989. Most examples of both types had Alexander R-Type bodies. Northampton operated Citybuses (not Lions), the last of which arrived shortly before the GRT take-over. All lasted into First Group ownership, initially with First logos on the GRT-style livery as depicted here. The black bumper is incorrect for this livery style, but was a ‘given’ of the base image (updated 11-Sep-17).
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GGPTE took a batch of five MCW Metrobuses for evaluation in 1979, and this was the second one caught here passing the old Corporation Transport offices in Bath Street. The City would eventually build up a fleet of 70 Metrobuses and had plans to buy more, but a lack of guarantees by MCW led to the policy of buying Volvo Citybuses instead.
When I was half the age I am now, I'll leave you to work than one out, on my birthday in March 1987 I took this shot of Leicester Citybuses fine Scania Breakdown towing home its near cousin a Scania engined Metropolitan. Leicester was a great fan of Metropolitans and operated quite a number in their day but not too many got in to this later livery.
Soul of Olney R341 RRA is one of a pair of these late model Citybuses bought from Redline, Penwortham and new to Nottingham City Transport, seen setting out for its afternoon school working in Bedfordshire.
F134PHM was a Volvo Citybus B10M-50 / Alexander RV Type H75D purchased new by Cowie of London for their Grey-Green operations in October 1988. On disposal in March 2003 it passed Blue Triangle of Rainham, then went to to Redline of Penworthen in December 2003, where it was converted to single door. It was purchased by Peter Irvine in April 2004. The availability of these buses scuppered the purchase of some ex Dublin Olympians from Ensign as it was felt they would fit in with the other Citybuses then being operated. However they were a bit of a let-down due to bodywork problems compared to the older Northern Counties bodied Citybuses then being operated and as a result left the fleet much sooner than these older buses. It was sold to D&E Coaches of Inverness in August 2009, where it was re-registered to B14YST. It passed to 1st Bus Stop of Gravesend in November 2011.
During the mid 90s for a few year, each of the four remaining SBL depots had a bus liveried like this to promote the Transcard. Originally they had figures of people in medieval clothing in the windows, but they soon got removed. Knightswood's AH21 is seen in Glasgow's Hope St in 1993. These Volvo Citybuses were spectacularly good buses, and have perhaps never been bettered since despite the step height.
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AH2, the first of Strathclyde's Volvo Citybuses with Alexander R type body heads along Shettleston Road on the 1 from Shettleston to Summerston in June 1984.
©eb2010
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This bus has a hole in it.
In 1988 you could get a brand new, underfloor engined double decker, and that's exactly what Southdown did when they purchased F-reg Volvo B10M Citybuses with Northern Counties Palatine 1 bodywork. Southdown became part of Stagecoach, while this bus subsequently ran with Velvet and then Seaford and District, whose livery it is shown in here, in preservation with the White Rose Bus Group.
Showbus, Donington, 30.9.18
Lucky numbers to East Kilbride
Wearing an rather garish all-over advertising livery in recognition of the 25th anniversary of the introduction of the National Lottery, 33908 (SN11FPA) is seen traversing Argyle Street on the 6 service heading for East Kilbride.
Scotland’s first all-over advertising bus was actually a Glasgow Leyland Atlantean, (LA230) for Barclaycard and which was applied in 1972. After that they took off in a big way and a succession of vehicles were treated to various liveries, some more memorable than others. Think the Bell’s Scotch Whisky Silver Jubilee Atlanteans or the various flavours of Walkers Crisps ones on different Volvo Citybuses. Glasgow did seem to get a lot of such adverts with both the Scottish Bus Group and the Passenger Transport Executive’s vehicles being treated accordingly. They were helped by a local by-law which meant that private hire taxi cabs had to be painted black and so couldn’t be decorated in adverts themselves.
The plethora of all-over adverts continued into the deregulated era with the only real change being that most Glaswegian operators began painting the front of the bus in fleet livery, as a concession to passengers so they would know which bus company was approaching.,
However in the latter part of 1990s, the number of all over advertising buses fell in Greater Glasgow as the local by-law was repealed and advertising moved towards cheaper taxis. Since then a small but relatively consistent number of all-over adverts have been applied on the FiG fleet. Opinion is mixed on all-over adverts. Some bus companies don’t really like them as they dilute the brand but to others they’re a handy source of income and add to the variety. I’m in the latter camp.
Numerically the last of the ex G M Buses Volvo B10M Citybuses - the second to feature wheelchair lift access when new.
Stockport, Mersey Square, setting off on the marathon 22 route to Bolton, 23/12/2006.
Leyland 3-door Worldmaster on display in Victoria Square in 1979 amongst heritage buses. The 908 was, at that time, still in regular service. © Henk Graalman
Northampton's 2 coach seated Volvo Citybuses arrive at Blackpool's Central Coach Park on 9th September 1995.
Route 133 first appeared in 1929 running from Liverpool Street to South Croydon via London Bridge, Elephant, Kennington, Brixton, Streatham, Thornton Heath (via Melfort Road) and Croydon. It ran on Monday to Saturday - on Sunday it was covered by an extension of route 43 which ran from Friern Barnet to South Croydon. Sunday service on the route first appeared in 1940 and in 1958 it went the other way around when route 133 was diverted at Moorgate to run to Hendon Central, covering routes 43 and 143.
In 1964 route 133A was created running on weekdays from South Croydon to Kennington and extended to Embankment via Lambeth Bridge during the peaks. As a result route 133 was cut back to Thornton Heath Clock Tower apart from weekends. Route 133A lasted until 1968 and at that point the 133 was extended back to Croydon, Katherine Street. South Croydon was served only at weekends. Also in 1968, Sunday service was withdrawn between Archway and Hendon and by 1969 Liverpool Street reverted to the terminus seven days a week.
In 1971 the route was withdrawn between Streatham and Croydon replaced by changes to route 50. This lasted until 1985 when it got a southern extension in a different direction, replacing route 95 between Streatham and Tooting Broadway.
Route 133 was one of the routes that was split into two to improve services when the congestion charge was introduced in 2003. It was withdrawn between Streatham St Leonard's Church and Tooting and replaced by route 333 over that section. The two routes initially overlapped between Streatham and Elephant although route 333 has subsequently been diverted at Brixton to run via Stockwell. The final change to route 133 was in 2012, when it got a short diversion in Streatham to terminate at Streatham Station, a nice new standing area having been created there.
It has been worked from a few garages over the years, including a number of shared allocations, with Streatham (AK), Brixton (BN) and Thornton Heath (TH) historically taking the lions share of the route. However in 1990 it was transferred to Stockwell Garage from Brixton and operated using a batch of relatively unusual (certainly for a London Buses subsidiary) Northern Counties bodied Volvo B10M Citybuses. It got squeezed out of Stockwell by the tender win of route 24 in 2007 and moved to Mandela Way Garage, and then was won by Arriva London South in 2010. There was no room to run it from the obvious Brixton Garage location, so the route was put into Norwood Garage off line of route in the south. The route would certainly fit in Brixton now but would leave Norwood a bit bare (Arriva have not been too successful retaining routes recently.)
Arriva purchased a batch of ADL Tridents with Enviro 400 bodies for the tender win and fleet number T111 from that batch is seen here in Brixton.
Another shot of the last day of Stagecoach's participation on the 12 between Eastbourne and Brighton. A second of the Northern Counties bodied Volvo Citybuses was borrowed from Chichester, being 302 or 15202 (F302 MYJ) seen here at Seaford, which had been repainted in original livery to mark Southdown's 90th anniversary. The east West Sussex and west East Sussex area is one of the few locations that Stagecoach nationally hasn't managed to make work, although they did get back into Eastbourne by buying up the incumbent former municipal and its competitor.
The building behind the fence on the right is the former Southdown Seaford garage, which has since been demolished. It's on a lower level than the road pictured! It had been built in the 1950s and closed sometime in the late 1970s or very early 1980s, latterly being used as a removals depository, although buses were still stabled on the forecourt right through until Stagecoach sold the operation to Go-Ahead. Buses are now outstationed in nearby Newhaven.
Obviously this year (2015) is Southdown's centenary, and whilst it is due to be celebrated, technically all operations ceased last autumn with the wholesale transfer of everything onto the Stagecoach (South) licence. I did wonder whether they would end up renaming Stagecoach (South).... they still might, we shall see.
One of several Volvo Citybuses in the Centrebus fleet at the time, Northern Counties bodied G127 NGN - new to London Buses as VC27 - is seen in Grantham on 12th August, 2009.
G132 PGK
Volvo B10M CItybus/Northern Counties H47/33F
Rodger's Coaches, Weldon
Weldon, 25 August 2005
New to London General
Odd ones out in Rodgers' red double-deck fleet were three yellow Citybuses purchased from Pete's Travel of West Bromwich in 2003 and still in their previous owner's livery two years later. All were eventually repainted and are believed to still be with Rodgers.
Route 78 has a long history. It was about in 1934 serving quite a lot of the route it does today. Starting from Shoreditch it ran via Bishopsgate, Aldgate, Tower Bridge, Dunton Road, Old Kent Road, Peckham Park Road, Peckham, Peckham Rye, East Dulwich, Forest Hill, Sydenham, Penge, Elmers End and West Wickham. In addition, from 1936 it was extended to Croydon Airport via Shirley, East Croydon and South Croydon on Sundays only.
The weekday service shrunk rather quickly, and three weeks after that Sunday extension in 1936, the Monday to Saturday service was cut back to Lower Sydenham. Nineteen months later it retrenched further to East Dulwich and the Sunday extension was dropped in 1939. The seven day service then ran from Shoreditch Church to Dulwich Plough pretty stably until 1988.
In 1988 it was extended back to Forest Hill partly to replace a withdrawn section of route 12, however in 1994 it cut back even further, operating Shoreditch to Peckham Rye. The current route pattern, from Shoreditch to Nunhead Station, was created in May 2000 with a short extension.
The route has had some relatively unusual types – in 1980 and 1981 it used MD class Scania Metropolitans that concentrated into South East London. It was won on tender in 1990 by London and Country, bringing a mix of Atlanteans, Fleetlines and Volvo Citybuses , and it passed through British Bus and the Cowie Group to Londonlinks, Kentish Bus and Grey Green. All those companies are now part of Arriva and that’s the company that now run the route. It based at Ash Grove and has recently been re-equipped with a batch of quite rare ADL Enviro 40H cities. I have a feeling with a new mayor and a higher price tag, these buses may remain quite rare.
In this photo, fleet number HA15 is seen in Shoreditch.
The first of SBL's large batch of Volvo Citybuses is seen here new in 1989. It is still running on its original 275/70 low-profile tyres, which were soon changed for normal size 295/80 tyres when they found things underneath starting grounding the road, increasing their height to a lofty 14' 7". I believe the SBL specified certain items in certain places, hence this problem which was not, as far as I'm aware, a problem on other Citybuses elsewhere which ran on their low profiles. The big tyres also increased the step height, this was long before people worried about lowfloors etc. I drove them a few years later than this pic was taken - they were spectacularly good buses, all the drivers loved them, and they had an excellent seating capacity of 84, all facing forward, but the high step and three step entrance did slow down stop times, whilst Aggie and Senga struggled up and down the steps with their messages.
Note the Royal Concert Hall taking shape in the background, to be opened a year later in 1990 when Glasgow was voted European City of Culture. Pure dead brilliant.
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