UK Rail - Special Liveries
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Some smart franchisee ran a Dodge dealership across the street from the Dodgers stadium in Brooklyn. It outlived Ebbets Field and this late 60s Dodge came west long after the Dodgers themselves.
Notice the OPEC-era gas cap, with a lock and key to prevent siphoning.
A globally branded hotel by franchisor Hilton (NYSE: HLT) in downtown Milwaukee
Franchisee–Marcus Corporation (NYSE: MCS)
Among those who claim they can taste the portal aethers on their cheese slice, legend has it that one Pizzatron franchisee still makes his pizzas with the original recipe, baked to crispy perfection in a real fission brick oven, with real soy-based cheese product, just like you remember. You can't trade in your holo-novel punch card for a free personal pie anymore, and even he can't bring back original formula Vita Limon, but if you're willing to make the trip, and if you can find his little space rock, you can almost pretend your childhood never ended...
::::::::FRANCHISE ADRIS KING:::::::::
You want to open your own business?
Have an income of 50% profit?
Come be a franchisee of adris king
47628 'Sir Daniel Gooch' runs past the blooming heather of the New Forest while working 1E61, the 0940 Poole to Bradford Interchange on an August morning in 1987.
As part of the 150th-anniversary celebrations of the Great Western Railway a number of locomotives were reliveried into a livery approximating that used by the Great Western Railway from 1906. This livery is distinct from that used by the 2015 franchisee 'Great Western Railway', which is a darker, and to my eye a less attractive) green.
The coaching stock appears to be a set of first-class corridor Mark 2s, which suggests this may be a rake that was based at Old Oak Common in the 1980s.
Following in the footsteps of Loganair and Stobart Air, Blue Islands today become a Flybe franchisee and will operate four of its first aircraft in the distinctive purple livery. Seen here is the first ATR 42-500 of any airline to be painted in the Flybe livery and the first of Blue Islands to sport the new look.
Less than a month after GBRf assumed responsibility for providing traction for the Caledonian Sleepers (under the new franchisee, Serco), 87002 Royal Sovereign, on long term hire from Electric Traction Ltd., passes Old Linslade with 1M16 Inverness - Euston.
Unsurprisingly, especially given the lovely weather, there was a large gallery of photographers here this morning! 87002 worked the sleeper quite a number of times during the early days of Serco / GBRf operation, and remained on hire until late 2019 to work the empty stock.
::::::::FRANCHISE ADRIS KING:::::::::
You want to open your own business?
Have an income of 50% profit?
Come be a franchisee of adris king
Some franchised businesses can be sold for a gain to someone who the franchisor has approved. Yeah! Franchisors can be helpful in finding business buyers, especially since they are the only gateway in which a business buyer can be approved.
Some franchising firms do not allow you to sell the business.
Some franchises are sold for mere pennies on your invested dollar to a new franchisee approved by the franchisor, which receives franchise license fees again from the new buyer. Sigh. An unprofitable unit to a franchisee can be profitable for the franchisor, which can have it sold and receive buying fees from a new buyer–yet again for each time the outlet is bought. The troubled outlet remains and looks rock solid to consumers on the outside but internally the franchisee ownership changes again and again. Consumers sometimes might see a sign in between new business owners of the franchised outlet that says, "new management" as if the new business owners were new employees (managers).
Other franchises are shuttered at a complete loss.
43059 and 43044 power an afternoon St. Pancras-bound East Midlands Trains service past Wistow Road at Kibworth Harcourt.
The set still carries the second livery of the previous franchisee, National Express Group-owned Midland Mainline Ltd.
I recorded the time of the photo as 14.07, but I don't know what working it was.
Visit Brian Carter's Non-Transport Pics to see my photos of landscapes, buildings, bridges, sunsets, rainbows and more.
HB-IIF : Boeing 737-3Q8 : easyJet
Leased from TEA Switzerland, and flown in this hybrid livery between May and October 1998.
TEA Switzerland became an easyJet franchisee, flying as easyJet Switzerland from April 1999.
CCVersatile: red
Compositionally simple. Subject isolation. Centered.
Consumers thought RB was an acronym for roast beef. It wasn't, but the mistake gave a smile to Arby's marketers.
Another 365 first - my first angry pic. Actually, anger is not even strong enough a word. i was filled with rage. Here is the context - i work for a franchisor, and as a consultant, i support the franchisees. The husband of one of my franchisees (read: he has no legal standing in our company and i have no obligation to deal with his stupid crap) sat in a meeting with me, my boss's boss, and his wife (the ACTUAL franchisee) and talked about me behind my back in front of me, and lied the whole time. Douche says, "Well, we could tell you things about how the field officer sabotaged our business." Boss-man says, "Well, I'm not sure what you're alleging here." Me: Silence, takes it up the ass because otherwise i'd have to leave the high road never to return because i'd be screaming, "Ummm, would it be more comfortable for you to talk behind my back if I left the room, you lying fuckwit?" I would now like to point out that when i work my ass off for such folk, my paycheck doesn't grow, but their's does. So, i wonder this: SERIOUSLY? It is my job to take this? Seriously? Seriously!
G-OREX : Shorts 360 Srs.200 : CityFlyer Express
This 360 was previously G-BMHY of British Midland.
Arriving back at its Gatwick base, from which CityFlyer flew a network of short-haul routes to smaller European cities. In 1993, it became a British Airways franchisee, and ultimately in 1999 was purchased by BA, being merged into BA's Gatwick division by 2001.
Cincinnatian David Frisch was an early franchise owner of Big Boy. He sub-franchised around the area but kept his locally renowned restaurant name on the franchisor's Big Boy brand–i.e. Frisch's Big Boy. Locals knew that Frisch understood what they liked to eat. Frisch put his mix on the burgers and dining business model of the California-based franchisor to better meet his customers' wants around Cincinnati.
91125 races round the Offord Curves (between St. Neots and Huntingdon) with a northbound East Coast service from King's Cross.
At this point the Inter-City East Coast operation was back in state ownership after National Express had been stripped of the franchise. The loco and coaches still carry the livery of the first franchisee, GNER, although the orange bodyside band had been replaced by a white one by National Express East Coast. The logos of the Directly Operated Railways subsidiary East Coast Main Line Ltd. have been applied in purple, over the previous "national express" and "East Coast" branding.
This was the third of three GNER-liveried IC225s I photographed heading north here this morning (as well as two heading south), along with one with an East Coast silver loco on GNER blue coaches and one with a silver (actually light grey) loco and silver coaches - plus, of course, seven HSTs (three northbound and three southbound in National Express colours, and a Grand Central one heading north). Also caught on camera were a Grand Central class 180 "Zephyr", a Hull Trains class 180 "Adelante", a pair of FCC-liveried class 321 EMUs and a few class 365 "Networker Express" EMUs (including one of the picture units).
The GNER-liveried InterCity 225 trains were nicknamed "Stealth Bombers" because they could sneak up on you - being electric, they were much quieter than HSTs and the dark blue livery made them less visible from a distance than those still in their original InterCity livery.
Visit Brian Carter's Non-Transport Pics to see my photos of landscapes, buildings, bridges, sunsets, rainbows and more.
The Cincinnati Reds dared to sell beer in their stadium to their beer-loving Cincinnati fans. That was against the standards of the franchise system. The franchise in Cincinnati was terminated in 1880 by the franchisor, the National League. Subsequently, the ex-franchisee, i.e. the Cincinnati Reds, helped create their own franchising company, the American Association, which had 10 franchises.
G-BUEA : ATR42 Srs.300 : CityFlyer Express
This airline flew short-haul routes from its base at Gatwick. In 1993, it became a British Airways franchisee, and ultimately in 1999 was purchased by BA, being merged into BA's Gatwick division by 2001.
What's that, Ronald? Franchisees have not really been free to control their own product prices for years? Too much out of their control, you say.😉 Whew, this is a deep conversation to have over a parade. However, if what you say is true, that means franchisees aren't so much independent businesses anymore, which has potential policy implications.
And yes, I know a franchisee created you. Besides owning a McDonalds, he had a brilliant background in marketing and also operated an ad agency. He thought clowns, kids, and burgers go together. Those ad men! Through his media connections, the D.C. franchisee picked Bozo clown actor Willard Scott as the original Ronald McDonald. The great idea was later picked up by the franchising company for the whole chain. Do I have your story right? Can’t remember the brilliant franchisee’s name.
East Coast HST 43320 races towards Colton Junction with the 16.47 Kings Cross - Edinburgh, April 14th 2010.
* In July 2009, National Express announced it planned to default on the franchise, having failed to renegotiate the contractual terms of operation, and would not provide any further funding. This meant NXEC would run out of cash by the end of 2009. As a result, the DfT announced it would re-nationalise the franchise.
The franchise was re-nationalised on 14 November 2009 with Directly Operated Railways' subsidiary East Coast taking over, with the intention being that operations would return to a private franchisee by December 2013.
In March 2013, the Secretary of State for Transport announced that this would be put back to February 2015.
HST power car 43084 leads Grand Central's 1A60 06.41 (I think) Sunderland - King's Cross past Yaxley (south of Peterborough).
I'd come here for rail blue-liveried 87002 hauling a rake of Cargo-D mark 2 air-con coaches (in matching BR blue and grey livery) on a southbound charter train - see this photo - as well as a class 92 and then class A4 steam loco Bittern (with two tenders) on separate northbound charters (the latter shot wasn't so good), but also photographed several other things between.
Grand Central had begun passenger operations just a year and a half previous (a week before Christmas 2007), using a fleet of three 2+5 HSTs on services between Sunderland and London; by now, the company was operating three return trips per day (which required two trains in service), but was about to introduce a fourth, using a class 180 "Zephyr" DMU acquired from First Great Western. The HST power cars, having been stored out of use for several years after being stood down by Virgin Cross Country, were very unreliable at this time. They eventually underwent a major overhaul which included replacing the original Paxman "Valenta" engines with the same MTU engines fitted to those operated by the East Coast Main Line franchisee, and all six power cars were renumbered in the 434xx series (so 43084 became 43484). After Grand Central stopped using HSTs at the end of 2017, they moved to East Midlands Trains, and after their use on the Midland Main Line ceased the power cars were acquired by Rail Adventure, which usually uses them in pairs coupled back-to-back as conventional locos.
Grand Central's original livery was overall black, with silver or bronze passenger doors, bronze indicating first class accommodation. The introduction of the class 180s (now known by the First Group name of "Adelante") saw the addition of an orange stripe to the livery (perhaps reflecting GNER dark blue with a red stripe), the shade of orange being changed several years later.
Visit Brian Carter's Non-Transport Pics to see my photos of landscapes, buildings, bridges, sunsets, rainbows and more.
With the village of Harringworth in the background, East Midlands Railway "Meridian" DEMU 222004 crosses the Welland Viaduct, working 1D66 18.05 St. Pancras International - Nottingham.
This was one of several weekends when Midland Main Line services were being diverted via Corby, as a result of planned engineering work on the line via Market Harborough.
"Meridian" DEMUs in this livery don't really do much for me (they were better in the livery of the previous franchisee, Stagecoach), but as I was here to photograph the 73s returning to Derby and there were a couple of EMR services not far behind, I moved to the location along the road and stuck a 135mm lens on the camera to get some record shots on what is the UK's longest railway viaduct. These units will soon be history on this route, of course, with the first of their replacements (bi-modes built by Hitachi) already built.
Visit Brian Carter's Non-Transport Pics to see my photos of landscapes, buildings, bridges, sunsets, rainbows and more.
Early every morning I pore over the newswires for franchise-related and small business news. I even have a special pair of reading glasses that I dawn for the occasion. This one.
I scan through hundreds of articles, occasionally coming across something extraordinary.
Among those who claim they can taste the portal aethers on their cheese slice, legend has it that one Pizzatron franchisee still makes his pizzas with the original recipe, baked to crispy perfection in a real fission brick oven, with real soy-based cheese product, just like you remember. You can't trade in your holo-novel punch card for a free personal pie anymore, and even he can't bring back original formula Vita Limon, but if you're willing to make the trip, and if you can find his little space rock, you can almost pretend your childhood never ended...
Class 185 (185 131) of franchisee Trans Pennine Express is stood at the buffers of Liverpool Lime Street Station. The magnificent roof of the station is also very much in evidence from this shot.
For those wanting to know more about this class of diesel multiple unit here's a link to an informative Wikipedia page:- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_185
On an August evening in 1998, an unidentified class 91 leads the 1703 King's Cross to Leeds service into Doncaster.
The train carries the deep blue livery of Great North Eastern Railway, the first franchisee to operate the former Intercity East Coast route.
27 years later, the 1703 King's Cross to Leeds service still exists and is still operated by these now 35-year old veteran train sets. The end for these trains is in sight: CAF have been contracted to deliver 10 new class 897 units from 2027.
East Midlands Trains 'Meridian' 222017 comes to a stand at journeys end terminating the 14.32 St Pancras - Sheffield, January 14th 2015.
* Numerous changes were implemented during EMT's tenure (2007 - 2019) including the introduction of additional trains between Sheffield and London along with infrastructure improvements to enable faster services to be operated.
* The franchise developed a reputation for its attention to customer service and public safety, winning multiple awards for these aspects. Passenger numbers also grew, necessitating the lengthening of several services to accommodate this.
EMT's franchise period was extended on multiple occasions, before rival transport company Abellio was announced as the next franchisee in April 2019 after Stagecoach was disqualified from the bidding process for failing to meet employee pension obligations in its bid. Accordingly, EMT's services were transferred to East Midlands Railway on 18 August 2019.
43054 is the rear power car on this northbound East Midlands Trains HST, pictured departing from Wellingborough.
This view, from Mill Road bridge, was lost about a decade later with electrification from Bedford to Corby, while the HSTs ended their time on the Midland Main Line in May 2021. This livery was the second one used by the original franchisee, Midland Mainline Ltd., although East Midlands Trains branding has been applied (and the leading power car is in EMT livery).
Visit Brian Carter's Non-Transport Pics to see my photos of landscapes, buildings, bridges, sunsets, rainbows and more.
Okay, so it's not.
But it's one of the few only to offer 'treats only' (i.e, no Chicken Strips or other "hot foods" one might find in your neighborhood DQ) and one of the last to my knowledge to carry the spelled-out "Dairy Queen" in the logo.
Not too much longer after I took the photo, the hammer came down from corporate for the franchisee to get in line and change the look of this to reflect the new corporate branding. Other changes included the removal of the interior wall to give the employees more room, but forced customers to only be outside.
I'm also partial to this locale of course, as it's in my hometown, so my life is intertwined with this store. From visits after Little League games to my first run-in with the police in a car after a night of drinking as a stupid 16-year-old just off to the right of the frame... No matter the change in branding, the treats taste like home... If only corporate would let them bring back the bloody Ice Cream Sandwich...
One of the best locations on the ECML to observe trains getting up to full line speed is Colton in the Vale of York.
East Coast HST 43239 has just negotiated Colton North Junction on a glorious spring evening and speeds south with the 12.56 Aberdeen - Kings Cross.
* East Coast was a subsidiary of Directly Operated Railways, formed by the Department for Transport as an operator of last resort when National Express refused to provide further financial support to its National Express East Coast (NXEC) subsidiary and consequently lost its franchise.
The franchise was re-nationalised on 14 November 2009, with the intention being that operations would return to a private franchisee by December 2013. In March 2013 the Secretary of State for Transport announced that this would occur in February 2015 instead.
The Wendy's Company HQ
Dave was the founder of the burger chain and franchising firm. His daughter Wendy grew up to be quite a businesswoman and franchisee.
I was hoping this closure was temporary (I thought there might have been a franchisee dispute), but as the sign on the door suggests, it's permanent.
321319 heads north at Brantham, working a Liverpool Street - Ipswich service.
The EMU carries First Great Eastern livery, designed when the owning group was still known as First Bus. The style of the livery is similar to the pink, white and dark blue "Barbie" scheme used on the company's buses (although only low-floor single deckers and new double deckers had the corporate colours applied, at least initially). When FGE ordered class 360 "Desiro" EMUs from Siemens, they gained a version of the "Barbie" scheme, but it was never applied to anything else on FGE (it did appear on old trains on First Great Western and First North Western). The Greater Anglia franchisee 'one' subsequently rebranded itself as National Express East Anglia and everything gained a white stripe (for the brands "national express" and "East Anglia" to be applied), and this is visible below the windows.
When first built, Network SouthEast's class 321 EMUs were dubbed "Dusty Bins" by enthusiasts (later shortened to just "Bins"), as a result of the ITV game show 3-2-1. This ran from July 1978 to December 1988 (so had just finished when the first 321s entered service in early 1989), and had "Dusty Bin" - a dustbin - as the booby prize.
Visit Brian Carter's Non-Transport Pics to see my photos of landscapes, buildings, bridges, sunsets, rainbows and more.
317649 approaches Shepreth Branch Jn. (south of Cambridge) working an afternoon Cambridge - Liverpool Street services. To the right of the train is Addenbrooke's Hospital, while on the left are two new bridges over the railway which had yet to be opened - the Addenbrooke's Link Road and the Cambridge Guided Busway; Cambridge South station will be located between the two.
The EMU carries the original livery of the West Anglia Great Northern franchisee, designed by Ray Stenning's Best Impressions after that company had designed a new livery for Stagecoach-owned South West Trains (which was subsequently adapted for use on Stagecoach's bus fleets, replacing its original "stripes" livery). Sadly, this attractive livery was only ever carried by the 317/6 subclass; these EMUs had been built between 1985 and 1987 to replace slam door class 312s on Great Northern outer suburban services, and were refurbished under Prism Rail-owned WAGN in 1998, being reclassified from 317/2 to 317/6 and renumbered at the same time - 317649 was originally 317349. The refurbishment included replacing 3+2 seating with 2+2 to match the class 365 "Networker Express" units on the GN, but the livery was not applied to the 365s as their paintwork was still under warranty. When WAGN was split in April 2004, all the 317/6s ended up with the Greater Anglia franchise (known as 'one' initially), and when this company was rebranded as National Express East Anglia a white stripe was added to the livery so that "national express" and "East Anglia" branding could be added - as seen here.
On this particular sunny Saturday I'd been sat at home (as there wasn't really much of interest about) when a gen message came through that a Freightliner container train had been seen heading north through Elsenham, the pair of 86s on the front being dragged by a 66 as the train would be routed via Dullingham and Bury St. Edmunds to reach Ipswich (and subsequently Felixstowe). I rushed into Cambridge to get a shot of it after taking the Newmarket line at Coldham Lane Jn. (see here) and then wondered what to do on such a lovely day, having made the effort to go out. So I came to Shepreth Branch Jn. to photograph units of various sorts.
Visit Brian Carter's Non-Transport Pics to see my photos of landscapes, buildings, bridges, sunsets, rainbows and more.
DM car is at the head of a six-car train of London Underground C Stock, waiting to depart from Wimbledon with a District Line service for Edgware Road.
Although London Underground trains use a dedicated route into and dedicated bay platforms at Wimbledon, until 1st April 1994 the tracks were owned by British Rail (and are still signalled by Network Rail) and the whole station is under the control of the National Rail franchisee, at this time South West Trains. The signage in this photo is therefore in the original style of that Stagecoach-owned company. In the background is the former Southern Railway signalbox.
Although the C Stock was built for the Circle Line and the Hammersmith and City section of the Metropolitan Line (now the Hammersmith and City Line), restrictions on the use of D Stock north of High Street Kensington meant C Stock was used on the Wimbledon - Edgware Road route (sometimes called the "Wimbleware" line) until replacement by S Stock a few years after this shot was taken.
Visit Brian Carter's Non-Transport Pics to see my photos of landscapes, buildings, bridges, sunsets, rainbows and more.
Siemens "Desiro" EMUs 350114 and 350403 pass Old Linslade with an unidentified morning London Northwestern Rallway service bound for Euston. The leading unit still carries the livery of previous franchisee, London Midland - as did a high proportion of the fleet at this time.
I'd again come here for the Caledonian Sleeper as well as the 86-hauled Freightliner train less than three-quarters of an hour behind it; I did not photograph the sleeper (I assume because the clouds hadn't cleared), but did get the 86s in lovely morning light - see this picture.
Visit Brian Carter's Non-Transport Pics to see my photos of landscapes, buildings, bridges, sunsets, rainbows and more.
Former Dairy Queen 1243 N Main St Shamrock, TX. 7/2/2016. This location and 28 others closed in 2017 after the franchisee went bankrupt
Former Nickerson Farms Restaurant located at 7570 North I-35 (Frontage Rd.) in New Braunfels,TX. The building was undergoing asbestos abatement at the time of my visit to the property which is a likely indicator that the building will soon be razed. Note the building was most recently occupied by an antique store which operated under the name Hillcrest Antiques Gallery.
Note, Nickerson Farms was founded by Ivan Nickerson who was a franchisee of Stuckey's Pecan Shoppes. After numerous disagreements on how his Stuckey's franchise was to be ran, Ivan Nickerson dropped his affiliation with Stuckey's and opened his own roadside restaurant under the name "Nickerson Farms. Due to the tension between both companies, the two chains started opening locations right next to (or nearby) one another.
There were about sixty Nickerson Farms restaurants in operation throughout the Country in the early 1970s however, by the mid 1980s the chain experienced financial difficulties and locations began closing their doors. By the late 1980s the chain ceased operations and the buildings with their bright red slopping roofs and tudoresque style architecture were shuttered. There are still a few dozen of the buildings standing although only a handful of the buildings are occupied. The majority of the restaurants are vacant and because of their unique design and rural locations have proved to be difficult to reuse. I should note that aside from the iconic design of the restaurants, one of the major selling points of Nickerson Farms were the beehives INSIDE of their restaurants. The company prided itself on its "fresh honey" and built functioning hives in their restaurants so customers could watch the 40,000+ bees make the "freshest honey available". The exterior of the restaurants had a small pipe coming out of the roof where bees would come and go throughout the year. Remarkably there were never any documented incidents of the bees escaping into the restaurants nor any noted reports of bee stings in the parking lots (although I'm sure some happened). The is one location in Morengo,OH that continues to operate under the name Farmstead Restaurant and while the menu and interior decor is similar to its predecessor but the beehives are long gone.
Blagoevgrad, 14 March 2019.
A former Belgian De Lijn bus (number 309725) seen at the bus depot. It used to be operated by the franchisee Modern Toerisme, but was new in 1998 to a Germany company in Ludwigsburg.
This is a risque, but quite popular, marketing campaign by New Zealand's most popular pizza franchisee - Hell Pizza. Their website here
I could not agree more with it...
Former Howard Johnson's Restaurant located at 7590 Clayton Rd. in Richmond Heights,MO. The franchisee of this location ceased their affiliation with HJ in 1985 and renamed their establishment Layton's Restaurant. The Giessow family had operated this HJ location since 1959 up until their retirement on June 30th 2004. The Giessow's kept this property remarkably intact and retained numerous holdovers from HoJo's up until the day the closed the restaurant. The orange roof was removed in the late 1980s and the exterior was slightly altered soon thereafter. The interior of the restaurant retained numerous original fixtures dating back to when the restaurant opened for business back in 1955! I had a talk with a landscaper working on the property who said there has been a bitter family dispute over the land where the once successful restaurant is located. He stated that his company comes by every week to keep the property maintained and that the parking lot was repaved in 2017 yet the restaurant is still vacant. It is remarkable and somewhat eerie to see such an intact HJ property sitting empty yet fully intact with the daily specials still written on a whiteboard and even a few original HJ Ice Cream dishes on the dairy bar!
Unbeknownst to you guys (or at least, I hope you didn’t notice any differences while I was gone!), I prewrote all of the last two weeks’ descriptions before heading out on an eight-day long vacation, which I just got back from several days ago. I had lots of fun, and even though it wasn’t intended to be a retail-oriented vacation in full, my parents were very generous and accompanied me to several different stores, all of which I’m excited to share with y’all here and on my blog in the future. The highlights from the trip include my first-ever Pub Sub and Lidl cookie experiences (even though I didn’t get any pictures of those two stores)… visits to a Winn-Dixie that is a Winn-Dixie, a Winn-Dixie that is *not* a Winn-Dixie, and a Kroger that is not a Kroger… seeing some fallen leaves, and some river rock walls… enjoying the rarity of one of the last P97 Target stores (besides Horn Lake!), and what may well be the last surviving Wal-Mart in America (and no, that's not a typo)… and finally, checking out a rogue franchisee of a once-broken, now-extinct foodservice chain. Even cooler, all but three of those were totally unplanned! Teasers for most of those can be seen behind those links; altogether, I managed to compile enough content for nearly half a year on flickr, in addition to three blog posts – wow!
As for the actual vacation itself, even though we only went to three main destinations it feels like we were all over, literally stretching all the way from the Gulf Coast to the Smoky Mountains! We also got in a long-overdue visit to our relatives in-between. For those of y’all who are out there enjoying your own vacations this summer, hope you’re having fun and staying safe! And for those of y’all who are looking forward to seeing my photosets from these retail visits, just fair warning to please be patient with me, as with my backlog it will likely take a long time for me to get to, and through, them. That said, I’ll do my best to sprinkle them in amongst all the other photosets lying in wait, with the first blog post hopefully going up later this year…
More Southaven Walmart photos to come this Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, so stick around for that! :)
(c) 2021 Retail Retell
These places are public so these photos are too, but just as I tell where they came from, I'd appreciate if you'd say who :)
Scope OIl is a used cooking oil collector and recycler. This vehicle is operated by their Frankton-based franchisee.
This Foden Alpha is most likely a former Fonterra Dairying Company vehicle. In its earlier days Fronterra's milk tanker fleet was exclusively Foden, however this quickly changed once Foden's products were to be killed-off by Paccar. Their fleet replacement policy released a lot of these Alphas onto the secondhand vehicle market as chassis (Fonterra retain the stainless steel tanks for re-mounting on the replacement new chassis).
Fonterra went on to favour Volvo products along with a proportion of Scania as well. Currently there are number of relatively young ex-Fonterra Volvo FM chassis cabs awaiting disposal at various auction sites around New Zealand. These have been replaced by the latest high-cabbed Volvo FH models as well as a relatively small number of Mercedes-Benz Arocs.....which is a conquest sale for MB who are increasing their presence in the NZ heavy truck market with their latest models.
Although five months into the new London Midland franchise, Class 150 'Sprinter' No. 150102 still carries the livery of the previous franchisee, Central Trains, on 19th April 2008 as it works away from Droitwich Spa with a Worcester to Shirley working via Birmingham Snow Hill. Central Trains was a troubled franchise, which operated trains in the West Midlands between March 1997 and November 2007. Copyright Photograph John Whitehouse - all rights reserved
China Motor Bus, the erstwhile monopoly franchisee for Hong Kong Island public buses, brought in 8 Marshall-bodied Dennis Darts (CX class) for use of its sole airport route A20. Upon the termination of CMB's franchise in 1998, these 8 buses were retained by the company for use as free shuttle buses to a shopping mall it owns. It was not until 2015 that they were phased out together with the shuttle route. CX5 is shown here leaving CMB Chai Wan Depot in its final days; the depot itself was bulldozed last year.
KORF (Norfolk International Airport) - 06 NOV 2025
"Challenger Four Echo Hotel" climbing out from RWY 5 en route to Miami - Opa Locka Executive Airport (KOPF).
This aircraft is owned by Eric and Diane Holm, the largest owners of Golden Corral franchises in the United States, thus the "EH" in the registration suffix. It is available for charter through Elite Air.
Production Site: Montreal Trudeau (YUL)
Year of Manufacture: 2023
To Bombardier USA: 13 FEB 2023 as N724EJ
Hex Code: A9B2D5
Passengers: 9
Engines: 2x Honeywell HTF7350
To Global Flight Inc: 02 MAR 2023 as N724EJ
Hex Code: A9B2D5
Passengers: 9
Engines: 2x Honeywell HTF7350
To Holm Leasing LLC: 07 SEP 2023 as N724EH
Operated by Elite Air
Hex Code: A9B2D4
Passengers: 9
Engines: 2x Honeywell HTF7350