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A pleasant surprise one Saturday in June in Dublin was this elderly Volvo B10M/Plaxton Premiere, discharging passengers on Nassau Street.
Looking immaculate for 27 years of age!
A full album of photos from June 2024 can be found on my Smugmug here: Bus & Coach Ireland: June 2024.
Copyright © Mark Long
No unauthorised sharing permitted.
The operator of this ride quipped that one of the more amusing aspects of running it was the assortment of loose change around it's base at the end of the day.
Operator: Newbury & District - (Reading Buses)
Make/Model: ADL E40D/Alexander Dennis Enviro 400 (H47/33F)
Registration Number: SN11 BWC
Fleet Number: 1203
History: Weavaway Travel
View: Rear
Operator- Arriva Midlands Telford
Operating Area- Shropshire, Staffordshire & Worcestershire
Make- Optare
Model- Solo
Chassie- Mercedes
Fleet No- 2502
Reg- YJ57EKC
Location Seen- Madeley Centre
Service- 8 to Bridgnorth
Info- New to Arriva Midlands
Seen- 2/11/22
Operator: Air Spark
Aircraft: Reims FR172F Reims Rocket
Registration: OH-CAH
C/n: FR172-0065
Time & Location: 12.05.2020, EFTP, Finland
Operator: French Air Force
Aircraft: Dassault Rafale C
Registration: 140 / 7-GS & 143 / 7-GS
C/n:
Time & Location: 15.06.2019, EFTU, Finland
Remarks: Tactical performance show.
Salamanca native to be honored at Tampa Bay Veterans Parade
•By Deb Everts, Press Reporter
•Nov 10, 2017
•SALAMANCA — World War II veteran Vincent J. Oliverio will be this year’s honoree Saturday at the 25th annual Tampa Bay Veterans Parade.
•More than 70 years after his service to his country, Oliverio is finally getting the recognition he deserves. Riding in an antique car, the 94-year-old veteran will lead the two-hour parade accompanied by Colonel April Vogel, commander of the 6th Air Mobility Wing at MacDill Air Force Base, in Tampa, Fla., who will be this year’s grand marshal. With an expected 20,000 spectators in attendance, the parade will include four bands and about 60 units.
•A lifelong Salamanca resident, Oliverio and his wife, Angela, have a winter home in Holiday, Fla., near Tampa. Longtime family friend Don DeGain, also from Salamanca, is treasurer of the Veterans Day Parade Group, Inc. and lives about 10 miles from the Oliverios in Odessa, Fla.
•The Patriot Guard motorcycle group is expected to send 10 to 20 members to Oliverio’s home to escort the couple to the parade route. The Oliverio’s three children, Rita, Barbara and Vincent, are planning to not only attend but also ride in the third car in the parade.
•DeGain was given the task of picking this year’s honoree which, he said, is an intense decision with a lot of responsibility.
•“I had read a previous article in The Salamanca Press and I thought about Vinny’s amazing story serving in Burma, China and India during World War II, so I went to the parade group and said, ‘Wait until you meet him,’” he said.
•Oliverio was a sergeant in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II from 1943 to 1946 and was assigned to the 761st Signal Air Warning Battalion. He served as a high-speed Morse code operator in the China-Burma-India Theater.
•Although he was an expert shot with a .22 rifle, Oliverio said he pretended to be a dummy and unable to handle a gun so he wouldn’t be assigned to the infantry. Because he was a musician, he was sent to radio school. He was told, as in music, a person must have timing and rhythm to do Morse code.
•DeGain said Oliverio’s first assignment was in Tampa at Drew Field as a radio operator where the 761st Signal Air Warning Battalion was created. After completing training in Tampa, his unit departed from Hampton Roads, Va. in October 1943 on a boat that was part of a 90-ship convoy headed for Oran, Africa.
•Oliverio said they spent over a month in Oran before it was safe enough to ship out because there was so much German activity. When they finally left aboard a British troop ship in January 1944 they didn’t know they were headed to the west coast of India as they passed through the Suez Canal and the Red Sea.
•According to DeGain, the 761st Signal Air Warning Battalion was a contingent of 60 men split into six squadrons of 10. After leaving Africa, the battalion headed for the jungles and mountains of Burma. Arriving in Dinjan, India, the unit was temporarily assigned to the 88th and 57th Army Air Corps Fighter Groups as radio operators. Their mission was to track the Japanese bombers and fighters flying through the valleys of the Himalayan Mountains.
•On May 26, 1944, the 10-man squads were sent to Lampumpum and into the mountains, where they set up small radio shacks on the mountaintops as high as 5,000 feet. Oliverio said when they arrived, the natives who accompanied them cut a clear spot where their permanent post was to be.
•“The natives were from the Naga Headhunter tribe and we lived among them along the India-Burma border,” he said. “Before we got there, the British who controlled India and Burma got the Naga tribes to make peace with each other and stop the headhunting. Otherwise, we never would have been alive. To kill someone from another tribe, cut their head off and save it made you a warrior. And, the harder it was to kill somebody, the higher the honor.”
•Led by their sergeant, Howard Hitchcock, the squad included three plane spotters, three morse code operators, a medic, a radio man and a cook. Oliverio said Hitchcock was very instrumental in keeping the 10 men together, and they looked to him as a real leader. He was his sergeant at three different posts and, unlike some of the men who rotated out at each post, Oliverio was there under Hitchcock at all three.
•“We were there 11 months,” he said. “We were 10 men living with natives who built our huts called bashas that were bamboo huts with thatched roofs. When the Japanese flew over, it looked like a native village.”
•Oliverio said the six or eight Nagas who stayed with them had their own little shack and when the planes dropped the chutes with their provisions, the natives would go get them.
•“They dropped us everything we needed, but we never had a piece of fresh meat or fresh vegetables,” he said. “The natives brought us water, but the minute they brought it to our camp, the medic put tablets in to sterilize the water.”
•On one clear day, they caught a glimpse of Mt. Everest sticking up through a shroud of clouds. Oliverio said after a while, it disappeared and they never saw it again because it was always hidden in the clouds.
•In November 1945, Oliverio came down with malaria and was discharged in 1946. He suffered with malaria attacks for almost 13 years.
•After his discharge, Oliverio worked at his family’s business, the Riverview Hotel, for a while. Then he had the opportunity to work for the Erie Railroad – that became Conrail – as a train man and held many positions until he became experienced enough to become a conductor. He retired from Conrail in 1986.
•The last two members of Oliverio’s squad, Howard Hitchcock and John Martino, passed away this past year leaving Oliverio as the last remaining member.
•Oliverio said the squad classified ourselves as “The Forgotten 10” because nobody seemed to know anything about the 761st Signal Air Warning Battalion that served from 1943 to 1946 in India and Burma.
•“Nobody knew what I did,” he said. “You can Google to search my name or 761st Signal Air Warning Battalion, but all it will say is ‘India-Burma’ — that’s it. There hasn’t been one single word about me being a Morse code operator sending messages to our fighters to intercept the Japanese, what we did in the mountains or a mention of the natives.”
•According to Oliverio, George Fillgrove, constituent relations manager at New York State Senate, based at Senator Catharine Young’s Olean office, helped him find the documents marked “secret” containing his military life.
•DeGain said there was little known of these secret units on the mountaintops for many decades. Oliverio’s lifelong quest to tell his unit’s World War II story is coming to fruition. Dr. Robert Lyman, renowned military historian and author, will be writing about Oliverio’s unit in his upcoming 15th book on World War II.
•As one of the members of America’s “Greatest Generation,” Oliverio has written down his first hand account of his service overseas to preserve it for generations to come.
Stagecoach West's 15762 OU61 AUT is seen at Cribbs Causeway running the X10 on the last day before passing to Transpora and latterly to Big Lemon, still wearing the branding of its previous life with Oxford Depot
Lucketts Coaches, Fareham, Hants.
Irizar i6 C49Ft, new in 2012.
Photographed in Chichester, January 2017.
MANITOBA CO-OPERATOR January 5, 2006. The sun sets over the St. Léon wind farm on December 28, in a view shot from west of Altamont.
Operator: Tourist
Depot: Salisbury
Bus Body: Optare Solo SR
Chassis: Optare Solo M920 SR
Service: 35 Romsey to Braishfield
Location: Romsey Bus Stand
Date: 18/08/2016
Operator- Regional Transport
Operating Area- Shropshire
Make- Alexander
Model- r
Chassie- Leyland Olympian
Fleet No- N/A
Reg- J34KHT
Location Seen- Telford
Service- N/A
Info- New to China Light & Power Company. Upon return to UK was with Pulhams Coaches
Seen 26/6/22
My Mother was an Operator with Bell of Pennsylvania in the late 1950's and early 1960's. Here she is modeling a headset like the one she used then.
Operator: Reading Buses - (Scania Demonstrater)
Make/Model: Scania N250UD/Alexander Dennis Enviro 400 MMC (H49/29F)
Registration Number: YN66 BBX
Fleet Number: 775
Some background:
The origin of Rescue Labors dates back to 1998, when both the Tokyo fire and police departments were called out for a high risk job when a fire broke out at the Tower City skyscraper under construction in Tama.
As the fire fighters dealt with the fire, the police's AV-98 Ingrams carried out a rescue of the personnel and dignitaries trapped high in the tower. The impressive potential of the Labors in this scenario led city officials to publish a tender for a dedicated fire-fighting Labor.
In 1999, a design competition was held, with three contenders. These were the ARV-99 Rescue Labor by Shinohara Industries (based on the AV-98 Ingram chassis of the police Labor), the CRL-98 “Pyro-Buster”, produced by Hishii Heavy Industries, and the SEE (Schaft Enterprise Europe) Type-8FF Rescue Labor.
The latter was a civil adaptation of the military Type-8 “Brocken” labor for the German Bundesheer (Army Forces). All designs offered sophisticated solutions and equipment for the fire-fighting job: Because the Rescue Labor works in high heat environments, the units were designed to be fire and heatproof to protect the pilot. To fulfill its main role of extinguishing fires, the Rescue Labors were to be equipped with a pair of water cannons, one on the forearm and one on its shoulders, fed by an internal tank and/or by an external source.
Additionally, the competition’s rescue Labors were to deal with hazardous chemical situations. A respective protection system had to be provided, too, as well as precise manipulator fingers for delicate handling.
Detecting life under harsh conditions, in any weather and at day and night, necessitated a complex sensor suite, including a telescopic camera boom.
Schaft Enterprise Europe’s Type-8FF was the most impressive design, standing more than 10 metres tall. It was also the most powerful – but also the most bulky type, since it was originally developed for more spacious European cities.
Beyond the standard requirements the “Florian”, how the Labor was unofficially dubbed (after the Christian patron saint of firefighters), offered a huge array of extra equipment, including an extendable hydraulic crusher, an extra CO2 tank, a high performance water pump (the Type-8FF could be operated as a water manifold when it was not directly involved in rescue duties), a powerful searchlight array and a winch.
Two prototypes were delivered to Japan and took part in the evaluation process, which encompassed both clinical trials as well as field tests that would prove the concepts and uncover strengths and weaknesses of the three designs.
In December 1999 the ARV-99 was chosen as primary Rescue Labor for the Tokyo Fire Department – and the rejection of SEE’s Type-8FF was even more bitter as the CRL-98 was ordered into production, too – only as a supportive vehicle, but it was also promoted to private/industrial fire-fighting units in the Tokyo region.
The “Florian” did not enter production for Japan, since it was deemed to be too large for the Japanese urban environment – but it was developed further for the European market, eventually entering rescue services in Germany, France and Great Britain.
A final, rather disturbing note is that it is uncertain where the two Type-8FF prototypes ended up. SEE took them back into custody after completion of the competition process in early 2000, but there has been no official record or documentation that the vehicles actually left Japan. Rumor has it that they are still on private SEE ground in the Tokyo region.
Technical Data:
Code name: Type-8FF "Florian"
Unit type: fire emergency labor prototype
Manufacturer: SEE (Schaft Enterprises Europe)
Operator: SEJ (Schaft Enterprises Japan), proposed to the Tokyo Fire Department
Rollout: April 1999 AD
Number built: 2
Accommodation: pilot only, in heat- and ABC-insulated cockpit in front torso
Dimensions:
Overall height 10,50 meters
Overall width 5.40 meters
Minimum revolving radius: 6.0 meters
Weight:
Standard 7.05 metric tons
Full 8.81 metric tons
Armor materials:
none
Powerplant:
unknown
Maximum weight lifting capacity:
4.00 metric tons
Equipment and design features:
Visual and acoustic sensors, range unknown
Highly articulated manipulator hands
White and IR searchlights
2x water cannon, mounted on shoulders and on right forearm
Extendable hydraulic crusher on left forewarm
Auxillary CO2 tank, mounted on backpack
Autonomous water turbo pump for in- and external operation
Winch (2.00 metric tons)
Fixed or optional armaments:
none
This model is a thorough conversion of a 1:60 "SEE Type-7 Brocken" IP kit from Bandai, and it is part of a Group Build at whatifmodelers.com under the theme "De-/Militarize it" (which still runs until the end of August 2015).
The mecha belongs into the Patlabor anime TV series. Anime is certainly not everyone's business, but it has a lot to offer.
The charm of the Patlabor universe is that these vehicles exist (these are no robots, except for rare cases there's a pilot inside) in everyday life. When the series was conceived in the 80ies it was a near-future setting in the nineties - SF, but VERY down to earth and "realistic".
The 'Labors', how these more or less humanoid vehicles are called, are special duty heavy machinery, e. g. for construction, loading, hazmat handling. They are also employed by the police (hence the title of the series, Patlabor, which circles around a police unit which fights labor crime) and by the military.
The Brocken is one of the dedicated military designs. It actually comes from Germany, hence probably the plate mail armor design. I am not certain if its name, Brocken, is the German word for hulk, or the mountain close to the inner German border in FRG/GDR times, because the Brocken was designed to patrol and protect this border - the Cold War was still part of the series' script!
There are actually firefighting Labors in the TV series, and the background story is built around the two types I am aware of. And in order to de-militarize the Brocken and change its look so far that the kit appears like a different vehicle, a lot of things had to be modified.
The head is completely new and supposed to remind of typical firefighter helmets. The cockpit section (in the breast) was changed, too, as well as the knee sections and different hands. Parts from other mecha kits (e. g. from a 1:72 Battroid VF-1 , a 1:100 Gerwalk VF-1, a 1:100 Destroid Phalanx, a 1:144 Gundam Zaku and even from an NGE EVA) were intergrated, but a lot of details were scratched.
For instance, the head with its sensor booms and the complex shape consists of ~30 pieces and putty, and the flashlights were completely scratched from clear sprue, styrene sheet and parts of PET toothbrush head protectors!
Having a dedicated duty, a lot of special equipment had to be integrated - in a fashion that it looks plausible and as an integral part, not just an add-on. Therefore, several light installations were added, two water cannons (one on the shoulder, one on the right forearm), a scratched winch, plus several protection bars all around the hull.
A CO2 tank was added on the back, plus a turbo pump installation that would drive the two water cannons and allow external water supply. An extandable hydraulic crusher on the right forearm was added, too, when knocking on the door simply does not meet the situation. Integrating the stuff into the hull meant much body work, and all the devices were meant to appear plausible and functional.
The paint scheme was simple: an all-red livery, inspired by typical German fire engines which wear RAL 3000 as official color. With some shading this eventually turned into a rather orange hue, but the Florian still looks like a fire fighting vehicle.
The yellow trim for a more international look was created with decals from several HO scale firefighting vehicle aftermarket sheets. Finally, after a black ink wash and some dry-painting, the kit received a coating with semi-matt acrylic varnish, and some pigment dust around the legs.
Operator: Arriva (The Shires) - (Luton)
Make/Model: VDL SB200/Plaxton Centro (B45F)
Registration Number: YJ58 FFA
History: Richards Bros, Arriva UK (7920, 5997, 1498 & 9010) Arriva Malta (Bus 309), Arriva UK (01)
Operator: National Express West Midlands
Vehicle Type: Volvo B7RLE / Wright Eclipse Urban 2
Fleet Number: 2002
Registration: BX61 LHZ
Name: Compton Hospice
Pictured parked up on layover at Merry Hill Bus Station before working a 15 service to Wolverhampton.
14/7/2023.
Operator: Richards Bros, Cardigan (Cardigan)
Make/Model: Dennis Dart SLF/Plaxton Pointer (DP29F)
Registration Number: X711 GJU
History: Felix Bus Services, Stanley
View: Interior
A class of Bus Operators graduates at the Zerega Training Facility on Thursday, July 21, 2022.
(Marc A. Hermann / MTA)
Operator: Reading Buses
Make/Model: Optare Solo (M950)
Registration Number: FX04 WFR
Fleet Number: 181
History: Stagecoach (47271)
Operator: KLM Royal Dutch Airlines
Aircraft: Boeing 747-406M
Registration: PH-BFT
C/n: 28459/1112
Name: Tokio/Tokyo
Location: Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS/EHAM)
Date: 1-2-2020
Brian shot a lot of livestock rigs at this location. I can't read the name of the operator on this Freightliner.
Terre Haute road switcher J708 is coming back from Alcan Aluminum with a string of empty bulkhead flats used to transport large ingots of aluminum to the processing plant.
Operator: Go North East
Fleet Number: 8267
Registration: NK54 NKT
Vehicle: DAF SB120- Wright Cadet
Livery: Northern
Location: Sunderland- Park Lane Interchange
Route: 39- Pennywell- Doxford International.
Depot: Deptford
Year New: 2004
Operator: Reading Buses
Make/Model: ADL E20D/Alexander Dennis Enviro 200 MMC
Registration Number: YY69 TNF
Fleet Number: 679
Operator: First Midlands
Vehicle Type: Volvo B7TL/Wright Eclipse Gemini
Fleet Number: 32646
Registration: KP54 AZL
Seen leaving Worcester Bus Station working a 144 service to Bromsgrove.
17/3/2022.
Operator- Arriva Midlands Shrewsbury
Operating Area- Shropshire & Staffordshire
Make- McV
Model- Evora
Chassie- Volvo B8RLE
Fleet No- 3236
Reg- BU75WLX
Location Seen- Shrewsbury Bus Station
Service- 27 Shrewsbury - Bayston Hill
Info- New to Arriva Midlands Shrewsbury Garage
Seen- 4/3/26
Scania K124EB6, Berkhof Axial 100 (CH55/14Dt)
Heyfordian, Bicester
St George's Road, Portsmouth
03 February 2014
Bizarrely, this has the "series 2" rear light clusters - usually if operators attempt to disguise the age of a coach, it's the front end that gets tweaked ...
Kenworth Truck Company is offering a $1,000 rebate on qualifying purchases of new Kenworth sleeper trucks to members of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) during 2015. Eligible Kenworth trucks include the Kenworth T660, T800, T880, W900 and the industry-leading, aerodynamic T680 with 52-inch or larger, factory-installed sleeper. Also eligible are T660, T800 or W900 Gliders with a 72-inch or 86-inch factory-installed sleeper. Buyers must show their OOIDA membership card to their Kenworth dealer at time of purchase in 2015. Limit for a single customer is three qualifying Kenworth trucks per year. Other limitations apply on the Kenworth rebate program. See your Kenworth dealer for more details.
Operator: Rotala (Diamond Bus)
Vehicle Type: Volvo B7RLE / Wright Eclipse Urban
Fleet Number: 30834
Registration: KX57 MTE
Pictured in Halesowen Bus Station working a curtailed 4H service as far as Stone Cross.
18/10/2022.
Operator: Edwards Bros, Tiers Cross
Make/Model: Ford Transit (Minibus) - (M16)
Registration Number: LS04 UPE
History: Laugharne Travel
First North Western operated the North West Regional Railways franchise from March 1997 until 2004 - when this picture was taken (on 30 August) at that time the Windermere services transferred to First Transpennine Express. In this shot near Staveley, the train still carries First’s Northwestern Livery but there are blank spaces in the lining below the windows where the branding has been removed. 175111 forms the 1049 Manchester – Windermere.
A Volvo B10M of Turner's Tours of Chumleigh in Devon is seen here in Exeter bus station whilst covering a National Express diagram.
It was new as D251 HFX and was one of several new to Excelsior of Bournemouth in 1987.
Ticket clerk/train order operator at FC station at Bejucal, Cuba, in Havana province, February 18, 2017. This is a beautiful station with a small museum upstairs in the former agent's living area. Photo by Joe McMillan.
Smooth Operator Cowboy with Mel Odom's Trent Osborn as produced by JAMIEshow Dolls in a Retros by Liz Cole fashion.
Operator: First Eastern Counties Buses Ltd
Fleet No: 35193
Registration: SK16GVR (SO65LPY)
Body/Chassis: Wright StreetDeck
Chassis No: SA9DDRSXX16141152
Seating: H45/28F
New: April 2016
Ex: --
Livery: Network Norwich Pink Line
Date: Wednesday 20th April 2016
Location: Round House Way, Cringleford
Route: 11 (Sprowston via City Centre) PINK LINE
www.norwichbuspage.com/2016/04/pink-line-picture-special....