TRIVIA: companies/services named after birds or animals

TheGrandWazoo · 8 Mar 2020

In amongst the more lively discussions....how many can people recall for bus firms named after animals or birds (or other organisms excluding people).

Badgerline is perhaps the most obvious. Kingfisher was Yorkshire Rider’s Huddersfield depot and has been reused for First’s route from the Potteries to Uttoxeter.

Can think of a few more involving birds of prey but intrigued what else is/was out there?

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goldisgood · 8 Mar 2020

I can think of a few:
Reading Buses' Leopard, Lion and Tiger services (3, 4/X4, 7, 9 and 10)
First Kernow's Lizard services (L1, L2)
Trent Barton's black cat and swift services

peterblue · 8 Mar 2020

Go North East "Black Cats"
Cheshire Cat in Warrington

Great_Western · 8 Mar 2020

The first one that springs to mind is Falcon Buses based in Surrey.
Interestingly, the vehicles branded for First Plymouth's "Tamar Link" services were named after various local bird species.

Lewlew · 8 Mar 2020

Red Eagle in the Buckinghamshire area (Aylesbury iirc)

Martin2012 · 8 Mar 2020

Eagle Coaches of Bristol who also had a subsidiary called Kestrel Coaches at one time.

PeterC · 8 Mar 2020

Now defunct:
Tigerline - based just outside Chesham
Bristol Greyhound

Not sure if Leicester Fox was a company name or just a branding

Busaholic · 8 Mar 2020

Walter Alexander Midland Bluebird comes to mind, which has morphed into Stagecoach Bluebird over time, and I believe an image of a bluebird was the crest in Alexander days: way outside my area, so no personal recollections. The Greyhound brand in the States, of course, which was tried (unsuccessfully) here.

Wasn't there a Black Cat in Morley too?

Flange Squeal · 8 Mar 2020

Great_Western said:
The first one that springs to mind is Falcon Buses based in Surrey.

Surrey also has bus operator Bear Buses. The Hampshire/Surrey border towns are also home to non-bus operators Bear Cheetah Travel, Cobra Corporate Services and White Lion Coaches. The demise of Countryliner also saw the RJB (UK) Ltd licence trade briefly as SwiftBus (but no logo so might not have been named after the bird!).

RELL6L · 8 Mar 2020

Lynx - both the company (Norfolk) and services (Bristol). And the bus type!

Yorkshire Tiger

Swallow Buses (around Waltham Abbey)

pgfb1306 · 8 Mar 2020

Whippet in Cambridgeshire, provider of local bus services and National Express coaches.

TheGrandWazoo · 8 Mar 2020

Busaholic said:
Walter Alexander Midland Bluebird comes to mind, which has morphed into Stagecoach Bluebird over time, and I believe an image of a bluebird was the crest in Alexander days: way outside my area, so no personal recollections. The Greyhound brand in the States, of course, which was tried (unsuccessfully) here.

Wasn't there a Black Cat in Morley too?

Bluebird was another that I recalled but there were two. Alexander (Northern) and Alexander (Midland) both used it so it passed on privatisation to both Stagecoach and GRT (now First) who both have the right to use it.

Think you're thinking of Black Prince in Morley

PeterC said:
Not sure if Leicester Fox was a company name or just a branding

You had Midland Fox in Leicestershire who operated with that name, Fox Cubs for their minis and Foxhound for their coaches. Later on, they had Urban Fox for their Leicester conurbation "city" services.

tbtc · 8 Mar 2020

Round these parts there were two main ones (one a company, one a brand):

Eager Beaver (low cost minibus operation by SYT in the late '80s/ early '90s) - vivid red/ yellow/ blue diagonals (started off as high frequency routes but became the general "minibus" operation, replacing the "Little Nipper" brand that had previously focussed on lower frequency minibus routes)

Yorkshire Terrier (independent operator from about 1990, taken over by Yorkshire Traction but brand was retained and absorbed other 'Tracky operations until Stagecoach purchased the whole shebang) - traditional horizontal yellow, green and white Leyland Nationals - moved on to a rag tag assortment of other vehicles but without the white bands - Yorkshire Terrier being a native breed (rather than Tigers, which are relatively rare in this neck of the wood)

DunsBus · 8 Mar 2020

How about Stagecoach Hants & Surrey's service between Aldershot and Guildford - the Kite. A bird of prey, as well as being something that is flown in the air on the end of a piece of string.

martinsh · 8 Mar 2020

Mountain Goat (Windermere) springs to mind

175mph · 8 Mar 2020

Humber Fastcat - route 350 between Scunthorpe and Hull, run jointly between Stagecoach and EYMS.

Andyh82 · 8 Mar 2020

Go North East have the soon to be defunct “Red Kite”

They had a “Pink Panther” in the very early days of the branded services as well.

There was Felix buses in Derbyshire

NorthOxonian · 8 Mar 2020

Andyh82 said:
Go North East have the soon to be defunct “Red Kite”

They had a “Pink Panther” in the very early days of the branded services as well.

As well as the "Lambton Worm", though that was named after a mythical creature rather than a lowly worm!

Flange Squeal · 8 Mar 2020

Stagecoach South West have their South West Falcon service between Bristol and Plymouth.

Western Greyhound ran in Cornwall from 1998 to 2015.

Going back a bit, in the late 80s/early 90s Alder Valley ran some of their local minibus routes around Aldershot, Camberley, Farnborough and Woking as 'Whippets'.

DunsBus said:
How about Stagecoach Hants & Surrey's service between Aldershot and Guildford - the Kite. A bird of prey, as well as being something that is flown in the air on the end of a piece of string.

That one was definitely named after the toy rather than bird though. As well as the two variations of route branding the route has had which both saw them covered in images of them, it was also named at the same time a number of routes received names of children's toys. They were 2 Farnborough to Camberley (Marbles), 4/5 Aldershot to Farnham (Connect 4/5), 6 Farnborough to Prospect Estate (YoYo), 15 Aldershot to Heron Wood (Scoot), and 20 Aldershot to Guildford (Kite). Only the YoYo and Kite survive today though, with both the routes having their numbers replaced by the toy name.

TheGrandWazoo · 8 Mar 2020

Andyh82 said:
Go North East have the soon to be defunct “Red Kite”

They had a “Pink Panther” in the very early days of the branded services as well.

There was Felix buses in Derbyshire

Thanks for reminding me - United had Peterlee Panthers in the post de-reg world.

DunsBus · 8 Mar 2020

Flange Squeal said:
Stagecoach South West have their South West Falcon service between Bristol and Plymouth.

Western Greyhound ran in Cornwall from 1998 to 2015.

Going back a bit, in the late 80s/early 90s Alder Valley ran some of their local minibus routes around Aldershot, Camberley, Farnborough and Woking as 'Whippets'.

That one was definitely named after the toy rather than bird though. As well as the two variations of route branding the route has had which both saw them covered in images of them, it was also named at the same time a number of routes received names of children's toys. They were 2 Farnborough to Camberley (Marbles), 4/5 Aldershot to Farnham (Connect 4/5), 6 Farnborough to Prospect Estate (YoYo), 15 Aldershot to Heron Wood (Scoot), and 20 Aldershot to Guildford (Kite). Only the YoYo and Kite survive today though, with both the routes having their numbers replaced by the toy name.

I'll concede on that one. It was a rather tenous attempt by me to link the Kite branding to the bird, rather than the toy which it's actually named after!

DunsBus · 8 Mar 2020

TheGrandWazoo said:
Thanks for reminding me - United had Peterlee Panthers in the post de-reg world.

Some more I can add:

The Bee Line Buzz Company, which was the short-lived BET post-deregulation minibus operation in Manchester, and the unrelated The Bee Line which was the renamed Alder Valley (North).

And for minibuses - Beaver Bus (Grampian), Berwick Beaver (Lowland Scottish) and Highland Terrier (Highland Scottish).

Wolvercoter · 8 Mar 2020

Thames Transit's service 1 from Oxford City Centre to Blackbird Leys was branded 'The Blackbird Flyer'. And the short-lived service 8 was 'The Marston Pony'.

Lincolnshire RoadCar had its 'Super Buzz' routes in Lincoln, Skegness and other towns, with a bee logo.

GusB · 9 Mar 2020

Busaholic said:
Walter Alexander Midland Bluebird comes to mind, which has morphed into Stagecoach Bluebird over time, and I believe an image of a bluebird was the crest in Alexander days: way outside my area, so no personal recollections. The Greyhound brand in the States, of course, which was tried (unsuccessfully) here.

TheGrandWazoo said:
Bluebird was another that I recalled but there were two. Alexander (Northern) and Alexander (Midland) both used it so it passed on privatisation to both Stagecoach and GRT (now First) who both have the right to use it.

The Alexander company was split into three in the sixties, so all three companies could probably claim the right to use the Bluebird name. I remember seeing the Bluebird emblem on Northern buses when I was small, but over time, the SBG corporate look took over and the Bluebird gradually disappeared. Midland kept it going for much longer, and Northern re-introduced it in 1989 when they re-branded as Bluebird Northern. After the Stagecoach buyout Northern was legally known as Bluebird Northern Ltd for a short period of time before being re-named Bluebird Buses Ltd. (the current legal name if I'm not mistaken). As far as I'm aware, the Fife entity has made no attempt since to reclaim the Bluebird title.

A few more examples that no-one seems to have mentioned yet:
- Greyhound Coaches. I can't remember where they were based originally, but they were acquired by Tayside and branded as "Tayside Greyhound" for a time. Do they still use this brand?
- Perth Panther - a brand introduced by Stagecoach Scotland Ltd for services in the Perth area before the attack on Strathtay
- Golden Eagle - a Lanarkshire independent (Salburgh based? I can't be arsed to dig out my books at this time of day)
- Beaver - used by GRT for their minibuses in the 90s
- Harrier - Central SMT
- Terrier - Highland Omnibuses

Let's not forget the manufacturers which used animal names:
- Leyland: Tiger, Lion, Leopard, Panther, Lynx, Swift
- AEC: Swift, Merlin
- ACE: Cougar
- Plaxton: Leopard, Panther, Cheetah, Beaver, Pointer

I'm sure I've missed a few.

fgwrich · 9 Mar 2020

You also have two incarnations of the insect name : BEELINE

BEELINE Coaches of Warminster - a family run business doing quite well for themselves.
&
Beeline / First Beeline - A name born out of the Alder Valley North split (as briefly mentioned above) and The current trading name of First Berkshire & The Thames Valley.

While Essex also has Panther Travel. (https://www.panther-travel.co.uk) ((Who interestingly has an ex Truronian coach with reg in their fleet Y5TRU)).

Flange Squeal · 9 Mar 2020

There’s been a few mentions of past beavers, but I don’t think any mention of the current Beaver Bus.

https://beaver-bus.co.uk/

Robertj21a · 9 Mar 2020

TheGrandWazoo said:
Bluebird was another that I recalled but there were two. Alexander (Northern) and Alexander (Midland) both used it so it passed on privatisation to both Stagecoach and GRT (now First) who both have the right to use it.

Think you're thinking of Black Prince in Morley

You had Midland Fox in Leicestershire who operated with that name, Fox Cubs for their minis and Foxhound for their coaches. Later on, they had Urban Fox for their Leicester conurbation "city" services.

Subsequently, Arriva Fox County.

First Greyhound.
Seagull coaches.
Eagle

Strathclyder · 9 Mar 2020

GusB said:
- Golden Eagle - a Lanarkshire independent (Salburgh based? I can't be arsed to dig out my books at this time of day)

Aye, Golden Eagle are indeed based in Salsburgh.

GusB said:
Let's not forget the manufacturers which used animal names:
- Leyland: Tiger, Lion, Leopard, Panther, Lynx, Swift
- AEC: Swift, Merlin
- ACE: Cougar
- Plaxton: Leopard, Panther, Cheetah, Beaver, Pointer

I'm sure I've missed a few.

Dennis is the one that jumps right to mind in this regard: with the Dragon/Condor (associated mainly with Hong Kong & Africa, but plenty of course found their way back to the UK for further service), Falcon (both the front & rear-engined designs), Pelican (a one-off dating from the mid/late 1950s, intended to be Dennis' (admittedly late) attempt to break into the UF single deck market of the period, butting heads with the likes of the Leyland Royal Tiger, Tiger Cub, Olympic & the AEC Reliance) & the Pike (a short-lived front-engined single decker produced betw. 1937 and 1940).

TheGrandWazoo · 9 Mar 2020

Perhaps one of the more recent ones is the Mousehole that runs between Penzance and Mousehole but features a mouse logo....

Also, and not certain where I dredged it up from, but I think that Ribble renamed their coaching unit "Sandpiper" which is a type of wading bird?

NorthernSpirit · 9 Mar 2020

Some of the Dalesbus services are named after animals such as the 72B/74B Wharedale Packhorse, there was one called the Ingleborough Pony but that was wthdrawn.

Kingfisher Huddersfield already has been mentioned, suprised that First Huddersfield haven't reused it for a corridor of services.

There was also Tiger Blue which were the old K Line operations rebranded out of Honley, all of which have been rebranded as Yorkshire Tiger and there is Calder Cubs which is the brand used on YT services out of Halifax.

TRIVIA: companies/services named after birds or animals

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