2nd Hand Unrepainted buses

[delt1c]

Remeber back in mid 70's when Eastern Scottish were experiencing a major bus shortage they acquired ex Central Lodekka FS's and put them straight into service still in Maroon and cream Livery, several went to Bathgate and were used on the 35 service which caused confusion when they entered the Edinburgh boundary as the livery was very similar to Edinburghs livery and passenger would let the buses go past as Edinburgh operated there own 35 over part of the route. Similarly some ex Edinburgh Ley PD's were acquired and used on West Lothian Routes at times again from Bathgate before repainting and were often let go by passengers. Was an interesting time as Eastern Scottish view was if the engine fired it was used, even experienced Baxter livered buses and some other strange visitors which i will share later.

 

[Eyersey468]

Over the last few years Barnetts of Hull have bought several Northern Counties bodied Volvo Olympians ex London, Plaxton President bodied Volvo B7TLs ex Travel West Midlands and Wright Gemini bodied Volvo B7TLs ex Lothian, none of which were ever repainted.

 

[Pat1105]

Travel Express/Let’s go in Wolverhampton haven’t painted their newly acquired E200’s, despite having them for a year. I don’t think they ever will be painted. They used to run about with the previous operators logos and liveries a few years back.

 

[Bletchleyite]

The mildly disreputable group of sort-of-related small operators around Aylesbury have a fair few ex-London vehicles still in TfL red.

 

[delt1c]

Just remembered when Sampsons operated the 317 in London
1980's, they hired in so many vehicles was unbelievable. As well as their own DM's in Sampson livery, they hired in a DMS painted black, Southend Atlanteans in Southend livery plus several other variations. Added to this they had new Bedfords painted plain white
,

 

[JetBlast]

Transdev are famous for this. My OCD hates it.

 

[MotCO]

I'm sure there are some bus companies who bought second hand buses and adopted their livery as their new livery, but can't recall them off-hand.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Post deregulation, there were plenty of examples but even into the early 1990s, United Auto were noted for it. They received VRs from the parent West Riding/Yorkshire Woollen that were pressed into service in their original colours but more notable were ex London Country Nationals, and Tigers wearing Green Line, Tillingbourne etc. They bought some ex Reading Tigers from Pulhams and thought "they're red and cream - no need to bother" so they never got fleet colours!!

1992-05-02 B281 KPF Leyland Tiger-Plaxton 1423 of United, Catterick Village

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UNITED 1339 RMO202Y STANDS AT BISHOP AUCKLAND BUS STATION

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The text book examples of firms adopting the livery of acquired vehicles are former GM Buses = Your Bus (Smiths of Shennington), Favourite (Busways) or Chase Bus, OR Red Kite in Aylesbury adopting the late 1990s Go North East scheme

 

[awsnews]

I'm sure there are some bus companies who bought second hand buses and adopted their livery as their new livery, but can't recall them off-hand.

Avondale of Clydebank, often hard to tell those being used in various ex London variations, particularly London General, from those that have been repainted.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I'm sure there are some bus companies who bought second hand buses and adopted their livery as their new livery, but can't recall them off-hand.

Not dissimilarly, when First took over an operation pre-Barbie they just tweaked the original brand to suit them and plastered it with the F-in-circle.

 

[scosutsut]

I'm sure there are some bus companies who bought second hand buses and adopted their livery as their new livery, but can't recall them off-hand.

JMB in Lanarkshire did it with ex Lothian Darts, but copied the pattern not the colours - not sure if they made it their overall livery though?

As Lothian 73:

Lothian 73

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With JMB:

JMB Travel, Newmains SK52OJT

SK52 OJT is a Dennis Dart SLF/Plaxton Pointer new as Lothian Buses number 73 in December 2002. It joined the JMB Travel fleet in 2014 and is seen here in Bellshill whilst operating service 240 (Cleland-Birkenshaw).

www.flickr.com

Neither my photo, credit on the relevant Flickr pages!

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

JMB in Lanarkshire did it with ex Lothian Darts, but copied the pattern not the colours - not sure if they made it their overall livery though?

As Lothian 73:

Lothian 73

Explore Stuart Dobie's 998 photos on Flickr!

www.flickr.com

With JMB:

JMB Travel, Newmains SK52OJT

SK52 OJT is a Dennis Dart SLF/Plaxton Pointer new as Lothian Buses number 73 in December 2002. It joined the JMB Travel fleet in 2014 and is seen here in Bellshill whilst operating service 240 (Cleland-Birkenshaw).

www.flickr.com

Neither my photo, credit on the relevant Flickr pages!

Surely that's ADAPTED rather than ADOPTED?

 

[Tetchytyke]

when First took over an operation pre-Barbie they just tweaked the original brand to suit them and plastered it with the F-in-circle

They didn't in West Yorkshire, with Yorkshire Rider's operations in Halifax, Huddersfield, Bradford, and Leeds (but oddly not York) all getting new local identities and liveries. Which then went out the window two years later, in typical First fashion. Of course they ditched the idea so quickly there were plenty of buses which had local brands vinylled on over the Yorkshire Rider livery and then had the effin roundel vinylled on over those brand names. First's renowned attention to detail(!)

But yes, that's what they did with Mainline and PMT.

 

[Bletchleyite]

But yes, that's what they did with Mainline and PMT.

And GreaterManchester(f) - though they did tweak it a bit, it was a different orange, and they did play with the "GoldService(f)" magnolia and blue. I think Badgerline(f) kept its old colours too.

Branding a bus "First(f) PMT" would have Ray Stenning being struck by lightning and then turning at high speed in his grave - let's say almost nobody knows that stands for Potteries Motor Transport. But then gWr aside (which I see as rather a masterstroke)[1] First have always been terrible at their brand, and largely still are.

[1] I quite like original "leaf" Barbie and Dynamic Lines and variants, but they're liveries, not the overall brand.

 

[Tetchytyke]

I quite like original "leaf" Barbie

Barbie, at least in West Yorkshire, started out only on their Sovereign-branded services, which had the brand new buses in the fleet dedicated to them. The rest of the fleet didn't get Barbie until, at some point, they decided to apply it as their corporate livery.

Sovereign was another good idea, one that they had ten years before Stagecoach Gold etc, that they got bored of very quickly!

 

[Bletchleyite]

Sovereign was another good idea, one that they had ten years before Stagecoach Gold etc, that they got bored of very quickly!

First are good at coming up with good ideas then getting bored of them and letting them go. Overground was another.

 

[Titfield]

I'm sure there are some bus companies who bought second hand buses and adopted their livery as their new livery, but can't recall them off-hand.

Wasnt it Safeguard of Guildford who adopted Excelsior (Bournemouth) livery when they bought some coaches from Excelsior

 

[richw]

I'm sure there are some bus companies who bought second hand buses and adopted their livery as their new livery, but can't recall them off-hand.

Fal River buses bought two Ex RH tridents When they started up, and kept the blue and cream as their own livery. Their subsequent purchased Dart and a Mk3 transit were painted in the cream and blue. They had a pair of Plaxton primos in plain blue without the cream

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

They didn't in West Yorkshire, with Yorkshire Rider's operations in Halifax, Huddersfield, Bradford, and Leeds (but oddly not York) all getting new local identities and liveries. Which then went out the window two years later, in typical First fashion. Of course they ditched the idea so quickly there were plenty of buses which had local brands vinylled on over the Yorkshire Rider livery and then had the effin roundel vinylled on over those brand names. First's renowned attention to detail(!)

But yes, that's what they did with Mainline and PMT.

TBH, the first problem with YR was when Badgerline introduced the revised dark green livery which was a bit rubbish compared to the strong image that they had. Also, they may have begun to introduce the local identities but they then did make the switch to a single corporate scheme.

 

[DunsBus]

In Edinburgh, Eastern Scottish purchased second-hand Ailsas following deregulation - 25 Van Hool-McArdle-bodied ones from South Yorkshire PTE in 1986-87 and 18 Alexander-bodied ones, nine each from Central and from Clydeside, during 1988. In all cases they went into service still in their previous owners' colours pending repaint, and I remember the ex-Central ones causing confusion with LRT buses amongst passengers when these first arrived in Edinburgh.

Over time, the Eastern green paint began to wear off the roof domes and front skirts of the ex-South Yorkshire PTE Ailsas to reveal traces of their original brown and cream livery underneath: the Eastern livery had been applied straight on top of it.

 

[py_megapixel]

First Greater Manchester recently ceased to exist, with their operations being split between Go North West and Diamond Bus; the liveries in that area were (and possibly still are) a mess, with a mixture of:

• FirstBus livery
• FirstBus livery without logos
• FirstBus livery with Diamond or GNE stickers instead of logos
• Diamond's shade of blue but missing Diamond branding (don't know how that came to be but I've definitely seen it)
• Complete Diamond livery
• GNE livery

This lead to the bizarre situation of the branding of the bus possibly being completely different to that of the ticket; for example, the ticket machines were issuing tickets branded as GNE on buses branded as First. They hadn't even got their act together by the time First tickets stopped being accepted on the new operators, so that must have caused some confusion with passengers having incorrect tickets.

 

[Eyersey468]

An operator in Devon bought several ex EYMS buses and adopted the burgundy and cream as their livery, the name of the operator escapes me at the moment though

Edited to add it was Rail River Link. I have a feeling they are now defunct.

 

[iantherev]

An operator in Devon bought several ex EYMS buses and adopted the burgundy and cream as their livery, the name of the operator escapes me at the moment though

Edited to add it was Rail River Link. I have a feeling they are now defunct.

No - still going though probably not operating at the moment.

 

[221129]

I have a feeling they are now defunct.

Very much not defunct.

 

[delt1c]

In Edinburgh, Eastern Scottish purchased second-hand Ailsas following deregulation - 25 Van Hool-McArdle-bodied ones from South Yorkshire PTE in 1986-87 and 18 Alexander-bodied ones, nine each from Central and from Clydeside, during 1988. In all cases they went into service still in their previous owners' colours pending repaint, and I remember the ex-Central ones causing confusion with LRT buses amongst passengers when these first arrived in Edinburgh.

Over time, the Eastern green paint began to wear off the roof domes and front skirts of the ex-South Yorkshire PTE Ailsas to reveal traces of their original brown and cream livery underneath: the Eastern livery had been applied straight on top of it.

Those were the days with Eastern Scottish, you never new what would arrive. Litterally anything would be used, the only vehicles I never saw on stage work were the London coaches, appart from that anything went. Even toilet fitted Bristol LH's were used with the toilet locked out of use from Bathgate before they were reseated as dual purpose and toilets removed. Back in the mid 70's they hired some leyland PD's from Edinburgh Corporation and that really confused the passengers. Oh Happy days. There may be variety today but nothing compared to the 70's

 

[richw]

An operator in Devon bought several ex EYMS buses and adopted the burgundy and cream as their livery, the name of the operator escapes me at the moment though

Edited to add it was Rail River Link. I have a feeling they are now defunct.

There current livery is red with cream skirt, all but one current vehicle came from Plymouth citybus I believe

 

[Flange Squeal]

Surely that's ADAPTED rather than ADOPTED?

Initially yes, but in the time since it has been adopted as fleet livery and applied to brand-new vehicles.

There current livery is red with cream skirt, all but one current vehicle came from Plymouth citybus I believe

It was their previous buses that were ex-EYMS. The ‘new’ vehicles adopted the old style of cream skirt and upper deck, but as you point out the maroon has been swapped for red.

Wasnt it Safeguard of Guildford who adopted Excelsior (Bournemouth) livery when they bought some coaches from Excelsior

That is correct. The livery is still applied to their new coaches today, but the zig zag has had a bit of roundness added to some edges to make it look a bit more modern/like an S (on the nearside).

 

[cnjb8]

GoNorth East has a few Plaxton Presidents in London Red and East Yorkshire livery. Some LX54 versions still have the Cleaner Air for London logo.
GoEast Anglia is just a mess of Anglian Bus, Konect, Hedingham and Chambers liveried buses everywhere.
TrentBarton are usually good with repainting a bus for a route before it enters service. But it's sister Wellglade company, TM Travel has quite a few Scanias that need repainting.
As far as I am aware, it took Stagecoach a while to repaint the former Lincolnshire RoadCar vehicles.

 

[A0wen]

Just remembered when Sampsons operated the 317 in London
1980's, they hired in so many vehicles was unbelievable. As well as their own DM's in Sampson livery, they hired in a DMS painted black, Southend Atlanteans in Southend livery plus several other variations. Added to this they had new Bedfords painted plain white
,

Sampson's ran a fairly motley bus fleet at the best of times. Along with other such operators they acquired alot of LT / PTE cast off Atlanteans and Fleetlines. In Welwyn Hatfield where they'd won the tender for the local 'G' routes you had ex SYPTE deckers repainted into Sampson's blue and red, you had ex WMPTE Coventry Fleetlines which kept their powder blue and white and received Sampson's fleetnames, ex WMPTE Fleetlines in WMPTE blue & cream and a couple of ex GMPTE deckers in GMPTE colours.

I think you're wrong on the Bedfords, the new (or ex demo at least) white Plaxton bodied single decks they acquired were actually Volvo B10s. Those remained with County Bus after they took Sampson's over and lasted a few years - unlike the majority of the Sampson's fleet which was disposed of fairly quickly.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Initially yes, but in the time since it has been adopted as fleet livery and applied to brand-new vehicles.

No, they haven't adopted Lothian livery; they adapted it (same layout, different colours) and then applied it.

Sovereign was another good idea, one that they had ten years before Stagecoach Gold etc, that they got bored of very quickly!

What was Sovereign???? Was it after Flagship?





There's a bit of a difference in citing examples of firms taking over another (e.g. Go NW with First Manchester, or Stagecoach with Road Car) and applying their fleetnames, and someone buying a vehicle and running it in a previous operators' livery - think the OP was really looking at the latter.