TRIVIA: What is the bus that sums up your childhood?

[TheGrandWazoo]

This forum's members span a wide range of ages and geographies, from younger folk in Scotland to more senior members on the South Coast and everything in between. Rather than a specific vehicle, what is the type of bus that is synonymous with your childhood in terms of type, livery etc? Just a bit of fun as we enter the weekend

 

[Bletchleyite]

This forum's members span a wide range of ages and geographies, from younger folk in Scotland to more senior members on the South Coast and everything in between. Rather than a specific vehicle, what is the type of bus that is synonymous with your childhood in terms of type, livery etc? Just a bit of fun as we enter the weekend

While my childhood more involved trains than buses, it'd probably be a Leyland National in "second time round" North Western livery. That or a green and beige Merseytravel decker, which we only used a few times when the trains were off.

 

[FrodshamJnct]

For me it’s the Leyland Atlantean in orange GMPTE colours in the mid to late 90s, going to and from Altrincham, clipper card in hand!

 

[upasalmon]

The AEC Regent III or Vs of Liverpool, St Helens and Douglas Corporation(when on holiday).

 

[SteveM70]

Daimler Fleetline for Coventry buses, as a small child I remember being fascinated by the exit doors in the middle and used to insist on sitting where I could watch them apparently

Going to and from high school Midland Red used Leyland Nationals all the time, horrible unrefined things especially the early ones

The X69 to Leicester used to be operated with J to L reg Leyland Leopards, and they’d get thrashed along the M69. The ones with coach seats were lovely

 

[RJ]

Routemasters, MCW Metrobuses, Leyland Titans and Olympians were mostly what was running in my part of South London when I was very young.

But I felt no particular affinity to any of them - what I really liked back then was the Volvo B10M Citybuses and the Volvo Olympians, both on the ZF transmission, plus the oldest Connex Tridents when they first appeared.

 

[Wolvercoter]

Bristol VRs in Oxford. Remember them on the 301 & 302 routes to Abingdon before minibuses took over. Still love VRs to this day.

 

[mlambeuk]

Bristol VRT. In West Yorkshire/ NBC red with white stripe. Leyland national MK1 with their engine sounds

 

[LiviCrazy]

Probably First Edinburgh in Livingston and Lothian Buses Volvo Olympians.

Always nice on Vintage Running Day to go on Lothian’s old one, especially with the original fare info etc. Takes me right back.

First’s ones ran around here for a long time, a couple kept going away then reappearing when another depot closed down. If I remember rightly the last I saw one running was as late as 2012.
There was one at Lathalmond Open Day a couple of years back preserved as an Edinburgh 86.

 

[scosutsut]

For me it was a elderly mixed bag fleet that belonged to KCB Network running from Old Kilpatrick, SBG era Leopards, Tigers and Dorchesters along with old Leyland Nationals and Postman Pat Transits.

Then glorious previously unseen investment arrived and nearly new then brand new B10M / PS types established themselves as the primary type and those were the pinnacle of step entrance vehicles for me!

I missed the Kelvin Scottish yellow and blue period I just knew the Kelvin Central and latterly KCB Network Red and Cream. Then First came along and that was the end of that nice period.

At times it was a very scruffy operation but absolute credit to them, they never stopped trying, made it work, and turned a corner.

 

[Dai Corner]

Maidstone & District AEC Reliances in cream and green on the rural 59 route into the town to school. The occasional National appeared which looked very modern in comparison.

Then once into the urban area there were the Corporation trolleybuses. I always wanted to get off the M&D bus at the terminus and change to a trolley but that would involve being late for school and paying a fare as they didn't accept my 'scholar's pass'.

 

[PeterC]

For me, living in Romford, it was mainly RTs both red and green and later the RCLs for travelling to see a girlfriend in Brentwood.

 

[CW2]

AEC Regent III, with 4-across bench seats upstairs.

 

[Busaholic]

See photograph that adorns the banner i.e. AEC Regal IV aka the RF of London Transport but in Central Area red livery. One of earliest photos of me is at the local bus station with an RF in the background.

 

[tbtc]

This is a great thread for realising how old people are without giving their actual age away!

For me, one of my earliest bus memories was of Leyland Nationals replacing Y-type Leyland Leopards on my local Scottish Bus Group service (the Leopards must have been running for a few years before then, but I guess they were just "buses" to me, it was when they were replaced that I appreciated that there were different types of bus - I instinctively didn't like the Nationals at the time - very basic vehicles - but have grown to appreciate them since.

That or a madder red LRT Lothian Atlantean with panoramic windows!

 

[Bletchleyite]

Well, for me, once you got off Merseyrail, it was a choice of Nationals on rubber tyres or Nationals on metal tyres

 

[Busaholic]

This is a great thread for realising how old people are without giving their actual age away!

If the thread title had been slightly different I could have chosen a double-deck London tram of 1930s vintage without lying.

 

[Statto]

MPTE, Leyland Atlantean for me, couple of roues went down my road with mostly having Atlanteans from Wallasey[SVR] & Birkenhead[LS] allocated, i prefered the 18xx[from 1821 although Wirral had none of the East Lancs & Willowbrook batch of 18xx models allocated]/19xx/10xx batch with the brighter interiors.

Wirral was quite dull bus scene in the 80s, PTE allocations were Atlanteans with a batch of Daimler Fleetlines & Volvo Ailsa & Leyland National for single deck, Crosville was Bristol VRTs, Leyland Olympians, & Leyland Nationals, Liverpool on the other hand was far more interesting bus scene.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

This is a great thread for realising how old people are without giving their actual age away!

I know

FWIW, I was brought up in the North East so it was a diet of Bristol LHs, REs and VRs, all with ECW bodies and poppy red livery - this photo typifies it. Like a number of other posters, travelling to the "big town" meant seeing Leyland Nationals which seemed positively space aged compared to LHs and REs.

1987-09-26 NGR 680P Bristol LH-ECW, OBR 770T Bristol VRT-ECW, JHN 563K, BHN 686N Bristol RESL, RELH-ECW, 1680, 770, 2863, 6086 of United, Stokesley

Explore John Carter 1962's 69692 photos on Flickr!

www.flickr.com

 

[olddriver]

For me it was a elderly mixed bag fleet that belonged to KCB Network running from Old Kilpatrick, SBG era Leopards, Tigers and Dorchesters along with old Leyland Nationals and Postman Pat Transits.

Then glorious previously unseen investment arrived and nearly new then brand new B10M / PS types established themselves as the primary type and those were the pinnacle of step entrance vehicles for me!

I missed the Kelvin Scottish yellow and blue period I just knew the Kelvin Central and latterly KCB Network Red and Cream. Then First came along and that was the end of that nice period.

At times it was a very scruffy operation but absolute credit to them, they never stopped trying, made it work, and turned a corner.

I’ll second the KCB Tigers, although it was Motherwell depot for me. As a child, I remember the steps being a challenge for my little legs! Later, I trained in one at First Glasgow’s Larkfield training school, just before they were withdrawn.

 

[Shaw S Hunter]

Sadly I grew up on a new development which didn't get any bus services until after we moved away. I do remember the town centre being served by red traditional looking double-deckers which I think were Alder Valley Lodekkas. Visits to relatives in London were more bus oriented: local services were mostly operated by various shades of Fleetline (some had turnstiles, others didn't) with Nationals appearing on some Sunday workings. A nearby route which we didn't use was operated mostly by Scania Metropolitans with their over-sized front end stainless steel trims emphasizing the asymmetric windows; I suspect these influenced my later fondness for Metrobuses when I lived in Manchester.

 

[abbo1234]

Ribble Marshall Bristol RESL on the 322 and 332, Chorley to Lower Adlington and the Dual door E.C.W. Bristol RELL on Chorley town services. I was gutted when they were replaced by Leyland National 2s. Happy days.

 

[swt_passenger]

I remember the first time going to school on my own on a yellow & cream Newcastle trolley bus, the Gosforth Park service, 45 I think. That would be about 1962 or 63, but for trips into central Newcastle we generally used some sort of “United” red single decker, which were non stop to/from Haymarket at our stop on the A1, they’d normally have been Morpeth or Alnwick services I think.
The trolley buses were replaced by Atlanteans starting a couple of years later, in basically the same livery. We moved elsewhere within Newcastle about 1964, and from then on it was a constant diet of Atlanteans on all my usual routes. I remember the early Atlanteans still had the flat split front windscreens, a few years later we thought the newer versions with curved glass and the second doorway were a bit of an upgrade...

 

[Harpers Tate]

EYMS Dark blue with cream stripe. Leyland Titan PD2 with a domed roof. Used to commute to school on these.

Like this (not my picture)

 

[GusB]

For me it has to be the ubiquitous Y-type on various chassis: Albion Vikings, Ford R series, Leyland Leopards and the solitary Dennis Lancet. I recall the introduction of the angular P-type on Lancet and Leyland Tiger chassis too - they were eye-catching because they looked very modern at the time.
Dual-purpose T-types and Duple Dominant coaches provided some occasional variety. All of them in yellow/ivory.

 

[AM9]

Without a doubt, for me it was the Red RT. As a young child, I loved to sit on the 'three seats' where I could see all that was going on. Then a bit later, I would appreciate the downstairs front OS where I caould see the speedo and most of the way ahead. On a long journey, sitting upstairs in the front seata was interesting and in my teens the comfort of the upper rear seat was luxury with padded arm rests on both sides, plus the ability to hop off at traffic lights or in queues of traffic!
I used to think that they were a hard ride, but the wallowing of Routmasters' coils spring suspension was not as nice, especially when combined with the spirited style of driving that some drivers practiced once they were confident with the auto transmission taught me to appreciate the RT's more sedate progress.

 

[341o2]

Bournemouth trolleybuses. Childhood memories of school exchange between the London one I was taught at with one in Southbourne. We would walk as a party to the turntable at Christchurch for a trip aboard one of the three open top ones for a tour of the town Image from Google images

 

[Cambus731]

Eastern National's Bristol FLFs with Cave-Browne-Cave heating and in NBC leaf green with coloured NBC stickers. I have obtained permission from Keith Valler to post this photo on here. I remember going to school in my first year at comprehensive on them including this exact bus.

 

[BVW]

Eastern Counties Lodekkas for me. I have a very faint memory of the LD type though FS5Gs were the mainstay where I lived. We were occasionally treated to an FL or FLF. Also on the scene were long and short REs (the latter with ECW's early curvier bodywork) while I remember the first Leyland Nationals coming in and thinking the interiors were "hospital white".

 

[Ostrich]

The smart, ubiquitous rear-entrance Crossleys of Birmingham City Transport.

And if you want to date me even further, standing on the railway bridge in the centre of Walsall watching Super-D 48895 wheeze her way northwards on a local freight with those all-blue 8xx numbered Walsall Corporation trolleybuses sitting on the stand of the old bus station opposite ....