The year started, not surprisingly,
in the same place that the last one finished: Sydney, Australia. The unchanging
flet of STA, Sydney Buses, is represented by this Mercedes at the world famous
Opera House.
|
February saw an opportunity to go up to London and get some photos of the Volvo
B7Ls with Wright Eclipse Gemini bodies in service with Arriva. VLW5 (LJ51LJO)
with its uncharacteristic Oxford sounding registration was the bus exhibited
at EFE SHOWBUS International 2001 seen in Wood Green.
|
A long weekend break just before Easter
was a first ever trip to Portugal, to Lisbon. A seemingly lucky find was this
Daimler Fleetline promoting the open top tours of the city, now operated by new Volvo
deckers. The city's modern bus fleet is complimented by modern and old trams including some
amazing cable cars.
Not far away were the former Stagecoach operations with the corporate colours
still much in evidence.
|
After Easter a work related trip took me out to Venice on the world's most
uncomfortable coach - a tri-axle Irizar bodied Scania high floor, and it looked
so good! A side trip to Verona found these smart Autocromo bodied midis working for AMT.
|
The day after returning on THAT coach from Italy, we took Red Rose's new Dart MPD in
Golden Jubilee livery to Cobham's Open Day to promote SHOWBUS. It was also a
first opportunity to see some of London's Golden Jubilee buses, such as this London
United pair. Most others only had the sticky back plastic gold panels and no
other adornments.
|
A business trip in May found me in Szeged in southern Hungary with glorious sunshine
and a fleet of toy-like trams. Tram 904 enters the city precinct through the
archway in the city wall.
|
The return journey via Budapest gave an opportunity to photograph that city's
trams, buses and trolleys.
|
Another business trip to London, to Chelsea Football Club, gave the chance to
photograph the new East Lancs bodied Volvos of London General.
|
Another SHOWBUS promotional trip saw us taking Motts former Eastern National
coach bodied Leyland Olympian home to Southend in absolutely diabolic weather!
We parked up alongside Reading's Jubilee Rider, which after some legal uncertainties
made it to SHOWBUS to take part in the Gold Run.
|
Early June I missed the main Jubilee celebrations to visit a friend in Barcelona.
The TMB municipal fleet had recently bought a number of low floor gas buses
which had some of the most contrived interiors I've yet to see. There were
often only 3 seats on the flat floor, most facing rearward. Seats at the rear
of the bus were either non existant or mounted by 3 steps, suitably designed
so you could fall out through the open rear door!
|
The Sunday the day after returning from sunny Barcelona it was into the Red Rose
Golden Jubilee bus for another SHOWBUS trip to "an even wetter than Southend"
Southsea Rally. Bournemouth's Centenary and Golden Jubilee East Lancs open
top B7TL was on show and was another almost-didn't-make-it to SHOWBUS.
|
The longest trip to promote SHOWBUS saw the Red Rose MPD at Cardiff in July.
It took part in the Merthyr-Cardiff Road Run on the Saturday and echoed the
visit of Red Rover Leyland National 161 (former LT LS1) in the late eighties.
The opportunity to update our Cardiff gallery has already been taken and
includes this Cardiff MPD Dart.
|
A mammoth summer trip started with catching up with an old friend now in Chicago.
A few hot days in the windy city gave a chance to sample the famous L-train
and ride on the few low floor Nova buses of CTA and other members of its fleet.
|
Next stop was San Francisco - the transport mecca. The picture harks back to
Hungary with a new Ikarus trolleybus. Then there were the cable cars, the
new Italian streetcars, the old streetcars now extended round to Fisherman's
Wharf, Coach USA doubledeck Olympian coaches, the buses of Muni, Alameda
County, Golden Gate and on and on.
|
From San Francisco to Melbourne and the first visit to the city for over 10
years. Besides taking in the Little Penguins and the Twelve Apostles, unseasonally
good weather also helped the photographing of buses. Melbourne is blessed with
many independents including the Grenda group who now harbour the Volvo artics
built for the Japanese Olympics and at one time operated for the MTA in Melbourne.
Grenda will doubtless be replacing them soon with more of the Scania OmniCity artics they
have recently bought.
|
The journey on from Melbourne was by Greyhound Pioneer coach and a stop off for
the day in Canberra (plenty long enough) enabled the local fleet of Renaults
to be pictured, plus, of course, their Wright bodied Dennis Darts.
|
The weather was great in Sydney as this photo shows. The bush fires at
Christmas had curtailed plans to visit the tram museum in the southern
suburbs, but this time I had a chance to look around the museum (including its
BUT doubledeck trolley) and ride the tram.
|
Last stop on the way home was LA. Besides more Wright bodied buses in Long Beach,
I tracked down several operators beyond MetroBus including Norwalk, Montebello
and First Student. This is Foothills Transit who operate into Downtown LA.
They have magenta route numbers which can be switched to the country's flag
when out of service!
|
Home to SHOWBUS and several hectic weeks in preparing for what seemed to be the
best SHOWBUS ever. Thanks to all who helped prepare for the event and those
who participated on the day.
|
Finally an October trip to the capital enabled some photos of those Red Arrow
articulated Citaros - if you like that sort of thing.
|
The year started, not surprisingly,
in the same place that the last one finished: Sydney, Australia. The unchanging
flet of STA, Sydney Buses, is represented by this Mercedes at the world famous
Opera House.
February saw an opportunity to go up to London and get some photos of the Volvo
B7Ls with Wright Eclipse Gemini bodies in service with Arriva. VLW5 (LJ51LJO)
with its uncharacteristic Oxford sounding registration was the bus exhibited
at EFE SHOWBUS International 2001 seen in Wood Green.
A long weekend break just before Easter
was a first ever trip to Portugal, to Lisbon. A seemingly lucky find was this
Daimler Fleetline promoting the open top tours of the city, now operated by new Volvo
deckers. The city's modern bus fleet is complimented by modern and old trams including some
amazing cable cars.
Not far away were the former Stagecoach operations with the corporate colours
still much in evidence.
After Easter a work related trip took me out to Venice on the world's most
uncomfortable coach - a tri-axle Irizar bodied Scania high floor, and it looked
so good! A side trip to Verona found these smart Autocromo bodied midis working for AMT.
The day after returning on THAT coach from Italy, we took Red Rose's new Dart MPD in
Golden Jubilee livery to Cobham's Open Day to promote SHOWBUS. It was also a
first opportunity to see some of London's Golden Jubilee buses, such as this London
United pair. Most others only had the sticky back plastic gold panels and no
other adornments.
A business trip in May found me in Szeged in southern Hungary with glorious sunshine
and a fleet of toy-like trams. Tram 904 enters the city precinct through the
archway in the city wall.
The return journey via Budapest gave an opportunity to photograph that city's
trams, buses and trolleys.
Another business trip to London, to Chelsea Football Club, gave the chance to
photograph the new East Lancs bodied Volvos of London General.
Another SHOWBUS promotional trip saw us taking Motts former Eastern National
coach bodied Leyland Olympian home to Southend in absolutely diabolic weather!
We parked up alongside Reading's Jubilee Rider, which after some legal uncertainties
made it to SHOWBUS to take part in the Gold Run.
Early June I missed the main Jubilee celebrations to visit a friend in Barcelona.
The TMB municipal fleet had recently bought a number of low floor gas buses
which had some of the most contrived interiors I've yet to see. There were
often only 3 seats on the flat floor, most facing rearward. Seats at the rear
of the bus were either non existant or mounted by 3 steps, suitably designed
so you could fall out through the open rear door!
The Sunday the day after returning from sunny Barcelona it was into the Red Rose
Golden Jubilee bus for another SHOWBUS trip to "an even wetter than Southend"
Southsea Rally. Bournemouth's Centenary and Golden Jubilee East Lancs open
top B7TL was on show and was another almost-didn't-make-it to SHOWBUS.
The longest trip to promote SHOWBUS saw the Red Rose MPD at Cardiff in July.
It took part in the Merthyr-Cardiff Road Run on the Saturday and echoed the
visit of Red Rover Leyland National 161 (former LT LS1) in the late eighties.
The opportunity to update our Cardiff gallery has already been taken and
includes this Cardiff MPD Dart.
A mammoth summer trip started with catching up with an old friend now in Chicago.
A few hot days in the windy city gave a chance to sample the famous L-train
and ride on the few low floor Nova buses of CTA and other members of its fleet.
Next stop was San Francisco - the transport mecca. The picture harks back to
Hungary with a new Ikarus trolleybus. Then there were the cable cars, the
new Italian streetcars, the old streetcars now extended round to Fisherman's
Wharf, Coach USA doubledeck Olympian coaches, the buses of Muni, Alameda
County, Golden Gate and on and on.
From San Francisco to Melbourne and the first visit to the city for over 10
years. Besides taking in the Little Penguins and the Twelve Apostles, unseasonally
good weather also helped the photographing of buses. Melbourne is blessed with
many independents including the Grenda group who now harbour the Volvo artics
built for the Japanese Olympics and at one time operated for the MTA in Melbourne.
Grenda will doubtless be replacing them soon with more of the Scania OmniCity artics they
have recently bought.
The journey on from Melbourne was by Greyhound Pioneer coach and a stop off for
the day in Canberra (plenty long enough) enabled the local fleet of Renaults
to be pictured, plus, of course, their Wright bodied Dennis Darts.
The weather was great in Sydney as this photo shows. The bush fires at
Christmas had curtailed plans to visit the tram museum in the southern
suburbs, but this time I had a chance to look around the museum (including its
BUT doubledeck trolley) and ride the tram.
Last stop on the way home was LA. Besides more Wright bodied buses in Long Beach,
I tracked down several operators beyond MetroBus including Norwalk, Montebello
and First Student. This is Foothills Transit who operate into Downtown LA.
They have magenta route numbers which can be switched to the country's flag
when out of service!
Home to SHOWBUS and several hectic weeks in preparing for what seemed to be the
best SHOWBUS ever. Thanks to all who helped prepare for the event and those
who participated on the day.
Finally an October trip to the capital enabled some photos of those Red Arrow
articulated Citaros - if you like that sort of thing.