THE HOME COUNTIES BUS IMAGE GALLERY
ALDER VALLEY Minibuses
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 Redline 502 (GPC728N) sets off from Maidenhead Bus Station for Marlow. |
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 the same bus is seen passing the Golden Ball hotel heading for Marlow. |
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 Besides the obstacle of Marlow Bridge, the 18 route also had to contend with a very steep hill on the Maidenhead side of the Thames, 502 is seen battling up this escarpment. |
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Another view of one of the Ascos, probably 502, struggling up the hill. Sadly the hill was probably more than they could take and on more than one occasion all three Ascos could be off the road. On at least one occasion a Dennis Loline substituted on the 18, missing Bisham and going along the by-pass. The school journey from Cippenham to Sir William Borlase in Marlow was always doubledeck operated via the by-pass.
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 Asco 502 crosses the bridge into Marlow. William Tierney Clark designed the bridge which was completed in 1832. A near identical bridge, but much larger, is an equally attractive sight spanning the Danube in Budapest, it is not the original however as that was destroyed in World War II. Most of these pictures were taken on behalf of Ascough who attended Showbus at Hillingdon with one of their demonstrators, fitted with coach seats. They had not had the opportunity to see the buses in service. The service ended with the permanent withdrawal of these special buses, even the service for Sir William Borlase ended with boundary changes which put Cippenham into Berkshire. The service was resurrected in the nineties as the then Sir William Borlase's Grammar School attracted large pupil numbers from the Maidenhead area. Several operators were involved with the 617 as it was known including Courtney, Carousel and Arriva the Shires. |
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