INTRODUCTION
Dublin - 1966
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WEBSITE AUTHOR - MIKE BEAMISH
(page by page index at the top)
HELLO, AND A VERY WARM WELCOME TO MY WEBSITE, WHICH I AM DEDICATING TO THOSE NOT SO FAR OFF DAYS WHEN, EVEN THOUGH INCREASING PERSONAL WEALTH, TELEVISION WATCHING AND CAR OWNERSHIP, AND THE MARKED PASSENGER DECLINE THAT THEY WERE CAUSING WERE ALREADY UNCOMFORTABLE FACTS FOR MOST PUBLIC TRANSPORT OPERATORS, BUSES WERE, TO MOST ORDINARY PEOPLE, STILL ESSENTIAL TO SOME PART OF THEIR EVERYDAY LIVES. COME TO THINK OF IT, THEY WERE ALSO A WELCOME SIGHT AND SOUND, OFTEN AT ALL HOURS OF THE DAY AND NIGHT, ON OUR COMPARATIVELY SAFE STREETS TOO!
............AND, IF YOU ARE A 60+ ENTHUSIAST WHO CAN ACTUALLY REMEMBER PAYING HIS FARES IN SHILLINGS AND PENCE, I EXPECT THAT YOU MIGHT BE FAMILIAR WITH A SOME OF WHAT I HOPE YOU WILL TAKE TIME TO BROWSE THROUGH - WHATEVER YOUR AGE THOUGH, IT'LL BE A JOLLY GOOD EXCUSE TO WALLOW IN A BIT OF UNASHAMED TRANSPORT NOSTALGIA, SO PLEASE TAKE A LOOK - THERE'S QUITE A LOT ABOUT BUSES TO SEE, BUT THAT'S NOT ALL..............
CERTAINLY I INTEND THIS WEBSITE TO REMAIN PRINCIPALLY ABOUT ROAD PASSENGER TRANSPORT SO I'M HANGING ON TO THE SAME TITLE THROUGHOUT.
BECAUSE MY TRANSPORT INTERESTS ARE QUITE BROAD HOWEVER, I HAVE ADDED, OR HAVE PLANS TO ADD SEVERAL PAGES COVERING OTHER FORMS. SO IF YOUR PREFERENCES INCLUDE TRAINS, BOATS, PLANES, CLASSIC CARS AND VINTAGE COMMERCIALS OR, EVEN TRACTION ENGINES, ROAD ROLLERS, SHOWMAN'S AND FAIRGROUND EQUIPMENT AND AGRICULTURAL VEHICLES, THEN SOMETHING TO TEMPT YOU IS EITHER HERE ALREADY FOR YOU OR IS IN THE PIPELINE.
I DO HOPE THAT YOU WILL FIND THESE PAGES INTERESTING
WELCOME ABOARD - MIND THE STEP, HOLD TIGHT - PLENTY OF ROOM INSIDE
YOU ARE PASSENGER No.
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Manchester - 1963
Rotheram - 1964
Ryde IOW - 1964
Edinburgh - 1966
London - c.1986
Sunderland - 1963
Leicester - 1964
Liverpool - 1969
Chilwell - 1971
Nottingham - 1977
Bedford - c.1979
Victoria Coach Station - 1965
Heathrow Airport - c.1967
Guildford - 1961
London c. 1987
Chesterfield - 1983
Oxford - 1965
Manchester - 1987
Glasgow - 1966
Burton-on-Trent - 1964 
Walsall - 1966 
Rochdale - 1964 
Belfast - 1966
Leicester - 1978 
Wallasey - 1967
Southend - c.1967
Brighton - c.1969
Bletchley - 1976
Grimsby - 1964
Bournemouth - 1962
Wallasey - 1967
Halifax - 1963
Manchester - 2005
Chiswick Works (London) - 1980
Bradford - 2012
I'M A LONDONER, DELIVERED EARLY IN 1944 (MOST DEFINITELY TO UTILITY SPECIFICATION) WHO EXILED HIMSELF TO THE EAST MIDLANDS EARLY IN THE MID-1970s. I CAN NOW LAY CLAIM ( IF YOU COUNT EARLY DAYS OF SPOTTING) TO AN INTEREST IN AND FOLLOWING OF ALL THINGS OMNIBUSOLOGICAL THAT WILL, IN A YEAR OR TWO START TO EMBRACE AN EIGTH CONSECUTIVE DECADE.
MY LAST REMAINING AUNT, WHO WAS JUST TWELVE WHEN I WAS BORN STILL LIKES TO REMIND ME OF THE TIME WHEN SHE WAS WITH ME AND MY MOTHER ON A BUS WHEN I WAS BUT A FEW TENDER MONTHS OF THIS LIFE IN LATE1944/EARLY 1945 (MY FATHER BEING OTHERWISE OCCUPIED IN THE RAF AT THE TIME).
WHEN WE HAD TO GET OFF SHE WAS HOLDING ME AND GOT UP, LIFTED ME, AND APPARENTLY, MUCH TO MY DISCOMFORT, BANGED MY HEAD QUITE HARD ON THE SALOON ROOF. WAS IT AN LT, AN ST, STL, OR SOMETHING ELSE? FOR SOME QUITE OBSCURE REASON AUNTIE DIDN'T NOTE THE BONNET NUMBER SO I'M SURE I'LL NEVER KNOW, THOUGH THE ROUTE BETWEEN WHERE I WAS LIVING WITH MUM (Kensal Rise) and WHERE AUNTIE WAS (Harlesden) WOULD HAVE BEEN 187 I THINK, IF IT WAS RUNNING THEN AS IT WAS IN MY LATER CHILDHOOD. THAT VEHICLE CERTAINLY HAS A LOT TO ANSWER FOR THOUGH, BECAUSE SOMETHING GOT DRUMMED INTO ME THAT DAY, AND I'M GUESSING THAT'S WHERE MY LONGTIME BUS ENTHUSIASM HAS ITS ROOTS.
MY WORKING CAREER FROM 1961 TO 2005 INCLUDED A TWENTY-FIVE YEAR STINT WITH THE FORMER LONDON TRANSPORT, CLOSE TO TWO-THIRDS OF OF THAT TIME (THE LATTER PART) BEING SPENT INVOLVED IN SOME WAY OR ANOTHER WITH ITS HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS AND WORKING FIRST AT CLAPHAM AND THEN THE SYON PARK AND COVENT GARDEN LOCATIONS.
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I was never a great fan of the all-over advertising concept for buses, London or elsewhere. The original capital one on Routemaster RM1737 for Silexene Paints in 1969 was inevitably well received and, in my view anyway, was never equalled by any of those that followed it in London. Some of the later designs there were indeed quite uninspiring but above if I must admit to favourites I show them
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I'M CERTAINLY SOMETHING OF A 'JOHNNY COME LATELY' WITH ALL THIS HIGH-TECH www STUFF AND PERHAPS STARTED A BIT LATE IN LIFE TO EVER GET ON EQUAL TERMS WITH jpegs, raws, bitmaps, hyperlinks. noise ETC.AND THUS BE CONFIDENT THAT I WILL GET A SMOOTH PASSAGE THROUGH ALL THE TECHNO-BABBLE.
WHILST I HAVE MANAGED TO UNEARTH AND PUT TO USE A FAIR NUMBER OF MY EARLIER COLOUR IMAGES (USUALLY FROM TRANSPARENCIES) MOST OF THE THE ILLUSTRATIONS I HAVE USED HERE ARE FROM MY SIZEABLE BUT SADLY NOT COMPREHENSIVE MONOCHROME NEGATIVE
ARCHIVE. COLOUR NEGATIVE PHOTOGRAPHY IN THE EARLY TO MID SIXTIES WAS NOT AT ALL SATISFACTORY AND TRANSPARENCY FILMS WERE VERY EXPENSIVE, UP TO FIVE TIMES THE PRICE OF BLACK & WHITE NEGATIVE FILM IN FACT. NOWADAYS IT'S THE OTHER WAY ROUND!
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HAVING LONG SURPASSED MY PERSONAL DIAMOND JUBILEE I DON'T DO MUCH IN THE WAY OF TRANSPORT PHOTOGRAPHY AT ALL NOW, ALTHOUGH I'M RARELY WITHOUT A CAMERA AND HAVE BEEN TEMPTED OUT IN MORE RECENT YEARS BY THE BRITISH TRAMWAY RENAISSANCE AND ON RARE VISITS TO LONDON HAVE BRIEFLY RECORDED EXAMPLES FROM THE CONFUSING ARRAY OFTYPES WITHIN CONTRACT MODERN FLEETS NOW PLYING ON THE CAPITAL'S STREETS - SO MANY OF THEM, SO MANY ROUTES & CONFUSING NUMBERING.
IN GENERAL THOUGH, THE PATIENCE OR THE NECESSARY AGILITY TO DODGE THE INCESSANT TRAFFIC WHERE BUSES ARE CONCERNED IS BECOMING HARDER TO FIND AS THE YEARS ROLL BY, AND, OF COURSE, I FULLY EXPECT ONE DAY TO HAVE TO CONTEND WITH THE ODD POLICEMAN WHO INSISTS I AM BREAKING THE LAW, OR WORSE, REGARDS ME AS A POSSIBLE SEPTUGENERIAN ARTHRITIC ASTHMATIC TERRORIST.
WITH COMPARATIVELY SO FEW PASSENGERS TO PICK UP THESE DAYS OUTSIDE OF THE BIG CITIES YOU CAN'T NOW COUNT ON BUSES TO STOP AT MANY PLACES MID-ROUTE FOR YOU LIKE THEY USED TO. COMPULSORY STOPS SEEM TO BE A LONDON PECULIARITY.
BUT, HAVING WITNESSED SO MUCH RARELY FOR THE BEST CHANGE IN THE ROAD PASSENGER TRANSPORT SCENE OVER THE LAST HALF-CENTURY AND MORE I DECIDED TO HAVE A GO AT THIS TECHNICAL WONDER IN ORDER TO SHARE MY MEMORIES WITH YOU AND TO BE ABLE TO SHOW YOU SOME OF MY VARIED PHOTOGRAPHIC RECORD. THIS WAS MAINLY AMASSED BETWEEN 1960 AND 1970 BUT ALSO HAS A LOT OF LATER STUFF, INCLUDING COLOUR SUBJECT MATTER FROM MAINLAND EUROPE.
OK, SO MAYBE THERE'S NO FOOL LIKE AND OLD FOOL, BUT I STILL HARK BACK TO THOSE NOT SO LONG GONE DAYS OF OLD WHEN YOU FELT THAT BUS OPERATORS WERE ON YOUR SIDE, AND YOU WERE NOT JUST A COMMODITY FOR MAKING MONEY. AND ALSO WHEN INDIVIDUAL BUSES OFTEN HAD CHARACTER, AND WERE MUCH LESS INTRUSIVE ON THE NEIGHBOURHOODS THEY SERVED.
Colchester 1964
Bury 1964
Horsham c 1967
PLEASE BROWSE ON - THE INDIVIDUAL PAGES THAT MAKE UP THE WEBSITE ARE DETAILED IN THE NAVIGATION BAR AT THE TOP LEFT OF THIS INTRODUCTORY PAGE. JUST CLICK ON THE PAGES YOU WANT TO VIEW, BUT MAKE YOURSELF COMFORTABLE - THERE'S SOMETHING NOW GETTING VERY CLOSE TO ONE THOUSAND THREE HUNDRED (YES, 1300!) PHOTOS FOR YOU TO SEE OVER THE WHOLE SITE.
IT'S NOWHERE NEAR COMPLETE AT THE MOMENT AS I'M CONSTANTLY ADDING NEW PHOTOS AND THERE ARE ALSO SOME ADDITIONAL PAGES IN THE PIPELINE. IT'S FAR FROM PERFECT IN OTHER WAYS AND DOUBTLESS THERE'LL BE ERRORS & OMMISSIONS TO RECTIFY, THANKS INDEED TO THOSE WHO HAVE ALREADY POINTED A COUPLE OUT TO ME OR HAVE WILLINGLY GIVEN THE BENEFIT OF THEIR KNOWLEDGE TO ADD TO OR UPDATE THE DETAILS I HAVE INCLUDED. PLEASE BEAR WITH ME THEN WHILE I TRY TO GET IT RIGHT.
THANKS FOR YOUR PATIENCE.
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