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Today the fbbs left (or will be leaving) Axminster for Ryde Isle of Wight for a short break. There will be meetups with old friends, a bus trip, some good nosh and, hopefully, some very simple relaxation. The elderly gruesome twosome will be staying at Yelf's Hotel Ryde with neighbours plus ferocious dog ...
... standing guard at fbb mansions. Sadly fbb cannot photograph a threatening snarl.
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The First Big Bus ...
... pictured outside Rails of Sheffield and again from a passing drone!
The bus emanates from Madeira, home, supposedly of cake ...
... fortified wine ...
... and an appropriate song from Flanders and Swann!
We are told, by the man from Rails, that the bus was one of two "driven all the way from Madeira to Derbyshire for preservation".
Not QUITE right, Rails.
There are a few bits of wet in the way!
Importing vintage Volvo B10M buses from Madeira to the UK
This isn’t the usual reason people visit Madeira; however 18 months ago I visited for the first time after a friend said “did you know they still run 40 year old Volvo B10Ms there??”
Little did I know 18 months later I’d be part of a group bringing 2 of these back to the UK.
On Tuesday they were shipped to Lisbon, then over the last two days we have shared driving them from Lisbon to Santander. Today we continue the journey via Ferry to Portsmouth and from there the buses will continue up to Derbyshire.
A piece of the islands less-known#about history, to be preserved in the UK.
These both operated with Rodoeste along with around 30 others. They were all withdrawn a few months ago to make way for brand new Ivecos!
It is the one on the left that rocked up at Rails.
And a key question flo our readers ...
... Did they use Setright ticket machines on Madeira?
In case you wondered ...
... the buses are front entrance ("ENTRADA") and rear exit.
By now it must be obvious why a preserved Spanish island's ...
... one man, left had drive single decker from Derbyshire was parked outside Rails shop on Chesterfield Road, Sheffield.
Of course it was part of the launch of a model bus which had, already - in a way - been launched.
... a healthy walk from Rails at Heeley! fbb is not sure how many were bedecked in this brand, but, soon after they took to the road, First waved goodbye to route branding in favour of boring corporate dark blue.
This man ...
... Iwan Jones (wonder where he hails from?), was at Rails with just an advert card for the route 20 model ...
... but other samples of his company's products. We will look at these in Part 2, tomorrow.
And Some Little Buses
Meanwhile, we will pay this event a visit.
Sadly this video had a brief introduction and a brief farewell but no commentary. Dyed-in-the-wool model bus enthusiasts will be well aware of what goes on at these shows; but, on behalf of his readers, fbb will wing it for a brief guide.
You see lots of model buses!
There are also other commercial vehicles as here in a sample diorama of several featuring heavy duty quarry work
There are trade stalls, selling ...
... model buses (there's a surprise) and those providing the wherewithal to make your very own model buses.
fbb did notice, however, that all the buses on display were in pristine polished pulchritude. The craze for "weathering" model railway rolling stock (or buying the wagons ready weathered!) ...
... has yet to overtake the bus tyros and experts alike.
Here's are some Manchester models ...
... and bang up to date in Bee Network garb.
How about PMT ...
... or Crosville?
But, for fbb, the best displays were of purely imaginary fleets with excellent imaginary liveries.
Of those seen in the video, the most extensive was a huge depot of these ...
... and even more in the yard alongside!
Ironically, whilst a busy uni student, fbb started his fake fleet, encourage by a chum. It was for Holdenborough Transport and its livery was yellow and green.
The one poor quality plastic bus that fbb repainted was never seen again, abandoned in an office drawer within the curtilage of Sheffield Uni Students' Union. Might it still be there?
Tomorrow, we return to Rails for some big buses now available at "ouch" prices as little buses ...
... like this one!
Next Big Bus Little Bus blog : Tues 13 Oct
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