1972 Nostalgiafest Episode 2

Preservation 1972-style

The Club holds "runs" for all commercial vehicles including buses.

The main article in the October 1972 edition of Buses magazine covers the previous "run"; penned by regular and long-standing writers D Fereday-Glenn and John Parke. Anecdotes about the rally itself are of passing interest, but what excited fbb's grey cells were the photographs of the buses toiling their way between Manchester and Harrogate.

Back in those far-off days all were in monochrome and much more grainy than modern processes can create. But, with few exceptions, all the vehicles pictured are still around and running today, over 45 years later.

Here is a Bournemouth coach, then ...

... and now.

NKR 529 was showing a respectable "Retired" in its destination box.

And it is still enjoying its retirement today.

To British West Hartlepool now for a decidedly unusual centre entrance double decker. Sadly the buses mag piccy does not show the unusual entry/exit ...

But today we can view the aperture in glorious colour.

Of course, when this motor was carrying paying passengers, no one had any thoughts of trying to equip it for one man operation.

Back across the Pennines we go to Stockport. The open topper, then in the care of SELNEC PTE, even carried a few brave souls on the top deck for the chilly ride over the hills. Well, it was August; so what do you expect?

It is back to full Stockport Corporation livery now ...

... and it shows that iconic terminus of "Misery Square" beloved by all bus spotters of yore.

Another trans-Pennine hop takes us to West Riding territory with a 1972 fuzzy single decker ...

... which is most definitely unfuzzy today!

An Oxford single deck joined the "run" ...

... and was still running years later.

One last bucket of nostalgia (for the time being, at least) is from Huddersfield ...

... a bus which has had a varied recent history livery-wise.

Huddersfield Corporation, London Transport, PMT and Huddersfield Joint Omnibus Committee - a well travelled bus!

Three vehicles remain that were photographed on the 1972 Trans-Pennine Run. Will they still be chugging away today?

More tomorrow.

Logology Answers

7. Redline Bus & Coach in Tasmania**
8. Redline Travel of Preston
9. Red Eagle Buses of Aylesbury
10. Red Kite Travel of St Helens
11. Scary Red Kite bus route, GoAhead North East
12. Red Kite Minibus Sales, Wimborne

** No 3 Son was in Tasmania earlier this year.

More tomorrow. fbb will return to the 1972 edition of Buses magazine in a later blog.

 Next 1972 nostalgia blog : Thursday 4th January 

1972 Nostalgiafest Episode 1

Buses Illustrated first appeared in late 1949 with the above (offered for sale on-line) being edition 2 from January (?) 1950. In the late sixties the mag was renamed simply "Buses" ...

... a title which it retains today. This name's the same, but the magazine has changed mightily, becoming bigger and printed in full colour.

No 1 Son always struggles with gifts for his parents (a common problem - what DO you buy for a couple of "old crusties"?), so, this year, Santa's sack (actually a carrier bag) contained food items (yummy, Cornish Blue, Garlic Yarg and Marmite Biscuits) ...

... PLUS the October 1972 edition of said magazine.

The editor aimed to provide an "interesting" picture for each front cover and, even in 1972, this vehicle would have "caught the eye". The explanatory text tells fbb that it is a 55 seater bus version of the M-type Leyland Leopard, part of a large batch delivered to CIÉ in 1971 and 1972.

Córas Iompair Éireann (Irish Transport System), or CIÉ, is a statutory corporation of the Republic of Ireland, answerable to the Irish Government and responsible for most public transport in Ireland.

From 1944 to 1964, the  CIÉ logo was , rather unkindly, called the ...

... flying snail; a surprisingly modern loco for its day.

Today just letters in a broken doughnut suffice.

Oddly, the logo does not have the "acute accent" on the letter E.

The text also informed your blogging author that the bus was on O'Connell Bridge in Dublin. Google Streetview arrived there amidst a plethora of roadworks ...

... but the buildings and the statue of O'Connell himself are unchanged.

The 747 is Dublin Bus' overpriced Airport link.

Daniel O'Connell (Irish: Dónall Ó Conaill; 6 August 1775 to 15 May 1847), often referred to as The Liberator or The Emancipator, was an Irish political leader in the first half of the 19th century.

He campaigned for Catholic emancipation - including the right for Catholics to sit in the Westminster Parliament, denied for over 100 years - and repeal of the Acts of Union which combined Great Britain and Ireland.

A view more in keeping with the bus comes from a news picture in 1963 of the motorcade that brought President J F Kennedy to Dublin as part of his visit to the Kennedy Homestead in Ireland.

And a modern picture from further back showing the splendid bridge itself.

Players no longer please on the corner block in the centre of the shot.

Back to the bus. Port Láirge on the stick-on paper blind ...

... is the Irish Gaelic for Waterford, about 120 miles from Dublin. Fortunately the wonders of the interwebnet can provide a picture of the same bus (79 1K) in colour. Taken a few years after the Buses shot, the M type is on its way to ...

... Ath Cliath, Gaelic for Dublin!

You might be wondering ...

Actually, fbb wan't wondering.

... why Baile Átha Cliath bears no resemblance to Dublin. The city of Dublin historically had two main settlements: The Viking settlement was known as Dyflin, taken from the Irish Dubh Linn ("Black Pool"), and the Irish settlement further up river was called Áth Cliath ("Ford of Hurdles").

One final snippet, before we open the magazine and explore its innards, is one of the adverts on the back.

Visionary, eh? The BBC computer and its associated schools IT project was still 9 years away when Buses featured the CIÉ vehicle on its front cover.

fbb's had 32K of memory!

Logology - some answers.

1. Trentbarton
2. GoAhead North East
3. London Transport
4. Norwich local branding : First Bus
5. Current operator based in Aylesbury
6. Former operator running competitive services in Redditch

More tomorrow.

 Next 1972 Nostalgia blog : Wednesday 3rd January 

New Year Quiz

But will it be "happy" for the bus industry? Bus business is declining, even in London - with blame falling on internet shopping, lower disposable income and an "inexplicable" fall in the amount of travel using OAP passes.

No bus company seems to mention the fact that it becomes harder and harder to obtain (or even find on-line) a bus timetable; that the sort of promotional offers used by our successful supermarkets are a rarity "on the buses" and that there is little effort to encourage purely leisure travel for its own sake. It's all about "commuters" and "shoppers".

Innovation seems to be a dirty word. Instead we hang on to what is profitable and let the rest go. It either goes to a competitor or to a "low cost" operator who very soon goes bust. There are some good exceptions, but very very few.

In London the Mayor is proffering a "no fares increases" policy whilst promoting the virtue of reducing the subsidy to zero. Utterly crackpot!

The only benefit from the mess that seems to ooze like sticky mud all over the bus industry is that there should be plenty for fbb to write about.

It is therefore very necessary to thank all those who have supplied news and pictures during 2017, to appreciate those who have corrected the old man's confused ramblings and to remind all blog readers that fbb really appreciates contributions however small. Send stuff to:-

fbb@xephos.com

Thank you all!

And now, to while away yet another "bank" holiday with rubbish telly and the last of the turkey sandwiches, here is fbb's mega quiz for January 1st.

Loadsa Lovely Logology

In each case, identify these logos or brands. Obviously most are easily solved using the dreaded interwebnet but you may award yourself extra bonus points for those that you can answer without resort to the world-dominating Gurgle search engine.

In each case identify where the "brand" has been used; but beware, there may be one or two of these!

Three Arrows

1

2

3

Five Lines

4

5

6

7

8

The Avian World

9

10

11

12

In A Flash!

13

14

Variety?

15

16

17

18

19

Plain and Simple?

20

21

22

23

24

Teasers?

25

26

27

28

29

30

Answers will be published in batches over the next few days.

From tomorrow, something quite different as a start to the new year. In 1972 fbb became engaged to the future Mrs fbb (married in '73) so a very appropriate mini-gift from No 1 Son has provoked a little new year nostalgia. What do you remember, omnibologically speaking, from 1972? If you are younger than 50, don't try too hard!

 Next 1972 blog : Tuesday 2nd January