National Bus Company (NBC) in England

Maidstone & District: GKE 68 wins the lottery

Wed Oct 15 2008

Wednesday 15 October 2008: The group behind the preservation of the last surviving Bristol K5G/Weymann H54R from the Chatham and District Traction fleet are celebrating this week. They won a _10,000 reward from the National Lottery's Awards for All small grants team to restore the bus. GKE 68 will be used by the group, Medway Renaissance and Medway Council, as an educational tool, allowing children to discover about old transport, politicians to understand the value of public transport in a sustainable community (whatever that means!), and the elderly to reminisce (on tape as an oral historical record).

Published in National Bus Company (NBC) in England

Brighton Hove and District

Fri Feb 6 2004

Friday 6 February 2004: Before, during and after independence from NBC, Brighton Hove and District was into AECs, Bristols and - eventually - taking over Brighton Corporation services.

Published in National Bus Company (NBC) in England

Southdown: 1000 onwards

Sat May 5 2007

Saturday 5 May 2007: Southdown: 1000 onwards

Published in National Bus Company (NBC) in England

Eastern Counties: Saloons

Tue Dec 26 2006

Tuesday 26 December 2006: Eastern Counties: Saloons

Published in National Bus Company (NBC) in England

Eastern Counties: post-privatisation fleets

Tue Dec 26 2006

Tuesday 26 December 2006: Eastern Counties: post-privatisation fleets

Published in National Bus Company (NBC) in England

Eastern Counties: Bristol VR

Tue Dec 26 2006

Tuesday 26 December 2006: Eastern Counties: Bristol VR

Published in National Bus Company (NBC) in England

Eastern Counties: Bristol Ks, Lodekkas and Titans

Tue Dec 26 2006

Tuesday 26 December 2006: Eastern Counties: Bristol Ks, Lodekkas and Titans

Published in National Bus Company (NBC) in England

United Auto: 1000 - xxxx

Tue Dec 26 2006

Tuesday 26 December 2006: United Auto: 1000 - xxxx

Published in National Bus Company (NBC) in England

United Auto: alphanumerical

Sun Nov 19 2006

Sunday 19 November 2006: United Auto: alphanumerical

Published in National Bus Company (NBC) in England

Tilling

Fri Nov 3 2006

Friday 3 November 2006: Tilling

Published in National Bus Company (NBC) in England

Lilbourne Community minibus

Sat Sep 16 2006

Saturday 16 September 2006: The Lilbourne Community minibus was an attempt by NBC to see whether a self-help group could operate its own minibus in an under-populated rural area. The vehicle - TVD 851R - was supplied and serviced by United Counties. After it was photographed, I don't know what happened to it, but rural groups continue to develop such schemes, these days with council taxpayers money.

Published in National Bus Company (NBC) in England

Northumbria

Thu Mar 30 2006

Thursday 30 March 2006: Northumbria

Published in National Bus Company (NBC) in England

Thames Valley

Sat Dec 24 2005

Saturday 24 December 2005: Thames Valley

Published in National Bus Company (NBC) in England

Yorkshire Woollen District (YWD)

Fri Dec 23 2005

Friday 23 December 2005: Yorkshire Woollen District (YWD)

Published in National Bus Company (NBC) in England

Timpson

Thu Dec 8 2005

Thursday 8 December 2005: Timpson

Published in National Bus Company (NBC) in England

North Western Road Car

Sun Dec 4 2005

Sunday 4 December 2005: North Western Road Car

Published in National Bus Company (NBC) in England

Gosport & Fareham

Sun Dec 4 2005

Sunday 4 December 2005: Gosport & Fareham

Published in National Bus Company (NBC) in England

Southern Vectis

Sun Dec 4 2005

Sunday 4 December 2005: Southern Vectis

Published in National Bus Company (NBC) in England

East Midland

Sun Dec 4 2005

Sunday 4 December 2005: East Midland

Published in National Bus Company (NBC) in England

Northern General

Sun Dec 4 2005

Sunday 4 December 2005: Northern General

Published in National Bus Company (NBC) in England

Lincolnshire Road Car

Sun Dec 4 2005

Sunday 4 December 2005: Lincolnshire Road Car

Published in National Bus Company (NBC) in England

East Yorkshire

Sun Dec 4 2005

Sunday 4 December 2005: East Yorkshire

Published in National Bus Company (NBC) in England

Eastern National

Sun Dec 4 2005

Sunday 4 December 2005: Eastern National

Published in National Bus Company (NBC) in England

Eastern Counties: Coaches

Tue Dec 26 2006

Tuesday 26 December 2006: Eastern Counties: Coaches

Published in National Bus Company (NBC) in England

Standerwick

Sun Dec 4 2005

Sunday 4 December 2005: Standerwick

Published in National Bus Company (NBC) in England

Maidstone and District

Sun Dec 4 2005

Sunday 4 December 2005: Maidstone and District

Published in National Bus Company (NBC) in England

East Kent

Sun Dec 4 2005

Sunday 4 December 2005: East Kent

Published in National Bus Company (NBC) in England

United Auto: 1- xxx

Sun Dec 4 2005

Sunday 4 December 2005: United Auto: 1- xxx

Published in National Bus Company (NBC) in England

Trent

Sat Dec 3 2005

Saturday 3 December 2005: Trent

Published in National Bus Company (NBC) in England

United Counties

Sat Dec 3 2005

Saturday 3 December 2005: United Counties

Published in National Bus Company (NBC) in England

Cumberland

Sat Dec 3 2005

Saturday 3 December 2005: Cumberland

Published in National Bus Company (NBC) in England

Ribble

Sat Dec 3 2005

Saturday 3 December 2005: Ribble

Published in National Bus Company (NBC) in England

PMT

Sat Dec 3 2005

Saturday 3 December 2005: The unfortunately-named Potteries Motor Traction. When I worked there we managed to change it to "Potteries". As soon as the Traffic Manager and I disappeared it went back to PMT.

Published in National Bus Company (NBC) in England

West Yorkshire Road Car

Sat Dec 3 2005

Saturday 3 December 2005: West Yorkshire Road Car

Published in National Bus Company (NBC) in England

West Riding

Sat Dec 3 2005

Saturday 3 December 2005: West Riding

Published in National Bus Company (NBC) in England

Southdown: 1 - 999

Sat May 5 2007

Saturday 5 May 2007: Southdown, and the former Tilling Group company, Brighton Hove and District, kept their separate identities when they ran under the same management. On this particular day's visit I recorded reversed liveries of Green-and-cream and red-and-cream, the Chairman's Award replacing the corporate NBC logo, a 70th anniversary logo doing a similar job in a deliberate nose-thumbing to NBC corporate marketing. There was the reversion to a Southdown green coach, and a Brighton Hove and District-liveried Leyland National, Southdown/Brighton & Hove .... it seemed the marketing team at Southdown had a free hand to do what they liked, and no one at NBC was prepared to bang heads together. Why bang heads together? Can you imagine a supermarket allowing its local stores to adopt different schemes for different shelves? Or a car manufacturer allowing staff to putting on the bonnet of the cars emerging from the production line any old label that took the workers' fancy? Of course not. So why should they have got away with it in NBC days? The cherished liveries were from the past. Let them stay there. Run a specially-liveried vehicle to market an important anniversary - then repaint it, or hand it over to enthusiasts. All that Southdown did was confuse the public, and its staff, and fail to capitalise on being part of a national product. Come to that - where is it today?

Published in National Bus Company (NBC) in England

Alder Valley

Sat Dec 3 2005

Saturday 3 December 2005: Alder Valley

Published in National Bus Company (NBC) in England

Brighton and Hove

Thu Feb 5 2004

Thursday 5 February 2004: Brighton and Hove

Published in National Bus Company (NBC) in England

Year of the Disabled, 1981 - the NBC fleet

Sun Oct 1 2006

Sunday 1 October 2006: National Bus provided six buses converted into mobile display units for the 1981 Year of the Disabled. The six buses were Daimler Fleetlines with Northern Counties bodies. They all came from City of Oxford (fleet numbers 375 -80: KFC 375-80G). The conversions were carried out at Carlyle Works, with the official launch taking place in London with four government ministers in attendance. The six buses then went their own ways, covering various parts of the British Isles for the year. These pictures give a flavour of the conversions, the ride South and the launch - uniquely in Horse Guards Parade, complete with military band.

Published in National Bus Company (NBC) in England

Ambassador

Tue Jun 28 2005

Tuesday 28 June 2005: Ambassador

Published in National Bus Company (NBC) in England

Personalities from the NBC era

Fri Oct 1 2004

Friday 1 October 2004: There were many personalities and characters within the bus industry... what am I saying? - there still are! These are just some of them. Do you remember them? Do you have stories about others? Do please send The Mudlark an e-mail with your memories. And on this occasion I would be happy to consider photographs. Themudlark@blueyonder.co.uk

Published in National Bus Company (NBC) in England

PMT - comparator trials with Foden, Dennis and VRT

Wed Mar 31 2004

Wednesday 31 March 2004: PMT - which briefly flirted with the more politically correct Potteries (Motor Traction being the mT part of its customary name - tested three types of doubledeckers in comparative trials in the 1970s. They were *a Bristol VRT with standard ECW bodywork (renumbered 600 to help the market research), *700 - a Dennis Dominator with the first lowheight body (built by Alexander) which later went to Maidstone and District - and *900, one of the handful of Foden-NC doubledeckers to be built that spent most of her life in the back of Stoke depot and eventually went for scrap. If she did 50,000 miles in service it would have been a miracle. The pictures were taken in the centre of Hanley when the three vehicles attracted plenty of local interest at the launch ceremony, as well as more than passing attention from the trade press.

Published in National Bus Company (NBC) in England

National Holidays operations

Fri Jan 30 2004

Friday 30 January 2004: National Holidays operations

Published in National Bus Company (NBC) in England

Yorkshire Traction (Tracky)

Thu Feb 12 2004

Thursday 12 February 2004: Yorkshire Traction (Tracky)

Published in National Bus Company (NBC) in England

NBC local coach liveries

Mon Jun 7 2004

Monday 7 June 2004: The speed stripes that originated with National Express were eventually adopted by the group as the basis for modernising the appearance of the dual purpose fleets. It gave birth to a wide variety of identities, mainly for local expresses, but also as a subtle - sometimes very unsubtle - Shakespearean gesture to the powers that be. "We wuz robbed!" was one of the more polite ways that local identities were seen as a PR tool to promote (adnto protest).

Published in National Bus Company (NBC) in England

Midland General/Mansfield District

Wed Feb 4 2004

Wednesday 4 February 2004: Midland General/Mansfield District

Published in National Bus Company (NBC) in England