Favourite Buses
Well done for coming this far. It takes a brave person to click on a link like that. So here I am just going to tell you why I like them and stick a photo of it (that may be possibly stolen from elsewhre). I am not going into some kind of technical history and my reasons for liking them won't be because of its acceleration or smooth gear ratio. Its mostly just nostalgia. Also as always they aren't arranged into any order or anything.
Bristol VR
This dates from my childhood. I use to go and see my Granddad a lot with my mum and we always use to get the old number 16 route. They always use to be Bristol VR and I loved the sound of them and the feel of them. They always had really hard seats with metal frames that hurt like hell if the bus suddenly stopped and you went into the corner of one of them. The seat cushion was a brown leather type material. The sound of them juddering and crawling up one of the Island's many steep hills. It's shape like an old Hovis loaf. They always seemed reassuring and even now if I go on one at a show or running day the memories flood back. They were then replaced with Olympians which had coach style seating (i.e. they had padding and material from top to bottom) and it never seemed to be the same. Then when I started high school for reasons I am sure were related to them not wanting us to ruin one of the nicer buses we had a Bristol VR every morning. This was my school bus. I got this bus for two or three years to high school every morning. Always sat down as I was too much of a wuss to sit up.
Most of my bad experiences on Southern Vectis buses involve a Bristol VR. I went to Ventnor once and we went down Bonchurch chute which if you don't know it is a very very very steep hill. It was autumn so all the leaves were falling off the tree. It also had been raining heavily the day before. So we start going down and the driver suddenly shouts that his brakes aren't working and pretty soon the bus was sliding sideways down Bonchurch chute! Thankfully the driver managed to regain control but the bus had just started sliding on wet leaves carpeting the road and there was little the driver or brakes could do. It was also the only two times I have been on a bus when its in an accident. The first was on the way to school when a driving instructor (driving the car without any student) pulled out in front of the bus causing the driver to slam on his brakes. A college guy had just got up to get off (this is why you should always remain seated till the bus stops!) and literally flew down the bus and bounced off the windscreen. The windscreen had a huge crack in it and the dazed driver opened the doors and the guy just got off the bus like nothing had happened. The second time we were driving along and suddenly there was a huge bang and a car had come out of a side road and slammed into the side of the bus. It happened about a foot from where I was sitting. We were stuck there for two hours as the car driver insisted it was the bus drivers fault some how. We had to wait for the police to come and take statements.
For all these reasons it is my favourite bus. I love seeing an old one about and jump at any opportunity to go on one. I once made Mrs LLgoatJ wait 45 minutes at Chichester train station just so we could get one as a replacement bus service to Portsmouth. I have found two photos of them from http://www.britishmodelbuses.com/Gallery_Bristol%20VR.htm The first one on the left is in a really jazzy harlequin livery. It was like this as in the summer they use to whip the roof off and it would operate as an open top bus between Sandown and Shanklin. I use to work in Sandown and if you timed it right (which I obviously always did) you could ride on it back to Ryde as it did a service back to Ryde so it could go back to depot. It also ran 10mins after the normal service so not only could you sit upstairs it was normally empty and rarely stopped. The other photo is the more traditional livery I remember from childhood.
Bedford OB
This I think is a proper old vintage bus. Also we had this bus at our Wedding. Again it takes you back to a better time when bus travel was a joy rather than a nightmare like today. We went over Brading Downs and while we were going up hill to the downs a tractor overtook us as we were going so slow. This is a beautiful bus and made our wedding really special. While we were on it everyone stopped to stare at it. I have found a photo of it on Flickr. It is the one on the left which I am sure you will agree is a beautiful bus. You can hire this bus or go on a day tour or even longer tour. Just go to http://vintage-tours.co.uk/index.htm
Optare Solo
Okay no happy school memories or from the Island. This bus I like purely for its practicability. I love the size and the way it can be adapted. Virtually step free. The bus comes in a short and long wheel base (longer or shorter) depending on your needs. The bus is great for places where you can't fit or don't need a full size single decker bus. They also have a cheeky smiley face on the front. Always a good thing.
Leyland National
Again from my childhood. If you have read other pages on this website you may get the impression that my dad was careful with his money. Now we lived on the very outskirts of a big town. It was about a mile and a half. 90% of this up a very steep hill. There was a couple of buses which stopped near my house. We rarely got on them though. Some times. Occasionally. My dad would give in and we would walk down to the bus station and get the bus up. For some reason he insisted we only get one bus route. This bus route was always a Leyland National. This felt like a "real bus". Hard unforgiving seats and a proper bus look. Seeing one now takes me back to the treat of getting the bus up the hill rather than walking. Much later in life when I lived in another part of "The North" I lived in a city and there was a number of bus companies operating here. They all had buses that were no more than a couple of years old. However this one independent bus company had Leyland Nationals in its fleet. Getting on them was a joy and took me back to my childhood. Also older buses just seem more comfortable and more bus like that todays buses. They also have happy faces on the front.
