Oh yes, Southdown buses paint was very classy. I remember visiting the bus station in Brighton as a kid, Pool Valley I think it was called. Happy childhood holidays!
But in terms of paintwork so much more was well done with skill years ago. It seems to me to be all white base paint and plastic stick-ons nowadays.
Dipster:
Oh yes, Southdown buses paint was very classy. I remember visiting the bus station in Brighton as a kid, Pool Valley I think it was called. Happy childhood holidays!But in terms of paintwork so much more was well done with skill years ago. It seems to me to be all white base paint and plastic stick-ons nowadays.
Southdown coaches in the '50s & '60s were particularly impressive with their two-tone green replacing the pale green and cream. East Kent ditto. It was all swept away in about 1970 with nationalisation. Iâm not ideologically against nationalision in particular, but I rue the dumbing down of presentation standards because the great unwashed taxpayers wonât sit in posh buses. 
ERF-NGC-European:
Dipster:
Oh yes, Southdown buses paint was very classy. I remember visiting the bus station in Brighton as a kid, Pool Valley I think it was called. Happy childhood holidays!But in terms of paintwork so much more was well done with skill years ago. It seems to me to be all white base paint and plastic stick-ons nowadays.
Southdown coaches in the '50s & '60s were particularly impressive with their two-tone green replacing the pale green and cream. East Kent ditto. It was all swept away in about 1970 with nationalisation. Iâm not ideologically against nationalision in particular, but I rue the dumbing down of presentation standards because the great unwashed taxpayers wonât sit in posh buses.
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I donât want to get into the NBC thing because I know nowhere near enough about it: however, the reduction of previously proud liveries to a flat green or red or, in the case of coaches, white with âSouthdownâ or âRibbleâ or âRoyal Blueâ or âMidland Redâ stencilled on the side âŚ
I suppose then that NBC paved the way for Stagecoach and Arriva and all the rest.
ParkRoyal2100:
ERF-NGC-European:
Dipster:
Oh yes, Southdown buses paint was very classy. I remember visiting the bus station in Brighton as a kid, Pool Valley I think it was called. Happy childhood holidays!But in terms of paintwork so much more was well done with skill years ago. It seems to me to be all white base paint and plastic stick-ons nowadays.
Southdown coaches in the '50s & '60s were particularly impressive with their two-tone green replacing the pale green and cream. East Kent ditto. It was all swept away in about 1970 with nationalisation. Iâm not ideologically against nationalision in particular, but I rue the dumbing down of presentation standards because the great unwashed taxpayers wonât sit in posh buses.
0
I donât want to get into the NBC thing because I know nowhere near enough about it: however, the reduction of previously proud liveries to a flat green or red or, in the case of coaches, white with âSouthdownâ or âRibbleâ or âRoyal Blueâ or âMidland Redâ stencilled on the side âŚ
I suppose then that NBC paved the way for Stagecoach and Arriva and all the rest.
From the onset of the nationalisation of road transport after the 2nd world war the craze then was for big corporate identities. Local identity had to be eradicated and uniformity became the buzzword. The NBC just followed the path of the BRS group in having one shade and one shade only. Big Brother was truly in play in those days.
Dennis Javelin:
ParkRoyal2100:
ERF-NGC-European:
Dipster:
Oh yes, Southdown buses paint was very classy. I remember visiting the bus station in Brighton as a kid, Pool Valley I think it was called. Happy childhood holidays!But in terms of paintwork so much more was well done with skill years ago. It seems to me to be all white base paint and plastic stick-ons nowadays.
Southdown coaches in the '50s & '60s were particularly impressive with their two-tone green replacing the pale green and cream. East Kent ditto. It was all swept away in about 1970 with nationalisation. Iâm not ideologically against nationalision in particular, but I rue the dumbing down of presentation standards because the great unwashed taxpayers wonât sit in posh buses.
I donât want to get into the NBC thing because I know nowhere near enough about it: however, the reduction of previously proud liveries to a flat green or red or, in the case of coaches, white with âSouthdownâ or âRibbleâ or âRoyal Blueâ or âMidland Redâ stencilled on the side âŚ
I suppose then that NBC paved the way for Stagecoach and Arriva and all the rest.
From the onset of the nationalisation of road transport after the 2nd world war the craze then was for big corporate identities. Local identity had to be eradicated and uniformity became the buzzword. The NBC just followed the path of the BRS group in having one shade and one shade only. Big Brother was truly in play in those days.
A good potted summary! Mercifully, the independents were still at liberty to keep their home-spun identities (witness Bartonâs below). Even today, I just occasionally see some very tasteful and elegant liveries among the modern fleets of independent operators visiting the seaside!
1
[/quote]
I donât want to get into the NBC thing because I know nowhere near enough about it: however, the reduction of previously proud liveries to a flat green or red or, in the case of coaches, white with âSouthdownâ or âRibbleâ or âRoyal Blueâ or âMidland Redâ stencilled on the side âŚ
I suppose then that NBC paved the way for Stagecoach and Arriva and all the rest.
[/quote]
From the onset of the nationalisation of road transport after the 2nd world war the craze then was for big corporate identities. Local identity had to be eradicated and uniformity became the buzzword. The NBC just followed the path of the BRS group in having one shade and one shade only. Big Brother was truly in play in those days.
[/quote]
A good potted summary! Mercifully, the independents were still at liberty to keep their home-spun identities (witness Bartonâs below). Even today, I just occasionally see some very tasteful and elegant liveries among the modern fleets of independent operators visiting the seaside!
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[/quote]
At least up here the individual operating companies of the Scottish Bus Group retained their own corporate liveries. Albeit they succumbed to having a standardised corporate logo incorporating the name of the operator but I guess that was a small price to pay. In saying that it could have been worse with the Glasgow Corporation Transport and its successors going through changes of livery every couple of years in the 70âs depending on who was in charge at the PTE.
ParkRoyal2100:
Whatever happened to distinctive fleet liveries? Iâm Pompey-born but too young to remember what Portsmouth Corp buses looked like, though I still remember 2-tone green Southdown coaches with gold script and later on Royal Blue (navy blue and cream). The NBC takeover was bad enough in reducing Southdown (and Western National and others to a flat green and Ribble to a flat red etc.) and Royal Blue to all-white with a badge, but these days itâs all one colour with tacky graphics.
A 1966 Leyland Atlantean of Portsmouth Corporation seen on the cover of one of my transport books. Ray Smyth.
robinswh:
Hi thats a midland red s12 alrightâŚI used to go to school on one from coalville leicestershire garageâŚonce when at primary school about 1960 went on a school trip to whipsnade zoo.on a s12 âŚthe M1 had just opened and it was a long slow ride on a service bus about 40 mph flat out
Cheers,thanks for that. 
Another picture of a Leyland Atlantean of Portsmouth Corporation. The bodywork is by Seddon Motors from Oldham
Single deck Leyland Atlanteans were in my opinion, quite rare. The only other operator that I am aware of is Great
Yarmouth Corporation . This picture is by Arnold Richardson in a book, " British Buses In Colour " by Gavin Booth,
Ray Smyth.
Ray Smyth:
Another picture of a Leyland Atlantean of Portsmouth Corporation. The bodywork is by Seddon Motors from Oldham
Single deck Leyland Atlanteans were in my opinion, quite rare. The only other operator that I am aware of is Great
Yarmouth Corporation . This picture is by Arnold Richardson in a book, " British Buses In Colour " by Gavin Booth,Ray Smyth.
Hello Ray ,Birkenhead Corporation had a few ,thank you Trevor
Ray Smyth:
Another picture of a Leyland Atlantean of Portsmouth Corporation. The bodywork is by Seddon Motors from Oldham
Single deck Leyland Atlanteans were in my opinion, quite rare. The only other operator that I am aware of is Great
Yarmouth Corporation . This picture is by Arnold Richardson in a book, " British Buses In Colour " by Gavin Booth,Ray Smyth.
Glasgow had 8 of them albeit they were cut down deckers. They originally started the conversion on a bus that had hit a low bridge and deemed it a success so they proceeded to do it to another 7. It probably helped that, at the time, the Glasgow fleet was suffering badly from structural problems on the deckers that had been built with panoramic windows rather than short bay ones. Other than the ones converted to single deck they also converted a few to have short bay windows on the bottom and panoramic windows on the top - looked absolutely stupid. Eventually they gave up and sold them off well before their normal life expiry. Pics below - NMP
ERF-NGC-European:
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I am interested to know the bodybuilder of these Leyland PD2 buses, In my opinion, they look
like bodywork from Leyland, but the " One Eyed Ventilator " on the upper front windows gives
them an odd appearance. If they were a complete Leyland product, then they didnt have very
far to travel to Preston Docks, the town of Leyland is just 6 miles south of Preston.
Ray Smyth.
They are the classic Leyland metal framed bodies, I had a ride on No 2 which is preserved at the 2018 Kirkby Stephen rally. Best double decker design ever built.
Cheers Leyland 600.
coomsey:
NMP off FB
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Bedford VAL/ Plaxton Val, new to Barton in 1963.
