I'm sure that I did appreciate this even then. Living about five miles southeast of Maidstone, I regarded East Kent buses as a seaside phenomenon. Even in 1973, the Regent was an old bus to my mind. However, I would almost certainly appreciate it more now and it prompted me to think about the buses I rode on in my youth which were comparatively "unappreciated".
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Until I was 3, my family lived in Boxley,
about 3 miles north of Maidstone. Boxley had no bus service then requiring
us to walk to Penenden Heath to catch a Corporation bus into town.
Maidstone Corporation's Massey bodied PD2's were probably my first
unappreciated bus, illustrated here by number 17 climbing Upper Stone
Street en-route to Shepway.
Photo from SCT'61 pages |
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Maidstone was awash with PD2s until about 1975. As far as I know, there is only one survivor - number 26 (one of the few vehicles retained by M&D until their absorption into Arriva). The bus is now owned by A.J & N.M.Carr of Pluckley and is seen at Ringlestone estate on 18 July 2004. |
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Penenden Heath was not on a trolleybus route which meant one had to go into the centre of town before encountering them. My favourites were the Sunbeam trolleybuses rebodied by Roe as shown here by 57 at the Bull Inn, Barming. A ride on a trolleybus was a rare thing, most of mine being short journeys between the Queens Monument and the West Station. My brother Christopher is reputed to have lost a grass snake on a trolleybus, although this could be another Chatfield myth. |
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My father spent the last year or so of
his life in Preston Hall Hospital near Maidstone. Frequent trips to the
hospital were made on a Corporation PD2 from Penenden Heath to Allington
Way where we changed onto an M&D bus for the last mile - often a
Weymann bodied Daimler CWA6. M&D DH45 is seen in Mill Street,
Maidstone working service 109 (Bearsted & West Malling) - a cross town
service covering parts of service 10 (Maidstone & Folkestone) and 9
(Maidstone & Sevenoaks).
Photo from SCT'61 pages |
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In 1964, we moved to Sutton Valence, a hill top village on the A274 some 5 miles from Maidstone. I remember travelling to the village for the first time on a "silly bus" (I was only 4 and probably couldn't prounounce "Atlantean"). However, M&D's all Leyland PD2s were much in evidence on the 12 and my family made frequent use of them, including day trips to Hastings. I remember they had a lot of wood inside and was pleased to discover recently that at least one of their number has survived. NKT 894 is seen in Hastings (date unknown, like the fleetnumber!) |
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M&D switched to Daimler Fleetlines
with Northern Counties bodywork in 1963. DL59 (later 6059) is seen in
Bishops Way, Maidstone en-route to Sevenoaks. Trolleybus wires are still
in evidence, as is Maidstone Corporation 51 in the background. These buses
were also regulars on the 12. My brothers and I were once the sole
occupants of one of these, on a trip to Sheerness on service 41, where the
Maidstone depot bus acted as a duplicate to the Sheerness vehicle.
Photo from SCT'61 pages |
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I used to think these buses were a
figment of my imagination. The Atlanteans I saw on day trips to Hastings
looked different from the local ones - there was something about the roof
that didn't look quite right. Just as I was about to commit myself to the
local asylum, I discovered a Hastings Atlantean on the 110 - Maidstone to
Chatham the pretty way. They were in fact lowbridge Atlanteans with
Weymann bodywork from M&D's first batch as shown here by 6445.
Photo Neil Gow |
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There were some exotic visitors to
Maidstone in the form of East Kent AEC Regent Vs with Park Royal bodywork
on the 10. East Kent stuck with the front engine Regent until production
ceased in 1969. AFN 780B is seen at Dover Transport Museum.
Photo Ken Lansdowne |
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The bus which gave me the idea for this
feature - a 1959 East Kent AEC Regent V with full front Park Royal
bodywork, shown here by PFN 874. I first saw these buses on trips to
Canterbury, where my mother ignored my pleas to ride on one. When the
aforementioned Valedene Coaches decided it could no longer cope with the
school run, M&D used a similar bus (in semi-retirement at Tenterden)
to ferry Sutton Valence-ites to Cornwallis School, near Linton. I noticed
the bus was fitted for one person operation - remarkable given the layout
of the entrance.
Photo courtesy of British Bus Archives |
So - that concludes this brief foray through buses of my youth. When I eventually learnt to use a camera in a meaningful way, I tended to ignore the Atlanteans and PD2s in favour of M&D's VRTs and Maidstone's Bedfords - both of which have also disappeared from the streets of the county town.
It's tempting to concentrate on new buses and all to easy to ignore those which have long been part of the daily scene. With buses, more notice is paid to their absence (for a variety of reasons). Next time you're on the streets trying to catch that new Trident, remember the older fleet won't be around for ever - and may become a memory before you've had a chance to capture it.
Photographing buses at rallies is all very well but, for me, is ultimately unsatisfying. It's rather like photographing in a zoo, rather than being on safari.