| My first Unappreciated Bus (from now on U B) was a Maidstone Corporation bus which may or may not have been a Leyland Titan. However I was sitting on the long seats just inside the lower deck when an unexpected motion of the bus pitched me forward. I swear I did a forwards head-over-heals out the lower saloon, across the platform and out onto the road. Fortunately the bus was not proceeding very quickly and I came to rest on a grassy verge not far from Highland road where I lived at the time. I think I was about 9 at the time. My vivid memory of these buses was the “Cleveland Diesel” nameplate on the bonnet. “Gosh they are made in America”! I thought. | |
| Next there were trolley buses. I have always liked railways and the twin cables strung overhead fascinated me no end resembling railway lines, points and crossovers. I was intrigued to see a trolley conductor on a service travelling down Bishops Way in Maidstone reach up on one of the poles supporting the overhead wires to “change the points” so that the trolley bus could take a left turn rather than go straight on. I once kidded Nige that I had spotted him doing this thus plunging Maidstone’s trolley buses into chaos! I also remember a (probably whimsical) story about the trolley buses that go to Barming having to stop to let excess passengers off. Thus lightened the poor vehicle could then get up a particularly steep hill. The passengers could then re-board. | |
 |
Leslie's first two unappreciated buses were a Leyland PD2 'Titan' with Massey bodywork and one of Maidstone Corporation's trolleybuses. Maidstone 26, a Leyland PD2 with Massey bodywork and Maidstone's last trolleybus, 72 a 1946 Sunbeam W with Northern Coachbuilders bodywork are seen at the centenary celebrations in 2004. |
| The honey coloured Leyland buses always seemed prosaic to me but to board a green and cream Maidstone & District bus . Now that really was something! We only ever did that when we were off somewhere special . Usually Sheerness! Indeed I remember going into the M&D booking office to arrange a trip to the Motor Museum at Bealieu in Hampshire . For various reasons non of us could go on this trip so I had to cancel, losing the entire costs in the process. Even when we moved further out of Maidstone and had to use M&D buses regularly they always seemed “superior” to the lowly Maidstone Corporation buses pounding around their daily treadmill! | |
| Another bus which was certainly not unappreciated was the first Atlantean bus I ever travelled on. I was coming home from school (At Northborough). Expecting the usual open platform “Brown bus” as I always called them, suddenly this square faced white and canary yellow bus with no markings of any sort glided to the stop. “Am I allowed on this “ I nervously asked the driver who was sat at a small desk just inside the door. I thought he looked just like a receptionist! I am not sure if he asked me for my fare, memory seems to say no! However I thought this bus was the most wonderful vehicle in the world. I told my brothers about it but I don’t think they believed me! Anyway I never saw it again or indeed any others like it for about a year. Now of course front entrance, rear engined buses are two a penny , The classic U B. | |
 |
One of Maidstone Corporation Atlanteans, number 34 stands at the Queens Monument. Like the PD2s, most of Maidstone's Atlanteans had Massey bodywork. The Atlanteans were two man operated until the early 1970s. |
| My next U B was those tiny buses that M&D used to run on their country services. Nigel will know what they are. The driver sat in a little tin cubicle exactly like an American gas chamber!! Another thing was that the doors were electrically operated and made the most amazing VerrrrrrrrGlant sound when they closed. Indeed that sound was the name we gave to all power driven doors for a while after noisy or otherwise. | |
 |
Maidstone & District SO277, an AEC Reliance with Beadle bodywork seen at Showbus 2000. |
| On another occasion we were travelling from Broadstairs (I think) to Maidstone on another of these little buses. And the driver got lost! Nigel who has cycled over every road in Kent was able to direct him safely back home again. A remarkable day out. | |
| A splendid sight that always stopped me in my tracks was to see the incredible looking coaches that M&D used for their E1, E2, and E3 Maidstone to London services. They had dark green roofs with rich cream coloured sides with the Maidstone & District scroll on their sides. Masses of decorative trim emphasised their sweeping lines. Written just under the rear windows was the legend “Travel By Coach” . OH how I would have loved to! Nigel tells me they were Harrison bodied something or others. I loved em. | |
 |
Maidstone & District SO380 (390DKK), a 1958 AEC Reliance 470 with Harrington Wayfarer IV body seen at Northiam station in 2005. |
| About this time Maidstone Corporation decided to repaint all their buses from the much loved Honey and cream livery to an awful light blue and off white. It looked horrid. The double deckers started vanishing then too. They were replaced by some old tour coaches named “Lilac Leopards” . I always thought they were pink myself but there you are. You had to clamber up a very steep flight of 4 steps to get on the b***y things and the elderly must have HATED them. Fortunately they did not seem to last very long and I frequently saw them broken down beside the road. | |
| Next UB was a little Bristol built coach in which we travelled ALL the way from London Victoria to Plymouth in. I would not have minded so much but for two points . One . Nigel our bus expert had lavishly described the luxurious air suspension super bus we was to travel in. Instead this tiny little Bristol bus! It would have looked more at home on the No 12, my local bus route. Anyway we headed off into the night cooped up in this tiny little thing. Mother and a relative chatted incessantly ALL night while the buses tiny little engine howled away maintaining our speed at about 45mph. For some reason we shied away from motorways and trunk roads and wound and twisted our way along small B roads. Eventually a midnight stop at a pub promised refreshments. But no! The landlord had not been expecting us so glasses of water and crisps all round. A second helping of hellish journeying followed until we rolled into Plymouth Bus station. We looked like the league of the damned as we shuffled of that hellish bus to be greeted by my brother and his wife-to-be-that-very-day gliding in on an old bike! Although nothing to do with buses the name of our guest house stuck in my mind “Penny come quick house”. Funnily enough the return journey WAS aboard a luxurious air suspension super bus! | |
 |
Royal Blue 2270 (253KTA), a Bristol MW6G with Eastern Coachworks body similar to the vehicle used on the night service to Plymouth described above. The coach is seen at Dorking in 2001. |
| I suppose mentioning the No 12 I should say a bit about it. It was a service run by M&D from Maidstone to Hastings (some of the time). I seem to remember that it was usually run by blunt-ended little coaches which were more comfortable than they looked. Not like the Leyland Rationales that replaced them! They were horrid buses, a U B in every sense of the words. Chris used to point to the fan drive visable through the rear grille and say “ Look” You can see the clockwork”! What with their dozens of rivets around the windows and the slab like “air pack” thrown on the rear of the roof they were awful vehicles. Of course Maidstone & District loved em. They were the first buses I ever saw painted in National “Snot Green” , which made 'em look even worse. I hated 'em. One feature I remember well is the “Guardsman Seats” as Chris called them . The backs were mounted EXACTLY at right angles to the seat forcing all to sit like guardsmen! I still wince when I see them. Even British Railways liked them and placed them on rails so non could get away from the awful National travel experience. Yuk. | |
 |
Maidstone & District were not as keen on Leyland
Nationals as Leslie suggests, particularly when compared with neighbour
East Kent. M&D 3458 passes through Biddenden en route to Wittersham in
1985 (the 12 was diverted from Hastings to Rye in 1980).Photo: Neil Gow |
| Next UB was the little red buses that were displaced by the all conquering Nationals and found their way into the clutches of Bygone Buses. This tiny company started running a much-needed service between Goudhurst and Maidstone , roughly following the line of the closed and much lamented Paddock Wood to Horsmonden branch line. Of course the big bus operators were not happy until this interloper had been run off the road. While this was going on Marden had a wondrous bus service never before seen . Or since! | |
 |
Bygone Leyland Leopard/Marshall 232 pin Maidstone High Street waiting to depart for Goudhurst. The number in the destination display refers to the running number - Bygone did not use service numbers except within Maidstone in later years. |
| I rode on my very first Appreciated Bus just before the onset of the little red Bygone buses. Nigel tells me it was called a Bristol VR with Northern Counties bodywork. What a revelation! Handsome curves, sweeping windscreen, a lower deck that did NOT resemble a tin tomb. And the view from upstairs was just superb. I loved em. They were the only front entrance buses I could recognise. Beautiful. Wish they were still running. | |
 |
Maidstone & District purchased large numbers of Bristol VRTs with ECW bodywork in the NBC era. 5810 is seen in Tunbridge Wells in August 1985 with a journey from Speldhurst. |
| I used to go (by train) up to London to spend a day with Chris in London. We mostly travelled by tube but would occasionally use the buses. RTs mainly and my favourite seat was inside at the front looking out over the bonnet with one foot resting on the clutch housing, which intruded some way into the compartment. They had the most distinctive engine sound I have ever heard . Sort of Bululululululululululululuaaaah Clonk! Bulululululululuuluaaaahh! Then when they were slowing down the driver would engage engine braking and the passengers would be treated to a wonderful whine of gears and differential as driven parts got used to doing the driving for once! With their cream and green insides and 15W light bulbs, I loved em. I liked the Routemasters too by not as much. And the Red Barrows not at all! Then of course there were the Lumberers. And having mentioned them I'll move on. However Nigel did tell me that at the famous Bus garage immortalised in Cliff Richards “Summer Holiday” they succeeded in pulling one to pieces because it did not have a chassis. Horrid buses they were far too dull to have anything as interesting as a chassis. Yawn. | |
 |
The upper saloon of a 'roofbox' RT seen in 1989 during the fifty year celebrations. |
| What next. I seemed to have taken to my bicycle in a big way when I lived in Marden 'cos apart from Bygone Buses , there wasn’t any local buses. If I needed to go into town it was always Tonbridge by train. I saw my beloved M&D lose its beautiful green and cream livery and scroll in favour of NBC yucky green but did not travel on 'em much. Indeed I can only remember using buses when the trains were not running because of engineering works. And what a fleet of old crocks they managed to drag out for these “Railway emergency services” as they always called them. | |
| And so on to Cambus! I moved from Marden to Cambridge after meeting with my life partner. Or so I thought! Oh well better luck next time. Anyway again I did not use Cambus very often as quite frankly I could not afford to ! Cambridge and I did not mix very well. One of my endearing memories was travelling past the enormous Radio Telescope array every day I went into Cambridge. I think a profitable part of Cambus was the little “Bread vans” that shuttled between Cambridge railway station and the centre of the town which was about 1.5 / 2 miles away. They were very very lively to ride on. However public transport never was Cambridge’s success story and the various bus schemes inevitably failed spectacularly. One non bus scheme that still makes me chuckle was the Cambridge Community Bike scheme. This involved the confiscation of all illegally parked bicycles , repainting them then distributing them at “Community bike racks” built at enormous expense all over the city. Inside a week those that had not been stolen were in the river Cam! I never ever had an opportunity to ride one! | |
 |
Cambus 741, a Bristol VRT/ECW leaves Drummer Street Bus Station with a Cambridge to Newmarket service on 25th July 1986. |
| I then returned to London somewhat traumatically and was astounded to see that the buses no longer had London Transport written on them. Plus a lot of them were what Nigel once called “Silly buses” rear engined this and that which to my eyes looked out of place. They were as horrible to ride on as they looked. There was a service that my friend Peter liked to use a lot. It ran from Victoria station to Finchley (and probably beyond). It took about an hour to travel the 9 miles or so to Finchley centre usually at a speed of about 7 miles per hour. The buses were extremely ancient front entrance vehicles that vibrated like sin. Then one day I was waiting at Victoria tensing myself for yet another ordeal by bus when this enormous bus rolled up. It was quite the biggest bus I had ever seen. The floor seemed to be at ground level. I walked into it to be greeted by bright yellow handrails and a driver/conductor sat behind an acre of bullet proof glass. Honestly the inside of this bus seemed to go on for ever. There were even several push chairs unfolded parked in a neat row inconveniencing no one. I decided to go upstairs. A sweeping STRAIGHT staircase ! At the top was curing handrails and an immensely wide aisle. The front windows were enormous and so for the first time I actually enjoyed this arduous bus route home. What was the name of the wonder bus. All I could see was “Trident” but after 50 years of travel by bus I am glad that at last the manufacturers have got it right! Now if only they could do something about those liveries. | |
 |
This is not a Dennis Trident but a Volvo B7TL. It does however have the same Plaxton bodywork as the Tridents used by Metroline on the 82 from Finchley to Victoria. |
You can find some of Leslie's photographs at http://www.flickr.com/photos/elsie/