BUSWORLD PHOTOGRAPHY

I AM CHRISTOPHER LEACH THE ARTIST. I started this blog so that I can share with everyone my vast collection of transport photographs showing a personal and nostalgic view of the industry with images that span some 45 years taking in the U.K and some of Europe. I have no darkroom and so rather than being the perfectionist after tidying them up I upload the images warts and all, and even those that won't scan squarely or are scratched. In a way it adds age and character. You are all free to download these for your personal use but please remember I still own them and you are not just free to use them without prior permission for any knd of publishing. Click on images to enlarge them and if you want to see more leave your comments or visit my website for the mother-site with galleries including those Buses & Girls: PICTUREWORLD

Wednesday 16 August 2017

Green Line Tiger ECW on Eccleston Bridge, Victoria

I suppose for most people the centre of London is Trafalgar square or Oxford Street but for bus enthusiasts it has to be Victoria with it's bus station beside the station, Victoria Coach Station and we must not forget the Green Line departures from Eccleston Bridge. Here was a good spot for photos and there were often other coaches to get in the shot too like this MCW Metroliner of Eastern Scottish passing a Green Line ECW bodied Tiger bound for Windsor on the 701. After Deregulation and the sell off of the various London Country units Green Line fragmented and went into decline and  more focus went on to the airport links and busy commuter corridors.

2 comments:

Ross said...

I do like this shot, Christopher, as it nicely sums up the era when I was first travelling around on my own and reaching places such as London Victoria (although I couldn't afford a ride on a London Transport bus, not with only 50p or £1 in my pocket for the day!)

You've even caught that now almost extinct creature, The Bus Inspector...

I was going to suggest that this picture was perhaps taken in the (to me) halcyon years before deregulation was mentioned, maybe around 1983, as the Metroliner has the pre-Citylink SBG "People going places... GO SCOTTISH" branding on the side (you can just see the first word!).
But, Googling for info on TL19, and comparing liveries, it seems it's in the later two-tone-green variant of Venetian Blind livery without NBC logos, so I'm now assuming that you caught these two sometime in late 1985 or during 1986, which leaves me intrigued as to why SBG had left the Metroliner in the old colours so late.

christopher said...

Aha Ross you are obvious well into this period, your golden age as a youngster and it was interesting a kind of 'Indian Summer'for bus enthusuasts before Stagecoach and Arriva became present, I enjoyed it too with lots of trips out.I have to confess mine was up to the mid-Sixties and I spent a lot of time in London, only wish I always had a camera with me then for one of my most interesting sightings was a brand new AEC Renown demonstrator 8071 ML at Gillingham Street Garage.