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An early example of a 36ft AEC
Reliance, Maidstone & District 3704 was a 2U3RA model
built in 1963 with a Willowbrook 53 seat bus body. It was
seen near the end of its career with the company in the summer
of 1975, running on the lengthy service between Hastings and
Tunbridge Wells via Hawkhurst. The service had recently been
renumbered from 84 as part of a single route numbering scheme
being introduced for Maidstone & District and East Kent
services. The number 254 is still used today for some Hawkhurst-Tunbridge
Wells journeys although most through journeys to Hastings
run as South Coast Buses 349. |
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EKJ
109C
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Maidstone and District 3749, with
Weymann BET federation style bodywork, at Hawkhurst bus station
on a foggy morning in the spring of 1975. This picture was
taken shortly before the Hastings-Hawkhurst-Tunbridge Wells
service was renumbered 254 (see above). Hawkhurst bus station
and depot has varied in importance over the years, being reduced
to an outstation at one stage but regaining full depot status
again in the late 1980s and even becoming a regional engineering
centre for a while. It finally closed in February 2008 following
the loss by Arriva Kent & Sussex of county council contracts
in the area (which effectively means they no longer operate
in Sussex). |
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OFN
715F
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East Kent was a major user of AEC
Reliances, Swifts and Regents. Reliance OFN 715F was seen
at Canterbury bus station in April 1978. East Kent was unusual
amongst major operators in not using fleetnumbers but relied
instead on obtaining registrations with unique numbers. Fleetnumbers
were introduced later in 1978 when OFN 715F would become 1715.
The Canterbury bus station site is still in use today and
benefitted from a major redevelopment in 2001, and of course
the buses are now mainly white, blue and orange. |
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SWL 50J
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Another keen user of AEC buses
was the City of Oxford Motor Services. Willowbrook bodied
50, originally bought for the London express services, stands
in the snow at the old Gloucester Green bus station in January
1979. The redeveloped, smaller, Gloucester Green has few friends
as many services don't stop there, and those that do are subject
to delays due to restricted access and turning facilities. |
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South Wales was an avid AEC user,
running Reliances of both lengths, Regents and even some AEC
Swifts (although they were less successful in the hilly environment
and quickly moved to London Country). One of the last batch
of Reliance buses, 466 had coach seats in its bus body and
was painted in NBC dual-purpose livery indicating its availability
for use as a service bus or as an express coach. Towards the
end of its career with the company it was most likely to be
found on bus duties such as when seen at Pontardawe in October
1981. South Wales took one further batch of Reliances, with
Duple coach bodies (one is illustrated on the Reliance
coaches page). |
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The Neath and Cardiff company used
many AEC Reliances, including a pair of long wheelbase models
with uncommon Plaxton Derwent bodies fitted with coach seats
for express work along the South Wales coast. They passed
with the company's operations to South Wales. UCY 980J was
seen in October 1981 as South Wales 461, ending its days on
local bus work in the Port Talbot area although on this occasion
it had made it along the road to Swansea. |
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JPA
118K
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New NBC subsidiary London Country
took a batch of 90 Park Royal bodied Reliances with dual-purpose
seats on semi-automatic 6U2R chassis to upgrade Greenline
services. Although generally downgraded to bus work in later
life many retained Greenline livery, such as RP18 at Heathrow
Airport in July 1982, and continued to appear frequently on
Greenline duties until all withdrawn in February 1984. |
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JPA
143K
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RP43 was sold to Rennie of Dunfermline
after withdrawal, and was seen outside their Cairneyhill depot
in August 1983. It was later to travel back south and find
employment with Prestwood Travel of Great Missenden. There
are more pictures of this bus on the Before
and After page. |
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JPA
121K
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RP21 was reacquired by LCBS successor company
London & Country with the business of AML of Hounslow.
It was restored to original Greenline livery and ran in the
Guildford area, appropriately as the last RP in service with
LCBS had been RP25 at Guildford. Here it is seen on
a Surrey CC Sunday service at Windsor in August 1995.
After moving to Horsham for school duties, it was later sold.
It is now privately preserved and appears at running days
in the outer London area. |
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Percivals of Oxford and Premier
Travel of Cambridge jointly ran a service between two university
cities for many years until it died in the 1980s. Alexander
Y type dual-purpose AEC Reliance VER 262L was new to Premier
Travel but had been bought from them by Percivals when seen
taking layover at Oxford's Gloucester Green bus station in
June 1982. This bus is now preserved at the Oxford Bus Museum
and another picture of it can be found on the Preserved
page. The route between Oxford and Cambridge is now served
by Stagecoach United Counties X5 service, albeit via Milton
Keynes rather than Luton. The has become more successful than
its predecessor and is now half-hourly for much of the day. |
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EUD 256K
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South Oxfordshire independent Chiltern
Queens ran many AEC Reliances on rural routes in the Wallingford
area. Plaxton bodied EUD 256K was one of the few buses
bought new by the company. It was seen at the village
of Watlington in August 1988 about to depart for Reading.
This bus is now preserved at the Oxford
Bus Museum. |
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Long established Scottish independent Hutchinson of Overtown
bought a number of AEC Reliance service buses during the
1970s. This Willowbrook bodied example was pictured when
new. It is blinded for the Motherwell - Wishaw/Larkhall
corridor. The company continued operarting into the 21st
century but finally sold out to First Glasgow in 2007.
Photo by Phil Norris.
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UGB 14R
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In the later years most Reliances
were built as coaches but a few Duple Dominant bus bodied
models were taken by smaller operators. UGB 14R was
new to Scottish operator Hutchinson of Overtown but had moved
south to Tillingbourne of Cranleigh when seen in June 1985.
Tillingbourne was expanding its operations at the time and
was adding secondhand purchases to its fleet of Bedfords and
locally built Dennis's. |
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Gaelicbus operated services in
the Scottish highlands for a while during the early 1990s.
Another of Hutchinson's Duple Dominant bodied Reliances, JGE
347T had migrated north to the Gaelicbus fleet and was seen
at Oban on a service to Fort William. It's a long way round
by train (with a change at Crianlarich) but the route wasn't
successful and today it is only served by Scottish Citylink
coaches. |
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The Ministry of Defence used some
AEC Reliances with these utility Marshall bodies for armed
forces personnel transport (Leyland Leopards and, later, Leyland
Tigers were also used). It is quite common for such vehicles
to be sold for civilian use. Here, one of the Reliances has
passed into the fleet of Scottish independent Stewart of Dalkeith,
and was seen on a Dalkeith local service in July 1990. The
bus had given up its military registration plate and been
reregistered with a civilian mark from the Birmingham vehicle
licensing office. |
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Another company to acquire one
of the ex MoD Marshall bodied Reliances was Oxfordshire independent
Chiltern Queens. It was painted in their coach livery and
probably used mainly for school contracts but was seen here
at Reading on a regular bus route in March 1994. This one
had also been reregistered in Birmingham, probably by a dealer
who would acquire a batch and advertise them for sale in the
trade press. |
