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EKJ 109C
|
Maidstone and District 3749, with
Weymann BET federation style bodywork, at Hawkhurst bus station
on a foggy morning in 1974. The Hastings-Hawkhurst-Tunbridge
Wells service was renumbered 254 shortly afterwards, a number
which 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 104C
|
Maidstone & District 3744,
in standard NBC green livery, on a Hastings local service
in the summer of 1978. |
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OFN 715F
|
East Kent was a major user of AEC
Reliances and Regents. Reliance OFN 715F was seen at Canterbury
bus station in May 1978. The Canterbury bus station site is
still in use today, although benefitting from major redevelopment
in 2001, and of course the buses are now mainly white, blue
and orange. |
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SWL 50J
|
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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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
|
New NBC subsidiary London Country
took a batch of 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Greenline duties until all withdrawn in February 1984.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
|
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. |
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JPA
121K
|
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 was 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 dispensed with
in the Cowie/Arriva clearout of the heritage fleet. It is
now privately preserved and appears regularly at running days
in the outer London area. |
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EUD 256K
|
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 and '80s. 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
|
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 Hutchison 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. |
