The Flickr Nationalbuscompany Image Generatr

Eastern Counties VR398, along with sister VR396, was unusual in comparison with the other VRs based at Ipswich in that they only had four speed boxes and the door control was on the gear change lever. This caused problems when opening the flap on the cash tray underneath the ticket machine as it would knock the lever out of the door open position thus causing the doors to close whilst passengers were boarding. Eastern Counties VR398 (ENG398K) Laxfield 1984 with driver Sue King behind the wheel.

VR287 came to Ipswich as a direct replacement for a similarly aged Bristol VR namely VR292. She is seen here in 1984 in Bredfield Road, Woodbridge, with Woodbridge out station driver David Bacon. Eastern Counties VR287 (VEX287X) Woodbridge 1984

August 1984 and a sad time as withdrawal of the Bristol RE buses at Ipswich gained pace. Not 100% sure of the facts on this but I was told by a long-standing employee at Ipswich that this bus spent her whole working life either here or at one of the depots or out stations related to Ipswich, but basically an Ipswich based vehicle for her entire life. I am open to correction on that if someone knows that she was long-term based outside of East Suffolk. Eastern Counties RL680 (RAH680F) Ipswich August 1984

Preserved Bristol VR with Eastern Coachworks body at Quorn&Woodhouse on the heritage Great Central Railway Leicestershire, during an event held in association with the Leicester Transport Heritage Trust.

Preserved Bristol VR with Eastern Coachworks in East Dereham Norfolk. At the heritage Mid Norfolk Railway as an entrant to the annual Bus & Coach event.

Bristol VRT/SL3/501 with E.C.W. H39/31F body.
New 1/76 to Eastern National Omnibus Co Ltd.
Photographed at Southend Rally, June 1977.

Leyland Atlantean PDR1/1 with Roe H44/34F body.
New 3/60 to Trent Motor Traction Co. Ltd. no.1078.
Photographed at St. Austell, 8th September 1978.

Bristol RE with ECW body at Cilfynydd in February 1980 when National Welsh was part of the state-owned National Bus Company

When I saw this for sale on eBay in late March, I just had to have it but to do that, I had to switch to my decoy account (which I use to buy things from sellers who have blocked me on my main account) to buy it and the next ticket. However, it's only this week that I finally got round to scanning it in. Bought for £4.83 from bandibacs54, a seller whose listing I attempted to correct, this is a WanderBus ticket from 1980.

Introduced in 1978, this was a ticket that you could use all over the National Bus Company network and, for just £2.97 a day (that's eirther £14.55 or £13.40 in today's money if you went back to 1981 and 1982 respectively), once you showed this to the conductor or driver/conductor, you could go as far as you wished but there were exceptions so this was like the dayrider of its day.

However, this one is just a specimen, hence the title and one of ten specimen tickets I bought from this seller so far this year. Those who know me and know me well think I'm daft for paying such prices (even my own mum!) but I'm preserving transport history.

When I saw this for sale on eBay in late March, I just had to have it but to do that, I had to switch to my decoy account (which I use to buy things from sellers who have blocked me on my main account) to buy it and the next ticket. However, it's only this week that I finally got round to scanning it in. Bought for £5.40 from bandibacs54, a seller whose listing I attempted to correct, this is a WanderBus ticket from 1980.

Introduced in 1978, this was a ticket that you could use all over the National Bus Company network and, for just £2.40 a day (that's £13.15 in today's money), once you showed this to the conductor or driver/conductor, you could go as far as you wished but there were exceptions so this was like the dayrider of its day.

When this was issued on the date shown, Pink Floyd would have two more weeks at number one with their last-ever UK hit single Another Brick In The Wall before the Pretenders took over with Brass In Pocket. A few places down at number 4 was folk group Fiddler's Dram (fronted by Kathy Lesurf) with Daytrip To Bangor.

A few places below them at number 8 was the Police and Walking On The Moon, which I think must have been their homage to the moon landing. Entering the chart at number 14 was Madness with My Girl and further down the chart at number 23 was Blondie's Union City Blue which I remember for the video, filmed at the Union Dry Dock in Weehawken in New Joisey.

As with most of the tickets in my collection, this took fucking ages to scan in, not to mention edit. I think scanning was the easiest job compared to editing - the date took me ages to get right and so did the wording. Well, I hope you enjoy my efforts.

Preserved Bristol RELL6G with Eastern Coachworks on the Knowsley Industrial Estate in Kirkby Merseyside, an entrant to the North West Vehicle Restoration Trust's annual open day and bus running event.

Preserved Bristol RESL with Eastern Coachworks body on the Knowsley Industrial Estate in Kirkby Merseyside, an entrant to the North West Vehicle Restoration Trust's annual open day and bus running event.

Bristol KS5G with Eastern Coachworks body at Southchurch Park Southend Essex June 1978.