MedwayValiant
Member
- Joined
- 8 Jan 2013
- Messages
- 363
I'm not sure whether Little Jim's Buses (Berkhamsted) are still going, but in a similar vein the proprietor James Petty wasn't especially small.
-
Our booking engine at tickets.railforums.co.uk (powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!
TRIVIA : Most Unusual names for bus/coach operators (current/historical)
- Thread starter Simon75
- Start date
- Status
I'm not sure whether Little Jim's Buses (Berkhamsted) are still going, but in a similar vein the proprietor James Petty wasn't especially small.
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R
RailUK Forums
Busaholic
Veteran Member
- Joined
- 7 Jun 2014
- Messages
- 14,078
The most misleading bus company name I can recall is Continental Pioneer who ran the 235 route in Richmond, Surrey, from the Station to the top of Richmond Hill with an ex-London Transport bus. The route itself was taken over from LT in the 1960s when it got withdrawn by them during a crew overtime ban. I believe it had been L.T. Central Buses' shortest route, though an even shorter one had existed in the 1950s.
aliceh
Member
Being in a place that (usually) sees a lot of foreign students on trips, I always enjoy seeing coaches with "Möbius bus" on the outside. Or is it the inside?
CBlue
Member
One of the more famous ones online is of course the German coach operator called Fücker (note the umlaut).
Whisky Papa
Member
- Joined
- 8 Aug 2019
- Messages
- 394
Only the wages and the fact that it was all day shifts
.I'll see your Little Gem and raise you my first employer as a driver - The Bee Line Buzz Company. Brilliant marketing of course, but the one thing they could not claim (in their original form) was to go in the straight line the name might suggest, wandering off onto previously-unserved roads that rarely produced any worthwhile number of passengers.
TheGrandWazoo
Veteran Member
There was indeed Sheffield United Tours (not sure of the origins) but they were one of the firms that were originally incorporated (with Hebble) to form National Travel East, operating from Liversedge and, courtesy of S.U.T., the Charlotte Road depot in Sheffield. This formed both a depot and sort of coach station, opposite SYPTEs East Bank depot. and now demolished to provide parking for First's Sheffield depot.
Now this is where it gets tricky. When it came to privatisation NTE was a bit of a pup (losing money etc) and it was sold to a firm called ATL Holdings, who owned Carlton PSV and also purchased Yelloway and Crosville. There were all sorts of questions of blurred ownership and associated dodginess that we can't really get into. However, the NTE operation was essentially transformed, with many of the modern coaches sold via Carlton, and instead a raft of service buses were bought externally or from Crosville and so the NTE operation was renamed sut.
It was merged into Sheafline and Sheffield & District but it was all very murky.
Merthyr Imp
Member
Felix the Cat appeared on the side of the vehicles:
Sheffield United Tours. Yes, there sometimes was confusion with the football club, with some supporters under the impression that is was the club themselves who ran the coaches to away matches rather than a bus company with the same name.
Busaholic
Veteran Member
- Joined
- 7 Jun 2014
- Messages
- 14,078
After a bit of research, I can confirm that the British Automobile Traction Company in 1935 purchased the business and fleet of Arthur Kitson of Sheffield (which itself had acquired rival operators over the years) and two months later (1st March) changed its name to Sheffield United Tours. BAT later became BET, and Hebble was part of this group too, before all British BET bus/coach operations were acquired by the National Bus Company in January, 1969.
TR673
Member
Xelabus is an odd one; it's Alex written backwards with 'bus' tagged on. Years ago there was a Buses magazine article on them where it was mentioned the Xela was the owner's son's name written backwards, or something of that ilk.
In Lincolnshire we have Brylaine, but I've no idea where that word originated.
Also, just this morning I was looking up details of an Optare Solo and saw it was new to Broon's Buses of Rannoch... a very Scottish spelling of Brown's!
In Lincolnshire we have Brylaine, but I've no idea where that word originated.
Also, just this morning I was looking up details of an Optare Solo and saw it was new to Broon's Buses of Rannoch... a very Scottish spelling of Brown's!
TheGrandWazoo
Veteran Member
Bryan and Elaine who ran it?
in the mid 2000s there was 'Alrite Travel' on Teesside - a fair assessment of their no frills operation:
www.flickr.com
Alrite Travel - L842CDG - North-East-Independents20070008
Volvo B6 - Alexander Dash Alrite Travel
www.flickr.com
341o2
Established Member
- Joined
- 17 Oct 2011
- Messages
- 1,905
Bullocks Coaches, Manchester
Jolly Bus Sunderland
London Pride Sightseeing
Magic Bus
Mountain Goat Windermere
The Big Lemon Brighton
Jolly Bus Sunderland
London Pride Sightseeing
Magic Bus
Mountain Goat Windermere
The Big Lemon Brighton
aliceh
Member
For a while (I.e. As long as it took the competitor to give up), Bluestar ran a couple of services as "Beep Bus".
Are you sure it was 1950 that company was sold to Lincolnshire (I presume) RoadCar? Because I remember seeing a Leyland Atlanteen double decker in the brown and white livery with that name parked up in Lincoln during the 1990s.
TheGrandWazoo
Veteran Member
Competing against the equally curiously named (Black) Velvet Travel
You're both right. They did sell up. The post de-reg incarnation was a nod back to the earlier firm.
CBlue
Member
BriJan Tours was another one like that - Brian and Janette!
The Stalybridge, Hyde, Mossley & Dukinfield Joint Transport and Electricity Board has already been mentioned. It did, however, normally refer to itself as SHMD Board. The first foreign bus I encountered was operated by the Manhattan and Bronx Surface Transit Operating Authority which name was carried in full on the buses. By contrast, in Switzerland transport operators are almost always known by their initials. Sometimes, this can spell out a word as in the case of the operator of buses and trains in Locarno: Ferrovie Autolinee Regionali Ticinese.
Flange Squeal
Established Member
- Joined
- 17 Jul 2012
- Messages
- 1,260
That's right - tragically died of cancer aged just three years old
Not sure why either of those are odd?
There was a "Best Bus" in Crewe.
It wasn't!
Salopia of Whitchurch used to amuse French exchange students.
And, in the same county, a shout for Elcock Reisen.
Run by the Elcock family, who added the Reisen for a touch of the exotic.
Last edited:
61653 HTAFC
Veteran Member
Similarly there is or was a coach company called "Chalfonts" which may raise a wry smile with those of an East London persuasion!
Mostly a National Express contractor these days. Based in West London but they have a major depot in Northampton.
Bungle158
Member
Legendary operator. based in Woodcote. They ran a few routes connecting Reading to villages in South Oxon. IIRC, lettered rather than numbered. Also had a fleet of coaches with a very smart Green and Grey livery
They ran the court transport contract for remand prisoners at Oxford Jail in the 60s and early 70s. Interesting, because the hangman was sometimes called the Crapper
SELNEC an acronym. South East Lancashire and North East Cheshire
Last edited:
Yes. Which wasn't being commented on. It was the company they took over which had the unusual name.
For some reason, they came up in conversation recently. I had to explain to a younger colleague that no they didn't operate knitted buses.
Was it for that, or was it just one of the 'local identity' fleetnames that many NBC operators came up with in the early 80s after Market Analysis Project?
on a par with the South London tram operator, the South Metropolitan Electric Tramways and Lighting Company Ltd (on the photos I have seen, this had to be written in two lines on the side of the trams.
Their main business was coaches, and believe they did do a fair amount of continental work. The 235 was a sideline.
Similarly Maun International, who got in to local bus in Notts / Derbys in the years after deregulation, and Tentrek / Transcity who did some local bus and a couple of TFL (or whatever it was called at that time) routes on the borders of Kent / SE London in the late 80s.
Yes, Bryan and Elaine Gregg, who still do run it.
johnnychips
Established Member
When I was 17 we went on a field trip to Shropshire and this firm provided the transport. I think their full name was “Salopia Saloon Coaches”. Of course we called them “Sloppy Saloon Coaches”. Don’t understand the French reference though.
Busaholic
Veteran Member
- Joined
- 7 Jun 2014
- Messages
- 14,078
Bit like calling a firm Sluttia
johnnychips
Established Member
Every day is a learning day!Bit like calling a firm Sluttia
Or Prickia Saloon Coaches.Bit like calling a firm Sluttia
I understand it has a number of meanings in French; none of them complimentary.
- Status