Trivia: What's in a good coaching name?

[co-tr-paul]

I don't normally do trivia but a random thought made me think to put this out there. Back in the day, local coach companies would not only use " name" of " place " Coaches Ltd as a fleetname. There were some good stylish names ....
From my past , Maid of the Mountains, Morning Star, Overland and County, even Princess Mary.
OK, will accept some place names, Kingswood Queen, Winterbourne Pioneer ... but you get my drift.
So what ones stood out for you ?

 

[318266]

Pride of the Clyde - now the slightly more boring "Gillen's"

 

[GusB]

Lochs and Glens was one name that I encountered on my holiday this year. Another, sadly now defunct, is The Kings Ferry. Royal Blue and Silver Star were also quite famous names.

 

[duncombec]

Another, sadly now defunct, is The Kings Ferry.

Not defunct, despite the best efforts of National Express. Still plenty of yellow coaches in the yard ten minutes ago, albeit with a sign for the commuter service still on the back of the office, now 2 years after withdrawal.

Even after reported closure of the Gillingham depot (there has been no public update I'm aware of), NatEx have said they intend to keep the trading name... Not sure how, unless they are going to start private hire from Tilmanstone, and which goes against the previous suggestion all would be rebranded as part of NETS (National Express Travel Solutions?).

 

[dgl]

Tally Ho! in Devon

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

The now defunct Scotts Greys in Darlington - Fred Scott set up with a horse and cart business, and apparently only used grey horses, and whilst he moved into the motor coach market, the name stuck.

Blagdon Lioness - again now defunct and Chew Valley not known for its big cats

 

[busesrusuk]

Elcock Reisen - always thought they were a German company...

 

[Titfield]

Sodbury Queen, Chalfont Line, Whippett of Wimborne (not to be confused with Greyhound),

 

[jp4712]

Yelloway! A name that exuded quality and style, that is until Hubert Allen retired and the business was bought by shysters.

 

[pdq]

Wilfreda Beehive, from Doncaster, is an intriguing company name.

 

[Bedford OB]

Wilfreda Beehive, from Doncaster, is an intriguing company name.

It has been that way since the 1980s when Wilfreda Luxury Coaches acquired Beehive Services.

 

[WestCountry]

Whippett of Wimborne (not to be confused with Greyhound),

nor with Whippet of Cambridgeshire (their coaches are all Flixbus branded, but they operate bus services in their own name).

 

[Busaholic]

King Harry Coaches in Cornwall, Excelsior in Bournemouth (now part of Go Ahead South). Belle Vue Coaches in Manchester, An even older-established firm called Excelsior existed in Shropshire from the 1920s. and won a cup at the Blackpool Coach Rally on 1976, but I believe bit the dust some years ago.

Orange Luxury Coaches of Brixton were one of many coach companies bought by Grey-Green, and bore the Queen's arms as certified purveyors of coaches to the royal household!

 

[JKP]

Silver Star at Porton Down, Y Seren Arian/Silver Star in North Wales, Enterprise and Silver Dawn in Lincoln all operated coaches and buses.

 

[Gloster]

Putting ‘safe’ in the name will subconsciously reassure the passengers, which was particularly useful in the early days. I can remember Safeway of South Petherton and Safeguard of Guildford.

 

[The exile]

Putting ‘safe’ in the name will subconsciously reassure the passengers, which was particularly useful in the early days. I can remember Safeway of South Petherton and Safeguard of Guildford.

Have to say I think it would have the reverse psychological effect on me. In the same way as “ People’s Democratic Republic” flags up “Communist dictatorship!”.

 

[Busaholic]

Have to say I think it would have the reverse psychological effect on me. In the same way as “ People’s Democratic Republic” flags up “Communist dictatorship!”.

The people of Guildford obviously don't take that view, as Safeguard flourishes, having seen off competition from both Arriva and Stagecoach in 'bus wars' in the recent past.

 

[Bedford OB]

King Harry Coaches in Cornwall, Excelsior in Bournemouth (now part of Go Ahead South). Belle Vue Coaches in Manchester, An even older-established firm called Excelsior existed in Shropshire from the 1920s. and won a cup at the Blackpool Coach Rally on 1976, but I believe bit the dust some years ago.

Orange Luxury Coaches of Brixton were one of many coach companies bought by Grey-Green, and bore the Queen's arms as certified purveyors of coaches to the royal household!

You are thinking of Price of Wrockwardine Wood, who traded as Excelsior and were one of the Shropshire Omnibus Association co-operative with a share on the Oakengates rota service, as well as operating the coaches. They retired in the early 1980s.

 

[JD2168]

Gee Vee of Barnsley I thought was an interesting name for a coach company.

 

[GCH100]

Wallace Arnold was always a good name for Coaches, and existed for a long time, much longer than the Shearings company that they decided to merge with. Souls of Olney in Buckinghamshire has also been going for many many years and is still trading, and is now one of the larger coach operators in Buckinghamshire. Parry's of Cheslyn Hay, Staffordshire has also been going many years and has won many Coach of the Year awards and Quality Awards.

 

[507021]

I've always liked the Bakers Dolphin brand. Probably because around 25 or so years ago, I remember asking my Dad if the Van Hool of theirs we'd just seen was telling people about a dolphin belonging to someone called Baker. A fond memory, which I relieved fairly recently when a friend gave me a model of one of their coaches.

 

[Busaholic]

Chiltern Queens was always a name I noticed in Buses magazine, though I didn't know their coaches. Is their old depot in Woodcote still there? I've seen photos of it c2010 looking derelict.

Premier Travel was a huge player in the post war period right into deregulation and beyond, particularly on limited stop express coach services. They were based in Cambridge and covered a great area of Eastern England and East Anglia, plus services to London from many of those places. Formed in 1936 by three graduates of that university, they teamed up with the great Royal Blue and the lesser-known Undergraduate Roadways to develop those lucrative coach routes to the coastal towns bordering the North Sea and The Wash.

Nowadays the name Premier is a big coaching one in Aberdeenshire, and a less big one in Tyne and Wear. I see a Premiere Coaches also exists somewhere, forgotten where.

 

[Travelmonkey]

Midland Classic, it had a simple Yellow & red livery they also were good at offline publicity, although towards the end they had a mini rebrand to Midland Classic of Burton,


It was a Iconic brand but a ghost of its former self under its new owners with reprints to Diamond standard slowly happening.

 

[GusB]

I wonder if @co-tr-paul would mind clarifying whether or not it's permitted to mention company names which were derived from those of their founders - if we're excluding "Name of Place Coaches" I feel that "Bob's Coaches", for example, should also be excluded as it's not particularly imaginative. Wallace Arnold was mentioned earlier, but this was derived from the first names of its co-founders and doesn't really count, in my opinion anyway.

Anyway, one that I think deserves a mention is Stagecoach. While it's probably not in the same league as the well-known names of the "Golden Age", it certainly had an impact on the coaching sector at the time, long before it went on to become the company it is today. Related is the erstwhile Highwayman Coaches of Errol, run by another Gloag. Make of that name what you will!

 

[Gloster]

It is probably just a story, but Golden Miller was so named because the founder won the money that he used to set up the business from a bet on the horse of that name. It came in at 6/5 in the Cheltenham Gold Cup and 8/1 in the Grand National in 1934.

 

[Roilshead]

"Kia Ora" was a Morecambe-based coach operator, whose Huddersfield-Morecambe express passed to Hansons in the 1950s. I've often wondered about the name, which was also the name of an orange mineral drink - seemingly its a Maori expression meaning "have life" (probably where the mineral takes its name) or "Good day!".

Valliant, Ealing, was a play on Valiant and the family name Valli.

United Service Transport, which ran coach and road haulage fleets in south west London between 1919 and 166 (when the coach operations were disposed of to Grey-Green) is a fairly unimaginative name but reflects that the company was established with a view to employing ex-servicemen being released from the services after the Great War.

 

[OptareOlympus]

Buzzlines in Kent was a brilliant name and a great play on owners Nigel and Kath Busbridge's name. It's rise and subsequent fall from grace is a story for a different day though!

 

[Busaholic]

Reading a letter in Buses magazine last night which mentioned a rare coach variant of the past and three coach operators. One was the aforementioned Excelsior of Bournemouth, but the other two brought a wry smile to my face. First there was Acorn Tours of Bedfont which led me to musing about Victoria Wood, Julie Walters and Celia Imrie running a coaching business! Then came Prospect Coaches, location unspecified, but I'd love them to have traded as Prospect of Whitby given the history of the ancient Thameside hostelry of that name.

 

[dgl]

Also down here we have Bluebird Coaches, turning 100 this year! They were always the higher quality of the operators in the Weymouth area.
Supposedly named after Blue Bird toffees.

 

[Busaholic]

It takes a bit of self-belief to call yourself Confidence of Oadby - unsure they still do, though.