Bus Past

Welcome to Bus Past - a site devoted to quality colour photography of buses long since disappeared from our streets. All views are from the period 1969 to 1982 and taken by me (Anthony Cross) or by Andrew Harvey-Adams. There are a few images by other photographers that I am unable to credit as I have no means of knowing who took them.

My main interest was in the technical aspects of the buses themselves so vehicles feature large in the photograph and typically 3/4 front OS or NS views. I used professional quality Nikon or Olympus SLR equipment on Kodachrome 25 or 64 ASA film which gives superb clarity and colour depth. Andrew used Agfa film which likewise yielded excellent results particularly in low light.

Original scans are to 3500dpi which will produce sharp prints up to A3 size but to allow manageable upload speeds, images on this site are to a much lower resolution. Some pixelation and loss of quality will therefore be evident - originals though are used for any images made available for publication or printing purposes (enquiries welcomed).

I use Photoshop sparingly to remove detracting flaws and correct contrast and colour imbalances to ensure liveries are faithfully reproduced - inevitably though how images appear on your computer will depend on your VDU and graphics card specification - a slight blue cast is evident on some screens.

Galleries are set out based on vehicle ownership at the time the photograph was taken - identification hasn't been easy with the smaller independents and no doubt there are some errors - equally I have had to lump 'unidentified' operators together until I know where to correctly assign them.  The distinction between larger and smaller independents is somewhat arbitrary and really only there to try and reduce the size of the gallery if these were lumped together. In the main, views are of working vehicles and not rally shots.

This site is about sharing my enjoyment of the images so I have chosen not to deface them to deter unauthorised copying - I would ask users though to respect that all photographs are copyright and not to reproduce them without permission, this includes file sharing sites such as Flickr, Instagram etc. I am happy to allow images to be used for bona fide purposes (such as journal illustrations) but please contact me first before using any picture. Many of the images have appeared in books and the journal 'Classic Bus', including the front cover.

***ORDERS*** the site is not yet configured to enable direct ordering on line but instead email me (use the 'contact me' tab) with what you want (operator, image number and ideally registration also). Typically prints are £2.25 for a 6x4 image (minimum order of 25 images).

The archive has over 6000 images most of which have now been uploaded - particular emphasis is on the South East, south Wales, East Anglia and some of the smaller independents but all the UK is represented. Some views were obviously posed for Omnibus Society visits and while there are a fair number of bus station and depot views that will be instantly recognisable, so too are there plenty of the more candid shots if 'bus geography' is your thing!

We all have our favourite operators and vehicles. In the former case (in no particular order) M&D and East Kent because of various educational connections, Eastbourne because I worked there for a while and Red & White, Devon General and the Scottish and Guernsey views mainly the result of holidays. With regard to vehicles,  I love traditional half-cabs and first generation single deck underfloors so I make no apologies that these will probably be over-represented but there's guaranteed to be something for everyone in the collection.

Enjoy the trip on 'buses past' down memory lane!