Robert Appleton

In 1961 the maximum length of single-deckers was increased to 36 feet. Bristol Commercial Vehicles and Eastern Coach Works designed their first rear-engined single-decker to take advantage of this new length. Two prototypes were built and tested in service in 1962. United Automobile Services had the RELL version with a low chassis frame for bus work. South Midland had the RELH version with a high frame for coach work. Production started in 1963, with Eastern Coach Works-bodied buses and coaches for the nationalised Tilling Group companies, plus some Alexander-bodied coaches for the nationalised Scottish Motor Traction Group companies. In this book the author illustrates the Bristol RE in service from 1970 to 1994 in England and North Wales. This includes Tilling Group companies, National Bus Company subsidiaries, municipal operators and independents, some of the new companies created from bus deregulation and privatisation from 1986, plus a few more recent photos of preserved Bristol REs.

The Leyland National was conceived as a joint venture between British Leyland and the National Bus Company to replace all the rear-engined single-deckers in the British Leyland Group – the AEC Swift, Leyland Panther, Daimler Roadliner, single-deck Daimler Fleetline, and Bristol RE. The Leyland National was built at a new factory at Lillyhall in Cumbria and had several novel features, including integral construction, a sophisticated heating and ventilation system that meant a rear pod on the roof, and a turbocharged 8.3-litre horizontal Leyland engine. Most Leyland Nationals were 10.3 or 11.3 metres long and the first was delivered to Cumberland Motor Services in March 1972, registered ERM 35K. Over 7,000 Leyland Nationals were built, but it never achieved its full production targets due to the advent of one-person-operated double-deckers. The last Leyland National was registered C49 OCM and delivered to Halton Transport in November 1985. Utilising their fantastic collections of previously unpublished images, Peter Horrex and Robert Appleton pay tribute to this popular and iconic chariot of the people.

Robert Appleton’s superb images stretch back to 1970, featuring the buses of the Eastern Counties Omnibus Company Ltd and the Eastern National Omnibus Company Ltd. Both were Tilling companies that had become part of the National Bus Company. Eastern Counties had an extensive network of services radiating from Ipswich in Suffolk, supported by a number of outstations. Eastern National did not have the same need for outstations, but there were small depots such as Harwich in the north-east corner of Essex. The National Bus Company years saw the gradual elimination of crew operation and the development of new express services – Eastline by Eastern Counties and Highwayman by Eastern National. Eastern Counties was split up in 1984 with the Cambridgeshire operations passing to Cambus, and the coaching operations to Ambassador Travel. After deregulation and privatisation, Eastern Counties became part of GRT Bus Group, and Eastern National became part of the Badgerline Group. In 1995 the GRT Bus Group and Badgerline merged to form First Bus, bringing Eastern Counties and Eastern National back in to common ownership. With a stunning collection of images, nearly all previously unpublished, East Anglian Buses shows all of these changes, as well as the municipal operations in Colchester, Ipswich and Great Yarmouth, as well as several independents that ran stage carriage/local bus services.

The Award-winning* novelette based on the deadliest crocodile attack ever recorded. On February 19th, 1945, one thousand Japanese soldiers retreated into the fetid mangrove swamps of Ramree Island hoping to escape their British enemy. However, they soon discovered that the sixteen-kilometre stretch of marshland that promised to offer safe cover, had delivered them straight into the jaws of hell. Inspired by true events during WWII, Sunset on Ramree follows young musician-turned-soldier Shigeatsu Nakadai and his best friend, Kodi, as they head ever deeper into danger. *EPIC Award 2011 - Best Historical Fiction