A-Z Of National Bus Company Subsidiaries: East Kent

[@mylesmears6558]

I do enjoy these little potted histories of NBC fleets - thank you!

[@JakeSCOC]

@@mylesmears6558 Glad to hear it. Always a pleasure.

[@garrymartin6474]

I often used to see an East Kent half cab single decker sitting in a garage building in the village of Mattersey which is near the Yorks/Notts border. I often thought about stopping and taking some pictures but I never did. Its not been there for a few years now.

[@JakeSCOC]

@@garrymartin6474 Very interesting. I wonder which bus that was?

[@garrymartin6474]

@@JakeSCOC Yes, I'm hoping someone will tell us. It usually had Folkstone on the route blind .

[@michaelkeen5010]

@@JakeSCOCCFN 121, a Dennis Lancet J3, is currently preserved in the Lincoln area, maybe it was this one.

[@JakeSCOC]

@@michaelkeen5010 Ah yes. That would make sense

[@doveronefoxtrot4417]

I think this fascination with privatisation in this country during the 1980's, has a lot to answer for. Almost every industry has become a disaster.

[@JakeSCOC]

@@doveronefoxtrot4417 A disaster except for the share holders who profit at users expense...

[@highpath4776]

London Country had problems with their AEC Swifts inc the Alexander bodied ones, did East Kent treat theirs any better ?

[@JakeSCOC]

@@highpath4776 I'm not sure to be honest. They seemed to have a normal life span coming out of service in the mid 80's.

[@mikeyratcliff3400]

We had a number of Bedford vegas used for N C B services to betteshanger pit services- lovè to know where they came from, orange top lights so I suppose bella vistas- anyone know please let me know, am modeling snowdown colliery at the moment!

[@highpath4776]

Have you asked at the East Kent Railway, otherwise the MD&EK Bus Club publications should help

[@JakeSCOC]

@@mikeyratcliff3400 That's interesting. I believe Thompset's of Deal had a few of those as did Ayers of Dover. Can you remember the colour of them?

[@fluffybadger9832]

As a nipper I always thought the script on the buses of the pre NBC days said 'Fast Kent'. Lol The use of converted half cab front entrance buses for one man operation used to fascinate me, I recall Brighton Corporation also did this. It must have been a right pain for the driver to twist round to take fares & issue tickets. Surprised the unions didn't object more.

[@JakeSCOC]

@@fluffybadger9832 Funny you should say that. The NBC fleet name on my VR deteriorated what she was stored outside. That ended up initially saying Fast Kent. Then the T fell off the end and it was Fast Ken! Yes I've spoken to chaps who used to work on them. The East Kent ones had a motorised Setright ticket machine to 'try' to make life easier.

[@MelanieRuck-dq5uo]

Another excellent video. East Kent - so, it's probably our local NBC subsidiary, East Midland, next? Incidentally, my husband is a bit dismayed and depressed at the moment because he discovered yesterday that a very dilapidated 1966, East Midland Leyland Lowlander, the last one of the eighteen, is for sale in Germany and he doesn't have the requested £15,000. And even if he did have the money, I wouldn't let him spend it on that!

[@JakeSCOC]

@@MelanieRuck-dq5uo Why thank you Melanie. Yes it most certainly will be East Midland. No pressure on me at all eh? 🤣 Aw yes I know how your husband feels. I quite often see things like that. All you can do is hope the Lottery Gods are looking in your direction.... Spoiler: they never are!

[@MelanieRuck-dq5uo]

@@JakeSCOC Thank you for your lovely response - and good luck with your MCW Metroliner campaign.

[@JakeSCOC]

@@MelanieRuck-dq5uo Thank you Melanie. Another example of me hoping the Lottery Gods will be looking down on me.

[@kristinajendesen7111]

Be interesting to see a Wilts & Dorset one. Awful lot of changes in the short time I was there. VRs, REs, LHs, DMSs, Nationals, Crossville 💩, livery change, introduction of Olympians, Skippers - which thankfully I never drove and privatisation which caused me to leave for the railway - BR in 1987. Best decision ever.

[@JakeSCOC]

@@kristinajendesen7111 Unfortunately Wilts and Dorset are right down the bottom of the list...

[@marksinthehouse1968]

Remember Margate and brand new willowbrook VRs in the 70s what year Jake 77-78?,and why did Maidstone have large numbers on their front roof domes thanks Mark 😊😊

[@JakeSCOC]

@@marksinthehouse1968 Hi Mark. Yes the first Willowbrooks were delivered in 1977 and the second batch in 1978. The large fleet numbers on the Maidstone and District buses was so they could be identified by the CCTV at the Pentagon Shopping Centre in Chatham. 😊👍🏼

[@marksinthehouse1968]

@@JakeSCOCcheers Jake for the info 😊

[@johnmontgomery9149]

If memory serves me correctly I think I’ve seen photos of Glasgow and Edinburgh Corporations with Morris Commercial DD’s.

[@JakeSCOC]

@@johnmontgomery9149 Interesting. I'll have to look into it a bit more.

[@PaddyWV]

Interesting you say Stagecoach "Invested heavily" when they took over. I don't know if it was personal gridges but when I spoke to local drivers on Hastings services in the early 90's they seemed to hate their new management and bitterly complained about a lowering of standards of servicing. No more so than when our Leyland National 2 broke down and the driver protested that he'd reported a fault but was told to take it out anyway.

[@JakeSCOC]

@@PaddyWV They did bring in new (and newer but not new!) buses. These ranged from ex London and Cumberland motors to brand new. Stagecoach certainly wasn't popular with it's staff. In East Kent they closed all the Social Clubs down and sold off a lot of garages which was seen as asset stripping by some. There's been many strikes in the past over pay and conditions too.

[@johnmontgomery9149]

A question that regularly comes to my mind is what was the significance of the full fronted deckers? I could never really understand the reasoning for it as in my opinion would only hamper maintenance.

[@JakeSCOC]

@@johnmontgomery9149 Yes it does hamper maintenance and don't believe what people tell you that it's easier to maintain a front engine bus... Trust me. They were a vain attempt to make a bus look modern from what I understand.

[@highpath4776]

Odd operations, - the London Bus tender for the 22 bus in East London. The "Hoverlloyd" and Sealink contracts at Dover and similar ports some with special liveried Leyland Nationals as well as coaches, and the previously mentioned Thanet Open Top summer services,

[@JakeSCOC]

@@highpath4776 Yes there were a few quirks wasn't there?

[@highpath4776]

F Reg Front Engine buses, contemporary with the last routemasters(RMLs) and the odd smattering of things for Pontypridd UDC and similar

[@JakeSCOC]

@@highpath4776 It was an interesting time wasn't it? A few years later saw the arrival of the Leyland National which was poles apart...

[@PaddyWV]

You forgot "Patio of London"! 🙂

[@JakeSCOC]

@@PaddyWV Ha! That's exactly what we call it now.

[@a11csc]

😊😊👍👍❤❤

[@JakeSCOC]

@@a11csc Thanks Chris 👍🏼👍🏼

[@sameyers2670]

I wonder how many ex NBC companies moved away from NBC Poppy Red or Leaf Green straight away

[@JakeSCOC]

@@sameyers2670 A few did but some cleverly adapted them with other colours.

[@kevanhubbard9673]

Don't try telling Sir Boris Johnson or his sidekicks Kent's the gateway to Europe or he might give you a ride out on one of his Borismasters back to the 1950's!

[@JakeSCOC]

@@kevanhubbard9673 🤣🤣🤣 Could be worse. Could be Jacob Rees-Mogg in a B type taking you back to 1920!

[@howardsherwood8834]

Wacher & Co. of Herne Bay is pronounced ‘waycher’ not ‘watcher’!

[@JakeSCOC]

@@howardsherwood8834 I never knew that.