The tgpresence

The past year has been very enjoyable but always there was the conflict between what was wanted and what was possible. There never was enough time. So in 2009 you will see changes that will release time seeing I cannot create any more!

Terry Partridge.

Being a bus enthusiast in Plymouth is made so much more interesting and entertaining when you have people like Terry Partridge around. His knowledge and his photo archive is amazing and his enthusiasm for his own fleet of buses, and helping others preserve theirs by sharing his knowledge he is well respected by enthusiasts and operators alike.

If you want to keep up with Terry then he has a great set of blogs on the go for 2009:
tgprojects - His jottings!

tgpreserved - Keep up with his fleet
tgphotos - photos  lots of them - on just about anything - but always interesting!
tgphotos - five a day - even more photos!

TGP Flickr account - nearly 14000 photos and counting!

 

The fact that he credits me with his introduction to blogging is a source of great pride!!

A very special Dart

Its a very nice coincidence that this is the 1000th posting to Plymothian Transit as today I was invited for a ride in Terry Partridge's Dennis Dart L401VCV which was Western National's first Dennis Dart. As you can see externally it has been finished to a very high standard to brand new condition. Internally it has a way to go but is still a decent bus and no worse than many buses still in everyday service. A real credit to Terry and his helpers.



Final preparations before setting off



Terry looks on as we stop at Kingsbridge. The blind was set this way to avoid confusing passengers for the real 93 which was following us.



There would have been a lot more photos taken but the weather was really bad today and this evening. Raining almost all the time, low visibility misty drizzle, high winds in places, not ideal for a run along the coast. I will post a few more photos tomorrow.



Zak prepares to drive us home!
Thanks to Terry and everyone else on the trip for a great evening. Thanks also to everyone who reads and encourages me with this blog. Post 1001 tomorrow!

Flags or tickets?

As its fairly quiet at the moment I am posting a few 'double billings' mainly using other peoples photos from the Flickr Universe. Both of tonights come from Terry Partridge TGPhotos collection (Creative Commons) If you want to see more like these then visit to his Flickr Stream is well worth the effort.

Above we see C792FRL one of the infamous bread vans which served the Western National area for many years. By the time this photo was taken the bus had received the excellent 'flags' livery although Badgerline preferred to call it 'tickets'. Its a shame that this livery didnt really last that long before it got watered down and then eventually replaced by corporate First livery. I always thought that this livery style would have made an excellent corporate livery style.

L401VCV is seen when new in the flags livery. The good news is that this bus will one day soon reappear in these flags as Terry liked this bus so much - he bought it! More photos of this bus being restored on his Flickr site

Both Photos ©TGPhotos

The Fifty

by Terry Partridge

Terry has been busy posting pictures with a great new set of long distance photos. This one caught my eye, partly because I think its a great shot, but also because its where I live. My house is actually hidden by the trees on the lower left hand side of this photo which shows 'my bus' the 50 turning from Keswick Crescent onto Miller Way where it will then make a sharp turn left onto the Asda complex. With a full load this hillcan take a while to climb with the older step entrance Darts being struggling the most. The Volvo double deckers seem to find it a lot easier! although these are rare these days.

L401VCV TGP

The first Dart for Western National (ignoring the Red Bus fleet) is now in the safe hands of Terry Partridge 'Inner Circle Group' and will soon be in for her MOT. This is just one of many photos of Terrys fleet which can be found on his new Flickr acount.

He has also started a new blog which can be found here. If you want to see quality photos then head to Terrys pages!