Between the two world wars and in the years that followed, several generations relied on country buses. In the days when few could afford a car, the bus was the medium to move between homes in often remote villages and the places where they increasingly went to school, worked and enjoyed their leisure hours. This is the story of one such chain of villages across the Berkshire Downs — and the family-owned business that grew up around satisfying their needs. George Hedges came back from World War I to become a horse-drawn carrier, but with ambitions to motorise his business. With his family taking the wheel in the 50s and beyond, Reliance extended its reach nationwide and even internationally. The small village where it all started, Brightwalton, woke in the mornings to the cough of diesel engines from both Reliance buses and a relative’s lorries. When both businesses departed, the village lost many of its jobs, its two pubs and very nearly its school. This book is not just for bus lovers but for anyone who looks back with fondness on the era before the motor car choked free movement and changed life.

In 2022, Volvo Bus UK celebrated fifty years of trading in the UK and Ireland. The first right-hand drive B58 chassis arrived on these shores at the end of 1971. The double deck front engine Ailsa came in 1973. Over the next fifty years, the various different models have been upgraded, redesigned, lengthened and fitted with bigger more powerful engines. And now, in 2023, Volvo electric single and double deck models are beginning to appear on UK roads. Volvo Bus is a subsidiary of the Swedish Vehicle builder Volvo AB, with a global presence worldwide. MCV is based in Salheya in Egypt. It was established in 1994 and has the capacity to build up to 6,000 buses and coaches per annum, with up to 5,000 employees. MCV and Volvo are collaborating in the development and building of the electric bus for the UK marketplace.

An interesting look at rare and previously unpublished images of York buses since deregulation in 1986.

Featuring previously unpublished images, Philip Wallis looks back sixty years at the fascinating bus scene of Yorkshire of 1962.

Previously unpublished photographs documenting buses and coaches around the Thames Valley during this interesting period.

AEC, Bristol, Crossley, Daimler, Dennis, Leyland and others were all manufacturers of passenger vehicle chassis which could be seen throughout the country in the years following the end of World War Two. They produced a wide range of double deck and single deck buses and coaches, bodied by a considerable number of body builders. With the exception of Dennis, all those chassis makers have now disappeared, along with nearly all the body builders. In addition, most operators of this variety of vehicles are no longer in existence, being primarily absorbed into larger operations. This book can only give a small indication of the major role Steve and his Quantock Heritage fleet have played in preserving not only part of the engineering history of this country, but its effect also on social history. In practical terms he has displayed this by enabling the general public to see, enjoy, and also use vehicles of a bygone era.