05-Mar-2008, 03:06 PM
Jim - wishing the Model Transport Exhibition every success, as I am sure it will be.
Continuing with the Leyland bus theme, have you ever been to Malta? We went twice in the late 1980's, and on both occasions the transport between airport and hotel was on what must be the oldest single-decker Leyland buses in existence! They had no doors, hard leather seats, and no suspension...thank goodness there was a chrome bar (like a handrail) across the back of the seating, otherwise passengers would either have slid, or been bounced off their seats! It was like being on the big-dipper without a safety bar to hold you in. We stayed at the northern tip of the island, nothing else there but the hotel and the ferry to Gozo, and a concrete bus shelter....on Friday evenings, the bus shelter was used as a 'week-end holiday home' by Maltese families (about 8 people), they simply put a rope across the open front, slung a blanket over for privacy, set up an oil-drum barbeque outside, and caught fish from the end of the jetty . I'll bet those buses are still in use!!
Continuing with the Leyland bus theme, have you ever been to Malta? We went twice in the late 1980's, and on both occasions the transport between airport and hotel was on what must be the oldest single-decker Leyland buses in existence! They had no doors, hard leather seats, and no suspension...thank goodness there was a chrome bar (like a handrail) across the back of the seating, otherwise passengers would either have slid, or been bounced off their seats! It was like being on the big-dipper without a safety bar to hold you in. We stayed at the northern tip of the island, nothing else there but the hotel and the ferry to Gozo, and a concrete bus shelter....on Friday evenings, the bus shelter was used as a 'week-end holiday home' by Maltese families (about 8 people), they simply put a rope across the open front, slung a blanket over for privacy, set up an oil-drum barbeque outside, and caught fish from the end of the jetty . I'll bet those buses are still in use!!