The Grade 1-listed church of St. Mary the Virgin, Kidlington, north of Oxford. The spire is 160 ft (50m) tall.
May 1985
Yashica FR-1 camera
Kodak Ektachrome 100 film.
Tags: English parish church church spire our lady’s needle grade 1 listed Kidlington church st Mary the Virgin kidlington Oxfordshire kidlington
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City of Oxford Motor Services was one of several National Bus Company subsidiaries that took the MCW DR130 Metroliner double-decker coach between 1983 and 1985 for express services. Most were painted in National Express white, but COMS used this eye-catching Oxford Blue, white and yellow livery. It bears the hallmark of designer Ray Stenning.
The Oxford CityLink 190 service offered a fast and comfortable run to and from London via the M40 motorway, much superior to the life-expired and rattly DMUs that British Rail provided at the time. The weak link was chronic traffic congestion in West London, which regularly played havoc with schedules.
After being displaced from Oxford CityLink services, Metroliner B901XJO was converted to open- top by Ensign and had a lengthy afterlife as a London sightseeing bus.
May 1985
Yashica FR-1 camera
Kodak Ektachrome 100 film.
Tags: best impressions National bus company motorway express Ray stenning dr130 metroliner London express service 190 mcw metroliner nbc city of Oxford motor services mcw Oxford citylink b901xjo
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Throughout the 1970s and into the 1980s, Duple Coachbuilders and Plaxton’s went head-to-head in a battle for market domination. It was a battle that Plaxton’s ultimately won, with Duple bowing out of the market in 1989. Poor build quality is widely believed to have harmed Duple’s sales in the end, but Plaxton’s did not smell of violets either. Both companies had benefitted from large orders from the National Bus Company up to the mid-1980s, but once this business dried up, harsher realities prevailed, especially as the private coach sector had turned to Continental European suppliers, notably Van Hool and Caetano. Plaxton’s remains in the market today, but only as a minor player.
In happier times, the rival coach designs could be compared as in this scene at Gloucester Green Bus Station, Oxford. The South Midland Leyland Tiger at the left (EBW106Y) carries Duple Dominant II coachwork. Alongside is a Leyland PSU3 Leopard (NEL114P), by then nearly one decade old, carrying Plaxton Elite Express coachwork. It carries the colours of the recently-revived Wilts & Dorset company.
May 1985
Yashica FR-1 camera
Kodak Ektachrome 100 film.
Tags: Duple dominant ebw106y nel114p wilts & dorset south midland express coach Plaxton elite Leyland psu3 Leyland leopard Leyland tiger National bus company nbc bus station Gloucester green oxford oxford
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Middlesex churches tended to be modest, not very ornate affairs, and in a general absence of building stone, they tended to be built of flint. Enfield’s original parish church dates mainly from the 14th century, but was much rebuilt in later years. It is Grade II* listed.
June 1985
Yashica FR-1 camera
Kodak Ektachrome 100 film.
Tags: st andrew’s Enfield English parish church middlesex enfield
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Dating from the 18th and 19th centuries, when Enfield was a Middlesex outpost and before it was subsumed into Greater London’s outer suburbia.
June 1985
Yashica FR-1 camera
Kodak Ektachrome 100 film.
Tags: gentleman’s row Enfield village London gentleman’s row middlesex Enfield
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