Taken 10/07/16 at the Hants and Dorset Centenary event at Poole Quay; I'll start with some uploads of the ex-Hants and Dorset vehicles.
Growing up in London, Bristol vehicles were somewhat alien to me, yet 5,200 Lodekkas were built with the design being a step change in that it ended ".. the uncomfortable and inconvenient Lowbridge double-deck bus layout, replacing it by lowering the chassis frame and integrating it with the body and fitting a drop-centre rear axle..." [from Wiki].
Tags: KRU 224F
Taken 10/07/16 at the Hants and Dorset Centenary event at Poole Quay; by and large it was difficult to get a clear shot of the various Hants and Dorset vehicles. Somewhat of a shame, but I've several snaps to upload of the 'foreigners' that attended the event.
Taken 10/07/16 at the Hants and Dorset Centenary event. At this point No. 1450 was in the car park to the east of the Bus Station.
No. 1450 was renumbered 9090 and ended its days with H&D as a trainer and was probably finally withdrawn in 1985.
Taken 10/07/16 at the Hants and Dorset Centenary event at Poole Quay; it is appropriate to follow snaps of Hants and Dorset Lodekkas with Wilts and Dorset VRTs for two reasons:
Firstly the introduction of of more modern one person operated (although at the time the description was one man operated) buses, such as the Bristol VRT displaced the Lodekkas. As an example Wiki highlights that the "... urgency with which the National Bus Company wanted to convert operations to one man operated double deck vehicles led to the unusual exchange of 91 Lodekkas of the newest FLF type with a similar number of older Bristol VRT (rear engined and front entrance suitable for one man operation) double decks from the Scottish Bus Group which was keen to have the more reliable older design."
Secondly the history of Hants and Dorset and Wilts and Dorset is intertwined. As Wiki explains " ... in 1963 the management of Wilts & Dorset passed to Hants & Dorset, a neighbouring state-owned bus company. In 1969 both companies became part of the National Bus Company and in October 1972 were merged under the Hants & Dorset name with the Wilts & Dorset name ceasing to be used. The Transport Act 1985 led to the privatisation of the National Bus Company. In preparation for privatisation, in April 1983 Hants & Dorset was split into three operating companies, one of which was Wilts & Dorset Bus Company. The new Wilts & Dorset company's operating area was considerably larger than its older namesake, including Swanage, Poole, Bournemouth, Lymington and Salisbury, although not Basingstoke. Depots were located in Blandford Forum, Lymington, Pewsey, Poole, Ringwood, Salisbury and Swanage."
Taken 10/07/16 at the Hants and Dorset Centenary event at Poole Quay; appropriately No. 4413 was new to Hants & Dorset in 1979 as their No. 3413. It then passed to Wilts and Dorset 1983 moved on again to Damory Coaches.