This bus is drawn in memory of Malcolm King who was an inspector at Yorkshire Rider who sadly passed away 3/2/2025 after fighting cancer.

New in October 1974 to West Yorkshire PTE, the bus was originally numbered as 6020 and was part of a growing number of Leyland Atlanteans for the company, all of which with Roe body.

6020 led a very eventful lifetime during the Yorkshire Rider era but first after its original WYPTE livery, 6020 would be repainted into the more simpler and later buttermilk and Verona green livery. It was about this time when the bus was based at Bradford for a time at least. The bus was then prematurely retired only to be rebuilt as a tree lopper with also seeing other use as a driver training vehicle. Instead of wearing the same livery as the jumbo Atlanteans, 6020 would go on to wear a more simplified green and cream livery with red wheels. The bus would also be renumbered as 9339 after its retirement from PCV use.

Despite its early retirement from PCV use, the bus would carry on working through to when First bought over Yorkshire Rider and as a result 9339 would be repainted into the Leeds City Link livery with L-plates with no further branding for it being a driver training vehicle.

The last guise 9339 wore before being retired altogether was in the First driver training blue/magenta/off-white livery whilst still based at Leeds. But 9339 was given a further new use, a mobile ticket office for home football matches which also led to 9339 sporting the Leeds United shield on both sides at the front with branding.

Sadly, 9339 was completely retired in the mid-2000s however that was not the end as the bus was bought for preservation and was eventually repainted back into the Yorkshire Rider colours as seen in the drawing and has since attended a few events in particular in Yorkshire including classic bus events in Leeds with ferrying passengers in its limited seating downstairs as the bus was down-seated in earlier life.

I was fortunate enough to take a photo of this bus whilst on its was back from a running day in Leeds as this bus passed through my street.

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New in March 1996, 577 was new to Black Prince of Morley and was one of a few Mercedes-Benz O405 with Optare Prisma body.

The bus originally wore the livery its most known for as seen in the drawing but minus the maroon border between the red skirt panels and yellow upper body and also had Black Prince lettering on the windscreen but was later removed before the maroon band was applied.

With the other Optare Prismas, 577 was seen on most of Black Prince's routes such as X59, X51 and 87 to name a few.

The bus was sadly withdrawn after Black Prince ceased trading but was later with another independent company called Red Kite as the bus was later repainted into their red/cream livery. Black Prince's 441 was another Optare Prisma which ended up with Red Kite which was latterly with Black Prince.

Speaking of 441, her and 577 were both preserved and were repainted into their Black Prince liveries which they used to carry in their working lives.

Both buses along with no.202 are the only survivors among the Optare Prismas from Black Prince and are still attending open days and other special events in other places around mainly Northern England.

The Optare Prisma saw moderate success across the UK mainly with the Grampian Regional Transport Group and EYMS with some smaller operators too. The Prisma was the most popular body for the Mercedes-Benz O405 with Alexander's and Wrightbus' options not being as popular.

The Prisma can be easily distinguished by the Mercedes-Benz O405 front end whereas the other buses with this style of bodywork featuring Optare's own design. The Mercedes-Benz O405 front end has been seen on the front of Alexander's and Wrightbus' offerings aswell.

Three Prismas still exist to this day in preservation and they're all restored in Black Prince liveries, one of those being 441 which was originally a demonstrator.

There was no official replacement of the Optare Prisma which was produced between 1995 and 1998, the Optare Excel was the low floor alternative despite that also launching back in 1995 and production ceased in 2004. That too was powered by Mercedes-Benz but with their OM906LA engine.

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New in July 1970, West Riding's 261 was one of a large batch of Bristol RELL 3s. The bus was originally painted into the old West Riding colours but was soon renumbered as 298 in November 1971 when only a year old.

298 was later withdrawn in 1982 and didn't see more use until a year later when she became a driver training vehicle carrying number A17, this would continue to be the case until January 1983 whilst painted blue, red and white. Over two years later in March 1985, she moved on to Farnell Instruments Wetherby as a staff bus.

Time for this bus nearly came to a sad end when by April 1989 she was sold to PVS Carlton but is possible she also spent time at Wigley aswell. This was not the end as the bus soon found more life with Independent of Horsforth the following July carrying fleet number 57. By November 1993 the bus was stored at Thornes of Bubwith but a year later in November 1994 she was back in service with Independent of Horsforth.

Once again the bus moved on to find new ownership but this time with Hylton Castle Catch-a-Bus, East Boldon in December 1996 as the following month she wore the Catch-a-Bus livery, however the following November the bus ended up at Kirton Bus and Coach dealership.

In the end, the bus was ultimately retired from revenue earning service and found further life in preservation and is currently stored at Dewsbury Bus Museum. 261 was repainted into the old West Riding livery minus any branding and still is a regular at running days whilst often providing feeder services around West Yorkshire, like back on November 13th 2016 where alongside Yorkshire Traction's 245 performed the 201 feeder service linking Leeds to Dewsbury. Both those buses went through my street on the day and can be found on YouTube. That route is not to be confused with the current day 201 as in 2016 the 201 was numbered as the 221.

The Bristol RELL was launched in 1962 and proved to be a popular type whilst also being Bristol's only front entranced single decker. There were so many variants with some being built to coach spec mainly for National Bus Company operators rivalling Leyland's equally as popular National series.

You can find model versions of the Bristol RE series by EFE if you want to own your own model of one, whilst 261 never got modelled, sister vehicle THL 259H numbered 296 was the one chosen to be modelled.

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New to Yorkshire Traction in 1981 is this lovely Leyland National Mk2 seen in its original (and current) state.

Yorkshire Traction was a loyal customer of Leyland products until Leyland ceased production so various makes and models were ordered, mainly with East Lancs bodies.

245 never left Yorkshire Traction but was seen in a few attractive liveries including this bright red one which it was new in with WYPTE style fleetnames. Later it was seen in a blue and white livery for the County fleet. Soon 245's last livery before withdrawal was the late 80's/early 90's white and red with blue stipped Yorkshire Traction livery which was the new standard livery for YT.

245 was soon withdrawn but wasn't scrapped as per the rest of the fleet. 245 was soon bought for preservation and is stored at the Keighley Bus Museum and has attended various running days particularly around the Yorkshire area as I once managed to video this very bus in all her glory roaring through my street whilst performing the Leeds-Dewsbury feeder service 201 as seen in the drawing. The 201 was an actual conventional bus service which worked alongside the 202 and 203 by Arriva although Yorkshire Traction did work the 201 aswell as stated in my recent photo of their heritage liveried East Lancs bodied B7TL now working the Arlington Centre routes by A&A Travel.

245 was later sporting panels of different Leyland Nationals which was a result of the bus having replaced parts as she was due an overhaul, as in May 2023, 245 has been repainted into the blue/cream County livery looking very smart.

Here's my video of 245 on the 201 Dewsbury Bus Museum feeder service. www.youtube.com/watch?v=86I56OJ8bWU

Just to let you know, unauthorised use of my photos and drawings is strictly prohibited. All my work is done using MS Paint, I don't take images off Google and use on my work unless stated otherwise.

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1993 was a good year for Yorkshire Rider as a large batch of Alexander Striders made their way to Leeds but some also to Halifax although they didn't stay long as the Scanias were only there for small stints like in later life when working the M62 Halifax to White Rose Centre service. Meanwhile Yorkshire Rider in Halifax did get some Alexander Striders to keep but these were built on the Volvo B10B although one did live on to preservation, but not for long as it was scrapped shortly after.

This fleet of Alexander Striders proved very reliable in their long lifetime right up until their last few years in service round about 2008 and 2009 when brand new Wright Volvo single and double deckers replaced them. And within their long lifespan these Alexander Striders wore quite a few liveries including the Superbus livery which was for the guided busway routes going through Scott Hall Road as K1 YRL, no.8635 was on demonstration duties all the way in the German city of Essen working alongside Mercedes-Benz O405GTDs which were using their own guided busway. Because the O405GTD Mercs had been retrofitted with doors on either side, testing the right hand driven Alexander Strider here would have been less harder than first thought.

Besides the Leeds City Link, the Alexander Striders were also seen in a special lilac livery for a free White Rose Centre shuttle around the time the place opened but the service was short lived with the 3/3A and now the 12 being First main links from Leeds, however there was another special White Rose Centre service from Halifax worked by the Striders which was numbered M62 as the livery was based on the Superbus livery purely because some of the ex-Superbus Striders were rebranded, and again, that service was short lived but a similar service returned around the year 2010 using Wright Renowns, again it didn't go down well. In 2001 though the Striders wore the Barbie 2 livery which was left incomplete for months that year but they looked great in the incomplete livery I thought as very few of the Alexander Striders were branded for the 42 route.

Their final guise was in the original Barbie 1 livery and by this time 8601 was later renumbered 61079 as the Barbie 1 livery was later seen on all of First's older buses.

All the Alexander Striders were withdrawn by July 2009 as 8601 was seen in Yorkshire Rider livery with a Leyland Olympian which also made its debut that year for the first time at a bus rally at Elland Road stadium that same year when all of First's other step entry buses in West Yorkshire have been withdrawn including Dennis Darts, Volvo B10Bs and Plaxton minibuses. Out of all the withdrawn single deckers, three Alexander Strider bodied Scanias are known to exist (including 8601), a Plaxton Beaver owned by Stotts, and possibly a few more. As from 2009, First Leeds' single decker fleet was all 100% low floor, but it was only until 2014 when the last step entry double decker was withdrawn in Leeds and only until late 2016 when all of First West Yorkshire withdrew the remaining Volvo Olympians thanks to the DDA deadline.

After its debut in 2009, 8601 has attended a few rallies and open days and is now with its second owner after being sold on Ebay. In March 2016 however, it attended Dewsbury Bus Museum's open day in March working the X70 and the 201 feeder service almost mimicking the Arriva 202/203 MAX service from Leeds to Dewsbury as the route starts off outside the bus station and called at all the stops along the route so with me living along the 201 shuttle service, I could not resist taking a video of the bus going through my street, here she is on video with some people waving on-board, this was the only primary source I've used for a clear interior shot which not only can be seen on YouTube but it was also the only primary shot taken by me. www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJNZsZDQ_LM

This drawing has since been re-uploaded with a few tweaks carried out on it, one being correcting the panelling on the offside roof by painting them light cream, and also the drawing has revised fleetnames with the correct font used for the Yorkshire Rider logo, I found out the font name by using this very website called WhatTheFont which has proven very useful. www.myfonts.com/WhatTheFont/

For people who don't know, I do all my work using only Microsoft Paint, drawing vehicles. I use no other program for scaling or anything else. :-)

**Notice about copyright** It is an offence to steal any of my work, if you do steal, your uploads will be reported, your request if you have one pending will be cancelled and you will be blocked. And this also applies to stealing parts along with stealing whole vehicle drawings.

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