Bus spotters.

I only just found out there’s a whole forum for West Midlands bus spotters, with a thread all about the depot where I work.
http://wmbusphotos.com/forum/index.php?topic=2333.0

It’s quite amusing reading all the speculation about why a particular bus has appeared at, or disappeared from, our depot, why it’s parked up outside or in the workshop, or why it’s been put on a particular route.

It is a bit strange though, to think that while we are simply doing our job, trying to get 26 buses out the gate every morning and home again without breaking down, there are people looking through the fence, writing down fleet numbers and recording everything that goes on.

I’ve known about this one for a while, http://www.reddibus.com/Diamond%20-%20Dart.htm , which is not much more than a simple fleet list.

We had Ambulance spotters camped outside our station for a few weeks the other week. Taking pics of the vehicles as they came and went.

Everyone needs a hobby I suppose.

My father in law runs a coach company (also runs buses for stage services) & often gets slightly odd blokes asking which area the bus came from.

I was accosted in Chester bus depot by a gentleman with lots of photography equipment asking questions about the Volvo B10B chassis. The fitters said he was always asking them to move the buses so he could get a better camera angle.
Used to see them outside Buchanan St bus station as well, snapping everything that went in or out.

We had Ambulance spotters camped outside our station for a few weeks the other week

😆

Really? Geddafookouddahere…

(Actually, I believe you.)

Some weirdos stand for hours at the side of road to watch just a couple of seconds worth of bike riders going past

Friend of mine owns a Midland Scottish Leyland Leopard and Glasgow Corpy Atlantean and takes them out for occasional drives. Seems an expensive and unusual hobby to have but you couldn’t meet a nicer bloke. He also rides bikes, weirdo!

They do have their uses – a few times I’ve been trying to date or locate some old pictures, and if there’s a bus in the image you can google the bus number or license plate and find out where and when the image was taken.

We were on a rather nice Stobarts coach last year, it popped into the depot to refuel and there was a load of Stobart spotters taking photos of anything that moved!

One of the contractors struggled to believe anyone would stand all day spotting a haulage firm!

One of the contractors struggled to believe anyone would stand all day spotting a haulage firm!

I’ve seen the Stobart spotters spend an entire bank holiday weekend sitting on an industrial estate in Carlisle taking photo’s of trucks and jotting down registration numbers 😯

It’s no worse than train spotting or plane spotting though, is it?

Yeah, once new route contract starts you tend to get brand new buses and plenty of bus spotters. Recently we got new buses, and there are few spotters snapping away.

I tend to flash and toot them, so it cheers them up. The?re harmless.

When my mate was a second man(freight guard) on the railways, he used to hang his coat out the loco cab window to partially obscure the number when passing through stations. Cue lots of shaking fists & general fury from the assembled train spotters.

My father in law runs a coach company (also runs buses for stage services) & often gets slightly odd blokes asking which area the bus came from.

Tell him to say hello next time we meet.

Absolutely nothing wrong talking pics of buses and trucks along with locos, real mens big toys they are.

We had Ambulance spotters camped outside our station for a few weeks the other week.

Really? People taking an interest in ambulance vehicles in a more than will-the-CCT6-trolley-fit manner? 😛

Bus docu soap next friday on channel 5

When my mate was a second man(freight guard) on the railways, he used to hang his coat out the loco cab window to partially obscure the number when passing through stations. Cue lots of shaking fists & general fury from the assembled train spotters.

Except it’s on the front, and on anything bar steam locos it’s on the other end too…

project – Member

“My father in law runs a coach company (also runs buses for stage services) & often gets slightly odd blokes asking which area the bus came from.”

Tell him to say hello next time we meet.

Absolutely nothing wrong talking pics of buses and trucks along with locos, real mens big toys they are.

Don’t worry Paul he would probably talk for hours to you, don’t stray onto tractors though as you would be there for the rest of your life 😉

Actually I went to view a couple of double decker’s for him in Birkenhead that he bought

we get regular visits from this group http://www.thefirebrigadesociety.co.uk/%5B/url%5D They know all vehicle reg no’s power of trucks etc etc etc. 😯 😯

njee20 – Member

When my mate was a second man(freight guard) on the railways, he used to hang his coat out the loco cab window to partially obscure the number when passing through stations. Cue lots of shaking fists & general fury from the assembled train spotters.

Except it’s on the front, and on anything bar steam locos it’s on the other end too…

Not on the class 31’s it wasn’t.

when i did the park and ride at perth, there were regularly bus spotters on the bus, or standing taking pics.
the vehicles we used were quite rare (cos the engines were crap, and got discontinued quickly) and one day a guy appeared, wore silicone gloves to take the ticket, sat right up the back over the engine and set up his reel to reel tape recorder to record the whole journey.
not my cup of tea at all, possibly because i drive em, but honestly what harm are they doing?
live and let live.

Some saddos do that with bike rides and car journeys.

Nothing wrong with me.

I didn’t mean to imply that I thought there was anything wrong with being a bus spotter.
As hobbies go, standing outside your local bus depot, writing numbers in a notebook, is no worse than driving hundreds of miles of miles to watch 11 blokes you’ve never met kick a ball around a field. I’ve never understood why one is considered normal and one is not.

like I said, I just find it amusing that while we have got a bus in the workshop for example, and I know why it’s there because I am doing the repairs on it, there is a thread on a bus spotter forum where they are all trying to guess what’s going on.
Yes, I know I could join the forum and give them some inside information, but I think that would just lead to me getting a non stop stream of questions about fleet numbers, repairs, routes and allocations, when it’s just a job to me.

Yes, I know I could join the forum and give them some inside information, but I think that would just lead to me getting a non stop stream of questions about fleet numbers, repairs, routes and allocations, when it’s just a job to me.

You can’t just leave us that way, spill the beans – why does T418 MNH look to be in so much better condition than its younger counterparts???

Dunno, but I’ve heard it’s being sold soon, which is why it’s the only bus in our fleet not repainted in blue or black Diamond livery.

Yes, I know I could join the forum and give them some inside information, but I think that would just lead to me getting a non stop stream of questions about fleet numbers, repairs, routes and allocations, when it’s just a job to me.

Could be a nice little earner there for you – a subscription only West Midlands Bus mechanics blog!

Dunno, but I’ve heard it’s being sold soon, which is why it’s the only bus in our fleet not repainted in blue or black Diamond livery.

Fascinating! And to think that some people wonder what appeal bus spotting could hold???

njee20 – Member

When my mate was a second man(freight guard) on the railways, he used to hang his coat out the loco cab window to partially obscure the number when passing through stations. Cue lots of shaking fists & general fury from the assembled train spotters.

Except it’s on the front, and on anything bar steam locos it’s on the other end too…
Depends when this was, if it was the 8o’s most locos had their number on the sides once only, only in the 90’s did they get numbers on the front, but still only one number on the side.

Fascinating!…

Exactly. I suspect there is a bus industry media blackout conspiracy going on.
Why else would this be conspicuously absent from the papers, when some bloke kicking a ball past another bloke in to a net is headline news?

And to settle the other dispute, Class 31 images.