Driving down Stockton Street this morning and stopped at lights near the Clansman.
From around the corner came a bus in red and cream livery with the Hartlepool crests on in shiny new paint …..one of Stagecoaches of course, but must be in a commemorative livery for some reason, could be the 150th anniversary of public transport in the town.
Took me back in time and looked well smart with their normal buses now looking like a design for lady’s toiletry ’accessories’.

someone posted something on facebook about it yesterday. I think you a correct in your assumption.

One of the guys I know down here in Woking used to travel to Hartlepool to fix the buses. I'll mention it to him next time i see him. Chances are he was working on the red and cream liveried ones. He's retired now and has got himself a bus to restore as a hobby.

Only because I remember taking my two lads agreed 7 and 4 to an open day down at the bus depot in Lynn Street to celebrate the 100 th anniversary in 1984.

I was on a bus the other day and it broke down. Got chatting to the driver and he said the bus had 500,000 on the clock but we were getting some new buses. Yippee!
But he said they would be handy-downs from Stockton and Sunderland as they are getting new electric buses.
Why not us?

Some of the last ‘new’ buses had 04 plates from Rotherham…20 year old.
Electric buses for Hartlepool…. You mad hopeless optimist, we’ll be getting those ultimate green buses with horses pulling them.

Might be a preserved Bristol RE. Hartlepool had a flash of them. My brother co-owned one for a bit. Think it was the one that was painted yellow for a couple of years sponsoring a flooring company. They were the ones that had "Shop at Binns" painted on the back and had santa on top of one of them at Christmas.

Was it one of those that was the "Santa Bus"

No, it’s an Enviro 200…15 reg.

The low flying Santa that every time it went past the old Clarence Road stand cured a drunk when spotted ….. the bus was hidden by the wooden fence but Santa was doing nearly thirty.

Remember it well.........it was magic!

The preserved RELL6L is still in the Stagecoach depot, think it was No 93 JAJ293N

I remember it driving past the ground during a night match- circa '92 and a clearance hit the Santa bus as it drove past. Sure the game finished 0-0 against someone like Exeter and that was the highlight of the evening!

There was two Santa buses, one was the sled and the other was the roof with Santa climbing out of the chimney.

Sure me and the Flamboro' gang went to that.

And a big cheer always went up.

Aye, happy days.

years ago somebody owned a late 30,s WHCT leyland double decker. is it still around, stored or gone for scrap now.

half a million on the clock was about the norm for a service bus with a 15 to 20 year old lifespan. goodness knows the mileage of some of those preserved london routemasters that turn up at every bus rally i attend. actually i for one are sick of the sight of seeing them.

Still going strong.

My uncle drove one in East London…when he transitioned from the RT buses to the Routemasters he went round a roundabout twice when he first encountered power steering.

Won't that make it the 140 year anniversary then not 150

Double post

My big thumb strikes again…aye 140 years.