A Bus Parade

I didn’t realise I was such a nerd until today! 
 
Bus service started in the Thames Valley 100 years ago (July 31st to be exact) and today there was an event to commemorate this, with a display of vintage buses.  It began with a cavalcade of buses from Maidenhead to Reading (the original route), and it passed through Twyford, just at the end of the road where I live.  Many local people came out to enjoy the spectacle.  I missed the first few as they came past earlier than expected, but I saw the last 5 beginning with the main picture.  The other 4 can be seen in the ‘extra photos’.
 
These were going to be on display for the rest of the day in Reading, where they were joining some other vintage buses from various eras.  There were also some buses that were going to be giving free bus rides back and forth to Maidenhead.  I so enjoyed seeing them go past, that I decided to make a quick trip into Reading on the train (8 min) to see more.   I would have liked to have gone on a bus ride, but I had afternoon plans so my time was too short.
 
Once I got to Reading there was plenty to see and take pictures of.  I wish I knew more about each of the buses on display and those giving rides.  There are more pictures in this Flickr album, some with titles if I knew what they were.  Some of the buses were obviously from the 60s and 70s and they look somewhat familiar from my childhood.  What was also interesting was to see the buses in front of 3 different eras of Reading Railway Station.  I’ve added 3 pictures in my Extra photos that show this. 
 
One of the fun parts of my outing was meeting Arthur and John, 2 bus-spotting pals, who you will see in the last extra photo. I'd been watching these two for awhile and was finally able to have a conversation with them. A dog always helps in striking up a conversation! John said he was a bus driver in Reading in the 1960s. We spoke about how bus travel had changed in the years since I arrived in Reading in 1972. Arthur goes everywhere with John. 14 years old, he's very happy to hide in the zipped up shopping trolley, so they can sneak into shops where he'd probably not be allowed!  There are a few more pictures of them in the Flickr album.


Extra photo 1 – More vintage buses passing through Twyford
 
Extra photo 2 – Buses in front of the ‘old’ Reading Station building, designed by Brunel and built in 1860, now The Three Guineas Pub.
 
Extra photo 3 - Buses in front of the ‘new’ Reading Station concourse, costing £20m, and opened by the Queen in 1989.  It included a small shopping arcade called Brunel Arcade after the designer of the previous building.
 
Extra photo 4 – The very first Thames Valley bus, in front of the ‘current’ Reading Station Terminus, opened in 2014 by the Queen, (again) a year earlier than planned (!!), after a 5-year, £850m project.
 
Extra photo 5 – Bus Spotter John and his little pal, Arthur (actually, probably my favourite picture of the day!)