Herne Bay and Margate in 1979

[JFO]

Armed with daily National Bus Company Wanderbus Tickets (All day, any NBC subsidiary for £3.49 he seems to recall), and no fixed stopping points, Martyn Hearson toured the Southern Counties of Britain in 1979, and on a July visit to Herne Bay Promenade he found East Kent Willowbrook bodied AEC Reliance 8130 OJG130F about to depart for Brighton on Route 026, while a much older Duple Commander IV AEC Coach UFN483H wearing "National" White, was seen heading through Herne Bay High Street not far from East Kent's Garage, when the vehicle would have been about ten years old.

Martyn has also visited Margate several times over the years, and on the same 1979 trip he encountered a Maidstone & District Duple Viceroy AEC Coach DKK696K on the seafront, a vehicle Martyn says was new to an independent operator absorbed by Maidstone & District, though he doesn't know which one, does anyone know?

[Neil Gow]

DKK 696K was ex Cox (Streamline Coaches) of Maidstone. This is of course well documentted in the M&D Fleet History, and also I think in comments on other pictures of it on Flickr. Well done for identifying it correctly as a Viceroy, I've seen it referred to as a Commander also!

[JFO]

Thanks, but Martyn identified it as a Viceroy, my knowledge of most of this stuff is limitted to what he posted in his captions on Flickr...