It's a while since I've featured any Malta Route buses, real or otherwise. The 'Manchester' style Park Royal-bodied Leyland Panther Cub has been on my list of fictional types for some time, but a suitable base image has eluded me. This is an adaptation of a Roe-bodied Leyland Panther, which isn't exact in every detail (look closely and you may see that it still has the Panther badge). The Panther would have been too long for Maltese regulations, hence my interest in the (shorter) Panther Cub. Whilst I've opted for a rather plain livery style, I've incorporated the cantrail 'flash' from the Australian example featured elsewhere in my Flickr collection (01-Oct-11).
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Tags: Leyland Panther Cub Roe Malta Route Bus
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The markings and registration for this fictional airside coach were copied from one of the left-hand Drive MANs that superseded Air Malta’s former Reading Corporation Bristol RELLs. In both cases, it was probably a case of whatever was available at the right price, the low-floor and dual-doors of the MANs being more important for airside use than the driving position. With many of the type with route bus operators on the island, the AEC Swift would have benefitted from readily-available spares and local know-how (updated 17-Sep-23).
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Tags: airside coach AEC Swift Park Royal Air Malta London Transport
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This image show a normal-control Thames Trader with Zammit body in pre-1977 Sliema route livery. The Trader replaced the highly successful Fordson Thames ET7, which soldiered on as one of the iconic Maltese bus types for half a century. The normal-control Trader, which utilised a Ford Koln (Germany) bonnet assembly, was later badged as the Ford K-Series. Whereas the contemporary Bedford J-Type became commonplace as a truck in Malta, the Trader only achieved success in forward-control form (24-May-11).
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Tags: Malta bus Sliema Route Brincat Thames Trader
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The Mellieha Route ran from Valletta to the town of its name and onwards to Ghadira Bay and the Gozo Ferry terminal at Cirkewwa, with a couple of minor branches. It was the longest route with an allocation of 34 buses in 1955 - including normal-control Austins, Bedfords and Comers - in its distinctive white and blue livery. This livery was one of three that survived the route grouping of 1973, being adopted the new Group B that served the north of the island until the three groups were amalgamated in the island-wide scheme of 1977. This Thames Trader is, of course, fictional - no such buses ran in Malta - but the livery is intended as an accurate representation, although white hubs would have been more typical (24-Dec-23).
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Tags: Malta Bus Mellieha Route Bus Thames Trafer NC Brincat
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This image is different in that the only digital modification is a minor background change (the sign to left of the bus, which was obscured by the bus in the original view, has been cloned from another image). It was first published as part of my techniques set as the basis for a discussion around the ethics digital manipulation, hence some of the comments that appear below.
With regard to the image itself, this was taken in April 2005 near the Maltese village of Bharija during a very memorable trip with Malta Bus Handbook author Tom Johnson. I had requested a photo stop at this particular location, but it was not possible to include the aforementioned sign in the composition that I wanted. The East Lancs-bodied Dennis Falcon had originated with Hynburn Transport in the UK (update 27-Nov-13).
See my complete set of Maltese buses here:
www.flickr.com/photos/northernblue109/sets/72157626237269...
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Tags: Malta Bus East Lanc Dennis Falcon
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