Eastern Coach Works, known as ECW, was based in Lowestoft in Suffolk. The history of ECW goes back several decades, though in this book we pay tribute to buses and coaches bodied during the sixties, seventies and eighties. Originally formed by United Automobile Services, the Lowestoft operation was passed on to the Eastern Counties Omnibus Company in 1931. By 1969 ECW was jointly owned by the National Bus Company and British Leyland, with the latter taking full control in 1982. ECW bodies ...

With photos taken in Yorkshire, Greater Manchester, the West Country, London and beyond, Peter Horrex takes the reader on an illuminating tour around England’s modern bus scene, covering a period of almost thirty years. During this time there has not only been a fascinating selection of vehicles but also a dizzying variety of operators and liveries that have come and gone in the wake of deregulation. With a selection of previously unpublished images, this is an interesting and valuable sna...

The Eastern Counties Omnibus Company came about by the amalgamation of four companies – the Peterborough Electric Traction Company, Ortona Motor Company Limited, the eastern operating area of United Automobile Services and the Eastern Counties Road Car Company of Ipswich. Registered on 14 July 1931, Eastern Counties was part of the Tilling Group until the Transport Act of 1968, which announced the formation of the National Bus Company. This was to take effect from 1 January 1969. Eastern C...

The Leyland National was conceived as a joint venture between British Leyland and the National Bus Company to replace all the rear-engined single-deckers in the British Leyland Group – the AEC Swift, Leyland Panther, Daimler Roadliner, single-deck Daimler Fleetline, and Bristol RE. The Leyland National was built at a new factory at Lillyhall in Cumbria and had several novel features, including integral construction, a sophisticated heating and ventilation system that meant a rear pod on th...