{"title":"Books by Cliff Beeton","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9781398121799","title":"D\u0026G Bus","description":"\u003cp\u003eFew people would have envisaged that when the fledgling D\u0026amp;G Bus commenced operations in April 1998 with four vehicles that twenty-five years later it would become larger than its neighbour, First Potteries. Its journey has seen expansion through acquisitions of other local bus operators and an increase in tendered services following the collapse of other firms.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRationalisation by Arriva in Cannock, Macclesfield and Winsford provided more opportunities for further growth outside the existing area. Although becoming part of Centrebus in 2019, D\u0026amp;G Bus continues to be run as a separate entity with its two-tone red livery only recently being replaced with a red, blue and yellow scheme applied in the Centrebus style. Over the years the fleet has been diversified, initially with van-derived minibuses followed by Dennis Darts with various bodywork and Optare and Alexander Dennis vehicles, many purchased new.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn this book Cliff Beeton’s fine selection of photographs illustrates the rich and varied story of D\u0026amp;G Bus over the last twenty-five years.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56298017358197,"sku":"9781398121799","price":15.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781398121799_7bf121a8-6ec2-4edb-b81d-0a6b505c93fc.jpg?v=1786018239"},{"product_id":"9781398113657","title":"Independent Buses Around Stoke-on-Trent","description":"In this book, Cliff Beeton looks at the plethora of independent operators that have, alongside PMT, provided bus services in and around Stoke. Operators featured here include Berresfords, Stoniers and Turners, who were later swallowed up by the ever-expanding PMT, and the likes of Procters, Pooles Coachways and Stevensons, who eventually fell by the wayside or were sold to larger groups.Local coach operators like Bakers of Biddulph, Copelands, Scraggs, Ladyline and Stanways expanded into buses after deregulation, alongside new starters like Knotty Bus, Wardle Transport, D\u0026amp;G Bus, RML Travel, Midland Classic, Stantons of Stoke, and Select Bus Services. These all added further variety to the local bus scene.With previously unpublished images throughout, this book celebrates the variety of buses in and around the city.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56298094559605,"sku":"9781398113657","price":15.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781398113657_9f0436e0-e075-48bf-8d0a-6d1b212d1855.jpg?v=1786017940"},{"product_id":"9781398121836","title":"Railways Around the Potteries","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe railways around Stoke-on-Trent have always tended to be overlooked by enthusiasts as they turned their attention to the more glamorous and much busier activities around neighbouring Crewe, but interesting traffic can still be found in the area. Freight has always played its part with the local collieries supplying coal to the power stations and the Shelton Iron \u0026amp; Steel works receiving and dispatching finished products. The local pottery industry also received china clay by rail. Passenger trains were found in the form of local trains to Derby and Crewe and expresses to London, Manchester and the Midlands and the West Country, supplemented at holiday times by specials to Blackpool and North Wales. In the last few decades freight traffic has declined, but with the new Land Recovery site at Pinnox Sidings and the Electromotive locomotive repair works at the former Railfreight depot at Longport the variety has recently increased again. Privatisation has brought a multitude of different liveries to the local rail scene too.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis book takes a look at the changes in the area over the last forty years.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56298437738869,"sku":"9781398121836","price":15.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781398121836_65631a86-88a1-4782-b646-0013fefae8e9.jpg?v=1786018240"},{"product_id":"9781398121850","title":"Potteries Motor Traction: The Red and Yellow Years","description":"\u003cp\u003eFor many people the halcyon days of Potteries Motor Traction was the decade between the management buyout of the company from the National Bus Company in 1986 until the merger of Badgerline and GRT to form First Bus in 1997. The adoption of the bright red-and-yellow livery with a zipper stripe ushered in the new era. Gone were the drab days of the National Bus Company and its poppy-red livery and restrictive practices. Deregulation in October 1986 would unleash new freedoms that would see PMT open depots and outstations at Crewe, Wolverhampton, Moreton, Stockport and Leeds, well outside their traditional operating area, to service recently won tendered services on behalf of other councils. These would be branded Red Rider. The purchase of the Crosville depots at Chester, Birkenhead and Ellesmere Port would take their red-and-yellow buses all over the Wirral and into Liverpool, and the purchase of Pennine Blue would establish operations around Tameside in Manchester.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCliff Beeton presents a vibrant selection of images that tells the fascinating story of Potteries Motor Traction in its heyday.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56298458972533,"sku":"9781398121850","price":15.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781398121850_d1fb19fb-4c28-4d2e-906d-b4b8050fd089.jpg?v=1786018241"},{"product_id":"9781398127982","title":"From Crosville to Oblivion","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn the early 1980s Crosville was one of the largest subsidiaries of the National Bus Company, but this was to change from 1986 as the government of the day declared that Crosville would be split into separate English and Welsh subsidiaries as a prelude to privatisation and deregulation. In 1988 Crosville passed to ATL Holdings who quickly sold off all the newer coaches and some prime estate properties before reselling the company on to Drawlane Holdings in 1989. Drawlane soon divided the bulk of Crosville up piecemeal to neighbouring Drawlane subsidiaries Midland Red, North Western and Bee Line before selling the remaining part on the Wirral and Chester to PMT in 1990.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCliff Beeton looks at the fortunes of the South Cheshire depots at Macclesfield, Congleton, Crewe, Etruria and Northwich and how they fared under separate Drawlane companies, wearing a multitude of different liveries before being reunited under the Arriva brand which would ultimately pull the plug and leave the area in April 2023.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56368755442037,"sku":"9781398127982","price":15.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781398127982_5cf4b5f9-3a3a-4389-b32a-0fac5eafb802.jpg?v=1786018425"},{"product_id":"railways-around-crewe","title":"Railways Around Crewe","description":"\u003cp\u003eWith lines from Derby, Shrewsbury, Holyhead and Manchester all joining up with the West Coast main line from Euston to Glasgow at Crewe, there is certainly plenty of variety for the railway enthusiast in terms of passenger services. Three of the UK’s largest freight operators also have depots in the vicinity of the station, adding to the range of locomotives on offer. The Locomotive Services premises on the site of the former diesel depot gives us a glimpse into the past with its ever-growing fleet of heritage locomotives and coaching stock, maintained to main-line standard. The popular Crewe Heritage Centre is home to a good collection of vintage locomotives too.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCliff Beeton charts the wide array of locomotives and multiple units and the multitude of different liveries that have been part of the railway scene around Crewe over the last forty years or so from the latter days of British Rail up to the present-day privatised railway.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57503792300405,"sku":"9781398130586","price":15.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781398130586.jpg?v=1786867503"}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/author-cliff-beeton.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}