British Buses and Coaches in the 1960s, is an overview of the bus and coach scene during a decade of great social and economic change in Britain's history. This volume looks at the interesting and varied number of bus and coach operators that still existed, before and just after the formation of the National Bus Company in 1968. Jim Blake has compiled an interesting collection of material from his extensive collection of negatives taken during that time, which give a flavour of how things were at that time of great change.

Just as life in Britain generally changed dramatically during the 1960s, so did London Transport's buses and their operations. Most striking was the abandonment of London's trolleybuses, once the world's biggest system, and their replacement by motorbuses. Begun in 1959 using surplus RT-types, it was completed by May 1962 using new Routemasters, designed specifically to replace them. They then continued to replace RT types, too. Traffic congestion and staff shortages played havoc with London Transport's buses and Green Line coaches during the 1960s, one-man operation was seen as a remedy for the latter, shortening routes in the Central Area for the former. Thus the ill-fated "Reshaping Plan" was born, introducing new O.M.O. bus types. These entered trial service in 1965, and after much delay the plan was implemented from September 1968 onwards. Sadly, new MB-types, also introduced in the Country Area, soon proved a disaster! Unfortunately, owing to a government diktat, Routemaster production ended at the start of 1968, forcing LT to buy "off-the-peg" vehicles unsuited to London operation and their in-house overhaul procedures. The decade ended with the loss of LT's Country Area buses and Green Line coaches to the National Bus Company. Photographer Jim Blake began photographing London's buses towards the end of the trolleybus conversion programme in 1961 and continued dealing with the changing scene throughout the decade. He dealt very thoroughly with the "Reshaping" changes, and many of the photographs featured herein show rare and unusual scenes which have never been published before.

This is a book about the transition from steam to diesel and electric traction on British Railways, covering a period from 1960-1970. The author Jim Blake, took a huge number of pictures during this period, covering all aspects of the railway and its operations, both in the London area, where he lived and also around the country. This book looks at the railway scene in decline, trying to come to terms with the post Beeching, post steam era, before a change of political will, that has seen much rail investment in recent times. The volume, not only looks at locomotives and trains, but also the overall railway scene of that decade of great change the 1960s.

During the 1960s, a large number of independent bus and coach fleets existed, which varied enormously in size and scope of operation. They ranged from major operators such as Barton Transport (Nottinghamshire); Lancashire United and West Riding who operated stage carriage services as well as coach fleets; or Wallace Arnold Tours of Leeds, a major coach touring company in Britain and Continental Europe; to small operators who possessed just a handful of vehicles. The latter were sometimes involved only in private hire work, for such things as outings to sporting events or theatres, school or industrial contracts or often a combination of both. Smaller operators were based throughout the country, sometimes in tiny villages but also in the heart of large cities. Often the smaller operators bought redundant buses and coaches from major operators, whether BET, BTC (Tilling) or municipal concerns, or London Transport. Many got bargains from the latter, with surplus RT and RTL double-deckers sold following the disastrous bus strike and service cuts of 1958\. Conversely, redundant vehicles bought by independent fleets often brought types that came from as far away as Scotland to London and the south east. In the 1960s, the oldest buses and coaches with independent fleets were those employed on school or industrial contracts. These were not subject to the rigorous tests governing those carrying fare-paying passengers, so could be kept going until they were literally falling apart! These were known as �non-PSVs', i.e. non-public service vehicles. On the other hand, some very small independent fleets, often with the title �Luxury Coaches', took great pride in their fleets. They would purchase new coaches every two or three years and keep them in immaculate condition. The net result was that British independent bus and coach operators in the 1960s had a fascinating variety of chassis and body makes and styles, as well as liveries. This book shows many of these as they were between fifty and sixty years ago.

Continuing with photographs from Jim Blake's extensive archives, this book examines the second half of the 1970s, when both London Transport and London Country were still struggling to keep services going. This resulted both from being plagued by a shortage of spare parts for their vehicles, and having a number of vehicle types which were unreliable the MB, SM and DMS classes. In 1975, both operators had to hire buses from other companies, so desperate were they. Many came from the seaside towns of Southend, Bournemouth and Eastbourne. This continued until the spares shortage began to abate later in the decade, particularly with London Country. As the decade progressed, the two fleets began to lose their 'ancestral' vehicle types. London Country rapidly became 'just another National Bus Company fleet', buying Leyland Atlanteans and Nationals common to most others throughout the country. Having virtually abandoned the awful MB and SM-types, London Transport had to suffer buying the equally awful DMSs well into 1978, but had already ordered replacements for them by that point the M class Metrobuses and T class Titans both of which would finally prove successful. However, plans to convert trunk routes serving Central London to one-person operation were largely abandoned.