Following on from his collection of images in issue 1676, Ray Ward presents a follow-up series of ‘now and then’ comparisons from around the country
Taken in Bristol in August 1978, this shot was captured using Ray’s original Instamatic camera, a reminder of the quality of photography available to most people back in the 1970s and making for a comparison in itself against what can be achieved with a modern camera, or even a smartphone.
Moving forward to July 1983 for the second image, Ray tried to replicate the earlier shot on a return visit. This time, however, the coach is heading to a more exotic destination, on route 777 to Paris, whilst inside can be seen more vehicles in National Express white.
The final in this series of three images was captured in August 2007, and is taken at exactly the same spot, Ray explains, except that the bus station/depot was demolished and a new facility had re-opened the previous year. It is a reminder of a version of the National Express identity which didn’t seem to endure, and of a time when there was much more vehicle variety on the National Express network, as illustrated by Scania Irizar PB YN54 NXV.
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