Richard Walter

What makes the best setting for photographing buses and coaches? Finding appealing backgrounds or situations can make images more interesting and provides the opportunity in future years to take comparison ‘then and now’ shots. Richard Walter presents a diverse selection of buses, coaches and operators in a range of scenic locations both here in the UK and overseas, some familiar and some that might just be worth exploring yourself. Each image is accompanied by a short description of why the setting might make for more interesting viewing.

Highly illustrated, Richard Walter examines the development of zero-emission buses in the UK and overseas.

The story of bus and tram services in the Edinburgh area in the period following the deregulation of bus services has been rich and varied. Many transport providers, new and old, are featured here, some of which are long-term survivors, while some have disappeared or become part of other operators. The development of Edinburgh’s trams after years of delays and overspent budgets and how travel in the Edinburgh and Lothians continues to evolve are explored in detail. Through a fine selection of photographs, Richard Walter documents how areas have changed and how the city has experienced everything from bus wars to a better level of integrated transport.

Tours are a common part of the itinerary of holidaymakers in the UK. There are long-distance tours, using the most modern coaches fitted with the latest seating and features for both passenger and driver comfort and relaxation, and local tours using modern single- and vintage double-deck buses both open- and closed-top. With an array of themed tours available, the choice is endless. Join Richard Walter as he travels around the UK and beyond to offer a flavour of how the tour business has blossomed and continues to grow. The book is illustrated throughout with images featuring scenic and contrasting locations, showcasing the variety of buses and coaches used in the touring industry.

For many years, bus and coach operators have experimented with vehicle types to find the vehicles that best fit their requirements. By borrowing buses and coaches from manufacturers and other operators, they can assess the pros and cons of new and existing examples of chassis and bodywork, try out hybrid and electric technology, experiment with features such as electric mirrors, or consider the use of fully autonomous vehicles. Such trials often result in large orders. Here, Richard Walter has selected a wide range of photographs from the recent past with a few older examples included as well. These reveal the types that were popular, the ones that were adapted and developed, and some that never saw the light of day. There are also examples of unique one-off vehicles that were subsequently bought and put into service.

The traditional use of paint and sign writing on buses and coaches has been replaced over the years with more and more detail being applied to vehicles by pre-printed vinyls. This varies from essential information for passengers, such as route branding or adverts, to elements of a company’s actual livery. It is also a cheaper option when replacing damaged panels and can negate the need to take a bus or coach off the road for a full repaint. Vinyls also mean that fleet names and information about contactless payments, WiFi and attractions along key routes can be bold, prominent and eye-catching. In this book, Richard Walter’s photographs illustrate the growth in the use of vinyls over the last few years and feature examples of applications for special events as well as everyday use.

The design of buses and coaches is constantly changing as new technology is developed and environmentally friendly and emission-related legislation evolves. In addition to more traditional vehicles, there are now choices between hydrogen-powered hydroliners, all-electrics, vehicles with electric driving mirrors and fully autonomous buses. In this extremely colourful and diverse book, Richard Walter takes you on a photo-filled trip round the world to explore how buses and coaches are changing and how older vehicles have adapted to meet the demands of operators. Jump on board to explore how things are evolving in recent years from the wilds of the Western Isles and the big UK cities like London, York, Edinburgh, Newcastle and Glasgow to exotic locations such as pink-sanded Bermuda, sunny Tenerife, busy Hong Kong and spectacular New York. The book also looks at some of the many demonstrators that operators have evaluated and how new products have been launched at events such as the annual UK Coach Rally in Blackpool and the Euro Bus Expo.

Following the deregulation of bus services in the United Kingdom in 1986, it did not take long for many distinctive local liveries to disappear. Only a small number of operators remained under the control of local authorities and Transport for London, which decided on what services it needed for its network. Very quickly the big five bus companies – First, Stagecoach, Arriva, Go-Ahead and National Express – dominated seventy percent of the market and their identities and liveries began to appear throughout Scotland, Wales and England – some with fairly low-key route branding. In more recent years those big companies and other operators have introduced revised colour schemes and local identities, and even pre-regulation retro liveries. Richard Walter takes a trip up and down the UK to showcase a few of the ambitious and bold styles and campaigns that have been introduced to help entice more people to use their local public transport.

Clint Jackson is living in a tiny apartment in San Francisco when, after waking from an alcoholic haze. He receives an unwelcome phone call from his brother John in St. Louis. John informs Clint that their baby sister, Melanie, has gone missing in Peru, that their father, with whom Clint has had a toxic relationship, has had a debilitating stroke, and that he needs to return home prior to leaving for South America to find out what happened to Melanie. Reluctantly, Clint agrees, soon finding himself forced to confront unforeseen challenges as he searches for his sister in the Andean region of Cajamarca in Peru. Stymied by American and Peruvian officials, he needs to overcome his own weaknesses, resentments, and self-loathing if he has any hope of solving the mystery of Melanie's disappearance. Caught up in a complex and shifting situation in a culture and landscape that is totally foreign to him, he struggles against overwhelming odds to overcome the many obstacles in his path to finding his sister but also to come to grips with his own destiny.

The Isles of Lewis and Harris are unique in that they are made up of a number of small private bus and coach operations tendered for by the local council. During 2019, Western Isles Council devised a number of options to cut costs. There were public concerns that timetables could be restricted just to commuter buses between rural villages and Stornoway, which could result in no transport for town workers on early shifts or reductions to shopping, health care, social and leisure services, or see evening services abolished. Richard Walter looks back at the years leading up to these big changes and what has happened as a result. Through a series of fascinating photographs, he shows how bus services and coach provision on the Western Isles have had to adapt to survive – from the arrival of the Cruise Liners to the modern technology expected of local operators.

In a tour of the fascinating and colourful city, Richard Walter describes the transformation of Dublin Buses with previously unpublished images.

Advertising on public transport in the UK has been common practice since the early days of the horse-drawn bus. Vehicle sides were a good means of advertisers’ products being seen across cities and towns and brought in additional income to operators. The traditional side and rear ads became more ambitious over the years - not just featuring commercial products but bus company promotional material too. In the 1960s the use of all-over advertising buses became popular. Traditionally these were hand-painted with incredible detail and many are now considered to be mini works of art. In more recent years, painting by hand has been replaced by wrapped vinyls and some campaigns last only a matter of weeks. There have also been experiments with illuminated and digital scrolling messages. In this colourful photographic journey, Richard Walter provides a glimpse of some of the most memorable all-over adverts in Edinburgh, London and a variety of other locations throughout the UK and Ireland, featuring some of the more bizarre examples that maybe seemed like a good idea at the time.

As capital of Scotland, Edinburgh has always boasted a bus service to be proud of. The municipal operator survived deregulation and avoided becoming part of the big bus groups that expanded rapidly throughout the UK. The company transformed from Edinburgh Corporation Transport into Lothian Region Transport and subsequently Lothian Buses, with a wide network of routes expanding throughout not just Edinburgh, but the whole of the Lothian area. Most recently the company has split into a ‘family’ of operating groups not only providing core bus services in the city, East Lothian, Midlothian and West Lothian, but also a large range of city and out-of-town open-top tours and coach excursions. It also boasts a heritage fleet of old Edinburgh vintage vehicles as well as superbly restored London-liveried Routemasters available for private hires. Here, Richard Walter looks at the Lothian Buses story. A range of rare and previously unpublished images from the present and the past explore how the vehicles, the routes and the locations have changed over the second part of the company’s first hundred years.

On September 18, 1740, during the Anglo-Spanish conflict known later as the War of Jenkins' Ear, a squadron of eight ships under the command of Commodore George Anson set sail from England with the aim of attacking Spanish colonies and shipping in South America. The voyage suffered many setbacks, including terrible weather and outbreaks of scurvy, but after nearly four years of adventure Anson's flagship, though undermanned and horribly battered, managed to complete its circumnavigation of the globe and returned to England safely. The rest of Anson's squadron was not so lucky, however, and during the voyage hundreds of crew members lost their lives and all of the other ships either turned back or were wrecked. Despite these hardships and tragedies the voyage was seen as a tremendous achievement, in part because in 1743 Anson had managed to capture a Spanish treasure galleon laden with huge amounts of coin and silver. Anson's chaplain on the voyage, Richard Walter, instigated a project to record the circumnavigation, resulting in the publishing of this work in 1748. The story of Anson's voyage is as interesting and entertaining as it is incredible. The blow-by-blow account of the journey created a storm in Britain when it was published and is tremendously exciting and moving. Its action and immediacy makes for an enthralling, engrossing and inspirational read.

The 18th century was a wealth of knowledge, exploration and rapidly growing technology and expanding record-keeping made possible by advances in the printing press. In its determination to preserve the century of revolution, Gale initiated a revolution of its own: digitization of epic proportions to preserve these invaluable works in the largest archive of its kind. Now for the first time these high-quality digital copies of original 18th century manuscripts are available in print, making them highly accessible to libraries, undergraduate students, and independent scholars.Rich in titles on English life and social history, this collection spans the world as it was known to eighteenth-century historians and explorers. Titles include a wealth of travel accounts and diaries, histories of nations from throughout the world, and maps and charts of a world that was still being discovered. Students of the War of American Independence will find fascinating accounts from the British side of conflict. ++++The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to insure edition identification: ++++British LibraryT090060Anonymous. By Richard Walter.London: printed; and sold by the booksellers in Great Britain and Ireland, 1764. 4],232p.; 12

Reproduction of the original: A Voyage round the World by Richard Walter