Welcome to this retrospective of the ALX400 bus type. I have scoured my archives for all the footage of Tridents, DAFs and Volvos with this type of bodywork. The ALX body was one of my all-time favourites, due in no small part to seeing literally hundreds of them on visits to Hong Kong. At the time of writing, the very last ALX500-bodied Volvo Super Olympian is working out its final few months with Kowloon Motor Bus.
I should make it clear that, although the ALX400 ceased production in 2006, the Trident chassis continued with Enviro 400 bodywork until 2009 when it was replaced by the E40D.
Nearly half the buses in this video belong to Stagecoach London and there are two reasons for this. First is that by the time I started regularly filming London buses, the ALX400s were an endangered species and had already disappeared from the ranks of several operators; second, Stagecoach had more late-model Alexander-bodied Tridents than any other operator and - because company policy was to service each route with a mixture of old and new buses - you couldn’t go very far in East London without seeing one.
I hope you enjoy this look back at one of the most distinctive London double deckers of modern times.
PS. Accidentally omitted from the closing credits is any reference to David Maxey’s annual “Red All Over” review which I have found an incredibly useful source of snippets of information. If you are interested in modern London Buses, you really should check out “Red All Over” - it may not be quite as comprehensive as LOTS’ annual “London Bus Review” but it’s written with great humour and I find it immensely readable.
St. Albans 1st January 2023.
30 дек 2022
