My birthday card

Being well aware of my interest in buses, for a recent birthday a relative ordered a birthday card for me from one of those on-line greeting card suppliers.

The design is from a range of greeting cards based on a famous Ladybird children’s book series with this particular example representing ‘The Ladybird Book of UK Rail Travel’.

The artwork is unusual which I think might be inspired by someone’s tongue in cheek dig at rail replacement buses.

So, rather than a train illustration the drawing is of a pseudo Leyland National bus! With some artistic licence the bus features a very passable but more curvy roofline than the real thing. But I’ve got to say I find it quite attractive and believable.

The bus is all-over red with a ghostlike fleetname which might just be taken as Midland in broad daylight. The registration plate is XSD 151L which I don’t think was carried on a real red bus registered in Ayrshire circa 1972.

The artwork makes an interesting comparison with the real things in the previous three photographs!