Is it a fake?

For a chunk of last year, I was taking an interest in the construction of the bodies of buses, in particular the extent that they blended metal and wooden components, with reference 1 proving an excellent source of information - although I did not, in the event, make it to the London Transport Museum in what was Covent Garden.

Then this afternoon, turning the pages of reference 1 again, I came across the snap included above. It all looked terribly idyllic and I wondered whether it had been posed for some publicity stunt - or perhaps for an Agatha Christie adaptation for big or small screen.

I asked Google Images, and while he was able to tell me quite a lot about the bus, agreeing, as far as I could see, with the caption to the picture in the book - off snap to the right - he was not able to turn up this particular image. So I suppose that I shall never know.

But when I added the clue 'Lifted from 'Ian Allen Transport Library: British Buses since 1900 - John Aldridge, Stephen Morris - 2000' he clammed up altogether and declined to play. I thought he might have done better, or at least explained why images from books don't always make it to the Internet where he can see them.

Gemini did rather better, even though he did not have access to the image in question, making various suggestions as to why his colleague had given up and suggesting various ways in which I might attack the problem - particularly enthusiast websites where, it seems, they often have long discussions about whether such an image has been faked up or not. He also suggests that the bus company in question was known for elaborate posing of its publicity shots. But maybe he was just stroking me there!

A matter which may be pursued if the heat continues to block regular activity.

References

Reference 1: Ian Allen Transport Library: British Buses since 1900 - John Aldridge, Stephen Morris - 2000.

Reference 2: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/09/jenson.html.