cms206

30 minutes ago, Lord Sterling said:

Kin 'ell, is that a wierdly propotioned Frontera at the back of the cut 'n' shut Fiesta

Nissan Terrano is it not? Novacar did a similar one in the 90s I'm sure.

Have we had this yet? Coming this year to a Matchbox retailer near you soon.

24 minutes ago, Remspoor said:

Dad never drove RMs at Barking. He did drive then at Upon Park when he first went on the buses.  Route 15. We got to see the Christmas lights for free for 2 years, riding on the top deck at the front. He wanted to work at Barking as it was just a 20 min walk away.  He had to wait for a vacancy to work at Barking. Edit: I should say the route he mainly worked on was the 87. I believe he  only wanted to work a crew bus. However, when the  RTs were withdrawn he was given no choice but to convert to OMO buses. I do not remember RMs at Barking, that maybe is because I was living in Hampshire by that the time the book says they where used on the 62s

The days the driver does not have much interaction with the passengers do they. I thought screens and the oyster card (or what ever it is called) put and end to the need to talk to each other. Even the stop announcements are automatic. Driving OMO buses when the Titan was introduced was very different.

London is a totally different kettle of fish to driving buses in the provinces, but even that has changed since I first sat backside in a bus seat in 2008 (manual Mercedes minibuses for my stage carriage career until 2012!).

I still try to provide a smiling face on my London spells but when the warcry of today is "I ain't got no oyster what you gonna do about it fam?" - fare evasion is rife - and people won't even look at you getting on the bus, plus the mandatory spit kits, voice recording in the cab, over a dozen cameras in the bus including one pointing at your feet... yeah. Not a great gig these days.

The 87 is now Wandsworth to Aldwych and operates from Stockwell; the 87 as your father would have known it has now disappeared into the 5 and 287, the latter still running from Barking to Rainham, while the 5 covers the Romford to Barking section.

124 was Forest Hill Stn - Welling via Grove Park and Eltham, with M-F peak extensions to Woolwich; 124A was the Sunday variant which terminated at Eltham Well Hall Stn, and continued to Bexley Hospital on Sunday evenings only. Both were converted to DMS operation.

62 was a seven day allocation, so maybe I got my wires crossed as it didn't have daily variations or extensions/curtailments, bar perhaps the twice daily Creekmouth Power Station journies.

14 minutes ago, Remspoor said:

...... because in multicultural London  accents are important.

Yes, but even in multicultural London Scots are too hard to understand 😂 we have a Scottish cafe at Angel now though so integration is a matter of time.

12 minutes ago, Remspoor said:

I think Dad drove Titan's after the RTs were withdrawn. He dose not do WhatsApp so I have to rely on relying messages via my sister. I will see if I can find out.

Quite possibly; Barking, from memory, had the shortest lived RM conversion in London - @Yoss may be able to confirm - as the 62 converted from RT to RM operation in 4/79, then again to T operation by February 1980.

14 minutes ago, Yoss said:

Didn't a lot of the early Titans go to Hornchurch from new? It was a long time ago but something in my brain is telling me that. There were always lots of early one out that way. Not too far from Barking relatively speaking.

T1-33 were new to Hornchurch; T34 was North Street's first one, T102 I think was Barking's first one.

Barking had most of T102-T231 new, T232 was the first to go to Seven Kings.

Things could have been a lot different in East London had the proposed Chadwell Heath super depot gone ahead to replace BK, NS & AP.

2 minutes ago, Remspoor said:

@cms206 Well done you for a long stint away from home. Great post above.

I was going to ask if you could take a photo of the staff area in Barking for my Dad, he turned 90 around a month ago. I do not know even if that would have been possible to take photos inside those areas.

I assume that was inside Barking. Nether of those buses run the routes on the blinds. I was getting "excited" that maybe Dad had driven one of them. http://www.countrybus.org/Titan/TNa.htm

Is this taken from the pub on the opposite side of South Park Drive? It used to be called the Royal Oak. I assume that is one of the preserved Titans.

I will try and get my sister to show dad the photos.

I'm back down next Sunday - the garage was given a lick of paint and some refurbishment just ahead of the 100th anniversary so probably not much he'd recognise but I shall grab some shots when I'm back down.

The photo of T21 & T22 was taken at the Barking 100 open day, both sadly now retired.

The Titan through the window is T1064, indeed taken through the door window of what is now The Acorn on South Park Drive at the Fair Cross.

Next spell will either be 3 or 9 weeks, or Oldham. At present I've still got shifts in place but the new manager seems to have an accent issue as "our type" are not his favourite 🙄

And so another London spell comes to an end; nine weeks this time, home for eleven days then... we'll see where the wind takes me; there's probably a 50/50 chance at present I'll be off to Oldham next.

Anyway, as is customary: where I am with Barking Garage... asterisks mark what I've driven, a dash and new depot code indicates a bus that has moved on.

... and a photodump of the last nine weeks or so.  Been a long old slog without the kids so looking forward to seeing what chaos they've caused.

First bus of the trip was baby Enviro 200MMC 36639 on the 462, last bus of the trip was Enviro 200MMC 36659 on the 167.

5 hours ago, Remspoor said:

Did not know that was a thing. So I went looking. It seems like there is only one bus is that correct? I found videos of it mainly working 238 and one terrible  one on the 145. Shot in portrait, thus making for me, unwatchable.

It does look smart.

 

Question, is the 102 in the front window the running number? Do you even have them these days?

This is the latest of the "show" buses - 12345 is the (third) Selkent Ambassador, 10301 is the MacMillan Cancer Support bus, 11377 is the (current) Spirit of London and now 12400 is the East London Ambassador. It's also Barking's first refurbishment, thankfully without the horrific grey leatherette seating which has been creeping across the fleet. 12400 was painted at Leyton and debuted at Barking 100 on March 23rd.

The 102 is indeed a running number; this is still a London thing, which helps with radio identification also - for example my MDT unit identified me as 102/145 rather than fleet number 12400.

On a Barking 100th anniversary note, my first bus of the day is the East London Ambassador which was unveiled on the open day on March 23rd.

42 minutes ago, busmansholiday said:

Grange Hill was a TV series from 1978 until  2008 so that's just about appropriate (although a Merlin would have been better).

No school at this Grange Hill, but I've been on the 362 so often of late the Scottish drivers in the hotel are calling me Zammo 😂

Bank holiday Monday, a 6hr 18min backshift and the oldest bus in the garage for the whole shift.

Absolute bliss.

On 24/03/2024 at 22:39, warren t claim said:

Am I the only one here who thinks that the Mk1 looks better as a saloon but the Mk2 looks better as a hatchback?

100% agree; the Mk1 saloon was a proper looker, the hatchback Mk2 always looked much more finished than the Mk2 saloon.

When I was growing up my mate's dad had a kinda pale metallic fern green Mk1 saloon, reflective panel between the tail lights,  and Cosworth style alloys... it was as cool as polar bear balls in 1996 when it replaced a Fiat Fiorino van as his family transport.

L373 UDS it was though, no K-reg goodness.

On 25/03/2024 at 17:01, Popsicle said:

A Corsa as a taxi? I thought there were minimum vehicle/engine sizes for private hire use?

I recently got in the back of a passat coupe taxi, never again, nowhere near enough headroom for me.

One from a few years back from Renfrewshire; Glasgow at present does have a plated MG3.

If I can wangle this it's likely to be the first Shitefest in England I've had to travel north to get to... 😂

Some shots from today's running day at Golders Green... plus two from the camera that I've not been able to download yet!

Last horse in tonight at 0153, barring the N238s: 0123 finish at Chingford and a full shift with 19782.

4 minutes ago, wuvvum said:

Didn't @cms206 have one of these?

Still do, in my garage back in Glasgow. Single figures left on TDis, think there's possibly only one non-turbo SDi left.

Agricultural, not quick and not at XUD levels of economy, plus spares availability for the diesel bits is virtually nil.

Fantastic things. I'm aiming to get mine back on the road when I can but it does need a little welding.

BROWN NOVA IS BEST NOVA

No picture sadly as Stagecoach frown upon phones in the cab, but there's a boy in Barkingside minicabbing a diesel 53-plate Rover 75 saloon, GP53 SBU.

Back in today after four days; 1617 start on the 167.

23 hours ago, Alan G said:

An interesting thought. It's a Volvo 950 turbo, something which Volvo never made. The engine came from a V70 and here's a peek of it hiding under the bonnet.

 

     

Scotland likes this.

Welcome!

Decent value sets in TKMaxx Lewisham - sadly no Volvo interest for me!

1 minute ago, PicantoJon said:

Does the V in SVM stands for Vehicular now, seeing as the collective appears to be expanding its remit... 😂

I for many years ran a mixed Volvo/Vauxhall fleet but never a VW (though that in itself was a regret). David for many years ran a mixed Volvo/VW fleet.

But since 2012 and the founding of The SVM there has always been at least one Volvo 700 on each fleet, though all were better than mine 😂

IT'S THE WRONG V, GROMIT!