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Felly Magic

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It’s strange how the hybrids have been unreliable given they are so reliable as a car.

Both Stagecoach in Sheffield and Manchester had batches of identical hybrids. The Manchester ones were far more reliable than the Sheffield ones. Sensibility they swoped them, the most reliable of Manchester's was suddenly a bag of shite in Sheffield whilst Sheffield's worse one was pretty reliable in Manchester. Difference, bfo hills in Sheffield, pretty flat in Manchester.

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Both Stagecoach in Sheffield and Manchester had batches of identical hybrids. The Manchester ones were far more reliable than the Sheffield ones. Sensibility they swoped them, the most reliable of Manchester's was suddenly a bag of shite in Sheffield whilst Sheffield's worse one was pretty reliable in Manchester. Difference, bfo hills in Sheffield, pretty flat in Manchester.

 

this sort of reminds me of London Transports, XF and XA trials

 

and in the end the production XF, the DMS turned out to be a bag of shite LOL

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Those Japanese buses all have massive displacement engines and manual gearboxes. Been on some out there, very clunky riding experience.

 

That AD I posted before reminded me of the pre-CCTV period where the driver would have a periscope and series of mirrors and lenses to keep an eye on the upper deck.

 

Ailsas had that.

 

There used to be a mirror at the front top right of upper deck and a slot under the window with 2 angled mirrors pointing up at it and a further couple in the drivers cab the worked like a rear view mirror periscope for the upper deck.

 

Took me longer than it should of as a kid to realise where there were so many mirrors up there haha.

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this sort of reminds me of London Transports, XF and XA trials

 

and in the end the production XF, the DMS turned out to be a bag of shite LOL

 

The DMS was actually a very good bus, the problem was LT, and their "if it wasn't designed / built in London it's a bag of shite " mentality (that still applies).

 

Operators who bought them off LT got a very good bus for peanuts (apart from LT's stuipid electrical changes). I remember chatting with one local municipal operators engineer about the 'scrap' ones they had bought. "What's wrong with that one" I asked, "looks OK to me"?. "LT sold it us as parts for the working ones we bought, actually the only thing wrong is the half shaft is broken. We'll be getting one out of the stores next week".

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Ailsas had that.

 

There used to be a mirror at the front top right of upper deck and a slot under the window with 2 angled mirrors pointing up at it and a further couple in the drivers cab the worked like a rear view mirror periscope for the upper deck.

 

Took me longer than it should of as a kid to realise where there were so many mirrors up there haha.

First ones in Sheffield were back in the late 60's. Every so often you found one where the glass on the top deck was missing for some reason. Obviously, you didn't* drop things down there knowing it would annoy the driver when it him....

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Didn’t Andrews buses in Sheffield run Daimler DMS?

They were ex SYPTE ones, but were part of a batch of 30 bought at short notice where Daimler could supply chassisis and MCW could fit bodies but only if they had them to LT design. Only difference externally to a DMS was the destination blind design, the entrance / exit doors were single fold and they didn't have the extra bodywork above the engine bustle.

Internally they were trimmed in SYPTE brown. One survives in preservation.

 

 

http://www.sytt.org.uk/history-of-1515

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One rough and ready scanner session later....

 

Andrews 1.jpg

Andrews 3.jpg

Andrews 4.jpg

Andrews 5.jpg

Andrews 6.jpg

Andrews 7.jpg

Andrews 8 .jpg

Andrews 10.jpg

 

And lastly, added not for the quality of shot but for the levels of chod around

 

Andrews 9.jpg

Top photo, second from left is one of the ex SYT ECW bodied Fleetlines, another rare breed, one surviving.

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what the resonating cooked cow between 2 bits of bread said :)

 

I thoroughly enjoyed the video :) to quote busmansholiday, will it do smiths MPH?  :mrgreen:

 

is the reasoning for pausing between gear shifts, is to let air pressure build back up in the system or is it something else?

 

also out of curiosity if you dont mind me asking, how did insurance work out?

 

from what iv read (in this very thread I think :) ), while you can drive a 30+ year old buses on a normal licence etc, practically no one will insure you

 

or does this just fall under your "can drive other peoples "cars" 3rd party only" thing?

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Wow, I didn't know Ian was an 'influencer'! I remember almost ten years ago on the BX Forum or maybe here when you were discussing trying to break into indy-journalism, looks like it's worked out. Top job.

 

In more boring news I think Reading have de-hybridised some of their Dennis doublet deckers as they've removed all the fancy green branding and they sound very different. In the BAE system I think it's a fairly simple job, as their hybridrive was packaged as a gearbox anyway, so kept the angle drive to the axle etc.

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Just been catching up on this thread...

 

First off: Ian. Driven like an absolute professional, perfect timing on the gear changes. While a pause IS necessary it's needs be no longer than it takes to rev match. One of the three Nationals I owned more or less demanded flat changes 'cos the exhausters in the gearbox were fucked and another slipped like a bastard if you were too quick 3rd>4th and 4th>5th.

 

 

Secondly: It is well known of my dislike of Routemasters but on the other side of that coin I absolutely adore DM and DMS Fleetlines; I've driven probably a dozen Fleetlines and the one thing that a DM/DMS does REALLY well is not drive like a Fleetline. They're a really beautiful bus to drive.

 

Thirdly: The National 2 Ian refers to in his video was one of mine back in the days when I dabbled in such things. Sadly joint ownership didn't work out (it rarely does - don't do buses, kids) but there are plenty videos of it on YouTube. Here is one of them, a drivepast with me at the helm.

 

https://youtu.be/m-Qp51rEb5I

 

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

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Just been catching up on this thread...

 

First off: Ian. Driven like an absolute professional, perfect timing on the gear changes. While a pause IS necessary it's needs be no longer than it takes to rev match. One of the three Nationals I owned more or less demanded flat changes 'cos the exhausters in the gearbox were fucked and another slipped like a bastard if you were too quick 3rd>4th and 4th>5th.

 

 

Secondly: It is well known of my dislike of Routemasters but on the other side of that coin I absolutely adore DM and DMS Fleetlines; I've driven probably a dozen Fleetlines and the one thing that a DM/DMS does REALLY well is not drive like a Fleetline. They're a really beautiful bus to drive.

 

Thirdly: The National 2 Ian refers to in his video was one of mine back in the days when I dabbled in such things. Sadly joint ownership didn't work out (it rarely does - don't do buses, kids) but there are plenty videos of it on YouTube. Here is one of them, a drivepast with me at the helm.

 

https://youtu.be/m-Qp51rEb5I

 

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

 

 

Ooh, that is a proper noise. I rather regret not getting any drive-past footage of the one I drove. Thanks for the gear compliments. It was a real head-messer with the right-hand change, and having to take time and driving a friggin' bus AND trying to record a video. I don't think I'd anticipated just how tricky all of that would be, even though I've driven buses (on private land) before. Guess with the gearchange, years of studying drivers as a child paid off! In Birmingham at least, most drivers did seem to use the 'pause' rather than 'slam' method.

 

 

is the reasoning for pausing between gear shifts, is to let air pressure build back up in the system or is it something else?

 

also out of curiosity if you dont mind me asking, how did insurance work out?

 

from what iv read (in this very thread I think :) ), while you can drive a 30+ year old buses on a normal licence etc, practically no one will insure you

 

or does this just fall under your "can drive other peoples "cars" 3rd party only" thing?

 

The pause is to make life easier for the gearbox. The closer the rev matching, the easier it is for the gearbox. 

 

His insurer seems ok with non-PSV drivers. As you say, many are not. Don't think my third party cover would stretch to a bus!

 

I should also add that the the National I drove was very HubNut. It was a bit of a shed! I really liked it though. It drove well.

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Ooh, that is a proper noise. I rather regret not getting any drive-past footage of the one I drove. Thanks for the gear compliments. It was a real head-messer with the right-hand change, and having to take time and driving a friggin' bus AND trying to record a video. I don't think I'd anticipated just how tricky all of that would be, even though I've driven buses (on private land) before. Guess with the gearchange, years of studying drivers as a child paid off! In Birmingham at least, most drivers did seem to use the 'pause' rather than 'slam' method.

 

 

The pause is to make life easier for the gearbox. The closer the rev matching, the easier it is for the gearbox.

 

His insurer seems ok with non-PSV drivers. As you say, many are not. Don't think my third party cover would stretch to a bus!

 

I should also add that the the National I drove was very HubNut. It was a bit of a shed! I really liked it though. It drove well.

Mr FPB7 will be no doubt be along shortly with the finer points of the National, but it was all done in the name of ergonomics; not that it always worked on buses, for example when Western Scottish acquired a number of National 2s they were converted to left hand gearchange mounted on a pedestal in the cab as that is what drivers preferred on a predominantly Leopard fleet.

 

Also a real mindfuck is the first time you drive a Y-type Leopard as the controls are quite literally everywhere. Handbrake by your right buttock, door controls at your left buttock, gearchange on a column by your left knee, indicators mounted by the drivers window, the rest of the controls wherever they fitted in.

 

 

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

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Just been catching up on this thread...

 

First off: Ian. Driven like an absolute professional, perfect timing on the gear changes. While a pause IS necessary it's needs be no longer than it takes to rev match. One of the three Nationals I owned more or less demanded flat changes 'cos the exhausters in the gearbox were fucked and another slipped like a bastard if you were too quick 3rd>4th and 4th>5th.

 

 

Secondly: It is well known of my dislike of Routemasters but on the other side of that coin I absolutely adore DM and DMS Fleetlines; I've driven probably a dozen Fleetlines and the one thing that a DM/DMS does REALLY well is not drive like a Fleetline. They're a really beautiful bus to drive.

 

Thirdly: The National 2 Ian refers to in his video was one of mine back in the days when I dabbled in such things. Sadly joint ownership didn't work out (it rarely does - don't do buses, kids) but there are plenty videos of it on YouTube. Here is one of them, a drivepast with me at the helm.

 

https://youtu.be/m-Qp51rEb5I

 

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

Narrowly avoiding a collision with J Bell esq at around 20secs there

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Mr FPB7 will be no doubt be along shortly with the finer points of the National, but it was all done in the name of ergonomics; not that it always worked on buses, for example when Western Scottish acquired a number of National 2s they were converted to left hand gearchange mounted on a pedestal in the cab as that is what drivers preferred on a predominantly Leopard fleet.

Also a real mindfuck is the first time you drive a Y-type Leopard as the controls are quite literally everywhere. Handbrake by your right buttock, door controls at your left buttock, gearchange on a column by your left knee, indicators mounted by the drivers window, the rest of the controls wherever they fitted in.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

Mr FPB7 is in France nicking WiFi at cite Europe so just take it as read that you have all been informed about the nuances of the National in all of its forms.

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I grew up in the village of Speen 5 miles outside High Wycombe, Bucks and used the local red bus to High Wycombe from time to time. First I remember was the AEC Regal, which was a bit bumpy. Then they got Britstol REs which seemed to ride better. Then L reg Leyland Nationals appeared, they made me feel travel sick. 

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post-5328-0-24634900-1556361878_thumb.jpg

 

Not many photos of it yet but there is a new Brexit bus, which I think is the Leave Means Leave bus with a new lick of paint. The original was widely lambasted for being made in Germany and Poland - the new one is a B7TL. Weren't the first of these made in Irvine before it shut then the remainder made in Sweden?

 

Looks a lot the like NX Coventry livery to me!

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