Bus Shite

[Yoss]

No, that was Shaftesbury and District. Close though, they're both small towns in Dorset on the B3081. And a fine road that is too.

[busmansholiday]

Nice article Yoss, and quite appropriate as the current issue of Buses has an article on RMA's. There's 32 of the 65 still in existence in one form or another.

[83C]

Wasn't that the Verwood Transport one? Sure it was. More photo research required.

 

RMA 10 was the other way round. It still had it's high speed diff but had lost it's big engine. Still AEC but the standard 590 rather than the 690 it should have had. Still went ok though, after all they were originally designed to tow a trailer as well.

 

 

Yes, I drove it during its time in Cornwall. I honestly can't remember if it had a 590 or 690, but certainly it topped out at 35mph, slightly slower than RM1783 which was the other one of the 4 in Cornwall to retain an AEC. RM1062 was Scania-powered, and RML2737 had a Cummins.

[Yoss]

Well it's taken me two days due to my excellent* cataloguing* system* but I knew I had a picture of RMA 11 somewhere. Except these aren't the ones I was thinking of. They were at an open day at the former Bournemouth Yellowbuses Mallard Road garage still in Verwoods ownership. These still elude me.

 

But I found these of it still, mostly in Verwood colours, bar the o/s headlamp surround.

These are at Watford Junction somewhen, I think, around 1992/3. By now part of the Watford based Green Rover operation and soon to adopt the same livery as RMA 14 behind.

 

Also in the other picture is Colin's RM 1571 on his unfortunately short lived H29 but that's a story for another day. At that time Watford was a hotbed of small Routemaster operators with these two and Dave Pring's Timebus operation who whilst actually based nearer St Albans also had a go at Watford local services. None lasted long of course but Timebus are still going strong as a private hire company and still have a fine fleet.

 

 

To keep the numeral consecutiveness going I also found, whilst looking for the above, these pictures of RMA 8 and 9.

And 19. Though 9 is masquerading as an RM. They must have run out of A's. These were in Chiswick Works and used as staff buses.

[Zelandeth]

Bonus early Citroen XM sneaking into the first photo in there too...

[warren t claim]

Although I'm sure this must of been featured in this thread earlier I'm going to ask again.

 

Any ideas what sort of bus this is?

 

[Inspector Morose]

Ex Newcastle Leyland Atlantean PDR1/1 Alexander. Fleet number 607.

[Felly Magic]

They completely removed the cab so that they could serve from the offside of the bus, as the cuntcil were pissing them about, A64, not far from Scholes, it's been a landmark there for as long as I can remember, and used to be blue many moons ago

[busmansholiday]

This was taken on 13th March, 1976 and is the same vehicle, now preserved,  YOSS showed a picture of a couple of pages back when it was broken down in front of his RM. Only thing I can see different is the Southampton coat of arms is under a different window now to when I took this.  Nice Triumph and a Volvo 343 in the background, don't remember where in Southampton this is.

 

[busmansholiday]

One of those was Crosville using an LH to tow a National.

 

Please share

 

Here it is;

 

Difficult to see with the Viva in the background but the tow bar is cranked to compensate for the difference in height between the LH and National

[willswitchengage]

Why do operators still buy Plaxton coaches? Are they notably cheap or something? First use them around here on their mile-muncher services. Even their brand new ones are some of the worst manufactured vehicles I have ever sat in. Rattly, wipe down and the fittings don't seem to have changed since 1992. Fair enough this makes sense for fleet operators but why a tour operator would buy one utterly baffles me.

[mk2_craig]

This was taken on 13th March, 1976 and is the same vehicle, now preserved, YOSS showed a picture of a couple of pages back when it was broken down in front of his RM. Only thing I can see different is the Southampton coat of arms is under a different window now to when I took this. Nice Triumph and a Volvo 343 in the background, don't remember where in Southampton this is.

 

1860.JPG

Thought 1976 was early for a Volvo 300 series, zoomed in and it looks a bit like an original model Passat, or maybe something else? Chrysler Alpine?

[Yoss]

That's Park Street, Shirley. With Shirley Towers in the background. The name of the pub has changed about six times and I can't even remember what it's called now despite driving past a couple of times a week. Apart from that the scene looks pretty much the same.

 

I also think that's some sort of early Passat or Audi 100.

[Felly Magic]

Well, that old National I had 16 years ago is now MOT'd and restored, and was out to play at the Dewsbury Bus Museum open day, and photo courtesy of my friend Tommy Holland. The livery is based on the 1950s style of West Riding Omnibus Company livery, as worn by a preserved Leyland Tiger PS2.

 

 

 

[83C]

Back in 2015 I did a bit of work for a friend, which involved spending a week driving this on a school contract in Cheshire:

 

 

BAH 809X - Leopard PSU3F/4R with Plaxton Supreme Express body. It was a proper machine to drive, geared for hill climbing. Above 50 in top it howled a bit too much for my liking, but it certainly got there quick enough!

 

 

[17-Coffees]

The when on holiday at the start of the month, while suck in traffic in the town of Tillamook, Oregon....

 

When it comes to bus's im useless, but to me that's a 'Classic London bus', the Routmaster? . How or why it's 5000 miles away in the Pacific North west is anyone guess! 

[Felly Magic]

Love Supreme Leopards, my mate has one and it was a dream to drive, purred along effortlessly at 70 on the motorway, was nice giving cheery waves at coach drivers in their modern plasticrap limited to 62.5

[Felly Magic]

The when on holiday at the start of the month, while in Tillamook, Oregon....

C99B3779-35F5-43D2-AE5E-3F7DBC1A78E6.jpeg

 

Looks like an ECW bodied Bristol KSW

[83C]

Love Supreme Leopards, my mate has one and it was a dream to drive, purred along effortlessly at 70 on the motorway, was nice giving cheery waves at coach drivers in their modern plasticrap limited to 62.5

 

 

My Tiger isn't limited either. One NX driver gave me a very sour look as I cruised past him on the M5....

[Felly Magic]

You should have seen the look on a Shitrings driver when I cruised past him on the M18 in a TL11 245 powered Olympian with a high speed diff, tacho was showing 85, and my foot wasn't to the floor either, that bastard could do the ton easily, I had it at 95 on the M62 according to my twatnav once, and oh boy was the steering floaty

[somewhatfoolish]

Random bus shite put on a local history FB page.

 

Helensburgh. Stealth railwaystationshite too.

 

 

Whistlefield near Garelochhead

 

 

On the road from Garelochhead to Helensburgh;

 

In May 1972, the company(Garelochhead coaches) took delivery of their only Leyland PDR1A/1, number 105, (BSN 483K), which had Northern Counties bodywork. This wonderful view, with Gare Loch in the background, was taken at Rhu in June 1972.

 

 

 

[Zelandeth]

You should have seen the look on a Shitrings driver when I cruised past him on the M18 in a TL11 245 powered Olympian with a high speed diff, tacho was showing 85, and my foot wasn't to the floor either, that bastard could do the ton easily, I had it at 95 on the M62 according to my twatnav once, and oh boy was the steering floaty

 

Yep, Olympians with the correct combination of spec really do seem to like to shift. 

 

Always seems to confuse car drivers when they get overtaken by a double decker bus on the motorway...

 

Worst death glare I've ever had from a bus driver I think was from a Citylink driver on the hill just heading out of Dundee heading towards Aberdeen.  He was in a mid 90s B10M Plaxton Premiere - one of the ones with the maddening ZF auto box which has no kickdown feature to speak of...as such is infuriating if you encounter anything more than the slightest of slight hills.

 

Can't remember precisely what I was in - but it had a semi-auto box.  I gave him a cheery wave as pulled along side him, then dropped two gears and disappeared up the hill leaving him in a cloud of smoke.  The glare I got when he saw me being able to manually pick my gears could have cut glass...

[Felly Magic]

A driver did get nicked for speeding in one of that batch, was over 100mph on Leeds inner ring road, lost his licence, oops

[83C]

Worst death glare I've ever had from a bus driver I think was from a Citylink driver on the hill just heading out of Dundee heading towards Aberdeen.  He was in a mid 90s B10M Plaxton Premiere - one of the ones with the maddening ZF auto box which has no kickdown feature to speak of...as such is infuriating if you encounter anything more than the slightest of slight hills.

 

Can't remember precisely what I was in - but it had a semi-auto box.  I gave him a cheery wave as pulled along side him, then dropped two gears and disappeared up the hill leaving him in a cloud of smoke.  The glare I got when he saw me being able to manually pick my gears could have cut glass...

 

 

I used to work for a firm in Mid Wales who had a trio of B10Ms with Jonckheere Deauville bodies. Nice motors and comfortable, all spanish too. While there was no official allocation of vehicles to drivers, I 'adopted' the scruffiest and oldest one, and put some effort into smartening it up. The smartest machine was undoubtedly K2 TGE, and its regular driver kept it spotless. He was properly proud of his machine, and reckoned it was the best in the fleet. WIB 7192 was a couple of years older and not as tidy, but nothing else could match it for acceleration. We took both machines to Llandudno one day, and after a trip up following K2 all the way on A roads and B roads, and having to hold back on every hill my patience finally snapped heading up the short dual carriageway from the A55 into Llandudno Junction - foot to the deck and I cruised past easily. I got a very icy glare as he pulled into the coach park, he didn't even park near me....

[jon.k]

I can't believe that those olympians could do 100 mph!

 

When I used to get the bus from school there was a long duel carriageway on the way out of the town which used to sort out the wheat from the chaff of the buses. The same company had three paramounts - one was an ex national express one with a covered back window, slow as hell. Next fastest was a bedford powered one. The fastest was a leyland version I think, which used to absolutely demolish all the other vehicles three or four at a time. Does that sound right?

 

The poshest was a LAG panoramic with badly peeling blue window tints. Not that fast and had a funny engine note I remember. A Plaxton panorama which the owner-driver claimed to have bought for £350 was also a highlight. 

 

As a car nut this was a time when I realised there was a whole world of buses and coaches to get into, prompted in part by a computer game called Midtown Madness - anyone used to play that? If only I'd found the bus-shite thread then!

[Soap Distant]

I can't believe that those olympians could do 100 mph!

 

When I used to get the bus from school there was a long duel carriageway on the way out of the town which used to sort out the wheat from the chaff of the buses. The same company had three paramounts - one was an ex national express one with a covered back window, slow as hell. Next fastest was a bedford powered one. The fastest was a leyland version I think, which used to absolutely demolish all the other vehicles three or four at a time. Does that sound right?

 

The poshest was a LAG panoramic with badly peeling blue window tints. Not that fast and had a funny engine note I remember. A Plaxton panorama which the owner-driver claimed to have bought for £350 was also a highlight. 

 

As a car nut this was a time when I realised there was a whole world of buses and coaches to get into, prompted in part by a computer game called Midtown Madness - anyone used to play that? If only I'd found the bus-shite thread then!

Generally because it's all Bollox. Leylands so tend to top out at about 85 and others less than that. There is no mythical beast that can do 'over the ton' however much folk like to think that. The closet was a B10M that was unrestricted but still topped out at about 92.

 

Legend has it that the midland red C6 could break the ton but nobody's had given definite proof. I've had a M.A.N at over 89 but it was pushing it. A B10M would do slightly more - even then it's pushing the limiter of the engine to the extreme.

 

The legend was a B10M with a Duple dominant bus body but fitted with the most powerful spec engine and transmission. Even then, it's top speed was just a shade over 92.

[RoadworkUK]

As a car nut this was a time when I realised there was a whole world of buses and coaches to get into, prompted in part by a computer game called Midtown Madness - anyone used to play that? If only I'd found the bus-shite thread then!

 

Similar here, albeit Midtown Madness came a few years later. My school contract was run by a local firm called Partridge, who had an astonishing selection of old rammel including ex London DMS Fleetlines, A few Bedford Duple Lasers and Dominants, and an extremely impressive Gardner 6LYT-powered Paramount 4000 on a Neoplan underframe. That thing sounded awesome.

 

Chartercoach ran one of the contracts, and I found it interesting* when they parked their Merc 0.303 and FAP Sanos side by side. And then there was the Eastern National route, with various Mk1 and 2 Leyland Nationals. The drivers were all very competitive, and there was much roaring of engines during the last lesson every day.

[quicksilver]

Similar story here, although I never had the pleasure* of travelling on school buses. Anything and everything would turn up - Leyland Nationals, Bristol VRs, Olympians, Titans, Fords, Bedfords, Leopards at one end of the scale and shiny new Ivecos and Volvos at the other, even an Ayats Bravo on a couple of occasions.

[rml2345]

Generally because it's all Bollox. Leylands so tend to top out at about 85 and others less than that. There is no mythical beast that can do 'over the ton' however much folk like to think that. The closet was a B10M that was unrestricted but still topped out at about 92.

 

Legend has it that the midland red C6 could break the ton but nobody's had given definite proof. I've had a M.A.N at over 89 but it was pushing it. A B10M would do slightly more - even then it's pushing the limiter of the engine to the extreme.

 

The legend was a B10M with a Duple dominant bus body but fitted with the most powerful spec engine and transmission. Even then, it's top speed was just a shade over 92.

There's a story that one of the then new Eastern Scottish Leyland Lions was clocked at 96mph by the constabulary. When it came up before the judge he refused to believe it was possible and threw it out. They were bloody quick machines though and appeared on the odd London duplicate as well.

[LightBulbFun]

all this talk of buses going a ton is the perfect time for me to pitch a question i have had for a while

 

does anyone know the "top speed" of an RMA? Routemaster airport, special RMs built for BEA back in 1966. they where normal 27ft length, but had the bigger 11.3L AEC AV690 engine kicking out 169 horses and a high speed diff, i know they where designed to do 70Mph fully loaded and towing a luggage trailer, I kinda wonder what one would do flat out and empty 

 

(I have been on a Routemaster with a Euro 2 engine, doing a good 60 maybe even 70Mph, sitting on the seat by the platform and looking out through the platform you would not want to fall off at that speed, *scrape* then *splat* as you hit the car behind you... this was on the garage run back to west ham bus garage part of the Route took you onto the motorway for a short bit hehe )