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The RML's were refurbished by Mainline ( now First) at Rotherham then painted just down the road by a contract firm.

 

For some reason an 165mb video taken on my avatar, SLTB 60-6639, when I was last on it in Sept 2016 will not load. The hand rails were rattling but there's an Ashoka and a four speed manual in it now!

 

So until I can load it here's a pic of her.

attachicon.gifWP_20160908_12_15_55_Pro.jpg

 

Edit: the reason it's park on a slight slope is that they just drop the handbrake and drop it into gear to start her...

 

going by the big sliding windows that looks like one of the 40 or so RMs they sent to Sri Lanka? London transport sent many buses there, from what iv been told and seen, they ran them into the dirt. but it seems a few RMs are hanging on in there :) (I wonder if any of the RTs that where sent there survive too? I heard a few where re-bodied over the years)

 

as for the offside RML... does anyone know what happened to the RMAs stagecoach converted to offside entrance and sent to Portugal in the 1990s?

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^^^^^ In Sri Lanka, 41 went originally in the late 80's and a couple more since then. There are very very few now left still running with SLTB and they have Ashok or Hino engines and manual gearboxes, generally obvious by the higher bonnet line. There's a couple with private owners but there's no RT's or RTL's left. Some of these that were still serviceable were converted to lorries after withdrawal.

They have though generally outlived the Metrobuses sent in 2005 after the tsunami. There might be one of these still going.

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going by the big sliding windows that looks like one of the 40 or so RMs they sent to Sri Lanka? London transport sent many buses there, from what iv been told and seen, they ran them into the dirt. but it seems a few RMs are hanging on in there :) (I wonder if any of the RTs that where sent there survive too? I heard a few where re-bodied over the years)

 

as for the offside RML... does anyone know what happened to the RMAs stagecoach converted to offside entrance and sent to Portugal in the 1990s?

I guess the Portuguese RMAs got scrapped long ago. I remember seeing a photo in Buses magazine, probably mid-late 2000s, of them rotting in a field being reclaimed by nature.

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One of my local operators has just retired their pair of 40 year old Volvo B58 bendys

 

Nowra%20Volvo%20B58A%20PMCSA%202404MO%20

 

S612.jpg

 

Now replaced with some brand new bendys

 

I'm betting the new bendys won't last 25 years never mind 40.

Those old B58 were really some motor, powerful, easy to drive and reliable.

Something that Leyland were struggling with even back then.

My first encounter with a B58 after Bedfords and a few Leopards was a real show stopping moment.

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Helensburgh pier carpark (green bus...)

 

144miles from my place.

 

In a previous job (WVM) I was on Sunday call-out and got sent to Burger King there, to do a 'bump rail monitor' swap out.

Arrived about mid day, saw it was for over their hot fryer, told the Manager I couldn't do it & drove back home...

 

Nice day out <NOT> grrrr

 

*ffinn bellend helpdesk not asking the right question**

 

 

TS

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I'm betting the new bendys won't last 25 years never mind 40.

Those old B58 were really some motor, powerful, easy to drive and reliable.

Something that Leyland were struggling with even back then.

My first encounter with a B58 after Bedfords and a few Leopards was a real show stopping moment.

 

The replacement busses are Scania K360UA, Bodied by Volgren. Nowra Coaches has bought 5 of them to replace their 5 Volvo B58s (2 decommisioned in 2012, the 2 mentioned above, and one still in service) and a Volvo B10M (Scrapped 2011). All the B58s are still in the depot, allong with a B58H tht was decommisioned in 2008!

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Interesting, never realised the B58 was released in that form...had for no good reason never thought further back than the B10LA...

 

Anyone ever been on any of the Jonkheere (Mistral I think) bodied bendy coaches Stagecoach have? They're B10MA based I think. Never had a chance sadly, always wondered if the trailer would be oddly silent with no drive components to deal with.

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Guest Hooli

Not sure if this is truck shite or bus shite. I'll post it here since this hybrid is predominantly bus. Would love a go on something like this. Interesting concept though.

 

attachicon.gifIMG_0797.JPG

 

https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Praha,_Holešovice,_Výstaviště,_Návěs_NO_80_II.JPG

 

A bus where you can't hear the self loading cargo, heaven!

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Top one is ex LT Craven's bodied RT (5 bays downstairs not 4 on normal RT's)

Middle one is Duple Vega bodied, probably Bedford. Struggling with bottom one, is that a Maudsley badge on the front ? I was going to guess at Mulliner bodywork. Somebody will correct me.

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This post is specifically for LightBulbFun. The rest of you can skip to the next post.

 

This is the control panel for the illuminated advert panel. I've no idea how it works, I just know where it is.

post-20743-0-80727600-1521970944_thumb.jpg

 

The four large ones say 'transistor ballast'

post-20743-0-18925400-1521971011_thumb.jpg

 

And the small one 'inverter ballast'.

post-20743-0-37906000-1521971113_thumb.jpg

Is that the same thing?

 

Then there's this random black box.

post-20743-0-65316800-1521971195_thumb.jpg

Which just has a CAV logo on it, who I think by this point were just a subsidiary of Lucas.

 

As I said, the system is rather temperamental. In this picture you can just see in the gloom that all five sections are lit.

post-20743-0-59008900-1521971254_thumb.jpg

The only picture I have of it all working. Indecentally this picture was taken in exactly the same spot as the last picture I posted in #1691 on the last page, but twenty years later.

 

And this was taken about three hours later!

post-20743-0-04141700-1521971307_thumb.jpg

 

The last time I saw it in the dark all four big tubes were working and only the small one was out so basically it's different every time.

 

Routemaster electrics seem to be a mix of 12 and 24 volts. I'm guessing this is the same as most buses. The saloon bulbs and sidelights which include the destination blinds are 24v but the indicators and headlights are standard 12v car bulbs and are interchangeable with my Triumph.

post-20743-0-89143900-1521971411_thumb.jpgpost-20743-0-01902500-1521972067_thumb.jpg

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Thanks. I'll bear that in mind. It's behind the upstairs back seat so it's normally covered. Maybe some clear laquer so I can still see the wires because if I have to start removing stuff from the board to paint it that's gonna make it more likely to disturb fibres and be rather counterproductive. Thanks for the heads up anyway.

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Yes, a clear lacquer will do. A wood glue / water diluted solution is a common method in the trade but water and electrics aren't the best mix.

 

If you do need to play with things and remove bits, either do it very carefully without damaging the board ( it's the edges and around holes where the most fibres will be released) or preferably wear a mask. You need a P3 type, preferably a 3M 8835 as this fits most people pretty well.

That's not bad memory recall for somebody that's not worked with asbestos for over two years!

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@yoss

 

thank you for the pictures, its been very interesting to finally find out what the setup is like :)

 

indeed these are all "inverter" early High frequency ballasts designed for driving Fluorescent tubes off of a low voltage supply, as for how they work simplifying it a bit: they work by taking the incoming DC voltage then using a couple transistors switching it on and off rapidly through a transformer/coil and some other components this creates a high AC voltage from the DC input which will strike and run the tubes :)

 

I want to say the 4 big ones are original to this Routemaster body (or at least date from the mid 1960s) but the smaller one is a later replacement dating from the mid 70s or so. (although that design stuck around until the 1990s IIRC) the Big cased ones are actually some of the earliest Transistorised ballasts that I have seen :)

 

all of them where made by Smart Brown which was the control gear subsidiary of Thorn Lighting (the history of the British lighting industry quite closely mirrors the British car industry its quite an interesting read. you can read about the start of Thorn here http://www.lamptech.co.uk/Documents/Factory%20-%20UK%20-%20Edmonton%20Angel.htm

 

being early ballasts your defo want to make sure your only using T12 (thick) fluorescent tubes with these :) (the modern T8 tubes wont strike up on these) a T12 tube is 1.5 inches thick a T8 tube is 1 inches thick.

 

im not sure what the Big black CAV box is maybe some sort of Junction box?

 

but if your bus has not had its Tubes changed since the 1980s then it might contain some proper Rare and old Fluorescent tubes :) (everyones probably laughing at me at this point LOL), I remember taking a ride in an RMA which still had a 1970s Thorn 20W T12 in one of its lights, properly well worn and near EOL but it was still hanging in on there... (the old British T12s tubes went on for years, the modern shite dont last 5 minutes...) if I had to take an *educated guess it looks like the big tubes would be 4ft 40W T12s and the small one is a 2ft 20W T12

 

(I sure hope no 30W 3ft T12s are used as they are neigh on impossible to find in the UK these days, unless you want to import a box of 24 from the US or something, and any ones in the UK you do find will be vintage old ones would be a shame to use those up. )

 

as for the incandescent bulbs I actually have somewhere an incandescent Bulb chart for the Routemaster from the RMOOA it was including in one of their magazines many years ago. (I can dig it up and scan it if you want me too)

 

interesting that your head lights are 12V the couple Routemaster head lamp bulbs I have in my collection are 24V... (every Routemaster is unique in some shape or form tho :) ) granted the same person who was selling those (this was at RM60) was also selling 60W 24V bulbs as Saloon bulbs! thats one way to blow a fuse/start an electrical fire...

 

I have actually been looking for some of those 22W saloon bulbs, I tried looking on the Lumax website and could not find them, I have been wondering where people where getting them from these days! does Lumax still do them? if so im guess they are a special order item? im defo going to have order a Box of them soon for my collection (and future Routemaster, wishful thinking   :mrgreen: ) if thats the case

 

I used to have one from RML2760, but sadly it met a explosive end many years ago, when I was testing it one day when I did not notice my Variac (Variable voltage auto transformer) was set to 270V and not 24V! it exploded spectacularly in my face :( (as im sure anyone who has wired up a Car bulb to mains voltage can tell you, low voltage lightbulbs do explode quite spectacularly when wired up to mains voltage)

 

since then I always double check what voltage my Variac is set too!

 

alright I better shut-up now, before the Rest of Autoshite impale me with a fluorescent tube...

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It's not so much a topic we're not interested in so much as a topic we never even knew existed!

 

 

I'm glad my pictures are of interest. I was wondering, as I was taking these pictures, if I was wasting my time but I've had two very interesting responses and learnt plenty.

 

I'm not about to go and see which florescent tubes I have under there. I need to remove the advert to do that. It's made of three perspex panels. The last time I had them out was in 2006 when I had the CIS Insurance advert made up but we needed a scaffold platform to remove them. We took them out and put them in the back of my Skoda Felicia Estate, drove home, laid the panels out down the garden path to apply the advert, put them back in the car, drove back to the bus and then snapped one of the panels getting it out of the car! So it's now held together by the advert itself. Must admit the advert is getting tired and at some point may have to replace it. I may have to look into getting a new perspex panel then. Or I could just ignore it.

 

But, getting back on track, there is another florescent tube in an advert on the front bulkhead, I could look at that to see what it is. Four X 4ft and 1 X 2ft sounds about right. That makes 18ft. With a 27ft 4in long bus that leaves about 4.5ft either side of the advert panel which sounds about right.

 

The saloon and sidelight bulbs came from Neil at Southern Transit in Shoreham. He runs a few RM's himself so has a few spares.

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Thanks for the kind responses!

 

Im always a bit nervous posting about this sort of stuff on a non lighting forum/place as more often then not I just get laughed at out of the Room so to speak (as such I had no friends back when I was still in school)

 

its cool, I understand that getting to the side advert is a PITA, if/when you do end up changing the advert out it would be nice if you could grab a picture of the tubes markings tho :)

 

(probably would be a good idea to fit new ones too when you go up there depending on the state of the old ones. with fluorescent tubes the more use they get the blacker/darker the ends of the tube get until they finally die, this is because fluorescent tubes contain small filaments at each end which are coated in a special material which help them give off electrons when heated up, slowly over the life of a tube this material is sputtered off the electrodes and onto the ends of the tube making them go dark there, until it runs out then the tube will fail to work as the amount of energy to get the electrode to give off electrons goes up by a lot usually more then what the ballast can provide so the tube fails strike, I have attached a photo of my Special half coated 40W T12 that i had made up for me, where you can see one of these filaments :) I hope this all makes sense! )

 

as for the tube in the Front bulkhead, IIRC that ones a 2ft 20W T12 :) (I remember getting a good peak at one once in a DartMaster on the H15, the tube was properly Fooked tho and was just glowing dimly so much for garage care...)

 

if if you could grab a picture of the markings on the tube it self in your RMs front bulkhead advert that would indeed be appreciated :)

 

most LightBulbs have Date codes on them that I can decode and tell you when the tube was made :) (BTW for anyone who cares the proper term for the markings on a Lamp is "etch" as back in the early days of lightbulbs the Voltage wattage and maker names where actually etched into the glass)

 

thanks for the info on the Saloon bulbs, ill probably give lumax a ring first at some point to see if they still do em :)

post-25614-0-31979500-1522011048_thumb.jpg

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^^^^ Epic! If there's one thing about this site it's that somewhere there's somebody who can do chapter and verse on some obscure topic that 99% of people aren't interested in but the same 99% of people actually learn something from.

Small world too - another lighting geek here who already knew LBF from another forum... it's a small world is the internet!

 

I think four totally separate subjects I know people from other areas coming together at random on one forum is my record so far...

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A modern interlude - yesterday's steed:

 

post-20339-0-98789200-1522040964_thumb.jpeg

 

Lovely thing to drive, bags of power and a proper auto gearbox - none of this robotised manual shite. The best part was doing a 5 hour round trip for a half-hour job - lots of time kicking back, tunes on the surprisingly decent radio and cruise control set.

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Thanks for the kind responses!

 

Im always a bit nervous posting about this sort of stuff on a non lighting forum/place as more often then not I just get laughed at out of the Room so to speak (as such I had no friends back when I was still in school)

 

 

I wouldn't worry about that at all. You've only got to have a little browse around here to see there's some pretty niche stuff. Nobody's going to laugh, at worst you'll just get ignored more through confusion than any sort of hostility.

 

I must admit it's not a subject I'd ever given much thought but somebody has to or else we'd all be sitting in the dark.

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A modern interlude - yesterday's steed:

 

image.jpeg

 

Lovely thing to drive, bags of power and a proper auto gearbox - none of this robotised manual shite. The best part was doing a 5 hour round trip for a half-hour job - lots of time kicking back, tunes on the surprisingly decent radio and cruise control set.

That's a Bova Magique isn't it?

 

Seems like only yesterday that was being launched...never been on one yet.

 

Hope they don't rust as badly as the early Futuras...

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Yes it is. I always liked the Futura, it was a bit different. A local firm (Boultons of Shropshire) had a fleet where all its execs were Futuras, they looked like spaceships parked in the school bus layby compared to the old Bedford/Plaxton Panoramas & Supremes we had for our school buses.

 

Didn't get to drive one until about 5 years ago, it was a fairly new machine and not a bad steer at all. The Magiq moves the game on a bit though, especially in terms of driver comfort.

 

The early Futuras certainly did like to rot, but it seems the later (post 1995ish) ones are better. I wouldn't mind owning one at some point.

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That's a Bova Magique isn't it?

 

Seems like only yesterday that was being launched...never been on one yet.

 

Hope they don't rust as badly as the early Futuras...

The original ones that appeared in 2001 were so awful that Bova actually recalled the lot and replaced them with new Futuras. They sat around at the factory for ages before they found an operator in Ireland prepared to take them. The 2005 relaunched version was supposedly much better but even so you don't see many of them compared with the good old Futura. I'd love to know the full story of that ill-fated initial launch and what was so wrong with them.

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No idea, M800 DLC (and sister vehicle M400 DLC) are '56' plate examples and feel properly decent to drive, better than the newer Irizar i6s for example. Dartline have another Magiq that is the Exeter Chiefs team coach, not been given that one yet....

 

I wonder if it's a case that the initial launch was done too early in the development of the vehicle? First all new Bova integral for getting on for 20 years though.

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