Bus Shite

[Guest Hooli]

You just know some yoof is going to throw a half eaten kebab right into that expensive looking apparatus.

Then catch it again after its been warmed up?

[dollywobbler]

Yes, opportunity charged is the word. Except that the idea isn't to have a fucking great diesel engine providing the ooommppphnn.

 

Early trials , Volvo 7900??.

 

The futures bright, the futures err, ???

Depends whether your aim is to save polar bears, or in-town residents really.

[Guest Hooli]

Ok, which one of you lot has infected my FB? I've just had this suggested on the sidebar from FB marketplace...

 

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1535478746596340/?ref=netego_ssfy_www

 

It's not much longer than the Jaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaag...

[cms206]

6BT in it, should go well! They're my all time favourite low floor bus.

 

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

[Guest Hooli]

Collection thread incoming? with livefeed of SWMBO reaction?

Nope!

 

No swmbo currently either.

[busmansholiday]

Waterstones (the bus operator from South Elmsall) have one of those in that same ex East Yorkshire look. Have a wander into Donny and admire it !!

 

 

ps, I'm not on Faceache so it's not me.

[Guest Hooli]

Waterstones (the bus operator from South Elmsall) have one of those in that same ex East Yorkshire look. Have a wander into Donny and admire it !!

 

 

ps, I'm not on Faceache so it's not me.

 

No shan't. I've zero* desire for a bus, an old coach maybe. But not unless I win the lottery.

[Rover414]

Olympian with my Solo just peeking out next to it. This should be getting some period adverts early on in 2019.

 

[Six-cylinder]

Does anybody know when a Leyland Nation would have first entered service in Buckingham.

 

Again this is to help date the photo for a local historian.

[Eyersey1234]

Does anybody know when a Leyland Nation would have first entered service in Buckingham.

 

Again this is to help date the photo for a local historian.

As far as I can tell the oldest Alder Valley Nationals were L reg so 1972/3. Hope this is of some help.

[LightBulbFun]

The Thorn Alpha 3 streetlight in that picture was introduced in the late 1960s and discontinued in the early 1990s if that helps

[Six-cylinder]

I went to school/collage in High Wycombe and they had L reg new Leyland Nations which I understood were the new model. (they made me feel travel sick)

 

The range of dates other people have offered are 1968 - 1975, but which one?

[Inspector Morose]

The National seems “as built” so I’d plump for about ‘74 the biggest clue would be the roof pod but I can’t see enough detail to pin it down but I’m sure I’m seeing vents in the front leading me to believe it’s a later “short pod” circa 1974-75.

Isn’t that an Allegro above the roof of the Vauxhall?

[MorrisItalSLX]

Isn’t that an Allegro above the roof of the Vauxhall?

I would say yes.

 

And what is next to it? Some guise of Invacar, Bond or Reliant?

[Six-cylinder]

Isn’t that an Allegro above the roof of the Vauxhall?

 

It does look like it, late 1973 on then.

[martc]

The three wheeler looks like an Invacar (not a Bond or Reliant) it could be a Thundersley one due to the more upright rear pillar rather than the AC model (as seen in this parish) which has a more rakish 'Angliaesque' sloping pillar.

 

Could the beige car be a Maxi or Saab 99?

[LightBulbFun]

its an Invacar one not an AC thats for sure, id hazard a guess at it being an Invacar Mk12

[Lacquer Peel]

I was in a 4 cylinder Alexander Dennis low floor (Enviro?) bus the other day, are 4 pot ones quite unusual? It wheezed and rattled up the low hills of Falkirk and Bonnybridge, it was nice to get into a 6 cyl one on the way back.

[Inspector Morose]

Four cylinder engines in buses are basically a result of ever tightening emissions regulations resulting in ever smaller engines doing the work of larger ones. The optare Metrodecker, for instance, uses a four cylinder 5.1 litre engine to do the same job as one almost twice the size, only a short few years previously. Good idea? Well, the power is there - modern euro 6 diesels can put out some impressive figures but I’ve a sneaking suspicion they might eventually suffer from the eco boost syndrome where they just give up in one unholy cloud of shit, snot and corruption.

One thing that isn’t thought about either is the fact that older buses used to limp along for a good while after their first flush of youth and some of their power had worn away. The power of these highly strung animals drop so rapidly as wear is introduced - there is no where to go but to unit change therefore increase overall life costs.

I think I’ll stick with my de-rated M11 for the moment until a clearer picture has developed.

[willswitchengage]

As far as I know only the Trident Hybrids are 4cyl, the non-hybrid is still a six. But as FPB7 says they are becoming increasingly popular; Wright's own integral I believe uses a 4 cylinder (Mercedes), as does the popular Volvo B5 hybrid and the stupid Boris-decker thing.

 

One annoying thing which is rarely considered is that a 4cyl is an inherently unbalanced engine, whereas a 6cyl is perfectly balanced without modification. Unless balancing shafts are fitted (BMW for instance tends to fit these to its 4cyl engines, whereas most manufacturers don't) they tend to vibrate like mad compared to their 6cyl siblings. Same problem for Scania's 5cyl bus engines. 

[Felly Magic]

Volvo B5 series are already crapping themselves at very low mileage, turbo faults are rife, B7TLs suffer from horrendous turbo lag and smoke like a chimney when pulling away, oil mist is common on Cummins C and Volvo & series, I've had a B7TL put a leg out of bed, it was one hell of a bang, and had engine protection cut in when doing nearly 40! Wiring loom faults are common on Volvos too, you get the dashboard message 'CHASSIS ECU FAILURE' and the bus simply shuts down. Electronic throttles are causing issues on DAF and many Cummins products, it fails to wide open throttle, it also happens with DAF trucks, so clearly something amiss with the potentiometers. ADL are picking up orders due to Wright being utterly crap when it comes to build quality and reliability, and customer care, Lothian just stuck the 2 fingered salute to Wright with their new tri axle deckers. Scania seem to be falling out of favour too, down to the poor reliability on the N230 series, and you should see the state of all of Cardiff Bus' Scania fleet, they are falling to pieces with severe structural issues. 

[busmansholiday]

As far as I can tell the oldest Alder Valley Nationals were L reg so 1972/3. Hope this is of some help.

Except Alder Valley were red and this National is green......

[martc]

its an Invacar one not an AC thats for sure, id hazard a guess at it being an Invacar Mk12

 You're right guv'nor - it's an Invacar mk12.

 

[lisbon_road]

Buckingham is likely to be United Counties.  Their first National was L reg I think, so '74 most likely.

[willswitchengage]

Volvo B5 series are already crapping themselves at very low mileage, turbo faults are rife, B7TLs suffer from horrendous turbo lag and smoke like a chimney when pulling away, oil mist is common on Cummins C and Volvo & series, I've had a B7TL put a leg out of bed, it was one hell of a bang, and had engine protection cut in when doing nearly 40! Wiring loom faults are common on Volvos too, you get the dashboard message 'CHASSIS ECU FAILURE' and the bus simply shuts down. Electronic throttles are causing issues on DAF and many Cummins products, it fails to wide open throttle, it also happens with DAF trucks, so clearly something amiss with the potentiometers. ADL are picking up orders due to Wright being utterly crap when it comes to build quality and reliability, and customer care, Lothian just stuck the 2 fingered salute to Wright with their new tri axle deckers. Scania seem to be falling out of favour too, down to the poor reliability on the N230 series, and you should see the state of all of Cardiff Bus' Scania fleet, they are falling to pieces with severe structural issues. 

 

So does this just mean 'buy German' like the rest of Europe does?

[Eyersey1234]

Except Alder Valley were red and this National is green......

Fair point, sorry I was trying to find the answer on Google.

[rml2345]

So does this just mean 'buy German' like the rest of Europe does?

Emphatically no if our experience of Merc engines in Streetlites is anything to go by.

[busmansholiday]

Buckingham is likely to be United Counties. Their first National was L reg I think, so '74 most likely.

More likely 75, I agree about it having a short roof pod, these were available from 75, some records say 76 but there's pics of export versions with short pods in 75.

 

Knowing exactly where the picture was taken would help, somebody even sadder than me would know when Leyland Nasties were introduced into that route.

 

EDIT: I'll have a look through some of my books in next couple of days and see when UCOC had deliveries of Nasties (assuming it's not an LCBS one).

 

EDIT 2. Looking at pics of these heaps, the short pod versions started to appear in reg letter N, August 1974 - July 1975, long pod versions also having this reg letter.

[Mrcento]

Volvo B5 series are already crapping themselves at very low mileage, turbo faults are rife, B7TLs suffer from horrendous turbo lag and smoke like a chimney when pulling away

 

Odd, i was just thinking this the other day.

 

Back when i was a kid, we had the old Ailsas thundering up and down the road like a herd of rhinos, they'd be covered in road dirt, especially in winter and occasionally you'd see the odd black puff when pulling away when cold, nothing major.

 

Nowadays half the buses, particularly the B7TL and B5 Based ones are almost wearing soot as part of the livery, the things are pouring out smoke pretty regularly.

 

Progress, eh?

[LightBulbFun]

Didn't London Transport figure out pretty quickly 60+ years ago with the RT and the Routemaster, that what you want for intense bus work is a Large under-stressed de-rated engine? (I mean thats pretty much true for anything LOL)

 

for example the 9.6L i6 AEC AV590 only makes 115HP in the Routemaster (Dont know torque figures but probably all of them  )