Bus Shite

[jon.k]

Yes, I think the driver told me that it was one of the very last ones and that it was delivered late after having been finished off by plaxtons or willowbrook.  It was in Evesham on an outing from Withall bus museum.

[Yoss]

As usual, every time I go up to our yard something else has turned up. This time it's this. This was the best pic I could get as it was hemmed in at the front. Some sort of Olympian I presume. 

As usual I could Google it to find its history but where's the fun in that when I know one of you lot will want to tell me? Legal lettering says Portsmouth City Coaches, Southbourne (which is actually half way to Chichester). Never heard of them. 

[quicksilver]

On 7/28/2019 at 3:59 PM, jon.k said:

Spotted today.

I know exactly what that was doing in Evesham. It was on a Model Bus Federation outing to celebrate my friend Roy's birthday.

[busmansholiday]

12 hours ago, Yoss said:

As usual, every time I go up to our yard something else has turned up. This time it's this. This was the best pic I could get as it was hemmed in at the front. Some sort of Olympian I presume. 

As usual I could Google it to find its history but where's the fun in that when I know one of you lot will want to tell me? Legal lettering says Portsmouth City Coaches, Southbourne (which is actually half way to Chichester). Never heard of them. 

Be interesting to see what livery that gets put in, given it started in Stagecoach colours, then Magicbus at then end of it's life in Manchester, then a fair few independants.

 

[They_all_do_that_sir]

Was behind this last week.

What is a "Sunsundegui"?



Sent from my TA-1012 using Tapatalk

[busmansholiday]

They build all sorts of shite, including railway trains / coaches.

[2MB]

Today I attended Dewsbury Bus Museum's day at Batley Mill Village. I don't know very much about buses so won't be able to give much detail to the pics, but the fact that these enthusiasts are able and willing to drive people around in their preserved, restored or well worn vehicles for free is something I find heartwarming and fasciniting in equal measures.

[2MB]

Had a ride on TWY8 and LHL164F and it was surprising how little advancement there has been in the ride comfort of passangers there has been in the last 60-odd years

[busmansholiday]

Shit, forgot about this. Nice selection of shots, will not bore the shite out of you by going driven them, remember those in service, entering service, they're really shite etc...

[Yoss]

I sold my bus yesterday. I had owned it for 13 years this time and about 20 of the last 30 years in total (bought it the first time in March 1989) but it was time to move on. I'd been considering this for some time but didn't really want to lose touch with it. Then at Alton rally last month I saw an old friend and former RM owner who was in the market for another bus and particularly wanted a Leyland engined example. This is good because I can keep in touch with it. In fact at the moment it doesn't feel like I've sold it at all, it just feels like somebody has given me lots of money to take it away and spend lots more money on it! 

Anyway, some pictures. 

Yesterday morning, getting it ready for departure. One last picture with the Skoda. 

 

I decided to go for one last run and went with the new owner as far as Winchester, which was about as far as I could go and still get back to Bursledon by public transport to pick up the car. Stopped off at Eastliegh to put diesel in it. 

Then got off in Winchester. 

And watched it drive off into the sunset*

 

 

[LightBulbFun]

didn't realise you where thinking of selling her Sad to see her go  

but hopefully she is off to a good home  

I still hope I can see her in person someday (well I would have seen her at Routemaster 60 but I was just having a sensory overload at all the Routemasters that where suddenly in front of me ), park my Invacar next to her that would be pretty epic  (I still wonder what vintage the fluorescent tubes in the offside advert are! LOL)

(thats a rather fitting destination blind you had there)

do you have plans to get another bus of some kind or just save the money for other things or what have you?

[Yoss]

Let me show you this picture. 

Taken in 1992 in the much lamented Twickenham Garage. RM 2107 belonged to the chap who has just bought my bus and here they are together both proudly displaying their Norwood blinds (sort of, Swanage not the usual destination for the 68). But 2107 also has the trademark Norwood silver grille. Our bus did have until a week before this picture was taken. Our friend Ernie who co owned it (it was jointly owned by three of us first time round) said he had a week off and was going to hand paint it. We turned up an hour or so before Ernie on this day and the first thing me and Barry (third co owner) said was "he's painted the grille red!"  We didn't care what he did with the rest of the bus but it had to have a silver grille. Even when it was still in Southampton Citybus colours we had a Norwood silver grille on it. 

So Robbie was working on 2107 when we arrived and we managed to blag some silver paint and a couple of brushes and whipped the grille off and painted it silver before Ernie arrived. Here it is about an hour later ready to hit the road. 

 

Fast forward a dozen or so years and Robbie was a driver at Brixton garage on the 159s right til the end of normal RM operation. And for the last few years the Brixton RMs had silver grilles too. I wondered if some staff had transferred from nearby Norwood, who no longer had RMs. I found out later that Robbie had done it himself. He'd painted the grille silver (with permission) on every bus in Brixton in his own time in a nod towards the Norwood buses. 

When I bought my bus back in 2006, again the first thing I did was paint the grille silver and put Norwood garage codes on it. As far as I know it is the only preserved RM with a silver grille. I know that whatever Robbie does with it the grille will stay silver and for that reason I know I've sold it to the right person. It may seem like a trivial detail to everyone else but we know what it means. My bus (or ex-bus, it still feels like my bus) was the last Leyland engined RM at Norwood and the last RM on the Norwood operated route 68.

[busmansholiday]

Know exactly what you are feeling.

I've had four Reliances over the years, and even when vandalised beyond repair I've been very, very sad to see it go.

The upside for me is that 1322WA, the first one I bought from North's scrapyard, in about 1980, is now prestine at the South Yorkshire Transport Museum. Of the other three, an earlier one was sold to help restore a similar one from another operator and the two KWA---D batch ones, whilst no longer surviving, another from that batch does.

Money isn't everything, but just think how many Skoda's you could buy!

[Yoss]

I'll try not to spend it all on Skodas as I don't have that much room but I will be able to treat the ones I already own a little. That was part of the reason for selling. All the vehicles in my fleet have some sort of jobs that need doing, mainly cosmetic and selling the Skodas wouldn't pay for half of what I could spend on the bus, especially if we start going into retrimming the interior etc, whereas selling the bus will fund looking after the cars very nicely. And I think the Favorit is rarer now too. Even I don't pay any attention to RMs at bus rallies, unless it's a friend's one as they too common (though mine was different to all the others of course). 

[busmansholiday]

The costs per month for mine were eye watering even before I got married. Being single never bothered me, but...

I miss mine, but cars are generally cheaper and you can park them in your drive.

[LightBulbFun]

as Busman's Holiday said I know the feeling and it sounds like its going to a good home 

thats a neat story about the grill, I do recall seeing silver grill RMs like you mention ill have to pull out my books and see what I can spot

and yes knowing the going rate Routemasters sell for, I can see there being some very shiny Skodas, could even get a proper skoda with the engine in the back  

BTW I noticed RM2107 also has an offside illuminated advertising frame setup was it something Southampton looked out for when buying RMs or is it just a coincidence in this case? 

(side note I must be the only person left alive who still goes "Oooh Routemasters! YAY!" when I spot 1 or a bunch at a bus show LOL)

[Yoss]

RM 2107 never came to Southampton, it had been to Glasgow and back. That's Clydeside livery (before you were born, I know). 

There were originally a couple of hundred of the illuminated advert bodies and I used to know which bodies they were, but as time passes and new numbers get pushed into my brain old ones fall out, but they were around the 1700-1900 area. But because of London Transport's unique overhaul system they got spread out a bit, though most seemed to stay in that general area even after three or four spins through Aldenham. 

Then there's the Leyland engines. There were 600 of those out of 2100ish buses (they were only fitted to standard RMs, none of the sub classes had them) and from new they were in sequential batches (I have all the info upstairs but it's not in my brain anymore) but again were spread far and wide through Aldenham. But by the time the Aldenham overhauls finished it did seem like a lot of Leylands and offside adverts came together in the 1900-2000 area. 

When Southampton Citybus decided to buy some they wanted all Leylands on the rather spurious reasoning that most of their fleet at the time was Leyland Atlanteans, though I don't think the O600 in the RMs actually had too much interchangeable with the O680 in the Atlanteans. And how hard can it be to train your fitters on the AEC. The last AEC Regents had only been withdrawn six years earlier so I reckon plenty of fitters probably still knew them. Ironically when they first introduced the RMs they also brought AEC Regent V 401 out of their heritage fleet. 

But it suited me fine because I was always partial to a Leyland RM and was in my element when they arrived. If you look at the second picture above, we'd pulled up alongside RM 2059. That was a ex Southampton bus and that too has an illuminated advert panel. We had RMs 1993, 2011, 2037, 2043 and 2059 with illuminated adverts but also 2005 but that didn't have one so obviously aquired a body from a different batch at some point. 

 

[LightBulbFun]

ah bollocks of course  I knew recognised the livery from somewhere!

I wonder if the Leyland buses ended up with illuminated Offside advert bodies on purpose like how RTLs ended up with roof box bodies before sale so London Transport could get rid of the all the non standard features in one go

[Yoss]

That sounds quite plausible. Of course there was a batch of RML's with the advert panels too but they all got binned sadly when they got refurbed. 

[LightBulbFun]

6 minutes ago, Yoss said:

That sounds quite plausible. Of course there was a batch of RML's with the advert panels too but they all got binned sadly when they got refurbed. 

yeah I believe just 2 remain still, my mum actually spotted one a couple weeks ago RML2588  

I do wonder if they retained the same tube setup, or if when they got changed during refurbished (or if they just fell into disuse and where used as regular advertising frames only?)

I was rather surprised to find out a while back that the fluorescent light fixtures in 1990s refurbished RMLs, actually use US Spec T12 single pin "slimline" tubes

I was not expecting that in the slightest! (but it explains tho why us lighting collectors find US Slimline tubes in bus depots from time to time)

 

I do wonder how preservationists get replacement tubes, as finding US Spec fluorescent tubes in the UK can be quite tricky unless you know where to look (and even then they can be quite expensive)

[reb]

Stupid bus question!

If I were to acquire a PCV license in the course of employment, would that then entitle me to drive a bus if I were to purchase such a conveyance?

[reb]

Alas I was born in 96 so don't have any of the good grandfather rights on my license!

If I rip out the seats and stick a bed and a cooker in it, that's enough for it to be a camper right? I think all of these students and whatnot living in the back of knackered transits are doing it wrong.

[catsinthewelder]

If you pass a Class D test you can drive a bus, you'll need the CPC shit for work but not for your own one.

If you take all the seats out and convert it to a camper you'll probably need a class C licence.  Presumbably if you leave 17 passenger seats in it'll still be a bus so can be driven with a D licence despite having a bed and cooker.  Best to ask one of the Andys for proper advice before breaking out the savings though.

[clayts450]

This book plopped through my letterbox today. I was drawn to it  on eBay by the fact the two buses on the front were photographed in my town of birth, and indeed both definitely accommodated me on my trips to school - early Nat (SNB103 spotter fans) and an AEC Merlin (think it's MBS399). Loads more shots of St Albans buses inside too including on the first page another MBS (292) in the lovely green/yellow London Country livery and with destination blinds showing the estate I was brought up on. Much nostalgia...

[Mrcento]

7 hours ago, Scotty2 said:

Or get an old coach and drive it under "Vintage Coach Rules"

If vehicle is over 30 years old and you passed your test before 96(?) you can drive a preserved coach on your car licence as long as you have no more than 8 passengers AND it is not for hire or reward.

 

As far as i can see, that's a bit of a grey area RE the grandfather rights on old buses. (I've looked into it because i'd genuinely love to buy an old Ailsa ? )

Some places say its as the above and the licence needs issues before the cut-off date, others say buses over 30 years old all fall under exempted passenger vehicle status. According to the governments own information leaflet, i can see where the potential issues come in. I certainly wouldn't chance driving one on a car license without getting it cleared!

[busmansholiday]

Don't forget insurance, that's the bit where they take a sharp intake of breath when you tell them the truth.

[reb]

6 hours ago, 83C said:

So far as I understand it, over 3.5T + more than 9 seats (1 driver + 8 passenger) = classed as a normal PSV. The DVLA classify licence category 'D' as:

So if you had a 12m coach with a drivers seat, courier seat and 8 other seats (maybe arranged as two 2+2 table bays?) and it was over 30 years old, you could claim it is a PSV and drive it on a category 'B' licence. Keep the outside smart, don't make it obviously like a camper (heavily tint the side windows) and jobs a good un. I keep thinking of doing similar for family holidays over the next few years, I know to a lovely 9m Volvo B10M that would make a lovely little camper.

I showed Molly a few plaxton bodied Volvos and the overriding response was "why are they so big?". Which got me thinking, how many caravan sites will let you in with a dirty great coach? And you can't really hide in a layby in a coach, can you?

[LightBulbFun]

6 minutes ago, reb said:

I showed Molly a few plaxton bodied Volvos and the overriding response was "why are they so big?". Which got me thinking, how many caravan sites will let you in with a dirty great coach? And you can't really hide in a layby in a coach, can you?

I guess you could find a caravan site that will take the big american 40 footers since those are based on coach platforms anyway  

[Slappy]

On 8/7/2019 at 8:32 PM, Yoss said:

"Portsmouth City Coaches, Southbourne"

Risen from the ashes of Emsworth and District late 2018. Invested in some 5 year old Scania coaches, but seem to picking up and dropping Olympians as if they're going out of fashion for school stuff.

[Eyersey1234]

28 minutes ago, Slappy said:

Risen from the ashes of Emsworth and District late 2018. Invested in some 5 year old Scania coaches, but seem to picking up and dropping Olympians as if they're going out of fashion for school stuff.

Surely Olympians will be getting too old for school runs now? DDA isn't always an issue with school runs though as it depends on the contract