Bus Shite

[LightBulbFun]

13 minutes ago, Yoss said:

And that's how you lengthen an RM. Simple as that. Nice BEA RM in front. 

(dragging this over here so no one complains about text in the one shite picture per post thread)

indeed! although sadly that RM was being sectioned for some static display where the customer only wanted the back 25%! IIRC, (the RM people doing it where not happy about it, but its what the customer wanted sadly, so the people doing it made sure to do it so the maximum amount of bits etc could be salvaged from what I understand, so rather then just gas axe it  in half, they carefully deconstructed it)

but it does give a very neat "cross sectional" view of an RM tho  a few pages back on that thread I also posted the rear view, which also looks quite neat

indeed tis a very nice RMA in front, BEA1 in fact IIRC  

https://www.facebook.com/Routemaster-Restoration-106906932992719/

 

 

 

[Eyersey1234]

My chariot earlier on, one of 8 bought new in 2007, last repainted last year into a special livery commemorating 100 years of the RAF and 100 years since the Armistice. 

[busmansholiday]

On 11/27/2019 at 8:50 PM, clayts450 said:

This should be an interesting project - bloke bought a National for peanuts and is aiming to restore it. He's set up a FB group to chart his progress

https://www.facebook.com/groups/544975109397506/

Happier times

LCBS originally I'd guess.

Restoration may be easier than you think, there's going to be shed loads of panels, glass, seats etc available very shortly in a railway scrap yard near me, hopefully.

[RoadworkUK]

55 minutes ago, busmansholiday said:

Restoration may be easier than you think, there's going to be shed loads of panels, glass, seats etc available very shortly in a railway scrap yard near me, hopefully.

And possibly a Cummins LTA10-R to turn it into a RoadPacer

[Rover414]

A fair few of the early Pacer withdrawals from Northern are already being cut up over there.

[clayts450]

LCBS originally I'd guess.
Restoration may be easier than you think, there's going to be shed loads of panels, glass, seats etc available very shortly in a railway scrap yard near me, hopefully.

Alder Valley rather than London Country, I believe

[willswitchengage]

I stumbled across some sort of vintage buses event in Reading today. It looked like they were doing laps of the town centre for punters. I'm pretty sure the Optare still belongs to Reading Buses (I believe the country's last municipal operator?) and every now and then they paint one of their modern fleet members like an E400 in the old livery. No idea what livery the VR is wearing.

 

[Eyersey1234]

What body is that VR? Unusual to see one that isn't ECW bodied. 

[jon.k]

17 hours ago, RoadworkUK said:

And possibly a Cummins LTA10-R to turn it into a RoadPacer

Has a road pacer ever been made?

[Rover414]

As far as I know that Optare Spectra is preserved, it was certainly owned by MASS Transit in between its current owners and Reading Buses.

[busmansholiday]

The Reading VR (38) is in the old Reading Corporation livery and has a Northern Counties body. Alexander, East Lancs also bodied VR's.

Other than Reading, there's Blackpool, Nottingham, Cardiff, Newport at least still in "council" ownership.

[busmansholiday]

With the time ticking down to the big orange and white bird home, let's have some proper Spanish shite.

Let's start with this 1985 ex Berlin Waggon Union bodied MAN, one of a pair still running around Benidorm.

Or for those that like more modern shite, as it'll never last 34 years, this lovely* new IV*CO, which I travelled on.

There automated manual box seemed as shite as usual.

[Noel Tidybeard]

On 12/8/2019 at 4:13 PM, jon.k said:

Has a road pacer ever been made?

wouldn't the wheels give a hard ride/fuck up the road surface??

[Eyersey1234]

On 12/9/2019 at 9:23 PM, busmansholiday said:

The Reading VR (38) is in the old Reading Corporation livery and has a Northern Counties body. Alexander, East Lancs also bodied VR's.

Other than Reading, there's Blackpool, Nottingham, Cardiff, Newport at least still in "council" ownership.

Thanks @busmansholiday.  If we are counting Scotland as well there's also Lothian who AFAIK are still council owned. 

[jon.k]

8 hours ago, Noel Tidybeard said:

wouldn't the wheels give a hard ride/fuck up the road surface??

And the lack of steering might be a problem I suppose.

[artdjones]

On 12/8/2019 at 3:56 PM, Eyersey1234 said:

What body is that VR? Unusual to see one that isn't ECW bodied. 

Northern Counties.

[Eyersey1234]

3 hours ago, artdjones said:

Northern Counties.

Thanks 

[martc]

20 hours ago, Noel Tidybeard said:

wouldn't the wheels give a hard ride/fuck up the road surface??

 wouldn't the wheels give a hard ride/fuck up the rails??

No change there then.

[catsinthewelder]

Yay 3rd change of operator on our local route.

 

http://andybodders.co.uk/2019/12/20/breaking-diamond-bus-get-contract-to-run-the-ludlow-to-kidderminster-service-from-january/

Apparently the current operator has to let the route go over serious irregularities around vehicle maintenance and drivers hours ?

He's right about the route fucking up busses, a few have caught fire on the inclines and the snow causes much hilarity ?

[cms206]

First day back in the saddle... ex-Ulsterbus 70-seat Volvo B12B with PieShift.

[Eyersey1234]

4 hours ago, cms206 said:

First day back in the saddle... ex-Ulsterbus 70-seat Volvo B12B with PieShift.

I'm about to make a move onto coaches off local bus myself, onto the National Express rota. 

[Zelandeth]

Guessing the alleged software updates over the last couple of years haven't made the iShift system any less appalling than the one I had a shot of back in 2013?

Even as a passenger it drives me nuts...never known a gearbox which spends more time in neutral between gears than actually providing propulsion...yet then also seeming to without fail be in the wrong gear at any given time.

To me an automatic gearbox only has any right to exist if it can do at least as good a job as a reasonably competent driver... otherwise just give me a year lever and a clutch please.

[petermchugh79]

The sun rises over Donnybrook garage on the 27th of December

Sent from my VFD 710 using Tapatalk

[cms206]

i-Shift is a walk in the park compared to AS-Tronic.

 

Now THAT is a fucking pile of arse.

[Eyersey1234]

We have mostly Volvo coaches after a bad experience with Scania in the mid 90s so most of the coach fleet has the ishift gearbox, though we have gone back to Scania for the latest Levantes for NX work. Scania reliability has apparently massively improved and Volvos has plummeted. We have switched to ADL for the latest buses

[Eyersey1234]

@83C 2.5mpg is fucking awful, why the hell was it so bad? 

[Zelandeth]

The main memory I have of the iShift was turning out of a junction onto a busy dual carriageway.  Was thinking "brand new bus, this will be easy!"

Cue my dismay when the thing decided to pause not once, not twice, but five times for gearchange - at the best part of a second apiece - before I made it to the far lane that I was aiming for...by that point looking an utter idiot. 

Note to self: Next time turning out of there in a B12R(I think...15M Panther body anyway) with that gearbox, aim for a gap I'd usually be looking to slot the 1929 Albion into!

 

[Eyersey1234]

From what I have heard I think the I-Shift gearbox is more designed for trucks than coaches

[rml2345]

All the automated manuals were designed for wagons, hence their ability to do motorways and not a lot else. ArseTronic is further hampered by having been designed to work best with Iveco Tector engines and bodged to suit everything else. Apparently the worst of then all is Merc's PowerShift, which takes about a fortnight between changes. 

[Eyersey1234]

The gearboxes on our Scania NX coaches think about whether they can be arsed to change up or not too.