Bus Shite

[ETCHY]

2 hours ago, Yoss said:

The strangest looking thing about that Escort is the reg. That's not a London reg is it. Even the Transit has an LK reg.

If we're going on to service vehicles... 

This was the Grosvenor Square recovery truck. 

And this was the CityBus one. 

Both great looking vehicles. I never saw the AEC out on the road whereas I saw the CityBus one quite a few times. Maybe this says VRs were more reliable than Atlanteans but  I think the AEC one (if it even is an AEC. It looks a bit home made and that grille looks like an afterthought, like they just had it lying around and thought that'll do. It looks too small) had a much shorter life. I never saw it at any of Blue Line's other garages once they'd moved, whereas the CityBus Leyland (Marathon? Trucks are not my forte) was around for years. 

 

And this Sherpa crops up in a few of my pictures. It always seemed to be parked around Poundtree Road. 

Yep the  citybus recovery truck is a "block of flats" Leyland Marathon. Basically a cash strapped Leyland lash up to try & compete with foreign competition.

I have always really liked the Marathon, it's somehow cool.

[martc]

2 hours ago, Yoss said:

The strangest looking thing about that Escort is the reg. That's not a London reg is it. Even the Transit has an LK reg.

 

You're right - it's not a London reg, it is a Worcester one.

[Eyersey1234]

On 10/12/2020 at 8:28 AM, cms206 said:

How do you find Go Ahead to work for?

I worked for them from 2005 when Chris Moyes was still in charge until 2010, though admittedly not in one of their bus or train divisions and they were probably my best all round employer I ever had.

Another thing I thought of earlier is new management seem to listen more to suggestions and comments than previous management 

[Zelandeth]

Holy cow, one of these pieces of automotive excrement still exists?

We had two of them on the Aberdeen community dial a bus service back between 2005-11, and from the day they were delivered (5 years apart) they spent more time in the garage in bits than on the road.   Not sure which was worse, the electronics or the absolutely mental driveline setup.  They're front engined (wheezy, vastly underpowered Iveco power unit) and rear drive.  The propshaft runs under the offside will, requiring two 45 degree angle drives and more universal joints than you would think possible to get drive to the rear wheels.  Looks great in a nice concept stage cutaway drawing...in the real world it's an utter pain.  Especially as the whole exhaust (which also runs the full length of the vehicle) has to come off to get at basically anything.

I don't think the second one ever had working heating.

They also have the turning circle of the Titanic which meant there were several estates we just couldn't serve with them. 

Oh, and they have less traction on poor road conditions than a BMW with racing slicks.  We wound up with one one winter stuck at the bottom of a hill with what I'd describe as "slight slush" on the road.  Even the sodding bendy buses were getting up there - including stopping at the bus stop halfway up - without any issues whatsoever...Why they didn't just design them as a front wheel drive vehicle I don't know.  It would have solved a good 80% of the problems I reckon.

Shame really as from a passenger perspective they did the job of being a properly accessible bus without feeling like one of those stripped out hospital shuttles.

[Yoss]

15 hours ago, LightBulbFun said:

that just sent me down a fun rabbit hole via this picture, as I went to dig it up and debated about posting it or not, I noticed talk of the Ford Escort behind it

https://flic.kr/p/9Y43qd

(bet you would never guess how I originally came across the photograph LOL)

 

which then lead me down this fun flicker rabbit hole dedicated to all of London Transport's weird and whacky vehicles

https://www.flickr.com/groups/london_transport_service_vehicles/

its mighty weird seeing a regular car with London Transport fleet names LOL

https://flic.kr/p/pidArd

This is probably mainly for @LightBulbFun

Here's a list from my 1985 London Bus Handbook of all the service vehicles. I thought you'd enjoy studying this. 

It turns out it's not unusual to have non London registrations on service vehicles. Whilst there are large numbers of familiar registrations there are lots of unfamiliar ones. There's even a block of Astravans here with Southampton regs (CR, TR and OW). 

[jon.k]

I’ve got this book on lt service vehicles. It goes back a long way and has some oddities in it.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/London-Transport-Service-Vehicles-Rennie/dp/1854142747

[LightBulbFun]

3 hours ago, Yoss said:

This is probably mainly for @LightBulbFun

Here's a list from my 1985 London Bus Handbook of all the service vehicles. I thought you'd enjoy studying this. 

It turns out it's not unusual to have non London registrations on service vehicles. Whilst there are large numbers of familiar registrations there are lots of unfamiliar ones. There's even a block of Astravans here with Southampton regs (CR, TR and OW). 

ohh interesting!  

its interesting that they had regular driver training cars, wonder what those where used for (for recruiting bus drivers who didn't yet have a car driving licence first?)

I had wondered what LT wanted a regular car for (I understand the estate cars and vans where used for Radio operations etc, complete with a neat little light up roundel on the roof  but was wondering what the escort saloon car was for for example!)

 

its extra amusing because at one point @purplebargeken was looking for paint suggestions on what colour etc to pain his Dolomite (or was it a Toledo?) and I thought it would be fun to paint it in London Transport Red with 1980's white roundels on both sides

so its amusing to see that I was not actually that far off reality!  

[Yoss]

Funnily enough I'd thought about doing that to my Triumph. Mainly because I have mismatching seats in mine and I thought it would look nice with RM moquette in it. You can buy the moquette new again now and I figured if I found somebody having their bus retrimmed there might enough left over to do a car, you wouldnt need much for a car. Then I thought I might as well do the door trims and seat edging in maroon and from there it spiralled out of control into painting it red with a white stripe. Luckily it's all in my head and very likely to stay there. 

[quicksilver]

48 minutes ago, LightBulbFun said:

ohh interesting!  

its interesting that they had regular driver training cars, wonder what those where used for (for recruiting bus drivers who didn't yet have a car driving licence first?)

I had wondered what LT wanted a regular car for (I understand the estate cars and vans where used for Radio operations etc, complete with a neat little light up roundel on the roof  but was wondering what the escort saloon car was for for example!)

 

its extra amusing because at one point @purplebargeken was looking for paint suggestions on what colour etc to pain his Dolomite and I thought it would be fun to paint it in London Transport Red with 1980's white roundels on both sides

so its amusing to see that I was not actually that far off reality!  

Check out www.ltsv.com for plenty more on London Transport (and other operators') service vehicles but make sure you set aside a few hours to explore all the weird and wonderful stuff there. There's an explanation for all the non-London registrations - those vehicles were leased and seemed to be registered all over the country.

[LightBulbFun]

50 minutes ago, Yoss said:

Funnily enough I'd thought about doing that to my Triumph. Mainly because I have mismatching seats in mine and I thought it would look nice with RM moquette in it. You can buy the moquette new again now and I figured if I found somebody having their bus retrimmed there might enough left over to do a car, you wouldnt need much for a car. Then I thought I might as well do the door trims and seat edging in maroon and from there it spiralled out of control into painting it red with a white stripe. Luckily it's all in my head and very likely to stay there. 

hah funnily enough I was wondering the other day how it would look and how much it would cost to have REV's seat (or well a Model 70 seat base and cushion, as id probably try and keep REV's original set to one side) retrimmed in Routemaster seat moquette/fabric  

(I have always wanted one of those Routemaster seat moquette trimmed bits of furniture, like an arm chair that the London Transport museum sell, but holy hell are they expensive!)

and I was thinking it would be a fun way to not only add a bit of a personal touch to REV without radically changing the physical layout of things, and a way to have a bit of Routemaster in my car  

22 minutes ago, quicksilver said:

Check out www.ltsv.com for plenty more on London Transport (and other operators') service vehicles but make sure you set aside a few hours to explore all the weird and wonderful stuff there. There's an explanation for all the non-London registrations - those vehicles were leased and seemed to be registered all over the country.

ah cool  ill be sure to check that out in a bit!

[Yoss]

30 minutes ago, quicksilver said:

Check out www.ltsv.com for plenty more on London Transport (and other operators') service vehicles but make sure you set aside a few hours to explore all the weird and wonderful stuff there. There's an explanation for all the non-London registrations - those vehicles were leased and seemed to be registered all over the country.

Okay, that was fun. I was only there five minutes and found these. 

 

And this Chevette has the roof roundel. How much do I want one of those? I bet they just binned them all. 

 

[cms206]

Backshift tonight, 2230ish finish.

DAZ 1522 was new to Stansted Transit as KX08 HLU.

[cms206]

6 hours ago, ETCHY said:

Yep the  citybus recovery truck is a "block of flats" Leyland Marathon. Basically a cash strapped Leyland lash up to try & compete with foreign competition.

I have always really liked the Marathon, it's somehow cool.

I saved a screenshot of this from facebook ages ago which made me giggle somewhat...

[ETCHY]

10 minutes ago, cms206 said:

I saved a screenshot of this from facebook ages ago which made me giggle somewhat...

Ta for that interesting to read & the 26 mile thing is quality ! Yeah I'd heard they could be either good or bad (Leyland products were often like that). 

I do like the rather odd ball looks though.

[Eyersey1234]

26 minutes ago, cms206 said:

Backshift tonight, 2230ish finish.

DAZ 1522 was new to Stansted Transit as KX08 HLU.

Chodtastic coach, which chassis is it? 

[cms206]

2 hours ago, Eyersey1234 said:

Chodtastic coach, which chassis is it? 

Volvo B12B with i-Shift 'box. Only 400k miles on this one, my shift bus is the same spec but two years older and it's on 980k miles.

[Zelandeth]

29 minutes ago, cms206 said:

Volvo B12B with i-Shift 'box. Only 400k miles on this one, my shift bus is the same spec but two years older and it's on 980k miles.

B12B, nice.  i-Shift.  Nope, nope, nope, nope...Made an absolute arse of myself the first time I drove a bus with that gearbox.  Made the assumption of "nice shiny new coach, that gap is plenty big enough..." - yet discovered that it actually got off the mark slower than the Bedford Y series I've probably spent the most hours in!  Think I was in fourth gear by the time I had actually "fully left" the station!

[Eyersey1234]

1 hour ago, cms206 said:

Volvo B12B with i-Shift 'box. Only 400k miles on this one, my shift bus is the same spec but two years older and it's on 980k miles.

We used to have B12Bs with Panther bodywork and i-Shift gearbox. 

[LightBulbFun]

7 hours ago, quicksilver said:

Check out www.ltsv.com for plenty more on London Transport (and other operators') service vehicles but make sure you set aside a few hours to explore all the weird and wonderful stuff there. There's an explanation for all the non-London registrations - those vehicles were leased and seemed to be registered all over the country.

10PM: "alright got a nice cup of hot chocolate lets check scope out this website, Oh Look its 1:30AM"

and I have just been looking at all the cars on there not even touched the other vehicles yet*, particular highlight for me so far has been all the surprising amount of FX4's dressed up in various bus liveries, used as crew shuttles  

http://www.ltsv.com/sv2/pic_view.php?selpic=1428

 

*well I did just run across this which shares a registration close to the Prototype Routemasters

http://www.ltsv.com/sv2/pic_view.php?selpic=2885

[martc]

10 hours ago, LightBulbFun said:

10PM: "alright got a nice cup of hot chocolate lets check scope out this website, Oh Look its 1:30AM"

and I have just been looking at all the cars on there not even touched the other vehicles yet*, particular highlight for me so far has been all the surprising amount of FX4's dressed up in various bus liveries, used as crew shuttles  

http://www.ltsv.com/sv2/pic_view.php?selpic=1428

 

*well I did just run across this which shares a registration close to the Prototype Routemasters

http://www.ltsv.com/sv2/pic_view.php?selpic=2885

Barclays Doctor Brown Ale can be enjoyed accompanied by a Dentist Fag...

[Inspector Morose]

Over the past months I've been doing a bit of scanning of my old prints. Sadly the majority have been damaged beyond repair by the conditions I'm now having to keep them so I've been rescuing what I can.

Let's start with a trip to Wrexham at some point in the last 25 years (No, I never dated my photos - what do you want, me to be organised?)

 

The Wrights National was later sold on to Chase where I drove and repaired it on many occasion.

 

[Inspector Morose]

How about a trip to one of the Winkleigh open days of the past?

 

[Inspector Morose]

Many spare days were spent in Sheffield soaking up Northern Bus with their heady mix of REs plus the other oddities running around (Warning this is a big post).

 

[LightBulbFun]

5 minutes ago, Inspector Morose said:

 

5 minutes ago, Inspector Morose said:

nice pair of GEC Z8128 Clearmain Difractor lanterns in view there  very much would love to get one for the collection some day!

 

[Inspector Morose]

Yeah, you get it, I like Nationals too. So much so that when I had an operation, we operated a good number of them. Occasionally we bought the odd interloper and operated the occasional demo but mainly it was Nationals all the way down. The end came when I went on holiday and one of the partners in the operation (I was still but a spotty youth then) sold to WMT and fucked off with the cash. Ah, happy times they were, we only burned down once!

 

[LightBulbFun]

13 minutes ago, Inspector Morose said:

Yeah, you get it, I like Nationals too. So much so that when I had an operation, we operated a good number of them. Occasionally we bought the odd interloper and operated the occasional demo but mainly it was Nationals all the way down. The end came when I went on holiday and one of the partners in the operation (I was still but a spotty youth then) sold to WMT and fucked off with the cash. Ah, happy times they were, we only burned down once!

 

Like for the Nationals (especially the one being driven so hard its doing a 2CV impression) and not the Burning down or money fucking off bits!

 

[Out Run]

I always wanted a Repowered by Volvo badge for my Volvo 360 when it was converted from 2.0 carb to 2.3i turbo. I remember them from Leyland Atlantean’s etc in the 90s.

Anyone got a pic?

[LightBulbFun]

30 minutes ago, Out Run said:

I always wanted a Repowered by Volvo badge for my Volvo 360 when it was converted from 2.0 carb to 2.3i turbo. I remember them from Leyland Atlantean’s etc in the 90s.

Anyone got a pic?

at 1:27 in you can get a good view of one in @dollywobbler's video on a Leyland national  

 

[busmansholiday]

It's around 50 years ago I started photographing buses, must start scanning some and putting them on here (and I remember seeing a piano front ex Reading (I think) Regent in a Barnsley scrapyard and being told it's yours for £50. My parents wouldn't give me the money for some reason!).

[cms206]

Turkish Delight tonight - one of the issues with being the last bus out is you can and do get hit with whatever's in.

For those of a non-bus disposition, this is a Euro 6 Temsa Safari HD12.