Bus Shite

[LightBulbFun]

I see the RMOOA have announced the venue and date for Routemaster 70

I am hoping to be there, I was at Routemaster 60 and lost all my pictures of that event due to a hard drive failure, hopefully I can avoid repeating that this time! and hopefully finally find someone who can renew my RMOOA memembership, I tried emailing them some years back but they never responded to my email

I am just a bit concerned about getting around, the last time it utterly broke me

 

@Yoss do you (or any other shitters?  )  have any plans to be there? would be good to know if familiar faces will be there, so I dont feel completely like a fish out of water LOL

[Yoss]

14 hours ago, LightBulbFun said:

I see the RMOOA have announced the venue and date for Routemaster 70

I am hoping to be there, I was at Routemaster 60 and lost all my pictures of that event due to a hard drive failure, hopefully I can avoid repeating that this time! and hopefully finally find someone who can renew my RMOOA memembership, I tried emailing them some years back but they never responded to my email

I am just a bit concerned about getting around, the last time it utterly broke me

 

@Yoss do you (or any other shitters?  )  have any plans to be there? would be good to know if familiar faces will be there, so I dont feel completely like a fish out of water LOL

I do intend going but unlike at RM 50 and 60 I don't have a bus to bring so I'll probably just pop in. I haven't worked out my days off that far in advance but if it's a long weekend (the chances are 1 in 3) I'd probably go on the Saturday, if not it would obviously be Sunday.

Chiswick is a lot easier for me to get to than Finsbury Park anyway but probably not for you. You could use the North London Line direct from Dalston Kingsland to Gunnersbury which would be the nearest stop. But that would be dependent on there being no engineering works which seems unlikely going by my recent experiences. Otherwise you could drop down to Aldgate or Whitechapel and get the District to Gunnersbury. If you go this way you can get off one stop early at Chiswick Park. You would have slightly further to walk but Chiswick Park is one of my favourite Charles Holden stations. I would definitely do this.

[666jjp]

49 minutes ago, Yoss said:

I haven't worked out my days off that far in advance but if it's a long weekend (the chances are 1 in 3) I'd probably go on the Saturday, if not it would obviously be Sunday.

If you have access to the people app you can look under leave tab and your days off should be highlighted.

[Yoss]

57 minutes ago, 666jjp said:

If you have access to the people app you can look under leave tab and your days off should be highlighted.

I'll admit I hadn't thought of that but the main problem is I don't know if I'll be on the same duty by then. It's looking more likely that I will be but there is constant talk of a resign before then but as each week goes by that seems less likely. I know they want to make our start and finish times an hour later by June.

So at the moment I'm just marking my days off on the calendar a month at a time.

[catsinthewelder]

https://youtube.com/shorts/_-idF5wpF2Q?si=-84dII2EOzmjoSFi

[auntiemaryscanary]

On 26/03/2024 at 04:08, LightBulbFun said:

 

I am hoping to be there, I was at Routemaster 60 and lost all my pictures of that event due to a hard drive failure 

@Yoss

Take a film camera, when you send the film off to be developed get an extra set of prints. The original back up system! Just don't store the negatives next to one your lit bulbs.

[cms206]

Bank holiday Monday, a 6hr 18min backshift and the oldest bus in the garage for the whole shift.

 

Absolute bliss.

[busmansholiday]

Grange Hill was a TV series from 1978 until  2008 so that's just about appropriate (although a Merlin would have been better).

[cms206]

42 minutes ago, busmansholiday said:

Grange Hill was a TV series from 1978 until  2008 so that's just about appropriate (although a Merlin would have been better).

No school at this Grange Hill, but I've been on the 362 so often of late the Scottish drivers in the hotel are calling me Zammo 😂

[Remspoor]

20 hours ago, cms206 said:

Bank holiday Monday, a 6hr 18min backshift and the oldest bus in the garage for the whole shift.

 

Absolute bliss.

An interesting fact for you. That route terminates at  King George Hospital. The southern part of the  site is occupied by  mental health hospital Barley Lane. As kids we used to say to another kid who was doing idiot things that they would be locked away there. I now appreciate that that is not fair the hospital done more care then keep paints locked away.

You can see the A12 in the far distance running from the wood in the left to the right.

King Georges was located off the A12 near London.

[Dyslexic Viking]

 

[busmansholiday]

2 minutes ago, Dyslexic Viking said:

 

SHMD, the Stalybridge, Hyde, Mosseley and Dukinfield Joint Transport and Electricity Board Limited (to give them their full title) was a small operator to the east of Manchester that had a fascinating fleet of buses, many unique. They were swallowed up as part of SELNEC (South East Lancashire and North East Cheshire) when it was created in 1969. Andy Burnham (the Greater Manchester Mayor) is on the way to recreating SELNEC but under the BEE banner and buses in yellow rather than the Orange and White of SELNEC.

I've done a shift or two in a RE...

[Dyslexic Viking]

Something strange has come up for sale here. A 1975 Volvo bus built as a mobile demonstration for a heating plant. It has been unused for a long time and the odometer shows 600km, I doubt it has done so little, but then again it has probably been driven little so it could be possible? 733 pounds.

https://www.finn.no/b2b/bus/ad.html?finnkode=343802675

[Dyslexic Viking]

There is also a similar 1986 Scania 112 bus for sale here now, but this one is in very good condition and has only done about 100,000km. 8000 pounds.

https://www.finn.no/b2b/bus/ad.html?finnkode=317390251

[bigstraight6]

I spotted this Ex City of Plymouth Leyland Atlantean at rest on an industrial estate within the City today, I almost certainly would have been transported in this back in the 1970’s…

[MiniMinorMk3]

1928 Lancia Omicron triple-decker bus

[Remspoor]

Immaculate elegance - 75 year-old RT2177

https://youtu.be/lJiXvzdKcc8

Will not embed.

This run is to celebrate 100 years of Barking Bus garage.

from 0:00 to 1:39 I think is along the A12. It is a dual carriageway.

From 1:40 the video is along Green Lane, Ilford Then at 5:06 right turn into South Park Terrace.

In "my day" the 145 carried on along Green Lane. The 291 run with RF along South Park Drive. For many years LT wanted to use double deckers, but  the residence of this road objected saying passengers could see into bedroom windows.  That obviously did change.

https://londonbuses.co.uk/_routes/withdrawn/291-1.html

https://www.flickr.com/photos/42632508@N02/albums/72157628944144331/with/6727356643

The end of the video ends when the bus reaches Barking Garage.

Although there is a lad that does not stop talking and I find irritating I do like that you can see just how hard it was to drive these buses. With no power steering.

[cms206]

On a Barking 100th anniversary note, my first bus of the day is the East London Ambassador which was unveiled on the open day on March 23rd.

[Remspoor]

Did not know that was a thing. So I went looking. It seems like there is only one bus is that correct? I found videos of it mainly working 238 and one terrible  one on the 145. Shot in portrait, thus making for me, unwatchable.

It does look smart.

 

Question, is the 102 in the front window the running number? Do you even have them these days?

[cms206]

5 hours ago, Remspoor said:

Did not know that was a thing. So I went looking. It seems like there is only one bus is that correct? I found videos of it mainly working 238 and one terrible  one on the 145. Shot in portrait, thus making for me, unwatchable.

It does look smart.

 

Question, is the 102 in the front window the running number? Do you even have them these days?

This is the latest of the "show" buses - 12345 is the (third) Selkent Ambassador, 10301 is the MacMillan Cancer Support bus, 11377 is the (current) Spirit of London and now 12400 is the East London Ambassador. It's also Barking's first refurbishment, thankfully without the horrific grey leatherette seating which has been creeping across the fleet. 12400 was painted at Leyton and debuted at Barking 100 on March 23rd.

 

The 102 is indeed a running number; this is still a London thing, which helps with radio identification also - for example my MDT unit identified me as 102/145 rather than fleet number 12400.

[Remspoor]

6 hours ago, cms206 said:

This is the latest of the "show" buses - 12345 is the (third) Selkent Ambassador, 10301 is the MacMillan Cancer Support bus, 11377 is the (current) Spirit of London and now 12400 is the East London Ambassador. It's also Barking's first refurbishment, thankfully without the horrific grey leatherette seating which has been creeping across the fleet. 12400 was painted at Leyton and debuted at Barking 100 on March 23rd.

 

The 102 is indeed a running number; this is still a London thing, which helps with radio identification also - for example my MDT unit identified me as 102/145 rather than fleet number 12400.

I am old school and prefer the running numbers on the sides in metal plates. Which to be honest thought they would have been stolen far more than they were.

The RT in the video is unfortunately a U boat.  It did not have a running number. That was Upon Park garage.

[cms206]

And so another London spell comes to an end; nine weeks this time, home for eleven days then... we'll see where the wind takes me; there's probably a 50/50 chance at present I'll be off to Oldham next.

Anyway, as is customary: where I am with Barking Garage... asterisks mark what I've driven, a dash and new depot code indicates a bus that has moved on.

... and a photodump of the last nine weeks or so.  Been a long old slog without the kids so looking forward to seeing what chaos they've caused.

First bus of the trip was baby Enviro 200MMC 36639 on the 462, last bus of the trip was Enviro 200MMC 36659 on the 167.

 

 

[Remspoor]

@cms206 Well done you for a long stint away from home. Great post above.

I was going to ask if you could take a photo of the staff area in Barking for my Dad, he turned 90 around a month ago. I do not know even if that would have been possible to take photos inside those areas.

I assume that was inside Barking. Nether of those buses run the routes on the blinds. I was getting "excited" that maybe Dad had driven one of them. http://www.countrybus.org/Titan/TNa.htm

Is this taken from the pub on the opposite side of South Park Drive? It used to be called the Royal Oak. I assume that is one of the preserved Titans.

I will try and get my sister to show dad the photos.

[cms206]

2 minutes ago, Remspoor said:

@cms206 Well done you for a long stint away from home. Great post above.

I was going to ask if you could take a photo of the staff area in Barking for my Dad, he turned 90 around a month ago. I do not know even if that would have been possible to take photos inside those areas.

I assume that was inside Barking. Nether of those buses run the routes on the blinds. I was getting "excited" that maybe Dad had driven one of them. http://www.countrybus.org/Titan/TNa.htm

Is this taken from the pub on the opposite side of South Park Drive? It used to be called the Royal Oak. I assume that is one of the preserved Titans.

I will try and get my sister to show dad the photos.

I'm back down next Sunday - the garage was given a lick of paint and some refurbishment just ahead of the 100th anniversary so probably not much he'd recognise but I shall grab some shots when I'm back down.

The photo of T21 & T22 was taken at the Barking 100 open day, both sadly now retired.

The Titan through the window is T1064, indeed taken through the door window of what is now The Acorn on South Park Drive at the Fair Cross.

 

Next spell will either be 3 or 9 weeks, or Oldham. At present I've still got shifts in place but the new manager seems to have an accent issue as "our type" are not his favourite 🙄

[delux]

'I taught my dog to play the trumpet on London buses.

Started off in Barking, ended up in Tooting!'

 

 

(...gets coat!)

[Yoss]

Didn't a lot of the early Titans go to Hornchurch from new? It was a long time ago but something in my brain is telling me that. There were always lots of early one out that way. Not too far from Barking relatively speaking.

[cms206]

14 minutes ago, Yoss said:

Didn't a lot of the early Titans go to Hornchurch from new? It was a long time ago but something in my brain is telling me that. There were always lots of early one out that way. Not too far from Barking relatively speaking.

T1-33 were new to Hornchurch; T34 was North Street's first one, T102 I think was Barking's first one.

Barking had most of T102-T231 new, T232 was the first to go to Seven Kings.

 

Things could have been a lot different in East London had the proposed Chadwell Heath super depot gone ahead to replace BK, NS & AP.

[Remspoor]

23 hours ago, cms206 said:

the new manager seems to have an accent issue as "our type" are not his favourite 🙄

...... because in multicultural London  accents are important.

[Remspoor]

I think Dad drove Titan's after the RTs were withdrawn. He dose not do WhatsApp so I have to rely on relying messages via my sister. I will see if I can find out.

[cms206]

14 minutes ago, Remspoor said:

...... because in multicultural London  accents are important.

Yes, but even in multicultural London Scots are too hard to understand 😂 we have a Scottish cafe at Angel now though so integration is a matter of time.

12 minutes ago, Remspoor said:

I think Dad drove Titan's after the RTs were withdrawn. He dose not do WhatsApp so I have to rely on relying messages via my sister. I will see if I can find out.

Quite possibly; Barking, from memory, had the shortest lived RM conversion in London - @Yoss may be able to confirm - as the 62 converted from RT to RM operation in 4/79, then again to T operation by February 1980.