Bus Shite

[martc]

The 1928 Pickwick Nite Coach bus complete with 26 beds.

[martc]

A brace of TATA's in Sri Lanka.

[martc]

Piccadilly, 1970.

[martc]

 

A Tatra 500HB-138. Why would you have twin rear axles on such a short, light body?

[martc]

Some rough boys in Liverpool, 1980. 

[martc]

The prototype steam powered Ikarus, only one was made as it couldn't go under bridges, or trees, or lamp posts.

[martc]

A lovely Neoplan Skyliner NH 22 L.

[martc]

North London, 1977. 

Cylinder capacity 0cc!

[quicksilver]

17 minutes ago, martc said:

 

A Tatra 500HB-138. Why would you have twin rear axles on such a short, light body?

Not sure but it's got single wheels on all three axles so that might have something to do with it. Less wheelarch intrusion than a single axle with twin wheels maybe?

[Zelandeth]

3 hours ago, quicksilver said:

Not sure but it's got single wheels on all three axles so that might have something to do with it. Less wheelarch intrusion than a single axle with twin wheels maybe?

Was wondering if it might be to have a steering rear axle for improved manoeuvrability in tight quarters...but surely just a smaller bus on a smaller chassis would make more sense if required.

Either that or it's a bus body plonked on an existing chassis maybe... though Tatra being Tatra who knows...there will be what their engineers were sure was a very good reason for it.

[Yoss]

3 hours ago, martc said:

 

A Tatra 500HB-138. Why would you have twin rear axles on such a short, light body?

I think @Zelandeth is spot on. The fact it has 138 in the number would suggest it is indeed plonked on top of a Tatra 138 truck chassis like this. 

I'd say that wheelbase looks very similar. And of course being Tatras legendary backbone chassis... 

... probably means it can do this. 

I've never seen a Tatra bus, plenty of trams but not buses, they were normally left to the ubiquitous Škoda 706 at this time. That was also a truck chassis but not a 4wd off road one. I would assume then that it is also air cooled. This thing must have been awesome to travel on. I need to go and find out more. 

[Yoss]

Well the good news is this thing still exists. It was restored about five years ago and lives at a Tatra museum in Dobříč just outside Prague. 

They were designed for steep inaccessible routes in mountain areas where normal buses would struggle. It seems to be a standard 138 chassis but with the engine mounted out the back like a Tatra car. You can see the big air scoop at the back of the roof. 

What a fabulous thing. 

[Dyslexic Viking]

14 minutes ago, Yoss said:

Well the good news is this thing still exists. It was restored about five years ago and lives at a Tatra museum in Dobříč just outside Prague. 

They were designed for steep inaccessible routes in mountain areas where normal buses would struggle. It seems to be a standard 138 chassis but with the engine mounted out the back like a Tatra car. You can see the big air scoop at the back of the roof. 

What a fabulous thing. 

I wonder if they keept drive on both rear axles? I guess with that usage they did and to get the engine in the back they reversed the rear axles (turned them around).

And having the engine at the back probably helped a lot on traction. So a rather clever bus.

[Yoss]

Yes it is driven on both rear axles. The 138 truck was also available as a 6x6 (and later types as 8x8, Tatra 813s were regular entrants on the Dakar rally and there are plenty of videos on YouTube of people doing ridiculous things with them) but this just made do with four wheel drive. 

I have found a few more pictures. There's one just creeping in to the picture here next to a Škoda 706 at Brno exhibition centre which is very photogenic in its own right. 

 

Some publicity shots in what was to become their natural environment. 

 

The cab. I bet the gear linkage to the back made for an interesting driving experience. 

The rest of the interior looks simple and sturdy. 

 

And some proud workers with the finished prototype. 

 

[High Jetter]

1 hour ago, Dyslexic Viking said:

And having the engine at the back probably helped a lot on traction. So a rather clever bus.

My impression is that Tatra had some fabulous engineers over the years

[Zelandeth]

59 minutes ago, Yoss said:

The cab. I bet the gear linkage to the back made for an interesting driving experience. 

You might be surprised.  I've driven a 50s era GM  (4104 I think) coach with a four speed manual column shift, connected to a 6-71 Detroit in the back, and while it's not exactly a sports car like, it was nowhere near as heavy or vague as I'd expected.  Far, far better than I've come across on plenty of front engined commercials (Ford, I'm particularly looking at you in the 70s). 

Given their engineering credentials, I'd trust Tatra to make it work pretty damned well too.

One particularly absolutely clapped out Merc 609D box probably take the biscuit for the worst I can remember fighting with, as you literally just had to shove the lever in the right direction and start to let the clutch out and hope the bastard thing was in gear - bonus points if it was actually the right one.  Then hang on for dear life to survive the biblical levels of clutch judders as you took up drive.  In fairness to it though, I'm pretty sure it had been round the clock, had endured 20+ years as a rural service bus then about another 15 as a staff shuttle before ending up on a farm...so I was willing to forgive it some of that. 

Scania managed to make a floor mounted lever work just fine coupled to a rear mounted box too - even if the arrangement of the gears on the splitter confused the fsck out of me the first time I drove that as the pattern changes on the top four gears.  That example was a particularly pampered coach which despite being near 30 years old could just have rolled off the production line though, so not sure what most of them would have been like by that age.

[SunnySouth]

7 hours ago, martc said:

The 1928 Pickwick Nite Coach bus complete with 26 beds.

I bet steering that was *fun…

[SunnySouth]

1 hour ago, Zelandeth said:

You might be surprised.  I've driven a 50s era GM  (4104 I think) coach with a four speed manual column shift, connected to a 6-71 Detroit in the back, and while it's not exactly a sports car like, it was nowhere near as heavy or vague as I'd expected.  Far, far better than I've come across on plenty of front engined commercials (Ford, I'm particularly looking at you in the 70s). 

Given their engineering credentials, I'd trust Tatra to make it work pretty damned well too.

One particularly absolutely clapped out Merc 609D box probably take the biscuit for the worst I can remember fighting with, as you literally just had to shove the lever in the right direction and start to let the clutch out and hope the bastard thing was in gear - bonus points if it was actually the right one.  Then hang on for dear life to survive the biblical levels of clutch judders as you took up drive.  In fairness to it though, I'm pretty sure it had been round the clock, had endured 20+ years as a rural service bus then about another 15 as a staff shuttle before ending up on a farm...so I was willing to forgive it some of that. 

Scania managed to make a floor mounted lever work just fine coupled to a rear mounted box too - even if the arrangement of the gears on the splitter confused the fsck out of me the first time I drove that as the pattern changes on the top four gears.  That example was a particularly pampered coach which despite being near 30 years old could just have rolled off the production line though, so not sure what most of them would have been like by that age.

Old Father SunnySouth used to tell tales of a batch of I think former Brighton, Hove & District Bristol REs which ended up with Southdown. Obviously specced by a masochist, they were short wheelbase, dual door I think, and fitted with a fully manual box. He said the gear linkages were there purely for comedic value, and what was ‘selected’ by the bloke sitting at the front had little relevance to what actually happened, if anything, at the gearbox somewhere down the back. The gist of it was “not popular”.

[Inspector Morose]

2 minutes ago, SunnySouth said:

Old Father SunnySouth used to tell tales of a batch of I think former Brighton, Hove & District Bristol REs which ended up with Southdown. Obviously specced by a masochist, they were short wheelbase, dual door I think, and fitted with a fully manual box. He said the gear linkages were there purely for comedic value, and what was ‘selected’ by the bloke sitting at the front had little relevance to what actually happened, if anything, at the gearbox somewhere down the back. The gist of it was “not popular”.

Meh, anyone whose played with a Bristol overdrive box in something older than a n RE holds a higher regard in my book.

sonata in serveral moements with unaccompanied gearbox.

[High Jetter]

12 minutes ago, SunnySouth said:

Old Father SunnySouth used to tell tales of a batch of I think former Brighton, Hove & District Bristol REs which ended up with Southdown. Obviously specced by a masochist, they were short wheelbase, dual door I think, and fitted with a fully manual box. He said the gear linkages were there purely for comedic value, and what was ‘selected’ by the bloke sitting at the front had little relevance to what actually happened, if anything, at the gearbox somewhere down the back. The gist of it was “not popular”.

Did they ever venture over Beachy Head? Think I've seen Bristols here in the past (also pairs, tbh.)

[SunnySouth]

23 hours ago, High Jetter said:

Did they ever venture over Beachy Head? Think I've seen Bristols here in the past (also pairs, tbh.)

Hopefully not, isn’t there a crash barrier?!  

“I hope I die peacefully like my grandad, not screaming in terror like his passengers…” 

[High Jetter]

Uh no, but road is some distance from the edge. It's not one-way 😀

[Inspector Morose]

One for 83C.

Moons ago, I was on the hunt for KTX244L as it was the only Metrowest Bristol RE that actually got sold on for further service. It was tracked down to Tannat Valley who were going through their "run REs in daily service" period. One Saturday, I set off in the trusty A40 to find it. Didn't expect the SYPTE Roe Atlantean though.

[artdjones]

On 10/11/2024 at 23:31, SunnySouth said:

Old Father SunnySouth used to tell tales of a batch of I think former Brighton, Hove & District Bristol REs which ended up with Southdown. Obviously specced by a masochist, they were short wheelbase, dual door I think, and fitted with a fully manual box. He said the gear linkages were there purely for comedic value, and what was ‘selected’ by the bloke sitting at the front had little relevance to what actually happened, if anything, at the gearbox somewhere down the back. The gist of it was “not popular”.

United had some RELH with manual boxes, which apparently were extremely difficult to drive when worn. Most companies who ordered them were sensible enough to have semi automatics. An RELH with a Gardner engine and semi automatic is almost the perfect 60s express coach, the only weakness being limited luggage space.

[Cavcraft]

Tanat Valley had loads of shonky looking buses circa 25 years ago, and even about 3 years ago I'm pretty sure they still had some old ones on the fleet.  I think their garage at Llanrhaeadr was a former BL dealer or repairers at one point. Someone I know is working for them now.

[cms206]

Pinched from a facebook group; Inverclyde Transport's former Green Line National HPF 305N ascending Kilmacolm Road in Greenock, under a railway bridge which is no longer there.

[MorrisItalSLX]

Busfest 2024, run by the Sydney Bus Museum, is coming up soon and they are dropping hints about who will be exhibiting. Imagine my surprise when I see that one of the buses this year is the one that used to take me to school!

I traveled home on this Leyland Leopard from high school until it was retired in 2014. I had heard it had been sold for preservation, but until now I have not seen or heard of it since 2014.

Last years Busfest featured a coach that I traveled on often at high school, it was regularly chartered for school sport days. It has since been donated to the museum by the Stuart family after the passing of patriarch Ross Stuart and the winding down of the business. It was purchased new by Stuart’s in 1994 and is in immaculate condition after 30 years of service, a testament to Ross and his family.

 

[MorrisItalSLX]

Another exhibit this year is this Leyland Tiger, it was present last year and has just been repainted in its original livery.

As it was last year, fresh out of service.

[martc]

A 2007 DesignLine ECOSmart II Hybrid-Electric coach was tested by the JFK and Michael J Quill Depots in Noo Yoik.

[martc]

Another prototype, this time all electric -

The MAN 750 HO-M10 E  13th of Feb 1970. It took two years of development in collaboration with RWE, Bosch and Varta (note the trailer full of batteries).