Bus Shite

14,483 · February 9

The Bournemouth trolley buses used to have a turntable at Christchurch.

It's still there, although there's a Jobcentre in front of it now.

2,688 · February 9

4 hours ago, Yoss said:

Edinburgh, Nottingham and the West Midlands have them but your point still stands. They were all reintroduced at vast expense. Only Blackpool never got rid of them and have had them continuously.

Nottingham tram network is limited to a couple of lines with the central part being shared by all the lines. Whilst I use the tram it doesn't go anywhere near my house, or a lot of of other areas in the greater Nottingham conurbation. Still pleased we have it though.

The current system is considerably more limited than the old one. (Certain roadworks often uncover the old lines).

21,489 · February 9

New pantograph electric bus London. Not quite a trolley but near.

February 9

Nottingham tram are welcome as per AMC comment and work nicely with the NCT bus service , which to my mind is wonderful. Nottingham old tram buildings still exist. close to me is Sherwood tram depot , as was , https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1208462 part of which is now a spoons, with pictures and history on their webpage . https://www.jdwetherspoon.com/pubs/the-samuel-hall-nottingham/

Edited February 9 by Rustyrotavator
spoons website added

9,502 · February 9

2 hours ago, martc said:

It's 2005 and here's a photo that could easily have found itself in the truck shite thread. The Leyland Chieftain crane was donated to 'Asia Bus Response' after the tragic Christmas tsunami.

And here's a photo of the buses donated to the response -

I'm guessing the tow truck could have come in handy.

Lot's more photos and info here - https://www.asiabusresponse.co.uk/index.html

Ah, yes, that picture with the Yorkshire Traction Metroriders at the front (they didn't go actually), I'll comment no further on that.

The Metrobuses at the back (ignore the yellow decker on the left, that's a VR) were chosen to be sent to Sri Lanka as it was felt that given the conditions in Sri Lanka, ignoring the tsunami, they stood the best chance of working with minimal maintenance, and they were correct. What actually killed the Metrobuses off (and I remember having a conversation with one of the depot engineers in Negombo (I used to go almost annually there until I retired from work in 2016)) was actually the tyres. Metrobuses had a low profile tyre which wasn't easily (or cheaply) available in Sri Lanka (unlike tyres for Routemasters) and the cost of purchasing them eventually meant it wasn't worth the cost of keeping the Metrobuses on the road, hence why Routemasters out lived them (and you could stick a Tata / Isuzu engine and manual box in an RM, not a Metrobus - see my avatar).

I've a fair few pics of RMs and Metrobuses in Sri Lanka taken over the years (some have been published in magazines and books).

11,595 · February 9

4 minutes ago, busmansholiday said:

Ah, yes, that picture with the Yorkshire Traction Metroriders at the front (they didn't go actually), I'll comment no further on that.

The Metrobuses at the back (ignore the yellow decker on the left, that's a VR) were chosen to be sent to Sri Lanka as it was felt that given the conditions in Sri Lanka, ignoring the tsunami, they stood the best chance of working with minimal maintenance, and they were correct. What actually killed the Metrobuses off (and I remember having a conversation with one of the depot engineers in Negombo (I used to go almost annually there until I retired from work in 2016)) was actually the tyres. Metrobuses had a low profile tyre which wasn't easily (or cheaply) available in Sri Lanka (unlike tyres for Routemasters) and the cost of purchasing them eventually meant it wasn't worth the cost of keeping the Metrobuses on the road, hence why Routemasters out lived them (and you could stick a Tata / Isuzu engine and manual box in an RM, not a Metrobus - see my avatar).

I've a fair few pics of RMs and Metrobuses in Sri Lanka taken over the years (some have been published in magazines and books).

It seems most of the stuff sent over quickly disappeared without trace and saw little or no use there. Not really surprising given the variety of different types involved, all of which would have been unfamiliar in Sri Lanka. Sounds like while it was a noble idea in principle the execution didn't work out all that well and it didn't do a great deal of good in the longer term.

9,502 · February 9

16 minutes ago, quicksilver said:

It seems most of the stuff sent over quickly disappeared without trace and saw little or no use there. Not really surprising given the variety of different types involved, all of which would have been unfamiliar in Sri Lanka. Sounds like while it was a noble idea in principle the execution didn't work out all that well and it didn't do a great deal of good in the longer term.

Some Metrobuses were still going some years (I'd have to dig my pics out) after landing there. What is widely ignored (especially in this country) is the fact that Japan shipped a boat load ( pun intended) more single deck buses to Sri Lanka than the UK did. They were generally two door, manual gearbox, high floor Mitsubishi Fusos. These were obviously easier to maintain than low floor Metrobuses or the other UK 'gifts' and suited the road conditions out there. They weren't immune to failure, I've pics of them being canabilised for spares as well as RMs, Metrobuses and the Optare Columbo Rider (The Optare ColumboRider was designed by British bus manufacturer Optare. It was based on the Optare Delta / Optare StarRider - the word Optare should get @Inspector Morose frothing at the mouth).

21,666 · February 9

Tram going under the Bargate in Southampton. The clearance for the wires must be ridiculously small.

They got round the problem, literally, by knocking down all buildings either side so you could just drive round it. Then they pedestrianised one side and made all the traffic go round the west side. Then they pedestrianised both sides and now it just sits on its own in a big open space. Which I'll admit is probably a good thing.

21,666 · February 10

11 hours ago, EyesWeldedShut said:

I can give you a couple of locations:

Hoppa is in Terminus Place o/s Victoria Rail Stn
77 bus may be Nth end Waterloo Bridge j/w Strand
24 (Grey Green) North Side Trafalgar Sq o/s National Gallery
22B New Oxford Street
507 - Victoria Rail Station
16 Edgeware Road almost into Maida Vale
281 & T4 - no idea, feels like Kingston Town Centre/Penrhyn Road?
74? - see below
A1 - Grosvenor Gardens
74 - Camden Town o/s the World End Pub
134 o/s Camden Town Tube
279 - no idea, East London - clueless
172 - the bus lane in Trafalgar Square o/s Canada House
53 - Camden Town (guessed based on the Tube station and the #74 buses above)
253 - same as the 279 above - clueless
3 - Whitehall j/w Parliament Square, F&C Office behind
137 = see 74 above
11 - self explanatory
55 - Victoria
9 - Westminster Bridge towards Parliament Square
16 - Victoria
159 - Nth side, Trafalgar Square. Canada House in background
88 - not sure - maybe Pall Mall, looking to cut across n side Trafalgar Sq to hit Whitehall (as with the 159 above)
2b - Hyde Park Corner, Buck House garden wall behind
22 - it's on the bus stop
14 - Hyde Park Corner
73 - Victoria
38 - Victoria Street j/w Buckingham Palace Road
Bus garage - no idea
30 - Hyde Park Corner/Knightsbridge - the old St George's Hospital behind
171 - Somewhere around The Aldwych, I thought Melbourne Place but not 100%

I think the bus garage will be Shepherd's Bush judging by a combination of routes 9 and 12 and the 12 at the end says Shepherd's Bush Grn. The 9 ran to nearby Hammersmith but the yellow, red and white roundel would suggest 1987 to 92ish and Hammersmiths Riverside garage would have closed by then.

10,905 · February 10

9 minutes ago, Yoss said:

I think the bus garage will be Shepherd's Bush judging by a combination of routes 9 and 12 and the 12 at the end says Shepherd's Bush Grn. The 9 ran to nearby Hammersmith but the yellow, red and white roundel would suggest 1987 to 92ish and Hammersmiths Riverside garage would have closed by then.

I'll be honest and say that a London bus (to me) was always just a 'Red Routemaster' - I had no idea on the different flavours/garages and so on.
I did know which buses went where in W1, SW1, W2 and NW8 and also which ones would get me to/from work and around the place. With the open platforms we could cadge a lift around Oxford Street by hopping on and off at the lights - H&S nightmare that's be these days.
In the early eighties you could even ring up County Hall and they'd send you out complete timetables for any route/tube line you requested - handy for the 6am start (other than Sunday 'cos there was nuffink running that early - shanks' pony or pedal cycle :-( )

21,666 · February 10

And now I think about it there is a small white S on the body side, just behind the fleet number, so that would confirm Shepherd's Bush. Some London garage codes seemingly made no sense at all but that one is fairly straightforward.

17,764 · February 10

2 hours ago, Yoss said:

And now I think about it there is a small white S on the body side, just behind the fleet number, so that would confirm Shepherd's Bush. Some London garage codes seemingly made no sense at all but that one is fairly straightforward.

London garage codes are fantastically confusing at times; when us Scots hit the capital in 2023 there were, naturally, a smattering of spotters among us. Compo (real name Bob, but ended up on the front page of the Glasgow Evening Times with a fantastic compo face) was highly impressed...

"... BW for Bow, BK for Barking, HK for Hackney, RM for Romford, LI for Lea Interchange, it all makes sense!"

"... Romford is NS, Rainham is RM. They do all make sense though Compo, TL is Catford, AP was Seven Kings, Tottenham is AR, Camberwell is Q, Leyton is T, Sutton is A- "

"Eh?! WHAT?!"

Used to only refer to garages by their code in his presence thereafter 😂

21,666 · February 10

1 hour ago, cms206 said:

London garage codes are fantastically confusing at times; when us Scots hit the capital in 2023 there were, naturally, a smattering of spotters among us. Compo (real name Bob, but ended up on the front page of the Glasgow Evening Times with a fantastic compo face) was highly impressed...

"... BW for Bow, BK for Barking, HK for Hackney, RM for Romford, LI for Lea Interchange, it all makes sense!"

"... Romford is NS, Rainham is RM. They do all make sense though Compo, TL is Catford, AP was Seven Kings, Tottenham is AR, Camberwell is Q, Leyton is T, Sutton is A- "

"Eh?! WHAT?!"

Used to only refer to garages by their code in his presence thereafter 😂

Some don't make sense at first but after a bit of digging they do. Some just don't make sense at all.

The NS you refer to is for North Street, the same as the long gone Victoria, my bus's first garage, was GM for Gillingham Street.

TL for Catford was Tillings Lewisham. Tillings were one of the pre London Transport companies so there are, or were, a few garages down south with codes starting with T. Like TC for South Croydon - Tillings Croydon.

But the others you mention I have no idea. There might be reasons that I don't know or they might be completely random. Like X for Westbourne Park or W for Cricklewood or Hounslow AV.

After a while you just accept it and think nothing of it until somebody mentions it and you remember what a daft system it seems.

21,666 · February 10

Okay, a couple of pages out of my 1985 London Bus Handbook by Capital Transport.

Here are all the London garages in 1985 with their codes.

There was a whole page describing how the garages got their codes but I'll summarise. London General started a system with single letters in 1911. If possible these were matching but if the letter had already been used they just got a random letter. These soon ran out so in 1914 they started with two letter codes starting with A which explains Tottenham and Seven Kings @cms206

In 1924 (so 101 years ago!) they decided on two letter codes that bore some relevance to the garage in question. But at no point in the intervening 101 years, with very few exceptions, did they consider changing any of the previous codes so the ones that make no sense have a very long history.

The next page in the book has this chart which is a great snapshot of London in the mid Eighties. It lists the fleet allocation of each garage.

I've always remembered that Norwood was the only garage with nothing but RMs with 44 of them, one of which would be mine four years later. But it was short lived as the 68 went one man the following year with new Olympians and few Metrobuses arriving.

But other garages had far more Routemasters but also had other stuff with several garages being around the 120 vehicle mark.

Poor old Sutton had 68 DMSs and nothing else.

Most of the bus codes are self explanatory but the less obvious ones are M Metrobus, T Titan, LS Leyland National, BL Bristol LH (why they couldn't use LH I don't know), V Volvo Ailsa, L Leyland Olympian and H for Hestair Dennis Dominator. I don't know where the Hestair comes in because everywhere else they were plain Dennis Dominators. The last three, there were only three of each that were running comparative trials out of Stockwell to replace Titans and Metros.

9,502 · February 10

1 hour ago, Yoss said:

I don't know where the Hestair comes in because everywhere else they were plain Dennis Dominators

Hestair were the parent company that owned Dennis at the time

21,666 · February 10

Just now, busmansholiday said:

Hestair were the parent company that owned Dennis at the time

Thanks. That makes sense, just never heard them mentioned in any other context.

16,785 · February 10

Much anorak. Carry on.

17,764 · February 11

Interesting reading @Yoss; Bow's allocation looks to be much more comfortable than present, but both it and Barking are now running massively over those allocations, with Barking on 133 (41 E400, 38 E400 MMC including hybrids, 18 BYD D9s, 16 Wright Electroliners (on delivery) and 21 Enviro 200MMCs) and Bow on 107 (23 E400 hybrid, 58 E400 MMC and 26 LT) against 87 at BK and 67 at BW in the mid 80s!

21,489 · February 11

London Taxis and Routemasters regularly turn up in France and for sale - usually promoting something.

This is more unusual - an early 1970's Daimler it says - in original livery - so I thought I would post it.

€15,000. LeBonCoin.

Bordeaux area.

9,502 · February 11

Looks like TCD374J, Northern Counties bodied Daimler Fleetline ex Southdown 374. Been preserved for some years, wonder why it's in Frog land.

24,708 · February 11

10 hours ago, busmansholiday said:

wonder why it's in Frog land.

It jumped across the channel?

24,708 · February 11

On 10/02/2025 at 20:01, Yoss said:

These soon ran out so in 1914 they started with two letter codes starting with A which explains Tottenham and Seven Kings

I never knew that. My dad's best friend was a driver on the 150 route.

21,489 · February 11

1 hour ago, Remspoor said:

It jumped across the channel?

Driven over in 2020 according to the ad. Probably a failed business venture - looks like it was used as a cafe.

17,006 · February 12

On 09/02/2025 at 16:07, lesapandre said:

Thanks. Yes now I remember Nottingham. I did not know W. Mids - I must go for a ride sometime. Oh I forgot Manchester too.

Edinburgh really? Gosh.

They work really well in disaggregated towns and cities pulling remoter parts together.

Croydon trams run as far a Beckenham for example.

Edinburgh’s trams were planned to cost £150m and take 4 years to complete. It finally cost £1bn and took over 10 years. Sounds familiar? To be (partially), fair. the project was started by Labour but needless to say the finances got even more out of control once the SNP came to power.

Many businesses were badly effected by several years of road closures.

Its only saving grace was as it serves the airport, the rail extension into the terminal was dropped , another project requiring fantasy money.

3,476 · February 12

I haven't posted for a while so here is one from the other day, EY Mercedes Tourismo 94 covering on a National Express service 131 to Birmingham from Hull, it's done more miles on NX than coaching

17,764 · February 12

DID SOMEONE ORDER A CHINESE?!

Not had a proper look at it yet but we have (re)joined the Chinese revolution with this Yutong ZK6129HQ TC12 E6; many years ago the outfit I work for now ran a King Long, which ironically died in a fire in my yard at the company where I was operations manager for many years.

There are well over a hundred Yutongs operating in Scotland now, but this one is historically significant - this was the first of the lot, delivered in April 2016 to Blacks of Brechin as YG16 EAE.