Bus Shite

[martc]

Agecroft cooling towers, Salford. Oh and a bus.

[Austin-Rover]

They demolished those cooling towers on my birthday in 1994. I watched it from the Jewish cemetery off Butterstile Lane. 

[The Old Bloke Next Door]

From the Facebook post.

STL1470 now identified as 971J (converted into one of five tree-loppers in 1953) the only survivor of the front-entrance STL fleet ? The ex-STL tree-loppers (all with metal-framed Weymann bodies) lasted with London Transport for 10 years. Now a member of the RW fleet, this vehicle was at the Regent Street Cavalcade on 22nd June 2014 , the day after Stockwell Garage Open Day.

STL1470 was in service from 1936-53, then a Service Vehicle for 10 years before being preserved for 62 years .

[lesapandre]

Various Routemasters on Ebay. £29-40,000.

Top is reg JJD541D.

[The Old Bloke Next Door]

Dennis Trident, remember the first time I drove one of these shortly after they entered service at Walsall garage. I was working lates and had missed the type training sessions, the previous driver had left it on the stand and not waited for the relief (me).

Took a while to figure out how to start it and the location of the light switchs etc, very immpressive to drive  compared to the MCW Metro's .

Through the grapevine these are due to be phased out over the next year or two.

[The Old Bloke Next Door]

Walsall, Upper Bridge Street, first stop after Walsall main bus station, route 51 service to  Birmingham.

[martc]

[martc]

A 1934 NAG Ludewig Aero, it could carry 45 sitting passengers. I think they've missed a trick by not having windows at the front of the top deck. No lower front windows due to the mid mounted driver.

[The Old Bloke Next Door]

The first Dennis Trident delivered to Travel West Midlands Walsall in April 2001, it spent the bulk of its working life at Walsall. After withdrawal from service it was repainted in the original livery and the passenger seats were reupholstered in the original moquette, it is now prt of National Express Heritage Fleet.

[NorthernMonkey]

Currently sat on board a National as part of NWVRT’s running day at Southport.

Already been on a RM of some description (I think…they’re not my strong point!) and a lovely old Atlantean

And one especially for @LightBulbFun

[The Old Bloke Next Door]

[The Old Bloke Next Door]

[The Old Bloke Next Door]

[The Old Bloke Next Door]

[The Old Bloke Next Door]

[The Old Bloke Next Door]

[The Old Bloke Next Door]

[ETCHY]

On 29/03/2025 at 16:51, martc said:

That's a seriously cool shot. Looks like it should be from some 1970s TV show  like The Protectors.

[FakeConcern]

Routemaster in Brighton yesterday, annoyingly my phone camera wouldn't open as it went past and I'd nearly caught it up again as the lights changed...

I thought a Brighton livery would be green.

 

[shampooefficient]

On 29/03/2025 at 15:09, The Old Bloke Next Door said:

Dennis Trident, remember the first time I drove one of these shortly after they entered service at Walsall garage. I was working lates and had missed the type training sessions, the previous driver had left it on the stand and not waited for the relief (me).

Took a while to figure out how to start it and the location of the light switchs etc, very immpressive to drive  compared to the MCW Metro's ..

 

I remember in  past life when we got some. Brake pedal was a lot longer and softer than the old Olympians we also had.

Also despite being all from the same batch, some had the indicator/ wiper stalk on the left and some on the right of the wheel, which was odd. I assume they just clamp on a collar that could sit anywhere and it depended what mood the fitters were in if they took them to bits for repair.

[The Old Bloke Next Door]

11 minutes ago, shampooefficient said:

I remember in  past life when we got some. Brake pedal was a lot longer and softer than the old Olympians we also had.

Also despite being all from the same batch, some had the indicator/ wiper stalk on the left and some on the right of the wheel, which was odd. I assume they just clamp on a collar that could sit anywhere and it depended what mood the fitters were in if they took them to bits for repair.

From memory all of the Tridents at Walsall had the indicator/wiper stalk on the right. Only ever drove an Olympian once, can't recall any brake difference compared to a Trident.

[martc]

A Saviem S53M with coachwork by Gangloff.

[martc]

A Nottingham trolley bus during the second world war. Note how they've made it look like a diesel bus.

[SilverMachine]

1 minute ago, martc said:

A Nottingham trolley bus during the second world war. Note how they've made it look like a diesel bus.

would it not have been converted ? or have just implemented the coachwork panels available? the conducting pole brackets look like an afterthought

 

[Inspector Morose]

For those who are in the slightest bit interested (just me then), that's a Park Royal bodied Karrier E6. Trolleybuses of that period were made to look either slightly like their fossil fuelled counterparts or very like them, up to and including the fitting of a dummy radiator shell.

As this was built in 1931, it will have been built in Huddersfield, after they were purchased by Rootes in 1934, trolleybus production moved to the Sunbeam factory in Wolverhampton, both ranges eventually sharing everything barring the badge at the front.

[Yoss]

I took this this morning because I thought the bus would be nice a contrast with the cherry blossom trees.  Plus I got the Panda in as that must be proper Shite by now. 

But this one got me thinking I've something like this at home.... 

So a quick rummage later. This is 1988. By the way I have never seen this bus stop so busy at any point in the intervening 37 years, I really don't know what is going on here. 

The cherry blossom trees aren't even there at that point. The convenience store is a Circle K, anybody else remember those or were they just a local thing? When I were a lad the convenience store was a Sperrings, definitely a local brand, but it was smaller and there were a separate Post Office and greengrocers in between that and the chippy. The chippy was only renamed from Cap N Cod to the Big Catch a year or so back. The Post Office was absorbed in to the Circle K for a while before disappearing completely. There is now an Indian takeaway and a betting shop between the (now a Premier) shop and chippy. 

In the top picture you can see a hairdresser and funeral parlour in a separate building to the right. They have both always been that but I can't remember if the names have changed. 

 

So I went through some of my other pictures and went back out and took these (I live about a hundred yards from here now. Forty years ago I lived a hundred yards in the opposite direction).

1985. This was a running day. The last Regents were withdrawn in 1981. It seems mad to think that was only four years previous. At the time it already felt like the dim distant past which it now is. I was about 16 or 17 at the time so four years was a much larger proportion of my life back then. 361 still exists, I very much doubt that any of the cars do. 

Today. The bus stop had its own layby then, now it doesn't. It has also moved forward several yards. This of course is because of the slightly raised kerb for level loading. Obviously better to have it on the straight bit of road. 

To the left of each of these pictures you can also see changes. A wall in the first one and a metal fence with tall hedge in the latter. In 1985 it was the yard of Summerfield Coaches, a long gone local coach company. Now it is a special needs school. Obviously as a crank I would prefer it was still a coach yard but even I would have to admit the school is probably a better use of the land. 

This is looking the other way, school clearly visible. 

Unfortunately I can't find a corresponding 1980s shot. But I did find this, taken about a hundred yards from the above picture pointing the other way. One of Summerfield Coaches more interesting vehicles, the world's shortest Bristol LH, which they had acquired for a specific school job I think. 

The pub behind the bus is now a Tesco. My main memory of that pub, The Woodman, was sitting in the window watching the V8 Sherpa ambulances coming and going. The hospital was just down the road. 

 

[High Jetter]

1 hour ago, Yoss said:

The convenience store is a Circle K, anybody else remember those or were they just a local thing?

I remember them, not sure if just suffern or national

[shampooefficient]

On 31/03/2025 at 21:55, The Old Bloke Next Door said:

From memory all of the Tridents at Walsall had the indicator/wiper stalk on the right. Only ever drove an Olympian once, can't recall any brake difference compared to a Trident.

I remember it because I once took an Olympian (Volvo) up to a changeover, took over a Trident, went to press the brake to let a young lass cross the road with loads of room... And instead left her fearing for her life because I'd barely pressed the pedal where in the Olympian it would have stopped well short

[artdjones]

11 hours ago, Yoss said:

I took this this morning because I thought the bus would be nice a contrast with the cherry blossom trees.  Plus I got the Panda in as that must be proper Shite by now. 

But this one got me thinking I've something like this at home.... 

So a quick rummage later. This is 1988. By the way I have never seen this bus stop so busy at any point in the intervening 37 years, I really don't know what is going on here. 

The cherry blossom trees aren't even there at that point. The convenience store is a Circle K, anybody else remember those or were they just a local thing? When I were a lad the convenience store was a Sperrings, definitely a local brand, but it was smaller and there were a separate Post Office and greengrocers in between that and the chippy. The chippy was only renamed from Cap N Cod to the Big Catch a year or so back. The Post Office was absorbed in to the Circle K for a while before disappearing completely. There is now an Indian takeaway and a betting shop between the (now a Premier) shop and chippy. 

In the top picture you can see a hairdresser and funeral parlour in a separate building to the right. They have both always been that but I can't remember if the names have changed. 

 

So I went through some of my other pictures and went back out and took these (I live about a hundred yards from here now. Forty years ago I lived a hundred yards in the opposite direction).

1985. This was a running day. The last Regents were withdrawn in 1981. It seems mad to think that was only four years previous. At the time it already felt like the dim distant past which it now is. I was about 16 or 17 at the time so four years was a much larger proportion of my life back then. 361 still exists, I very much doubt that any of the cars do. 

Today. The bus stop had its own layby then, now it doesn't. It has also moved forward several yards. This of course is because of the slightly raised kerb for level loading. Obviously better to have it on the straight bit of road. 

To the left of each of these pictures you can also see changes. A wall in the first one and a metal fence with tall hedge in the latter. In 1985 it was the yard of Summerfield Coaches, a long gone local coach company. Now it is a special needs school. Obviously as a crank I would prefer it was still a coach yard but even I would have to admit the school is probably a better use of the land. 

This is looking the other way, school clearly visible. 

Unfortunately I can't find a corresponding 1980s shot. But I did find this, taken about a hundred yards from the above picture pointing the other way. One of Summerfield Coaches more interesting vehicles, the world's shortest Bristol LH, which they had acquired for a specific school job I think. 

The pub behind the bus is now a Tesco. My main memory of that pub, The Woodman, was sitting in the window watching the V8 Sherpa ambulances coming and going. The hospital was just down the road. 

 

Circle K are in Ireland, but seem to have become a petrol station fuel brand. I'm going to clean the windows at a Circle K station this morning, but the small supermarket attached is a Centra.

[martc]

Londonderry to Dublin express, 50-60 odd years ago.