Bus Shite

[High Jetter]

3 hours ago, catsinthewelder said:

Old Bristol/ECW parked at the SVR in Bewdley yesterday.

HFM? 😃

[The Old Bloke Next Door]

Randoms, may include repeats.

[martc]

A bus tour of the M1 whilst it was being built through Leeds, 1972.

[martc]

Little and large

 

[martc]

On 05/11/2025 at 13:00, Dyslexic Viking said:

The story of how Ikarus buses ended up in the US. And has an AI voice but that's due to the creator's lack of English.

 

Thanks for that, an aspect of Ikarus I didn't know about. I wonder about the reliability issues, which parts were unreliable, the US bits or the Hungarian? Ikarus buses were noted for their ruggedness and dependability (hence their size and huge export market) I think the unreliability must have been due incompatibility/compromise issues.

You're right about the commentary being annoying. And inaccurate. It mentioned 'the wests' transport system being operated commercially. Well at the time (late '70s), most Western European public transport was run like Eastern Europe, by the Government or local councils as a service rather than a business. Instead of 'west' the commentary should have said 'in the US' then it would have made sense.

[Spottedlaurel]

Saw a late '60s/early '70s PSV on the road at around 6pm yesterday. Difficult to say what, but a single-decker anyway - perhaps a Bristol RE? Two things struck me:

1. Small and not overly bright rear lights, not very easy to see in modern traffic.

2. The smell, took me back to school bus journeys on somewhat aged, mostly AEC-powered stuff operated by typical rural companies in the 1970s/80s. Somewhat glad I wasn't following it however.

[Snipes]

On 12/11/2025 at 16:05, The Old Bloke Next Door said:

Why aren't trolly buses a thing any more? Must be better than buses hauling batteries around allday?

[HairySteve]

2 hours ago, Spottedlaurel said:

Saw a late '60s/early '70s PSV on the road at around 6pm yesterday. Difficult to say what, but a single-decker anyway - perhaps a Bristol RE? Two things struck me:

1. Small and not overly bright rear lights, not very easy to see in modern traffic.

2. The smell, took me back to school bus journeys on somewhat aged, mostly AEC-powered stuff operated by typical rural companies in the 1970s/80s. Somewhat glad I wasn't following it however.

In a slightly faded Midland Red livery, heading away from Diss? If so it'll be a Bristol RE, OTA645G, leaving Simonds yard. It belongs to a member of staff at a sister company.

[Yoss]

1 hour ago, Snipes said:

Why aren't trolly buses a thing any more? Must be better than buses hauling batteries around allday?

I keep saying this, on these very pages, but nobody listens to me. I find them quite regularly on my travels around eastern Europe and they are the best way to travel. I might* be biased as most of them are Škoda powered. 

This one was in České Budějovice last month. 

[Zelandeth]

1 hour ago, Snipes said:

Why aren't trolly buses a thing any more? Must be better than buses hauling batteries around allday?

Basically because we ripped all the infrastructure for them out and it would cost a fortune to put back in - and that was only going to happen post deregulation as nobody's going to put their hand in the purse for something that's going to potentially also help a competitor.

It's difficult enough to get two operators to cooperate enough to set up a day ticket on a common corridor (trying to do that from the local authority side took years off my life and caused many grey hairs) never mind investing six or seven figure sums of money into infrastructure where you're going to be looking at many years to get return on the investment.  It's never going to come out the public purse simply because there's no money there for it.

Which is a shame as you say because as an idea it makes so much sense - especially with modern battery tech allowing a pretty small battery to allow for short off wire sections if needed.

[Snipes]

Actually I was just reading about Chinese light "trains" that follow specific road markings in lieu of rails. 

[lisbon_road]

1 hour ago, Yoss said:

I keep saying this, on these very pages, but nobody listens to me. 

 

Well I do.  We've agreed on this on these very pages before now.

Two points in addition: the inflexibility when making changes to local road networks which adds to cost and the effective sales people from battery buses these days - apparently the Moscow trolley network was relatively recently removed, madness when you think how cold it must get there.

Electric traction without the nightmare of batteries?  Surely got to be the best solution out there.

[Spottedlaurel]

2 hours ago, HairySteve said:

In a slightly faded Midland Red livery, heading away from Diss? If so it'll be a Bristol RE, OTA645G, leaving Simonds yard. It belongs to a member of staff at a sister company.

Sounds very much like it, yes! Heading south on the A140.

Thanks for the answer, and I'm pleased that I correctly IDed it.

[Yoss]

7 hours ago, lisbon_road said:

Well I do.  We've agreed on this on these very pages before now.

Two points in addition: the inflexibility when making changes to local road networks which adds to cost and the effective sales people from battery buses these days - apparently the Moscow trolley network was relatively recently removed, madness when you think how cold it must get there.

Electric traction without the nightmare of batteries?  Surely got to be the best solution out there.

A lot of modern trolleybuses do have a small battery as @Zelandeth suggests. I only found this out when I got off one in Budapest and found there were no wires! They also have set points on the network where they can reattach the poles automatically but still carry a big pole and some thick rubber gloves in the cab for impromptu reattachments. 

[Joey spud]

This caught my eye on Facebook the other day as it's an image of a then twenty year old M&D fleetline displaying my home route on its front panel.

But the location is Dunster at the west Somerset railway 175 miles from home.

Fast forward to today and it's back in Kent sitting in a yard near Tonbride.

[Metal Guru]

38 minutes ago, Joey spud said:

This caught my eye on Facebook the other day as it's an image of a then twenty year old M&D fleetline displaying my home route on its front panel.

But the location is Dunster at the west Somerset railway 175 miles from home.

Fast forward to today and it's back in Kent sitting in a yard near Tonbride.

I used to get the 19 M&D to school in the 70s. Probably been on that bus more than once..

[willswitchengage]

Bus papping expert here enjoying Reading vintage busses day... Only seen two so far, the same bus, twice!

[danthecapriman]

I found this photo while looking for some photos for a model.

  
It’s from Curbside Classic and shows an International US Airforce hospital bus with a UK reg plate. Probably located at Mildenhall or somewhere. 
Anyone know any more about it? 
It’s clearly a US vehicle they brought over here, but strangely is a right hand drive. Looking on DVLA it was untaxed since 1979 but seems to have lived on much longer, presumably in use off the road on an air base as it had a last V5 logbook issued in 2009. 
It’s also listed as having a 2566cc petrol engine! Thats incredibly small for such a big vehicle but also doesn’t ring any bells for US engines. Of course it could well have been engine swapped for something else at some point.

Anyone know anything about it or know if it’s still around?

[Zelandeth]

3 hours ago, danthecapriman said:

I found this photo while looking for some photos for a model.

  
It’s from Curbside Classic and shows an International US Airforce hospital bus with a UK reg plate. Probably located at Mildenhall or somewhere. 
Anyone know any more about it? 
It’s clearly a US vehicle they brought over here, but strangely is a right hand drive. Looking on DVLA it was untaxed since 1979 but seems to have lived on much longer, presumably in use off the road on an air base as it had a last V5 logbook issued in 2009. 
It’s also listed as having a 2566cc petrol engine! Thats incredibly small for such a big vehicle but also doesn’t ring any bells for US engines. Of course it could well have been engine swapped for something else at some point.

Anyone know anything about it or know if it’s still around?

That to me suggests typos - that's a very small engine for the size of vehicle.  Doesn't tie in with any of International's engine sizes either and they *generally* used in house power plants in their truck chassis (which I'm assuming that's based on given the badge).  

Admittedly if it's only used for sub 20mph work around an airfield, goodness only knows what might have ended up in it...though equally it's the sort of life where I'd really not expect the original engine to have expired requiring such "interesting" choices to be made to keep it going.

[LightBulbFun]

2 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

That to me suggests typos - that's a very small engine for the size of vehicle.  Doesn't tie in with any of International's engine sizes either and they *generally* used in house power plants in their truck chassis (which I'm assuming that's based on given the badge).  

Admittedly if it's only used for sub 20mph work around an airfield, goodness only knows what might have ended up in it...though equally it's the sort of life where I'd really not expect the original engine to have expired requiring such "interesting" choices to be made to keep it going.

according to the DLVA your Model 70 had a 10L engine it! I would not trust the DVLA at all when you see an obviously erroneous figure like that  espically for more odd ball and comercial vehicles ones registered before computerisation, I have seen all sorts of nonsense values (espically those brought back from microfiche or tape archive, which that bus might well of been going by its 1979 tax due date but 2009 V5)

(BTW random Aside I notice your website is down, might want to give the Server a kick!)

[quicksilver]

3 hours ago, danthecapriman said:

I found this photo while looking for some photos for a model.

  
It’s from Curbside Classic and shows an International US Airforce hospital bus with a UK reg plate. Probably located at Mildenhall or somewhere. 
Anyone know any more about it? 
It’s clearly a US vehicle they brought over here, but strangely is a right hand drive. Looking on DVLA it was untaxed since 1979 but seems to have lived on much longer, presumably in use off the road on an air base as it had a last V5 logbook issued in 2009. 
It’s also listed as having a 2566cc petrol engine! Thats incredibly small for such a big vehicle but also doesn’t ring any bells for US engines. Of course it could well have been engine swapped for something else at some point.

Anyone know anything about it or know if it’s still around?

That used to be at the Oxford Bus Museum (my photo there from 2002) but is no longer there and appears to have been restored and now resides at the Bentwaters Cold War museum.

It's a 1964 International 1853FC with bodywork by Superior of Ohio used as both a troop carrier and an ambulance, unusual in being forward-control as the USAF normally used bonneted buses that looked like yellow school buses but painted blue or olive drab. They had a few such buses on the bases over here, some LHD and some RHD. including a few with doors on both sides. This one seems to have served at Bentwaters until 1973 and then gone into private ownership.

[Zelandeth]

53 minutes ago, LightBulbFun said:

according to the DLVA your Model 70 had a 10L engine it! I would not trust the DVLA at all when you see an obviously erroneous figure like that  espically for more odd ball and comercial vehicles ones registered before computerisation, I have seen all sorts of nonsense values (espically those brought back from microfiche or tape archive, which that bus might well of been going by its 1979 tax due date but 2009 V5)

(BTW random Aside I notice your website is down, might want to give the Server a kick!)

Bugger.  Forgot to fix the DNS record after an accidental router depowering incident a couple of days ago.

And yeah, 9999 seems to have been a default value that popped up a bunch of times on pre computerisation stuff.

[danthecapriman]

54 minutes ago, quicksilver said:

That used to be at the Oxford Bus Museum (my photo there from 2002) but is no longer there and appears to have been restored and now resides at the Bentwaters Cold War museum.

It's a 1964 International 1853FC with bodywork by Superior of Ohio used as both a troop carrier and an ambulance, unusual in being forward-control as the USAF normally used bonneted buses that looked like yellow school buses but painted blue or olive drab. They had a few such buses on the bases over here, some LHD and some RHD. including a few with doors on both sides. This one seems to have served at Bentwaters until 1973 and then gone into private ownership.

Well done that man!👍

How on earth you know all this I don’t know but fair play and thanks.

Superior coach bodies were famous as coach builders for American hearses and ambulances, particularly on Cadillac chassis. I did think this bus looked a bit old to be a 74 M reg. so it was probably used somewhere else previously to UK registration (or used on base only).  
Im very surprised it’s survived to be honest. I’ll have to have a hunt around for a bit more info on it.

@Zelandeth @LightBulbFun I reckon you’re right and it is a typo regarding engine size. I just can not believe that figure could possibly be right in something that big!

The reason I was looking for photos was because I’m going to build a model of an International Loadstar based bus in US Airforce blue. They used the Loadstar truck chassis and front clip with a coach built bus section (usually by the likes of Superior, Wayne etc etc).  
Here’s a photo I found from Mildenhall in 1980 of the US Airforce vehicles.

(not my photo) 

The first Loadstar is a standard truck version but the others are buses.

[quicksilver]

1 hour ago, danthecapriman said:

Well done that man!👍

How on earth you know all this I don’t know but fair play and thanks.

Superior coach bodies were famous as coach builders for American hearses and ambulances, particularly on Cadillac chassis. I did think this bus looked a bit old to be a 74 M reg. so it was probably used somewhere else previously to UK registration (or used on base only).  
Im very surprised it’s survived to be honest. I’ll have to have a hunt around for a bit more info on it.

@Zelandeth @LightBulbFun I reckon you’re right and it is a typo regarding engine size. I just can not believe that figure could possibly be right in something that big!

The reason I was looking for photos was because I’m going to build a model of an International Loadstar based bus in US Airforce blue. They used the Loadstar truck chassis and front clip with a coach built bus section (usually by the likes of Superior, Wayne etc etc).  
Here’s a photo I found from Mildenhall in 1980 of the US Airforce vehicles.

(not my photo) 

The first Loadstar is a standard truck version but the others are buses.

International Loadstar bus you say? Here's another one from my early 2000s files, ex US Navy and used by Patak's Indian foods as a mobile takeaway. This is quoted as a 6500cc petrol engine, which seems much more plausible.

 

[danthecapriman]

1 hour ago, quicksilver said:

International Loadstar bus you say? Here's another one from my early 2000s files, ex US Navy and used by Patak's Indian foods as a mobile takeaway. This is quoted as a 6500cc petrol engine, which seems much more plausible.

 

😄 crikey! What an odd use for it!

I know they were all used by the Army, Navy and Air Force but I couldn’t find many photos of them in US Navy colours. I’d imagine they’d be all over grey?

That one’s most likely the 404 ci V8 if it’s a petrol 6.5 (it’s actually a 6.6 litre engine).

It still seems odd the US forces brought all these things over with them instead of just sourcing things locally. I suppose it was a case of national pride and sticking with what works and what you know. Plus the stores spare parts availability. 
Im glad they did it though as it makes for more interesting vehicles being around!

[busmansholiday]

On 13/11/2025 at 21:31, Snipes said:

Actually I was just reading about Chinese light "trains" that follow specific road markings in lieu of rails. 

They tried that in France about 15 to 20 years ago. They were a trolleybus that used an optical guidance system (basically a white line painted on the road) to guide them along the route.

I bet you can see a slight* problem with the idea.

[N19]

Another running day today on services 253, 134 surrounding Camden. I knew about this one but was working, I did pass a few RMs on the way home though!

[lisbon_road]

@Yosshere's one of the new Bluestar three axle massive buses, I think intended for schools services.  I do wonder if they've got one up on Xelabus with these, with their fleet of nearly new Enviro 400s.  In Eastleigh bus station.  

[Yoss]

9 hours ago, lisbon_road said:

@Yosshere's one of the new Bluestar three axle massive buses, I think intended for schools services.  I do wonder if they've got one up on Xelabus with these, with their fleet of nearly new Enviro 400s.  In Eastleigh bus station.  

I doubt we'll see those in Shirley. Numbered in the same series as the 17 year old Scanias I see. I wonder if those are still there. Even so you'd have thought they'd have started their own number series. 

[lisbon_road]

3 hours ago, Yoss said:

I doubt we'll see those in Shirley. Numbered in the same series as the 17 year old Scanias I see. I wonder if those are still there. Even so you'd have thought they'd have started their own number series. 

I think they're for the Barton Pevrill services, one of which might start in Shirley?  I'm not sure.  I read also that they will replace the old Scanias, and that it is unusual to buy new buses for schools but they wanted the capacity.  Perhaps they'll escape onto ordinary services occasionally?  Be a change from the Enviro 400s though as a passenger I can't really fault them.