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H622ACK was the one I'd got my eye on back then too.  Apparently it was still about and at least possibly going to make its way into preservation not long ago.

Remember that was one which used to accelerate like a scalded cat but desperately needed an extra gear on the open road.

Granted given a choice of any PS bodied bus a Scania K.113 would probably be my ideal choice...vastly over-engined really, but C'mon they make a lovely noise...and there's something massively satisfying about a bus that can keep up with cars away from the traffic lights...

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I'll check next time I swing by Winkleigh, H622 ACK probably hasn't gone far. Chepstow Classic tend to keep the good ones going for as long as possible, hence why they keep a dozen VRs almost solely for Glastonbury duties. The PS's are very useful as farm fruit picker machines, and Chepstow have largely standardised on them now as their single decker of choice. Speaking of K113s, they had this still mouldering away, the last of its kind:

N461 PAP & F703 BAT.

F703 BAT is a Scania K113 with East Lancs bodywork. The eagle-eyed will notice the distinct lack of straightness to the window lines along the body - it suffers a fair level of arse sag, enough that Chepstow stuck it at the back of the 'round tuit' queue when its last MoT expired a few years ago. They also had F705 BAT which was even worse, but that went for scrap a year or two ago. 

I do like Scania 113s, we had 4 N113CRLs at Shrewsbury for a Park & Ride contract with East Lancs MaxCi bodies - M401-404 EFD. Very beefy machines though like most Scania products the suspension was very wallowy. The kneeling suspension was pretty trick though, rather than just deflating the front airbags it would redistribute the load by dropping the nearside front the most, the offside front less so, leaving the nearside rear at near normal level and actually inflating the offside rear slightly to push the front step even closer to the ground.

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6 hours ago, Mrcento said:

I just want National Express to fuck off from Dundee now.

Surely there's no other company in the UK who'd dare to charge £2.25 for anything over 3 stops on a 16 year old bus they can't even be fucked painting, complete with collapsed suspension, james bond smoke screens and axels sounding like they want to make a break for freedom.

They'll look great running around in Dundee in about 12 years time alongside all the other NX cast offs.

 

Had to double take there, i thought this was a Dundee depot pic of Nx's current "Xplore Dundee" fleet,

The only thing that gave it away was the lack of a green "Xplore" sticker on the Trident.

 

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Can't comment on NX fares in Dundee, here in Walsall its £1.50p short hop, about 3 to 4 stops, £2.40p max on most routes full journey,  £2.50p return, £3.00p day saver all day ticket local, £4.00 area day saver, weekly  return £11.00p on a specific route, £12.00p weekly local ticket.

Since starting my Bus Driving career in 1974 to date, the current fleet is the best I have driven. Can't remember the last time there was a FTP needing a change over due to a mechanical defect. 

Last time I needed a change over the same  passenger had shat his self on  a seat twice, I did ban him from travelling again on the second occasion.

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Bloody hell that Dart Dash next to that Scania is one of the former Fleet Buzz vehicles that they had before being completely absorbed by Stagecoach. They ran various Mercedes around Fleet for years before they were taken over, and then had a succession of Stagecoach cast offs (including some utterly dismal SWB Darts) before finally disappearing. 

I hate Dart Dashes. 

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9 hours ago, Daviemck2006 said:

The fastest bus I ever drove was this one. A scania113 with no limiter. It was a bugger to steer when empty and not much fuel, but loaded with more weight at the front by God she was a flyer. She could scare cars away from the lights or roundabouts!46d5195a39764aeeaba2b8d147025cdd.jpg

Sent from my SM-T585 using Tapatalk
 

Another one I remember seeing in the queue at my secondary school...

We had one Alizee on our run now and then...she was a very early example on a B10M chassis and was probably the slowest coach in the world.  Even the utterly clapped out Bedford could leave it for dead on a hill.

In contrast we had a very late Volvo B58 which was essentially a B10M in all but the steering wheel... obviously built with the expectation of a body like an Van Hool Alizee being fitted, but instead having a Plaxton Supreme IV fitted, she went like a rocket and even handled incredibly well for a coach.

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23 hours ago, The Old Bloke Next Door said:

Can't comment on NX fares in Dundee, here in Walsall its £1.50p short hop, about 3 to 4 stops, £2.40p max on most routes full journey,  £2.50p return, £3.00p day saver all day ticket local, £4.00 area day saver, weekly  return £11.00p on a specific route, £12.00p weekly local ticket.

Since starting my Bus Driving career in 1974 to date, the current fleet is the best I have driven. Can't remember the last time there was a FTP needing a change over due to a mechanical defect. 

Last time I needed a change over the same  passenger had shat his self on  a seat twice, I did ban him from travelling again on the second occasion.

I wouldn't be so annoyed about the price if every route had a decent bus on it, we've a handful of the new hybrid things with wifi operating on pretty much 1, maybe 2 routes, everyone else is paying £2.25 to ride clapped out 15 year old buses bellowing black smoke with at least one corner suspension collapsed. And that's the better ones..... meanwhile cars are slowly getting banned from the centre because of the pollution the buses contribute to far worse.

The fare thing is also complete nonsense up here, if you're getting a bus from town centre, even if you get on the last stop before it leaves the actual centre, 2 stops doesn't even clear the first road out of it, so you've got to pay the full fare even if your "hop" was a 5 minute walk. (our lowest "hop" fare is £1.75, A day saver is £3.50 local only, no things like returns etc)

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On 7/2/2019 at 11:22 PM, Saabnut said:

Also spotted on my travels last week was this little ex Midland Red Stagecoach MB. Used for transporting pea picers and stored inside, it is now surplus and could be for sale. Again I avoided asking how much.....

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Bloody hell...I used to drive those around Nuneaton back in the early naughties.

I believe N355 was actually based at Rugby depot where I used to cover occasionally so there’s every chance I’ve piloted that one.

Hated the things at the time....actually wondering what the hell I could use it for nowadays.... ??

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On 7/3/2019 at 9:55 PM, Zelandeth said:

Those little Merc breadvans are like cockroaches though... they'll still be rattling around long after Doomsday!  I'd love to have a shot of one without inches of play in the rear suspension and downright terrifying clutch judder...

Yep, they used to crash like hell over the speed bumps on The Raywoods and yes, they all suffered from horrendous clutch judder as all the two pedal jockeys used to rest their spare foot on the pedal.

 

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25 minutes ago, The Old Bloke Next Door said:

Sounds grim, what's the competition"s  fare charges, assuming there is any?

It's just occurred to me that a few years back management at our garage were offering overtime for volunteers to drive several of our old fleet up to Dundee.

 

There isn't really any. NX have the monopoly on the local routes, Stagecoach only cover a couple as early/late parts of the regional routes out to and from Arbroath, Montrose etc.

I bet all those buses are in daily service up here to this day, Whilst i haven't seen any for a month or so, it was as near as then we were still running those late 90's Tridents!, about 30% of the current day fleet is still in the NX red and white livery with xplore stickers on, even though Xplore buses have been green for about 4 years, Mostly the Gemini things, 15-16 years old so probably the usual end of life cast offs from Birmingham.

 

bus.thumb.PNG.975d9fd2c10a4847833d50f151663cda.PNG

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On 7/3/2019 at 11:15 PM, 83C said:

East Lancs MaxCi bodies

I could never get my head around these. I remember being lucky enough to ride the one that First in Leeds owned and was amazed by its uniquely bizarre and rectangular bodywork. I did some digging and it's a Swedish design, might have even been called the MaxCi too. Low floor and transverse engine - an odd combo at the time.

6987115216_6f7b451292_b.jpg

The indie operator that provided for my parents' village loved old Scanias. They had a few L113s which seriously moved, and this which is probably the loudest motor vehicle I have ever travelled on:

1024px-Harrogate_Coach_Travel_bus_(K107_

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In lighter news I've just got back from a couple of weeks cycling in Canada. The local bus, sorry, 'transit' company had a display at a street fair in Vancouver and I couldn't resist a go on one of the bus bike racks that are ubiquitous over there. It actually worked really well - the design is simple and efficient to use and survived my 'overtest' of a fully laden touring bike. These things are actually very popular, most buses carried bikes. Never seen one though outside of Canada/USA.

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Driver's console leaves a bit to be desired though... and what do we think the left 'pedal' would be for? Loads of trolleybuses over there too although they make a hideous sound!

IMG_20190706_151041585.thumb.jpg.e31440eec77d096bfc8cb97e4f375c70.jpg

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The MaxiC was a standard European design that had the same front and back but with locally built bodywork. East Lancs bodied some in the UK (Arriva, Tracky), various European builders did the same. I've pictures of these in Benidorm, flip the picture and it could be a UK bus.

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2 hours ago, busmansholiday said:

 andwhat do we think the left 'pedal' will be for?.

Opening the doors?. Used to be quite normal that on UK buses years ago.

A few years ago we got some ex London PVL class B7TLs that as they had been dual door had a foot pedal to open the doors. Took some getting used to. 

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On 7/5/2019 at 8:59 AM, busmansholiday said:

Don't want to piss on your fire, but that's a native Dundee bus actually, not a cast off.

It's also an old photo off of Google, so quite possible from the time when they just rebranded and hadn't painted the fleet. I just used that as an example that we still run them like that.

Amusingly, i just had one break down outside my house that i believe is a cast off, BU06 CWY, 4705. Although they did paint that one in XPD colours.

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Taking engine downsizing to a new level

https://cbwmagazine.com/reading-buses-trial-hybrid-technology/

Saw one of Reading Buses' old E400s earlier driving around silently with a new 'Magtec' badge on the back. Appaz it's a range extended hybrid (all this new lingo!) with a 1000 cc gas engine. Incidentally I went on one of their old Dennis hybrids the other day and it really did bomb along.

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12 minutes ago, willswitchengage said:

Taking engine downsizing to a new level

https://cbwmagazine.com/reading-buses-trial-hybrid-technology/

Saw one of Reading Buses' old E400s earlier driving around silently with a new 'Magtec' badge on the back. Appaz it's a range extended hybrid (all this new lingo!) with a 1000 cc gas engine. Incidentally I went on one of their old Dennis hybrids the other day and it really did bomb along.

2016 article originally.

Magtec are Sheffield based, Reading Buses vehicles are seen regularly around here. They use Jenkin Road (look up Tour de France, 2014), as part of the test route.

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Alton bus rally yesterday. I took my bus along but to be honest even I find Routemasters at bus rallies a bit dull but it's nice to catch up with other RM owners that I don't see very often. 

But The first thing I do is park the bus up and walk down to the station cafe for breakfast. 

The Alton rally does have lots of free bus rides but by lunch time they are all too full to be pleasant. But straight after breakfast I reckoned I had half a chance of getting a on a bus with a sensible load. 

All buses run via the station so after breakfast I wandered over to the bus stops. There's a huge variety of stuff from the fifties right up to brand new stuff that the bus companies want to show off. First thing that turned up was this National. IMG_20190721_104131.thumb.jpg.5ed5f0057d95ec6a405a1418ea7f6ff8.jpg

I thought I could do better than that. Hmm... Ulsterbus (I think, please correct me if I'm wrong) RE.IMG_20190721_104221.thumb.jpg.44d5633263a02c7e6acd177069696ba8.jpg Looked and sounded good but drove straight through and parked up on layover. 

Some sort of strange (to me) Foden. IMG_20190721_112829.thumb.jpg.748af2c4e9304f4bfdfae3ac5dfc4fc5.jpglooks interesting but this wierd urge came over me and I ended up here:IMG_20190721_104656.thumb.jpg.38fd273234caaf8b36da8368eb64fc0e.jpgYes,  another bloody National!

It was this ex London Country one. IMG_20190721_110949.thumb.jpg.1c2eb9519bcad763255d4a68ebbc76ae.jpgWithout roof pod too. And the destination was this gold post box. IMG_20190721_111028.thumb.jpg.ea4e2424967f14365061395ffafade7a.jpg

 

In this picture:IMG_20190721_112756.thumb.jpg.cb90c7f725a5b31e99f8d5bf024c3b5c.jpgI was trying to capture the blue haze that was following this fine machine around but, whilst it is visible it doesn't really show it to its full splendour. This seemed to only be doing shuttles from the rally to the station as it passed me three times just while I was having breakfast. 

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41 minutes ago, Yoss said:

Alton bus rally yesterday. I took my bus along but to be honest even I find Routemasters at bus rallies a bit dull but it's nice to catch up with other RM owners that I don't see very often. 

But The first thing I do is park the bus up and walk down to the station cafe for breakfast. 

The Alton rally does have lots of free bus rides but by lunch time they are all too full to be pleasant. But straight after breakfast I reckoned I had half a chance of getting a on a bus with a sensible load. 

All buses run via the station so after breakfast I wandered over to the bus stops. There's a huge variety of stuff from the fifties right up to brand new stuff that the bus companies want to show off. First thing that turned up was this National. IMG_20190721_104131.thumb.jpg.5ed5f0057d95ec6a405a1418ea7f6ff8.jpg

I thought I could do better than that. Hmm... Ulsterbus (I think, please correct me if I'm wrong) RE.IMG_20190721_104221.thumb.jpg.44d5633263a02c7e6acd177069696ba8.jpg Looked and sounded good but drove straight through and parked up on layover. 

Some sort of strange (to me) Foden. IMG_20190721_112829.thumb.jpg.748af2c4e9304f4bfdfae3ac5dfc4fc5.jpglooks interesting but this wierd urge came over me and I ended up here:IMG_20190721_104656.thumb.jpg.38fd273234caaf8b36da8368eb64fc0e.jpgYes,  another bloody National!

It was this ex London Country one. IMG_20190721_110949.thumb.jpg.1c2eb9519bcad763255d4a68ebbc76ae.jpgWithout roof pod too. And the destination was this gold post box. IMG_20190721_111028.thumb.jpg.ea4e2424967f14365061395ffafade7a.jpg

 

In this picture:IMG_20190721_112756.thumb.jpg.cb90c7f725a5b31e99f8d5bf024c3b5c.jpgI was trying to capture the blue haze that was following this fine machine around but, whilst it is visible it doesn't really show it to its full splendour. This seemed to only be doing shuttles from the rally to the station as it passed me three times just while I was having breakfast. 

That Bristol RE looks like Citybus. Didn’t Ulsterbus use Maroon and Cream?  I might be wrong. 

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