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7 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

The oddest thing I ever found to drive was an Optare Solo.  Having the front wheels right out front just feels wrong on anything that's not a Merc 809D Beaver...and makes the bus feel incredibly cumbersome for how small it actually is.

I'm hardly an experienced bus driver though and a decent chunk of the 100 or so hours I'd guess has been in vintage stuff, so I always feel a bit like a fish out of water in new things!

The Versa *looked* like it should be odd because of the really pointy nose and how the windscreen is narrower at the base than the top, but it didn't actually seem that strange once moving.  Went well too, but bloody rattly.

We had 4 Solos that had transferred up from Whittles, a bus company we used to own in Kidderminster, and I agree they were odd things to drive. 

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Still a popular mode of transport in Europe and the world with a few cities looking to reintroduce or expand their systems. Think that's a Neoplan one, although it looked like a Solaris initially.

I was in Bradford in 1972 when then last UK system closed. Next time I travelled on a trolleybus was in Constanta in Romania in 1991 then in Burgas Bulgaria a couple of years ago.  Twelve months after Bradford closed we had the 1973 fuel crisis and lots of people were looking over their shoulders and asking why the country had got shut of them (and trams).

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On 6/26/2020 at 7:51 AM, Eyersey1234 said:

We had 4 Solos that had transferred up from Whittles, a bus company we used to own in Kidderminster, and I agree they were odd things to drive. 

I knew those well, me and my bicycle were usually the only passenger on the 5pm Knighton to Ludlow service.  It was a lot easier on them than when they were broken and I had to balance it on an old coach's entrance steps for 10 miles.

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On 6/26/2020 at 2:39 PM, Talbot said:

This seems like as good-a-place as any to put this... Did I read somewhere that the big yellow ex-megabus Autoshite funbus is no more?  What happened there then?

This one? Look closely here and you can see @cms206's face falling off.

IMG_20160625_104558933.thumb.jpg.123edc0c20b81f751c4b900e28f36266.jpg

Anyone here trolleybi-curious should visit Plovdiv in Bulgaria. The buses are long gone but for some reason the wires were left up.

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19 minutes ago, somewhatfoolish said:

One of those answers to a question no-one asked.

521735_482322735134983_1015801169_n.png?

Oooh, a McLay Wayfarer body on a Leyland FG. Obscure low-volume truck-based buses of the sort that might be found in Scarfolk Council's community transport fleet fascinate me so this is right up my street. It's not too bad compared with some of the hideous shite churned out at the time.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I was told yesterday there are about 50 coaches parked up at Caetano that National Express have had to pay for to stop Caetano going bust as all the operators have not taken delivery due to the shut down, apparently they are trying to get the operators to take delivery despite the fact that no-one has the work for them at the moment. 

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This story popped up in my newsfeed earlier. Happened at Nailsea near Bristol. The story mentioned how the driver was shaken but unhurt. He should be bloody ashamed of himself at the very least. It's a 12' 6" Bridge and it looks like one, it's not even close. 

1_Stay-Alert-bus-stuck.thumb.jpg.4b72659d15a213e3091c9e48c95e5a59.jpg

A nice 6 month old Enviro 400 City. But the best bit is this picture taken before the shoddy driver had a chance to switch it all off. 

0_TCR_BRI_210720StuckBusBRI_02.thumb.jpg.5f78e2b01e6448eba8272e2de6a61285.jpg

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5 hours ago, Yoss said:

This story popped up in my newsfeed earlier. Happened at Nailsea near Bristol. The story mentioned how the driver was shaken but unhurt. He should be bloody ashamed of himself at the very least. It's a 12' 6" Bridge and it looks like one, it's not even close. 

1_Stay-Alert-bus-stuck.thumb.jpg.4b72659d15a213e3091c9e48c95e5a59.jpg

A nice 6 month old Enviro 400 City. But the best bit is this picture taken before the shoddy driver had a chance to switch it all off. 

0_TCR_BRI_210720StuckBusBRI_02.thumb.jpg.5f78e2b01e6448eba8272e2de6a61285.jpg

He obviously wasn't paying attention to his own blind ?

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anyone got pics of 1980s and 90s hull corp stuff, or hull operator applbys? they had a few ex notts atlanteans for a while. inc one that shed its engine cover at my school....

liking the eyms stuff posted. i remember catching the eyms vr's to castle hill as a kid.

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5 minutes ago, sloth said:

anyone got pics of 1980s and 90s hull corp stuff, or hull operator applbys? they had a few ex notts atlanteans for a while. inc one that shed its engine cover at my school....

liking the eyms stuff posted. i remember catching the eyms vr's to castle hill as a kid.

Applebys you say? Saw a few of them when on holiday in Scarborough in 1999 including the random collection of open-toppers they ran along the seafront.

12116551365_95188d6d75_c.jpg

TOF 708S - Applebys by Adam Floyd, on Flickr

12116843603_2cfb31ecb6_c.jpg

957 XYB - Applebys by Adam Floyd, on Flickr

12116087253_abdd57cf1d_c.jpg

WJY 760 - Applebys by Adam Floyd, on Flickr

12116188144_a0224981ed_c.jpg

ORJ 366W - Applebys by Adam Floyd, on Flickr

12116853486_2625281940_c.jpg

KON 326P - Applebys by Adam Floyd, on Flickr

12116448796_e86c825abd_c.jpg

KMW 176P - Applebys by Adam Floyd, on Flickr

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On 6/25/2020 at 5:58 PM, Eyersey1234 said:

 

322.jpg

 

Worst Bus still run these in Aberdeen. They sound like they're about to explode at any second. They make a hell of a racket whenever they go past, like a cooling fan (or a jet engine) going at full whack.

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3 hours ago, Supernaut said:

Worst Bus still run these in Aberdeen. They sound like they're about to explode at any second. They make a hell of a racket whenever they go past, like a cooling fan (or a jet engine) going at full whack.

There was a period of about three months in 2012 when they actually had the thermostats working properly on nearly all of the B10BLEs - the exception being 62220 which was still sucking innocent bystanders off the footpath as it passed by and belching truly epic clouds of black smoke because it had a huge boost leak.

About a month later it was back to business as usual.

The fact they have lasted anywhere near this long with the utterly shocking maintenance regime First have given them truly is testimony to how sturdy the B10BLE is as a bus.  Even in the state they're in there they actually drive nicely so long as you blank out the horrendous clatter from the front suspension from your mind.  The ones with the Wright bodies always seem to drive better than the Alexander ones, no idea why given it's the same chassis under it. 

62139 (X618NSS) was the one I probably did the most miles in, presumably because it was only needed on the branded route during peak times.

X618NSS.thumb.jpg.5b579482b89631f4f28453f1566825d1.jpg

This later reappeared in a sort of pseudo heritage livery...Which they got into hot water for as it had the Aberdeen City crest on it, and they'd not checked with the Council first and people got annoyed - especially as ACC weren't on the best terms with First at that point...so advertising panels were abruptly slapped over the crests!

600050953_X618NSS-1-1.thumb.jpg.750db41b2259f2a90fd3e80c0282ef40.jpg

...Not before I snapped a photo of it in the wild though.  Apparently quite a feat as it was only out like this apparently on a handful of runs before duct tape was applied prior to the ads.

172999477_X618NSS-2-1.thumb.jpg.41da0fa215bca32c2c5394cec98252f0.jpg

 

 

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1 hour ago, Zelandeth said:

 sucking innocent bystanders off the footpath as it passed by and belching truly epic clouds of black smoke because it had a huge boost leak.

That's an accurate description of the entire Worst Bus fleet these days. Properly horrendous.

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8 hours ago, quicksilver said:

Applebys you say? Saw a few of them when on holiday in Scarborough in 1999 including the random collection of open-toppers they ran along the seafront.

12116551365_95188d6d75_c.jpg

TOF 708S - Applebys by Adam Floyd, on Flickr

12116843603_2cfb31ecb6_c.jpg

957 XYB - Applebys by Adam Floyd, on Flickr

12116087253_abdd57cf1d_c.jpg

WJY 760 - Applebys by Adam Floyd, on Flickr

12116188144_a0224981ed_c.jpg

ORJ 366W - Applebys by Adam Floyd, on Flickr

12116853486_2625281940_c.jpg

KON 326P - Applebys by Adam Floyd, on Flickr

12116448796_e86c825abd_c.jpg

KMW 176P - Applebys by Adam Floyd, on Flickr

i rode to school on 957xyb, dont remember them having a nasho. they had an ex leeds or. manc x reg atlantean in 2000 tho still in orig colors. ill own one one day

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 7/23/2020 at 4:24 PM, sloth said:

anyone got pics of 1980s and 90s hull corp stuff, or hull operator applbys? they had a few ex notts atlanteans for a while. inc one that shed its engine cover at my school....

liking the eyms stuff posted. i remember catching the eyms vr's to castle hill as a kid.

I have a small album with a few pictures of KHCT stuff kicking around somewhere but at the moment I can only find one  (and you have to take my word for it that its KHCT ?)

20200811_191237.jpg

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For the first time since March 23rd, all of our school buses are back on the road tomorrow morning.

Went round and did the oil and water on them all this morning, fuelled them all yesterday. They're as ready as they're going to be.

I've got my 975k-mile Volvo B12B back for this school year, it's been scrubbed and disinfected.

 

Wish us luck.

20200810_085319.jpg

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