Bus Shite

[cms206]

Strathclyde also had what I think were a unique batch of half a dozen or so wheelchair accessable MCW Metroriders which carried the dual purpose colourscheme; most had reasonably long lives but remained a solitary batch.

[cms206]

Strathclyde also converted eight Leyland Atlanteans to single deck, becoming SA1-8; SA5 pictured here was the former LA979, photographed negotiating the tunnel at Lochburn Road in Maryhill.

Single deck Ailsa AS2 was the former AS10, converted after a bridge strike in 1985; it later passed to Black Prince in the early 1990s but was found to have never been recertified as a single decker and that, combined with structural issues around the front end, saw it broken for spares.

[colino]

Great to see Paisley pre-pedestrianisation with people there, still don't know how you managed to add in the sunshine though! 

[cms206]

6 minutes ago, colino said:

Great to see Paisley pre-pedestrianisation with people there, still don't know how you managed to add in the sunshine though! 

It's sunny today in Paisley too!

[willswitchengage]

1 hour ago, cms206 said:

 

 

 

What happened to the 'guess the light cluster' thread. Escort estate?

[cms206]

51 minutes ago, willswitchengage said:

What happened to the 'guess the light cluster' thread. Escort estate?

... and fronts from the MkV Cortina.

[LightBulbFun]

4 hours ago, cms206 said:

As much as I often moan about Routemasters, the town I call home was part of an important era of the Routemaster saga... some shots from a collection I acquired some time ago, including some that I'm almost certain were never used.

 

ah yeah now we are talking!  

nice to see Rodney (RM652) before she got bastardised dartmasterised, it would be fun if they painted her in her old Clydeside Scottish livery I wonder how many people in London would get what its about  (she is still in service on the heritage  Route 15 back here in London)

I also love the 38 Blinds with "Glasgow" as the ultimate destination

you could have a lot of fun driving that one around hackney I tell you LOL

[Eyersey1234]

5 hours ago, LightBulbFun said:

ah yeah now we are talking!  

nice to see Rodney (RM652) before she got bastardised dartmasterised, it would be fun if they painted her in her old Clydeside Scottish livery I wonder how many people in London would get what its about  (she is still in service on the heritage  Route 15 back here in London)

I also love the 38 Blinds with "Glasgow" as the ultimate destination

you could have a lot of fun driving that one around hackney I tell you LOL

The MD of Go North East owns a preserved Routemaster which is kept at our Anlaby Road depot. We were bought by GNE in June 2018 and are being run as a stand alone company. 

[cms206]

9 hours ago, Eyersey1234 said:

The MD of Go North East owns a preserved Routemaster which is kept at our Anlaby Road depot. We were bought by GNE in June 2018 and are being run as a stand alone company. 

How do you find Go Ahead to work for?

I worked for them from 2005 when Chris Moyes was still in charge until 2010, though admittedly not in one of their bus or train divisions and they were probably my best all round employer I ever had.

[Saabnut]

Back in Arbroath today and an additional bus arrived which I thought might interest @Zelandeth

[Zelandeth]

1 hour ago, Saabnut said:

Back in Arbroath today and an additional bus arrived which I thought might interest @Zelandeth

Nice.  Seen that one up close back at the last (I believe) First Aberdeen open day...back in 2012 I think.  Tidy old coach.

I don't have the photos from that event accessible from this device right now or I'd add mine from there, had a couple of the interior too.

Confused me a bit that one did as it's a bit if a hybrid of bits of Dominant I and II.  I didn't realise that the very late Is got bits of the later front end.

[Eyersey1234]

3 hours ago, cms206 said:

How do you find Go Ahead to work for?

I worked for them from 2005 when Chris Moyes was still in charge until 2010, though admittedly not in one of their bus or train divisions and they were probably my best all round employer I ever had.

I have to say our new management are very approachable and there is more in the way of staff communication than previously 

[martc]

3 hours ago, cms206 said:

How do you find Go Ahead to work for?

I worked for them from 2005 when Chris Moyes was still in charge until 2010, though admittedly not in one of their bus or train divisions and they were probably my best all round employer I ever had.

Chris Moyles controlling the EYMS fleet from his lair. Thinks 'how many buses can we send down Beverley Road before we block it completely?'

[Yoss]

On 10/11/2020 at 12:07 PM, cms206 said:

As much as I often moan about Routemasters... 

Really, I hadn't noticed 😉. But seriously, thanks for those. RM 1563, I assume was just visiting. Former Mortlake showbus (and Mortlake buses were pretty much all showbuses so 1563 had to be extra special) it was kept at Southampton CityBus' Portswood garage for a while, around 1990 I'm guessing so it got about. I have pictures of RML 900 in London when it returned. It ran on a couple of Finchley routes in that livery after Finchley took RML 903 to visit Glasgow and ran in service from Thornliebank over August Bank Holiday 1987. I was there too! 

I loved those Johnstone routes. The few times I managed to get to Glasgow I always seemed to end up on those. 

Of the other pictures those single deck Atlanteans look OK but the Ailsa really does look like they've just driven it under a bridge (which they had). 

And those VW LTs just look hilarious. 

[Yoss]

Minibuses never really caught on here. We had these four Iveco Turbo  Dailies 

And a solitary Metro rider. 

And they weren't used in any of the bus war shenanigans, just on a couple of new routes that served smaller roads. A variation of one of those routes still runs as council tendered route with Xelabus Darts. 

[LightBulbFun]

that just sent me down a fun rabbit hole via this picture, as I went to dig it up and debated about posting it or not, I noticed talk of the Ford Escort behind it

https://flic.kr/p/9Y43qd

(bet you would never guess how I originally came across the photograph LOL)

 

which then lead me down this fun flicker rabbit hole dedicated to all of London Transport's weird and whacky vehicles

https://www.flickr.com/groups/london_transport_service_vehicles/

its mighty weird seeing a regular car with London Transport fleet names LOL

https://flic.kr/p/pidArd

[cms206]

10 hours ago, Yoss said:

Minibuses never really caught on here. We had these four Iveco Turbo  Dailies 

And a solitary Metro rider. 

And they weren't used in any of the bus war shenanigans, just on a couple of new routes that served smaller roads. A variation of one of those routes still runs as council tendered route with Xelabus Darts. 

... the Metrorider, ironically enough given earlier conversation, ended up with Strathclyde as M115, the first of the second hand Metroriders.

[cms206]

11 hours ago, Yoss said:

Really, I hadn't noticed 😉. But seriously, thanks for those. RM 1563, I assume was just visiting. Former Mortlake showbus (and Mortlake buses were pretty much all showbuses so 1563 had to be extra special) it was kept at Southampton CityBus' Portswood garage for a while, around 1990 I'm guessing so it got about. I have pictures of RML 900 in London when it returned. It ran on a couple of Finchley routes in that livery after Finchley took RML 903 to visit Glasgow and ran in service from Thornliebank over August Bank Holiday 1987. I was there too! 

I loved those Johnstone routes. The few times I managed to get to Glasgow I always seemed to end up on those. 

Of the other pictures those single deck Atlanteans look OK but the Ailsa really does look like they've just driven it under a bridge (which they had). 

And those VW LTs just look hilarious. 

RM1563 was up for the Greenock open day I think.

In amongst the huge to scan pile there are dozens of really grubby looking RMs running in London in the mid to late 80s, really need to get round to scanning more.

[Yoss]

The strangest looking thing about that Escort is the reg. That's not a London reg is it. Even the Transit has an LK reg.

If we're going on to service vehicles... 

This was the Grosvenor Square recovery truck. 

And this was the CityBus one. 

Both great looking vehicles. I never saw the AEC out on the road whereas I saw the CityBus one quite a few times. Maybe this says VRs were more reliable than Atlanteans but  I think the AEC one (if it even is an AEC. It looks a bit home made and that grille looks like an afterthought, like they just had it lying around and thought that'll do. It looks too small) had a much shorter life. I never saw it at any of Blue Line's other garages once they'd moved, whereas the CityBus Leyland (Marathon? Trucks are not my forte) was around for years. 

 

And this Sherpa crops up in a few of my pictures. It always seemed to be parked around Poundtree Road. 

[Yoss]

So obviously the RMs were the highest profile buses in the bus wars but there were a few other oddities. If you wanted half cab bus travel Southampton was the place to be (or Glasgow but if you already lived in Southampton that was a bit far). 

Most notably was Regent V 401. The original Regent fleet went up to 402 but 401 was still in the CityBus fleet so was wheeled out quite regularly. This led to the RMs being numbered from 402 upwards even though Regent 402 still existed, and still does. Anyway, I may be biased but I think Southampton Regents are incredibly handsome vehicles so I make no apologies for putting all these pictures up. 

 

I love this one. This wasn't even in service, it was on the garage run, so I would have walked here (about 20mins)in the rain at about 6 or 7 in the morning to get this photo. It was worth it. 

 

Then there were the Southern Vectis Lodekkas. At this time these still ran on the IOW in the summer season but sat idle in the winter. Blue Line were obviously a Southern Vectis subsidiary so for a couple of winters they sent the Lodekkas over to the mainland. There were at least two of them, one front entrance and one rear. 

 

Though this one never made it back into service but was a regular sight around town. 

 

 

And then there was this thing. The Internet now tells me it was an ex Exeter PD2 but at the time we had no idea what it was. Technically acquired as a driver trainer, but it was painted in this rather awkward livery and did make it into passenger service quite regularly. 

 

The Routemasters have been covered quite extensively elsewhere but I do like an RM in the dark or twilight as it shows the comforting glow from inside. 

 

This was the end* of RMs in Southampton. The line up consists of duplicates RM 820 and 2059 then the official last one, 2037, preserved 2116 and 308 a brand new Red Ensign (CityBus coach brand) Olympian coach, Regent V (I think 371) and a random Cardiff Regent. This convoy ran all the way from the city centre to Lordshill where this was taken then back to the garage, any passengers wanting to stay on were allowed to. Plans to buy RM 2037 started a couple of hours after this picture was taken. 

 

 

* Nearly two years later there were still a few unsold RMs knocking about the garage so CityBus decided to run a Christmas 'Shoppahoppa' service from the station to Ocean Village, basically the east and west ends of the city centre with RM 1543 and 1682.

But 401 popped up on this too. 

This was December 1990, the main services having ended in January 1989. But this really was the end. 

 

Something I have noticed going through all these pictures is that it didn't half rain a lot back then. 

 

[Zelandeth]

Some cracking photos in there, Yoss.

[ETCHY]

2 hours ago, Yoss said:

The strangest looking thing about that Escort is the reg. That's not a London reg is it. Even the Transit has an LK reg.

If we're going on to service vehicles... 

This was the Grosvenor Square recovery truck. 

And this was the CityBus one. 

Both great looking vehicles. I never saw the AEC out on the road whereas I saw the CityBus one quite a few times. Maybe this says VRs were more reliable than Atlanteans but  I think the AEC one (if it even is an AEC. It looks a bit home made and that grille looks like an afterthought, like they just had it lying around and thought that'll do. It looks too small) had a much shorter life. I never saw it at any of Blue Line's other garages once they'd moved, whereas the CityBus Leyland (Marathon? Trucks are not my forte) was around for years. 

 

And this Sherpa crops up in a few of my pictures. It always seemed to be parked around Poundtree Road. 

Yep the  citybus recovery truck is a "block of flats" Leyland Marathon. Basically a cash strapped Leyland lash up to try & compete with foreign competition.

I have always really liked the Marathon, it's somehow cool.

[martc]

2 hours ago, Yoss said:

The strangest looking thing about that Escort is the reg. That's not a London reg is it. Even the Transit has an LK reg.

 

You're right - it's not a London reg, it is a Worcester one.

[Eyersey1234]

On 10/12/2020 at 8:28 AM, cms206 said:

How do you find Go Ahead to work for?

I worked for them from 2005 when Chris Moyes was still in charge until 2010, though admittedly not in one of their bus or train divisions and they were probably my best all round employer I ever had.

Another thing I thought of earlier is new management seem to listen more to suggestions and comments than previous management 

[Zelandeth]

Holy cow, one of these pieces of automotive excrement still exists?

We had two of them on the Aberdeen community dial a bus service back between 2005-11, and from the day they were delivered (5 years apart) they spent more time in the garage in bits than on the road.   Not sure which was worse, the electronics or the absolutely mental driveline setup.  They're front engined (wheezy, vastly underpowered Iveco power unit) and rear drive.  The propshaft runs under the offside will, requiring two 45 degree angle drives and more universal joints than you would think possible to get drive to the rear wheels.  Looks great in a nice concept stage cutaway drawing...in the real world it's an utter pain.  Especially as the whole exhaust (which also runs the full length of the vehicle) has to come off to get at basically anything.

I don't think the second one ever had working heating.

They also have the turning circle of the Titanic which meant there were several estates we just couldn't serve with them. 

Oh, and they have less traction on poor road conditions than a BMW with racing slicks.  We wound up with one one winter stuck at the bottom of a hill with what I'd describe as "slight slush" on the road.  Even the sodding bendy buses were getting up there - including stopping at the bus stop halfway up - without any issues whatsoever...Why they didn't just design them as a front wheel drive vehicle I don't know.  It would have solved a good 80% of the problems I reckon.

Shame really as from a passenger perspective they did the job of being a properly accessible bus without feeling like one of those stripped out hospital shuttles.

[Yoss]

15 hours ago, LightBulbFun said:

that just sent me down a fun rabbit hole via this picture, as I went to dig it up and debated about posting it or not, I noticed talk of the Ford Escort behind it

https://flic.kr/p/9Y43qd

(bet you would never guess how I originally came across the photograph LOL)

 

which then lead me down this fun flicker rabbit hole dedicated to all of London Transport's weird and whacky vehicles

https://www.flickr.com/groups/london_transport_service_vehicles/

its mighty weird seeing a regular car with London Transport fleet names LOL

https://flic.kr/p/pidArd

This is probably mainly for @LightBulbFun

Here's a list from my 1985 London Bus Handbook of all the service vehicles. I thought you'd enjoy studying this. 

It turns out it's not unusual to have non London registrations on service vehicles. Whilst there are large numbers of familiar registrations there are lots of unfamiliar ones. There's even a block of Astravans here with Southampton regs (CR, TR and OW). 

[jon.k]

I’ve got this book on lt service vehicles. It goes back a long way and has some oddities in it.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/London-Transport-Service-Vehicles-Rennie/dp/1854142747

[LightBulbFun]

3 hours ago, Yoss said:

This is probably mainly for @LightBulbFun

Here's a list from my 1985 London Bus Handbook of all the service vehicles. I thought you'd enjoy studying this. 

It turns out it's not unusual to have non London registrations on service vehicles. Whilst there are large numbers of familiar registrations there are lots of unfamiliar ones. There's even a block of Astravans here with Southampton regs (CR, TR and OW). 

ohh interesting!  

its interesting that they had regular driver training cars, wonder what those where used for (for recruiting bus drivers who didn't yet have a car driving licence first?)

I had wondered what LT wanted a regular car for (I understand the estate cars and vans where used for Radio operations etc, complete with a neat little light up roundel on the roof  but was wondering what the escort saloon car was for for example!)

 

its extra amusing because at one point @purplebargeken was looking for paint suggestions on what colour etc to pain his Dolomite (or was it a Toledo?) and I thought it would be fun to paint it in London Transport Red with 1980's white roundels on both sides

so its amusing to see that I was not actually that far off reality!  

[Yoss]

Funnily enough I'd thought about doing that to my Triumph. Mainly because I have mismatching seats in mine and I thought it would look nice with RM moquette in it. You can buy the moquette new again now and I figured if I found somebody having their bus retrimmed there might enough left over to do a car, you wouldnt need much for a car. Then I thought I might as well do the door trims and seat edging in maroon and from there it spiralled out of control into painting it red with a white stripe. Luckily it's all in my head and very likely to stay there. 

[quicksilver]

48 minutes ago, LightBulbFun said:

ohh interesting!  

its interesting that they had regular driver training cars, wonder what those where used for (for recruiting bus drivers who didn't yet have a car driving licence first?)

I had wondered what LT wanted a regular car for (I understand the estate cars and vans where used for Radio operations etc, complete with a neat little light up roundel on the roof  but was wondering what the escort saloon car was for for example!)

 

its extra amusing because at one point @purplebargeken was looking for paint suggestions on what colour etc to pain his Dolomite and I thought it would be fun to paint it in London Transport Red with 1980's white roundels on both sides

so its amusing to see that I was not actually that far off reality!  

Check out www.ltsv.com for plenty more on London Transport (and other operators') service vehicles but make sure you set aside a few hours to explore all the weird and wonderful stuff there. There's an explanation for all the non-London registrations - those vehicles were leased and seemed to be registered all over the country.