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2 hours ago, Inspector Morose said:

 

IMG_0197.jpg.c9ed700f83aef298da5eaaa091153fe4.jpg

 

I remember the Tynesider when it was brand new and appeared at a bus rally in Harrogate in 1972? (I'm getting old). Caused quite a stir.

Actually got to have a go at driving it in later years. Very odd, semi auto box and Atlantean steering wheel but no power steering. Somewhere I've a picture of that and the Wearsider, the RMF that Northern converted to a similar layout side by side.

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28 minutes ago, busmansholiday said:

I remember the Tynesider when it was brand new and appeared at a bus rally in Harrogate in 1972? (I'm getting old). Caused quite a stir.

Actually got to have a go at driving it in later years. Very odd, semi auto box and Atlantean steering wheel but no power steering. Somewhere I've a picture of that and the Wearsider, the RMF that Northern converted to a similar layout side by side.

pretty sure that picture is on Autoshite somewhere because I remember coming across it it and going What the actual Fuck, I thought the Wearsider was a Fugly bus and then bam I find the Tynesider

I knew of the Wearsider but had no clue about the Tynesider LOL

 

here we go LOL

On 16/07/2018 at 20:04, Inspector Morose said:

Oh and, well, just because....

 

image.jpeg

 

On 16/07/2018 at 20:09, LightBulbFun said:

I knew of the Wearsider but what is the un-godly awful contraption next to it?! we need a puke emoticon on here I think!...

(pleased to report we do now have a vomit emoticon 🤮  LOL)

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23 minutes ago, sierraman said:

Why did the B15 London Leyland Titans have black and white plates? This would be the early mid 80’s?

funny you should ask that as the same question came up just a few posts prior back in 2018 on the page I quoted above with the Tynesider and Wearsider  :) 

(for those curious if you ever want to jump back to where a quoted post is from, most quotes have a little arrow on the top right of them which if you click on it will take you back to the original post etc)

On 16/07/2018 at 19:32, Yoss said:

And I'll leave you with this.

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It always struck me as odd that LT could use black number plates until the mid 80s. These rear ones have translucent numerals with a light behind but in damp conditions the outer perspex panel would steam up making them unreadable. The front ones weren't even real number plates, just a bit of ally painted black with white transfers on. Many of them kept these plates when sold on (see the Emsworth Titan above) even though these smaller companies would never have been allowed to buy a bus new with these plates.

 

On 16/07/2018 at 19:50, Inspector Morose said:

One of the weird anomalies of the PSV world was that white on black number plates were permitted until the last style change, I believe. Although perfectly legal across the country, only London (and Edinburgh, I believe) perpetuated with this style.

The black painted aluminium plates had the numbers painted on, using a stencil set before the ubiquitous vinyl lettering took over.

I looked into this when we bought a shit tonne of ex London short nationals for operation way back when. A good few came with black front plates but yellow rears and I wondered if that was legal out of London - it was!

 

I am curious on the transparent number plates, was it just a bit of plastic with transparent lettering or was it a bit of destination blind material made in the form of a number plate? (and if so could you have a roll of them, James bond style? :mrgreen: )

 

 

I am curious as to why London Transport did continue with white on black plates and what was the last vehicle of theirs to feature such plates was (and I am also curious why in general PSV vehicles where exempt from the change to reflective plates in 73), granted funnily enough while on most post 1973 vehicles I find white on black number plates to look naff, I dont find/feel the same on London Transport vehicles

I think because LT as above used Actual white painted/transfer letters on a black background, rather then pressed silver on black plates most "white on black" plates are, which do look naff when on anything newer then 1973 (and on anything LT which would have had proper white on black plates originally) 

and I think its also because Im just much more used to white on black rather then Silver on black plates, having been into Routemasters etc from a very young age :) 

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All of this Leyland National stuff is making me feel a bit giddy. 

Give me a single door Mk1 with a original smokey, 510 engine, the flat tailpipe and some London Country/Green Line blue moquette coach seats... Not to forget luggage racks, being driven like it was stolen with no lift between the gears..... 

Might need to have a 'moment' now.

 

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On 10/15/2020 at 6:52 PM, Inspector Morose said:

Metroliners. Mmm

A667XDA.thumb.jpg.454628dd686f11480a77e6fd940da18c.jpg

524135252_ScrapMetrolineratEnsignsyard.thumb.jpg.b6d4a601e9d97dacb311c26861bdfb18.jpg

I think Ensigns have a couple of them in their storage facility - the majority of them were bought by them and converted to open top due to them being able to seat huge numbers upstairs. I think there might be one closed top left but I haven't heard of it in a while so even that one might have gone now. @cms206 over to you?

I've been on it... in 2007 when it had Megabus branding. The £1 (plus 50p booking fee) fares really did exist and I traveled from London to Leeds for the price of a Mars Duo. I did somr research as I was well into bi at the time - it was ex- a local Yorkshire operator and has been re-engined with a Scania lump. This might have been it, I remember it had a cryptic dateless numberplate.

6929231335_112d182e66_b.jpg

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50 minutes ago, Bag'O'Spanners said:

All of this Leyland National stuff is making me feel a bit giddy. 

Give me a single door Mk1 with a original smokey, 510 engine, the flat tailpipe and some London Country/Green Line blue moquette coach seats... Not to forget luggage racks, being driven like it was stolen with no lift between the gears..... 

Might need to have a 'moment' now.

 

There were a fair few of these 'no lift gear change' drivers out of St Albans depot - always driven like the clappers, and a great way to go to school/work.

My home route was the S2/S3 to New Greens Estate - when I first started school it was MBS/SM (AEC Merlins/Swifts), then we used to get mainly Nationals, but occasionally during the National overhaul season, we'd get weird and wonderful fill-ins like RPs (AEC Reliance), even the odd LR (Olympian) which was truly weird - a double decker on a city route, such opulence.

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2 minutes ago, clayts450 said:

There were a fair few of these 'no lift gear change' drivers out of St Albans depot - always driven like the clappers, and a great way to go to school/work.

My home route was the S2/S3 to New Greens Estate - when I first started school it was MBS/SM (AEC Merlins/Swifts), then we used to get mainly Nationals, but occasionally during the National overhaul season, we'd get weird and wonderful fill-ins like RPs (AEC Reliance), even the odd LR (Olympian) which was truly weird - a double decker on a city route, such opulence.

I used to live in the Harlow area. The buses around there, Ware, Hatfield and St. Albans garages used to seem to do the rounds back when. Was getting very spotty when in the school holidays, my Dad would treat me to a Golden Rover week bus ticket. The obvious challenge was to hit as diverse routes and types as possible.  Including the aforementioned, plus the odd sexy Duple or Plaxton bodied Green line. 

Those were the days!

 

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There was the Golden Rover ticket where you got to go on proper Green Line coaches, then there was the Green Rover which was  bus only. I did used to go to Harlow occasionally, as it was on the end of the 724 route, which passed through St Albans. I did get to visit every LCBS garage before it all got divided up, and I spotted the entire LCBS fleet. Pretty sure the last one on my list required me to go to Swanley depot, which was a sod to get to, but the elusive National I needed for the full house was there, job done. I recall smugness being the order of the day. Sad twat....

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5 hours ago, Bag'O'Spanners said:

All of this Leyland National stuff is making me feel a bit giddy. 

Give me a single door Mk1 with a original smokey, 510 engine, the flat tailpipe and some London Country/Green Line blue moquette coach seats... Not to forget luggage racks, being driven like it was stolen with no lift between the gears..... 

Might need to have a 'moment' now.

 

Same here , been from Barnsley we had them with Yorkshire traction ,then Barnsley and district . Love the 510 engine . All barnsley and district still had them fitted . Most drivers drove them without pausing for changes

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17 hours ago, clayts450 said:

There was the Golden Rover ticket where you got to go on proper Green Line coaches, then there was the Green Rover which was  bus only. I did used to go to Harlow occasionally, as it was on the end of the 724 route, which passed through St Albans. I did get to visit every LCBS garage before it all got divided up, and I spotted the entire LCBS fleet. Pretty sure the last one on my list required me to go to Swanley depot, which was a sod to get to, but the elusive National I needed for the full house was there, job done. I recall smugness being the order of the day. Sad twat....

Funny you should mention Swanley. Mrs Yoss hails from there. She was at uni here in Southampton when we met but went home in the breaks. Then once she finished uni she stayed here but we would visit the in-laws quite regularly. We came off the M25 and past Swanley garage every time. It was a nice looking small LCBS garage originally with Crittal windowed office up front and the main garage was a big curved roof tin shed that would look at home on an airfield. That was all knocked down and replaced with a more standard tin shed a few years back. 

The in-laws have now moved to North Norfolk so I can't see any reason to ever go back but I found this picture only yesterday whilst rummaging for something else. These are round the back of Swanley garage circa 2001 - 2003.

IMG_20201016_171817.thumb.jpg.513aeb0bbda16d26ec0102169a03cfa0.jpg

There was an RMF next to these but I thought the Titans would be more popular on here. 

And I mentioned the last day of LHs at Salisbury a few posts back. Here they are. There were only two of them, one W&D livery and one Damory. 

IMG_20201016_171926.thumb.jpg.37ffd3c26ab2aa48fc37a3cee454b76a.jpg

IMG_20201016_174449.thumb.jpg.b6682dc5f3e5f0605e0031b82f0016e1.jpg

IMG_20201016_174515.thumb.jpg.4d26744244837f401251e47dbe528761.jpg

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20 hours ago, willswitchengage said:

I did somr research as I was well into bi at the time - it was ex- a local Yorkshire operator and has been re-engined with a Scania lump. This might have been it, I remember it had a cryptic dateless numberplate.

6929231335_112d182e66_b.jpg

That's one of a pair of rare 4000GT Metrolines built to 4 meter height for European use (normal ones were like 14'6"). It was re-engined with a bfo Scania by YTC after they acquired it from Central Coacways to go with the one they already had. That was I believe E906TOJ whilst Trackies own was E99AAK. 

Stagecoach bought Trackie out and transferred it to Magic us duties. 

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On 10/16/2020 at 2:33 PM, LightBulbFun said:

 (and I am also curious why in general PSV vehicles where exempt from the change to reflective plates in 73)

I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't just plain incompetence at the Ministry - they probably just forgot to include PSV's in the legislation.

Around the same time they also forgot to include motorbike side-car passengers in the compulsory helmet regs (you still don't have to wear a helmet in a sidecar - you'd have thought they would have sorted that one out by now).

And in a different area they abolished capital punishment for all crimes except treason, a conscious decision. And you could also be hanged for setting fire to Her Majesty's Dockyards, an unconscious decision because they forgot about that particular punishment at the time of the repeal. Incidently, they tidied this up a few years ago and you cannot be hanged for either treason or royal arson any more.

The Men from the Ministry - Old Time Radio Network

I wonder if these two were in charge? (a joke for our younger viewers)

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I wish I had a picture of it, but all this talk of Metroliners has me thinking of one of the buses we were occasionally treated to after school.

My particular route contract in the 90s was served by Partridge Coaches of Hadleigh, whose school fleet consisted a motley selection of ex-London DMSs (KJD58P, THM630M etc) and a solitary Atlantean that was bought for parts, but (HHB48N) considered too good to break. 

Also, though, they had a Plaxton Paramount 4000 built on Neoplan 122 underframes, complete with Gardner 6LYT (330hp). 

At that point, one of the school routes was served by Chartercoach, who ran Merc 0.303s and FAP Sanos 315s, and the Paramount sounded better than any of them.

Strange thing was, on a journey home in the Daimlers, the upper deck would be full of bloodshed and riot. But in the Paramount, everybody just sat down and chilled. It was like a library in there. 

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Partrdge - bloody hell, there’s a name from my history books. 

Bought a Fleetline from them many moons ago. On going down again for something or other , we spotted the original window hoppers in the the undergrowth (they were different on this batch with a little knob to open it instead of a full length handle.

“£30 a unit” was the reply from the old man. At that point he didn’t have anything else they they would fit - the last survivor was in the rear yard slowly decomposing into the undergrowth (there’s a tale about that one and I’ll tell it one day). He knew we wanted them and even though they were off the bus we just bought (at a inflated price as “it’s got a ticket” so it’s valuable even though it’s utterly fucked) we had to pay his price otherwise he was happy for them to be slung in the skip.

The other tale was the old man sold a friend the unique Foden NC he bought from the WMPTE auctions. Witnin a few weeks it inevitably failed with transfer gear collapse. Would he help out or knock a bit of cash off? Would he fuck and sold him another bus at a profit. The Foden then stood out the front of the other operators yard for over 15 years without moving another inch before being saved for preservation. 

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22 hours ago, Inspector Morose said:

Partrdge - bloody hell, there’s a name from my history books. 

On a tangentially related note, (and I've a feeling that I've covered this before upthread) the stalwart of Route 15 to Tendring High School, DMS reg KJD58P, had an interesting career after its Partridge days. It went on to the Big Bus company, where it was scalped for sightseeing service, and it's in this form that it was the prototype for an EFE recreation in 1:76 scale.

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Of course I had to buy one,  to join the Hedingham VR and Supreme Neoplan Cityliner in my scale 'school buses of the mid 90s' collection. 

KJD58P was eventually exported to the USA, where I believe it gave its life as a source of spare parts. 

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On 10/15/2020 at 12:58 PM, cms206 said:

An assorted selection to finish today, as I'm on a backshift and I really need to get ready for work... all West of Scotland, up to about 1990. A few do not appear all they seem.

1735 Traction House 15-10-89.jpg

R2 EK Depot 23-8-86.jpg

S56 N13 Traction House 7-3-88.jpg

SP21 Clarkston 8-4-89.jpg

12 Renfield St 5-11-86.jpg

23 Paisley Rd Renfrew 11-2-86.jpg

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95 Hairst St 24-1-89.jpg

104 Gordon St 19-4-87.jpg

110 Killermont St 24-3-87.jpg

112 Killermont St 1-7-86.jpg

157 Smithhills St 30-4-88.jpg

171 Argyle St 23-5-87.jpg

201 St Andrews Cross 7-11-85.jpg

210 Gordon St 4-5-86.jpg

318 Gauze St 4-4-88.jpg

326 Gilmour St.jpg

350 Belville St 6-5-89.jpg

355 Gauze St.jpg

409 Buchanan 6-8-85.jpg

597 Glasgow Rd 14-4-87.jpg

600 Clarence Dr 4-8-87.jpg

640 Tillycairn Rd 10-12-86.jpg

709 Broomlands St 26-11-86.jpg

845 St Andrews Cross 7-11-85.jpg

905 Cochranemill Rd 30-5-87.jpg

N938 Belville St 6-5-89.jpg

W1 Killermont St 21-4-86.jpg

W2 Milton Rd Kirkintilloch 1-2-87.jpg

W2 Thornliebank 19-4-87.jpg

W4 Gauze St 26-6-89.jpg

D3 Depot.jpg

D30 Broomlands St 26-11-86.jpg

Hawkhead Depot 19-4-87.jpg

S1.jpg

S17 Central Rd 24-4-90.jpg

S22 Gilmour St 25-1-86.jpg

S29 Gauze St.jpg

SCS336M Depot 18-6-88.jpg

1111 Thornton St 2-3-87.jpg

1123 Garscube Rd 6-7-87.jpg

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1245 Croy 20-1-87.jpg

1250etc Cumnock 4-9-88.jpg

1401 Killermont St 26-6-87.jpg

1603 Hope St 16-12-87.jpg

1971 Anderston 13-3-90.jpg

2007.jpg

N34 Buchanan 21-6-85.jpg

N40 S2 Stepps 8-2-86.jpg

N60 Stepps Rd 19-5-86.jpg

RM37 RM229 Anderston 30-1-88.jpg

RM2072.jpg

FHE292V Jamaica St 28-3-87.jpg

KKG109W St Andrews Cross 18-6-88.jpg

LGA978V St Andrews Cross 25-1-86.jpg

AA LSJ872W YYE296T Perceton 22-12-87.jpg

JMJ472V PMT246 Warroch St 3-10-89.jpg

Kevan THX583S.jpg

Magicbus Hobden St 13-2-91.jpg

SPS C974 PFS.jpg

Dodge.jpg

NTV1 Riggs Rd 24-6-88.jpg

SS5.jpg

SS21.jpg

A018 Argyle St 13-1-87 (2).jpg

A033 Howard St 13-1-87.jpg

A066 Partick Bridge 12-5-84.jpg

A104 George Sq 7-2-86.jpg

A130 Union St 17-2-88.jpg

AH49.jpg

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AS2 Oswald St 13-1-87.jpg

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LA1054 Argyle St 28-2-87.jpg

LA1116 University Ave 13-1-87.jpg

LA1327 Byres Road 5-1-87.jpg

LA1374 GWR 24-1-87.jpg

LA1425 Hope St 7-2-87.jpg

LN6 Easterhouse 10-12-86.jpg

LN13 N Hanover St 22-7-85.jpg

LO1 Stockwell St 26-6-87.jpg

LO2 Clayslaps Rd 15-11-86.jpg

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LO25 A101 St Enoch 13-1-87.jpg

LO45 George Sq 7-2-86.jpg

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M115.jpg

MB35 Hope St 13-1-87.jpg

MB36 Jamaica St 24-1-87.jpg

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20 KB 82 Yorkhill St 8-4-89.jpg

45 HG 19 Yorkhill Pde 22-4-89.jpg

L775 Killoch Pl 9-8-89.jpg

M157 BBS 5-7-89.jpg

S942 EBS 29-6-85.jpg

W7022 BBS 8-6-85.jpg

A90 PRW 28-6-84.jpg

A103 Govan Rd 28-6-84.jpg

A108 Renfrew Rd Paisley 3-6-85.jpg

CSco M11 Argyle St 17-7-86.jpg

L4 GWR 14-5-84.jpg

L740 Erskine.jpg

L746 Kilblain St 13-5-89.jpg

R20 PRW 28-6-84.jpg

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S812 Smithhills St 30-4-88.jpg

W1064 Gauze St 26-5-89.jpg

Ooft, having grown up in Glasgow this is pretty much my childhood in a single post. Brilliant.

I seem to recall a single decker atlantean going around for a while with the original green interior. I may have made that up. It was an odd looking wee thing.

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On 10/20/2020 at 10:48 PM, RoadworkUK said:

Also, though, they had a Plaxton Paramount 4000 built on Neoplan 122 underframes, complete with Gardner 6LYT (330hp). 

We  had a batch of those at Sheffield.  On one occassion a driver forgot to press the ferry lift button at Dover before getting on the ferry. Oooppps, no sump!! He didn't actually notice until it went bang. The harbour master wasn't too pleased either as there was several gallons of oil on the ramps and dock side.

We dragged it back and took the engine out and sent it to Gardner to rebuild. They refused to touch it due to the damage so we rebuilt it ourselves. Went bang next time out.

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On 10/15/2020 at 7:04 PM, Inspector Morose said:

Ah yes, Stevensons. Constant winners of the "we'll run anything" competition in the midlands. 

They bought a number of ex South Yorkshire Metrobuses. We were down in their yard photoing them and one out of use one in the back corner didn't have any reg or id. Fortunatly we knew that the PTE put fleetnumbers upstairs so identifying it wasn't difficult. Except we'd photographed that bus earlier.....

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Aye, it happens. The ‘mix and match’ approach to bus identities has always been a thing with operators of identical vehicles. Even the big boys have been caught out once in a while with a bus ‘pretending’ to be another.

Can’t say that it might have happened at my certain pet green independent of many years ago. Nevr on the two Seddons, nor the Bedfords, no, nothing to see here, carry on...

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On 10/15/2020 at 2:05 PM, catsinthewelder said:

The background shite is amazing too, brown Hyundai Steller taxi 😎

With the other recovery rigs being converted from buses the shorter one has me confused.  It looks too heavy duty to have been built as a bus.  Is it a Scammel with bodywork from a bus?  

 

W1 Killermont St 21-4-86.jpg

Ex MoD AEC Matador, a common choice as the "heavy" recovery part of many a major bus company. Many rebuilt them using whstever body parts the had avaiable.

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 Cheap war surplus Matadors  were bought by just about every operator, it seemed. After a while the simple timber bodies rotted away and were rebuilt using the ingenuity of the bodyshop to fit various bus bits from the stores onto the chassis to create bespoke recovery vehicles, many of which survived safely tucked away and infrequently used (hopefully) until contract recovery swept them all away.

50027675-8E25-4344-AF59-F6EB3E618BF9.thumb.jpeg.27730ae79bd84901ca9943c0025223b8.jpeg

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Oh yes, I had to have a crack at a Matador so I bought this.

50967BB6-2469-4F10-BE6A-281F2756CB99.thumb.jpeg.ff2643ec06eba453bde3cfccefaabd57.jpeg

ex-Chesterfield Transport and fitted with a Leyland 0680 engine and Atlantean brake components (air side). Bought for the princely sum of £600 for a specific recovery job then sold on to a chap who repaired and maintained buses and coaches used for humanitarian missions around the world.

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