sierraman Posted October 26, 2020 Share Posted October 26, 2020 Sheffield Mainline had a load of cut down Leyland PD2 to use as recovery. Think they’re all on preservation now. cobblers 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cms206 Posted October 26, 2020 Share Posted October 26, 2020 On 10/24/2020 at 5:04 PM, juular said: 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. Not one, but 8. I think I have photos at least of SA1-7. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cms206 Posted October 26, 2020 Share Posted October 26, 2020 Back in the saddle today after a week off. Tonight's chariot is this VDL Futura 2, in 12.9 metre, 365ish bhp flavour. Vantman, Bag'O'Spanners, Inspector Morose and 3 others 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ford Prefect Posted October 27, 2020 Share Posted October 27, 2020 https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Leyland-aec-routmaster-London-bus/174493897605?hash=item28a0a59385:g:GQEAAOSwBylflhM8 Routemaster (spelt Routmaster in advert) RM1643 reg no 643DYE for sale at £35.9k in Wigan. Only 5498 miles. No pictures of interior, but side look like set up for vending maybe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noel Tidybeard Posted October 28, 2020 Share Posted October 28, 2020 mcw ailsa? juular 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ford Prefect Posted October 28, 2020 Share Posted October 28, 2020 17 hours ago, Ford Prefect said: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Leyland-aec-routmaster-London-bus/174493897605?hash=item28a0a59385:g:GQEAAOSwBylflhM8 Routemaster (spelt Routmaster in advert) RM1643 reg no 643DYE for sale at £35.9k in Wigan. Only 5498 miles. No pictures of interior, but side looks like set up for vending maybe. Or if you want pictures of the interior and a price of £32,500 +vat try here: http://usedcoachsales.co.uk/Vehicles/View/4289 And if you look under the Vehicles tab on their site there's some interesting stuff (to me anyway) for sale e.g. Routemaster, RT, Atlantean, Titan, Olympian... Aplologies if you already know about this site. Yoss 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cms206 Posted October 28, 2020 Share Posted October 28, 2020 17 hours ago, Noel Tidybeard said: mcw ailsa? MCW Metrobus with Alexander D-type bodywork; Midland's first three Metrobuses (UMS 751T, BLS 671/2V) were so treated as their MRM1-3, plus Central's Dennis Dominator D1 (EGB 77T). juular 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cms206 Posted October 28, 2020 Share Posted October 28, 2020 Scheduled two backshifts a week for the foreseeable so I'm getting punted about a bit. Tonight's chariot is another VDL, this time a Futura Classic. New as WA60 DZO to Barnes, Swindon. RoadworkUK, Six-cylinder and LightBulbFun 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoadworkUK Posted October 28, 2020 Share Posted October 28, 2020 I reckon for a design that (aesthetically) dates back to 1982, the Futura has dated spectacularly well. urpert and LightBulbFun 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cms206 Posted October 28, 2020 Share Posted October 28, 2020 2 hours ago, RoadworkUK said: I reckon for a design that (aesthetically) dates back to 1982, the Futura has dated spectacularly well. This is our last "coach" one - we've still a good number on fleet but most are 70 to 77 seaters now. This is earmarked for the treatment shortly. Sadly they also still rot as well as the early ones did, some of ours need regular patching up. I'm not generally a huge fan of the Futura 'Classic', or even our Futura Clubs. The VDL Futura 2 is a far superior drive, but I still prefer my Volvos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rml2345 Posted October 29, 2020 Share Posted October 29, 2020 I recall a conversation we had some years back about the Futura Classic feeling quite old fashioned to drive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Volksy Posted October 29, 2020 Share Posted October 29, 2020 I know these are probably crap, but I'd really like one! http://usedcoachsales.co.uk/Vehicles/View/5487 There were a few knocking around in Leeds Metro's school bus fleet years back, but they never seemed to get much use. I always saw them parked up at the depot when passing on the train. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eyersey1234 Posted October 29, 2020 Share Posted October 29, 2020 10 hours ago, cms206 said: This is our last "coach" one - we've still a good number on fleet but most are 70 to 77 seaters now. This is earmarked for the treatment shortly. Sadly they also still rot as well as the early ones did, some of ours need regular patching up. I'm not generally a huge fan of the Futura 'Classic', or even our Futura Clubs. The VDL Futura 2 is a far superior drive, but I still prefer my Volvos. Never driven a Futura so can't comment on them but Volvos are good vehicles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
83C Posted October 29, 2020 Share Posted October 29, 2020 I do like a Futura, lovely things to drive. Not quite as good as a B10M though. The Magiq was a big step forward, I loved driving the two that Dartline had. I’d like to attach photos of them but for some reason the forum software seems to be struggling with Flickr links. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zelandeth Posted October 29, 2020 Share Posted October 29, 2020 9 hours ago, Volksy said: I know these are probably crap, but I'd really like one! http://usedcoachsales.co.uk/Vehicles/View/5487 There were a few knocking around in Leeds Metro's school bus fleet years back, but they never seemed to get much use. I always saw them parked up at the depot when passing on the train. First Aberdeen have a Bluebird AARE (thankfully it's being preserved) on a 51 plate as I recall. I've been lucky enough to take it out on a few occasions. Horrible thing to be a passenger on but a cracking bus to drive. Their one has a 56mph limiter which you hit like a brick wall. We reckon she'd do about 80 with the limiter out the way given the power on tap and gearing. Biggest headache (and the reason she spent almost her whole life growing moss in the back of the depot) was that spares availability over here is non existent so everything has to be shipped over from the US. LightBulbFun, HarmonicCheeseburger and Volksy 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cms206 Posted October 30, 2020 Share Posted October 30, 2020 End of the week; my allocated bus has been away on East Ayrshire contracts all week (they require CCTV) covering for it's sister bus which is off for MOT, so I've mostly been driving this 1994 Volvo B10M this week. Off the weekend and back in for a fifteen hour shift on Monday. Six-cylinder, RoadworkUK, Steviemillar and 3 others 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
busmansholiday Posted October 30, 2020 Share Posted October 30, 2020 Are Alexander Belfast bodies better / worse than those built in Falkirk. You could tell the Alexander v Plaxton bodied Darts by the squeaks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cms206 Posted November 2, 2020 Share Posted November 2, 2020 Tonight's chariot... DAF-powered Irizar i6. Not a fan of these. Six-cylinder, willswitchengage, 2cvspecial and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martc Posted November 2, 2020 Share Posted November 2, 2020 On 10/30/2020 at 8:19 PM, busmansholiday said: Are Alexander Belfast bodies better / worse than those built in Falkirk. You could tell the Alexander v Plaxton bodied Darts by the squeaks. Which squeaked most? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
busmansholiday Posted November 3, 2020 Share Posted November 3, 2020 Alexander, think they got the idea of making them squeak after building those lovely P*c*rs. martc 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martc Posted November 3, 2020 Share Posted November 3, 2020 5 hours ago, busmansholiday said: Alexander, think they got the idea of making them squeak after building those lovely P*c*rs. Seamless public transport experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eyersey1234 Posted November 5, 2020 Share Posted November 5, 2020 Today's chariot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
busmansholiday Posted November 5, 2020 Share Posted November 5, 2020 Any noticeable differences since GoAhead took over ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strangeangel Posted November 8, 2020 Share Posted November 8, 2020 Dear bus fans. I am currently digitising four short films, found on a South Yorkshire Transport VHS tape by @sierraman. The first of these - the last tram from Meadowhead to Sheffield Lane Top in 1960 is on YouTube now: and it's about trams, but two of the films contain buses (and have not been in the public domain before, apparently). Hope you like them! LightBulbFun, clayts450, Vantman and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sierraman Posted November 9, 2020 Share Posted November 9, 2020 Excellent. These were originally done on Cine then discovered sometime in the 80’s in a filing cabinet at Greenland Road depot and put on to at the time state of the art video tape. Great to see them on YouTube to be enjoyed by future generations strangeangel 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sierraman Posted November 9, 2020 Share Posted November 9, 2020 I love on that film how cheerful he is that he’s getting made redundant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
busmansholiday Posted November 14, 2020 Share Posted November 14, 2020 Unemployment numbers about to increase... https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-54937076 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inspector Morose Posted November 16, 2020 Share Posted November 16, 2020 Hmm, time for another delve into the rather tedious world of bus shite. Tonight's example is a one off that sort of isn't a one off but it is. This is the one time RTO1R of Derby City Transport. It is a Ailsa B55 with an Alexander body. So far so relatively common for the time? Well this was designated a B55-20, the lowheight version of the Ailsa, the others having the designation B55-10. So what changed? Well very little actually. The chassis was pretty standard and the rear axle was already a drop centre type so in reality there was very little difference at all. Now the body, well, that was a bit different. Inside there was a hump in the floor, under some of the seats, to accommodate the centrally mounted gearbox and the emergency exit for the lower deck was moved from the side to the rear wall, losing a seat in the process. Lower deck windows were shallower but basically that was about it. So a normal Ailsa just built a bit lower then? Well, yes but it did have its own chassis code and no doubt there were some other slight differences between this and its taller brethren but for all intent and purpose this was just a normal Ailsa. It was ordered by the venerable Blue Bus of Derby but due to its rather bespoke nature, it took so long to be built that by the time this was delivered, Blue bus had been bought by Derby CT and their garage and remarkable fleet of geriatric Daimlers (including the first Fleetline built, the first and second production Fleetline and other gems) had burnt to the ground. Derby took over the order and it was eventually delivered as its No.71 and settled in to whistling around the mean streets of Derby. Due to the, rather compromised layout, especially downstairs RTO was the only B55-20 built and with the advent of a straight rear axle on the Mk2 and 3 versions of the chassis, the lowheight Ailsa became a one off. In the early 1990's I tracked it down to Eagre Coaches of Gainsborough where it was being used as a school bus. After ending up in Scotland, it eventually entered preservation and was restored (twice) it now being painted into Black Prince livery - an operator known for its Ailsa fleet yet never actually running this one. juular and jon.k 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inspector Morose Posted November 22, 2020 Share Posted November 22, 2020 Started scanning stuff again out of sheer boredom. Morose - The Sandtoft years part 1. The Old Bloke Next Door, cobblers, Yoss and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inspector Morose Posted November 22, 2020 Share Posted November 22, 2020 More. rml2345 and LightBulbFun 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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