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Felly Magic

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On 3/13/2021 at 7:57 PM, martc said:

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Vicar Lane Bus Station Leeds, opened 1937.

This still stands, for the moment. It was due to be demolished a couple years ago.

 

Locally known as the 'Red' bus station, it is now home to a bar called 'The old red Bus Station' and my mates Pizza restaurant. 

 

 

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The 'tilt test' 1933; the test was passed if the bus tilts at 28 degrees without tipping. There are sand bags in the upper deck to simulate 60 passengers. Note the chains and the slight lip, those are not preventing the vehicle from tipping. The lip is to prevent it sliding laterally down the ramp. The chains are slightly loose and stops it rolling as the brakes have to be off during the test. They will also catch the vehicle if it does tip. Once 28 degrees is reached the test is stopped, they don't carry on and see when it does tip!

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This one must have passed. Oxford Street in the fog, 1935.

 

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On 2/17/2021 at 8:32 PM, Leyland Worldmaster said:

More bus shyte from the archives as promised... Old photos taken on an ancient telephone... 

The Omnidekka was numerically the first of it's type in London and possibly in the UK. 

These prototypes had a long dashboard and they were a bit of an ergonomic nightmare. 

The production versions had a normal short dashboard; the driving position was closer to the front. 

The Enviro 200 shots show an extremely rare MAN 14.220* and an ex Arriva Southern Counties Common or Garden Enviro 200 Dart** on fuel consumption trials. 

The reason for choosing MAN and Scania was that they did not need Adblue. Cheaper, innit. 

Time proved this to be an unwise decision. 

The MAN was joined that year by some MCV bodied examples. 

They didn't make ten years in service. Lively- when they were not in the workshop... 

Thats it for now... 👍 👍 👍 😎 😎 😎 

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Is that the bus garage on Bromley Common? (Near where I went to school).

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Moar from my archive. The Swiss Post Bus was taken by my friend's Mother. 

I took the picture of 1702. Carry out an Internet search for the history of RT1702. Quite a special bus with an interesting story. 

And the first Halfcab; Pre-Select Transmission driving experience I had too. Look forward to getting out and about again with this, actually... 👍 👍 👍 😎 😎 😎 

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On 3/24/2021 at 8:57 PM, Leyland Worldmaster said:

My first Leyland\Daimler Fleetline driving experience! Taken ages ago. Bus Rally; Theydon Bois I think... 

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I love DMS Fleetlines - they had a very brief career in Birmingham after London decided to get rid. Never did work out why they thought having the doors folding into the middle of the door aperture was a good idea though!

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21 hours ago, JimH said:

Don't suppose you know much about what engines they use? Details seem to be very sparse indeed.

Hi Jim, 

That White Rose bus used to be at the BCVM in Leyland. They have a small garage type thing where they work on exhibits. 

https://www.britishcommercialvehiclemuseum.com/

I'm absolutely sure they will point you in the right direction for advice; they do have an extensive Archive, so I'd advise you to contact them. 

Top guys; have become friends! I had a ride out on a Fire Appliance when I was up there last... 

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Edited by Leyland Worldmaster
Link added! 👍
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They are, top to bottom, 

Random bus shite

AEC (bought at a rally)

Sheffield 116 Group (genuine)

Leyland Tiger (not sure)

Green Line 50 years (bought at the rally to commemorate that event)

British Coachways (genuine)

Oakleaf Coaches (genuine)

NBC (genuine)

Mercedes Benz (genuine)

and I'm sure there's a genuine Grey Green one somewhere.

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36 minutes ago, busmansholiday said:

They are, top to bottom, 

Random bus shite

AEC (bought at a rally)

Sheffield 116 Group (genuine)

Leyland Tiger (not sure)

Green Line 50 years (bought at the rally to commemorate that event)

British Coachways (genuine)

Oakleaf Coaches (genuine)

NBC (genuine)

Mercedes Benz (genuine)

and I'm sure there's a genuine Grey Green one somewhere.

Wow! Just wow! If you ever want to sell the Leyland Tiger one, let me know! 👍 👍 👍 😎 😎 😎 

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Edited by Leyland Worldmaster
Added my first Leyland Zoo Member!
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On 3/24/2021 at 9:14 AM, Eyersey1234 said:

Today's offering of shite for your enjoyment. East Yorkshire 799 and 800, MCV Evoseti bodied Volvo B5TLs. 

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That looks shit compared to the well-made Wright that seems more popular on that chassis (there are loads in London and they are great). Aren't MCVs made in Egypt nowadays?

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1 hour ago, willswitchengage said:

That looks shit compared to the well-made Wright that seems more popular on that chassis (there are loads in London and they are great). Aren't MCVs made in Egypt nowadays?

Yes they are and yes the build quality of them is absolute shit. To be fair the Withernsea based ones aren't quite as bad but I drove one of the 67 reg ones when it was a fortnight old and thought the bastard was going to fall apart, there were that many bangs, rattles and squeaks it was ridiculous. They bought them because cheap and it shows. To be fair the first thing Go Ahead said after the takeover was they wouldn't be ordering any more. 

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18 hours ago, busmansholiday said:

Collected a few myself, worn them all, hence the 'food' stains I've still not been arsed to remove.

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Ooh good! Are we doing ties now? Here's my little collection. 

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Top one is a genuine Wandle District that I was pleased to find at a rally in the days when bus rally stalls sold interesting stuff and not just models, books and photos. I was particularly pleased as my own bus was ex Wandle 

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The middle four all came from Alperton garage whose garage code is ON hence them having ON ON ON ON ON... all over them. The plain one is a 50 years of Alperton one. The next says Challenger within a Centre West flash. Challenger was was Centre Wests mini and midi bus sub brand. The next two are variations on the same ON theme with Alperton at the bottom. This is all pre First Bus takeover so not a big F in sight. 

There's a story to these. My friend had a small Routemaster private hire company. On December 30th one year, I think 1994, he had a phone call from one of his ex LT contacts (he used to work in timetables and scheduling) asking if he'd like to drive for them tomorrow night (i.e. New years eve, always a busy night in London). Colin replies 'only if I can drive my own bus'. Bloke on the phone says he'll have to speak to somebody then rings back and says 'can we have two buses?' And so it was I found myself at Alperton garage the following night and was given these ties. Even better, the bus I was working, that is conducting not driving, was still in Routemaster Bournemouth green and cream from its previous long term hire job. Starting at midnight from Tottenham Court Road complete with N89 blinds we ran two short rounders to Ealing Broadway and back and the last westbound trip all the way to Uxbridge finishing at 05.30. Obviously public transport in London is free in London on new year's eve so all I had to do was ring bells and stop people falling off and as everybody was in party mood anyway it didn't feel like work. 

The  bottom tie is 90s Stagecoach. The same friend set up a Christmas day bus route in London in 1992. LT couldn't object because they ran nothing themselves at Christmas. This went on for seven years, firstly on Colins own operators license then using one of his contacts at Stagecoach East London (by this time he sensibly realised it was much easier to drive for somebody else than run your own bus company) which is where this tie came from. 

 

 

Slightly off topic but they were in the same bag. When did you last see a postman wearing a tie? IMG_20210328_135300.thumb.jpg.ff18e2fbafb1554206cc489470720baa.jpg

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The one with the AEC badge on is my original tie and the other is the last one before they were abandoned. When I started a tie was compulsory in winter. They had already been abandoned in summer though I'm sure at some point they would have been compulsory all year. Standards have slipped somewhat since then. You couldn't even accidentally forget it as they had a big box of spares in the office. 

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I had several ties but got rid of most of them last year. If I find any more I'll post them up, they'll all be for sale apart from a pair of Midland Red ones.

The last time I used a bus operators tie it was in 2014. It was a Western Greyhound tie, I soaked it in diesel and used it as a wick to light the fire I'd just built in a Beyer-Garratt. All the rags were WG shirts. I'd just resigned and left the bus industry and it felt like an enormous release to get shot of uniform from a job that I hated.

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Just found out the South Notts garage at Gotham (pronounced Goat-um, not Goth-um) was closed last Saturday. Real part of my life, as I regularly used to travel on the South Notts number 1 service from Loughborough (where I lived for about 9 years) to Nottingham.

It was a real old school bus garage. Indeed when I first started travelling on the 1, there'd often be conductors still, even on the allegedly OMO Atlanteans they used to have on the route. They switched over to Olympians (pulled one out of retirement for the last day), before the company was sold to Nottingham City Transport.

https://www.nctx.co.uk/nottingham-city-transport-commemorates-closure-gotham-garage

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