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5 hours ago, RoadworkUK said:

Yes! Finally found a (tiny) pic of what was the very most awesome coach that I ever had as a school bus in the 90s.

Partridge.jpg.8c9ca1e417bc54228a24093afac6e14f.jpg

Plaxton Paramount 4000 built on Neoplan underframes, with Gardner 6LYT power. Sounded absolutely phenomenal.

Also, it had a remarkable power over those who rode in it.

My route, 15, from Frinton-on-Sea to Thorpe Le-Soken (and back) was usually operated by one of Partridge's fleet of Ex-LT Fleetlines, or their solitary Atlantean. The kids (years 7-9) were largely total animals. However, on the few occasions that we had the 4000, everybody sat in relaxed silence. There was barely a murmor, so much so that you could hear the engine electrics coming through on the not quite properly suppressed PA system.

Proper thing. I suspect it met its fate years ago, and that Neoplan 4000s are extinct by now.

We had those new for "Intersun, Club 18/21" or whatever a week's cheap shagging was called back then.  One driver forgot the "ferrylift" button at Dover. Made a hell of a fucking mess of the loading ramps, not to mention the engine. We dragged it back and sent the engine to Gardner. Not surprisingly they told us to FRO, so the management got the fitters to rebuild it. That went well, well for a short time before it blew up.

We had a B10M on similar duties in the eighties, that had a big "must not go out of UK" label on the running sheets due to a major fuckup, cheap rebuild.

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question for the bus experts on here.  I was thinking back to the coaches I used to go to school on.  Normal bus was a 1975 Bedford Supreme but occasionally we would get a Bedford Duple with these greyhound style windows which we all thought was super cool (well, 12 year old me did at least!)

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However the bit that really stands out is the H pattern gearbox was back to front, so first was closest to the drive and top was further away.   I asked the driver once and he said it was a "continental gearbox" which I took to mean from a LHD coach, but surely the H pattern on a LHD coach would be thr same as a RHD coach, at least that's how it works on cars and vans

I have always been a super car geek so I am pretty sure I didn't imagine it or misremember it , but it was 30 odd years ago so I may well have done

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20 hours ago, cms206 said:

Long time no speak.

My long term daily 2008 Plaxton Volvo B12B has finally been cascaded to school duties so about three weeks ago - it was our last front line Volvo coach. As a result I was moved onto our other oddball front line coach, this Beulas Cygnus bodied MAN 19.360.

It's actually pretty decent. I like it a lot.

20211214_064124.jpg

That looks really nice

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Most Bedfords seem to use their five speed box and I’m struggling to think of one that had a reverse gate. I think the YNV used the ZF six speed but I’m pretty sure they were normal way round too.

It doesn’t mean reverse gate boxes didn’t exist though. Off the top of my head, early Metrorider manuals used a reverse gate five speed box with fifth being found somewhere by the nearside front wheel. There were other weird set-ups too, going back a few years, with just about every conceivable layout being represented by some manufacturer or another.

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28 minutes ago, Inspector Morose said:

Most Bedfords seem to use their five speed box and I’m struggling to think of one that had a reverse gate. I think the YNV used the ZF six speed but I’m pretty sure they were normal way round too.

It doesn’t mean reverse gate boxes didn’t exist though. Off the top of my head, early Metrorider manuals used a reverse gate five speed box with fifth being found somewhere by the nearside front wheel. There were other weird set-ups too, going back a few years, with just about every conceivable layout being represented by some manufacturer or another.

Many Bedfords ( so my era, rather than yours) from the late 50's, early 60's, had what we called "Chinese gear boxes". Basically everything was back to front, then a mirror image. Unless somebody warned you before hand, you could seriously make a twat of yourself in front of the punters (emergency doors flying open due to selecting 1st instead of 4th), oh happy days.

 

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11 minutes ago, Inspector Morose said:

Aha! I only go back to ‘70s models, the earliest Bedford I drove was a G plate VAM70 and that was an ordinary gate five speed. 

I did get a bash in a friends BMMO C5. W gate five speed - that was fun*

Five speed Bristol boxes, with 5th through 4th. I always remembered to drop a cog slowing down, I've heard a few "choice" words when somebody stopped whilst still in 5th and found they couldn't then select any gear.

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7 minutes ago, busmansholiday said:

Five speed Bristol boxes, with 5th through 4th. I always remembered to drop a cog slowing down, I've heard a few "choice" words when somebody stopped whilst still in 5th and found they couldn't then select any gear.

Sorry for my ignorance what do you mean by 5th through 4th? Being a young whippersnapper I have never driven a crash box. 

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26 minutes ago, Eyersey1234 said:

Sorry for my ignorance what do you mean by 5th through 4th? Being a young whippersnapper I have never driven a crash box. 

Exactly that. To get 5th gear you had to be in 4th (unlike all modern boxes where you can select any gear from neutral) then you moved the gear leave sideways (towards you) then pushed it forwards.

To get out of 5th you had to move it back to 4th then you could get it into neutral. Leave it in 5th when you stopped (with the clutch obviously depressed) and pray you were on a seriously steep down hill slope long enough to get enough speed up with the clutch down to be able to get it back in 5th then into 4th.

Having to get the tow wagon out to drag you up to speed to get the bastard back into 4th usually resulted in an uncomfortable meeting with the depot manager.

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1 hour ago, busmansholiday said:

Many Bedfords ( so my era, rather than yours) from the late 50's, early 60's, had what we called "Chinese gear boxes". Basically everything was back to front, then a mirror image. Unless somebody warned you before hand, you could seriously make a twat of yourself in front of the punters (emergency doors flying open due to selecting 1st instead of 4th), oh happy days.

 

I wonder if they somehow retro fitted one to the bus I was on?  It was a later vehicle, I can't remember what reg it was but I would guess around 1980

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4 hours ago, busmansholiday said:

Five speed Bristol boxes, with 5th through 4th. I always remembered to drop a cog slowing down, I've heard a few "choice" words when somebody stopped whilst still in 5th and found they couldn't then select any gear.

Sonata in several movements by unaccompanied geabox.

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3 hours ago, wesacosa said:

I wonder if they somehow retro fitted one to the bus I was on?  It was a later vehicle, I can't remember what reg it was but I would guess around 1980

If the bus was getting on a bit in years goodness only knows what inventive bodgery has happened in the depot... especially if it's one of the smaller ones...

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1 hour ago, Zelandeth said:

If the bus was getting on a bit in years goodness only knows what inventive bodgery has happened in the depot... especially if it's one of the smaller ones...

It was a smallish operator, Bluebird of Hull.   Not entirely sure how many coaches they had, I knew of maybe 5 or 6 but could have been more.  This one was the newest they had from all the ones I saw, I assume it was only used for their school contracts in emergencies.   It would have been 10-15 years old at the time. All of the others on the school contract were 20+ years old

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40 minutes ago, cms206 said:

Last trip through the blue furry monster for 2021, parked up now until January 3rd 2022 for a wee three hour shift.

All the best peoples!

20211231_141139.jpg

Bloody wish I had one of those to clean the van with!  It's a full afternoon's ordeal as it is, and even then I can't get to the roof properly!

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On 12/28/2021 at 1:34 PM, RoadworkUK said:

Yes! Finally found a (tiny) pic of what was the very most awesome coach that I ever had as a school bus in the 90s.

Partridge.jpg.8c9ca1e417bc54228a24093afac6e14f.jpg

Plaxton Paramount 4000 built on Neoplan underframes, with Gardner 6LYT power. Sounded absolutely phenomenal.

Also, it had a remarkable power over those who rode in it.

My route, 15, from Frinton-on-Sea to Thorpe Le-Soken (and back) was usually operated by one of Partridge's fleet of Ex-LT Fleetlines, or their solitary Atlantean. The kids (years 7-9) were largely total animals. However, on the few occasions that we had the 4000, everybody sat in relaxed silence. There was barely a murmor, so much so that you could hear the engine electrics coming through on the not quite properly suppressed PA system.

Proper thing. I suspect it met its fate years ago, and that Neoplan 4000s are extinct by now.

The equivalent for me was when we got a very ropey LAG panoramic with blue mirrored windows instead of the usual paramounts or supreme iv. I've looked loads of times for a photo of it (or of any of the coaches I used to go on) but with no luck. The company was called martins, based around Bridgend in South Wales if anyone remembers them?

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4 hours ago, jon.k said:

The equivalent for me was when we got a very ropey LAG panoramic with blue mirrored windows instead of the usual paramounts or supreme iv.

I had a trip on an (even more obscure) LAG Galaxy once; only on seeing it drive away after the trip did I notice that it used Granada Mk2 rear lights, which also featured on early Panoramics.

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On 12/31/2021 at 5:18 PM, jon.k said:

The equivalent for me was when we got a very ropey LAG panoramic with blue mirrored windows instead of the usual paramounts or supreme iv. I've looked loads of times for a photo of it (or of any of the coaches I used to go on) but with no luck. The company was called martins, based around Bridgend in South Wales if anyone remembers them?

Although around as an operator from 1974, Martin only came about in their own right in 1997 as a David William Martin took control of Kinross Taxis, Pencoed; the Martins name seems to show up around 2000. The operator ceased in 2006.

The LAG Panoramic was MIL 8048, previously E137 KRP which was operated between March 2002 and January 2005.

Allegedly it then passed to Doug James, Cwmbach then was exported to Zimbabwe later in 2005. Martin were it's eleventh operator.

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8 minutes ago, cms206 said:

Although around as an operator from 1974, Martin only came about in their own right in 1997 as a David William Martin took control of Kinross Taxis, Pencoed; the Martins name seems to show up around 2000. The operator ceased in 2006.

The LAG Panoramic was MIL 8048, previously E137 KRP which was operated between March 2002 and January 2005.

Allegedly it then passed to Doug James, Cwmbach then was exported to Zimbabwe later in 2005. Martin were it's eleventh operator.

Wow, thanks for that. I've tried loads of times to find out about the coaches but with no luck, that's amazing!

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On 12/28/2021 at 7:17 PM, chaseracer said:

image.png

Around the millennium, my then-employer decided, in their infinite wisdom*, to run a fleet of these.  

Earlier version of this, which I've spent a good few hours behind the wheel of.

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Horrible thing to be a passenger on, especially as there is for all intents and purposes no suspension.  Lovely thing to drive though, especially as the damping in the seat isolates you from the worst of the bumps.

No idea what engine is in it, but far more highly tuned than your average bus from the era you would expect on the UK market.  Even with the typically dozy Alison gearbox she would keep up with cars off the mark and all the controls were beautifully light.  Visibility is a lot better than I expected too given the quite narrow looking window line around the cab.  Probably the *easiest* bus I've ever driven.

Has a 56mph speed limiter fitted which you hit like a brick wall.  Given the gearing in top I reckon she could achieve quite substantially illegal speeds...which given they're not fitted with limiters on the home market and that buses are allowed to do whatever the posted speed limit is on US highways isn't that surprising.

Has spent most of her life stuffed in the back of First Aberdeen's yard broken as they rapidly discovered that having to have any and all parts shipped from the US was a major headache.  

She spent a brief period around 2010 having been finally revived, in the training fleet when I was lucky enough to get to drive the bus on several occasions.  While looking like the scrappers beckoned shortly after, she was luckily saved as she was deemed to be a unique enough vehicle to be preserved, and now lives at the Grampian Transport Museum I believe.

Hopefully one that will see some use on running days etc.

When it was looking like she was likely to be scrapped I was seriously looking into whether I could find somewhere at a sensible price to store the bus and looking to make an offer on it, as I really couldn't stand to see that happen.  Only has something daft like 30K miles on the clock!

They did get another one in, a front engined version on a Q plate just after I left the area, which was apparently the first one the company ever had imported as a test vehicle.  I've never seen that in person, but it's apparently downright painful to drive, largely down to having a TWO speed transmission.  Which I imagine is precisely as bad as it sounds!

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I spend most of my working week on Scotland's Nuclear Riviera and have frequently passed the two Plaxton Supremes still lying all but derelict in the Peace Camp.

One is FIL 8678 which is a full size Supreme IV Bedford, but the other, a short wheel base example, doesn't have a visible ID from the road - I can't really go poking around the peace camp for employment reasons!

Just unearthed photos of it taken pretty recently and ran it's ID... it turns out that it's OIB 1084, making it the former GHH 256N - the very first "Panorama Supreme" built on a Bristol LHS, new to Yeowarts of Whitehaven back in 1974 after it's debut on the Plaxton stand at the 1974 Commercial Motor Show.

Screenshot_20220102-195853_Maps.jpg

FB_IMG_1641154455320.jpg

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