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Two and a half grand for a bloody Dart doesn't seem like a bargain to me!  Especially one that's had to deal with life in London...

Remember when Stagecoach Bluebird were getting rid of the first lot of Volvo B10M Alexander PSs in Aberdeen back around 2010 due to the DDA being implemented having a chat with their then MD (who was a proper bus guy, owning two preserved vehicles of his own) and him telling me that if I'd come to him with £600 that he'd make sure I'd get a decent one, or indeed any particular bus if I had my eyes on one.  Most of them were N-R plate examples, though there was one oddball H622ACK in there, which I did have my eye on as that bus went like the clappers.  Needed another gear on the open road really, though that was true of most of those to be fair, most with a Voith box that was set up for town work...seem to remember 622 was ZF equipped though which was a bit of an oddity.

I did honestly consider it, but was struggling to keep on top of parking for the cars I wonder at the time, never mind a bloody bus.  So common sense won.  Plus being under the magic 30 year historic limit, I'd have needed to actually sort my cat D licence to drive it... which was likely to involve me magically coming up with £1500 or so that I just didn't have at the time.

Still haven't had a chance to drive a bloody PS yet either, which given the probably hundreds of hours I spent on them as a passenger bugs the heck out of me...

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3 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

Two and a half grand for a bloody Dart doesn't seem like a bargain to me!  Especially one that's had to deal with life in London...

Remember when Stagecoach Bluebird were getting rid of the first lot of Volvo B10M Alexander PSs in Aberdeen back around 2010 due to the DDA being implemented having a chat with their then MD (who was a proper bus guy, owning two preserved vehicles of his own) and him telling me that if I'd come to him with £600 that he'd make sure I'd get a decent one, or indeed any particular bus if I had my eyes on one.  Most of them were N-R plate examples, though there was one oddball H622ACK in there, which I did have my eye on as that bus went like the clappers.  Needed another gear on the open road really, though that was true of most of those to be fair, most with a Voith box that was set up for town work...seem to remember 622 was ZF equipped though which was a bit of an oddity.

I did honestly consider it, but was struggling to keep on top of parking for the cars I wonder at the time, never mind a bloody bus.  So common sense won.  Plus being under the magic 30 year historic limit, I'd have needed to actually sort my cat D licence to drive it... which was likely to involve me magically coming up with £1500 or so that I just didn't have at the time.

Still haven't had a chance to drive a bloody PS yet either, which given the probably hundreds of hours I spent on them as a passenger bugs the heck out of me...

I passed my bus test in a PS, bloody good buses.

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So back to Sheffield and pics I took 50 years or more ago and continuing in fleet number order.

After the Jumbos were a large batch of rear entrance vehicles so lets start with the batch of 40 Weymann bodied Regent Vs that were new in 1957 and were the 27'6" version. The letter 'A' on the front indicating it was part of the Corporation owned fleet.

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I bet the doogooding woke brigade would be up in arms about adverts like this (or ones that said "Tetley bitter MEN") on the sides of buses these days.

Also delivered in 1957, and again a batch of 40, were these Roe bodied Leyland Titan PD2/20s.

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A study of arsess. The one in the middle is a Roe bodied Regent III that hadn't been fitted with the latest requirements for rear lights and indicators on buses. There's two reflectors on the bottom of the panel but just a single rearlight and brakelight above the reg plate. The two Weymann Regent V's have been modified with an small panel on the platform to take a combined side, stop indicator light as has also been fitted to the offside. 798, on the left, has had the panel above the reg plate altered whilst 818 has simply had the old lights painted over.

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Following the Roe bodied Titans were a rather unusual purchase by Sheffield Transport in 1960 (as part of the tramway replacement program), 20 Alexander bodied Regent Vs, these being the 30' version and the only Alexander bodied Regent Vs supplied new outside Scotland..

Here's 874 on the appropriately* named Flat Street, this was the vehicle that I would be involved in the preservation of for a time and is also the vehicle I passed my PSV test on back in early 1978.

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Delivered a year earlier were the corporations first Atlanteans with MCW bodywork. This crap photo of 896 was taken in crap weather outside the Town Hall,  before the planners decided that people didn't need to have buses going through the middle of the main shopping areas in the city.

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Lets continue with the 900 series buses which started at 901 with a batch of 14 Roe bodied PD3/1s delivered in 1959. We hired 913 for a tour just before withdrawal, and it's seen in Scunthorpe with an LRCC VR, MW and LHs in the background.  It was converted to a driver trainer which prolonged it's life and is now happily preserved.

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They were followed by 18 MCW bodied PDR1/1 Atlanteans delivered in 1960.

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More Atlanteans followed in 1962, with Weymann bodies,

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and Roe supplied 6.

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There were three Fleetlines with Weymann bodies then more Weymann bodies on Atlanteans in 1963 (nice Westminster in the background),

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before the Corporation purchased 30 Daimler Fleetlines with what became known as the 'Sheffield' style body made by Park Royal in 1964.

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