Bus Shite

[Joey spud]

Growing up in the top left corner of Kent in the early 80's it's always good to see images of buses from around that time.

Does make you feel old though 

[Metal Guru]

  On 01/10/2022 at 08:23, Joey spud said:

Growing up in the top left corner of Kent in the early 80's it's always good to see images of buses from around that time.

Does make you feel old though 

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I grew up in the same area but earlier. I remember the M&D buses in two tone dark green and cream colour.

[High Jetter]

  On 01/10/2022 at 07:52, Mine's a Leganza! said:

 

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The upper reg number looks familiar to me, have probably been on board it a few times in the past. That's a Brighton reg, appropriate for Southdown, but the lower reg is Southend?

[Joey spud]

  On 01/10/2022 at 08:53, Metal Guru said:

I grew up in the same area but earlier. I remember the M&D buses in two tone dark green and cream colour.

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[quicksilver]

One for @Yoss, @LightBulbFun and the other Routemaster fans. Well it's red and has an RM registration anyway.

I'm not sure how the WLT 694 reg ended up here. The original RM694 was re-registered by East Yorkshire, who bought it for spares but also robbed the plate, and it was used on several of their other vehicles, then transferred to London after Go Ahead bought the company. It suddenly turned up a few years later on a Swann Tours coach, unusual as Swann didn't buy a vehicle with the reg on and London operators generally keep hold of their remaining Routemaster registrations.

[Yoss]

Thanks, it's not a bus I remember though my records say I've seen it. Would have been a very long time ago, would have still been in London as I never got to East Yorkshire. 

[Remspoor]

Not my image

I have no details on this.

[martc]

As if the journey home on the crowded coach wasn't bad enough, someone stood up and insisted on a group photo. The 1970's eh.

[High Jetter]

  On 07/10/2022 at 18:40, martc said:

As if the journey home on the crowded coach wasn't bad enough, someone stood up and insisted on a group photo. The 1970's eh.

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Is that Maggie Thatcher looking unimpressed behind the guy with the ears?

[martc]

  On 07/10/2022 at 18:43, High Jetter said:

Is that Maggie Thatcher looking unimpressed behind the guy with the ears?

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I think it's Thelma off the Likely lads!

[Leyland Worldmaster]

  On 01/10/2022 at 19:50, Joey spud said:

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I saw a similar vehicle from the MKO***F batch getting towed through Southborough a couple of months back... 

[SunnySouth]

  On 01/10/2022 at 12:23, High Jetter said:

The upper reg number looks familiar to me, have probably been on board it a few times in the past. That's a Brighton reg, appropriate for Southdown, but the lower reg is Southend?

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Well good evening all!

Newbie here, and having just got in from attending a day of Bus Chod Extravaganza-ing, I shall commence my journey of Shite with an appropriately anorakish response re. Queen Marys!

In a nutshell, all the DCD numberplate goodness was robbed from them when they were withdrawn from service with Southdown, and so for years the (many) survivors all ran about with randomly issued replacement reg numbers. Stagecoach, who inherited the plates when they bought Southdown, eventually agreed to start releasing them so they could be put back on the original, now preserved, vehicles. Which is nice  Leganza's pic from '85 shows the owner at the time using the extra destination board to display the original reg above the reissued mark. Hope that helps

Meanwhile, have some Isle of Wight busssses from today...

 

[busmansholiday]

  On 02/10/2022 at 18:12, Remspoor said:

Not my image

I have no details on this.

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Appears to be a Hull Corporation Roe bodied AN68.

[High Jetter]

  On 08/10/2022 at 22:32, SunnySouth said:

In a nutshell, all the DCD numberplate goodness was robbed from them when they were withdrawn from service with Southdown, and so for years the (many) survivors all ran about with randomly issued replacement reg numbers. Stagecoach, who inherited the plates when they bought Southdown, eventually agreed to start releasing them so they could be put back on the original, now preserved, vehicles. Which is nice  Leganza's pic from '85 shows the owner at the time using the extra destination board to display the original reg above the reissued mark. Hope that helps

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Thanks, it does. Methinks you're going to fit in well here.

[SunnySouth]

  On 09/10/2022 at 12:53, High Jetter said:

Thanks, it does. Methinks you're going to fit in well here.

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Oh good, I do hope so! 

[martc]

Helsinki, 1932. Any idea who the maker is?

[martc]

The Flashers Special. Bleak. Any idea where this is?

[Dyslexic Viking]

  On 11/10/2022 at 19:07, martc said:

Helsinki, 1932. Any idea who the maker is?

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Manufacturer of bus chassis? When you zoom in, Willys is quite clear on the bonnet and a quick google search shows that this is probably a Willys Overland Knight

And the body is probably made locally in Finland.

[Yoss]

  On 11/10/2022 at 19:12, martc said:

The Flashers Special. Bleak. Any idea where this is?

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Looks like a Leeds bus looking at the logo (actually probably more of a crest than a logo in those days) and seems to be going to Belle Isle. Anybody know a Belle Isle in Leeds. 

[busmansholiday]

  On 11/10/2022 at 19:12, martc said:

The Flashers Special. Bleak. Any idea where this is?

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Well the bus is a Leeds Corporation Roe bodied AEC Regent V. Belle Isle is near Hunslet on the south of that shit hole.

[Zelandeth]

Brought to you today from East Lansing.

CATA provides a surprisingly decent network here by US standards.

Plus their vehicles always seem to be near immaculate and spotlessly clean, even when we've been here in the winter.

I've no idea what the bus is yet, though we have a friend who drives for them, so I can probably find out.

He's technically retired now, but still works part time because he really enjoys the job.

[busmansholiday]

  On 11/10/2022 at 20:11, Zelandeth said:

Brought to you today from East Lansing.

CATA provides a surprisingly decent network here by US standards.

Plus their vehicles always seem to be near immaculate and spotlessly clean, even when we've been here in the winter.

I've no idea what the bus is yet, though we have a friend who drives for them, so I can probably find out.

He's technically retired now, but still works part time because he really enjoys the job.

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Save you the trouble, it's a fourth generation Nova Bus LFS. Nova are now part of Volvo.

[SunnySouth]

  On 12/10/2022 at 07:29, busmansholiday said:

Save you the trouble, it's a fourth generation Nova Bus LFS. Nova are now part of Volvo.

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Always liked the modern US stuff, a lot of if has a sort of 'neatness' about it, slightly Euro-looking too

[Zelandeth]

  On 12/10/2022 at 07:29, busmansholiday said:

Save you the trouble, it's a fourth generation Nova Bus LFS. Nova are now part of Volvo.

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Thanks.  They seem to be built like a brick outhouse compared to the stock over here these days.  Despite the plastic seats and unpainted metal surfaces inside they somehow manage to be more comfortable than any bus I've been on in the UK in the last 15 years.  Oh, and they actually ride well and have air conditioning THAT ACTUALLY WORKS.

[LightBulbFun]

today I found out that there was an actual bus that went with Weird Al's Another one rides the bus

and its a British half cab of some kind LOL

im sure @busmansholiday or @Inspector Morose can tell us which it is exactly  

  On 27/09/2022 at 19:07, Yoss said:

I was sent a link for this a couple of weeks ago but it had very little actual detail in it. This has a little more and it will be good to see any RMs back in London but it appears to be a very short route. Like the shortest route I've ever seen. I mean the intermediate blind says Westminster and Big Ben which are the same place (some pedant might say they aren't, but essentially they are). 

But still, I wish them well, it is something of a miracle to get any commercial route approved inside the TfL area. 

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looks like they finally have a Route and time table up, as you say its not very big!

(BTW one thing amused me is the first picture really is that small from their facebook picture so you cant actually read the "please note" text LOL)

[Yoss]

  On 16/10/2022 at 13:28, LightBulbFun said:

today I found out that there was an actual bus that went with Weird Al's Another one rides the bus

and its a British half cab of some kind LOL

im sure @busmansholiday or @Inspector Morose can tell us which it is exactly  

looks like they finally have a Route and time table up, as you say its not very big!

(BTW one thing amused me is the first picture really is that small from their facebook picture so you cant actually read the "please note" text LOL)

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Yes my friend sent me that yesterday. He also sent me this picture. 

RML 887. It has proper windows at least. Hopefully it is still in 90s refurb condition which is far more acceptable than a Dartmaster. 

But I have some pictures of it in happier times. It was, along with RML 2553, the last Routemaster on route 16. I can't remember which was the actual last one but they ran together from Cricklewood to Victoria and back. 

Sorry it's all fuzzy but I was doing time exposure without a tripod. Cameras worked differently in those days. But it does show the home made advert fitted just for the last run. 

And this is at Victoria bus station around midnight. 

 

And the other bus with its slightly different advert. I managed to chop the roof off but again I was doing time exposure and from the height of this it looks like I was balancing the camera on a post. 

 

On arrival back at Cricklewood the staff had lined the run in with roman candles. 

The date was 21st November 1987. Actually would have been the 22nd by the time we got back to the garage. 

[Inspector Morose]

Bristol Lodekka FLF, one of many that crossed the Atlantic after UK service.

[SunnySouth]

  On 16/10/2022 at 14:08, Yoss said:

Yes my friend sent me that yesterday. He also sent me this picture. 

RML 887. It has proper windows at least. Hopefully it is still in 90s refurb condition which is far more acceptable than a Dartmaster. 

But I have some pictures of it in happier times. It was, along with RML 2553, the last Routemaster on route 16. I can't remember which was the actual last one but they ran together from Cricklewood to Victoria and back. 

Sorry it's all fuzzy but I was doing time exposure without a tripod. Cameras worked differently in those days. But it does show the home made advert fitted just for the last run. 

And this is at Victoria bus station around midnight. 

 

And the other bus with its slightly different advert. I managed to chop the roof off but again I was doing time exposure and from the height of this it looks like I was balancing the camera on a post. 

 

On arrival back at Cricklewood the staff had lined the run in with roman candles. 

The date was 21st November 1987. Actually would have been the 22nd by the time we got back to the garage. 

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Amazing pics, sad times! What happened to the Cricklewood conductors I wonder - were LT any good at redeployment, or was it the dole queue?

[Yoss]

  On 24/10/2022 at 23:26, SunnySouth said:

Amazing pics, sad times! What happened to the Cricklewood conductors I wonder - were LT any good at redeployment, or was it the dole queue?

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A bit of both I think. Redeployment was offered especially if you could drive. A friend of mine who was a conductor at Finchley went to the Underground. He spent longer on the Underground than he did on the buses but I think he would have stayed if he could, he still pops up conducting on the occasional running day. 

On the other hand I remember hanging around on the last night of the 68s and the service practically collapsed because all the conductors went sick. I guess it was their last night and they just thought sod it. A few Metrobuses turned up and we were on the verge of going home (we were outside Waterloo) before RM 2037 turned up on what turned out to be the last bus. That was the start of a chain if events that led to me buying it a few years later. 

[SunnySouth]

  On 25/10/2022 at 05:53, Yoss said:

A bit of both I think. Redeployment was offered especially if you could drive. A friend of mine who was a conductor at Finchley went to the Underground. He spent longer on the Underground than he did on the buses but I think he would have stayed if he could, he still pops up conducting on the occasional running day. 

On the other hand I remember hanging around on the last night of the 68s and the service practically collapsed because all the conductors went sick. I guess it was their last night and they just thought sod it. A few Metrobuses turned up and we were on the verge of going home (we were outside Waterloo) before RM 2037 turned up on what turned out to be the last bus. That was the start of a chain if events that led to me buying it a few years later. 

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That kinda story tickles my warm gooey bits