Bus Shite

[busmansholiday]

1 hour ago, 108 said:

I see 3 levels of windows. Would that make this a triple decker? 
 

Only if Harry Potter is around.

[Inspector Morose]

The only two built of the snappily named Albion KP71NW. Powered by an 8 cylinder boxer engine made up from two four cylinder blocks, joined at the crank.

Remarkably, the one in the upper picture is thought to stil exist in a private collection in Scotland, the Glasgow bus below was repurchased by Albion to supply spares for the first. But the tale doesn't end there. The body was sold on to Blair and Palmer who built their own coach chassis using commer parts and powered by a TS3 engine and used the ex Albion body as the basis for a coach body for their new chassis. 

[Metal Guru]

Pictures in the BBC Scottish news of a bus crash in Aberdeen due to the snow. One was a bendy bus. Could there be a worse thing to drive in the snow?

[Zelandeth]

27 minutes ago, Metal Guru said:

Pictures in the BBC Scottish news of a bus crash in Aberdeen due to the snow. One was a bendy bus. Could there be a worse thing to drive in the snow?

Rules when I was up there were that under absolutely no circumstances were they to be sent out if there was snow on the ground.  Though apparently First Aberdeen have major problems keeping up with maintenance at the moment and are hiring vehicles in from Glasgow to try to make ends meet - so that's likely why.  

[SunnySouth]

12 hours ago, Metal Guru said:

Pictures in the BBC Scottish news of a bus crash in Aberdeen due to the snow. One was a bendy bus. Could there be a worse thing to drive in the snow?

A convertible?! 🥶

[sierraman]

I’ve noticed Sheffield had a fleet of bendy buses behind the depot, can’t see any announcement saying they’re reintroduced?

[808 Estate]

Guy Arab recovery bus. Needs some work.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/334643135973?hash=item4dea4905e5:g:-KoAAOSwB1RjOXyu

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/q5QAAOSwGDhjOXy3/s-l1600.jpg

 

[High Jetter]

Ex Southdown?

[busmansholiday]

Right, Xmas is approaching and time is getting short to post pics so lets see if we can finish off Sheffield half a century ago before my Mrs wants to make me do other less useful things.

We left it with the B and C fleet single decks, so here's the double deckers that were around then that I've (scanned) pictures off.

The last new purchases by the B fleet were a batch of Park Royal bodied Atlantean PDR1/2 with standard Sheffield style bodies. The only difference was the fitting of a bumper at the front as seen on the first of the batch, 1101. They were renumbered 204-219, 1101 becoming 217 (the logic being that other than the first three the last number of the fleetnumber and registration would be the same). The scene is Bradfield Road, Hillsborough, Supertram now runs down this bit of road on the Blue route. Just behind me and on the opposite side of the road was the old Malin Bridge Tram Depot, the frontage of which has been preserved and a medical centre (?) now resides where the trams were kept.

The 'Famous Five' as they were called by local anoraks were the last five 1955 27'6" Roe bodied Regent IIIs to run for the Corporation.  Here's the last two of the first 'UWE' batch outside Leadmill Road Depot after an enthusiasts tour to mark their final withdrawal.

Here's 1273 from the next "VWE" batch in Sheffield Bus Station, nice HA Viva in the background beyond the A fleet Roe bodied Titan PD2/30.  Attempts to buy one for preservation were thwarted by the scrap men who seeing the tin fronts, thought they were Regent Vs and bid a lot higher than the enthusiasts who wanted one could afford. Needless to say, when the scrap me got them and found their mistake they were quickly chopped up.

Purchased for the low bridge on the Dinnington route (before tehy altered the road), these Weymann bodied Regent Vs were fitted with low bridge (ie side sunken gangway) bodies. They ended up on my local school route, yes I banged my head when I forgot and sat downstairs. Rotherham Corporation Bridgemaster and a Lincolnshire ECW bodied MW complete the picture.

Being partly owned by the Corporation and the railways gave access to the products of Bristol and ECW. The result was small batches of ECW bodies on Leyland chassis. We've had the MW bodies on Leopards, here's the ECW 'K' body on 1294, a Leyland Titan PD2. Alongside is another B fleet example, 1295, with a Roe body, Greenland Road garage if I remember correctly. The C fleet also had some similar examples with both ECW and Roe bodies, Roe bodied 3156 (latterly 1156) is preserved.

Purchased for the longer distant routes, platform doors were specified on a batch of 30' Roe bodied Regent Vs. Here's 1336, sister 1330 is preserved.

Another batch of Atlanteans in the B fleet were these early PDR1s with Weymann bodies like 1353. One, 1357, when only around 5 years old, was destroyed by a fire on the top deck and was rebodied with a Park Royal body in 1968 (like the first picture of 1101). Happily because of it's newer body it survived into preservation, having been a driver trainer and also used for experimental repaints into alternative liveries for the PTE. They were renumbered into the 22* series, 1353 became 223.

Surprising purchases in 1964 by the B fleet were a batch of Park Royal bodied Regent Vs with forward entrance bodies and semi auto gearboxes (the C fleet also purchased two examples). Here's 1373 passing down Exchange Street under the bridge that linked the Sheffield Markets.  All now demolished.

Amazingly the Corporation and the A fleet also bought a batch of similar but Weymann bodied Regent Vs, here's 1381 (originally 271 but renumbered into the B fleet series to make way for new vehicles) on the appropriately named Flat Street.

 

By for now.

 

[PhilA]

Quite a lot of the early images in this thread are broken; I remember a Battery operated coach (national express?) that was being experimentially tried, with a big battery trailer attached with an umbilical.

 

Does anybody have pictures and history?

[Inspector Morose]

1 minute ago, PhilA said:

Quite a lot of the early images in this thread are broken; I remember a Battery operated coach (national express?) that was being experimentially tried, with a big battery trailer attached with an umbilical.

 

Does anybody have pictures and history?

This one?

[PhilA]

3 minutes ago, Inspector Morose said:

This one?

That's the beast. Thank you!

[Inspector Morose]

Towards the end of 1974, Leyland and the National Bus Company at the request of the Department of Environment converted the solitary Ribble 10.3-metre Leyland National (OTF 354M) to battery/electric. Approximately 7-tons of batteries were carried in a specially built two-axle Dyson trailer permanently coupled to the bus. In order to conserve the maximum amount of electrical energy for traction, a diesel heating system was installed and a regenerative braking system was incorporated in the normal braking system. The bus had a top speed of 39mph and had a range of 50 miles on a 8 hour charge, the batteries had a four year operational life.

 The overall length of the bus and trailer was nearly 45 feet which made it about longer than legally permitted on UK roads. This caused problems on re-certification and so special permission was granted to allow the bus to operate but not on public roads. The only roads it therefore could operate on was the Runcorn Busway in Cheshire which was part of the Runcorn New Town housing development as it consisted almost of exclusive roads only used by buses and nothing else. After completion, the battery-electric Leyland National was transferred to Crosville's Runcorn depot but it retained the Poppy Red livery with just the Ribble fleet names replaced with Crosville ones.

Due to the limited range  it spent a lot of time out of service while the batteries were charged, but it was a worthwhile experimental exercise. The special dispensation granted to the NBC to operate the bus originally ended on 31st October 1976 but was extended until some time in 1978. 

After the trial, it was concluded that a battery-electric bus was not practicable. Rather than converting the National back to standard it was dismantled by Crosville to provide body components to repair a badly damaged fellow.
 

[Leyland Worldmaster]

On 12/7/2022 at 6:51 PM, Inspector Morose said:

1931 Gilford single deck bus powered by a Junkers opposed piston engine and front wheel drive.

Amazingly, nobody wanted to buy one so the double deck version (yup, the built two of the things) was converted into a front wheel drive trolleybus making it the only one of its kind ever to run in the UK (at Wolverhampton). Unsurprisngly, it wasn't a success.

 

Here, we see the genesis of the oversized radiator grille.  Gilford got there before Audi and BMW! 🙌🙌🙌

[LightBulbFun]

5 hours ago, Inspector Morose said:

This one?

 

5 hours ago, Inspector Morose said:

Towards the end of 1974, Leyland and the National Bus Company at the request of the Department of Environment converted the solitary Ribble 10.3-metre Leyland National (OTF 354M) to battery/electric. Approximately 7-tons of batteries were carried in a specially built two-axle Dyson trailer permanently coupled to the bus. In order to conserve the maximum amount of electrical energy for traction, a diesel heating system was installed and a regenerative braking system was incorporated in the normal braking system. The bus had a top speed of 39mph and had a range of 50 miles on a 8 hour charge, the batteries had a four year operational life.

 The overall length of the bus and trailer was nearly 45 feet which made it about longer than legally permitted on UK roads. This caused problems on re-certification and so special permission was granted to allow the bus to operate but not on public roads. The only roads it therefore could operate on was the Runcorn Busway in Cheshire which was part of the Runcorn New Town housing development as it consisted almost of exclusive roads only used by buses and nothing else. After completion, the battery-electric Leyland National was transferred to Crosville's Runcorn depot but it retained the Poppy Red livery with just the Ribble fleet names replaced with Crosville ones.

Due to the limited range  it spent a lot of time out of service while the batteries were charged, but it was a worthwhile experimental exercise. The special dispensation granted to the NBC to operate the bus originally ended on 31st October 1976 but was extended until some time in 1978. 

After the trial, it was concluded that a battery-electric bus was not practicable. Rather than converting the National back to standard it was dismantled by Crosville to provide body components to repair a badly damaged fellow.
 

hah thats quite fitting that the one(?) Electric National happened to be Lancashire registered, as while that was being converted
 

Fred Miller Ltd was busy refurbishing and converting Petrol Tippen Delta to Electric Tippen Delta's   complete with new Chassis numbers  (they where treated as new vehicles effectively)  and thus all  gained new Lancashire marks, take for example RTF114M pictured bellow  

As far as am I aware this mass conversion of over 500 Petrol Delta's to Electric makes it one of if not the first case big case of Petrol to electric vehicle conversion?

 

as a side note that battery trailer looks suspiciously like one of these...

(which is fitting also as it too is Electric battery powered LOL)

[High Jetter]

Trailer's axles closer together, shirley? Reminds me of something, on-site genny's?

[martc]

Talking of busses with battery trailers, the Russians have exhibited something similar but far more recent, 2018 -

The PC Transport Systems Pioneer 2. There's 150kWh in the trailer and another 50 kWh in the roof, range is approx 200km and it will operate, not surprisingly, in temperatures between -40°C and +40°C.

Further details here  - https://www.busnews.com.au/industry-news/1811/russian-electric-bus-trailering-mobile-battery-pack-wows-at-euro-show

It doesn't look like it went beyond the prototype stage, but PC do make more conventional  electric trolly buses and trams.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PC_Transport_Systems

 

[Metal Guru]

1 hour ago, martc said:

Talking of busses with battery trailers, the Russians have exhibited something similar but far more recent, 2018 -

The PC Transport Systems Pioneer 2. There's 150kWh in the trailer and another 50 kWh in the roof, range is approx 200km and it will operate, not surprisingly, in temperatures between -40°C and +40°C.

Further details here  - https://www.busnews.com.au/industry-news/1811/russian-electric-bus-trailering-mobile-battery-pack-wows-at-euro-show

It doesn't look like it went beyond the prototype stage, but PC do make more conventional  electric trolly buses and trams.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PC_Transport_Systems

 

I saw an article recently suggesting a trailer load of batteries could be the answer to most people’s objection to EV range problems.

Most new EVs have at least 200 mile range which is plenty for the commute or most day trips. However it proposed that for the two or three times a year you need more range , you just hire the trailer load of batteries. Presumably if you’ve got a caravan you end up with a mini road train.

[DVee8]

This one belonged to my FiL  

[gm]

i remember as a small boy waiting at those bus stands for the bus to take us up pelaw bank when we lived in hilda park. proper old noisey smelly buses, good memories  

[808 Estate]

I remember those battery powered trash trailers in the city centre as a kid.

[SunnySouth]

On 12/9/2022 at 11:10 PM, High Jetter said:

Ex Southdown?

Apparently not...

[MiniMinorMk3]

Some pictures of buses in teh early 1970s on the Isle of Man

[martc]

Look at this beauty...

An Alder Valley Leyland 440EA- Asco B19F (is that the body builder?) between duties in Maidenhead Bus Station. Bought in  November 1974  for use on service 18, Maidenhead to Marlow, which crossed the weight restricted suspension bridge over the River Thames.

 

 

[Cookiesouwest]

[High Jetter]

Is that the 'cross-country' route?

[busmansholiday]

6 hours ago, martc said:

Look at this beauty...

An Alder Valley Leyland 440EA- Asco B19F (is that the body builder?) between duties in Maidenhead Bus Station. Bought in  November 1974  for use on service 18, Maidenhead to Marlow, which crossed the weight restricted suspension bridge over the River Thames.

 

 

Yes, Asco built those appalling things, (that's a memory I wish you hadn't reminded me off, although several beers are helping me forget you found that picture).

[martc]

13 hours ago, busmansholiday said:

Yes, Asco built those appalling things, (that's a memory I wish you hadn't reminded me off, although several beers are helping me forget you found that picture).

Sorry to open up old wounds, but it's good to talk and get things of your chest; why were they so appalling? It might not help you, but I think they look quite smart...

[justbinnedit]

The voltra buses in Newcastle have caught my eye recently when I have been up there. Will be interesting to see if electric buses catch on wether it will be a fad before the powers that be realise that li-ion batteries are not the way forward. 

[MiniMinorMk3]

50 minutes ago, justbinnedit said:

The voltra buses in Newcastle have caught my eye recently when I have been up there. Will be interesting to see if electric buses catch on wether it will be a fad before the powers that be realise that li-ion batteries are not the way forward. 

They were introduced 2 years ago and are still only on the two very short, circular routes that serve Gateshead and Newcastle City Centre. If they are that good I would have thought they would have rolled out a few more routes by now. My guess it is just a bit of green washing and a way for Go North East to avoid the new Clean Air Zone that will be going live very soon.

Newcastle and Gateshead Clean Air Zone | Newcastle City Council