quicksilver Posted January 31, 2023 Share Posted January 31, 2023 All this talk of Routemasters and I saw one this morning. RML2674 belongs to AlphaBus from Leighton Buzzard, one of those London bus hire companies. They mainly have Routemasters but a few years ago ran the only Saunders-bodied RT in PSV service. LightBulbFun 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asimo Posted February 1, 2023 Share Posted February 1, 2023 Cheltenham bus station. Why don’t the two coaches nearest the camera have the grille-badge- thingummy? wesacosa, MiniMinorMk3, Leyland Worldmaster and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
busmansholiday Posted February 1, 2023 Share Posted February 1, 2023 1 hour ago, Asimo said: Cheltenham bus station. Why don’t the two coaches nearest the camera have the grille-badge- thingummy? Because the first two are Duple bodied and the rest are bodied by Willowbrook (all are Guy LUFs) Asimo, MiniMinorMk3, lisbon_road and 1 other 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yoss Posted February 2, 2023 Share Posted February 2, 2023 Just been sent this if anybody fancies a run on a pre war RT on Saturday. It's just a shame it's such a non route but I guess it's better than nothing. Dick Longbridge and LightBulbFun 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martc Posted February 2, 2023 Share Posted February 2, 2023 An Ikarus 663 outside the Hotel Duna Intercontinental, Budapest District V., Hungarian People's Republic, 1971. rml2345, Crackers, artdjones and 5 others 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martc Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 Preston Bus Station. MiniMinorMk3, Crackers and rml2345 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martc Posted February 17, 2023 Share Posted February 17, 2023 I rather like Ikarus buses, here's a 66 doing an impersonation of one of those eels you see poking their nose out of a shipwreck - And here's the prototype 250 in front of the Hotel Hungaria, Siofok, 1970 - Dyslexic Viking, LightBulbFun, rml2345 and 5 others 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martc Posted February 17, 2023 Share Posted February 17, 2023 Manor House, N4, 1960 and 2023. gm, High Jetter, Yoss and 4 others 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martc Posted February 17, 2023 Share Posted February 17, 2023 Percivals Duple (?) bodied Bedford (?) at Arkengarthdale Post Office. Dyslexic Viking 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martc Posted February 17, 2023 Share Posted February 17, 2023 wesacosa and Asimo 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yoss Posted February 19, 2023 Share Posted February 19, 2023 Today was the day Southampton became a blue city. First Bus with the sorry remains of what was Southampton City Transport pulled out last night. Today Bluestar started running six new routes to cover most of what First left behind. But there were some red buses about. This is a genuine ex Southampton RM. Far too shiny for my liking but it's good that some people make the effort. We can probably excuse the wrong font blinds and wheelie bin fleet numbers as they were for today only. And this is where CityBus's problems started in 1987. But this where the rot really set in. Why would you bring this? They were running free buses but not proper routes just short trips to Shirley, Portswood and Weston. They had enough buses to run far more services and there were far too many people for the buses they were running. But I guess they weren't to know how popular it was going to be. I couldn't get on the RM or the following PD2, 335, so I went for a ride on one of the new Bluestar routes with one of their Scanias. It's hard to believe these are nearly fifteen years old. I remember Routemasters being fifteen years old. By the time I got back the queues were even longer. Preserved buses are no fun when they are wedged so I thought stuff it, went and had some lunch and came home on one of Bluestars fancy Winchester buses. It's no surprise really that First gave up. They had a motley fleet of Streetlites whilst Bluestar are putting out things like this. There is proper legroom between the facing seats too. Calender shot. Asimo, Dick Longbridge, Zelandeth and 11 others 13 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yoss Posted February 19, 2023 Share Posted February 19, 2023 Quite a colourful collection on the rail replacement work too. I don't even know who these people are. busmansholiday, MiniMinorMk3, CreepingJesus and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ETCHY Posted February 19, 2023 Share Posted February 19, 2023 On 2/1/2023 at 8:10 PM, Asimo said: Cheltenham bus station. Why don’t the two coaches nearest the camera have the grille-badge- thingummy? 2nd from left looks like one of the Cybermen Asimo and Remspoor 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
busmansholiday Posted February 19, 2023 Share Posted February 19, 2023 On 2/17/2023 at 7:51 PM, martc said: Manor House, 4, 1960 and 2023. Pollution free ULEZ compatible buses in the top picture. Shame time travel isn't possible otherwise we could have stopped the daft twats scrapping them. Dick Longbridge, Yoss, martc and 5 others 7 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yoss Posted February 19, 2023 Share Posted February 19, 2023 1 hour ago, busmansholiday said: Pollution free ULEZ compatible buses in the top picture. Shame time travel isn't possible otherwise we could have stopped the daft twats scrapping them. I've said it before but trolleybuses should be the future. They won't but they should be. I'm off to Brno in the Czech Republic (still can't bring myself to say Czechia) in a couple of weeks. They still have Tatra trams and Škoda trolleybuses. I'm there mostly for the trains, also mostly Škodas, but I'll have to try and get at least one trolley. I shall report back here. Vantman, lisbon_road and Saabnut 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LightBulbFun Posted February 19, 2023 Share Posted February 19, 2023 speaking of London Trolley buses! remember this thing? On 22/10/2021 at 04:07, LightBulbFun said: and then theres this thing which I have been able to find 0 info on which may just have run on 600V being a discharge lamp, I swear I recall finding it in an Osram GEC catalog somewhere but I just checked a few from the 1930s, 50's and 60's and was not able to find it there, what is it to be indicating for exactly I wonder... On 22/10/2021 at 06:29, Mr Pastry said: There is a reference in this video at about 3.44, to an indicator light fitted high up on the trolley poles (at the roadside, not on the bus) to show which way the points in the wires were set. In which case a compact but bright 600 volt lamp would make sense. How it works is another matter. On 22/10/2021 at 11:40, LightBulbFun said: interesting I always assumed, the lamp was for something on the trolley bus itself but you are right it could be something to do with their infrastructure as well (I know of a few odd ball London Transport specials there as well like the Dual filament 100V lamp used in London underground signalling) On 22/10/2021 at 08:34, Inspector Morose said: I actually managed to physically find one! its missing one of its caps sadly but still! really oddly its marked with AP7922 which I think is an Admiralty number go figure! still not been able to find anything out about it! Yoss, lisbon_road, Remspoor and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
808 Estate Posted February 19, 2023 Share Posted February 19, 2023 Good to see those old Corpo busses on the road again. What bought them out, was it celebrating the end of First, or just an occaison to do something? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yoss Posted February 19, 2023 Share Posted February 19, 2023 20 minutes ago, Yoss said: I've said it before but trolleybuses should be the future. They won't but they should be. I'm off to Brno in the Czech Republic (still can't bring myself to say Czechia) in a couple of weeks. They still have Tatra trams and Škoda trolleybuses. I'm there mostly for the trains, also mostly Škodas, but I'll have to try and get at least one trolley. I shall report back here. In fact I've just managed to find this picture from the last, and only, time I was there. Can't believe it was eight years ago. A lot can change in eight years so I don't entirely know to expect when I get there. We shall soon see. 3029 still has its Škoda badge. LightBulbFun and busmansholiday 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yoss Posted February 19, 2023 Share Posted February 19, 2023 7 minutes ago, 808 Estate said: Good to see those old Corpo busses on the road again. What bought them out, was it celebrating the end of First, or just an occaison to do something? Yes it was marking the end of a company that can be traced back to 1879. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
busmansholiday Posted February 19, 2023 Share Posted February 19, 2023 8 minutes ago, Yoss said: Yes it was marking the end of a company that's fucked up in a fair few parts of the UK.. FTFY Eyersey1234 and 808 Estate 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yoss Posted February 19, 2023 Share Posted February 19, 2023 And for that reason I certainly won't be sad to see First Bus go although it is a shame they took our bus company with them. Bluestar have been providing a better service with better buses for a long time now. Though I'll be interested to see what comes out tomorrow. Being a Sunday service they were able to operate with the current fleet so everything was still blue. Tomorrow will be different. They apparently have a fleet of temporary buses coming in to cover the new services. The Scania I went on today had a second crew member telling the driver where to go as it was a new route (and in fact it went to parts of the city that even I'd never been to - wrong side of the river and all that) and they were talking about the new* fleet. I still think the current Unlink fleet will pass over to Bluestar in time, that happened five years ago. The Unilink (University buses but anybody can use them) contracts last five years and it's up for renewal this year. Rumour has it that the university want electric buses this time round but that's easy for them to demand they aren't the ones who will have to run it. lisbon_road 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martc Posted February 19, 2023 Share Posted February 19, 2023 1 hour ago, Yoss said: Czech Republic (still can't bring myself to say Czechia) Carry on with Czech Republic, this is still the correct name. Czechia is the officially recognised shortening of it; not it's new name. Now who's going to tell Google this? Yoss 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
808 Estate Posted February 20, 2023 Share Posted February 20, 2023 6 hours ago, Yoss said: Yes it was marking the end of a company that can be traced back to 1879. When they were Corporation busses, were they council owned and operated? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yoss Posted February 20, 2023 Share Posted February 20, 2023 4 hours ago, 808 Estate said: When they were Corporation busses, were they council owned and operated? Yes, it was sold by the council to the staff briefly in 1993 who then sold it on to First Group in 1997. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quicksilver Posted February 20, 2023 Share Posted February 20, 2023 No sooner have First pulled out of Southampton than they've announced a deal to buy Ensignbus. One of the most respected and recognised operators in the country, no doubt soon to be destroyed by First's reverse midas touch. What were the Newman family thinking? Yoss, Remspoor, Eyersey1234 and 1 other 1 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Metal Guru Posted February 20, 2023 Share Posted February 20, 2023 24 minutes ago, quicksilver said: No sooner have First pulled out of Southampton than they've announced a deal to buy Ensignbus. One of the most respected and recognised operators in the country, no doubt soon to be destroyed by First's reverse midas touch. What were the Newman family thinking? First group and Stagecoach seem far more interested in acquiring a bigger and bigger empire than actually running proper bus services. Probably the same across most industries tbh. Playing real monopoly all day must be far more interesting than an involvement in the nitty gritty of what your company actual does. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quicksilver Posted February 20, 2023 Share Posted February 20, 2023 I'll never forgive First for what they did in Northampton. The town had a proud and profitable municipal bus company, that the council decided to sell to fund the new Sixfields football stadium. After a few years, First put Northampton under the management of Leicester, where it was always the poor relation mostly running other fleets' cast-offs, and on the rare occasions Northampton did get something decent Leicester would quickly take it for themselves. It was run down to a shadow of its former self, then First made a half-hearted attempt to sell what little was left for far too much money, especially as they'd replaced the whole fleet with crappy old buses overdue for scrap that no buyer wanted. Nobody bought it, so First just unceremoniously shut down an operation with over a century of heritage that had been making a healthy profit when they bought it less than 20 years earlier. Eyersey1234 and lisbon_road 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
808 Estate Posted February 20, 2023 Share Posted February 20, 2023 10 hours ago, Yoss said: Yes, it was sold by the council to the staff briefly in 1993 who then sold it on to First Group in 1997. Have something good. Outsource it and wonder why its fucked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Remspoor Posted February 20, 2023 Share Posted February 20, 2023 On 2/19/2023 at 3:30 PM, Yoss said: Quite a colourful collection on the rail replacement work too. I don't even know who these people are. Mayflower was originally a shipping company formed in the early 1600's 😁 or this lot. https://twitter.com/travelmayflower Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HarmonicCheeseburger Posted February 20, 2023 Share Posted February 20, 2023 Found online 808 Estate, busmansholiday and CreepingJesus 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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