Bus Shite

[MiniMinorMk3]

[MiniMinorMk3]

[MiniMinorMk3]

[Joey spud]

Some M+D goodness,from my deceased local operator.

[EyesWeldedShut]

 

MSD 358; fleet number NT1494, is a 1959 Bristol MW6G, one of 52 with Alexander C41F bodies built for Western SMT. They remained in service until 1977:: https://www.old-bus-photos.co.uk/?p=29225

In 1974 my family relocated to near Stranraer and were confronted by one of these as the local bus services out to the villages. The driver opened the doors using a big wooden handle/lever arrangement that captivated me & my brother (simple things etc.).
It must have been fun* pushing one all the way down to Manchester
 

[Metal Guru]

4 hours ago, Joey spud said:

Some M+D goodness,my deceased local operator.

I remember going to school on M+D buses in the 70s.

[cms206]

On 15/10/2023 at 20:40, EyesWeldedShut said:

 

MSD 358; fleet number NT1494, is a 1959 Bristol MW6G, one of 52 with Alexander C41F bodies built for Western SMT. They remained in service until 1977:: https://www.old-bus-photos.co.uk/?p=29225

In 1974 my family relocated to near Stranraer and were confronted by one of these as the local bus services out to the villages. The driver opened the doors using a big wooden handle/lever arrangement that captivated me & my brother (simple things etc.).
It must have been fun* pushing one all the way down to Manchester
 

NT1494 of course designating an Ardrossan-based Bristol single decker. Because AB1494 was too easy (and Ayr was A, B was... something else).

 

Almost as clear as Eastern Scottish, where Bristol was A and AEC was B.

 

Scottish Bus Group fleet numbering codes as a whole was just a clusterfuck, with Western offering MR as a Thornliebank (M) allocated Daimler, the former Alexander companies designating all Leyland Leopards as PE, and Eastern's frankly outstanding XCMM147A, a fleet number longer than it's sodding registration.

[EyesWeldedShut]

6 hours ago, cms206 said:

NT1494 of course designating an Ardrossan-based Bristol single decker. Because AB1494 was too easy (and Ayr was A, B was... something else).

 

Almost as clear as Eastern Scottish, where Bristol was A and AEC was B.

 

Scottish Bus Group fleet numbering codes as a whole was just a clusterfuck, with Western offering MR as a Thornliebank (M) allocated Daimler, the former Alexander companies designating all Leyland Leopards as PE, and Eastern's frankly outstanding XCMM147A, a fleet number longer than it's sodding registration.

Impression I got down in Stranraer was that all the older stock used to filter South after a few years of school runs around Ayrshire. We'd often be on a 1950's vintage bus twice a day to school - and that doubled as the 'service bus' at 8am and 4pm.
There was an influx of new Leopards around 1977 with some sort of gated gearchange on the steering column. Us, easily captivated farm boys, would spend the whole trip stood around the driver's position oggling the gearchange. Weird what amused you - that and endless Top Trumps. 
 

[jon.k]

4 hours ago, EyesWeldedShut said:

 sort of gated gearchange on the steering column. Us, easily captivated farm boys, would spend the whole trip stood around the driver's position oggling the gearchange. Weird what amused you - that and endless Top Trumps. 
 

I vividly remember this. The driver casually slicking between gears in a clapped out 30 ye old Atlantean which was weeks from scrap (maybe VR? Would they have the same shift?) with a gang of lads looking at him as if he was some kind of driving god.

[EyesWeldedShut]

10 minutes ago, jon.k said:

I vividly remember this. The driver casually slicking between gears in a clapped out 30 ye old Atlantean which was weeks from scrap (maybe VR? Would they have the same shift?) with a gang of lads looking at him as if he was some kind of driving god.

Don't forget the guy would have had a mullet, lapped up the attention and, twenty years later, became my brother-in-law (sans mullet).
I guess these days kids are all face down in their phones (maybe a digital Top Trumps but, thinking about my puberty, Top Tits more likely)

[Volksy]

 

I also remember being enthralled with these!

[High Jetter]

I have to admit, now I've seen exactly what you mean, I was kind of fascinated watching these being used. I think they were on the 60's buses Southdown used, with a bi-fold hydraulic(?) door

[wesacosa]

 

more retro memories

That Atlantean cab brings back memories but the ones in Hull had the pedestal mounted gear shift.  I ended up with a gear shifter and drivers seat when I was about 11 or 12 as dad's mate worked on the buses and got me them from the spares yard.  wish id kept them 

 

[cms206]

On 10/10/2023 at 14:36, cms206 said:

This trip's London update will come with a few changes as I'm moving garages next week; my last shift at Bow is tomorrow on an all evening turn on the 425.

I did manage to tick off another few of Bow's Enviro 400s, somewhat sullied by having had 11366 with no retarder the last few nights which isn't ideal on busy corridors with regular standing loads but there you go.

 

Full update next week.

London update: this all turned to shit.

I am on a more or less day to day basis at Bow for the time being as my new garage are awaiting a gap in their training schedule to squeeze me in for vehicle familliarisation.

My home garage today made contact and stated that they have too many drivers now, so would I mind terribly just not coming home?

After a bit of a mad scramble I now have accomodation sorted out but at the minute I have no garage to work from; this will be tomorrow's quandry.

 

My next scheduled shift north of the border? January.

[Joey spud]

21 hours ago, Volksy said:

 

I also remember being enthralled with these!

As a kid I was also fascinated by the gearboxes on the 60's and 70's Atlantans I rode to school on.

On a group for ex M+D staff there was a discussion going on about how various garages notably Gravesend and Tunbridge Wells had the ability to quickly trash a bus whereas an identical bus elsewhere in the county (Gillingham/Maidstone) would run reliably with just routine maintenance.

Various old hands came forward  defending their garages drivers and fitters competence which led to someone posting up this interesting image of how to correctly drive a bus with a pneumocyclic gearbox. 

From what I remember most of the school bus drivers would just flick through the gate with barely a lift of the throttle pedal only a few would genuinely pause and lift between changes.

[big_al_granvia]

9 hours ago, cms206 said:

London update: this all turned to shit.

I am on a more or less day to day basis at Bow for the time being as my new garage are awaiting a gap in their training schedule to squeeze me in for vehicle familliarisation.

My home garage today made contact and stated that they have too many drivers now, so would I mind terribly just not coming home?

After a bit of a mad scramble I now have accomodation sorted out but at the minute I have no garage to work from; this will be tomorrow's quandry.

 

My next scheduled shift north of the border? January.

They might send you to Ayrshire lol

[cort1977]

Saw this in Houston TX, far from home and dubious windscreen added.

[MiniMinorMk3]

[martc]

Station Road, Sidcup 1982.

[DLR]

Something I've had the pleasure* of driving recently. The Yutong TC12. 

Daf engine in these bigguns, unlike the smaller TC9 that got a Cummins. It's the only redeeming feature. The Chinese-built bodywork is rusting away, the interior is falling apart (anything made of plastic has gone brittle and snapped) and nothing seems to work. Grim in every sense of the word and I can't wait to move on to pastures new at the end of the week. 

[DVee8]

One from my F-i-L's archives from around 1927.

This is one of the first they owned.

 

[SunnySouth]

On 15/10/2023 at 19:00, Joey spud said:

Some M+D goodness,from my deceased local operator.

Out of curiosity, what was M&D’s reason for putting those F*KING MASSIVE FLEETNUMBERS on the roofs of everything?! 

[quicksilver]

9 hours ago, SunnySouth said:

Out of curiosity, what was M&D’s reason for putting those F*KING MASSIVE FLEETNUMBERS on the roofs of everything?! 

IIRC it was something to do with at least one of the garages having upstairs offices, so the bosses could identify the buses from a distance just by looking out of the window instead of having to go downstairs.

[Yoss]

If anybody is interested this is happening on Sunday. 

I haven't found out exactly what's on what but it is mostly RTs and RMs but it says other types too. Personally I need to do at least one trip on the 68. I haven't mentioned it for a few months but my bus (now ex bus but I still consider it mine) was the last RM on route 68 and I was on it. 24th October 1986. Shame they're not running through to Croydon but I can imagine trying to organise full routes would be a logistical nightmare. So they are all short routes. I'll still be happy with a run to Waterloo. If I really want to recreate old times I'd get off and have a pint in The Wellington though I know it bears no resemblance to the pub that was there in the 80s. Still looks like a good day out. 

[The Old Bloke Next Door]

Its an early November morning  last year, I have parked on the works car park to begin the last shift of my almost forty six  year long bus driving career.

First picture a view of the bus parking area plus a selection of bus pictures, which include some of the different types I have driven in service over the years.

[The Old Bloke Next Door]

As my usual shift is a late afternoon start, I visit the works canteen for breakfast.

Always a good meal in there and very competitively priced.

I then go to the dispatch to sign on.

Marking up man gives me the running board, bus fleet number, duty sheet and the location of the bus.

Pictures of the canteen beans on toast, the days first steer, a Volvo single deck and a couple of random  buses I have driven over the years.

[Captain Mainwaring]

A few from a bus/truck show I went to a couple of months back. Somebody papped the Volvo whilst I was there too. The Atlantean with the roundel on the front was spotted in Rotherham and is, I believe, an off-grid abode of sorts.

[worldofceri]

On a recent visit to a yard I deliver to from time to time, I was surprised to see this thing had appeared.

Clearly someone’s ‘overland’ camper project.

 I had to take a photo because it reminded me of a picture I have of my dad, taken in 1976 at Harewood Hillclimb.

Comparing the two pictures, the bodywork looks identical;  The running gear clearly not. @Inspector Morose tells me several of these were built for the RAF, but I do still wonder if it’s the same one,

[Captain Mainwaring]

Yes, the RAF had a few of them. Yorkshire Air Museum have one, latterly owned by a cricket team who supposedly hated it because they were late to all the matches...

[LightBulbFun]

23 hours ago, Yoss said:

RTC 1, the experimental RT Green Line coach. Started off as standard RT 97 but suffered bomb damage in the war. 

Now that looks like a write off to you and me doesn't it? I mean you can see the framework is bent inwards on both decks. But not for the boys at Chiswick, they obviously just saw it as a challenge. 

It was actually rebuilt as a standard RT first with an experimental rear door before going full RTC 1.

Goes to show how old buses were infinitely repairable. 

thats fascinating! I have seen the odd picture of RT97 as RTC1, but I had never seen it in its bomb damaged guise or doored guise before until now, obviously I had read about it on Ians bus stop, but not seen any pictures!

RTC1 holds a bit of fascination to me, not just for the usual reasons, but also because its said it had fluorescent lighting, now RTC1 became a thing in 1947, back then fluorescent lighting was pretty bleeding edge stuff, having only been invented by GEC (and put to market in the US by GE) just before the war in 1938

and in 1947, only 2 sizes of fluorescent tube where on the market in the UK, the 5ft 80W bayonet capped fluorescent tube, and the 4ft 40W Bi-pin tube (although other sizes very quickly came along)

so I would love to know what it had, even just some interior shots to see how it was all laid out! 

but I also wonder just how they drove these fluorescent tubes, they require special control gear to run, and low voltage control gear just did not really exist back then, the Transistor was also only *just* invented it would only be in the 1960's did transistor based inverter ballasts for running tubes from low voltage DC become a thing, as seen on your Routemaster's off-side illuminated advert for example

its possible to generate a high voltage suitable for driving a tube by electromechanical means, this was commonly used in old valve/vacuum tube car radios to generate the high voltage DC supply they need (see @PhilA's Pontiac chieftain for more on that), and it was used to some degree with early low voltage fluorescent tube setups, but I have never come across anything like it here in the UK, and it would of probably been a fairly sizeable bit of kit especially if they where 80W tubes 

the other possibility is, did RTC1 just have a 240V AC "generator" onboard for running the lighting system? 

 

but I have just never been able to find anything on it sadly, I mean there are some bus enthusiasts who know things in vast fine details, but I have not come across any who have studied the details so fine as to know a buses lighting system in the detail that I am looking for sadly, I fear I am somewhat alone in that regard

and thus I do fear the details of RTC1's setup might be lost to time, but hopefully something can be found!