Bus Shite

[Joey spud]

I was dragged up in Cliffe as a youngster so was chuffed to see this posted online recently. No idea what the bus is but the image was captured in Gravesend eight miles away.

[Inspector Morose]

  On 03/03/2024 at 18:04, Joey spud said:

No idea what the bus is but the image was captured in Gravesend eight miles away.

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If you really wanted to know, it's an Eastern Coachworks bodied Leyland Tiger TS8, owned by Maidstone and District that was sold in 1954 to British Railways North East region for departmental use.

No, thought you didn't.

[Yoss]

  On 03/03/2024 at 17:09, Dyslexic Viking said:

Reading that Zetor book and is a special bus used by Zetor in one of the pictures but what kind of bus is it? A little research and this is a Skoda bus, but I don't know more.

But I guess it was used as a mobile workshop.

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It will be a Škoda 706 of some sort. Probably a 706 RTO. I don't know why but it seems all their commercial vehicles of the time were 706s wether bus or lorry then they had a two or three letter suffix for the individual model but I don't know enough about them to say any more.

[High Jetter]

  On 03/03/2024 at 21:31, Inspector Morose said:

If you really wanted to know, it's an Eastern Coachworks bodied Leyland Tiger TS8, owned by Maidstone and District that was sold in 1954 to British Railways North East region for departmental use.

No, thought you didn't.

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Yes. I think we, Eastbourne, the first municipal bus co in the UK  used them too at one time. Love that you know this detail.

[Yoss]

  On 03/03/2024 at 22:05, Yoss said:

It will be a Škoda 706 of some sort. Probably a 706 RTO. I don't know why but it seems all their commercial vehicles of the time were 706s wether bus or lorry then they had a two or three letter suffix for the individual model but I don't know enough about them to say any more.

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The reason they are all called 706s is apparently because they are built on the same chassis. The buses look so stylish, in my biased opinion, but perhaps they might be rather agricultural to travel on.

But I have a chance to find out as I've found one for sale in Plovdiv, Bulgaria which is good because it's somewhere I've always wanted to visit. It's a bit pricey even if it's a quality restoration so far.

Power looks decent. 160hp from 11.7litres seems about the same as you'd expect from a Leyland or AEC of the same era.

The advert, which I used Google to translate from Bulgarian says the bodywork is finished, the engine works and it is drivable and all parts are present except the seats. 

So all I have to do is pop over to Bulgaria for a week or so, refit all the windows and lights and drive it back. Perhaps I could stop off in CZ to find some seats on the way. They came in bus and coach versions. I'm off this week too.

This a coach seated one.

Simple but comfy looking perhaps? But look at the cab. It is front engined. 

I'd be fighting over that front passenger seat but I suspect normals would be trying to sit as near the back as possible. And not really suitable for one man operation.

[busmansholiday]

  On 04/03/2024 at 10:46, Yoss said:

And not really suitable for one man operation.

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Ha, ha, ha. Many a small operator has fitted a ticket machine on the top of the engine cover to use such things for one man. The difficult bit was the doors, either a mechanical arm / handle or even a piece of rope. Ask me how I know.

 

Don't also forget Ford offered their R192 or R226 (both front engined) with Plaxton Derwent bus body for one man operation. 

[Yoss]

  On 04/03/2024 at 12:12, busmansholiday said:

Ha, ha, ha. Many a small operator has fitted a ticket machine on the top of the engine cover to use such things for one man. The difficult bit was the doors, either a mechanical arm / handle or even a piece of rope. Ask me how I know.

 

Don't also forget Ford offered their R192 or R226 (both front engined) with Plaxton Derwent bus body for one man operation. 

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If I don't ask are you going to tell us anyway?

[busmansholiday]

  On 04/03/2024 at 14:31, Yoss said:

If I don't ask are you going to tell us anyway?

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No......

[martc]

[martc]

A DO56„Schnauzenbus“, 100 used to potter around Berlin, only it's mother could love it.

[martc]

And to prevent disappointment...

An Ikarus 250.09 picking up tourists at Kursk Station Square, Moscow, 1974.

[martc]

AERFER Firenze 426's   (based on a FIAT 412/1 chasiss. They had two staircases and the driver sat in the middle; the conductor sat at the back, the exit was at the front.

[busmansholiday]

  On 04/03/2024 at 17:06, martc said:

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Leeds, one of the ex London Feltham cars on the left.

[Yoss]

  On 04/03/2024 at 16:12, busmansholiday said:

No......

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[Yoss]

  On 04/03/2024 at 17:11, martc said:

A DO56„Schnauzenbus“, 100 used to potter around Berlin, only it's mother could love it.

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It's almost like they finished building it then realised they'd forgotten the engine. 

[Yoss]

@Dyslexic Viking, look what you made me do!

I suddenly felt there was a gap in my knowledge that needed filling. 

[Dyslexic Viking]

  On 04/03/2024 at 19:03, Yoss said:

@Dyslexic Viking, look what you made me do!

I suddenly felt there was a gap in my knowledge that needed filling. 

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Great, now you also need this one

 

Looking forward to lots of Skoda bus and truck info.

[Yoss]

  On 04/03/2024 at 19:09, Dyslexic Viking said:

Great, now you also need this one

 

Looking forward to lots of Skoda bus and truck info.

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I do already have this one. 

It's a nice book with English captions under the Czech ones and everything is listed chronologically so you end up with trams, trains and trolleybuses on the same page and you never know what's coming next. 

[Zelandeth]

  On 04/03/2024 at 17:11, martc said:

A DO56„Schnauzenbus“, 100 used to potter around Berlin, only it's mother could love it.

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Odd looking thing, but you have to admit there's a certain logic to it.  Keep all the noisy, hot, smelly mechanical gubbins well clear of the cabin.  Looks like it's pretty well optimised for service access too.

Imagine traffic was rather lighter back then so the giant front overhang was less of an issue.

[Inspector Morose]

  On 04/03/2024 at 17:11, martc said:

A DO56„Schnauzenbus“, 100 used to potter around Berlin, only it's mother could love it.

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I had a mate (sadly no longer with us) who managed to get a spin in this. He described it as the worst torture ever to be inflicted on a driver - crash box, manual steering, etc. You'd certainly know you'd done a shift in one.

[High Jetter]

Emergency stop at full speed, unladen, might be interesting?

[busmansholiday]

  On 04/03/2024 at 20:52, Inspector Morose said:

He described it as the worst torture ever to be inflicted on a driver - crash box, manual steering, etc. You'd certainly know you'd done a shift in one

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A bit like an ex SBG Y type Leopard then on local services in South Yorkshire (or even a Reliance with AEC's crash box on a full shift of contracts and schools).

Yep, been there, got the T shirt and taken days to recover...

 

[willswitchengage]

Bi for export. Random post that came up on my TheFacebook, interesting that they are being loaded into a bulk carrier instead of a roro ship - maybe busses are too large for them which are presumably designed to carry cars only.

[High Jetter]

  On 10/03/2024 at 12:49, willswitchengage said:

maybe busses are too large for them which are presumably designed to carry cars only.

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Could be more of a weight issue?

[willswitchengage]

The Mexican HSTs were shipped like that too. Bizarre. May also be cheaper, RoRos from Asia to Europe are probably very busy these days.

[cms206]

Some shots from today's running day at Golders Green... plus two from the camera that I've not been able to download yet!

[martc]

  On 10/03/2024 at 12:49, willswitchengage said:

Bi for export. Random post that came up on my TheFacebook, interesting that they are being loaded into a bulk carrier instead of a roro ship - maybe busses are too large for them which are presumably designed to carry cars only.

 

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  On 10/03/2024 at 17:09, willswitchengage said:

The Mexican HSTs were shipped like that too. Bizarre. May also be cheaper, RoRos from Asia to Europe are probably very busy these days.

 

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We bring raw materials in by bulk carrier which return to the other side of the world empty so any opportunity to utilise them would be jumped at by the owners which I guess is what's happening here.

[martc]

Station Approach, Sayes Court Road and Chipperfield Road, St Mary Cray, 1982 and 2024. The northern entrance to St Mary Cray station is just off to the right of the picture.

The tower block has disappeared and an awful black post has appeared.

[martc]

[Captain Mainwaring]

  On 04/03/2024 at 17:11, martc said:

A DO56„Schnauzenbus“, 100 used to potter around Berlin, only it's mother could love it.

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That's clearly told a few fibs! Absolutely fascinating. Steering must have been diabolically heavy with that ridiculous overhang.