Bus Shite

[Remspoor]

  On 10/02/2025 at 19:01, Yoss said:

These soon ran out so in 1914 they started with two letter codes starting with A which explains Tottenham and Seven Kings

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I never knew that. My dad's best friend was a driver on the 150 route.

[lesapandre]

  On 11/02/2025 at 19:58, Remspoor said:

It jumped across the channel?

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Driven over in 2020 according to the ad. Probably a failed business venture - looks like it was used as a cafe.

[Metal Guru]

  On 09/02/2025 at 16:07, lesapandre said:

Thanks. Yes now I remember Nottingham. I did not know W. Mids - I must go for a ride sometime. Oh I forgot Manchester too.

Edinburgh really? Gosh.

They work really well in disaggregated towns and cities pulling remoter parts together.

Croydon trams run as far a Beckenham for example.

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Edinburgh’s trams were planned to cost £150m and take 4 years to complete. It finally cost £1bn and took over 10 years. Sounds familiar? To be (partially), fair. the project  was started by Labour but needless to say  the finances got even more out of control once the SNP came to power.

Many businesses were badly effected by several years of road closures.

Its only saving grace was as it serves the airport, the rail extension into the terminal was dropped , another project requiring fantasy money.

[Eyersey1234]

I haven't posted for a while so here is one from the other day, EY Mercedes Tourismo 94 covering on a National Express service 131 to Birmingham from Hull, it's done more miles on NX than coaching 

[cms206]

DID SOMEONE ORDER A CHINESE?!

Not had a proper look at it yet but we have (re)joined the Chinese revolution with this Yutong ZK6129HQ TC12 E6; many years ago the outfit I work for now ran a King Long, which ironically died in a fire in my yard at the company where I was operations manager for many years.

There are well over a hundred Yutongs operating in Scotland now, but this one is historically significant - this was the first of the lot, delivered in April 2016 to Blacks of Brechin as YG16 EAE.

[lesapandre]

An 'Imperial' apparently. Formerly UK.

€65,000 with equipment, site and 'loyal clientelle' On LeBonCoin. Bordeaux.

[martc]

The Ikarus 543 city bus.

 

And here's a new one for me - the Ikarus 543 with bodywork and extended chassis by Balkancar of Bulgaria and a Perkins diesel engine.

[Dyslexic Viking]

This has come up for sale here in Norway and is so nice that I am sharing it here.

1971 Mercedes Benz O317 with Norwegian VBK bodywork  £12,844

https://www.finn.no/b2b/bus/ad.html?finnkode=249332032

[martc]

Shepherd’s Bush Green W12, 1969.

[artdjones]

  On 12/02/2025 at 04:23, Metal Guru said:

Edinburgh’s trams were planned to cost £150m and take 4 years to complete. It finally cost £1bn and took over 10 years. Sounds familiar? To be (partially), fair. the project  was started by Labour but needless to say  the finances got even more out of control once the SNP came to power.

Many businesses were badly effected by several years of road closures.

Its only saving grace was as it serves the airport, the rail extension into the terminal was dropped , another project requiring fantasy money.

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I'm in Lisbon, which is less than 10% bigger than Edinburgh. They have 4 Metro lines, including one to the airport. Of course they also have quite a few surviving tram lines. Things like that only need fantasy money in the UK (and Ireland).

[busmansholiday]

  On 12/02/2025 at 17:51, lesapandre said:

An Imperial apparently. Formerly UK.

€65,000 with equipment, site and 'loyal clientelle' On LeBonCoin. Bordeaux.

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Looks like an ex Lothian (Edinburgh) Leyland Olympian , possibly B750GSC.

 

The frogs have a habit of calling double decker buses "imperials".

[Inspector Morose]

Mooching around Leicester, I came across these little things. One of only 7 Yutong E9s in the country. Electric powered (of course) but 23 seats and dual doors, with a narrow entrance and full-sized exit to allow for wheelchair access. According to the website, they seem to have been replaced by the single doorway E9L so it looks as though those 7 will be the only ones.

The surprising thing is, these little 23 seaters weigh roughly the same as a GM standard 75 seat double deck Atlantean. That's progress, I suppose.

[SilverMachine]

  On 05/02/2025 at 16:49, lesapandre said:

There is a Dover Transport Museum - I did not know that till I looked. 

https://www.dovertransportmuseum.org.uk/

Probably worth having a chat with them about any old bus services in the area.

There is this picture inside the Museum - and a 'WYTES' coach in preservation there.

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well the chap from dover transport museum has been in touch! at least one of the coaches still survives, sort of - its a commer commando, but is now a mobile butchers shop! if anyone has any pictures of this i would be very appreciative! i dont know if its still in the dover area so could be anywhere, but im sure any bus peoples will know it as a bus if they see it out and about! there were also bedford ob's with thurgood bodies, and also aec regals, but my great grandfather died in 1958 and was ran by his son for a short while (this could have been a few years) before selling the company so assuming all the vehicles were probably 1930 > <1955 but again this is a guess!

 

[Eyersey1234]

Two of our new National Express coaches at Caetano's yard yesterday when we collected them

[The Old Bloke Next Door]

Copied from the Facebook post.

Perhaps not a rare type of vehicle, but uncommon in so far as it was never used as a PSV. At first glance this is a pleasing but otherwise unremarkable Seddon bodied Seddon Pennine IV. It has been converted into a mobile home. Either from choice or catering malfunction it finds itself outside a chip shop. I have not recorded where this picture was taken. The slide mount is dated July 1984 - just before I entered General Practice in Rochdale, and while I was working as a junior hospital doctor in that town.
 

[The Old Bloke Next Door]

Copied from Facebook post.

The West Monmouthshire Omnibus Board 13, a Willowbrook-bodied Leyland Titan PD2/41, was introduced in March 1959 and was initially used for the Bargoed Hill route in South Wales. Fitted with a Spragg gear system to prevent the bus from rolling back on steep inclines, this bus was specifically designed to handle the difficult terrain of the hilly areas around Monmouthshire. Its sturdy design and innovative features made it a reliable vehicle for the route, which was known for its challenging landscape.

 

[martc]

We've had Ikaruses in the USSR, now here's another of my favourites over there -

A rather cold looking Skoda 706.

[martc]

A Unimog 402 tractor.

[lesapandre]

  On 18/02/2025 at 22:57, The Old Bloke Next Door said:

Copied from the Facebook post.

Perhaps not a rare type of vehicle, but uncommon in so far as it was never used as a PSV. At first glance this is a pleasing but otherwise unremarkable Seddon bodied Seddon Pennine IV. It has been converted into a mobile home. Either from choice or catering malfunction it finds itself outside a chip shop. I have not recorded where this picture was taken. The slide mount is dated July 1984 - just before I entered General Practice in Rochdale, and while I was working as a junior hospital doctor in that town.
 

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That may have had some early non-bus use. Possibly for the NHS as some kind of mobile testing rig.

[Inspector Morose]

  On 21/02/2025 at 11:47, lesapandre said:

That may have had some early non-bus use. Possibly for the NHS as some kind of mobile testing rig.

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New to Hawker-Siddley at their Middleton works in November '69, presumably used as a staff bus.

[Dyslexic Viking]

Bus built on a Dodge or Fargo truck chassis southern Norway.

 

Dodge truck built as a bus southern Norway.

 

Another Dodge or Fargo truck built as a bus in southern Norway.

[Dyslexic Viking]

And during the war in Norway, the buses had wood gas generators and this Volvo also had a mailbox.

[Dyslexic Viking]

1967 Scania with almost 30 years working life in southern Norway. For the first almost 20 years, it was on a rural route as a combined passenger bus and goods bus and also had a milk tank for the transport of milk and could pull a trailer if necessary. Was eventually retired and used as a pig barn and was later saved and got  restored and back on the road.

 

[Weird Car]

So Thursday was definitely a contender for best day at work ever driving this amazing old Regant from Utilita Bowl back to the depot in Otterbourne, not a huge distance but amazing fun all the same, she’s part of our Heritage fleet and was out on a photoshoot though she’s also used for private hires and occasional rail replacements 

[danthecapriman]

  On 21/02/2025 at 10:51, The Old Bloke Next Door said:

Copied from Facebook post.

The West Monmouthshire Omnibus Board 13, a Willowbrook-bodied Leyland Titan PD2/41, was introduced in March 1959 and was initially used for the Bargoed Hill route in South Wales. Fitted with a Spragg gear system to prevent the bus from rolling back on steep inclines, this bus was specifically designed to handle the difficult terrain of the hilly areas around Monmouthshire. Its sturdy design and innovative features made it a reliable vehicle for the route, which was known for its challenging landscape.

 

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That’s brilliant!

Not all that far from here either. I wonder if that place is still like that? 
I could take the Mercury and recreate that pic, see which one was more unwieldy to get through!

[Inspector Morose]

  On 21/02/2025 at 10:51, The Old Bloke Next Door said:

Copied from Facebook post.

The West Monmouthshire Omnibus Board 13, a Willowbrook-bodied Leyland Titan PD2/41, was introduced in March 1959 and was initially used for the Bargoed Hill route in South Wales. Fitted with a Spragg gear system to prevent the bus from rolling back on steep inclines, this bus was specifically designed to handle the difficult terrain of the hilly areas around Monmouthshire. Its sturdy design and innovative features made it a reliable vehicle for the route, which was known for its challenging landscape.

 

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Still around, rebodied with a double deck body. Now lives in Belgium.

 

 

[SilverMachine]

anyone ever see these out in the  wild? as a bus or crazy conversion?

its a commer commando btw.

particularly interested in one that is rumoured to be concerted into a butchers shop, possibly still in kent but could be anywhere in the uk!

Edited February 25 by SilverMachine
forgot to say what it is!

[artdjones]

  On 23/02/2025 at 10:26, danthecapriman said:

That’s brilliant!

Not all that far from here either. I wonder if that place is still like that? 
I could take the Mercury and recreate that pic, see which one was more unwieldy to get through!

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I've driven up the hill back in the 80s, very steep, but I think the dogleg under the bridge and the railway line had already disappeared.

[danthecapriman]

  On 25/02/2025 at 14:29, artdjones said:

I've driven up the hill back in the 80s, very steep, but I think the dogleg under the bridge and the railway line had already disappeared.

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I had a quick look on Google earth but couldn’t see where it was. You can see the village and where the railway line is but no sign of that little road or the bridge. Assuming I was looking in the right place of course!

[quicksilver]

  On 25/02/2025 at 14:20, SilverMachine said:

anyone ever see these out in the  wild? as a bus or crazy conversion?

its a commer commando btw.

particularly interested in one that is rumoured to be concerted into a butchers shop, possibly still in kent but could be anywhere in the uk!

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I haven't seen it in person but the Yorkshire Air Museum have one restored in original RAF livery. Oxford Diecast do a very nice 1:76 scale model of it.