Bus Shite

[willswitchengage]

Irizar etc will make their vehicles in Iberia but why would it come via the UK? I would have thought they'd be ro-rod from Sweden or Poland or wherever the chassis are made. Odd.

[cms206]

16 hours ago, cms206 said:

Tomorrow I am allegedly on the N15 out of Henley Road...

... awoken by a call this morning; this turned into EN32 from River Road major unit centre to Morden Wharf...

... and EN11 on the Wimbledon - Morden shuttle until midnight.

[LightBulbFun]

22 hours ago, cms206 said:

... with 'LT486' returning the opposite way; this swap took over five hours with horrific traffic. I was never type trained for LTs at Stagecoach East London, but apparantly we don't hold much with that at commercial so after type training myself we set off with a pre-cracked screen.

so what are they like to drive then? anything notable, or are all modern buses the same sort of thing?

given how much of a song and dance there was around them (and how to me as a rabid original Routemaster fan, they where a massive disappointment) I feel compelled that I should ask  

[Inspector Morose]

On 03/07/2025 at 04:10, Leyland Worldmaster said:

I wonder if it was converted from one of the old Midland Bank Nationals?

Also, I wonder what happened to the Scottish Prison Service Nationals- pictures of these appeared in Doug Jack's The Leyland Bus Mk2.

There were two Midland Bank Nationals, GHV611N and JYO75N that ran were converted from new and ran until the late 80s. JYO was then bought by Yeates the dealers and rebuilt as a Volvo re-power demonstrator before being sold to the Birmingham Coach Company. You could always recognise JYO as it was never repainted and ran in an all over red livery. There was rumours that it was bought for preservation but no sight or sound of it comes up in recent times so who knows? GHV seems to have disappeared sometime around 1990 so it was more than likely broken up for spares around that time.

The ex-Northern General National sports some of their normal modifications to the front. Normally to access the towing eye at the front, four screws would allow for the centre of the front bumper to be removed, with the panel above it either shifted or removed also so that a pin could be dropped in to secure the tow bar. Beside that, the auxiliary air line could be connected to keep the air hungry National fed and keep its brakes off and suspension inflated. All rather simple and took all of a couple of minuted to achieve ( slight tangent here but the bumper centre section was originally on a parallelogram hinge and could be simply unclipped and swung out of the way but that set up only lasted for a few early buses before being replaced by the simpler screw attachment).

No Northern obviously couldn’t stand having to spend a couple of minutes unscrewing the bumper so cut holes in the panels so that the towing eye, the air line and space for the towing pin could be got at without the accessed without removing anything, thereby saving masses of time in the event of a recovery.  Some other Nationals were disfigured even more with a large hole cut into the front panel, covered by a flap. This was to allow a large pipe to be fitted to blow warm air into the bus at the garage so that extra fuel would not have to be needed in warming the interiors of the bus up. Apart from looking hideous, the flap covering the hole wasn’t a great seal and so all of that nice warm air would be pushed back out of the bus by the howling, freezing cold gale that came under and around the flap as the bus moved along. 
 

Northern had one of those chief engineers who thought they always knew better and so constantly moved, changed or rebuilt buses to try and achieve, what they thought, were improvements. Don’t got me wrong, some of his ideas were very good - the phase 2 National came about from Northern’s rebuilding of a National to get better weight distribution, but none of their ideas would be what you would call aesthetically pleasing (Wearsider and Tynesider rebuilds, anyone?). The Rebuilt National (MCN840L) was hideous in the same way it was brilliant with its half width heater pod on the roof to the rebuilding of the lower back end to allow for a bigger advert space on the engine cover, losing the rear bumpers at the same time.

[cms206]

9 hours ago, LightBulbFun said:

so what are they like to drive then? anything notable, or are all modern buses the same sort of thing?

given how much of a song and dance there was around them (and how to me as a rabid original Routemaster fan, they where a massive disappointment) I feel compelled that I should ask  

I won't lie here Dez... I was thoroughly impressed. Decent cab layout, excellent visibility and they actually feel solid; I remember a few 8 and N8 drivers saying they felt really heavy - they do, they really feel planted - but the controls and whatnot are light and easy to use. Not had one in service yet but I was genuinely quite impressed.

Either that or they are terrible, but I'm used to driving absolutely pumped Optare Solos now... ?! 😂

[MT606]

just been into my local antiques gaff n noticed alot of the following, all different interesting liveries.....

 

 

 

 

[Tenmil Socket]

5 minutes ago, MT606 said:

just been into my local antiques gaff n noticed alot of the following, all different interesting liveries.....

 

 

 

 

How much were the Ford Sierra’s?

 

[MT606]

50 minutes ago, Tenmil Socket said:

How much were the Ford Sierra’s?

 

didn't look I'm afraid.....

 

[quicksilver]

Bus chaos in Milton Keynes this weekend for Grand Prix shuttles with hundreds of double-deckers drafted in from all over the country. Mostly modern stuff but one of the stewards told me to go to a nearby car park and that's where I found the star of the show.

That's a 30-year old ex Hong Kong Olympian run by an operator from Newcastle and the driver said it took eight hours to get down here. You'll note it still has its HK blinds and 'racecourse' is the closest to its actual destination. 

The same firm also had three of these bendy Citaros, the only single-deckers involved.

And this one isn't what it seems. What looks like a London rail replacement bus is actually an F1 shuttle from an operator in York.

 

[Leyland Worldmaster]

4 hours ago, quicksilver said:

Bus chaos in Milton Keynes this weekend for Grand Prix shuttles with hundreds of double-deckers drafted in from all over the country. Mostly modern stuff but one of the stewards told me to go to a nearby car park and that's where I found the star of the show.

That's a 30-year old ex Hong Kong Olympian run by an operator from Newcastle and the driver said it took eight hours to get down here. You'll note it still has its HK blinds and 'racecourse' is the closest to its actual destination. 

The same firm also had three of these bendy Citaros, the only single-deckers involved.

And this one isn't what it seems. What looks like a London rail replacement bus is actually an F1 shuttle from an operator in York.

 

Lovely ol' Leyland! Must be one of the last built at Workington, innit! 

[Zelandeth]

4 hours ago, quicksilver said:

Bus chaos in Milton Keynes this weekend for Grand Prix shuttles with hundreds of double-deckers drafted in from all over the country. Mostly modern stuff but one of the stewards told me to go to a nearby car park and that's where I found the star of the show.

That's a 30-year old ex Hong Kong Olympian run by an operator from Newcastle and the driver said it took eight hours to get down here. You'll note it still has its HK blinds and 'racecourse' is the closest to its actual destination. 

The same firm also had three of these bendy Citaros, the only single-deckers involved.

And this one isn't what it seems. What looks like a London rail replacement bus is actually an F1 shuttle from an operator in York.

 

Pretty sure that's one of the bendies that was in service in Aberdeen until pretty recently - that looks like First Aberdeen Red Line (service 1 & 2) livery too which adds to my suspicions.

[lisbon_road]

That Olympian is amazing and thanks for sharing the picture.

But you think that is old?  You need to go to Glastonbury festival. 

[High Jetter]

@Sunny Jim has a bus named after him?.🤣

[Inspector Morose]

1 hour ago, lisbon_road said:

That Olympian is amazing and thanks for sharing the picture.

But you think that is old?  You need to go to Glastonbury festival. 

I can hear the mitre box whine on that from up here.

[83C]

2 hours ago, lisbon_road said:

That Olympian is amazing and thanks for sharing the picture.

But you think that is old?  You need to go to Glastonbury festival. 

I’ll see your VRT and raise you this:

One that @Inspector Morose will be familiar with, I passed this today operating on a sightseeing tour from Shrewsbury to Ironbridge.

[Zelandeth]

24 minutes ago, Inspector Morose said:

I can hear the mitre box whine on that from up here.

I've*still* never even set foot on a bloody VR...I really need to change that one day.

[cms206]

Today's job was an 0416 sign on - those who know me will be aware that 0416 in my world is when you finish work, not start it - at Stockwell.

Today's horse was SE90, now in the commercial fleet but new to Camberwell for the P5, and with it I visited some well known places on the TfL network - Tunbridge Wells and Battle.

It's a fucking horrific livery in my eyes, I'm very much a fan of the red with grey skirt and yellow band scheme that many of the commercial fleet wear.

Originally I should have been working out of New Cross but alas they don't keep many spare singles on strength; signed off at 1616 at Stockwell.

 

Tomorrow is 0555 sign on at Plough Lane for the first of the week's shifts at Wimbledon. These are short duties finishing at 1300 so been trying with mixed success to bulk these out; got a bus move Tuesday (EN14 from Peckham to Bexleyheath) and a couple of extra hours on Thursday at Wimbledon.

[mat777]

One that's just popped up on my Facebook feed - Liverpool's Brownlow Hill, 1980s and 2020s

[High Jetter]

Today was a classic bus running day in Eastbourne. Unfortunately I was in Liverpool for much of the day.

[N19]

 

33 minutes ago, cms206 said:

Tomorrow is 0555 sign on at Plough Lane for the first of the week's shifts at Wimbledon. These are short duties finishing at 1300 so been trying with mixed success to bulk these out; got a bus move Tuesday (EN14 from Peckham to Bexleyheath) and a couple of extra hours on Thursday at Wimbledon.

How much scope is there for bus drivers to work overtime? I assume that they have to still be within the parameters of the drivers hours regs, so presumably can't just do two shifts back to back - is it a case of the inspector chopping up an uncovered shift and getting various people to cover bits of it after their own shift has finished?

[Inspector Morose]

8 hours ago, 83C said:

I’ll see your VRT and raise you this:

One that @Inspector Morose will be familiar with, I passed this today operating on a sightseeing tour from Shrewsbury to Ironbridge.

Ex Chase Coaches 57, one of the ex-LT Nationals we got from Parfitts that had already been converted to single doorway. Worked on it and drove it a good few times.

[lisbon_road]

12 hours ago, 83C said:

I’ll see your VRT and raise you this:

 

One that @Inspector Morose will be familiar with, I passed this today operating on a sightseeing tour from Shrewsbury to Ironbridge.

That's impressive and thanks for sharing.  I feel that the Glastonbury services run by Chepstow Classic are real in service vehicles rather than semi preserved, just very very old - and I don't suppose their passengers mind or even notice.  Here's an early Olympian, easy to forget that this is over 40 years old now.  This has appeared at Winchester bus days and seems to go very well indeed.   Stagecoach provide some smart buses for Glastonbury.

[83C]

44 minutes ago, lisbon_road said:

That's impressive and thanks for sharing.  I feel that the Glastonbury services run by Chepstow Classic are real in service vehicles rather than semi preserved, just very very old - and I don't suppose their passengers mind or even notice.  Here's an early Olympian, easy to forget that this is over 40 years old now.  This has appeared at Winchester bus days and seems to go very well indeed.   Stagecoach provide some smart buses for Glastonbury in contrast.  

A138 MRN certainly gets around a bit, it also spent long spells on hire from Chepstow Classic moving farm workers around. I did a day for them in 2017 the day after Glastonbury closed shifting the punters back to Castle Cary, mostly driving this ex-Cotswold Green Volvo Olympian: 

Unlike the majority of the CCB fleet it didn’t last long at all and was only bought for one purpose - it was good enough to use for Glasto that year but like many Volvos it had terminal chassis rot so went in the bin soon afterwards. 

[quicksilver]

16 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

Pretty sure that's one of the bendies that was in service in Aberdeen until pretty recently - that looks like First Aberdeen Red Line (service 1 & 2) livery too which adds to my suspicions.

It is indeed. New to York, then went to Aberdeen and now based in Newcastle so this is probably the furthest south it's ever been.

[dollywobbler]

CMS - how the heck do you know all of these different routes? Glad you've got another stint of big smoke variety.

[cms206]

2 hours ago, dollywobbler said:

CMS - how the heck do you know all of these different routes? Glad you've got another stint of big smoke variety.

Honestly I don't know... Tunbridge Wells to Battle was a bit of a stretch when I'd never been to either before in my life, but being able to at least read a map helps!

For the TfL stuff, Go Ahead's route materials are outstanding - far in advance of Stagecoach - though I tend to go out a run for a rounder as a passenger, scribble my own notes with landmarks, then just do it - once I've driven it it tends to stick. Done quite a few routes down here now and building on it as I go... won't lie the bus moves are challenging my geography a bit, especially as I never really did much in south London last time round!

18 hours ago, N19 said:

 

How much scope is there for bus drivers to work overtime? I assume that they have to still be within the parameters of the drivers hours regs, so presumably can't just do two shifts back to back - is it a case of the inspector chopping up an uncovered shift and getting various people to cover bits of it after their own shift has finished?

On domestic work it's a nominal 10hr day/maximum 16hr spreadover/minimum one 24hr break every 13 days so you can generally do a fair bit; EU regulations are quite different.

Manchester in particular were very hot on "Hours and Minutes" either side of a shift due a perpetual inability to cover mileage but even down here if they're short they'll do what they can to cover it.

 

Moving onto today; first bus of the day was Enviro 400 E111 but it was subbed due to a massive air leak; Waterside Way is a *very* basic setup, basically an open yard with a wash, and the fitter on duty today didn't have the right fitting on the van so I was given similar EN13 as a change of bus; it is possibly the fastest Enviro 400 I've ever driven, even with a standing load the climb up to Wimbledon village was dispatched with ease.

The rest of this week I'm on the first Wimbledon shuttle off Merton College, though tomorrow after the shift I've EN14 to collect from Peckham and take to Bexleyheath.

[martc]

Turnham Green Terrace, 1978.

[martc]

More Ikarus fun -

We are in Morgenroutine am Bahnhof, Zittau, 1985. Did I tell you about the Ikarus bendy bus I travelled in in Berlin? It was packed and I had to stand in the concertina section, the bellows on the right were split from top to bottom and when it turned left I was faced with a gaping maw in front of me.

An Ikarus 630.

An Ikarus 66, the big brother of my fave, the 55.

[martc]

Midlands magic

Albert Street, Mansfield.

Victoria Centre, Nottingham, 1995.

And Lancashire....

Eccles Old Road.

That 1967 registered Leyland PD2 will be one of the last deliveries of a half cab bus. Imagine being given that to drive when others are swanning around in Atlanteans.

[Yoss]

2 hours ago, martc said:

Turnham Green Terrace, 1978.

This confused me initially as the route 3 has always been from Crystal Palace to the West End. Since 1909. It's had bits added and withdrawn over the years, reaching Camden in the north and Croydon in the south at various points but never going anywhere near Chiswick. 

Then it occurred to me, what about the E3? There are a number of E prefixed local routes based around Ealing so I had a quick look and the E3 does indeed go to Chiswick via Turnham Green. Furthermore it was converted from Swifts/Merlins to Nationals in September 1978. So one would have to assume this was on its first few days on the route before they had managed to fit an E blind. 

The Nationals were quite short lived on the route being replaced Metrobuses by April 1981. The route remains unchanged to this day but is now in the hands of the ubiquitous Enviro 400s.