Bus Shite

[Partridge]

This morning I went to visit an old customer of mine to call in a favour and was greeted with these in his yard--

 

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What's happening to them?

[Vantman]

What's happening to them?

 

Apart from the Olympian,as far as he knows the rest belong to a preservation group.

[willswitchengage]

https://youtu.be/BZa6RfNnp-k

 

Hong Kong Metrobus

[RoadworkUK]

I'm not sure if I'll ever forget the noise made by the Merc 0.303s and FAP sanos 0.315s that ran on some of our school contracts.

 

FAP indeed.

[Inspector Morose]

You're all wrong part 3

 

[willswitchengage]

Raising you two strokes:

 

[Partridge]

Apart from the Olympian,as far as he knows the rest belong to a preservation group.

That's made my night.

[Inspector Morose]

Raising you two strokes:

 

 

See you're all wrong part 2. GM 2 stroke powered home built double deckers with Allison box.

Yes, they were fucking awesome if a little, erm, rough around the edges.

[Justin Case]

You're all wrong part 4 with, irrefutable, evidence

 

I may just have linked to this many pages back, but here is a (another ?) chance to hear a variety of mainly Gardner or Leyland powered machines on full song

 

 

I might have been conducting the second bus, Coventry 135,  in which case I would unfortunately* have missed Mrs C coming the other way in her Toyota at 1.28

[cros]

Post moved cos it was in the wrong place.

Edited November 22, 2016 by cros

[UltraWomble]

Tomorrow is the LAST day of the Preston bus Leyland Oilypans

 

Three services running with the last three Oilypans.

Service 8, 23 and 35 - running all day.

[Pillock]

I bloody love the sound of Nationals.

Reminds me of sitting in the old Victoria Bus Station in Nottingham, waiting to chance my luck with a slightly doctored bus pass on the 41 back to college.

[RoadworkUK]

A "bus replacement service" occurred to me yesterday, between Ingatestone and Newbury Park.

 

Transport was provided in the absence of serviceable rails by a 13-plate Plaxton Elite three-axle job with An Volvo chassis of sorts. It seemed rather quick.

 

Later on, my return transport was an N-Reg Plaxton Premier B10M in full school-contract spec. I don't think it rode any worse than the Elite.

[davidfowler2000]

A 13 plate tri-axle Elite would have been on a B13R chassis. Available with 420 or 460 horse and 12 speed i-Shift. I've driven B13Rs under Elite and Panther bodies. The Panther is nicer.

A well sorted Premiere (not a typo) is a nice thing. Unfortunately, most* are rotten.


*All

[Felly Magic]

I think all Premieres came with factory fitted rust, when it rains I'm sure you can hear them fizzing away

[Asimo]

 

Came across this looking for pictures of '70s Coventry: Bus mechanics course at Tile Hill.

[Inspector Morose]

Well, what do we have there?

 

Leyland engine out of that RE - See the centrifugal oil filter mounted beside the flywheel?

Behind the RE - FOOK ME! An Alexander bodied single deck Fleetline. Wonder how it ended up at Tile Hill?

At the back it looks like a Midland Red shortened Plaxton bodied Ford.

 

When Tile Hill was still in its prime, they took a complete bay out of an ex Midland Red HHA-L National to make a National minibus. It ran and drove afterwards but apparently it was very scary to drive with all overhangs and no middle!

[cms206]

I got papped on Sunday...

 

 

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

[rml2345]

I thought that was an Alexander single deck Fleetline. What a cruel thing to influct on apprentices, if instructive on how many design flaws can be included on one vehicle.

[Guest Hooli]

I found this pic in my photobucket earlier. It's what I normally drove a few* years ago.

 

 

 

*about 15 years

 

 

 

It's not a fuzzy photo, my phone camera was that shite back then.

[Inspector Morose]

One of the toys I play with:

 

 

 

1997 Van Hool Eos 233. One of five right hand drive three axle Eos' ever built. In this guise, I've taken it all over the UK and Europe, including twice to Sweden.

 

Back down to earth, I'm currently driving this. In fact, I'm out on the road with it at the moment.

 

 

But not in this livery.

[Inspector Morose]

Some of the other members of the "fleet"

 

 

 

 

 

Which promptly blew up its third engine whilst on this job so was quickly replaced mid job by:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And sadly terminally rotten but still hanging around the yard

 

 

[Inspector Morose]

Oops, forgot one:

 

[Noel Tidybeard]

in a previous life

http://wmbusphotos.com/NXWM/gonebatches/2001-2435/2086.html
 

[Ditchfinder General]

Well, what do we have there?

 

Leyland engine out of that RE - See the centrifugal oil filter mounted beside the flywheel?

Behind the RE - FOOK ME! An Alexander bodied single deck Fleetline. Wonder how it ended up at Tile Hill?

At the back it looks like a Midland Red shortened Plaxton bodied Ford.

 

When Tile Hill was still in its prime, they took a complete bay out of an ex Midland Red HHA-L National to make a National minibus. It ran and drove afterwards but apparently it was very scary to drive with all overhangs and no middle!

 

I thought the one in the middle was an Alexander Y-Type, usually they are on a Leyland Leopard chassis. Might be wrong though.

 

Beautiful looking things. 

 

 

The one right at the back looks like a BET engined Leopard or something, a bit like this model, although the headlamp arrangement isn't quite right. 

 

[Inspector Morose]

Right, the Alexander bodied Fleetline was a W type not a Y type. Different but similar! This one could have been one of the 1970 delivery to PMT but another could have been sourced from a small coach company, Heart of England Tours who, I think, had one for bus service in the area. Judging by the ex BET stuff in the picture, I'd plump it being one of the PMT batch.

 

The one you think is a BET Leopard is most definitely a Plaxton bodied Ford, probably ex Midland Red. The front is quite unique to those buses. Around the early 80s Midland Red cut some of them down at their central works in Birmingham from their original 45 seat length to make 27 seat minibuses for rural, lightly loaded routes. I could be one of those ones here but I'm not 100% sure. The BET design was a standard laid down by the owner of numerous companies around the country (and abroad) and featured many standardised components such as windscreens. They were built by many bodybuilders, each injecting a small bit of individuality into the relatively standardised body but overall they had a unified look about them, whatever chassis they were built upon. The BET standard could be seen on Leyland Leopard, Leyland Panther, AEC reliance, Bedford, Ford and Bristol RE to name but a few. Bodybuilders include Marshall, Plaxton, Willowbrook, ECW and more.

[willswitchengage]

From the golden era of crapness...

 

225 horsepowers, Voith 3 speed 'gearbox' and fisher price bodywork... on Brighton's ultra-hilly routes. Naturally, my favourite buses:

 

[Inspector Morose]

That's basically what I'm driving now.

[Felly Magic]

Whoever decided fitting a Voith gearbox in a Tridump or B7TL wants shooting. A distinct lack of cogs, and feck all torque in both cases

[Inspector Morose]

Nah, they're fine. Gardner voiths.......

 

Okay ZFs are better.