Bus Shite

[Zelandeth]

It shouldn't happen, but it does.

 

Just glad he (or she) was running light by the sound of it so no passengers were up there.

 

Still mind the first time I took a decker under a bridge - I knew it fit with a couple of feet clearance - still damn near pissed myself.  Really doesn't look tall enough from the driver's seat...

[Felly Magic]

Someone is making excuses for a driver being an idiot. There are never any excuses for bridge strikes, it is clearly marked in the cab by law of any tall vehicle, 14ft6 in this case, and the driver will have been trained to know the low bridges in the area, and what fits & what wont. It is time they made bridge strikes an automatic ban, going by the damage they hit the bridge at speed, they are facing a minimum dangerous driving charge, and a visit in front of the traffic commissioner, who fingers crossed will revoke their licence. The cost of bridge strikes is enormous, it ties up the police, fire service and Network Rail, and can cause knock on delays for lengthy periods, all this gets dumped on to the bus operator, who the likes of NXWM are self insured, the company could even be called to a public enquiry to explain why this happened. TCs don't like bridge strikes. It's not a simple mistake on the driver's part, it's criminal negligence.  

[Zelandeth]

See also wheel loss incidents.  They just shouldn't happen.

[CreepingJesus]

There's an infamous bridge like that on Dunnikier Rd in Krkcaldy, that some single deckers - but not all -would fit under, and Fife Scottish/Stagecoach had a few bridge strikes, even with express coaches deployed on urban duties. Only the low floors were fine. It got to the point where there was a company wide edict that even approaching the thing was a disciplinary matter, and all the routes were redrawn to completely avoid it. This was after a big meeting with the TC, the police, and Network Rail, who were all sick of it by then.

 

And yes, wheel losses do just happen. Even to the best drivers. There's one particular make of truck on one particular fleet, that I take a hammer and ping the nuts, because I had it (nearly) happen to me, despite visually checking, and complaining of wandering steering for days. That particular brand of truck shed both drive axle wheels on one side after a wheel bearing change. This happened to a mate of mine who's as good a driver as any.

With the best will in the world, some defect issues are just unavoidable.

[Zelandeth]

Every day's a school day as they say!

 

Only have come across it happening twice in our area, and those were both with operators who had no idea what the term maintenance actually was.  The fact that the wheels involved in both incidents were wearing tyres that were down to the braiding said a lot I think...

[Felly Magic]

I remember Arriva up north had a B10B shed both rear wheels on one side, and they had been recently torqued up, turned out the fitter's torque wrench was seriously gubbed! A big oops as the wheels hit a Landy Disco. 

[martc]

 

[cms206]

Every day's a school day as they say!

 

Only have come across it happening twice in our area, and those were both with operators who had no idea what the term maintenance actually was. The fact that the wheels involved in both incidents were wearing tyres that were down to the braiding said a lot I think...

Stagecoach had a run of bad luck on Optare Solos losing wheels, nothing to do with maintainance just a characteristic of the vehicle unfortunately; Merc Varios jettison brake pads too, reknowned for it.

 

We used to run a Merc 811D that loosened it's nearside rear wheels with monotonous regularity, even on a daily retorque. They'd be fine for weeks then boom - hanging off.

 

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[Soap Distant]

Some of Dublins finest_20171215_164240.JPG

 

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The windscreen on that looks weird. Dublin only spec or what?

[Zelandeth]

Stagecoach had a run of bad luck on Optare Solos losing wheels, nothing to do with maintainance just a characteristic of the vehicle unfortunately; Merc Varios jettison brake pads too, reknowned for it.

 

We used to run a Merc 811D that loosened it's nearside rear wheels with monotonous regularity, even on a daily retorque. They'd be fine for weeks then boom - hanging off.

 

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We had a Solo running one one of our supported services for a while which seemed to be off the road every other day due to punctures.

 

I do wonder how much that and wheel issues stem from the regularity with which the less careful driver's forget the front wheels in a Solo are right out front and clobber the kerb on tight turns.  I know I've seen it happen at least a dozen times on the route we had the vehicle on...never had a bit of trouble with the ratty old Merc 709 Beaver (even with the terrifying clutch judder)...

[cms206]

Clutch judder was an easy fix... turn the idle screw up!

 

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[Snipes]

It shouldn't happen, but it does.

 

Just glad he (or she) was running light by the sound of it so no passengers were up there.

 

Still mind the first time I took a decker under a bridge - I knew it fit with a couple of feet clearance - still damn near pissed myself. Really doesn't look tall enough from the driver's seat...

If it’s anything like the building trade I bet H&S would be ALL OVER that.

[twosmoke300]

Someone is getting an interview without biscuits.

Proper lolled at that one ! Brilliant

[busmansholiday]

Biggest problem with wheels falling off these days is that they are all the same thread. In the old days, nearside wheels were left hand and off side were 'standard' right hand thread. What this meant, apart from the humorous bits of watching a new starter trying to get the nearside wheel nuts undone, was that both sides naturally tightened themselves as they revolved. As nearside are right-hand thread, they naturally try to undo them self.

[lisbon_road]

That's interesting.  I wonder why they did that then?  Can't have saved that much money, can it?  A bit sure and a few less parts.  But not a lot.

[tooSavvy]

Anyone care to expand on 'thread/nut rotation/velocity mass = self unscrewing'

 

I understand 'walking + stress deformation' (see: stretchy cyl head bolts)...

 

NOT however 'lh/rh = bombproof' ?

 

TS

[busmansholiday]

^^^^^^ err, no, just know, from what I was told / learnt back in the 70's that's why we had left hand thread wheel nuts. Also a friend who's an ex motorway traffic cop once said that wheels never fell off as often on waggons when they had them.

[lisbon_road]

It is just that the motion of the wheel tends to either tighten or untighten the nuts depending on which side of the bus or which thread they are.  I think the issue with it is partly that you can't get it right for acceleration and braking as in inertia terms, they're opposed, and braking can be more harsh than acceleration.

 

So they might have given the idea up based on the acceleration/braking thing, normally hiding a cost saving of course.

[busmansholiday]

Putting my "what did I study at uni ?, ah, I remember now, physics" hat on, ( it was a very long time ago) and as I've woken up now and not been to the pub yet, there's some interesting stuff involving Newton's first and third laws of motion that could explain it. It's called centrifugal and centipetal forces.

 

Put simply, as the wheel nut spins on the wheel it exerts an outwards force, and as it's mountings (the studs) have a thread that force can cause the nut to move up or down the thread depending on the direction. Going forward, and looking from the outside, the offside wheel spins clockwise, so if the thread is clockwise it will tighten. The nearside wheel spins anti clockwise going forwards so if the thread is clockwise, that would result in it un-tightening. If it's a left hand thread it would tighten.

 

That's my explanation, I could be talking bollocks but I am sober at the moment.

[spike60]

As an old diesel fitter I would say the tell tale pointers on the wheel nuts are excellent if the driver can be arsed to walk round the vehicle and look at the start of the shift. Every wagon, bus or mobile plant has massive power compared to a few years ago, all that torque plus brakes that work hard must have an effect on the wheels. 

I work on the docks these days and we don't have specific problems with wheel shedding much but a few years ago our new tugs were munching through brakes at a shocking rate despite being much bigger than previously, it took us a while to realise it was the engine that was the problem. They could accelerate an 80 ton trailer way faster than the old ones and as we know what goes up must come down....

I never got the LH thread wheel nuts, -hub yes, nuts no.

[willswitchengage]

Happy Christmas from one of Britain's weirdest buses...

 

No idea why they bought these when normal B7TLs were on the road since 2000

 

[cms206]

Happy Christmas from one of Britain's weirdest buses...

 

No idea why they bought these when normal B7TLs were on the road since 2000

 

Capacity of 95-seated passengers and a low bridge; these were built for one of Glasgow's busiest routes (66) which passed under the low railway bridge at Busby.

 

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[Cleon-Fonte]

The fact Volvo didn't make a 12m three-axle B7TL may have had something to do with it.

[busmansholiday]

East Lancs Nordic bodied B7TL, and First didn't buy them, they were leased off Volvo, sort of high capacity bus trial, which is why they ended up being sold for further service. All but one ended up at MASS, one subsequently barbequed it's-self and the remaining ones are still around

[Zelandeth]

That's one hell of a tailswing for a "normal" bus...bet that nearside corner's caught out a few rookie drivers...

[Felly Magic]

They could have offered the Polish built B10TL super Olympian for a while here, but nope, the Northcord kit they sold in the UK was an ALX500 Super Oly, had a side mounted rad by the staircase. That 7 litre lump must have been highly stressed on those Nordics, it was absolutely fecking useless in FTRs

[cms206]

They could have offered the Polish built B10TL super Olympian for a while here, but nope, the Northcord kit they sold in the UK was an ALX500 Super Oly, had a side mounted rad by the staircase. That 7 litre lump must have been highly stressed on those Nordics, it was absolutely fecking useless in FTRs

B10TLs were still too tall in this instance.

 

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[Jim Bell]

Some auld bus shite from around Nyacassel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[tooSavvy]

'CU' reg is South Shields...

 

Back in the day before all the busses on Tyneside seem to have Manchester plates...

 

TS

[Dick Cheeseburger]

YA is Zummerzet, so that one made a bit of a journey at some point.