Bus Shite

[Christine]

and the odd Maxi

[CreepingJesus]

Sure there's no Foden strokers on the road? There's a fair few on the truck side of things.

Did any buses get the Commer stroker engine?

[busmansholiday]

A few did but other than bus rallies your not going to have the delight of one these days.

[rml2345]

I'm sure the TS3 Stroker found it's way into the Commer Avenger coach range which was aimed at the same sort of operators who bought Bedford SBs and the like. Some have made it to preservation but I think they're quite rare.

[Christine]

Commer Avenger  

...sadly petrol  

 

 

 

This could go in minature Shite , but its also a bus.

Bought this years ago at a swap meet for 30 quid. It's a model of a COMMER AVENGER chassis . ( Me Dad said that, and he knows everyfink about buses !! ) Other than that I know nothing about it , but one day I'll restore it. The front axle was broke,but me old Dad has made another.. most of the rest i have in a box.. It's all rivited Alooominum chassis rails, wooden engine block ,copper and ali for other parts ..Exquisite ain't it ?? Looks like an apprentice piece, must have taken hours to build..The penny gives an idea of it's size.Double click pics and they'll go big !

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[Zelandeth]

There's (or at least was in 2005 when I last saw it) an imported TMC coach from the US back up north in private hands still running a Detroit 8V71 - was the first time I'd ever come across one.  The sound is truly epic and something any self respecting petrol (or diesel) head needs to experience.  Was really shocked by how smooth it was.

 

Body was a royal mess with accident damage to the rear and several missing bits of glass.  It was solid though and was slated for restoration.  It drove well enough too, even with a typically dopey Alison 'box which you could catch snoozing if you did anything other than keep the throttle absolutely steady coming out of a junction.

 

...we may have also done a flat out test on a private road with the silencer nowhere near the bus.

[Zelandeth]

Edit...but the edit function doesn't work right on my phone...

 

Can't remember for certain, but I think it's an MC-5.  Could be well wrong there though, only saw it once.

[quicksilver]

Sure there's no Foden strokers on the road? There's a fair few on the truck side of things.

Did any buses get the Commer stroker engine?

Roger Burdett's amazing collection includes a two-stroke Foden and a TS3-engined Commer, both in full working order. There's a handful of others active on the rally scene too I think.

[Soap Distant]

Oh yes, I forgot. I was waffling on about the time I was playing with buses, wasn't I? Where did I get to? Oh yes....

 

We left the fleet settling down with a mixture of REs, a few Leopards, a number of Bedfords and another collective noun of Seddon RUs. The RUs were hopeless, the Bedfords and the coach bodied Leopards were unpopular with the travelling public. The only recourse was to buy more REs!

 

PVT182L was a 680 engined RE, new to PMT. It survived three livery changes but always seemed to be a bit of a problem child. It didn't last that long and was gone bu 1990.

 

 

 

GTX360N was a real peach of a bus. Ex Inter Valley Link and painted brown and cream for a service in relation with the Severn Valley Railway. Its condition was so good, it was one of the longest serving REs we had.

 

 

KTX244L Another wonderful condition RE from Wales. This was the only RE to survive our use and was sold on to Tannat Valley, Oswestry for further service.

 

 

HTD323K Another East Lancs RESL/0600. Noisy rattly but went rather well.

 

 

LGH384H A rare Northern Counties RESL with 0600 engine. This was painted brown to serve as a reserve for the Severn Valley service. Not a great performer with a lot of blowby into the crankcase. Condition wise, it didn't warrant an engine rebuild and so it soldiered on until finally grinding to a halt. The blow by got so bad that the dipstick had to be wired solidly to the dipstick tube as it had a habit of firing the dipstick out across the road. One notable feature was that the opening skylights (like on a 70s coach) wee air operated from the cab. Operating one of the four switched elicited a hiss and a thud as one end of one of the two skylights sprang open. When the air pressure went down overnight, the skylights would spring back closed with an equally loud thud. Here's a pic of similar 385 as I don't have one of this bus. 

 

 

Time were a changing and REs were starting to become harder to find in reasonable condition. We nearly bought some Marshall bodied examples but decided they were just too far gone and so the search was on for the next standard bus.

 

Yes, it had to be the National, didn't it? XEH250M was our first and an unforgettable beast it was! We were used to the REs heavy engineering and so this National didn't sit well in the fleet. What also didn't sit well was its apatite for rear brakes; a set would last about six to seven weeks and when there was only a few of you doing the maintenance, this diva like behaviour was not what was needed! Smoke was also a problem and the constant battle with the rear mounted radiator fan and its bracketry didn't endear this machine to any of us. Drivers found it okay to drive but cold and unsurprisingly XEH didn't last too long in the fleet. Again this isn't one of my pics:

 

 

The two Mercedes minibuses were finally delivered around this time and settled onto the service they were bought for. Within weeks they became too small (33 seaters) and so they got used wherever until we found a buyer in the shape of London and Country. What can you say? They were a bus, they worked well, erm meh. Here's G690OHE.

 

 

The last of the Leopards had gone save for one. OKG158M was a real peach of a coach. It didn't fit in with any of the fleet but when we saw it for sale at an operator in Bristol, we couldn't resist it. It was like a brand new 20 year old coach. Originally ordered by the Welsh constabulary, it was sold to this Bristol operator with 26, yes 26 miles on the clock and was wrapped in cotton wool from the day it set tyre in their yard. We bought it and instantly regretted it as nobody apart from one driver would drive it, the passengers hated it as the isle between the seats was too narrow for their shopping trolleys and etc etc etc. What to do? We knew the chassis and mechanicals were sound and we knew that we wouldn't make any money on selling it. A chance conversation with the managing director of Willowbrook about the need for a low cost, good looking bus for independent operators based upon tried and trusted mechanicals led us both to hatch a plan. Willowbrook were already in the business of rebodying Leopards with a rather utilitarian body called the Warrior but we suggested a redesigned Warrior mounted upon a refurbished RE chassis. WMT, our competitor was just in the process of receiving 250 Leyland Lynx's; what we wanted was a bus that looked like that but was, well, cheaper. Plans were afoot and it was proposed that the first modified Warrior body was to be built onto a Leopard chassis so that any problems could be ironed out then KTX244L would be sent to Loughborough for the old body to be pulled off and the low step Lynx clone body put in its place. OKG was to be the first step....

Eventually when it returned, our problems began. Firstly, it was painted in the most horrible shade of green we'd seen and not the shade agreed upon. On the day of delivery, the ministry was in for its periodical checks and immediately gave the newly refurbished chassis and body the largest PG9 list we'd seen in a long time. Irate phonecalls ensued and the bus was sent back to Willowbrook for rectification. This was just the start of a catalogue of problems. The front windscreen area was not strengthened and so the windscreens fell out after a week when the body flex became too great for the mass of glass. The flat screens also meant that the bus could not be driven when it got dark as it was almost impossible to see out. The wheel arch boxes were so thin that one passenger put her high heel through one and so it goes on, and on, and on until we just gave up and sold the bus to Sussex Bus. The RE rebody became a non starter as the relations between ourselves and Willowbrook became ever strained.

Again these are not my photos, I have some including the interior featuring the same moquette as Blackpool trams at the time. They're somewhere around and I'll dig them out one day.

Before:

 

 

After:

 

 

Oh well, its back to Natonals then and we'd better get used to them. LPB214P was bought as the first of the RE replacements. It didn't end too well, fracturing an injector pipe and the resultant fuel leak setting fire to the back of the bus.

 

 

 

Not a good start but we persevered. Ex London Nationals started to flood the market and we took advantage of this to buy a number to replace the REs THX135S was ex Bexleybus and repainted with the added garnish of a badge of YTB945N to make it a pseudo RE to make us feel better.

 

 

 

 VPT940R was a shed. A rotten, hopeless nail of a bus. It came to us like this with 12 months ticket. It was withdrawn before the ticket ran out after a few weeks as we found it to be bent underneath as well as being rotten as a pear. 

 

 

UAE993N and its sister GEU359N came to us from Bristol as dual door, long Nationals. Useful for capacity over the low capacity of the London examples, these gave exemplary service, lasting beyond the company.

 

 

LJN662P Bought as a pair (why oh why did we buy in pairs?) from Eastern National, these were bought again for capacity reasons and gave reliable service after tidying up a bit and painting.

 

 

We did have a problem with capacity on one route. This gave us reason to buy our first double decker. But which type? Well there could only be one type and lo, it was duly delivered from it's precious operator, Trailways of Walsall.

Enter JOV746P

 

 

And duly repainted:

 

 

And so we'll end there as at the same time as the purchase of the Ailsa, life got turned completely upside down as I was given the rudest lesson in business I was ever to suffer.

[dollywobbler]

Grand stuff. I lived the other side of Brum, and had no idea about these antics!

 

That Leopard rebody is an absolute shocker though. Guess it's one reason British coachbuilding went entirely down the pan...

[Felly Magic]

Black Prince had many, many issues with their Willowbrook Warrior bodied Leopard, the emergency door had to be closed with the aid of a pry bar, and wouldn't open without a swift, repeated booting, should have kept the Y type body on it tbh, it became a ministry magnet, along with the Ailsas, one Ailsa, the emergency door fell on the minstry man's foot, and broke it, they were called to a PI, and the licence was drastically cut, this coincided with Brian's first cancer battle, and his son David, aka DLT, or Dosy Little Twat as he was known at the time running the company badly, they sneakily got round this by starting Leeds Suburban Buses, with Marshall bodied Scania N112 deckers (sheds), and Wadham Stringer Vanguard N112 single decks from Newport Transport, this op then evolved in to Leeds City Transport, and Brian got in to bother with the council for using the Leeds coat of arms, this was rapidly altered to have a bus in, by then, the N113 Scania was standard, from various sources including TWM. Brian was a well liked bloke, and Black Prince became a well respected op, and cleaned their act up, buying many brand new buses, I remember him buying Merc 0.405s, and deliberately registered a one off X51 to leave Vicar Lane at 0001 on August 1st, so he was the first operator to run a brand new bus in the country, he drove it light from the depot on trade plates, then put it in service. So glad a few dedicated nutters are keeping the name alive, with 2 Prismas, 2 MAN Vectas and the unique lowheight Ailsa wear the BP livery proudly, the ones in livery were actually painted by First Leeds Hunslet Park, authorised by the engineering manager, the one, the only DLT, David Crowther. I miss Brian, and his colourful buses, he decided to sell up when it was getting too much for him, and his health was starting to falter, plus operating costs were getting out of control, his old PD3 is with Dews of Somersham in Cambs, and wears a livery not dissimilar to it's original Black Prince green livery, shame they can't bring it up north for Black Prince running days, I'm sure it would be well recieved, I remember travelling on it on the X51 with Brian driving, and David conducting, it was a beast, and I don't really like halfcabs

[cms206]

One of the Vectas was ours though I believe one of them'll be restored as a United bus.

 

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

[Felly Magic]

United Dartised many of theirs IIRC with Cummins/Allison drivetrain, conversion must have cost a few bob

[RoadworkUK]

Pretty sure that Eastern National National appeared on one of our school contracts in the early 90s. We had a blend of Nats and Nat 2s turn up. I found the differing rear lamp designs and exhaust notes endlessly fascinating.

 

Incidentally Eastern National ran a batch of 'Coastline' liveried Merc L608Ds (van conversions rather than coachbuilts) Registrations were in sequence from C215HJN and up.

[CreepingJesus]

Found something I don't ever recall seeing on the road (though I probably did), while trying to work out what particularly woeful buses Fife Scottish used for school buses in the early 80s.

One of only two Alexander RVC bodied B10Ms ever made, B176FFS (and its sister B175FFS) did the Kirkcaldy - Glasgow express run. One of them apparently ended up converted to a single deck in S Wales!

Western ran them from Killie - Glasgow at one point too.

Surprised I don't remember them.

[Felly Magic]

FFS sums up the 'styling, brutal to say the least, but looking at the shape, it does have an ALX400 look to the upper deck with the side profile

[petermchugh79]

Naked Alexander

 

Sent from my D5803 using Tapatalk

[Jim Bell]

Some old local pics.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[cms206]

United Dartised many of theirs IIRC with Cummins/Allison drivetrain, conversion must have cost a few bob

1551 ended up at Arriva Scotland West, it was Cummins/ZF.

 

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

[tooSavvy]

 

This saddo, rumpless POS was rattling disconcertingly just opposite Halifax Borough Market....

 

TS

[Felly Magic]

Enterprise Plasma, finished by Plaxton, go like a stabbed rat, but are a bit fragile

 

Anyhow, doing a test for my new site host, if it works, more buses here http://imgbox.com/g/GJIZUNQt21

 

[quicksilver]

 

This saddo, rumpless POS was rattling disconcertingly just opposite Halifax Borough Market....

 

TS

Plaxton Primo, yuk! Operator near me had a brand new one for a council contract but the sodding thing spent more time off the road than on it. Could even be that very one as I think it was TJ Walsh who bought it when they finally gave up trying to keep it going.

[mrcitroen]

Plaxton Primo, yuk! Operator near me had a brand new one for a council contract but the sodding thing spent more time off the road than on it. Could even be that very one as I think it was TJ Walsh who bought it when they finally gave up trying to keep it going.

 

There is one that kicks about round my way. Front suspension looks way too high and it nods and bounces along the road. Been like that for ages, so must be getting through inspections.

[DVee8]

https://www.facebook.com/sunderlandnow/videos/10153045253856427/?t=18

 

Good old Sunderland bus station 1993

[tooSavvy]

^^ Under the Crowtree Leisure Centre? Choked-a-Dog fumes & the famous 'my foot slipped' as the driver mowed down an old dearie (head job iirc)....

 

Ah, the memories..

 

https://www.sunderlandecho.com/news/death-crash-bus-gets-all-clear-1-1078662

 

TS

[busmansholiday]

Enterprise Plasma, finished by Plaxton, go like a stabbed rat, but are a bit fragile

 

Anyhow, doing a test for my new site host, if it works, more buses here http://imgbox.com/g/GJIZUNQt21

 

Better pictures of Leyland Nasty Wagons on your site than in the book on them I just bought. Which reminds me that I've a couple of slides to edit out for the film show I'm doing in Sheffield tomorrow night for my fellow saddos. Subject is January to June 1978, buses I photographed. Total of 298, less the two that were taken in December 1977. One of those was Crosville using an LH to tow a National.

[clayts450]

One of those was Crosville using an LH to tow a National.

 

Please share

[Felly Magic]

Tracky converted a National 2 to a towbus at one point, they'd had some real oddball single deck conversions as tow buses over the years including an ex Scouse Atlantean

[busmansholiday]

We had a Plaxtons bodied Leopard tow bus in the late 70's. It wasn't cut down or anything, full 36' long, fitters just opened the boot and attached the tow bar to the bracket that had been fitted inside it.

I remember the delight* of steering a buggered United RE coach behind it from Woodall Services back to our depot in Sheffield one day. Caused me to go a bit white when they pulled out into the traffic on Park Square roundabout (before traffic lights) forgetting the total length. Quite a few motorists had a close encounter with brown underwear.

[Felly Magic]

The preserved West Riding PS2 Tiger bus known as 'Ethel' was once used as a tow bus, they just removed a flap on the rear, and attached a rigid bar. I know an ex Kippax & District Leyland PD3 survives as a hacked down towbus that SYPTE used for many many years. It is known as DUGGY due to it's reg.