Bus Shite

[Zelandeth]

Whenever I see Setra coaches I'm reminded of one which visited us around 2003-5.  Was pretty old then, on an S or T plate we I recall.

I remember noting A: that it was styled unlike anything we tended to see here (think there was one Bova Futura we used to see occasionally and a couple of Neoplans - which always looked like they were from space), but it was mostly Plaxton Supremes, Paramount and the occasional Premiere with a few random Van Hool Alizees that we used to see regularly.  The second thing I very clearly remember was the truly glorious noise that it made when the party was back on board and they pulled off.  Reckon it must have been a big old turboed V8, guessing Mercedes sourced?  Only bus I've heard make a similar noise were the two ancient huge double deck coaches that Dougie Bain used to run...which also had knackered exhaust systems for extra bonus points...

[jon.k]

I used to live near the depot and go on Gwyn Jones coaches a bit. The coach I used to find interesting (this was about 15 years ago) was this one 

 

photography.

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[jon.k]

On 12/7/2019 at 10:35 PM, RoadworkUK said:

And possibly a Cummins LTA10-R to turn it into a RoadPacer

A good article in Buses mag this month:

 

 

[martc]

^^^^ That has to be the April edition (published 1/4/2020). Please say that was the April edition.

[Eyersey1234]

30 minutes ago, martc said:

^^^^ That has to be the April edition (published 1/4/2020). Please say that was the April edition.

Yes it was the April edition, Buses mag do an April fool every year. 

[martc]

1 minute ago, Eyersey1234 said:

Yes it was the April edition, Buses mag do an April fool every year. 

And that was this years? (fingers crossed).

[Eyersey1234]

Yes that was this years 

[martc]

That was close.

[jon.k]

It got me hook, line and sinker I must admit. I really wanted it to be true!

[Zelandeth]

1 hour ago, jon.k said:

It got me hook, line and sinker I must admit. I really wanted it to be true!

You and me both.

One of the reasons I despise April fool's jokes.  99% of the ones formatted like that I'll fully believe until someone points it out.  It's just how my brain works!

[jon.k]

It was when I googled it and found no mention of it online that I went back and saw the significance of the last paragraph. Then when I had recovered from my own foolishness I posted it up to catch other people out but it seems most people are too quick - sorry Zelandeth.

[Zelandeth]

25 minutes ago, jon.k said:

It was when I googled it and found no mention of it online that I went back and saw the significance of the last paragraph. Then when I had recovered from my own foolishness I posted it up to catch other people out but it seems most people are too quick - sorry Zelandeth.

Don't worry about it.  It took me an entire afternoon in the office to realise that there was a similar motive behind an article in Route One a few years ago!

[RoadworkUK]

For about eight seconds, I was all "Naaaaah. What? that's amazing".

That eight seconds was paradise.

 

 

[Eyersey1234]

If you don't know that Buses mag do April fools jokes then it's easy to be caught out, for those of us that do know about them the fun is working out which one is the April fool 

[Yoss]

I read the whole thing. First thought was 'but they'll be too wide' but still thinking they might be usable on certain routes with open roads. Was probably two thirds of the way through when I started having proper doubts but the last paragraph sealed it for me...

...'fools' and project manager April Leg Pull. 

[martc]

16 hours ago, jon.k said:

 I really wanted it to be true!

I didn't! Apologies if I spoilt the gag for some people but I really didn't want it to be true.

[petermchugh79]

Garage during lockdown half the fleet is parked, only new buses still under warranty on the road, barely any passengers

Sent from my VFD 710 using Tapatalk

[willswitchengage]

15 hours ago, petermchugh79 said:

Garage during lockdown half the fleet is parked, only new buses still under warranty on the road, barely any passengers
 

I was wondering how the bus companies would choose what to drive. Reading has been using all its CNG things and its newer double deckers on old single deck routes.

I was also fooled by the roadpacer but sounds a hilarious idea - I assume a class 142 is slightly wider than 2.55 metres so it wouldn't actually work?

[Inspector Morose]

[The Old Bloke Next Door]

Temporary suspension of medicals for PCV renewals.

Mine expires on the 25th May, seems it will be renewed for 12 months without a medical.

[CreepingJesus]

[wuvvum]

WTF?  How do you even?!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-52476221

That's not even close to fitting.

[busmansholiday]

When this happened locally, the magistrates stripped the Stagecoach driver of his bus and car licence for something like two years and had he not had a good solicitor he'd have gone down as well.

Happened in York recently as well.

https://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/18217115.bus-hits-bridge-york-city-centre/

Been on that route a fair few times (on a single deck).

[MorrisItalSLX]

Our Scottish bus enthusiast may be familiar with this fine fellow:

It emigrated to Australia a few years ago, quite locally to me in fact, but it recently appeared on eBay with a few other busses from a private collection.

It has now reappeared as a static wine tasting venue. Sigh.

[Zelandeth]

42 minutes ago, MorrisItalSLX said:

Our Scottish bus enthusiast may be familiar with this fine fellow:

It emigrated to Australia a few years ago, quite locally to me in fact, but it recently appeared on eBay with a few other busses from a private collection.

It has now reappeared as a static wine tasting venue. Sigh.

 

Always a shame when that happens...Especially odd though when someone has gone to the no doubt substantial expense of shipping it the entire way around the globe.  Surely it would have made more sense to source something locally...

Initially had a moment of "Oh you better not have done that to one I've driven and enjoyed on several occasions..." but on closer inspection revealed it's not.  Very close though!

This is the bus I was actually thinking of.

Which I've been lucky enough to have been able to shuttle between Alford and First's depot in Aberdeen on a few occasions.  I can vouch for the fact that an old open-top Atlantean with L plates in the window *really* confuses drivers.

Sorry I don't seem to have any better photos than from that very dreary damp morning when we dropped her off at Alford.

Had to laugh at my accompanying driver the first time we went out though, when I sat down in the driver's seat I was told "I was about to try to tell you how to handle a semi-auto gearbox, but you probably know more about this thing than I do!" 

She's got a good few miles on the engine, she's a bit smokey and idles about as smoothly as a sack of spanners in a tumble drier, but actually drives nicely enough.  As with most of these, she could do with an extra gear though as she hits the rev limiter at 45mph.

My favourite of their fleet though by a long shot though is this one.

Not a bus you really want to be a passenger on for any length of time, but she's a lovely thing to drive.  Unsurprisingly compared to many buses over here, substantially over-engined and you hit the 55mph limiter like a brick wall.  Given the gearing and available grunt I don't doubt for a minute that if you pulled the limiter off that she could achieve substantially illegal velocities.

Her future was looking very uncertain for a long, long time (pretty much ever since new to be honest) as the unusual specification made it an awkward for to most contract work, and difficulties sourcing parts because of its rarity on these shores resulting in her literally spending years buried at the back of the depot.  I was very glad to hear that arrangements had been made for preservation though, being such an unusual bus in the UK (especially in actual RHD spec rather than just a random imported US one which I know of a couple of) and has so little wear and tear on because of having been used so little.  When talk of scrapping was going around I did have to restrain myself quite strongly to prevent me doing something that I knew full well I'd ultimately regret!

[MorrisItalSLX]

1 hour ago, Zelandeth said:

Always a shame when that happens...Especially odd though when someone has gone to the no doubt substantial expense of shipping it the entire way around the globe.  Surely it would have made more sense to source something locally...

It’s particularly sad that it was a running, roadworthy bus beforehand, in the hands of a collector who was preserving and using it as it was intended to be. Now it will just sit and deteriorate, just so some hoity-toity people can take a “look at me” picture for Instagram.

It also strikes me that an open top double decker would be a terrible choice for a static venue, especially when you slap a polytunnel on top.

[Amishtat]

A mate has just shown me this photo of something his family used to own. Anybody know anything about it? 

[quicksilver]

It's a Bedford J2 with a Plaxton Embassy IV body, nicknamed the Plaxton Peanut. That one was new to a hospital in Ely and is unusual in having a wheelchair lift in the main doorway. I used to see it a fair bit when owned by Eric Flack but he sold it a few years ago.

Tower Hospital MVE 400H by Adam Floyd, on Flickr

[Vantman]

Empress Coaches,Hastings operate 3 of these--

[jon.k]

Lottery win material there - the looks of a classic plaxton without some of the impracticality? I wonder what the size is compared to a lwb sprinter?