Bloody Buses.

[Volksy]

oops, *hands in Bus anorak*I'll rephrase:National - PhoarrBest looking bus IMHO

[MrRegieRitmo]

Sorry, but you're all wrong on this The worst bus in the world ever ( and the one I had to ride on to get to school) was THIS...

 

 

It was noisy, had no suspension and when it was warm, the plastic seats used to smell, making me throw up .

National II, phoar!

 

Best looking bus IMHO.

Nope - THIS is a National 2! (and I drove it...)

It's weird, the Nationals both used the same body with styling differences to the front & rear but they were like two completely different buses both with their own unique character! The National MkI was tinny, rattly, with a very musical engine note, plainer to look at from the front but with a lovely 'clac clac' fan at the rear, the MkII was loud, gruff, angry sounding, but with a more substantial look & feel to it & with a proper shapely corporate Leyland 'face' at the front which the gormless flat fronted MkI didn't have.

Both of them you could hear coming a mile off & you knew exactly whether it was a MkI or MkII coming!

 

I feel more nostalgic for & miss seeing (and hearing) the MkIs around more though.

[dollywobbler]

Aye, very true. National 1s scream, National 2s would sort of grumble. Must be honest, I'd rather have driven a 1, but the 2 did very nicely. Allegro column stalks FTW! Shite bus.

[Twiggy]

Like the one I learnt on for the PCV test:

 

 

A Leyland Titan !

[Dukestar25]

Sorry, but you're all wrong on this The worst bus in the world ever ( and the one I had to ride on to get to school) was THIS...

 

 

It was noisy, had no suspension and when it was warm, the plastic seats used to smell, making me throw up .

National II, phoar!

 

Best looking bus IMHO.

Nope - THIS is a National 2! (and I drove it...)

It's weird, the Nationals both used the same body with styling differences to the front & rear but they were like two completely different buses both with their own unique character! The National MkI was tinny, rattly, with a very musical engine note, plainer to look at from the front but with a lovely 'clac clac' fan at the rear, the MkII was loud, gruff, angry sounding, but with a more substantial look & feel to it & with a proper shapely corporate Leyland 'face' at the front which the gormless flat fronted MkI didn't have.

Both of them you could hear coming a mile off & you knew exactly whether it was a MkI or MkII coming!

 

I feel more nostalgic for & miss seeing (and hearing) the MkIs around more though.

Gotta admit, they were unique (especially that scream they would make as they disappeared in a cloud of smoke, but they were terrible to ride in compared to what we have today. The last bus ride I took was a year ago to pick up a car and, it's gotta be said, by comparison, you bus commuting types are spoilt rotten with the machines you have today... stop whinging FFS!!!!!

 

Oh, and you could (if you were crafty)smoke on buses back then, probably explains the 'throwing up' bit...

[Mash]

I hated travelling by bus when I first started work. East Yorkshire started to get some fairly nice kit in the mid-90s but my journeys always seemed to be on a knackered old Bristol VR with ripped brown vinyl seats and it creaking, groaning and rattling all the bloody way to Hull and gearboxes that had clearly seen better days that went into each change with such a massive bang and jolt you'd have thought it'd fallen out the back (mind you I don't think the drivers used to lift off when selecting). I then had to change at Hull station which used to be the dirtiest, grimmest, most depressing place on earth, especially early morning, on to usually a 20 year old Corporation Atlantean that was in much the same condition as the VR. Every F**king Day.Oh the relief of getting my own car. Mind you, back then you could still do Beverley to Hull centre in 20 minutes because they hadn't dicked about with all the speed limits and lanes yet

[brammy777]

i remember when i was growing up in bexleyheath the buses i most recall are the Lynxs, Olympians and Titans. The 401 would always go down my narrow narrow road, i was amazed it never hit any parked cars! Then in slough it was Beeline buses, usually a dart or mk 2 lynx. The buses in basingstoke are so much better, all those envirodarts and SLFs. Some of those SLFs sound proper beasty, anyone know what engines they have in them?

[Pillock]

We has really nice buses around here. They're run by TrentBarton, and we've got weird ones like the 'Black Cat' which goes from Mansfield to Derby - leather seats, aircon and takes a fairly fast route. All 56-plate onwards, mostly Volvo chassis I think.There's the Rainbow routes 1-3 which all go different directions, not quite as new buses but have intereting bits.... like Rainbow 3, which are all bright orange and so have things inside with the 'history of oranges' and stuff. Just makes me happy that someone's actually thought about travelling on these and making it pleasant.What's weird is they're all run by the same company, but they're all different colours and liveries. I guess it's because we only have the one company, you don't get them mixed up. As you get into Mansfield itself there's the everpresent Stagecoach but they're all blue and white, and getting on a bit.Fares aren't bad, the journey to work takes 7-15 minutes depending on which bus you get and how many estates it steams around barging cars out of the way and costs £1.

[brammy777]

Stagecoach calls its basingstoke services 'JAZZ'. Always found that a funny name for a bus service.Actually has anyone seen what wrecker their local bus companies use? Usually something old and mahoosively beefyRound here its an early eighties DAF 3300 in olde stagecoach livery, sounds proper nice, I cant imagine it gets used too often, Ive only seen it stray further than the bus station twice.

[MrRegieRitmo]

Round here its an early eighties DAF 3300 in olde stagecoach livery, sounds proper nice, I cant imagine it gets used too often, Ive only seen it stray further than the bus station twice.

Another of my long time favourite lorries! Can you get a picture??

[Milford Cubicle]

Sorry, but you're all wrong on this The worst bus in the world ever ( and the one I had to ride on to get to school) was THIS...

 

 

It was noisy, had no suspension and when it was warm, the plastic seats used to smell, making me throw up .

I'm with you on this one, maybe if the ones Highland Country Buses used were in nicer condition I could have warmed to them, but they were rattly, fumey and had itchy soiled seats.

 

They also ran one of these, which was even worse. Is it a Leopard?

 

They were run up until about 2005

[brammy777]

Is that highland counties bus wearing an alexander Y type body?Ill try and get a picture of the DAF, it doesnt venture out the depot too often, but it is in the bus station at least 2 times a month sorting out the Volvo Olympians usually. So heres hoping!

[brammy777]

much searching of the internet has yelded this:

I think it might actually be a 2500,but this is definitely the current wreckers predecessor. DVLA states this one as being dead since 2000, but the 'newer' ones plate ends in W or X.

EDIT.

FOUND IT

Checked and its still taxed n'all so this is it. £165 a year tax?!?!?

[MrRegieRitmo]

much searching of the internet has yelded this:

I think it might actually be a 2500,but this is definitely the current wreckers predecessor. DVLA states this one as being dead since 2000, but the 'newer' ones plate ends in X.

Here's one posted by mk2_craig

 

[brammy777]

regie you just posted that as soon as id edited my post. sods law that i posted that picture of the old one and immediately found the current one!

[MrRegieRitmo]

EDIT.

FOUND IT

Checked and its still taxed n'all so this is it. £165 a year tax?!?!?

Cheers, amazing what can be found online. Just so happened to be the exact vehicle!

 

Shame the older one's dead, wonder what killed it!?

[brammy777]

I'm not sure, considering the one used now is only 2 years younger, but has lived 7 years longer than the old one. Perhaps a towing incident? I assume stagecoach would have already had the current one at the time so i guess it was uneconomical to repair. I hadnt seen the wrecker for ages, but saw it in Hook about 2 weeks back, traveling at quite a speed. Have yet to see it tow however. Maybe the old one was knackered from towing as i guess the more modern buses dont break down as much. They were still using VRs in basingstoke til 2004.

[Richard]

They also ran one of these, which was even worse. Is it a Leopard?

 

They were run up until about 2005

That's an Alexander Y Type. It's probably on a Leyland Leopard chassis, most of them were.

[Mr Lobster]

As I get older, I find that buses become more interesting And Nationals really are lovely.For the second time in a week I feel slightly unclean

[MrRegieRitmo]

It's a shame Malta seems to have escaped having any Nationals considering all the other ex-pat vehicles over there. They certainly wouldn't be worse than many of the buses already over there. They'd be a lot more modern than a lot of them!

[garycox]

i remember when i was growing up in bexleyheath the buses i most recall are the Lynxs, Olympians and Titans.

I remember the Olympians around Bexleyheath, they seemed to be around for ages, they were definitely still using Y reg ones up to the late '90s...

[Mr Lobster]

Up until very recently - if fact they may still operate on some smaller local routes, one of our local bus companies used these beauties -

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8115698@N02/495175644/

 

and

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/niagarekoja/401206734/

 

(damn you Flickr for not letting me link!)

[brammy777]

Yep the olympians were still there when i moved in late 1998.I remember all sorts of buses actually, im fairly sure they were using metroriders too? I also remember the colours of kentish bus alot, but the olympians were red if i rememeber correctly?

[chester drawers]

This bloke’s take on life will doubtless be shared by many on here. Be warned it's very easy to lose track of time when you start browsing Martyn's photostream

[Guest]

It's a shame Malta seems to have escaped having any Nationals considering all the other ex-pat vehicles over there. They certainly wouldn't be worse than many of the buses already over there. They'd be a lot more modern than a lot of them!

Nationals are bastard complex machines in comparison to all the old kit on Malta, and presumably impossible to retrofit with Bedford engines and axles

 

 

This is the one I drove in Edinburgh, pulling out onto roundabouts was scary with its worrying lack of grunt and reluctance to kickdown into first. I took to using the "hold gears" function in order to try and get a bit of speed out of the damn thing, fortunately it didn't last much longer and I only drove it the once.

[MrRegieRitmo]

(damn you Flickr for not letting me link!)

Yes, the other annoying thing I find with flickr is when you find an interesting picture you want to save a copy of, but it will only save as a 'gif' & always gives them the name 'spaceball'! Bizarre enough, but if you try to rename them or even just leave them as spaceball & then follow on with spaceball2, spaceball3 etc, you go to look at the saved images on your PC & they're blank, they don't save properly! Very frustrating. I almost decline to look at flickr photo albums because I know I'll want to save some of the car pictures & can't. IIRC it used to let me but not anymore, it tries to save everything as a gif with the name spaceball!How very odd

[scooters]

brammy mon ami - unless the law has changed you don't need a proper driving instructor - all you need is somone with a full license over 21 to sit next to you whilst you practice. If you buy a car off here for a couple of hundred stick it in a mate's name (the older he or she is the better) get them to insure it and add you as a named driver (the older they are the cheaper this is) then to take you out every evening for an hour - they get to use the car otherwise till you have passed.I never had any formal lessons - there are good books that tell you what you need to do to pass and you can always save up a few quid for 3 or 4 lessons before your test.Practice, mate that is what you really need to do - the examiner is looking for competance and confidence

[brammy777]

Its a good idea, but the only person whose name i can use is my mums, and shes not keen on the whole idea of me putting my name on her insurance, believe it or not that thing on top gear a few weeks ago with the first cars is what put her off!How ironic that a show ive been watching since i was 3 is deterring my driving. haahha

[scooters]

lolhow about this - driving is an ESSENTIAL life skill she is LETTING YOU DOWN by not ensureing you have a driving license.Choose a career that requires driving and driving responsibly. Look, I'v clawed myself up the corporate ladder form the very bottom and now have a job that requires me to drive about 40k per annum. I don't like company cars so I buy autoshite to do the driving in - it's much better fun driving a big Daimler than a vauxhall insignia! My point is this - driving for work means you have to be responsible - I lose my license I lose my job, then my house and probably the family as well so I am well behaved.Sell this to your mum - steer her away from the impression that you might become a burberry wearing saxonimist (no offence intended) and rather that you are considering a career involving driving - hell if you give me your name and address I'll write you a corporate letter advising you that getting a driving license is essential in the corporate world (I work in HR in a big national company)- you can then stick this under Mum's nose and point out to her the bit about getting your licence.Brammy - joking aside a driving license is essential in life.

[brammy777]

i know it is, i have been liking cars since i was 2.But right now, driving isnt that much of a 'need' in my life, i am planning on going to college for the next 2 years on top of the 1 year i have already done. Im currently doing automotive technology, so when ive finished that course, and the one year course after, then ill need it more. Obviously i want to start driving as soon as possible, its the most annoying thing hearing mates rant on and on about their 'amazing cars' when none of them know anything about it. And i am not phased about what my first car is, i just want something cheap. And easy to maintain, something i could fix myself without having to worry about the ECU. Its not like my mums trying to make me not drive, its just it costs alot of money, and we dont have exactly have a lot of money. £500 for a car, another, say, £750 to insure for a year, possible MOT and/or road tax, plus costs for lessons, as ill need to have a few. Then theres the test itself. Ridiculous amounts of money now. And if i fail, then ill have to keep paying til im passed. i appreciate what youre trying to say, its just, i dont have the money to allow it right now.