Abandoned Coaches

[trigger]

Just found these photos on flickr and thought I'd share them with you as i know there are few old coach pervs amongst you.

 

They are all from an abandoned bus workshop near Bury St. Edmunds

 

All are from here http://www.flickr.com/photos/tinworm/se ... 882357292/

 

 

 

Early 60's AEC Harrington Cavalier, I know this as i found a website on it http://www.thcoachwork.co.uk/cav_gren.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don't have the foggiest what this is apart from that the tax ran out in 1962.

 

 

 

Another coach i have no idea on (I'm clueless when it comes to buses and the like)

 

 

 

The Land Rover next to it hasn't been taxed since 1984 according to the DVLA site.

[Minimad5]

I would love to come across something like this ! thanks for sharing mr T

[aled]

i would love to restore a bus

[Minimad5]

What is that coach CCF777 ?I am abit of a Clock , Dials and light Perv, and i am very fascinated by the Stop light on the back of it

[trigger]

I haven't a clue, It's very old what ever it is, The STOP sign is ace, and it only has one single light in the middle.

[trigger]

Just found some more photos of them, CCF 777 is a Dutfield bodied Vulcan P6F, Here a older photo of it.

 

[chester drawers]

Circumstances and identificationhere

[Minimad5]

Thanks for the info guys !( I am now not looking on every website for the rear Stop light )

[Mr Lobster]

Excellent. Do like seeing stuff like this.

[barrett]

Wow, I bet the scrapmen had a field day clearing up all that crap (and maxi) from the shed. i'm really surprised these haven't been restored yet, they all look pretty solid and have all the trim and glass which I bet is a real bugger to find for old coaches. I do like this sort of thing, just wish I knew a little more about coaches and busses, frankly i'm completely clueless.

[Quintus]

I always find it strange when stuff like this just gets left to rot. How come none of it was ever sold off, even if only for scrap?

[Justin Case]

Thanks for sharing the photos, Trigger, they are lovely and atmospheric. Assuming the two other front views are of GJM 2 and NCF 111, then they both look as if they are Bedford SBs with Plaxton Embassy bodywork. Clue: they were the only mass-produced front-engined buses of that period (late 50s/early 60) and they were very popular with small rural operators as they were cheap to buy, run and maintain.

I always find it strange when stuff like this just gets left to rot. How come none of it was ever sold off, even if only for scrap?

I don't know why either, possibly because coaches go out of fashion and there's not the same demand for spares as with service buses. They are also more difficult to restore, you don't see many coaches at bus rallies.Nearly all old buses end their lives in the scrapyards in the Barnsley area, they could be the destination for an Autoshite Holiday Coaches tour :http://www.ukbus.fotopic.net/c1526869.htmlhttp://tgbusphotos.fotopic.net/c1591723.htm BTW. If anyone else is into old buses, then fotopic is well worth a browse

[maxpower]

it's sad to see stuff like that left to rot..

[Mr Lobster]

Bit surprised to see the ex London RML buses on the scrapyard site - thought they were worth good money these days? (but then I don't have a great deal of knowledge on the matter)

[Wolseley1660man]

Sad that vehicles like that are decaying. Sometimes decaying vehicles have a stubborn owner who cannot restore, but won't sell.

[Minimad5]

Sad that vehicles like that are decaying. Sometimes decaying vehicles have a stubborn owner who cannot restore, but won't sell.

Which is a real shame, when i bet alot of cars , coaches and motorbikes could be saved if they were to sell.Where are most of these coaches ?(I have not read the links ... so sorry if it is in there)

[retrogeezer]

Fantastic stuff!

[j-j]

Just found some more photos of them, CCF 777 is a Dutfield bodied Vulcan P6F, Here a older photo of it.

 

I spy a Maxi!!! and and MGB in an earlier pic.

[Espacetic]

Sad that vehicles like that are decaying. Sometimes decaying vehicles have a stubborn owner who cannot restore, but won't sell.

The Harrington has been for sale since 2002 with no takers. I dont know how much for and I'm reluctant to find out just incase it's affordable....

[VWPowered]

wow those coaches are epic stuff indeedy

[hammy]

Bit surprised to see the ex London RML buses on the scrapyard site - thought they were worth good money these days? (but then I don't have a great deal of knowledge on the matter)

A heck of a lot of Routemasters went to breakers in the early 1980's because LT were binning them for spares to keep the others going. Many survived and have now made it into preservation but the final culls between 2004-2006 lead to most either going into retirement or to the breakers to keep remaining examples in spares. A large percentage of those retired examples will dwindle in the next few years as major parts pack up on them. Some of these breakers have held buses for 20 years or more before breaking them up. The coaches may look clean, but with coaches from the 1950's to late 1980's, it is almost certainly the internal parts which will mean they need major rebuilding. Plaxton & Duple both suffered from appalling build quality with bodyframes rotting from the inside out, and requiring major rebuilds. I've never understood how it happens, but I've visited several yards where an operator has a nail on a school job, it packs up and they park it up but never get around to sorting it. Sometimes they fill it with junk and use it for storage or they drive it around the back and leave it. Then they remain on site for years to come until either a mad preservationist buys it or the old family decide to give up and sell their depot for housing.

[fotorabia]

A bit off topic..the soundsystem I was involved with in Berlin 96 went to England and came back with this..

 

They blew the motor in it..another Bedford motor went into it but not completed.. it was given up on..and I ended up half living in it...

[j-j]

A bit off topic..the soundsystem I was involved with in Berlin 96

Reggae/dub outfit? There's a bloke on the BX club forum who's restoring a semi modern bus, think it's an Optare or something. It is epic in its repair proportions and I'm blown away by the work he does - whole space frame outriggers repaired under floors of that size is something else indeed. Replacing all the airbag suspension too. It is mammoth.And at the end of it all, his bus is not a well appreciated old vintage, it's a big white and purple ex-Bristol city bus! My hat goes off to him because apart from the surprising corrosion (think it's about 10 years old) he has to make some parts from scratch.I groan at having to weld a wee patch in a sill or something!

[VWPowered]

A bit off topic..the soundsystem I was involved with in Berlin 96 went to England and came back with this..

 

They blew the motor in it..another Bedford motor went into it but not completed.. it was given up on..and I ended up half living in it...

i'd live in a bus

[Cavcraft]

A bit off topic..the soundsystem I was involved with in Berlin 96

Reggae/dub outfit? There's a bloke on the BX club forum who's restoring a semi modern bus, think it's an Optare or something. It is epic in its repair proportions and I'm blown away by the work he does - whole space frame outriggers repaired under floors of that size is something else indeed. Replacing all the airbag suspension too. It is mammoth.And at the end of it all, his bus is not a well appreciated old vintage, it's a big white and purple ex-Bristol city bus! My hat goes off to him because apart from the surprising corrosion (think it's about 10 years old) he has to make some parts from scratch.I groan at having to weld a wee patch in a sill or something!

Doc?He's restoring loads of buses I think. Cracking lad, one of the nicest people I've ever met.

[Inspector Morose]

Sorry for the absence folks, been busy and only had time for the occasional lurk. The original pics look to be of Goldsmiths of Sicklesmere in Suffolk. Many moons ago he had a Foden NC from West Midlands PTE in his yard. They only made seven complete buses of this type before being bought out by the yanks and so was incredibly rare. It had stood in the same spot where it had been parked up in 1982 (this was about 1995ish) with defective gearbox drive. A real character of the old type of coach operator, a hatred of enthusiasts caused by someone sneaking into his hard and stealing the valuable badge off said Foden, led to anyone who dare encroached onto his premises with the intention of looking at the wonderful decaying old coaches being scared off with a loaded shotgun! (I kid you not.) A severe want of the Foden ( I had a couple of buses on the go at the time) led to me phoning him up and asking whether he would like to be parted from it. £3000 take it or leave it came the reply. It was probably worth £700 scrap. There was no way I could afford that kind of money with the other two rapidly eating up any savings and more. Weeks were spent on the phone to him to try and convince him that letting it go to me would be to secure its future to no avail. It wasn't that he didn't trust me, we spent many hours on the phone with him telling me tales of his years in the coach industry of the fifties and sixties but business was business. He was a wonderful chap, even then he told me that he was going to restore that Falcon one day before he died. Looks like he never did. Shame.The bus did get saved (at his price!) and is now slowly being restored by the owner of the only other surviving example, in the Liverpool area.

[Gompo]

Does anyone know anything about the buses near RAF Waddington/Lincoln?There's a yard + shed with maybe 8 buses in, I'd guess from the 60s and 70s.

[Albert Ross]

I believe they belong to a member of the LVVS, I also believe there was a fire there a few years ago, trashing a couple of buses. I believe too, of course, that I could be talking bollocks.

[Gompo]

I just had a look at Googlemaps - I think you could be right, it looks like the roof from the shed has suffered fire damage. Thanks for the info, have passed it a few times this week.