British Buses Abroad.

[45669]

Morning All,

 

I have added a few pictures of British buses abroad to my Flickr site. There is a Leyland single decker in Belgrade and an ex. London Transport trolleybus in Spain. This is the first picture; clicking on it will enlarge it and take you to the others :

 

B43. Leyland bus in Beograd. 23rd May,1966. by Ron Fisher, on Flickr

 

Hope that they are of interest.

[Hampshire Hog]

Just spotted this post, came upon these two pictured below as part of a heritage tourist hop on/hop of service in Hobart, Tasmania.

 

They went as good as they looked too!

 

My bestest regards.

 

Kevin.

[Ohmisterporter]

Malta used to be a great place for old buses kept in service long past their use by date. Not only British built, there were German manufactured buses as well. It is about twelve years since our last visit but I am sure there will still be some in service. I wonder where I put those photos?

[PhilJ W]

Regrettably all the old Maltese buses have been withdrawn and replaced by modern buses and now operated by Arriva. There is a quarterly magazine published called 'British Buses Abroad' which has a sister publication called 'Maltese Transport'. You can find these at bus rallies etc. or you can take out a subscription.

[Orion]

One of the best is the old WW2 ex-Newcastle Guy Arab double decker in Asmara, Eritrea, if it still exists - it was certainly working there about 10 years ago

[Joseph_Pestell]

Quote below from the Malta buses Yahoo Group.

 

 

It appears that the Arriva bendi-buses can catch fire even when parked up unused for several years - see https://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20170621/local/fire-breaks-out-at-san-gwann-scrapyard.651295

Phil G.
 

Edited June 27, 2017 by Joseph_Pestell

[mikeharvey22]

My motorised N 1/150 version is still going strong. Video shows it does not like tight bends. I remember almost getting side swiped by one near Waterloo when the rear trailer wheels mounted the kerb outside "The Wellington", on the way to Waterloo garage.

 

Edited June 29, 2017 by mikeharvey22

[PhilJ W]

Quote below from the Malta buses Yahoo Group.

 

 

It appears that the Arriva bendi-buses can catch fire even when parked up unused for several years - see https://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20170621/local/fire-breaks-out-at-san-gwann-scrapyard.651295

 

Phil G.

 

It looks as though the whole vehicle is on fire. Usually in accidental fires the fire would be confined to a small section of the bus such as the engine compartment, looks very suspicious.

[Armchair Modeller]

Resurrecting an old topic, here are 2 buses I found recently

 

Bristol in Yerevan, Armenia

London Bus in Tblisi, Georgia

[PhilJ W]

Not quite sure if the Bristol has been converted to left hand drive.

 

[Armchair Modeller]

1 minute ago, PhilJ W said:

Not quite sure if the Bristol has been converted to left hand drive.

 

No - still RHD

[HillsideDepot]

The VR would appear to be Eastern Counties KVF245V, according to Rob Sly's excellent website .

[roythebus]

This one in Luxembourg Transport Museum is an AEC Regal IV from 1959, fitted with a self-changing gears gearbox similar to the Routemaster emi-aut box, it has the bigger 11.3 litre engine. the bodywork is locally built. AEC were poplular in Luxembourg at the time.

[SRman]

On 06/08/2012 at 22:11, Hampshire Hog said:

Just spotted this post, came upon these two pictured below as part of a heritage tourist hop on/hop of service in Hobart, Tasmania.

 

 

 

They went as good as they looked too!

 

My bestest regards.

 

Kevin.

At least one of those Hobart buses, the Atlantean with the Alexander body, is ex-South Yorkshire, and still has the adverts and markings inside. The other may be ex-Plymouth, but I can't confirm that for sure.


DSCN3273 by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr


DSCN3279 by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr


DSCN3286 by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr


The driving position has been updated a bit, though.

DSCN3282 by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr

[SRman]

In Denmark, they used British-based chassis for many years, with many Leylands (or Leyland/DAB) buses running in Copenhagen and other major cities. In September 2018 my cousin Peter took us to the Danish Tramway Museum in Skjoldenæsholm, around 40 km out of Copenhagen. They also have a well presented bus display there, with several of those buses being restored and operational. The bodies are by local coachbuilders.

A Leyland Comet.


P_20180922_141444_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr


This one I am not sure of: The chassis is by a local builder, Triangel of Odense, but I think it had Leyland running units, but note what is really odd about it (see the end of this post). 


P_20180922_141629_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr


This one is in poor condition, awaiting restoration, but there was an immaculately restored bus of the same type outside running services around the museum's roads. I have a video of the museum posted on YouTube (linked below). This is a left-hand drive Leyland Royal Tiger. The interior shows the dashboard with the typically Leyland 1950s and '60s square dials with black text on white backgrounds.


P_20180922_140834_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr


P_20180922_140845_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr


The video of my visit: other people in there include my cousin and his partner, and my OH. A few buses are in there, but it is mostly about the trams. Incidentally, we got quite a surprise when one of the first few trams we saw was a Melbourne W class tram!
 

Did you spot the oddness of the half-cab? The cab is on the right-hand side of the bus, which is right-hand drive. The passenger door is also on the right, because they drive on the right in Denmark. I don't know the reasons for this.
 

Edited June 22, 2019 by SRman

[PhilJ W]

5 hours ago, SRman said:

In Denmark, they used British-based chassis for many years, with many Leylands (or Leyland/DAB) buses running in Copenhagen and other major cities. In September 2018 my cousin Peter took us to the Danish Tramway Museum in Skjoldenæsholm, around 40 km out of Copenhagen. They also have a well presented bus display there, with several of those buses being restored and operational. The bodies are by local coachbuilders.

A Leyland Comet.


P_20180922_141444_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr


This one I am not sure of: The chassis is by a local builder, Triangel of Odense, but I think it had Leyland running units, but note what is really odd about it (see the end of this post). 


P_20180922_141629_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr


This one is in poor condition, awaiting restoration, but there was an immaculately restored bus of the same type outside running services around the museum's roads. I have a video of the museum posted on YouTube (linked below). This is a left-hand drive Leyland Royal Tiger. The interior shows the dashboard with the typically Leyland 1950s and '60s square dials with black text on white backgrounds.


P_20180922_140834_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr


P_20180922_140845_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr


The video of my visit: other people in there include my cousin and his partner, and my OH. A few buses are in there, but it is mostly about the trams. Incidentally, we got quite a surprise when one of the first few trams we saw was a Melbourne W class tram!
 

Did you spot the oddness of the half-cab? The cab is on the right-hand side of the bus, which is right-hand drive. The passenger door is also on the right, because they drive on the right in Denmark. I don't know the reasons for this.
 

Possibly because they used a Leyland engine. Leyland (and AEC) made their engines with all the fittings such as injectors and manifolds on the left hand side making them easily accessable on a half cab bus. Post war AEC, who had a strong export market produced a reversed version of their engines for countries where the drive on the right is the rule. Leyland never bothered and only offered right hand drive versions.

[SRman]

45 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

Possibly because they used a Leyland engine. Leyland (and AEC) made their engines with all the fittings such as injectors and manifolds on the left hand side making them easily accessable on a half cab bus. Post war AEC, who had a strong export market produced a reversed version of their engines for countries where the drive on the right is the rule. Leyland never bothered and only offered right hand drive versions.

Don't forget the AEC Q, though, where the whole engine was mirrored to allow accessibility, seeing as the engine was mounted on the right hand side behind the front wheel.

[Mike Harvey]

Turned up these photos taken in Denver, Colorado on 27 September 2007. The body builder's plate might help pin down its operator in the UK.

[Mike Harvey]

And these Bristol VR photos come from Halifax, Nova scotia on 8 October 2008. There were several Routemaster operating there too, but I'll spare readers seeing more than just this one.

[Dave47549]

.

Edited October 1, 2021 by Dave47549
Removed pointless guff

[Johann Marsbar]

A couple of vehicles operated by the London & Suffolk Double Decker Bus Co in Ontario, Canada, back in 2004........

 

Former Ipswich Buses Leyland Atlantean No.31 (SDX 31R - ignore the ADX 1 registration....) in downtown Burlington

 

A Bristol VR/ECW in the Royal Botanical Gardens, Hamilton

 

 

Apart from Private Hire work, their vehicles were used on a tourist route in the Hamilton area and shuttles within the Botanical Gardens.

 

After the business closed down, the Atlantean was sold for further use in Toronto Sightseeing service, though it is now an open topper (and painted yellow, rather than IB livery)

Edited June 22, 2019 by Johann Marsbar

[PhilJ W]

14 hours ago, SRman said:

Don't forget the AEC Q, though, where the whole engine was mirrored to allow accessibility, seeing as the engine was mounted on the right hand side behind the front wheel.

The 'Q' engine also rotated anti-clockwise (when viewed from the front). AEC developed a similar reversed version of the RT engine for use in tanks paired with a conventional engine. After the war they adapted this engine for left hand drive buses but with a conventional clockwise rotation. 

[Johann Marsbar]

On the subject of engines, this preserved 1957 Brill/CCF bus in Vancouver is fitted with an AEC A220 engine.......

It's actually a former British Columbia Electric owned vehicle that carries a fictional"PTC" livery for use in films!

[SRman]

AEC and Leyland buses were very common in Government fleets in Australia for many decades. Bedfords and Albions also found buyers in many of the private fleets, as well as a few in Government fleets. In the vast majority of cases they had local bodies fitted.

I have been on a few excursions here in Melbourne on preserved buses, including Leyland Royal Tiger (including Worldmaster versions), Leyland Leopards, Leyland Tiger Cubs and Royal Tiger Cubs, Leyland Tigers (1940s OPS1 and 1980s TR series), a Leyland Panther (ex-Brisbane City Council), Leyland Nationals, and AEC Regal III, Regal IV, and Regal VI models, plus a single deck Regent III (ex-Sydney NSW Government fleet). That's not to mention those Albions, AECs and Leylands that were in full service in the Rockhampton and Brisbane City Council fleets and my current local operator Ventura Bus Lines' fleet.

Anyway, here are two of the preserved ones: A Leyland Royal Tiger of Mount Dandybus, and a Leyland Leopard of Melbourne Brighton Bus Lines.


Mount Dandybus Leyland Royal Tiger Composite by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr


MMBL Leyland Leopard - MBAA Peter Greaves Place by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr

[fodenway]

Fodens exported a sizeable number of PSV chassis,including several rear-engined ones for the Whenuapai Bus Company in New Zealand. Most of them had very long service lives, and many of them survive today as motorhome (or "Movan") conversions.