For those interested in old buses (and coaches)

[Darius43]

Worthing bus rally 31 July 2022

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cheers

 

Darius

 

 

[Darius43]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cheers

 

Darius

[Johann Marsbar]

8 hours ago, great central said:

Following the Leyland National theme, I found this on YouTube. 

Although I don't necessarily agree with urban exploration it has what looks like a bendy bus version of a National. I didn't know such a thing existed but Google gives the answers as usual 

 

 

 

What they looked like when new........

 

[Johann Marsbar]

A few from todays Sandtoft Gathering.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

[russ p]

37 minutes ago, Johann Marsbar said:

 

What they looked like when new........

 

 

That's strange,  engine on rear vehicle and radiator on front.  Wonder why they gave them different front ends to a normal national 

[Lord Flashheart]

Hull and East Yorkshire buses at Sandtoft today. 

 

Rob

[Mike_Walker]

26 minutes ago, russ p said:

 

That's strange,  engine on rear vehicle and radiator on front.  Wonder why they gave them different front ends to a normal national 

These were built in conjunction with Leyland's Danish affiliate DAB.  Four were built in 1979 for South Yorkshire PTE and had Leyland O690 underfloor engines in the front section hence the front radiator and ZF gearboxes.  The body was assembled using Leyland National components but that was the only connection.

 

In 1983 they moved on to McGill, Glasgow and later still to Hampshire Bus.  More than one appears to have ended up at Winkleigh, Devon where the video appears to have been shot.

 

British Airways had some similar vehicles for airside work at Heathrow whilst SYPTE later bought a second batch but they had DAB styled bodies of totally different appearance.

 

[ColinK]

We had one of those Leyland/DAB on loan in Greater Manchester, I was working in the Planning Department had a ride on it.  Someone suggested taking it up to Piccadilly Station where it got stuck trying to turn round. 
 

Meanwhile today I’ve been driving Dalesbus service 830 from Lancaster to Richmond and back.  The roads through Swaledale are narrow and challenging, but I was allocated our 10 day old Optare Solo - I got it back unscathed.

 

[Johann Marsbar]

I've recently discovered that all the episodes of "Kojak" have been made available online - though they are not actually on YouTube - link to the site is available on there.

Watching the very first episode, from 1973, they visit a dealers yard that appears to be under the elevated roadway running along the east side of Manhattan and which has a rather nice selection of red/cream/grey liveried elderly GM buses.......

 

 

 

Not brilliant images, but you can see a lot more if you watch the episode in question!!

https://archive.org/details/kojak-S01/Kojak+S01e01+Siege+Of+Terror.mkv

Don't know who the operator was, but they appear to be numbered in the 500 series.

 

Edited August 2, 2022 by Johann Marsbar

[melmerby]

Not exactly an old bus (New to NXWM July 2007) but an old livery.

NXWM 4722 in Birmingham City Transport colours as part of National Express's heritage liveries fleet:

See here in Solihull today, somewhere BCT never ran to, (Apart from Coventry Road trolleybuses to the Rover Works!)

It currently operates out of Yardley Wood Garage

 

There are examples of all pre WMPTE local authority bus operators liveries in the fleet.

 

NXWM actually own two ex BCT buses.

3225 a fully restored Daimler CVG6 with a Crossley body at Yardley Wood and 3035 a Guy Arab IV with a Met/Cam body this is under restoration (slowly!) at Walsall garage.

There are also a few other ex Local Authority buses in various states of restoration.

 

 

Edited August 4, 2022 by melmerby

[leopardml2341]

18 hours ago, melmerby said:

Not exactly an old bus (New to NXWM July 2007) but an old livery.

NXWM 4722 in Birmingham City Transport colours as part of National Express's heritage liveries fleet:

See here in Solihull today, somewhere BCT never ran to, (Apart from Coventry Road trolleybuses to the Rover Works!)

It currently operates out of Yardley Wood Garage

 

There are examples of all pre WMPTE local authority bus operators liveries in the fleet.

 

NXWM actually own two ex BCT buses.

3225 a fully restored Daimler CVG6 with a Crossley body at Yardley Wood and 3035 a Guy Arab IV with a Met/Cam body this is under restoration (slowly!) at Walsall garage.

There are also a few other ex Local Authority buses in various states of restoration.

 

 

Which just goes to show how cr@p modern liveries are!

 

This looks much better - even on a modern bus.....

[PhilJ W]

7 minutes ago, leopardml2341 said:

Which just goes to show how cr@p modern liveries are!

 

This looks much better - even on a modern bus.....

I posted some pics of local buses with traditional liveries here a few weeks ago. Most of them look smart on the most modern buses. They also have a few buses in a new livery and more are coming on stream. Basically the local buses (First Essex) will be in three shades of green. I'm in two minds as to whether I like it or not. At least its an improvement on the First Bus 'Barbie' livery.

[Gwiwer]

5 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

Basically the local buses (First Essex) will be in three shades of green. I'm in two minds as to whether I like it or not. At least its an improvement on the First Bus 'Barbie' livery.

It has taken what - a generation and more -  for the senior management at First to agree that pink / grey / magenta vinyls actually looked awful, shoddy and very unattractive. 
 

The Buses of Somerset unit was the first to break the mould entirely and adopt a modern and quite attractive scheme using greens. Their Cornish neighbours were close behind, helped I am sure by an overlap of management and local vehicle swaps. “Buses of Somerset” green (minus the branding) is a regular sight around Penzance for example. 
 

First Kernow buses has gone further. Many routes are branded and should have buses in one of several bright and generally attractive liveries. The concept is creeping out across the group.
 

Whether the Cornish “thing” of abandoning route numbers in favour of more complex names is altogther a good thing is one for the jury.
 

The entire network is pitched largely at the visitor in a manner which strongly suggests to this humble scribe that local traffic - if any - is a nice-to-have add-on to the tourist revenue. They need to focus as much on those who need and use the buses day in day out year round and who pay the wages (or at least some of them) on a wet Tuesday in February. 
 

Even route branding gets confusing. “The Tinner” has two different routes, from Truro to St. Ives or Penzance and each with its own different route through Hayle. At Penzance it meets both the “Tin Coaster” and the “Lands End Coaster” …..  although the umbrella “Atlantic Coasters” brand has been abandoned. You can see the potential for someone to end up on the wrong bus. 
 

What wad wrong with the good old numbers? 1 - 18 covered the entire western end of Cornwall.  The 14 and 18 are now The Tinner. The Tin Coaster was the 10. Lands End Coaster was the 1, 15 and 17B.  Numbers don’t prevent pretty route-branded buses being used. 

[great central]

First Eastern Counties have done similar with their longer inter urban(?) routes

What used to be one route all the way from Peterborough to Lowestoft is now split. Peterborough to Norwich is Excel branded with 4 different variations A to D using red buses brand new in the last couple of years.

Norwich to Yarmouth or Lowestoft is now the Coast Liner X something using former Excel buses re-liveried in blue and yellow. 

The Yarmouth and Lowestoft locals are now Coastal Reds, still with their route numbers.

The Lowestoft to Martham service 1 and 1A is now the coastal clipper service with, in summer, the addition of a 1C from Hemsby to the Pleasure Beach using open top buses branded Coastal Cabriolet.

There is some mixing and matching at times, probably due to traffic demands as much as anything.

There's still some older ones in 'Barbie' livery which look very tired and a few in the 'shades of purple ' livery including several 51 plate boneshakers which seem to have absolutely no suspension!

 

[melmerby]

2 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

First Kernow buses has gone further. Many routes are branded and should have buses in one of several bright and generally attractive liveries. The concept is creeping out across the group.
 

Whether the Cornish “thing” of abandoning route numbers in favour of more complex names is altogther a good thing is one for the jury.

 

Bring back Western National & their Bristol buses with the offset gangway upstairs!

Used them quite a lot when younger as my parents camped in Cornwall (Pentewan) many times and we used the bus to get around, although we drove there.

[PhilJ W]

I've seen a couple of buses locally that are in three shades of red in the same style as the green First Essex. Three different shades of the same colour divided diagonally.

[pH]

1 hour ago, melmerby said:

Bring back Western National & their Bristol buses with the offset gangway upstairs!

Conductors/conductresses (and specifically their shins) would not thank you for that!

[melmerby]

3 minutes ago, pH said:

Conductors/conductresses (and specifically their shins) would not thank you for that!

Bit of a PITA when the person at the window seat needed to get off a full bus.

[pH]

6 minutes ago, melmerby said:

Bit of a PITA when the person at the window seat needed to get off a full bus.

That’s the passenger point of view. Crew in that situation couldn’t care less! 👿

Edited August 5, 2022 by pH

[Dunsignalling]

15 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

It has taken what - a generation and more -  for the senior management at First to agree that pink / grey / magenta vinyls actually looked awful, shoddy and very unattractive. 
 

 

 

Could it be that the cohort of Senior Management that thought it a good idea in the first place, and has clung to it ever since, has retired?

Edited August 6, 2022 by Dunsignalling

[John M Upton]

It's happening to First down this part of the world too, Portsmouth area are ditching the appalling Barbie for a new snazzy Solent identity with two tone blue and yellow (rather similar to Metrobus in Crawley but fortunately far enough apart to not be confused I hope) whilst Southampton are now all red, which just happened to be the colour of the old Southampton Corporation of which they are a direct descendent.

 

What is noticeable is that on these new liveries, First barely warrants a mention at all...

[PhilJ W]

I've no idea where this is but with RHD and the entrance on the left its either Japan or the Malay peninsular. 

[Gwiwer]

19 hours ago, John M Upton said:

First barely warrants a mention at all...

Indeed.  They appear at pains to distance themselves from ...... themselves!  And their lacklustre track record in most areas of the business.  

 

Cornwall they do trade as "First Kernow Buses" but under the umbrella of the regional Transport for Cornwall established by Cornwall Council.  First run what I believe is now a 100% commercial network whilst Go Cornwall Buses - the Cornish arm of the Plymouth operator once known as Plymouth Citybus - holds the contract for all supported routes as one tender and sub-lets a few of them to smaller local operators.  Hopleys of Mount Hawke continue to run their two routes (Porthtowan - Truro 304 and St. Agnes - Redruth 315) whilst OTS in Falmouth run a number of minor but lifeline routes in that area.  Numerous mid-Cornwall routes are run by Travel Cornwall based adjacent to the former Western Greyhound premises in Summercourt.

 

First seems to have developed a love affair with part-open toppers.  Even the everyday "Tin Coaster" (which IMHO should still be the 10) between Penzance and Pendeen sports them.  On tourist routes fair enough which includes much of the Lands End Coaster's near four-hour circular route but the old-established Penzance - Lands End part of the route (which was appropriately the 1 from many years ago) is used as much by local people as others.  The economics of running open-toppers in mid-winter along the remote St. Ives - Lands End coast road might be arguable but it saves the need to de-roof and re-roof convertible vehicles (which by and large are a thing of the past now) and offers work to otherwise surplus vehicles in the off-season thereby reducing fleet strength and associated costs.  Anyone who might travel can easily be accommodated downstairs at such times.  When I drove that route it ran weekly from October to Easter and seldom saw a passenger.  It now runs two daily trips through the darker months.  In my day just two trips daily rain in summer whereas nowadays it is hourly.  

[Johann Marsbar]

4 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

I've no idea where this is but with RHD and the entrance on the left its either Japan or the Malay peninsular. 

 

Experimental vehicle in Nagoya, Japan, according to the book "Trolleybus World from A-Z" by S.Korolkov/K.Klimov. The system only ran from 1943 to 1951 and seems to have had a habit of converting other commercial chassis (motor vehicles) to trolleybuses. There's an offside view of the vehicle in that book.

[PhilJ W]

7 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

I've no idea where this is but with RHD and the entrance on the left its either Japan or the Malay peninsular. 

 

2 hours ago, Johann Marsbar said:

 

Experimental vehicle in Nagoya, Japan, according to the book "Trolleybus World from A-Z" by S.Korolkov/K.Klimov. The system only ran from 1943 to 1951 and seems to have had a habit of converting other commercial chassis (motor vehicles) to trolleybuses. There's an offside view of the vehicle in that book.

Thanks for that information. It looks like a 'bitsa' with various components. Notice the wheel collectors on the trolley arms, it looks as if they came from a tram.