The Evil Bus Driver

I'm going to try and get mine in December before the VAT rise.

I will be after a blue one, and possibly a blue 2EPB. That should give a nice 1970s feel to the layout i am in the midst of starting to build...

Hear it? I think I can see a glow in the sky, your wallet must be getting a bit hot in your pocket... Having said that, I have the same horrid feeling too. Might have to re-arrange my priorities. One per month should solve it. And that's in addition to that Heljan 33/1 I'm after...

It would seem to me that they have tooled up both types of motor coach. Probably for flexibility, so you can have an original one for a layout set in the blue/early NSE era, or a refurbished one for late NSE/ post-Privatisation layouts

An excursion? Loan to another company? Trip to/from a paint shop? Scrap move?

The TC coach was bought, or at least, acquired by Hastings Diesels ltd. They have quite a few odds and sods in that depot now, plus enough stuff to make a Tadpole unit...

Most trolley buses had batteries that would last about 20 minutes or so off the wires. If a trolley came to roadworks they'd just put the poles down and go through on the batteries. In the depot they quite often just had a couple of sets of wires and they moved around on the batteries in there too.

Yeah you could fill the channel with concrete and make slab track!

There was also a similar system in Mannheim too but it didn't go underground. Check out this site for loads of interesting info. You could just show the transport departments this site and hopefully inspiration should strike... Yes, although you say "1990" and it doesn't seem all that long ago, at least, not to me. There is the possibility they could cut grooves into the busway and lay those LR55 type rails in it. At least then you'd have some kind of railway and use of the guideway, especially if the bus companies get fed up and pull out. Incidentally I did see part of the Essen-Kray section which runs in between the two carriageways of the Autobahn when I went to Germany the first time.

Indeed, WW2 has a lot to answer for.

If they want to put guided buses along railways, here is correct the way to go about it.

Looks a lot like it's been put aside for a project to me. Judging by those inner wings some serious work has already been put in. Another thing that adds zeroes onto the price is if it was an automatic in a previous life as this means there is a larger transmission tunnel and therefore more choice of gearboxes.

How about some 70's style factories. I intend my layout to have an industrial estate (or at least the rear of one) so some large industrial unit blocks would be a good idea. Somewhere along these lines: My link

Found this. It's 33108 + 4TC + 8VEP (apparently. I'm only going on what the caption says)

That's what it probably was then. I remember it being a CIG west of Soton. I can't remember where it was going though. Thats the trouble of trying to remember back to being 5 years old... Still, I can remember that REP speeding through as clearly as if it was last week...

Ah the REPs and the TCs. My nan used to live down in New Milton between Southampton and Bournemouth. When we went to see her the journey would entail getting on a Portsmouth train at Shoreham, then changing at either Portsmouth & Southsea or Fratton. If we were lucky we could go to Worthing and get the Cardiff as far as Southampton, otherwise we got the Pompey - Cardiff as that was more frequent, then we changed again at Southampton, as the Pompey-Southampton line was not electrified in those days. Then it was either a CIG or a VEP to New Milton from there. One day we were waiting there for our train back to Southampton and a REP came screaming through pushing two TCs. I remember the speed of it and all the leaves being stirred up by the turbulence. Then our train pulled in, which was a 73 hauling a pair of TCs from Bournemouth so we could get back to Southampton, then our 33 and 5 mk1s back to Worthing (iirc) and then the stopper back to Shoreham-by-Sea. What great days those were.

Sounds like the backwaters of most R&D departments...

How's getting up at 4am and starting work at 5? I do have one duty starting at 0459... (I live a 5 minute walk from work)

I love the carriage shed. You can almost imagine the volunteers working away on a Bulleid coach within...

Heh this layout is awesome. Brings back memories of operating the old layout at Sheffield Park years ago. (we're talking 1994-1995 here)