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For those interested in old buses (and coaches)


Joseph_Pestell
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Some vintage bus pics

 

MTM  - Manchester Transport Museum Boyle Street

Fleetwood - Tram Sunday

 

Lytham 34 Fleetwood 170705

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Manchester 28 MTM 091005

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[North Western 170 MTM

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North Western 170 MTM 091005

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Ribble 295 Heaton Park 040905

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Todmordon 14 MTM 091005

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Todmordon 14 MTM 091005

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Todmordon 14 MTM 091005  Note the 'Hackney Carriage' at the bottom of the radiator

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Interesting looking at Tilling Steven petrol-electrics and 1930s Leyland gearless buses (remember how those Leylands growled ?).

Though obsolete on the road (superseded by drivers required to master crash gearboxes and skilled double de-clutching), both developed into today's preferred traction for rail DMUs.

And the bus operators eventually morphed into train Operators - eg. First, Go Ahead and Stagecoach.

 

dh

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Interesting looking at Tilling Steven petrol-electrics and 1930s Leyland gearless buses (remember how those Leylands growled ?).

Though obsolete on the road (superseded by drivers required to master crash gearboxes and skilled double de-clutching), both developed into today's preferred traction for rail DMUs.

And the bus operators eventually morphed into train Operators - eg. First, Go Ahead and Stagecoach.

 

dh

And its not just rail which now adopts these types of transmission, they account for virtually all of the conventionally powered buses on our roads. Both have developed massively but the base principles are still the same.

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By way of a contrast to a pic of ML2341 I posted earlier in this topic.

 

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Apologies for the quality (or rather lack of), it's a pic of a pic I'm afraid.

 

I drove it from Lowton (Lancs) to Blackburn in that state too :)

Edited by leopardml2341
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Despite having spent two months off my feet for medical reasons I managed to shuffle painfully around The Depot in Acton and have now been able to transfer the pictures to the computer for upload.

 

These guided tours are for groups of 10 - 15 and allow a less crowded look at the various items stored (rather than exhibited) here than is possible during the open days.  The tour starts with buses, continues to trains and ends with signs, signals and other smaller relics.

 

For this post it's just the buses which I shall assume are either familiar to most or can be Googled based upon the stock or registration numbers shown.

 

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The Optare City Pacer might seem a little modern but represents the minibus revolution which began 33 years ago when Harry Blundred put a fleet of bus-conversion Ford Transits onto the streets of Exeter.  London's flirtation was brief and small-scale but it marked a turning point from which smaller buses began to penetrate further into housing areas and were able to access sports and shopping centres with limited space where double-deckers could not go.  Likewise the Grey Green Volvo is fairly recent but represents the privatisation era and the brief period when buses in central London were not necessarily red.  RM1 was parked very tightly in a corner making a good shot impossible while FRM1 and the B-type battle bus were in the workshops which is not available for public access so could only be viewed rear-on.  

 

 

Edited by Gwiwer
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That really is a great collection. Really should be somewhere displayed properly.

 

Most of them go out occasionally to rallies and other events.  FRM1 was in for repairs to its cooling system having broken down on the way to somewhere the previous week.  

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Most of them go out occasionally to rallies and other events.  FRM1 was in for repairs to its cooling system having broken down on the way to somewhere the previous week.

 

The Achilles heel of most first generation, rear engine deckers, I say most only because some never got far enough to get mildly warm, let alone hot!

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The Achilles heel of most first generation, rear engine deckers, I say most only because some never got far enough to get mildly warm, let alone hot!

And those that did got VERY hot, often requiring a call from the fire brigade. (IIRC including FRM1)

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I'm pretty certain I have a photo of the rare off-piste combination of RM1 and FRM1 at Crich Tramway Museum in the '90s. Will look it out tomorrow.

 

My tour guide did mention that there have been times when RM1, FRM1 and DMS1 have been parked side by side in the Depot largely for photographic purposes.  However they were well spread out on my visit with RM1 being among the trains and FRM1 as shown inside the engineering bays.

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Odd sight coming towards me yesterday when I was driving home from Lancaster, when an RML in full LT livery passed us going the other way into town.  It appeared to be a private hire as the destination board was showing "wedding special".  As I was driving, no pic, and as I was concentrating on the road, I didn't get the fleet number either.  My missus, who is a Londoner remarked that it was nice to see a "proper bus".

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I very much doubt that would have been the same one which passed us yesterday displaying exactly the same, complete with white ribbons, at Kings Cross around 3.45pm  "Ours" was RML2323 in full red livery.  Which s arguably incorrect as RML2323 was a country area green bus for most of its life based at Northfleet (NF) and spent most of its time on the 480, 487 and 488 around Gravesend and Dartford.  When LCBS withdrew their Routemasters most ended up back in the "red" central area fleets for a short time and probably including RML2323.

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A couple of photos of old coaches or charabancs - the first is really of my grandmother at Brighton in 1922, but it has a couple of period charas in the background. The other is a postcard that I acquired, I know not when, but it is a south London subject near where I spent my working life, in a later part of the 20th century.

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A couple of photos of old coaches or charabancs - the first is really of my grandmother at Brighton in 1922, but it has a couple of period charas in the background. The other is a postcard that I acquired, I know not when, but it is a south London subject near where I spent my working life, in a later part of the 20th century.

attachicon.gifElsie Brighton 1922.jpgattachicon.gifDinky Darling by Pierpoynt of Charlton.jpg

The chara behind your Grandmother is a Thorneycroft. The one in front of it is an AEC or possibly a Daimler. The one in the second pic is a Crossley, ex RAF tender.

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A great thread here,  gonna spend a few hours looking over it,  i think, 

 

Ive been in to buses for a few years and have travelled to a few bus shows around the country  mainly onboard a Mkl national  Ive also worked on the restoration of a few Leyland Nationals   

 

Leyland National Mkl WHH 556S this was one of the first i worked on. Orginally used by Leyland as a test bus it then went to  Torotrak for a varible transmission test bed  before going to work for a local frim and then on to preservation 

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Blue and yellow of Daglish bus co.

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back as Rev 01 (minus the center doors

 

CEO 720W  Mkll national new to Barrow it worked there for a few years before before being sold on  it was later bought by a barrow based preservation group before being sold on were it was finshed in Barrow Corp blue and cream

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GRM 353L   by far one of the oldest national preserved  new to cumberland in 1973  it worked in cumbria  untill being sold on to Birmingham coach company then stagecoach before being bought by daglish buses,  it was sold on to preservation but sat for a decade in the open,  before being restored

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line up of 3 national variants,  Mkl, Mkll & Mkl country cousin outside the former leyland factory

 

 

i have over 300-400 photos from shows  ill post a few now and then

Mark

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Few photos from various shows ive attended  

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Two Foden MC metro buses   belive two of only a handfull built  

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Leyland panther? (if correct)

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Dennis dominator

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Portaguese left hand drive AEC regent lll 

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Cyprus Bedford J5

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Metro bus line up

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Albion Valkyrie

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Sydney Albion Venture

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GVVT depot 

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Bristol KSW & L56

 

top three  North West Vehicle Restoration Trust openday 2016

Stagecoach openday Morecombe 2015

next three  Showbus 2016

next two Scotish Vintage Bus Musuem 2016

GVVT 2016

last photo  Kirby Stephen rally 2015

 

Mark

 

*Edit  ive added some info on the buses,  for everyone  sorry if not correct *

Edited by mark374
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Nice selection Mark, a bit of info wouldn't go amiss on each photo please.

 

Mike.

Love to know where the Western SMT PD3s and Central Lodekka FLF were pictured.  I'm guessing they're preserved somewhere, as they appear to be in liveries from a slightly different time, as I think the Lodekka is in a later version, as I don't recall seeing them with Central Scottish on the side, or the St Andrew's cross.

 

Of course my memory ain't what it was, so I could be totally wrong.

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Love to know where the Western SMT PD3s and Central Lodekka FLF were pictured.  I'm guessing they're preserved somewhere, as they appear to be in liveries from a slightly different time, as I think the Lodekka is in a later version, as I don't recall seeing them with Central Scottish on the side, or the St Andrew's cross.

 

Of course my memory ain't what it was, so I could be totally wrong.

Looks like GVVT premises to me http://www.gvvt.org

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