For those interested in old buses (and coaches)

[SRman]

Do any bus kit manufacturers even still exist now? I have got the bits of a little Dennis midibus somewhere, very crude by modern standards but still pretty accurate in appearance.

 

 

Quite a few, John, but most have switched to resin for the main material used now.

 

I have recent kits from Little Bus Company and TiNY, but there are several others currently producing kits. I'm not sure if Pirate Models is still going (white metal kits), but ABS Streetscene seems to have gone into hibernation - most of the older white metal kits from other previous manufacturers ended up with those latter two.

[Unicorn1]

Do any bus kit manufacturers even still exist now? I have got the bits of a little Dennis midibus somewhere, very crude by modern standards but still pretty accurate in appearance.

John, The Little Bus Company are still going, and produce a range of 1:76 busses, all in resin.  They have a website (sorry can't get link to work), and I see their Facebook pages are frequently updated. I have a few waiting to be built - the kits are well designed - ie with the actual construction in mind.

 

ABS did have a good few white metal kits in their last catalogue. I believe AS has retired, does he still attend any shows?

 

Les

 

Edit - crossed with SRman's post!

Edited July 10, 2018 by Unicorn1

[Mad McCann]

I’d also recommend Sunrise Models and Transfers.

Also a short-run resin manufacturer of primarily (but not exclusively) Scottish prototypes.

I have a few in my stash along with a Leyland T—type from Little Bus.

 

Davy.

[pH]

Far from home:

 

 

 

AEC Regent (or, probably more correctly, an ex-AEC Regent) in use as a food stall in Fairhaven, Washington State. No indication of the former owner, and I didn't realise it still had the front registration plate on it. However, from other photos, the registration looks like "(x)YE 549", which is a London one.

Edited June 13 by pH
Replace lost images with screenshots from Google Streetview.

[petertg]

I have just found this thread but 41 pages are a lot to browse through at one go. I am interested in old buses (pre Atlantean) but of Leeds, Green and Red West Riding and Yorkshire Woollen. In the first 10 pages there was, error excepted, only one very old West Riding. Are any of the ohers shown from page 11 onwards? Any information will be appreciated.

[Coppercap]

Far from home:

 

IMG_20180713_155031640.jpg

 

AEC Regent (or, probably more correctly, an ex-AEC Regent) in use as a food stall in Fairhaven, Washington State. No indication of the former owner, and I didn't realise it still had the front registration plate on it. However, from other photos, the registration looks like "(x)YE 549", which is a London one.

 

But it's certainly not an ex-LT AEC Regent!

[Metr0Land]

One of the pics on Flickr suggested it was ex Morecambe and Heysham which would fit well with the Regents in this series

 

Preserved Morecambe & Heysham 69 (LTF254) 05092010 by Rossendalian2013, on Flickr

[Metr0Land]

A bit more investigation shows the likely plate would be JTE 549

 

http://www.old-bus-photos.co.uk/wp-content/themes/Old-Bus-Photos/fleetlists/M%20&%20H%20fleet%20list.html

[The Stationmaster]

At Woodcote this weekend - i mainly go for the team powered stuff but there were a couple of 'buses present.  

 

JRX 823 was at one time Thames Valley 748 and it subsequently went into the combined 'Alder Valley' fleet as a service vehicle (driver training).  According to net info it's Bristol ECW L55R body on a KSW6B chassis.  Sorry about the Daimler SP 250 getting in the way.

 

 

 

Reading Corporation No.3, MRD 146 is a couple of years younger coming new to reading in 1957.  AEC Regent III with a Park Royal lowbridge body (again according to 'net info) it later carried Fleet No. 103.  Like most of the older Reading fleet its registration number didn't coincide with its fleet number.

 

 

 

Edited July 16, 2018 by The Stationmaster

[coachmann]

At Woodcote this weekend - i mainly go for the team powered stuff but there were a couple of 'buses present.  

 

JRX 823 was at one time Thames Valley 748 and it subsequently went into the combined 'Alder Valley' fleet as a service vehicle (driver training).  According to net info it's Bristol ECW L55R body on a KSW6B chassis.  Sorry about the Daimler SP 250 getting in the way.

 

DSCF0504.jpg

 

DSCF0505.jpg

 

Reading Corporation No.3, MRD 146 is a couple of years younger coming new to reading in 1957.  AEC Regent III with a Park Royal lowbridge body (again according to 'net info) it later carried Fleet No. 103.  Like most of the older Reading fleet its registration number didn't coincide with its fleet number.

 

DSCF0503.jpg

That Park Royal body design sometimes came out with the Crossley brand name. And you need high cab windows on an AEC chassis! Lovely bus that Reading.

Edited July 16, 2018 by coachmann

[coachmann]

Outside our house today.....

 

Sun Star 1 : 24 scale replica of RM21 VLT 21.  Sent to me by a very good friend.  I never really appreciated the Routemaster until now.  I only rode on RT's in 1960 when staying near London.

Edited July 17, 2018 by coachmann

[Gwiwer]

Those Sunstar Routemasters are lovely. I still regret passing up the opportunity of liberating an RMC version

[petertg]

I have at last discovered one familar bus - ANW 682. When at school, we travelled sometimes on a bus like this, whether it was this particular one or not, I don't remember. From 1939 to 1960, with a short interval of 1941-43, I lived a stones's throw from the back end of Crossgates Carriage Works (Chas. Roe) and remember seeing whole trunks of wood cut into slices left outside on a cart track to weather. I also remember seeing naked chasses being driven along Austhorpe Road to the works wirh the driver exposed to the elements behind a makeshift windscreen. I have pictures of some very old buses, but I can't uplioad them because they are not mine. They are of the 1933 Leeds Q bus, of a Ledgard PD1 (one at City Square and ther other at the works before delivery)  like the model and the first non-Leyland bus Ledgard bus (one on the forecourt at Roe's and the other on the street) and also two of the Crossley DD42 JUB727 with the apparently aberrant fleet number of 701 (when Leeds normally followed the identical reg. nº/fleet nº system). It had been originally numbered 27 but this was subsequently changed. These photographs can be found on the Secret Leeds web page under the Transport and Ledgard threads.

I would add that my only connection with buses was as a passenger, except one morning going to school, when I acted as bell ringer, while the conductress was upstairs collecting fares on a crowded bus.

As far as trams are concerned, Leeds had some balcony trams which only seemed to come up to our end in the middle of winter when it was freezing cold.

I also remember the wartime utility buses, just skin and bone, a wooden frame with external sheet metal cladding and uncomfortable seating.

I miss photos of Yorkshire Woollen and West Riding buses on which I also travelled.

[Rugd1022]

Brixton, 1973...

 

 

Fulham, 1973...

 

 

 

 

 

[Rugd1022]

Hammersmith Bridge, July 1979...

 

 

 

[Gwiwer]

Hammersmith Bridge, July 1979...

 

RML 2679 Hammersmith Bridge July79 2 (Copy).jpg

 

You won't see that view today.  Not only are the Routemasters gone but so are double deckers from Hammersmith Bridge.  It is so weak now that buses are only allowed over one at a time and must be single deckers.  The Mortlake - Hammersmith section is now the 209 still terminating at the former garage stand in Avondale Road, Mortlake.  The garage is also long gone too; its unique all-Routemaster allocation (at the time of the photo and for some years before and after) supplanted by modern housing.

 

Hammersmith Bridge closes to all traffic for most of 2019 which will cause major changes to bus routes in the area.

[RANGERS]

Hammersmith Bridge, July 1979...

 

RML 2679 Hammersmith Bridge July79 2 (Copy).jpg

If that photo of Hammersmith Bridge was taken in 1979, the car on the left must have been a De Lorean posing as a Toyota. It has a D plate on it, so registered 7/ 8 years after the picture was taken!

[PhilJ W]

Hammersmith Bridge, July 1979...

 

RML 2679 Hammersmith Bridge July79 2 (Copy).jpg

 

 

If that photo of Hammersmith Bridge was taken in 1979, the car on the left must have been a De Lorean posing as a Toyota. It has a D plate on it, so registered 7/ 8 years after the picture was taken!

I thought the reflective number plates on the RM were a bit odd.

[SRman]

You won't see that view today.  Not only are the Routemasters gone but so are double deckers from Hammersmith Bridge.  It is so weak now that buses are only allowed over one at a time and must be single deckers.  The Mortlake - Hammersmith section is now the 209 still terminating at the former garage stand in Avondale Road, Mortlake.  The garage is also long gone too; its unique all-Routemaster allocation (at the time of the photo and for some years before and after) supplanted by modern housing.

 

Hammersmith Bridge closes to all traffic for most of 2019 which will cause major changes to bus routes in the area.

 

 

Interestingly enough, an RT or an RM would be much lighter than current single decker buses anyway. Unladen weights for both were in the 7 ton range, whereas I have not seen any modern full-sized single deckers at less than 9 tonnes.

Edited July 20, 2018 by SRman

[chrisf]

One possible contributor to the weakness of Hammersmith Bridge is its use by cross-country runners.  It forms, or used to form, part of Latymer Upper School's Round The River course.  The clockwise route used to include Barnes High Street, Barnes railway bridge annd the lung-bursting stretch through the factory where Bemax was made.  I was good at cross-country but hated it.

 

Chris [Latymerian 1959-62]

[Wolseley]

It's a few years ago now, but here's a photo I took in Hong Kong in 1975:

 

[BernardTPM]

Hong Kong to Aberdeen. That's a long route!

 

I've got one of those in N (1:150). Neat little model.

[Gwiwer]

It's a few years ago now, but here's a photo I took in Hong Kong in 1975:

 

 

 

I thought ex-Leicester PD3 until I checked the radiator badge.  It's a Guy Arab V I believe.  Shipped out new or second-hand?

[Rugd1022]

If that photo of Hammersmith Bridge was taken in 1979, the car on the left must have been a De Lorean posing as a Toyota. It has a D plate on it, so registered 7/ 8 years after the picture was taken!

 

Thanks R - I didn't take much notice of the reg' number when I posted it, the file name says '79 but it's obviously wrong.

 

Lost count of the number of times I've walked over that bridge in the last five decades!

[PhilJ W]

I thought ex-Leicester PD3 until I checked the radiator badge.  It's a Guy Arab V I believe.  Shipped out new or second-hand?

They were provided new to Hong Kong, many as single deckers. Quite a few were converted to service vehicles of various types. Models of these buses and most if not all of the service vehicle versions are available in 1/76 scale.