For those interested in old buses (and coaches)

[ColinK]

On 30/12/2020 at 18:48, Moxy said:

 

Finally found it. It was 1697, ex Lancashire United.  It was a Leyland Fleetline, not an Atlantean

 

Links here (not my photos)

Front and back

 

I don't think having the white roof did it any favours livery wise.  It was an ugly thing wasn't it?

 

While still a double deck it was driven right through the low bridge at Wargrave near Newton-le-Willows, the bridge was so low you had to make sure the roof windows were closed.  I worked at LUT at the time and what amazed me was that the driver (I’ll spare his name) got right through the bridge (it was quite long) and didn’t touch the sides.

[ColinK]

My steed today.

 

 

It’s been a challenging day. We had rain last night that froze, then rain/sleet/snow this morning making the roads more like skating rinks.  While this afternoon it was freezing fog.  My shift included a couple of hours layover and I had arranged in advance for a parcel to be delivered to my bus, and it was.

 

[durham light infantry]

10 hours ago, Busmansholiday said:

Quite a few operators bought single deck versions of Fleetlines (Rotherham, Mexborough & Swinton (Yorkshire Traction), Dundee - there was an Alexander bodied demonstrater in their colours) and Atlanteans (Portsmouth, Gt Yarmouth). Some were rebodied as single decks but initially were unsucessful as the operators didn't change the springs which resulted in a rock hard ride and body damage. 

 

Darlington Corporation had 3 batches of single deck Fleetlines (plus 2nd hand ex South Shields), Roadliners and Dennis Dominators. Seddon RU's, Leyland Leopards and Ward Dalesman. The Trolleybus fleet was entirely single deck from 1926-1949.

 

Mike

[Gwiwer]

6 hours ago, alastairq said:

Limpians

Limpalongs, we called them. 
 

Ours were fitted with coach-style seats (which got damp and stank thanks to them frequently being parked in the open at rural outstations - but that’s another story) and were nominally assigned to longer routes though they turned up on VRT turns often as not. 
 

29mph flat out was what you got. As much as 40 on the long downhills but the grind up the far side was often at little more than walking pace. 
 

They were regulars on the challenging Newquay - St. Ives summer route which featured a lot of steep narrow hills, some double-rubs through villages and a fairly tight timetable which was difficult to maintain.  It could sometimes load quite heavily too. 
 

I enjoyed my days (always overtime) on that road but never enjoyed fighting both bus and timetable.  The appearance of a VRT was actually welcome. 

[108]

10 hours ago, leopardml2341 said:

SYPTE originally trialled an Irish (CIE iirc) Ailsa; reg number 621 ZO.

 

It was used on my local routes 139/40/1/2 in Rotherham for a while in 1975. Its 'mucky orange' livery made it well and truly invisible in the then prevalent sodium street lighting, add a bit o' fog and the only way you knew it was coming was engine noise.

621 ZO (CIE D621) was an AN68 Atlantean with Van Hool McArdle bodywork. Originally based at Clontarf depot and used on my local bus route. 

[J. S. Bach]

On 30/12/2020 at 19:12, PhilJ W said:

Thanks, thats the one. It happened to be the evening rush hour. Those stretched Suburbans took no prisoners.

BTW, the Merritt Parkway was built during the late 1930s just for automobiles and was a toll road. The toll booths were quite in harmony with the rest of the route. The tolls were removed in 1988; more information here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merritt_Parkway

[leopardml2341]

10 hours ago, 108 said:

621 ZO (CIE D621) was an AN68 Atlantean with Van Hool McArdle bodywork. Originally based at Clontarf depot and used on my local bus route. 

Thanks for that, obviously mis-associated two events then. Mind you I was only 11 and it is 46 yrs ago.

 

SYPTE Ailsas did have the same bodywork, but I wonder why they would be trialling an Atlantean when Sheffield Transport (by then the 'voice' of SYPTE) had operated Atlanteans for many years? Rotherham and Doncaster were mainly Daimler fleets.

Edited January 1, 2021 by leopardml2341
Effin predictive text......

[Enterprisingwestern]

 

from memory, dangerous territory!, 621 ZO was trialled for it's Van Hool McArdle bodywork rather than it's mechanical bits.

 

Mike.

[Busmansholiday]

30 minutes ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

from memory, dangerous territory!, 621 ZO was trialled for it's Van Hool McArdle bodywork rather than it's mechanical bits.

 

Mike.

My recollection as well as the Ailsas were ordered with Alexander bodies but Alexander couldn't deliver on time. The first one, 369, was built by Van Hool in Belgium then shipped to Ireland as the prototype for McArdle to work to for the other 61 and the two ordered by A1 Service in Ayreshire. 

There was another body built by Van Hool McArdle that was on a AN68 Atlantean chassis that became South Yorkshire 431. It was at the Commercial Motor Show, rumours had it that to get it finished in time it was shipped across part finished for SYPTE to complete, except that was delayed slightly as somebody at the docks sent the Atlantean to Volvo in Scotland instead of Sheffield.

[PhilJ W]

8 hours ago, J. S. Bach said:

BTW, the Merritt Parkway was built during the late 1930s just for automobiles and was a toll road. The toll booths were quite in harmony with the rest of the route. The tolls were removed in 1988; more information here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merritt_Parkway

I didn't have to pay a toll, but then it was fairly late in the evening, about nine o'clock. Its possible it was toll free after a certain time. I may have used it shortly after the toll booths closed as it was certainly very busy but traffic was moving quite fast, about 50mph. 

[PhilJ W]

By the way, this is one of the stretched suburbans.

[PhilJ W]

And another.

[Metr0Land]

I've found my remaining London Country / Southdown PD3's.  Contrary to my initial post I evidently did get a front view at Godstone (pic 1).  Pic 2 is at Forest Row.  The bus hasn't actually reached the terminus but the conductor has changed to blind to show West Croydon already, both pics nov75.  Pic 3 is early '76 inside Godstone garage showing AF, RT, RML and LS types.  All 3 pics are LS3, I never saw the others.  What interesting times they were!

[J. S. Bach]

10 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

By the way, this is one of the stretched suburbans.

Stretched suburbans? Try this one on for size :

 

Or, if you prefer a car:

 

They were together:

 

Note that I would have a hard time choosing, but the Suburban would probably be my choice; probably even street-legal. the Camaro, probably not!

[PhilJ W]

Neither would fit on the Merritt Parkway as the bridges are only eight feet high.

[Unicorn1]

On 01/01/2021 at 11:33, Metr0Land said:

I've found my remaining London Country / Southdown PD3's.  Contrary to my initial post I evidently did get a front view at Godstone (pic 1).  Pic 2 is at Forest Row.  The bus hasn't actually reached the terminus but the conductor has changed to blind to show West Croydon already, both pics nov75.  Pic 3 is early '76 inside Godstone garage showing AF, RT, RML and LS types.  All 3 pics are LS3, I never saw the others.  What interesting times they were!

Brilliant, you can almost hear the sparrows tweeting in the roof of Godstone garage. It looks like the AF next to the LS isn't going anywhere soon.

 

Les

 

[Gwiwer]

Four AFs in the shed at once on a weekday (if it had been a Sunday there would have been many more Routemasters in) suggests the all-too-common poor level of availability and potentially having a crew bus out on the 410. Typically the Oxted school runs. 

[Busmansholiday]

Cameraphone shot of a print I did best part of 50 years ago,

 

One of Portsmouth's Pennine bodied Atlanteans.

[Gwiwer]

42 minutes ago, Busmansholiday said:

One of Portsmouth's Pennine bodied Atlanteans.

Curious beasts they were.  No obvious reason for them to have been saloons in terms of bridge restrictions around Portsmouth.  CPPTD only ever had a few saloons and largely confined to a handful of lightly-used routes.  The 23 / 24 Wymering - Highbury in Cosham was one.  Before the Atlanteans there were dual-doorway Tiger Cubs iirc, or perhaps they were Panthers.  The note in the timetable at the time, when everyone was accustomed to conductors, advised that "These services* are operated by one-man buses.  Intending passengers will greatly assist in maintaining time table if destination is stated and the exact fare paid when entering and the ticket accepted from the ticket issuing machine.  Passengers are respectfully invited to use the driver's signal bell if desirous of alighting at request stops."

 

* Portsmouth was not quite unique in using uni-directional route numbers and letters.  The "services" would be, in the case I mentioned, the 23 outbound and 24 return.  The 5 and 6 were Portsmouth - Southsea - Eastney - Cosham routes which had replaced trolleybuses with the same route numbers.  The 17 / 18 also used trolleys on the busy Portsmouth - Eastney loop and saw off that mode of transport when the last one returned to Eastney depot off the 17.  Pompey ran numerous circulars which gave the unidirectional numbering some reason.  There were also lengthy "Q-shape" routes between Paulsgrove - Cosham - Portsmouth - Southsea - Fratton - Cosham (A and B, later becoming the 1,2, 3 and 4 with route variations through the city) again meaning the unidirectional identification made sense.  Letters were used in addition to numbers though the distinction between trolleybus and motorbus services was not entirely clear.  It was the 17 / 18 upon which I last rode Pompey trolleys though I have also used the 5 / 6 and possibly others. 

 

In addition to which Corporation routes which left the City for points north in the Farlington and Leigh Park areas always carried a suffix letter outbound to indicate route and destination but always carried the plain route number inbound irrespective of origin or route.  Thus the 143 and 148 ran towards Portsmouth but the 143a - 143f and 148a / 148b ran the other way.  

Edited January 2, 2021 by Gwiwer

[Oldddudders]

Torbay has since 2019 had a route that operates from the Harbourside all round the outer parts of the borough, including via the hospital and the Willows shopping centre. It is route 35, but it comes in two varieties - 35A and 35C. Anti-clockwise and clockwise!

[Busmansholiday]

1 hour ago, Oldddudders said:

Torbay has since 2019 had a route that operates from the Harbourside all round the outer parts of the borough, including via the hospital and the Willows shopping centre. It is route 35, but it comes in two varieties - 35A and 35C. Anti-clockwise and clockwise!

They combined the 32 (The Willows via Shiphay) and the 34 (The Willows via St Marychurch) into one loop. Both routes were, and still are, operated by their oldest (06 plate) Darts.

[Busmansholiday]

1 hour ago, Gwiwer said:

CPPTD only ever had a few saloons and largely confined to a handful of lightly-used routes

Possibly more than you think. I've pictures of (all dual door), Weymann bodied Tiger Cubs and Leopards, Marshall bodied Panther Cubs and Swifts and the Pennine bodied Atlanteans. Then there were the Nationals and the Wadham Stringer bodied Dennis's.

[Gwiwer]

1 hour ago, Oldddudders said:

route 35, but it comes in two varieties - 35A and 35C. Anti-clockwise and clockwise!

Use of A and C in that manner has become fairly common in more recent times.  I recall Eastbourne doing it when a new road opened and "arguments" with Southdown eased to permit them to operate a new circular service.  

[Enterprisingwestern]

8 hours ago, Oldddudders said:

but it comes in two varieties - 35A and 35C. Anti-clockwise and clockwise!

 

Sheffield Transport Department had an Outer Circle route # 2 or 3, and an Inner Circle route # 8 or 9 depending on direction.

In the good old days you could ride the Outer Circle route in it's entirety for 2p, a bargain for 2 hours sight seeing!

 

Mike.

[leopardml2341]

10 hours ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

Sheffield Transport Department had an Outer Circle route # 2 or 3, and an Inner Circle route # 8 or 9 depending on direction.

In the good old days you could ride the Outer Circle route in it's entirety for 2p, a bargain for 2 hours sight seeing!

 

Mike.

My local bus route, when I were a kid, operated as a 'Circular' with differing route numbers to ascertain direction; good job really as there was a time when the destination blinds just showed Circular. Parents house was about 1/3 round in one direction and (obviously) 2/3 in the other. As Mike says, kids fares didn't cross into the next band for either direction so it didn't matter, but when I had to pay adult fare it made quite a difference. I couldn't get away with not paying full fare as too many drivers knew me (my father worked for RCT and then SYPTE) although I didn't often know them