For those interested in old buses (and coaches)

[Gwiwer]

RMC1461 on the route she was built for.  One of the very few Routemasters I have driven although that was in a much later time as an LT training bus.  She is still with us as a STagecoach heritage fleet vehicle having been refurbished for East London Buses route X15 and then repainted in Green Line livery but used by Stagecoach East London on, usually, the 15 but occasionally on the 8 and at special events.  

[Metr0Land]

I moved to High Wycombe in Nov75 and it was difficult in terms of time and money to get over to the Croydon area to film the Maidstone Corporation Atlanteans on hire to London Country.  I did manage to get there in June 1977 and got a couple of shots of the same bus EKP231C at Wallington and West Croydon, my only shots of these Atlanteans.

[Oldddudders]

23 hours ago, Rugd1022 said:

 

 

 

The BT Film "Work In Progress" features a Bristol Route 3 bus and crew. I wonder whether this was part of making it? It isn't the same vehicle, but when did that stop anything cinematic?

[Coppercap]

26 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

The BT Film "Work In Progress" features a Bristol Route 3 bus and crew. I wonder whether this was part of making it? It isn't the same vehicle, but when did that stop anything cinematic?

That looks to be Anchor Road, facing the Centre. That bit is one way now, and the bus would be facing the wrong way if it was there now!

[stewartingram]

I can recall seeing, fairly recently, a b&w film (documentary) that showed Bristol buses. I found it particularly interesting, as the majority of K types were lowbridge, and like the pic above, these were highbridge, just like the ones I went to school on in Cambridge (ECOC of course). That could well be the film they were shooting in the pic?

 

Stewart

 

 

[Coppercap]

7 hours ago, Oldddudders said:

The BT Film "Work In Progress" features a Bristol Route 3 bus and crew. I wonder whether this was part of making it? It isn't the same vehicle, but when did that stop anything cinematic?

The crew do get on that same bus, but yes, it's a different bus that pulls away.

[Coppercap]

46 minutes ago, stewartingram said:

I can recall seeing, fairly recently, a b&w film (documentary) that showed Bristol buses. I found it particularly interesting, as the majority of K types were lowbridge, and like the pic above, these were highbridge, just like the ones I went to school on in Cambridge (ECOC of course). That could well be the film they were shooting in the pic?

 

Stewart

 

 

Most probably is the same film. Work in Progress can be found on YouTube.

[Johann Marsbar]

A line up of Flyer trolleybuses at the Hamilton Street Railway depot in Ontario, Canada, back in 1989.....

 

 

HSR ceased trolleybus operation in December 1992.

[J. S. Bach]

Dayton, Ohio early 2000s:

 

 

As far as I know, these are still operating; at least the wire was still up a year or so ago.

[Johann Marsbar]

6 minutes ago, J. S. Bach said:

Dayton, Ohio early 2000s:

As far as I know, these are still operating; at least the wire was still up a year or so ago.

 

I believe those particular ones have now been replaced by brand new vehicles which have a reasonable off-wire capability. The network seems to change a lot as they seem to be digging up major highways there on a reguar basis!

I went there in 2012 and some of the routes literally only had 3 journeys in peak hours, so it was a bit of a challenge to get rides on the things. It didn't help that the day I decided to try and ride them that someone in their wisdom decided to drill through the main feeder cables, so I actually travelled on the only trolleybus in service for a significant part of the day before clearing off to the USAF Museum.

I picked a motel close to Eastown Hub, so it was handy for the (fairly limited) service operating from there....

 

 

One of that batch of Skoda 14 TrE vehicles has now been preserved in the Czech Republic (9803).

[John M Upton]

Whilst sifting though decades of assorted detritus in the garage, I came across a old Instamatic print which (after a bit of detective work) I narrowed down to having been taken by myself on the 12th of March 1988.

 

The subject is Brighton & Hove ECW bodied Bristol VR number 588 (PUF 588R) in base colours for an advert livery that would be applied probably after that weekend.

 

The Instamatic camera this was taken on, the bus itself, the Boots top floor cafe it was taken from and the Wimpy Bar are all now history...

 

 

Edited January 27, 2021 by John M Upton

[decauville1126]

Coming up North Street in Brighton?

[Gwiwer]

17 minutes ago, John M Upton said:

The Instamatic camera this was taken on, the bus itself, the Boots top floor cafe it was taken from and the Wimpy Bar are all now history...

 

But the 2 to Shoreham continues much as it has done for very many years.  The major east-west cross-city artery from Rottingdean once extended onto Shoreham Beach but has terminated in the town centre for quite some time now.  An hourly extension continues to Steyning which was once the preserve of Southdown routes 22 and 80.  It is well over half a century since I first encountered red and cream Lodekkas alternately going to Rottingdean (2) or Race Hill (2A) and the service is every 20 minutes now not every 30 but the core route is very nearly the same as it always has been.  

 

8 minutes ago, decauville1126 said:

Coming up North Street in Brighton?

Yes.

[jonny777]

I'm not a bus spotter, and have no vintage photos; but as a hoarder of old trainspotting books I do have a few from people who combined bus and trainspotting in the 1950s. 

 

For example, this is a short list of vehicles noted on June 20th 1953 at Morden. 

 

RTL 1461  NLE 735

RT    1131 JXN 159

RT    4284 NLE 948

D     269    HGF 946

RT   4290  NLE 954

RT   4292  NLE 956

RT   4286  NLE 950

RT   4289  NLE 953

RT   2971  MXX 60

RT   4271  NLE 935

RT   4293  NLE 957 

RT   4287  NLE 951

RT   2989  NLE 760

RT   4270  NLE 934

RT   3736  NLE 843

D     191    HGF 868

RT   2951  MXX 39

RT   4279  NLE 943

STL  1541  CXX 240

RF   463    MXX 440

D     203    HGF 880

RT   4278  NLE 942

RT   4273  NLE 937

RT   4280  NLE 944

RT   3718  NLE 825 

D    63       GYE 52

RT   3740  NLE 847

RT   4298  NLE 962

RT   2964  MXX 53

RLH  76     MXX 276

STL  1581  CXX 292

D     237    HGF 914

TF   20       

RT   3697   NLE 804

RT 4274    NLE 938

RT 4281    NLE 945

RT  3737    NLE 844

RT  4294    NLE 958

RT  4272    NLE 936

RT  4285    NLE 949

RT  2960    MXX 49

RT  2992    NLE 763

 

 

 

[PhilJ W]

Interesting list. The exchange of the D class Utility Daimlers with brand new RT's is evidently almost complete. Odd ones out are the RLH, the RF, the STL and the TF.

[Johann Marsbar]

I'm guessing that this ex LT DMS was destined for export to Hong Kong, but didn't get any further than Felixstowe......

 

 

I discovered it in this condition back in April 1982 on the premises of the then brand new Walton Container Terminal, where I had just started work on a 6 month placement from college as part of a Business Studies course.

It had been involved in some form of handling accident and was presumably awaiting the outcome of a "what do we do now" session!

Just looked online for any information about it and found it passed from LT to EnsignBus during 11/80 and then is recorded as sold to PVS (Carlton) for scrap during 4/83.......

[jonny777]

More bus spotting; this time at Sidcup on May 26th 1954

 

RFs 301, 511, 505, 488, 455, 508, 500, 509, 498, 411, 490, 464, 420

 

RTLs 418, 266, 1487, 1486

 

RT 4049

 

The notes indicate that on route 124 the fare from Northover to Eltham was 5d

 

On 21/A from Eltham to Sidcup the fare was also 5d

[jonny777]

Kingston November 7th 1953

 

RT 3339, 3159, 2583, 2584, 1439, 2618, 3167, 2622, 3168, 2305, 1046, 3558, 2201, 1072, 2348, 2322, 2281, 1081, 2333, 3161, 3651, 1065, 2305, 1542, 3735, 2201, 637, 1551, 1064, 1819, 2348, 2461, 3675, 2603, 3504, 736, 32, 

 

T 719, 750, 726, 741, 690, 754, 649, 43

 

RF 152, 507, 388, 273, 288, 284, 375, 407, 173, 340, 275, 381, 373

 

TD 108, 73, 7, 82, 102, 44, 42, 43, 117, 60, 64, 49, 113, 115

 

RTL 78, 231, 127

 

RTW 130, 298

 

Trolleybuses 1826, 1803, 1784, 1834, 1769, 1796, 1816, 1777, 1790, 1806, 1833, 1827

[PhilJ W]

T43 would be one of the first AEC Regals introduced in 1929. Most if not all were withdrawn just before the war. I suspect it should be T743 or it may be TD 43.

[jonny777]

11 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

T43 would be one of the first AEC Regals introduced in 1929. Most if not all were withdrawn just before the war. I suspect it should be T743 or it may be TD 43.

 

Thanks Phil, you are right. I checked and the strange 'squiggle' which I had ignored is a rather distorted 'D', so yes TD 43. 

 

It might help if I had any idea of the subject I was posting on. 

[Oldddudders]

2 hours ago, jonny777 said:

It might help if I had any idea of the subject I was posting on. 

Indeed it might, but the data you are providing is manna to the cognoscenti. 

[Metr0Land]

When were you last in a crowd like this?  A couple of shots from Derby Day June 1983.  A general view showing multiple open-toppers and a Southdown Lodekka RPN11 with a driver trying to edge his way through the crowds.  I believe this vehicle was convertible so it had a proper top in the winter months.

 

London Country operated the 406F fom Epsom station to the race course each year.  It was a case of anything goes.  A couple from June 1980 with AEC Reliance RP21 and Leyland Atlantean AN30.

 

[Johann Marsbar]

I think that is the first photo I have seen of IBT No.67 actually at the Derby.  It was quite a lucrative hire contract though it was all handled by National Travel, who obviusly made even more out of it....

67 did a few years there, before being replaced by an Atlantean in 1985, though I think both vehicles went to the Derby that year. I think it was the Atlantean that got caught up in the murder enquiry at the Derby one year.

 

67's most memorable event was back in the days when ITFC used to be able to win football matches and was used for the UEFA Cup winners procession around the Town Centre in 1981....

 

 

 

 

Edited January 31, 2021 by Johann Marsbar

[Gwiwer]

Epsom Station on Derby Day was a place to be.  Literally anything capable of moving was used on the 406F to and from the racecourse.  You never knew what would turn up.  The procession of open-toppers (mostly) leaving the course after the final race was also a sight to behold with a sizeable proportion of the south of England's open-top buses departing for all points.  Southdown was always one of the main providers being fairly local to the event.  It was said that their order for 30 convertible-top PD3 "Queen Mary" 'deckers was based as much as anything on Derby Day requirements since fewer than half were ever needed at once for advertised open-top services.  The Lodekkas were used after the merger with Brighton, Hove & District though some ran in earlier years locally from the Brighton area.  

 

In later years Southdown (through NBC) ordered 30 convertible-top Bristol VRTs on a one-for-one replacement basis when the PD3s were retired which again was a significantly larger number than would ever have been required for normal service.  Ten of those were unique in being dual-entrance centre-staircase convertibles.  The 20 standard ones had the usual (and unpopular) side-facing seat top nearside front with a twin forwaard-facing seat offside whereas the convertibles, which didn't have the stairwell to contend with, had forward-facing front seats.  Quite why the convertible VRTs didn't have the usual 3+1 forward-facing arrangement has never been explained to my knowledge.  By the time these were in traffic Southdown needed only five open toppers for its peak summer service; two each at Eastbourne and Brighton and one at Hayling Island.  

[PhilJ W]

I noticed the home made 'observation platform' on the petrol engined Commer 'Walk-Thru' van just to the left of the Lodekka.