For those interested in old buses (and coaches)

[Gwiwer]

16 hours ago, leopardml2341 said:

Are you sure Rick? I thought the last one went to Halton Borough Transport; iirc it is preserved.

My brainfart.  Yes it was Halton not Hyndburn, sorry.  A "northern H" still, though.  

[Gwiwer]

7 hours ago, great central said:

The talk of Leyland Nationals reminded me that these are still in service with a couple of operators.

 

Not only still in service with numerous operators but a small number is in the process of being refurbished as additional accommodation for West Highland Line trains in Scotland.  Since locomotive-hauled trains departed this life the 2-car class 156 units which replaced them on Glasgow - Oban / Fort Wiliam / Mallaig trains have proven woefully inadequate in terms of space for people, packs and bicycles.  Enter the cast-off 153 "Leyland National" units which have had half the seats stripped out and the other half nicely renovated to become a bike/ backpack and additional-seats carriage on these trains but still keeping within the maximum permitted length for the line.  

 

3 hours ago, John M Upton said:

One of London Transport's batch were supposedly  a cancelled export order.  I cannot recall which though.

 

3 hours ago, Metr0Land said:

LS7-57 (after LT had bought LS1-6 for trials on the S2)

 

http://www.countrybus.org/National/LS.htm

 

Correct, and this was the reason for their intermediate length at a time when British operators were offered 11.3m or 10.3m but London got the Venezuelan 10.6m ones.  

 

28 minutes ago, Rugd1022 said:

 

From the days when we always tried to get through rather than giving up at  the first sight of a snow flake.  In many parts of the country coach drivers would carry shovels and sacking in case they encountered severe weather.  Local bus drivers often did the same and on occasions these items were even provided by their operator.  I left the driving seat (professionally) in 2000 but still carried a shovel and sacking even in Cornwall on days with a bad forecast.  We seldom received snow but we often encountered ice on the steep hills.  Often as not that was frozen farmyard run-off.  But we were still expected to get safely through if we possibly could.  

[tetsudofan]

From the icy picture above one of me polishing a friend's Routemaster a couple of summers ago:

 

 

and a picture of the bus during the polishing.....

 

 

Keith

 

[Busmansholiday]

20 hours ago, leopardml2341 said:

Are you sure Rick? I thought the last one went to Halton Borough Transport; iirc it is preserved.

Hyndburn never bought any Nationals. Greenways (the East Lancs rebuilds of Nationals) yes. Hyndburn bought East Lancs bodied RE's.

[leopardml2341]

......and a couple of  East Lancs bodied Seddon RUs.

 

Edited February 11, 2021 by leopardml2341

[newbryford]

On 11/02/2021 at 19:15, Busmansholiday said:

Hyndburn never bought any Nationals. Greenways (the East Lancs rebuilds of Nationals) yes. Hyndburn bought East Lancs bodied RE's.

 

Hyndburn - a class livery - a nice dark blue with a red band.

 

Pic from flickr

 

Edited February 16, 2021 by newbryford
typo

[laurenceb]

And originally with a black band to comemorate the Accrington Pals

[Metr0Land]

In April 1986 I had a 2 day business trip to Madrid.  I was a bit surprised to see RT1290 in use as a promotional bus.  She'd originally been exported to Barcelona.  It had been speculated that she'd ended up in Berlin as a cafe but that has been discounted and it was RT2059, another ex-Spanish bus that went there.

Edited February 16, 2021 by Metr0Land

[John M Upton]

Didn't somewhere in Spain actually buy AEC deckers new or was that Portugal?

[Oldddudders]

On 11/02/2021 at 17:05, tetsudofan said:

 

 

 

36B - quite a nice handful! In the mid-70s I was ASM at Grove Park, and would sometimes catch a 36B into London after early turn. The bus stand was behind the carriage shed, probably still is, and on one occasion a bus was left parked blocking the road into the BR premises. Inevitably it was one of our more volatile train drivers who found his entry blocked, and had a suitable conversation with the bus driver!

[Gwiwer]

34 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

 on one occasion a bus was left parked blocking the road into the BR premises. Inevitably it was one of our more volatile train drivers who found his entry blocked, and had a suitable conversation with the bus driver!

The stand for route 243 at Wood Green was beside the Eastern National garage there. Mosy crews were very careful to not obstruct the entrance but on occasions there were more buses than space on the stand. 
 

There was an unofficial competition among Eastern National drivers to see who could move a Routemaster without its crew suddenly reappearing. 
 

To my knowledge there was never a declared winner. I had travelled up as a passenger with a friend driving who found his entry blocked and who dismounted from his Bristol FLF. It would have been ten paces to the back corner of the RML but in that short time two heads popped up from the top deck rear seat with the words “Don’t touch my bus mate - we’ll move it” 

 

Quite what else they might have been moving was never disclosed. Thankfully. 

[Mike_Walker]

On 16/02/2021 at 10:26, John M Upton said:

Didn't somewhere in Spain actually buy AEC deckers new or was that Portugal?

Portugal was a good AEC customer.

 

Edited April 10, 2022 by Mike_Walker

[Johann Marsbar]

Coimbra in Portugal still had one in 1990 parked up at the Depot...

 

 

They were still running BUT trolleybuses at that time as well....

 

 

and in Lisbon you could travel on a different sort of Green Line bus....

 

 

 

[PhilJ W]

2 hours ago, Metr0Land said:

In April 1986 I had a 2 day business trip to Madrid.  I was a bit surprised to see RT1290 in use as a promotional bus.  She'd originally been exported to Barcelona.  It had been speculated that she'd ended up in Berlin as a cafe but that has been discounted and it was RT2059, another ex-Spanish bus that went there.

Limited to 80 kph, 50 mph, not much danger of it breaking the limit.

[PhilJ W]

1 hour ago, Mike_Walker said:

Portugal was a good AEC customer.

 

Had special 'mirror image' engines so that all of the engine components were accessible.

[J. S. Bach]

5 hours ago, Johann Marsbar said:

Coimbra in Portugal still had one in 1990 parked up at the Depot...

 

 

They were still running BUT trolleybuses at that time as well....

 

 

and in Lisbon you could travel on a different sort of Green Line bus....

 

 

 

Ah, buses with doors where they should be!

[PhilJ W]

The trolleybus is a Sunbeam not a BUT.

[Johann Marsbar]

42 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

The trolleybus is a Sunbeam not a BUT.

 

Coimbra #40 - BUT RETB1 dating from 1961.....

 

Badge wrong shape for a Sunbeam!

[Busmansholiday]

I'll leave this here for you to ponder on.

 

That's a Merc artic behind it before you really panic.

Edited February 21, 2021 by Busmansholiday

[Johann Marsbar]

A rather different double deck bus today....

 

 

A Golden Arrow Leyland Victory with BUSAF bodywork seen in Cape Town back in 1994.

[Metr0Land]

Going through some old slides I rediscovered this Bournemouth Atlantean Fleetline on hire to LCBS which I missed last time.  Feb 1976 - West Croydon had quite a pleasing mix of types and colours back then.

 

 

Edited March 11, 2021 by Metr0Land
Schoolboy error

[Gwiwer]

Quote

Bournemouth Atlantean

Bournemouth 193 was a Daimler Fleetline as evidenced by the badge on the front.  Much the same chassis as the big red thing beside it on the right although a much earlier model.  

 

The battered-looking RMC1478 on the 414 would be unexpected.  414 was an RCL route out of Dorking (DS) and Reigate (RG) although RMC1478 was at RG for the 406 and probably got pressed to cover for a poorly RCL there.  SM514, a Dunton Green (DG) bus, on the 483 would probably be bound for distant Tonbridge on a route which was once the 403 and worked by country green RTs.  It became the 403a when the lengthy rural run beyond Chelsham (mostly worked by DG with one Chelsham, CM, duty) was converted to one-person operation leaving the cross-Croydon section with crew-worked RTs.  403a then became 483 in the program to have suffix letters eliminated.  

 

A fascinating view illustrating a range of types and liveries from both LT and LCBS who shared West Croydon Bus Station.  With a red RT (possibly on the 75 towards Woolwich) and the DMS bound for New Addington we have a view full of historical interest.  

Edited March 11, 2021 by Gwiwer

[Metr0Land]

12 minutes ago, Gwiwer said:

Bournemouth 193 was a Daimler Fleetline as evidenced by the badge on the front.

[Metr0Land]

17 minutes ago, Gwiwer said:

With a red RT (possibly on the 75 towards Woolwich) and the DMS bound for New Addington we have a view full of historical interest.  

 

It was indeed on the 75.  Note also the sign on the LH building advertising typewriters, also consigned to history bar a few recidivists.

[John M Upton]

Somebody randomly favourited this early effort of mine from well over thirty years ago:

Front end shot of one of those hideously ugly East Lancs bodied Scania's that Brighton & Hove bought from the late 1980's onwards and would appear as far away as Portsmouth twice a day on the otherwise Southdown Coastliner 700 route.

 

Worth including here though for the long since gone Millets on the right and the once common Mk II Ford Transit Luton van on the left!