For those interested in old buses (and coaches)

[Johann Marsbar]

27 minutes ago, J. S. Bach said:

Speaking of prototype (demonstrator in this case), here is one operated by the Cumbres & Toltec Railroad:

 

Apparently it was not a successful product h in the states, I can see why. Photo taken by me July 2014.

 

Never seen a photo of that one before - not that I've come across too many Van Hool transit buses in the USA.  I remember AC Transit in Oakland had some shortish single deckers and some Artics, and York, Ontario, had these....

 

[John M Upton]

20 hours ago, Johann Marsbar said:

As some people seem to be celebrating 50 years of the Leyland National, this is the prototype Suburban Express example seen in 1985 when it was part of the Suffolk County Council Education Department bus fleet....

 

 

A unique prototype with a high floor throughout (note you can see the top of all the seats and they are all on the same high level).

 

Now preserved by the way.

[John M Upton]

Apologies - Duplicate post

Edited April 30, 2022 by John M Upton

[Gwiwer]

2 hours ago, John M Upton said:

Apologies - Duplicate post

Typical - you wait ages for one to come along and then two come together 🤣

 

.

Edited April 30, 2022 by Gwiwer
Auto-corrupt at work again

[John M Upton]

Just realised I have actually met it, twenty years ago!!!

I presume it is still preserved but there are a lot of the type listed as preserved that wound up as money pits, pipe dreams and ultimately weighed in....

[PhilJ W]

3 minutes ago, John M Upton said:

Just realised I have actually met it, twenty years ago!!!

I presume it is still preserved but there are a lot of the type listed as preserved that wound up as money pits, pipe dreams and ultimately weighed in....

Wasn't that the Metrobus? You knew when it should be scrapped when the engine fell out.😁

[John M Upton]

6 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

Wasn't that the Metrobus? You knew when it should be scrapped when the engine fell out.😁

 

Pretty much anything made by MCW actually, the rear frames tended to turn to cheese which would not have been such an issue were it the only thing holding the engine onto the rest of the bus...  Metrobuses, Metroriders, even the Metrocab taxi's all disintegrated alarmingly.

[Gwiwer]

It was also a feature of the earlier Leyland Nationals.  Parts of the engine - or on occasions the whole lot - deposited themselves on the road often at the most inconvenient times or locations.  An otherwise quite good piece of design was let down by the use of an engine designed to be used in naturally-aspirated form and fitted vertically installed horizontally and turbocharged to within an inch of its life.  

[John M Upton]

Early examples also lacked anti roll bars which could lead to some very lively cornering and the battery raft was located at the back leading to the front riding a bit high up.  It wasn't until Northern tried shifting the batteries to under the drivers seat and adding some other modifications then Leyland duly following suit that handling was significantly improved.

[Johann Marsbar]

8 hours ago, John M Upton said:

Just realised I have actually met it, twenty years ago!!!

I presume it is still preserved but there are a lot of the type listed as preserved that wound up as money pits, pipe dreams and ultimately weighed in....

 

From memory, I think it was originally preserved by Dave Brown, who also owned Reading/Teeside trolleybus T291, but it was sold on when a double decker from the Far East (Hong Kong?) was purchased instead.   I think the double decker is still about (Eastern Transport Collection?) though Dave died a few years back. Not sure where the National ended up however....

[John M Upton]

2 hours ago, Johann Marsbar said:

 

From memory, I think it was originally preserved by Dave Brown, who also owned Reading/Teeside trolleybus T291, but it was sold on when a double decker from the Far East (Hong Kong?) was purchased instead.   I think the double decker is still about (Eastern Transport Collection?) though Dave died a few years back. Not sure where the National ended up however....

 

It must be still going, it turned up at the Whitehaven Leyland National 50th event yesterday. 

[Johann Marsbar]

Don't know what is going on, but the post I put on about 2 hours ago has now vanished - along with everything else that people posted over an apparent 3 hour time period!!

Time to try again......

 

Some buses seen on todays Ipswich to Felixstowe Historic Vehicle Road Run.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lets see if this one manages to survive!

[PhilJ W]

Bendy bus.

 

[John M Upton]

Bendy Buses in the UK will soon be history, Brighton has the last major contingent of them (all ex London inferno class) and they are about to be binned, set to be replaced by mid life ex London double deckers which in some cases ironically replaced the bendys the first time.

 

The story of the modern London bendy bus is one of fires, farce and fiasco....

[J. S. Bach]

We had some articulators at Broward County Transit, our first order:

and our second order:

Interior, the same on both orders:

In service with Miami-Dade's Metrorail (unfortunately no trains co-operated):

My favorite sign creation, it took a lot of thought and character manipulation to get it right:

 

 

 

 

 

[Gwiwer]

The Brighton ones are (or should be) used exclusively on the 25 City Centre - Universities which is one of Britain’s busiest bus routes thanks in part to the sheer numbers of students. It operates 24/7 and pre-Covid had a night-time headway of every 7-8 minutes which dropped to every 15 minutes after 03.30. 
 

Most of London’s night buses don’t get close to that; only one runs every 8 minutes and a couple more run every 10 over busier parts of their routes. Most run every half-hour. 

[Johann Marsbar]

Some from the Quorn Bus Event at the GCR today....

 

 

 

 

 

[J. S. Bach]

I really like the MDT 222.

[PhilJ W]

The upper deck coach seats on the Barton low height double decker must have been very claustrophobic.

[great central]

The Great Yarmouth heritage livery one was in service until last year, travelled on it many times, pleased to see it's been preserved 

[6990WitherslackHall]

I saw a couple of old buses inside the EYMS bus depot in Hull on 13/11/21. I couldn't see the one on the left very well though. After research on the numberplate, YKH 44, I found out that it's a 1956 AEC Regent V bus no 644. 

 

[Oldddudders]

13 hours ago, J. S. Bach said:

I really like the MDT 222.

It really does capture that era - and, shock horror, I correctly guessed it to be a Regal III! I am very poor on  bus identities outside London - in contrast to some others! 

[Mike_Walker]

I posted this on Neal Ball's Henley thread but it deserves an airing here too.

 

 

Thames Valley 152, MO9324, a 1927 Tilling-Stevens B9A 'Express' with a replica Brush 35 seat body - the original didn't survive.  It's now in the care of the Great Western & Thames Valley Omnibus Trust and is the oldest surviving TV vehicle and one of only two pre-war survivors.

 

 

Also in the care of the GW&TVOT is 1268, YF714, the only surviving GWR 'Roadmotor", a 1927 Maudsley ML3B with 32 seat Vickers body.  It had a short life with the GWR passing to the newly formed Western National in 1929 and then spending many years on a clifftop at Perranporth.  It is seen outside Slough station, an appropriate location as Slough was the HQ of the Roadmotor department.

 

 

This 1912 Leyland S8 with a 27 seat body which was operated by the Barnsley & District Electric Traction Company which was one of five such vehicles used to start up a new British Electric Traction operation based on Reading in 1915 but was returned in 1916.  The Reading operation became the Thames Valley Traction Company in 1920.  It is now part of the magnificent collection of early Leylands owned by Mike Sutcliffe and is seen outside the original British garage off Caversham Road in Reading.

 

I sort of lost interest in buses when they started bunging the engine in the back resulting in bland boxes on wheels.

 

[Butler Henderson]

16 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

The upper deck coach seats on the Barton low height double decker must have been very claustrophobic.

Had a pretty low roof and a sunken walkway to one side with 4 abreast seating. That obviously affected the ground floor not helped with the high floor arrangement of most.

[John M Upton]

5 hours ago, 6990WitherslackHall said:

I saw a couple of old buses inside the EYMS bus depot in Hull on 13/11/21. I couldn't see the one on the left very well though. After research on the numberplate, YKH 44, I found out that it's a 1956 AEC Regent V bus no 644. 

 

 

One on the left is probably No. 202 (202 YTE) a Leyland Titan PD2/East Lancs.  The one on the right has upper deck bodywork built especially for a notorious arched bridge through which it had to pass back in the day.