For those interested in old buses (and coaches)

[chrisf]

On 01/11/2022 at 09:31, PhilJ W said:

More trolleybus film, this time in colour.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zbLaG1QS5q7tzHbiCDmTWb1q-0AbZA6s/view?fbclid=IwAR0nb8qPKkJzdEVSVMUBgB6PXXJRVsra_-yvzZhul1x6Cxp9IuM4tJ1tOhg

Useful if you model the 1950's with all the little details visible.

This looks like the route from Cricklewood Broadway towards Golders Green [645 and 660].

 

Chris

 

[John M Upton]

The Stagecoach Heritage Sell Off is starting with those vehicles in the southern half of the empire but already there is much bracing of wallets going on further north for when the rest come up.

 

It means farewell to these which are still (technically) with their original operator:

 

[Rugd1022]

Brixton in the '30s...

 

 

Dalston Garage...

 

 

St.Martin In The Fields in 1950, taken during the filming of 'Night Of The City' with Richard Widmark...

 

[A Murphy]

Is that a 2 turning out of Cold Harbour Lane in that excellent 1930s shot of Brixton? Thanks for putting these up. 

[Oldddudders]

The Brixton pic shows, at the top of the image, the shadowy underside of the Catford Loop Line bridge, while the further bridge is Atlantic Road Bridge, on what was then the South London Line, now the Atlantic Lines. This structure was not very strong, and ensured a weight restriction that made the SLL pretty useless for anything but EMUs. And until the VARS (Victoria Area Resignalling Scheme) scheme in 1981/2, there weren't many links to it. VARS introduced new crossovers at Crofton Road, near Peckham Rye, and Voltaire Road, near Clapham (not Junction), which made the route more useful. But it was Channel Tunnel works which paid for Atlantic Road Bridge to be upgraded, enabling freight services to use the Atlantic Lines. 

[Gwiwer]

6 hours ago, John M Upton said:

The Stagecoach Heritage Sell Off is starting with those vehicles in the southern half of the empire …

 

It means farewell to these which are still (technically) with their original operator:

Not technically but actually if one accounts for the various changes of business name. 
 

A great shame and it may well prove to be just the tip of the entire Stagecoach iceberg melting down. 

[RANGERS]

1 hour ago, Gwiwer said:

Not technically but actually if one accounts for the various changes of business name. 
 

A great shame and it may well prove to be just the tip of the entire Stagecoach iceberg melting down. 

Indeed, many of the subsidiaries which make up the Stagecoach empire  are still those of the pre-NBC era.

 

Whether Stagecoach, or any other public transport operator for that matter, survives is entirely down to their ability to innovate and develop networks that are able to exist on a much lower cost base, or can prove attractive enough to prise us all out of our cars.

[Johann Marsbar]

The FLF on the Stagecoach disposal list is a former ECOC one that ended up with Cambus by 1985, as seen here at Newmarket........

 

 

I think it went to the Viscount operation based on the Peterborough area later on and did make several appearances at bus events in East Anglia well into the 1990's.

[John M Upton]

JAH 552D lost its lid some time ago:

 

JAH 553D still has its roof though:

 

 

I do wonder what will happen regarding the Goodwood Revival service every September now that Stagecoach will not have their heritage collection to draw on.

 

[russ p]

47 minutes ago, John M Upton said:

JAH 552D lost its lid some time ago:

 

JAH 553D still has its roof though:

 

 

I do wonder what will happen regarding the Goodwood Revival service every September now that Stagecoach will not have their heritage collection to draw on.

 

 

Shame 552 lost its roof.  Looks awful in stagecoach livery 

Didn’t realise that lot ever paid any attention to heritage 

[Gwiwer]

10 minutes ago, russ p said:

Didn’t realise that lot ever paid any attention to heritage 

It was more Souter than corporate. With him no longer at the controls the heritage side has definitely become “non-core business” and is probably a drain on resources rather than a revenue-generating asset

 

 

[russ p]

1 hour ago, Gwiwer said:

It was more Souter than corporate. With him no longer at the controls the heritage side has definitely become “non-core business” and is probably a drain on resources rather than a revenue-generating asset

 

 

 

I'm amazed Souter wanting to something that didn't generate big bucks . A pretty loathsome character 

[John M Upton]

1 hour ago, russ p said:

 

Shame 552 lost its roof.  Looks awful in stagecoach livery 

Didn’t realise that lot ever paid any attention to heritage 

 

They both looked even worse at one point:

 

 

[russ p]

1 minute ago, John M Upton said:

 

They both looked even worse at one point:

 

 

 

Jesus,  horrible 

[Johann Marsbar]

Cambus (Peterborough & District) did have another couple of Bristols in full fleet livery that were certainly still about for a Peterborough Running day in 1988.....

 

 

 

Several routes were operated with a variety of crew-operated vehicles that day, including an Ipswich Regent V, a United Counties Routemaster, Delaine Titan and Squrrells ex ECOC/Southern Vectis Bristol open-topper

[Enterprisingwestern]

11 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

It was more Souter than corporate. With him no longer at the controls the heritage side has definitely become “non-core business” and is probably a drain on resources rather than a revenue-generating asset

 

 

 

Good publicity I would have thought?

 

Mike.

[Gwiwer]

1 hour ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

Good publicity I would have thought?

 

Mike.

Absolutely it was. But Souter is no longer there and such things often rely on the whim of one influential person. 
 

Good publicity also comes at a cost because the heritage vehicles were an under-utilised asset probably not covering their costs year-on-year. Expensive to keep running but with few days use to recoup those costs. 
 

I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that Souter financially supported them himself. 

[John M Upton]

Indeed according to reports Souter has stepped in to buy some of the heritage fleet including the MegaDekka which was very much his baby:

 

 

[stewartingram]

The way Stagecoach have treated Cambridgeshire it seems they are in serious trouble, 18 routes I think it is that have been withdrawn.

Even the (mis)guided busway is seeing journeys cut, some at least by driver shortages. (You would think they would  now have some spare!).

I suppose this is the development of the Megabus - they have a fleet of these on the busway

 

Edited November 21, 2022 by stewartingram

[RANGERS]

13 hours ago, russ p said:

 

Jesus,  horrible 

I had the “pleasure” of driving 552 on a couple of occasions, the two most memorable being a trip to Epsom for the Derby in the mid-90s, and even more memorably on a school contract with one of the office girls acting as chaperone to make sure the little darlings didn’t go upstairs. For someone used to synchromesh Volvos, Leylands and AECs, the crash box on 552 was a challenge (much more so than 553 I’m told).

 

I’ve lost count of the number of liveries that 552 has had. The ones I can remember are Tilling red from new, NBC red from 1975ish, Cambus blue, Cambus cream, Viscount yellow and blue, Premier blue, Stagecoach old, Stagecoach newer, Jubilee purple, Stagecoach latest. There were others In sure, there was also a very short lived all over advertising scheme for an ad’ campaign, for a drinks manufacturer I think it was.

 

Stagecoach paid for major body repairs to it in the early 2000s, the result of poor upper deck drainage after it was converted, without which it’s doubtful it would have survived so I guess it’s up to them what colour they paint it and what they do with it.

[stewartingram]

I Rember reading somewhere in the not to distant past that LFL553 had a gearbox failure, and they acquired a new one which they fitted?

[John M Upton]

A train driving friend of mine does part time driving for Stagecoach and was always guaranteed work on Goodwood Revival weekend as thanks to his extensive experience with vintage buses, he is one of the very few on their books who can handle the Crash Gearbox.

[Gwiwer]

3 hours ago, John M Upton said:

one of the very few on their books who can handle the Crash Gearbox

There are not too many of us left who have driven crashbox in service. 

[melmerby]

On 18/11/2022 at 11:56, John M Upton said:

The Stagecoach Heritage Sell Off is starting with those vehicles in the southern half of the empire but already there is much bracing of wallets going on further north for when the rest come up.

IMHO they should have gone with joining with National Express, who do like heritage vehicles and would've meant a much more sensible sale than to an investment group.

IIRC it had a lot to do with keeping Stagecoach's head office, instead of streamlining the management structure.

[RANGERS]

1 hour ago, melmerby said:

IMHO they should have gone with joining with National Express, who do like heritage vehicles and would've meant a much more sensible sale than to an investment group.

IIRC it had a lot to do with keeping Stagecoach's head office, instead of streamlining the management structure.

The reason the shareholders went the way they did was it paid them a substantial premium over the Nat Ex offer. From memory the Nat Ex deal gave them collectively about £450m in cash and shares, whereas the alternative DWS offer gave them about £600m in cash. The corporate and individual shareholders wouldn’t give two hoots about heritage buses, for them a 25% premium in their bank accounts was a no brainier.