[Doorslammer]

Originally Posted by Rich

Stagecoach have just bought out local operator Mayne & Sons, who's fleet of about 50 buses is dominated by ancient knackered buses.

Prices on Mayne were much cheaper than Stagecoach and the buses were much cleaner and nicer, Stagecoach just overpowered them!

Sorry, just spotted this post. That wouldn't be the company based in Buckie, would it (or is that the wrong Mayne I'm thinking of?)? I certainly don't remember any bus/coach of theirs to be very old (considering they replace them often).

[driver9000]

The Volvo Olympians at Morecambe are quicker off the mark than a Trident. The S reg Tridents do indeed have a 3 speed gearbox as they were designed for city work, the newer ones from Manchester would have been better out on the 40 & 41 routes.

I remember driving the short Volvo Olympians with NC bodies (16243-16245) that Morecambe had allocated to it, horribly uncomfortable cramped cabs with a left foot pedestal that just made it smaller - however they were incredibly fast off the mark and very fast cruising speed - I got up to 70mph on the M6 once and it still wanted to keep going

[mbonwick]

Originally Posted by driver9000

very fast cruising speed - I got up to 70mph on the M6 once and it still wanted to keep going

So much for speed limiters....

[driver9000]

Originally Posted by mbonwick

So much for speed limiters....

The old Leyland Tiger coaches (220, 221, 624) from Heysham Travel were just the same

[Doorslammer]

Originally Posted by driver9000

The old Leyland Tiger coaches (220, 221, 624) from Heysham Travel were just the same

Two wrongs don't make it right, but...

[driver9000]

Originally Posted by Doorslammer

Two wrongs don't make it right, but...

Maximum speed on a motorway for a PSV is 70mph

Table from the highway code here:

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAn...code/DG_070304

Volvo Olympians and Leyland Tigers are both under 12m (as was my Volvo B10M-62) I was perfectly legal to drive at 70mph when the conditions were right.

The Maynes operator is unrelated to the one based in Buckie - who are still going as far as I know.

Fonud a link to some photos of Trident 18362 carrying the Morecambe & Wise livery:

http://gez.fotopic.net/c1522728.html

[RJ]

Looking at this pic - http://gez.fotopic.net/p50799039.html

Is that a low height Trident?

[mbonwick]

Not as far as I'm aware, never been on it, but I've seen it more times than I can count.

[RJ]

The S+T-reg ones are, I had to crouch when I went upstairs on 17001. You don't get the luxury of a back window on the lower deck either . We also have some low height S-reg DLAs in London (Arriva DAF DB250LFs). The sooner they go the better, they're notorious for being the slowest buses in London

[Doorslammer]

Originally Posted by driver9000

Maximum speed on a motorway for a PSV is 70mph

Table from the highway code here:

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAn...code/DG_070304

Ah, strange. I always had it down as 56mph, similar to trucks for some reason. ??: Why I thought that, I'll never know...

The Maynes operator is unrelated to the one based in Buckie - who are still going as far as I know.

Thanks for that, it appears they have grown from strength to strength from what I have gathered.

http://gez.fotopic.net/c1522728.html

Big fan of their show and it's great to see them being championed to this day.

[driver9000]

The S-BWC Tridents are 13' 10" and come the Low Height banner, the 05/55 ones from Manchester look around the same height although Ive not been on one. The only high-bridge DDs at Morecambe were the Leyland Titans which stood at 14' 6" I think a couple of the Bristol VRTs were high-bridge too.

[mbonwick]

The ones from Manchester are 14' 3" I think, or something like that - the same as the Volvo Olympians they replaced. The lower deck has a few extra inches of headroom, due to the lower floor but the upper deck is exactly the same size its antecedents.

[mbonwick]

B10M's 20793/4 in and out of reserve status, bound for Chorley for contract work. To be replaced by K-reg B10Ms which are "too old for contracts"

47021/2 have arrived from Fleetwood after the Versa launch there. They'll be replacing 40641 and 42091 which will be withdrawn.

42577 and 42584 are recessed at Morcambe, en route from Stagecoach East Midlands to Carlisle (though why they want them I don't know..)

Can't remember whether I've mentioned this before; 17024 is the first Trident of the 170xx batch to have its London-style blinds removed and replaced with LEDs

[driver9000]

As much as I didnt like the B10M, I did like the 793-795 batch.

I cant beleive 17024 has lost its LT blinds, they were so much better and added to their distinctiveness. Originally they were supposed to be supplied in LTs font but a mix up led to them being delivered with standard lettering The side destinations didnt last into traffic, although they were printed up, the boxes were removed as you couldnt see up the road from the end of George St

[mbonwick]

I can imagine that... (even though I never ever go to George St. always the Bus Station)


I've heard that the replacements will probably be some of Lillyhalls cast offs...i.e the most knackered they had there