Buses lasting longest with 1st Owner

delt1c · 25 Jul 2020

Wondering If we exclude London Transport , which company has bought a vehicle new and operated it for the longest period in public service. I would exclude vehicles retained for exhibition etc .

RailUK Forums

GusB · 25 Jul 2020

delt1c said:
Wondering If we exclude London Transport , which company has bought a vehicle new and operated it for the longest period in public service. I would exclude vehicles retained for exhibition etc .

I assume driver trainers would be excluded - what about open-toppers?

bussnapperwm · 25 Jul 2020

NXWM 4125. Its even been with the same depot all its life (bar one month in 2016 when Walsall loaned it to Birmingham Central).

CN04NRJ · 25 Jul 2020

Cardiff Bus had their 1982 Volvo Ailsas in service until December 2007, so over 25 years in regular passenger service. That's probably one of the longest of any vehicle type I'd imagine kept for regular revenue service and not preserved/semi preserved as they were all disposed of.

Westcountryman · 25 Jul 2020

I thought it was well known that the bus in service for longest with the original owner is 'The Old Girl' with Southern Vectis, which has been with them from new in 1939.

NEW DATE CONFIRMED - Time to celebrate! The Old Girl turns 80

Following a postponement of this event in July, the Old Girl's Birthday celebrations will take place Tuesday 17th September.

www.islandbuses.info

AB93 · 25 Jul 2020

Southern Vectis 602 (CDL 899).

New in 1939, been with them ever since.

Even if you discount the last ten or so years where it’s been kept largely for private hires, it’s still done decades worth of service.

delt1c · 25 Jul 2020

GusB said:
I assume driver trainers would be excluded - what about open-toppers?

Excluded, normal vehicles operating year round timetabled services

delt1c · 25 Jul 2020

Westcountryman said:
I thought it was well known that the bus in service for longest with the original owner is 'The Old Girl' with Southern Vectis, which has been with them from new in 1939.

NEW DATE CONFIRMED - Time to celebrate! The Old Girl turns 80

Following a postponement of this event in July, the Old Girl's Birthday celebrations will take place Tuesday 17th September.

www.islandbuses.info

Converted 1949 for open top service , so only 20 years of normal passenger service. So far looks like Cardif Volvo’s in the lead

Busaholic · 25 Jul 2020

AB93 said:
Southern Vectis 602 (CDL 899).

New in 1939, been with them ever since.

Even if you discount the last ten or so years where it’s been kept largely for private hires, it’s still done decades worth of service.

Hop off a 1938-built train and jump on the Old Girl.

route101 · 25 Jul 2020

Glasgow had a early 70s LA that lasted till the mid to late 90s.

Sankey Wire · 25 Jul 2020

Warrington Borough Transport still owns BED729C, a narrow-build Leyland Titan PD2/40.

It is mainly used for private hire but still makes it out in public service once or twice a year, much to the surprise of unsuspecting passengers!

TheGrandWazoo · 25 Jul 2020

Western National’s last 3 VRs in Dec 2006 were all new to them in 1978, 1979 and 1981

WM Bus · 25 Jul 2020

bussnapperwm said:
NXWM 4125. Its even been with the same depot all its life (bar one month in 2016 when Walsall loaned it to Birmingham Central).

Some of the Metrobus also beat that. The last of those were withdrawn from Acocks Green Depot in July 2010. Think some of the Metrobus did 25/26 years in service.

delt1c · 25 Jul 2020

WM Bus said:
Some of the Metrobus also beat that. The last of those were withdrawn from Acocks Green in July 2010. Think some of the Metrobus did 25/26 years in service.

Surely under privatisation they changed ownership?

baza585 · 25 Jul 2020

WM Bus said:
Some of the Metrobus also beat that. The last of those were withdrawn from Acocks Green Depot in July 2010. Think some of the Metrobus did 25/26 years in service.

And very fine buses they were too.

Provincial (Gosport and Fareham) had a number of AEC Regents and Regals that lasted 30+ years back in the days when Hoeford depot was like a working museum!

jammy36 · 25 Jul 2020

TheGrandWazoo said:
Western National’s last 3 VRs in Dec 2006 were all new to them in 1978, 1979 and 1981

Great servants, oddly these seemed old when I used to travel to college on them, but they were actually only around 15 years old. By the end of their lives they age must have really been showing.

It amazes me that Plymouth's last R-reg Dart (R117OFJ) was over 20 years old when finally withdrawn. Can't be many single owner Darts to see 20 years service with one operator.

kez19 · 25 Jul 2020

For me was possibly Stagecoach (Fife?), I remember seeing a few of these buses on Stagecoach Strathtay run thought at the time they should be off the road as they didn't exactly have updated standards? (was surprised they lasted that long!) -- photo I found is from 2011 (but this is about the time I seen them making an appearance over the Tay, i'm sure they we're still running to at least 2015-16 correct me if needed)

Olympian S324CCD Rennies

The last time I was at Rennies yard it was M..DGP and N ..GHK Olympians. They have been replaced by slightly younger Olympians The cleaner is cleaning the upstairs windows

www.flickr.com

GusB · 25 Jul 2020

delt1c said:
Surely under privatisation they changed ownership?

I think that's being a little bit nit-picky. If a vehicle is owned by a company which is subsequently purchased by another and becomes a subsidiary of that company, it's not really a change of ownership.

TheGrandWazoo · 25 Jul 2020

jammy36 said:
Great servants, oddly these seemed old when I used to travel to college on them, but they were actually only around 15 years old. By the end of their lives they age must have really been showing.

It amazes me that Plymouth's last R-reg Dart (R117OFJ) was over 20 years old when finally withdrawn. Can't be many single owner Darts to see 20 years service with one operator.

In an earlier generation, a number of United Bristol LHs reached >20 years old.

Some early A-VAF Western National Olyms reached 25 years IIRC.

baza585 · 25 Jul 2020

TheGrandWazoo said:
In an earlier generation, a number of United Bristol LHs reached >20 years old.

Some early A-VAF Western National Olyms reached 25 years IIRC.

Given the L stood for lightweight, that is impressive. I always found LHs rough but rugged. Drivers either lived them or hated them, real Marmite buses.

jammy36 · 25 Jul 2020

TheGrandWazoo said:
Some early A-VAF Western National Olyms reached 25 years IIRC.

Yes, think they must have been. As a ten-year old child these Olympians always seemed much more modern than the VRs, when actually they were not dissimilar vintage. Still remember of comfortable their seats were compared with the brown vinyl of the VRs. Certainly it was always welcomed when one turned up as a school bus - oh for a ride on either now!

TheGrandWazoo said:
In an earlier generation, a number of United Bristol LHs reached >20 years old

Yes another good example of a relatively humble vehicle far exceeding it's expected lifespan. In a way that's a more impressive feat, even if not in absolute number of year terms.

TheGrandWazoo · 25 Jul 2020

baza585 said:
Given the L stood for lightweight, that is impressive. I always found LHs rough but rugged. Drivers either lived them or hated them, real Marmite buses.

jammy36 said:
Yes another good example of a relatively humble vehicle far exceeding it's expected lifespan. In a way that's a more impressive feat, even if not in absolute number of year terms.

Design life was 7 years!

As an enthusiast, I loved them but not as a patron!

AB93 · 25 Jul 2020

delt1c said:
Excluded, normal vehicles operating year round timetabled services

delt1c said:
Converted 1949 for open top service , so only 20 years of normal passenger service. So far looks like Cardif Volvo’s in the lead

In fairness, not yet 'excluded' at the time we posted our replies!
It's unbeatable against the basic title of the thread and original post.

Excluding open tops biases the whole thing towards urban city operations (bearing in mind a lot of open toppers are employed on public service routes that just happen to utilise open toppers). Personally I find an open topper running March-November odd for 50 years more interesting than something ending up dumped on schools for 5 stumbling over the "longest" line, but whatever floats your boat!

GusB · 25 Jul 2020

I've been going through a couple of old fleetbooks and I found one that would have almost 30 years old at the time - LSB212H, a Bedford VAM70 which was new to West Coast Motors in 1970 and still in the fleet in 1989. It had gone by the next edition, however.

The same book (Scottish Bus Handbook, 1989) lists Lothian's BFS-L batch of Atlanteans new in 1972-3, although a few of these were marked with "w" - presumably meaning withdrawn - and a few of these were converted to open-top.

Volvo142 · 25 Jul 2020

Derby Corporation / Derby City Transport / Arriva had a number of B-reg Volvo Citybuses which were in use from delivery in 1984 until 2008 when they were replaced by a collection of hand-me-downs and some new Geminis....

They still went like the proverbial and although not relevant to this thread, some were sold on to other operators despite their age.

Busaholic · 25 Jul 2020

Volvo142 said:
Derby Corporation / Derby City Transport / Arriva had a number of B-reg Volvo Citybuses which were in use from delivery in 1984 until 2008 when they were replaced by a collection of hand-me-downs and some new Geminis....

They still went like the proverbial and although not relevant to this thread, some were sold on to other operators despite their age.

First Kernow had a few opentop Citybuses which lasted until step entrance buses were banned, and they went like the clappers until end of life.

TheGrandWazoo · 26 Jul 2020

Volvo142 said:
Derby Corporation / Derby City Transport / Arriva had a number of B-reg Volvo Citybuses which were in use from delivery in 1984 until 2008 when they were replaced by a collection of hand-me-downs and some new Geminis....

They still went like the proverbial and although not relevant to this thread, some were sold on to other operators despite their age.

If you’re mentioning Derby, surprised you’ve not mentioned GTO301V, their final Fleetline. New in Feb 1980, finally withdrawn Jun 2008, sold Jun 2009.

Stagecoach Cumberland have 20710-2 K710-712DAO, 3 Volvo B10Ms on schools work, new in 1993. The middle did have a spell in Manchester but think the other two are 100% Cumbrian.

Westcountryman · 26 Jul 2020

How about Wilts and Dorset VR BFX 666T (registered sometime late 1978-early 1979), which last ran in service on 28th March 2009. This bus is preserved by Go South Coast.

delt1c · 26 Jul 2020

AB93 said:
In fairness, not yet 'excluded' at the time we posted our replies!
It's unbeatable against the basic title of the thread and original post.

Excluding open tops biases the whole thing towards urban city operations (bearing in mind a lot of open toppers are employed on public service routes that just happen to utilise open toppers). Personally I find an open topper running March-November odd for 50 years more interesting than something ending up dumped on schools for 5 stumbling over the "longest" line, but whatever floats your boat!

I agree that open toppers are more exciting , however trying to discover the vehicle which operated on mundane duties with its 1st owner for longest. Admit i was wrong to say privatisation was change of owner excluded vehicle. If the vehicle is still running on its home operators turf thats ok.

randyrippley · 26 Jul 2020

Safeway of South Petherton
ASV900 (ex ETP184)
Purchased 1949, withdrawn 1967, put back into service 1985 or 1987 depending on source, took Vera Gunn to Buckingham Palace 1987 and used occasionally in service after that.
Its said the bus was sold into preservation when Vernon Gunn retired - and that was in 2008 - so possibly 59 years, though on blocks for part of that

Old Bus Photos » Safeway Coaches

Old Bus Photos - Old bus Photos and informative copy

www.old-bus-photos.co.uk

Buses lasting longest with 1st Owner

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