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First Greater Glasgow

Busman84

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Larkfield had ex Leeds Scania deckers at one point only lasted weeks in service and were scrapped. Then around 2008/9 Northern Counties K reg Olympians came up from Manchester they might be the buses your thinking of. There was also Volvo Olympians from Bristol too around that time..
 
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CM

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Larkfield had ex Leeds Scania deckers at one point only lasted weeks in service and were scrapped. Then around 2008/9 Northern Counties K reg Olympians came up from Manchester they might be the buses your thinking of. There was also Volvo Olympians from Bristol too around that time..

Don't forget the older Leyland Olympians brought up from Manchester as well that were allocated to Larkfield and Parkhead at the time. The fleet really was a mixed bag in the early to mid-'00s.
 

Bus Lightyear

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Don't forget the older Leyland Olympians brought up from Manchester as well that were allocated to Larkfield and Parkhead at the time. The fleet really was a mixed bag in the early to mid-'00s.

The Northern Counties Leyland Olympians with Gardner engines which came from Manchester were in a poor state and struggled to exceed 35mph.
 

Busman84

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I forgot there was older Leyland Olympians that came up early to mid 2000s and indeed Parkhead had some of these. The K reg ones that came up 2008/9 were Cummins L10s and were better..
 

CM

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The Northern Counties Leyland Olympians with Gardner engines which came from Manchester were in a poor state and struggled to exceed 35mph.

I'd rather have travelled on one of them than the god awful B7Ls though as they actually had seats on them rather than the bits of plastic with a splash of fabric that the B7Ls had.
 

Bus Lightyear

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I'd rather have travelled on one of them than the god awful B7Ls though as they actually had seats on them rather than the bits of plastic with a splash of fabric that the B7Ls had.
I think whoever designed the backache seats on buses from that era had very little experience of travelling on buses.
 

JumpinTrainz

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I recall the ex-Hong Kong buses being good buses. They were pretty powerful machines. I remember them well on the 61. I always find it odd that First draft in these high capacity buses as cast offs but don’t order that level of capacity for the same routes as new.

The K plate buses used to operate on the old 39 bus which ran for a short time between Sandyhills - City Centre (via everywhere!!!!) They were decent but ancient compared to the modern stock that was around at that time.
 

awsnews

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13 Mar 2019
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Just realised one of those images was taken by myself! Had a dig in the archive and found quite a few of the varied acquisitions which were originally posted on fotopic in these collections here:
http://www.gcsbromleygarage.com/127...uble Deck 2004-01-01 to 2010-01-12/index.html
http://www.gcsbromleygarage.com/127...uble Deck 2001-01-01 to 2009-08-07/index.html
 

Jordan Adam

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Various second hand buses made their way to Glasgow throughout the 2000s. The ex Northampton Volvo Citybuses were rather spectacular machines. Most of the Leyland Olympians and Dennis Dominators were gubbed.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/77000...Nf-d8efTU-21Bidc3-7CoRRL-fUGswt-ZiTrXM-Bg6fsm

Those A-FSA Olympian's were equally as crap in their Aberdeen days... Being Gardner/Voith made them very slow.

The Northern Counties Leyland Olympians with Gardner engines which came from Manchester were in a poor state and struggled to exceed 35mph.

The A-FSA's you were lucky if they even go to 30MPH in their later years! A stark contrast to the E-DRS batch (Cummins/ZF) which flew.
 

PaulMc7

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Any other changes happening in February or is it going on to around May/June?
 

PaulMc7

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Didn't someone say the 202 & 242 were to be merged together in February? Can't see that happening now. Don't First usually have a change when the schools go back after the summer break in August?

Yeah there's been changes in August most years I think
 

route101

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Larkfield had ex Leeds Scania deckers at one point only lasted weeks in service and were scrapped. Then around 2008/9 Northern Counties K reg Olympians came up from Manchester they might be the buses your thinking of. There was also Volvo Olympians from Bristol too around that time..

Yep thats the one , the 31 had a mix , one bus , m reg VO had a speaker system , could hear what was happening in the cab !
 

route101

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I recall the ex-Hong Kong buses being good buses. They were pretty powerful machines. I remember them well on the 61. I always find it odd that First draft in these high capacity buses as cast offs but don’t order that level of capacity for the same routes as new.

The K plate buses used to operate on the old 39 bus which ran for a short time between Sandyhills - City Centre (via everywhere!!!!) They were decent but ancient compared to the modern stock that was around at that time.

39, i had that going to Easterhouse along the Parade.
 

JumpinTrainz

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39, i had that going to Easterhouse along the Parade.

When it was first introduced it ran from Sandyhills - BBS (via Baillieston, Easterhouse, Cranhill, Ruchazie etc) then on to City Centre. Then they dropped that side of it and kept the Easterhouse part before withdrawing it completely. I don’t actually know what the purpose of that route was tbh.
 

PaulMc7

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When it was first introduced it ran from Sandyhills - BBS (via Baillieston, Easterhouse, Cranhill, Ruchazie etc) then on to City Centre. Then they dropped that side of it and kept the Easterhouse part before withdrawing it completely. I don’t actually know what the purpose of that route was tbh.

Can vaguely remember it. Pretty random route but maybe random routes would be the way forward. Something fresh and new could definitely help
 

PaulMc7

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In terms of trying new routes etc what could first really do? Only 4 months away from Simplicity being 7 years old. Are we due another similar big load of changes like that or would it be better to cut away from poorer performing routes and try new things that way as it would stop PVR from increasing?

Could build a new network around the core services that have branding now
 
Joined
26 Nov 2019
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Spotted SN66WGD (33433) in a yellow-front coloured livery today on the 5, I assume it will be branded for the 41 at some point. It is nice to see something modern on the 5 for a change!
 

PaulMc7

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I really do not like the shade of green used on the new 2 branding, I feel a darker color would be more better.

Got a feeling they've chose that green because of the 2 going by Celtic Park. Got a feeling we will get something dark green eventually though. Still a good amount of branding options available considering there's been quite a few services done now.

X1, 2, 3, X3, X11,18, 34/34A, 38, 41, 75, 241, 242, 254 with branding and the 1s and 9s and 201s have their own branding too. Got a feeling the 1s and 9s will be upgraded either this year or next. Don't think I've missed any on that list above
 

JumpinTrainz

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Got a feeling they've chose that green because of the 2 going by Celtic Park. Got a feeling we will get something dark green eventually though. Still a good amount of branding options available considering there's been quite a few services done now.

X1, 2, 3, X3, X11,18, 34/34A, 38, 41, 75, 241, 242, 254 with branding and the 1s and 9s and 201s have their own branding too. Got a feeling the 1s and 9s will be upgraded either this year or next. Don't think I've missed any on that list above

The green used on the 2 is indeed very striking but I think it works especially on the E300. I definitely prefer the orange on the 3 however. I don’t really think darker colours work imo. I’ve saw a few buses down south with a darker green and grey it’s horrible and doesn’t stand out at all.

As for other routes being branded I’m not sure how many more they can really do before they start repeating colours and it all gets a bit confusing. If they brand the 5 I would have thought they could have had the same colour as the 75 With them both going to Castlemilk but they’ve already repeated that with the 41. They could perhaps go a light pink almost tan colour and also a different shade of orange. Some different purples haven’t been used yet.

I wonder what the plans are for the one. Given that fact that they’ve not been relivered and rebranded yet makes me think new buses could be on the horizon but failing that I imagine it’s a route they’ll want to brand including the peak deckers.
 

PaulMc7

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The green used on the 2 is indeed very striking but I think it works especially on the E300. I definitely prefer the orange on the 3 however. I don’t really think darker colours work imo. I’ve saw a few buses down south with a darker green and grey it’s horrible and doesn’t stand out at all.

As for other routes being branded I’m not sure how many more they can really do before they start repeating colours and it all gets a bit confusing. If they brand the 5 I would have thought they could have had the same colour as the 75 With them both going to Castlemilk but they’ve already repeated that with the 41. They could perhaps go a light pink almost tan colour and also a different shade of orange. Some different purples haven’t been used yet.

I wonder what the plans are for the one. Given that fact that they’ve not been relivered and rebranded yet makes me think new buses could be on the horizon but failing that I imagine it’s a route they’ll want to brand including the peak deckers.

The 1s are probably the best success story of the 10s tbh here. The low bridge at the bottom of Kilbowie Road is the biggest issue because the 1/1A/1B at times could easily do with deckers but would need a reroute due to that bridge. I do think they deserve new stock and they'd free up so many buses in the process. So many of them at peaks and they're all very busy too so it would be interesting to see if they'd ever add even more to the timetable
 

CM

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The 1s are probably the best success story of the 10s tbh here. The low bridge at the bottom of Kilbowie Road is the biggest issue because the 1/1A/1B at times could easily do with deckers but would need a reroute due to that bridge. I do think they deserve new stock and they'd free up so many buses in the process. So many of them at peaks and they're all very busy too so it would be interesting to see if they'd ever add even more to the timetable

Not necessarily as double-deckers have operated in service under that bridge before without issue. IIRC Strathclyde's 66A operated to Mountblow using low height Olympians which could fit under and Central/Kelvin Scottish/Kelvin Central also operated services that passed under the bridge.

This photo(not mine) shows a Kelvin Dominator in the background passing under the bridge - https://flic.kr/p/AtQAwg
 
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route101

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16 May 2010
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Spotted SN66WGD (33433) in a yellow-front coloured livery today on the 5, I assume it will be branded for the 41 at some point. It is nice to see something modern on the 5 for a change!

Seen a green e300 for th 2 on a 7 , must be waiting for the 2 lettering being applied.
 

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