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In your opinion, what are the most beautiful buses ever made?

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scotrail158713

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I don’t really know about older types of buses, however I personally think that the XLB’s that Lothian buses have just now are really nice. I can’t think what it is specifically, but there’s just something about them that looks really nice.
 

swifty

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I always thought the Marshall C19 body on the Dart chassis was quite a good looking design. I think the livery was sympathetic to the design so that also helped!


The short wheelbase body on the Volvo B6 was a bit odd proportionately though, however it did give an interesting ride with the overhang vs wheelbase ratio!

 

86247

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Have to agree on the delta an excellent bus and a good looking thing. Always had a soft spot for the delta after seeing SDD701 and 702 of crosville cymru.
 

Bletchleyite

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I know the OP doesn't agree, but I think the original Optare Solo is a design classic which for many years became synonymous with rural bus services throughout the UK.

The Wright Eclipse Gemini (original version) is another design classic that pre-Bojo was the face of the London bus on all the publicity. The square-windowed Alexander Dennis equivalent was not a patch on it - rounded-cornered windows just look right.
 

scosutsut

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I agree on the Delta, with a modern destination display and light clusters and that would be nicer than most of what money can actually buy you in 2020!
 

jp4712

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Mine. 8-)
 

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jammy36

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Beauty is always going to in the eye of the beholder, but some of my personal favourites are:

Classic BET style single deckers


Plymouth's Park Royal bodied Leyland Atlanteans

The ECW bodied Olympian

Oddly I've always liked the look of the Optare Starider which I think looked far nicer than the standard Merc bonet usually seen

Of the modern crop of double deckers I've always thought the raked back front of the Olympus stylish (whereas I've never been a fan of the Wright Nokia style front that I know tops many people's list of modern designs)

Finally if we're including coaches, them the Duple 425 for me:

Of course the livery can often be a make or break factor.

(Photos not my copyright and links to Flickr provided for info)
 

fgwrich

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Easily has to be:

The Bristol RE Coach body ideally in Royal Blue:


The early split windscreen Bristol RE:


Wrightbus Eclipse / Solar.


And on the Double Deck front - The often understated Alexander Royale. A Real shame they didn't do an Optare (spectra) and make this a low floor design - instead it was killed off for the frog eyed ALX range.

 

CN04NRJ

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Although way before my time, I think this is the most elegant body built - the ECW coach body for the RE.

 

fgwrich

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Although way before my time, I think this is the most elegant body built - the ECW coach body for the RE.


It certainly is beautiful. The owner, a good friend of ours, has a website here for 'Ruby'.

 

Cambus731

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I would say the very late series 3 Bristol VRTs with ECW bodywork
and the late build Bristol FLFs with Cave-Browne-Cave heating and the revised lower deck front bulkhead. preferably in NBC leaf green with colured NBC stickers
 

RustySpoons

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As modern designs go, may I nominate the Ikarus Polaris 489?


Never very popular in the UK, but I always found it quite a well proportioned and quite handsome design. I also think it has aged quite well, and would still look good even if it was still built as a new design today.
 

Cambus731

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The FLF was such a handsome bus, and I personally thought that Stagecoach stripes really suited it. This must have been one of the last Lodekkas in the UK, in revenue earning service for its owner on a non heritage basis, when I took this photo back in April 199249926099727_815527e7a5_o (1).jpg
 

SouthEastBuses

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So, here are my favourite buses in terms of design and attractiveness!

SINGLE DECKER

1. Mercedes-Benz Citaro
20190323_164857.jpg
Amazing looking bus, very nice and well designed! Fantastic interior too! I like all three version of it, but personally, the Citaro C2 (the one in the photo above) aka the current Euro 6 version has got to be the best. It really is amazing!


2. Scania OmniCity

IMG_20160309_164543525.jpg

Very nice looking too, especially the Euro 4/5 versions! It looks awesome, and like the Citaro, it also has an awesome interior!


3. IIA / Breda MenariniBus Citymood / Avancity / Vivacity

20200102_151109.jpg
(Citymood)

20190807_122113(0).jpg
(Vivacity / Avancity - They look exactly the same but I'll explain the differences in the next post)

Italian buses may be very unreliable, but they can at least design nice buses! And the Citymood / Avancity / Vivacity prove it! And the interiors are also amazing!

4. Solaris Urbino III / IV

(sorry no photo available)

Attractive and sleek design. The III especially, I love the slanted curve towards the door at the front of the bus!

5. ADL Enviro200 MMC / 200 (old style)

20190406_142042 (1).jpg
(Enviro200 MMC)

20190406_134512(0).jpg
(Enviro200 old style)

My favourite out of all British built single decker buses. Especially the Enviro200 MMC, it looks really attractive and amazing! And once again, the interiors are great too!


DOUBLE DECKER

1. Scania OmniCity DD

20190405_163947 (1).jpg

My favourite ever double decker bus. Like with the single decker OmniCity, both its exterior and its interior look so nice that they'll encourage more people out of the cars to use buses!
(P.S. how funny that the photo I sent to you is my profile picture - after all that bus works one of my local bus routes whenever I'm in the UK)

2. Wright Gemini 2

IMG_20170403_182624_1.jpg

My favourite out of all the double deckers built by Wrightbus. It really looks modern and sleek!

3. ADL Enviro400 / 500 MMC (they look the same outside) / City / 400 (old style)

(photos will be sent in my second next post tomorrow due to Railforums not allowing more than 10 photos in a single post for some reason)

Amazing and sleek. One of the best ever British built double decker buses when they come to attractiveness. Especially the Enviro400 City, it looks absolutely stunning from the outside! And inside too!

4. MCV EvoSeti

2017-04-05_10-30-13.jpg
Nice, sleek and modern! Very nice modern Euro 6 double decker bus!

5. MAN Lion's City DD

(photos will be sent in my second next post tomorrow due to Railforums not allowing more than 10 photos in a single post for some reason)

Well, just like with every other bus I sent in this post - it looks really nice and attractive!


Now for the differences between the Avancity and Vivacity. Whilst they look exactly the same both outside and inside, the differences are that the Vivacity is the midi-bus version (available in 8m and 9m versions, with two or three [9m only] doors). The Avancity, on the other hand, is the full sized single decker bus version (available in 10m, 12m and 18m bendy bus versions, with two or three doors). So effectivelly just think about how long the bus is in order to get the difference. And btw, the Citymood is the successor to the Avancity.

Oh and that if the bus of that design has three double-leaf doors, then it's definetly going to be an Avancity. This is because in the three doored Vivacity, the third door (the one at the back of the bus) is single leaf, due to the Vivacity being a midibus. If you see a single leaf rear door on a 3 doored bus of that design, then it will be a Vivacity. (EDIT: this was originally in a seperate post, but because it got deleted for some reason, I reposted it here)
 

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83G/84D

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The Willowbrook bodied Y series Bedford’s always has a nice look to them imo.ED2A3762rev.jpg
 
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Jordan Adam

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If i see any ELC products in this thread i will be requesting that mods deactivate your account. Just kidding! :lol: :lol: :lol:

I have to agree with the above mentions of the Delta and original Solo.

E400MMC/City
Easily the most beautiful deckers ever built imo

Irizar i6/i6s

Irizar PB
Another Irizar, perhaps not as beautiful as the I6 but i've included this purely on the basis that the design dates back in 2001 and excels pretty much anything else stylistically from that era. The fact the current Irizar products are still based on this design concept surely prove how well it's stood the test of time!

Wright "Classic"
Although this design was generally good and is seen as a modern classic i think the Renown was the best one, it's proportions were just right and internally the design/layout was much more inviting than other single deckers from the 90s.

Mercedes Citaro C2
Although the early Citaro was too boxy for my liking it has gotten better with each generation and the current C2 is easily one of the nicest looking buses on the market. It's just a shame that the somewhat dated interior design lets it down
 

scosutsut

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Going with the older stuff, the Alexander Y type for me, the earlier ones more so (not my pictures full credit on links):



 

Jordan Adam

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Going with the older stuff, the Alexander Y type for me, the earlier ones more so (not my pictures full credit on links):




I have to agree with the Y-Type. Often a design i feel overlooked by those from outside Scotland. The first were built the early 60s and there was still examples in service in the mid-late 00s nearly 50 years later.
 

cnjb8

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If i see any ELC products in this thread i will be requesting that mods deactivate your account. Just kidding! :lol: :lol: :lol:
I was going to include the East Lancs Vyking in my post 8-)
I also agree that the Solo, Solar/Eclipse, OmniCity and Enviro buses look good
I prefer the original Citaro to the C2. It seems more basic rather then lines and angles thrown in on the C2
I like the Volvo 7900H buses used by First and Lothian
The Wright StreetLite and StreetDeck get a lot of hate on here, but I think they look alright
Being from Nottingham, of course I have to find the OmniDekka a good looking bus!
Finally I think that the Mellor Strata and EVM Cityline buses look good. They both use the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter as a base
These were not my photos
 
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