I'm intrigued, what is it that makes them less suitable?
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Lothian Buses and ECB Discussion
- Thread starter overthewater
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I'm intrigued, what is it that makes them less suitable?
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Jordan Adam
Established Member
The Leopard is designed for local hire / schools, they're not designed for long distance work. The Volvo B8R chassis only has a 7.6L engine, putting them on longer distance routes will kill them fast. Stagecoach found this out the hard way 15 years ago when they bought large numbers of B7R/Profiles (the predecessor to the Leopard) for Bluebird, within a couple of years many of them were already having mechanical issues and through their life they had a number of fires, pretty much for every 10 B7Rs in the fleet at least 1 caught fire. Of the 71 new to Bluebird only 2 remain in the fleet, one of them was withdrawn in early 2017 just before it's 8th Birthday.
The B7R/Profile and B8R/Leopard are good products, but they're built for a certain role and that role is not long distance express coach routes. Stagecoach learned their lesson and as such recent coach orders have been for Panthers/Elites which are far better suited to the work.
Gotcha, I wasn't aware of the mechanical difference thanks for explaining!
buslad1988
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Positive sign to see Lothian Motorcoaches have resumed their day trips. First one went yesterday.
Lothian285
Member
I believe this was a private hire tour rather than one of the day trips as their website still states that these are suspended.
ScotRail158725
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116-119 have apparently all been sold
alexf380
Established Member
So has 134, passed it at Thistly Cross roundabout (A1) all debranded. Even the front wheel nut guards were gone!
OmniCity999
Established Member
As such, replacements will be in service imminently - you'll all be surprised.
Just seen them parked at Longstone - they're quad articulated Wright Streetairs. They've made one, albeit long, good one out of 284-289
Lothiangem22
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I’m very excited about this!
ScotRail158725
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looking forward, whatever it is wont as good as a B7RLE but regardless they should be interesting. guessing all the 04/55 plates are gone now?
2 more of the coaches are advertised here:
Has the Plaxton already gone as well?
OmniCity999
Established Member
The Paragon? that'll end up being scrapped i reckon.
the Vanhool is one of the ones Tyrers got.
Did it turn a wheel in actual service? It always seemed way out of alignment to the rest of the MC fleet. I don't recall ever seeing it get "papped" anywhere but the depot!
OmniCity999
Established Member
Yeah it had been out quite regularly, generally around town though.
When it wasnt on hire, it was often used to shuttle staff around, specifically when large numbers of vehicles were to be moved depot.
Fair enough not sexy enough to be photoed perhaps or I missed them all! Looks smart for its age to be fair!
OmniCity999
Established Member
From what i'd seen, people generally only really take photos of the new-to-Lothian stock.
Purebloods, if you will
ScotRail158725
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the same happened with the Ex Londoners, they came up and were snapped a lot in their first few days but since photos are few and far between
Welcome to check out my Flickr, that's all I seem to be driving lately (not that i'm complaning - they're lovely).
ScotRail158725
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aye mate i already follow you, some good shots there. i prefer the Ex London B9s to the native B9s because the ZF sounds better than voith (on a B9TL, B7TLs are better with Voith)Welcome to check out my Flickr, that's all I seem to be driving lately (not that i'm complaning - they're lovely).
Going to take wild guess, if we're to be surprised as Omnicity99 says - Mercedes Citaros?
OmniCity999
Established Member
With Volvo Engine/Chassis, of course.
Lothian285
Member
https://www.lothianbuses.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/200806_EastCoastSchools.pdf
ECB school services are returning next week including a new service 128.
ECB school services are returning next week including a new service 128.
FlybeDash8Q400
Established Member
It’s just the old 124 short’s renumbered rather than a new service.
Jordan Adam
Established Member
Looks like one of the Leopards got in to a spot of bother...
Breakdown Broken down bus is partially blocking the Hermiston Gait Roundabout Police and TRISS are en route Traffic is slow on approach from the #M8#DriveSafe #ApproachWithCare
That won't please the "Lothian buses never break down" brigade...
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