Shortened / lengthened buses

[A0wen]

Taking on the post about double-deck conversions to single deck - what examples were there of buses which have been shortened or lengthened?

I know Midland Red shortened some of its Plaxton bodied Ford R192s into midi buses by chopping a length out of the middle. Also aware of the odd RML / RM conversion (either lengthen or shortened) but what others are there?

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Not quite the same but some got taller - remember the Grey Green B10Ms that were coaches. The bottom had fallen out of the coach resale market and they had a need for deckers for LRT services so they got the bodies scrapped and were rebodied as deckers.

 

[Robertj21a]

Not quite the same but some got taller - remember the Grey Green B10Ms that were coaches. The bottom had fallen out of the coach resale market and they had a need for deckers for LRT services so they got the bodies scrapped and were rebodied as deckers.

Those bodies had unusually short rear overhangs.

 

[A0wen]

Not quite the same but some got taller - remember the Grey Green B10Ms that were coaches. The bottom had fallen out of the coach resale market and they had a need for deckers for LRT services so they got the bodies scrapped and were rebodied as deckers.

Same thing as Midland Red North did with a number of ex Green Line Tigers - TLs, BTLs mainly which as they came off lease were snapped up and then sent to East Lancs for bus bodies to be fitted.

 

[Robertj21a]

Same thing as Midland Red North did with a number of ex Green Line Tigers - TLs, BTLs mainly which as they came off lease were snapped up and then sent to East Lancs for bus bodies to be fitted.

As, of course, were many Leyland Nationals that later became Greenways (but this isn't a thread about rebodying.......)

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Same thing as Midland Red North did with a number of ex Green Line Tigers - TLs, BTLs mainly which as they came off lease were snapped up and then sent to East Lancs for bus bodies to be fitted.

To be fair with the ECW ones, the bottom fell out of the coaches themselves

 

[carlberry]

To be fair with the ECW ones, the bottom fell out of the coaches themselves

This was a feature to increase boot space, it meant the boot could swallow an infinite amount of luggage!

 

[ChrisPJ]

Only recent examples I can think of is a few hybrid deckers in York? Rebuilt by Wrights after a few years London service

 

[darloscott]

Andrews of Tideswell had at least one (maybe more?) 15m Panthers (ex Megabus) shortened to 14m recently

 

[GusB]

Former Western SMT YSD350/365L were Leopard PSU3s (11m) that were shortened to 10m.

There was a company called Tricentrol which modified chassis. There was a shortened Ford, and a Bedford YMT which was lengthened to 12m

 

[Tetchytyke]

Does the Supercar count?

https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:London_Transport_SUPERCAR

 

[LOL The Irony]

Not quite the same but some got taller - remember the Grey Green B10Ms that were coaches. The bottom had fallen out of the coach resale market and they had a need for deckers for LRT services so they got the bodies scrapped and were rebodied as deckers.

Here's one pre conversion
https://www.flickr.com/photos/scottishcoachman/5044423841

 

[martinsh]

In Eastern Europe, articulated Ikarus buses are quite commonly cut down to be normal single deckers - identifiable by the short rear overhang

 

[randyrippley]

Lancaster City Transport purchased a second-hand fleet of five or six Bedfords for use in Kendal. From memory five with Duple bus bodies, one with Plaxton. They simply had the body cut off and plated over just behind the rear axle
There's a photo of one (not mine) at https://thetransportlibrary.co.uk/image/cache/catalog/M/8/C/-/M8C-102-1000x1000.jpg
(Photo description: Lancaster Bedford YRQ 365 HPY365N at Kendal in 1988 - Jun 1988 - Roy Marshall)

There's a photo of the same bus in 1985 before surgery while with its original owners, Cleveland Transport at
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jncarter1962/23789575101

edit
comparing the two photos it looks like there has been extensive changes to the front as well: the Duple bus radiator grille, light clusters and fascia have been replaced with what looks like Plaxton parts, while the route destination board has been removed / plated over - possibly because the roof has been lowered and there's no room for it???

 

[Jordan Adam]

Only recent examples I can think of is a few hybrid deckers in York? Rebuilt by Wrights after a few years London service

Some former Stagecoach Tri-axle Panthers have also been shortened from 15 Metres down to 14 Metres.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/cuthbus/41832563765/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/skillsbus/14511067107

 

[Man of Kent]

Lancaster City Transport purchased a second-hand fleet of five or six Bedfords for use in Kendal. From memory five with Duple bus bodies, one with Plaxton. They simply had the body cut off and plated over just behind the rear axle
There's a photo of one (not mine) at https://thetransportlibrary.co.uk/image/cache/catalog/M/8/C/-/M8C-102-1000x1000.jpg
(Photo description: Lancaster Bedford YRQ 365 HPY365N at Kendal in 1988 - Jun 1988 - Roy Marshall)

There's a photo of the same bus in 1985 before surgery while with its original owners, Cleveland Transport at
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jncarter1962/23789575101

edit
comparing the two photos it looks like there has been extensive changes to the front as well: the Duple bus radiator grille, light clusters and fascia have been replaced with what looks like Plaxton parts, while the route destination board has been removed / plated over - possibly because the roof has been lowered and there's no room for it???

The conversions were made by Cleveland Transit, who ran them before sale to Lancaster. They were certainly in service in Middlesborough in the summer of 1986.

 

[AndyW33]

Taking on the post about double-deck conversions to single deck - what examples were there of buses which have been shortened or lengthened?

I know Midland Red shortened some of its Plaxton bodied Ford R192s into midi buses by chopping a length out of the middle. Also aware of the odd RML / RM conversion (either lengthen or shortened) but what others are there?

And much earlier on, Midland Red went in the opposite direction by lengthening their quite sizeable fleet of early postwar single deckers when the maximum permitted single deck length changed from 27ft 6in to 30ft. Classes S6, S8, S9, S10 and S11 were those done, over 450 buses in all. The task was easier because these were Midland Red's own design vehicles. One window bay was spliced in, allowing 4 more seats, and the actual lengthening was done under contract by Roe at Leeds.
By the time the maximum length changed from 30ft to 36ft, they'd decided that building new 36ft buses was the way to go, because the ones built as 30ft from new were mostly also lightweight and wouldn't have suited the extension at all.

 

[A0wen]

To be fair with the ECW ones, the bottom fell out of the coaches themselves

That was the United Counties Leopards - by the time LC got their TLs the fixes were being deployed to prevent such incidents.

 

[A0wen]

Lancaster City Transport purchased a second-hand fleet of five or six Bedfords for use in Kendal. From memory five with Duple bus bodies, one with Plaxton. They simply had the body cut off and plated over just behind the rear axle
There's a photo of one (not mine) at https://thetransportlibrary.co.uk/image/cache/catalog/M/8/C/-/M8C-102-1000x1000.jpg
(Photo description: Lancaster Bedford YRQ 365 HPY365N at Kendal in 1988 - Jun 1988 - Roy Marshall)

There's a photo of the same bus in 1985 before surgery while with its original owners, Cleveland Transport at
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jncarter1962/23789575101

edit
comparing the two photos it looks like there has been extensive changes to the front as well: the Duple bus radiator grille, light clusters and fascia have been replaced with what looks like Plaxton parts, while the route destination board has been removed / plated over - possibly because the roof has been lowered and there's no room for it???

That won't win any awards for beauty after its rebuild.

I'm surprised nobody tried chopping a bay or two out of a 10.3m National to make something closer to 9m...... given its modular nature it should have been doable.

 

[randyrippley]

That won't win any awards for beauty after its rebuild.

I'm surprised nobody tried chopping a bay or two out of a 10.3m National to make something closer to 9m...... given its modular nature it should have been doable.

I think that HAS been done
I've got half a memory of seeing a cutdown National somewhere being used as a shuttle bus, either at an airport or a port.
Can't remember any details at all

 

[GusB]

That won't win any awards for beauty after its rebuild.

I'm surprised nobody tried chopping a bay or two out of a 10.3m National to make something closer to 9m...... given its modular nature it should have been doable.

Theoretically that would have been possible. We had 10.3 and 11.3m Nationals here (10.6/11.6m for the MK2), but there was a 10.9m version for Australia that used a mixture of different modules.

 

[randyrippley]

Lancaster City Transport purchased a second-hand fleet of five or six Bedfords for use in Kendal. From memory five with Duple bus bodies, one with Plaxton. They simply had the body cut off and plated over just behind the rear axle
There's a photo of one (not mine) at https://thetransportlibrary.co.uk/image/cache/catalog/M/8/C/-/M8C-102-1000x1000.jpg
(Photo description: Lancaster Bedford YRQ 365 HPY365N at Kendal in 1988 - Jun 1988 - Roy Marshall)

There's a photo of the same bus in 1985 before surgery while with its original owners, Cleveland Transport at
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jncarter1962/23789575101

edit
comparing the two photos it looks like there has been extensive changes to the front as well: the Duple bus radiator grille, light clusters and fascia have been replaced with what looks like Plaxton parts, while the route destination board has been removed / plated over - possibly because the roof has been lowered and there's no room for it???

going back over old records, it looks like Duple built four of these for Cleveland, as full size Dominant buses
GHN857N / GHN858N / HPY364N / HPY365N
theres a photo of GHN857N after rebuild at http://www.busphoto.co.uk/media.details.php?mediaID=36529
this one still has its original Duple front end, which makes me think HPY365N must have been crashed at some time and been repaired with spare Plaxton parts, oversized windscreen and recycled coach seats...........would explain why one was said to have a different body.
A real lash-up

 

[Statto]

Seem to remember a few Atlanteans/Fleetlines being converted to single deckers mostly after accident damage, here's one example

https://www.flickr.com/photos/theoriginalzippy/15437273784/

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Seem to remember a few Atlanteans/Fleetlines being converted to single deckers mostly after accident damage, here's one example

https://www.flickr.com/photos/theoriginalzippy/15437273784/

Take it you've not been following this thread recently https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/single-deck-conversions.181164/

 

[Regis 598]

There was a company called Tricentrol which modified chassis. There was a shortened Ford, and a Bedford YMT which was lengthened to 12m

The prototype Bedford YMT still exists and is the only one to have survived, unless you know something I don't.

 

[randyrippley]

possibly the ultimate in bus modification........
these aren't my photos but are typical of what I saw in Ahmedabad 20 or so years ago: old double decker bodies with the cab and engine removed, front extension fitted and the result attached to an articulated cab.
https://farm8.static.flickr.com/7885/47149668111_a5023879e9_b.jpg
https://farm8.static.flickr.com/7833/32198265087_3445bea9c6_b.jpg

While there I also saw a couple of even more oddball contraptions: pairs of ancient front-engine double deckers permanently coupled back-to-back and driven in a push-pull fashion with one bus towing the other in reverse. Driver simply changed ends at the terminus
What I can't remember is what the door arrangements were