Trivia: Rare and unusual bus and coach types

[GusB]

Single deck dominators weren't exactly common, especially the less than pretty ELC bodied ones. A couple for Barrow in Furness, and 6 for Hartlepool.

Buslistsontheweb.co.uk confirms there were only 8, so this is definitely a good example.

There were more bodied by Marshall, but even then only around 30 I think?

I counted 28, but that's getting away from being rare.

Staying with East Lancs, Raisbeck motors ran a rare, if not unique Volvo B57? East Lancs bus in Bedlington (B212 JTY).

I think this one might have been mentioned earlier in the thread. It's listed as a B57 but the engine was re-positioned to give it a mid-engined layout, thereby making it a B7M (unofficially). It's certainly an interesting vehicle. I don't have it to hand, but the book I referred to in the opening post contains a paragraph about it and states that the owner experienced some teething troubles with it but, once the problems were resolved, they wanted more!

****

Another rare type (in the UK at least) was the Volvo C10M, an integral coach built by Swiss coachbuilders Ramsier & Jenzer. BLOTW lists 10 examples; 1 demonstrator, 1 for Seamarks, 1 for Parry's, 2 for Wallace Arnold and the remaining 5 went to Park's.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Single deck dominators weren't exactly common, especially the less than pretty ELC bodied ones. A couple for Barrow in Furness, and 6 for Hartlepool. There were more bodied by Marshall, but even then only around 30 I think?
Staying with East Lancs, Raisbeck motors ran a rare, if not unique Volvo B57? East Lancs bus in Bedlington (B212 JTY).

Single deck Dominators were popular (relatively) in the North East. Hartlepool had 6 with those ugly East Lancs bodies, whilst Darlington had 18 with the Marshall Camair 80 bodies. The latter also appeared with Merthyr (6) and Thamesdown (4).

However, that got me thinking about the Marshall Camair body - there were 4 for Blackpool on a Dennis Lancet. Were they unique?

The Dennis Lancet was also a rare beast with three that went to Taff Ely on East Lancs bodies that ended up via National Welsh with G&G Leamington/Mid Red South

 

[Swanny200]

The B57 was only one of 3, the one mentioned which as Gus rightly says was repositioned and in some books classed as a B57, others a B7. One B57 was on a Y type alexander body, the other was a WS Vanguard I think.

As for the C10M, popular abroad but only 10 here, good looking coaches as well.

The Camair with Lancet chassis I would imagine would be rare as the rest were all Dominators

 

[MotCO]

Single deck dominators weren't exactly common, especially the less than pretty ELC bodied ones. A couple for Barrow in Furness, and 6 for Hartlepool. There were more bodied by Marshall, but even then only around 30 I think?
Staying with East Lancs, Raisbeck motors ran a rare, if not unique Volvo B57? East Lancs bus in Bedlington (B212 JTY).

Surrey CC bought some (8?) 11.6m Super Darts with ELC Myllenium bodies for their Pegassus school transport service. Metrobus (ex Southdown PSV) still run four of them LK55ACV/ADX/ADZ/AEA.

 

[DunsBus]

The single-deck East Lancs-bodied Dominators were total abominations, even by East Lancs' own standards. The phrase "like the back end of a bus" was never more apt!

The B57 was only one of 3, the one mentioned which as Gus rightly says was repositioned and in some books classed as a B57, others a B7. One B57 was on a Y type alexander body, the other was a WS Vanguard I think.

As for the C10M, popular abroad but only 10 here, good looking coaches as well.

The Camair with Lancet chassis I would imagine would be rare as the rest were all Dominators

There was also one Marshall Camair 80 body on a single-deck Ailsa chassis, Strathclyde AS1 (NHS782Y). It was built to Tayside spec, if I'm correct, and was one of the 60 buses which perished in the Larkfield depot blaze of May 1992.

The second Strathclyde single-deck Ailsa, AS2 (MGE185P) is outside the scope of this thread, as it was a rebuild following a bridge strike.

 

[Swanny200]

The single-deck East Lancs-bodied Dominators were total abominations, even by East Lancs' own standards. The phrase "like the back end of a bus" was never more apt!


There was also one Marshall Camair 80 body on a single-deck Ailsa chassis, Strathclyde AS1 (NHS782Y). It was built to Tayside spec, if I'm correct, and was one of the 60 buses which perished in the Larkfield depot blaze of May 1992.

The second Strathclyde single-deck Ailsa, AS2 (MGE185P) is outside the scope of this thread, as it was a rebuild following a bridge strike.

The Ailsa was built as a demonstrator using a left over body, part of me thinks had it been built in conjunction with a different bodybuilder then it might not have been a one off, that Camair body is not a looker, Marshall definitely lost their touch from the 80s onward

 

[Roilshead]

How about 530 BPG, the sole Dennis Pelican (with Duple Midland B44(?)F bodywork). Built in 1956 as a competitor to the Leyland Tiger Cub. AEC Reliance, and Guy Arab LUF, it was launched too late against an established competition and didn't attract a single order. The one demonstrator built was sold to Yellow Bus Services, Guildford, in 1957, and eventually ended up with Chiltern Queens.

I'm sure their were a couple of Willowbrook-bodied AEC Monocaoches - that were actually different to each other. And how could I have overlooked the Sureline own-bodies of Ford chassis here in Northern Ireland . . . Lough Swilly were an NI company, and they had some locally-bodied Albion Nimbuses. And them I'm sure I must be able to find some UTA, Harkness, Potter bodied stuff that didn't feature in the UK.

Oh yes! The very first of those Van Hool-McArdle bodied Volvo Ailsas that were supplied to SYPTE wasn't actually a Dublin-built Van Hool-McArdle - it was a Belgian-built Van Hool, which was then sent over to the Van Hool-McArdle works in Dublin as an example of the finished product.

SE4s, SE6s and "kipper boxes" - would they count (not sure f the numbers)? And the same operators Picktree-bodied Guy Arab (L)UF coaches - they must count.

 

[MotCO]

Has anyone mentioned the DAB-Leyland and five MAN bendy buses in Sheffield?

 

[Shaw S Hunter]

Not so far mentioned and a slightly surprising candidate is the Bristol RE/Northern Counties combination, just 11 all told.
One batch of 6: WMA113-5E, YLG716-8F (SHMD 113-118, later SELNEC/GMT 5073-8) and a batch of 5: LHG384-8H (BC&N 84-8, B&P same f/nos). These (5) all passed to independents: 84 to Webbers of Blisland, Cornwall; 85-8 to Silver Service of Baslow (as 67-70). YLG717F is preserved in SHMD colours.

I'm sure many have done as I have and had a good browse around BLOTW both to confirm postings made and to learn about bus history more generally. I did find a genuine one-off which has yet to be mentioned, namely HRF427V, a Foden FD6 chassis fitted with a Northern Counties 33-seat coach body. It was built for Foden as transport for the "Motor Works Band" and judging by the photos a handsome beast. As built it had a reasonably bus-like front grille (https://www.flickr.com/photos/dscn8785/5380268780/) but it seems it very quickly gained a typical Foden truck grille as befitted its prime user (https://www.flickr.com/photos/141535500@N07/53078962889/)

 

[retro.kid]

Two Alexander AD Bodied Dennis Dominators:

NBC - PMT 700 - XBF700S - 7th Dominator chassis built.
SBG - Central D1 - EGB77T - 21st Dominator chassis built.

 

[GCH100]

Here are a few rare types:-

Islwyn 47-52 D405-410NUH Dodge G08 East Lancs DP25F - The only Dodge G08's bodied as buses for Mainstream PSV Operation, and the only ones with East Lancs bodies new in 1987.

Widnes/Halton 5-7 RTF305-307M, 10-13 MCK210-213P Bristol RELL6L East Lancs, these were the only Bristol RELL long wheelbase, as apposed to RESL short wheel base, bodied by East Lancs. I've also seen since orginally posting this another two examples of RELL's with East Lancs body but built to the 1968 RELL-6 model, not the same as RELL6G/L, as they were short, and to a shorter wheelbase than the standard RELL, but unlike the RESL these had 17.6ins wheelbase for a 32.6ft ins bus. They where only offered in 1968, Reading Corporation was the other much larger customer who bought all the other 42 of the model, these were built in 1968 for Warrington Corporation Transport and were registered and numbered; 94/5 NED748/9G. Warrington also had three Leyland Panther Cub's with East Lancs bodies no's 91-93 KED545-547F, these were three Panther Cub's with East Lancs bodies. Ashton-under-Lyne had the other two 55/6 CTC355/6E.

Then I am suprised no one has yet mentioned this: SHMD 70 UMA370 Atkinson PD746 Northern Counties H35/25C the only Atkinson double-decker ever built, new in November 1954, and it still survives in the Greater Manchester Transport Museum.

 

[Whisky Papa]

Not so far mentioned and a slightly surprising candidate is the Bristol RE/Northern Counties combination, just 11 all told.
One batch of 6: WMA113-5E, YLG716-8F (SHMD 113-118, later SELNEC/GMT 5073-8) and a batch of 5: LHG384-8H (BC&N 84-8, B&P same f/nos). These (5) all passed to independents: 84 to Webbers of Blisland, Cornwall; 85-8 to Silver Service of Baslow (as 67-70). YLG717F is preserved in SHMD colours.

I'm sure many have done as I have and had a good browse around BLOTW both to confirm postings made and to learn about bus history more generally. I did find a genuine one-off which has yet to be mentioned, namely HRF427V, a Foden FD6 chassis fitted with a Northern Counties 33-seat coach body. It was built for Foden as transport for the "Motor Works Band" and judging by the photos a handsome beast. As built it had a reasonably bus-like front grille (https://www.flickr.com/photos/dscn8785/5380268780/) but it seems it very quickly gained a typical Foden truck grille as befitted its prime user (https://www.flickr.com/photos/141535500@N07/53078962889/)

The low numbers of Northern Counties/ Bristol RE does seem slightly surprising; maybe because I remember both these batches from the time, I might assume they were more widespread than the reality.

Slightly greater in number were the 20 Bristol LH6Ls with Northern Counties B39D bodies of Lancashire United Transport, 318-37 (UTD 281-300 H). Were these also the only dual-door Bristol LH's? From conversations at the time with LUT staff, I gather their manual transmission made them rather unpopular with the drivers. I can't recall ever travelling on one, nor even photographing one it seems.

 

[Swanny200]

Two Alexander AD Bodied Dennis Dominators:

NBC - PMT 700 - XBF700S - 7th Dominator chassis built.
SBG - Central D1 - EGB77T - 21st Dominator chassis built.

PMT 700 had a front end change when it was sent to Maidstone and District, was not a lucky machine and had a few accidents, I knew a driver at the old Chatham Luton Road depot that said that drivers hated it as it was always getting involved in some kind of trouble

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Slightly greater in number were the 20 Bristol LH6Ls with Northern Counties B39D bodies of Lancashire United Transport, 318-37 (UTD 281-300 H). Were these also the only dual-door Bristol LH's? From conversations at the time with LUT staff, I gather their manual transmission made them rather unpopular with the drivers. I can't recall ever travelling on one, nor even photographing one it seems.

No - Hants & Dorset also had dual door LHs - photo courtesy of Solenteer on Flickr https://www.flickr.com/photos/solen...-2isV6ay-buPNUT-EZTi1m-24GeX58-e1xoNX-2isSvhu

Northern Counties LHs? I can't recall others and interesting that Wigan ordered LHs that arrived with ECW bodies (although to a design replaced some 5 years earlier)

 

[Strathclyder]

There was also one Marshall Camair 80 body on a single-deck Ailsa chassis, Strathclyde AS1 (NHS782Y). It was built to Tayside spec, if I'm correct, and was one of the 60 buses which perished in the Larkfield depot blaze of May 1992.

That is correct. One of Strathclyde's single-deck Metroliners (A740 RNS/C13) as mentioned by @GusB in post #181 was another vehicle lost in that fire. Sister vehicle A741 RNS (C14) remained in use for a few more years, but I think was gone by the time First took over (linked photo copyright of Flickr's John Law).

wyks - strathclyde pte a741rns mcw coach halifax piece hall 93 JL

Explore johnmightycat1's 97252 photos on Flickr!

www.flickr.com

 

[GCH100]

Here are some more rare vehicles, but this time bodied by Massey of Wigan

Wigan Corporation Transport 20/22 DJP468E, EEK 1F Leyland Panther Cub PSR1C/1 Massey B43D both delivered in August 1967, 1 of these is in preservation with the Wigan Transport Trust after being brought back from Malta, these were the only Panther Cubs bodied by Massey

Ipswich Corporation Transport 69-72 HPV 69- 72F AEC Reliance 6MU2R Massey B40D, these where the only AEC Reliances bodied by Massey.

More unusal types for the UK anyway are the Van Hool A330 Hybrids

First Aberdeen had 64994-64997 SV14 FYR/S/ZD/C
Stagecoach Bluebird had 29901-29906 SV14 DMX/U, SV64 BPZ/RF/Z/X
Tower Transit had BH63101/2 LJ67 HTF/G

The First Aberdeen and Stagecoach Bluebird ones were owned by Aberdeen City Council, and all but one survive, mainly with research institutions, from where they were gifted by Aberdeen City Council, one of the Bluebird ones however is at the Transport Museum at Alford, probably as a static exhibit these were single-door.
Tower Transit in London had dual-door BH63101/2 but I am not sure what happened to the pair? No more are likely to be built since Van Hool went under.

 

[Jordan Adam]

More unusal types for the UK anyway are the Van Hool A330 Hybrids

First Aberdeen had 64994-64997 SV14 FYR/S/ZD/C
Stagecoach Bluebird had 29901-29906 SV14 DMX/U, SV64 BPZ/RF/Z/X
Tower Transit had BH63101/2 LJ67 HTF/G

The First Aberdeen and Stagecoach Bluebird ones were owned by Aberdeen City Council, and all but one have been scrapped, one of the Bluebird ones however is at the Transport Museum at Alford, probably as a static exhibit these were single-door
Tower Transit in London had dual-door BH63101/2 but I am not sure what happened to the pair? No more are likely to be built since Van Hool went under.

Most of the Aberdeen Hydrogen-powered Vanhool A330s still exist. The only one known to have been scrapped is Ex-Stagecoach 29903. The rest went to various technical colleges and research institutes in the UK, Northern Ireland and Denmark. Two examples remain in the Aberdeen area, Ex-Stagecoach 29906 at Alford and Ex-Stagecoach 29905 at the Nescol technical college in Altens. They were plagued with reliability issues with there rarely being more than four or five out on any given day, just about the only part of them that was reliable was the Hydrogen side...

 

[GCH100]

Most of the Aberdeen Hydrogen-powered Vanhool A330s still exist. The only one known to have been scrapped is Ex-Stagecoach 29903. The rest went to various technical colleges and research institutes in the UK, Northern Ireland and Denmark. Two examples remain in the Aberdeen area, Ex-Stagecoach 29906 at Alford and Ex-Stagecoach 29905 at the Nescol technical college in Altens. They were plagued with reliability issues with there rarely being more than four or five out on any given day, just about the only part of them that was reliable was the Hydrogen side...

Thanks for that, I had thought I had seen a photo on Flickr of two or three in a semi scrapped condition at Barnsley, but from what i've researched today as a result of your post thats not the case, indead they all past on, but the research organsiation that had 29903 past it on for scrap. I did ride on the First Aberdeen examples a couple of times and found them quite comfortable, but they obviously where not reliable as by the third time I went all the First examples were parked out of service at the depot, and the Park and Ride was being operated by a mish mash of different types. I have now ammended my post above to reflect the changes.

 

[Towers]

Have we had these yet?

Dennis Lance SLFs with very unusual (for the UK anyhow) Berkhoff bodies; the caption to the below Flickr image suggests that 40 were supplied to the UK. Most were for airport related work but Stagecoach purchased two batches of five, one lot for Ribble and one for East Kent. The latter examples migrated along the south coast to end up in Worthing as below, before being conveniently transferred to Lewea depot and out of the business with its sale to Brighton & Hove. Not overly popular beasts, they didn’t last long there.

Berkhof don't just build coaches!

Rather rare machines in the UK were the 40 Dennis Lance SLFs that were fitted with Berkhof bus bodies. Most were airport buses with Speedlink Airport Services but ten were bought by Stagecoach, who allocated five to East Kent for the Canterbury park and ride services, and the other five...

www.flickr.com

 

[GusB]

Have we had these yet?

Dennis Lance SLFs with very unusual (for the UK anyhow) Berkhoff bodies; the caption to the below Flickr image suggests that 40 were supplied to the UK. Most were for airport related work but Stagecoach purchased two batches of five, one lot for Ribble and one for East Kent. The latter examples migrated along the south coast to end up in Worthing as below, before being conveniently transferred to Lewea depot and out of the business with its sale to Brighton & Hove. Not overly popular beasts, they didn’t last long there.

Berkhof don't just build coaches!

Rather rare machines in the UK were the 40 Dennis Lance SLFs that were fitted with Berkhof bus bodies. Most were airport buses with Speedlink Airport Services but ten were bought by Stagecoach, who allocated five to East Kent for the Canterbury park and ride services, and the other five...

www.flickr.com

The fact that 40 were built means it's outwith the scope of the thread.

 

[341o2]

How about 530 BPG, the sole Dennis Pelican (with Duple Midland B44(?)F bodywork). Built in 1956 as a competitor to the Leyland Tiger Cub. AEC Reliance, and Guy Arab LUF, it was launched too late against an established competition and didn't attract a single order. The one demonstrator built was sold to Yellow Bus Services, Guildford, in 1957, and eventually ended up with Chiltern Queens.

Post #66

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Mention of Van Hool hydrogen vehicles reminded me of the sole Van Hool A600 (which I don't think has been mentioned). It was a demonstrator new in 1989, and then passed to Rhodes of Yeadon. When their bus operations were purchased, it passed to Yorkshire Rider and then within Badgerline Group to Brewers in South Wales.

 

[DunsBus]

Two body/chassis combinations come to mind.

Seddon Pennnine 7/Alexander M-type.
Six built: Eastern Scottish XS747-752 (MSF747-752P) which were also the final M-types.

Leyland Tiger/Alexander T-type.
Sixteen built: Central SMT LT1-5 (FGG601-605X), Eastern Scottish ZH311-316 (PSF311-316Y) and Alexander (Midland) MPT101-105 (ALS101-105Y). The Eastern six were also notable in being fully-automatc rather than semi-auto.

 

[GusB]

Seddon Pennnine 7/Alexander M-type.
Six built: Eastern Scottish XS747-752 (MSF747-752P) which were also the final M-types.

All the M-types could technically be classed as rare, other than those that were built on the Bristol REMH chassis.

There were 13 Leopards, all of which went to the Scottish Bus Group (3 Eastern, 3 Fife and 6 Northern) and there was one solitary example for Ribble.

Add to that the 8 Volvo B58s for Western.

 

[DunsBus]

All the M-types could technically be classed as rare, other than those that were built on the Bristol REMH chassis.

There were 13 Leopards, all of which went to the Scottish Bus Group (3 Eastern, 3 Fife and 6 Northern) and there was one solitary example for Ribble.

Add to that the 8 Volvo B58s for Western.

Much rarer than I thought. As the saying goes, every day is a school day.

 

[318266]

The Mercedes-chassis'd Wright Classics were interesting: 22 O405N/CityRangers (14 Grampian, 6 Midland Bluebird, 1 Stevensons, & 1 demo), and 16 OH1416/UrbanRangers (no batch bigger than 4)

 

[Towers]

The Mercedes-chassis'd Wright Classics were interesting: 22 O405N/CityRangers (14 Grampian, 6 Midland Bluebird, 1 Stevensons, & 1 demo), and 16 OH1416/UrbanRangers (no batch bigger than 4)

And one built as a command centre for the fire service, I believe!

The fact that 40 were built means it's outwith the scope of the thread.

Fair play sir!

 

[GCH100]

How about this - The 8 Leyland Titan PD2's that Preston Coverted to Highbridge PD3/6's using parts of there existing Leyland bodies, but in the case of 4 coverted them from Low-Bridge to High-Bridge specification, and on all coverted them from rear entrance open platform to Front Sliding Doors (Bacon Slicers), you might say well they aren't rare there were hundreds of Leyland Titan PD3's, but these where the only ones with Leyland Bodies, to a style that had ended in the mid 1950's, and cetainly the only Leyland bodies with forward entrances. Here they are:-

2 PRN761 converted 1961 from low-bridge ECK509 of 1952
5 NCK757 converted 1960 from low-bridge ECK510 of 1952
9 NCK741 converted 1959 from low-bridge FRN731 of 1954
10 PRN762 converted 1962 from low-bridge FRN732 of 1954
50 SRN375 converted 1962 from high-bridge FRN734 of 1954
51 SRN376 converted 1963 from high-bridge FRN735 of 1954
59 FCK453F converted 1967 from high-bridge FRN739 of 1954
61 BCK367C converted 1965 from high-bridge FRN740 of 1954

The other thing of note with these is that the fleet numbers did not change, they where the previous fleet numbers and Preston used an odd numbering system at this time similar to Wigan Corporation and Leigh Corporation.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Darlington has had two mentions already with Ward Dalesman and Marshall Camair Dennis Dominators.

However, my local municipal was renowned for eclectic choices. It had 24 of 26 Roe bodied single deck Fleetlines built, and the same bodies were the only ones on Daimler Roadliner chassis. I never appreciated quite how bats**t crazy Darlington Corpy was when I was there.

 

[01d-and]

I was going to suggest the Plaxton 4000 coach until I realised how many were used in the UK . [Any survivors??].

The same goes for the TAZ Dubrava coach. I seem to remember a Scottish operator using them on a London - Scotland service , not sure for how long though.