In Town Today

At the races !

One by one !

The 25 rebuilt L type coach chassis

What was to be the last major rebodying programme for Western and Southern National was started in the winter of 1957. This again involved to rebuilding of L type chassis. This time it was those of the Royal Blue coaches 1200 - 1225 JUO 932 - JUO994 JUO 978 - JUO 989 and HOD 27. The last was an L6A whilst the others were all L6B.

The bodies were removed at the local scrap dealer Rundle who had premises at the entrance of Millbay Docks and the chassis returned to Laira Bridge for refurbishment which included lengthening to LL type. The refurbished chassis were then driven to Lowestoft to receive their new bodies.

Usually the companies wanted the return of the car number plates but in this case nearly all passed to myself and a friend so are presumably in collectors hands. Rundle & Owen were very friendly to us 17 year old and we witnessed many a vehicle being scrapped there. The new bodies had pressed aluminium plates !

These were a stretched version of the ECW "SC" type 39 seat body. Oddly this was not a type of vehicle that WNOC / SNOC ever had.

A good friend Phil Doddridge was working at Laira Bridge at the time and has added this.

"Now for the 25 Royal Blue coaches used for the rehab programme, all the prep work for the body removal was done over the pits at LairaBridge removing most of the U bolts holding the body to the chassis and freeing off the ones left for easy removal at the scrap merchants in Millbay Docks, other cables unclipped from the body underside. Each one driven to the docks with its body, and the chassis returned to be stripped down, all the running units overhauled by the workshop staff under workshop Foreman E Sparks. The chassis was then prepared to be lengthened jig drilling was involved using parts from other J and L types stripped and scrapped at other depots, must have used some new parts from the Bristol Works like prop shafts and brake rods from the LL due to the longer wheel base. All the pit work, stripping, and chassis rebuild done by the dock staff under Foreman E Northcott. I was involved in all this. The chassis was driven up to Lowestoft, the bonnet and fire bulkhead was fitted for this with a temporary screen the driver had a flying suit hat and goggles to keep him warm. All this was 50 years ago, with the vehicles keeping Reg, Fleet and Chassis Numbers.What a waste of Royal Blue bodies 10 years old.Travelled to work on one for years after on the 54 from Heybrook Bay with my free pass. "



The donor vehicles were all stripped of their bodies by dealers in Dorchester, Penryn or Rundles and the chassis returned to Plymouth. 26 J type and L type were used though in actual fact the J types had already been rebuilt as L type. The lengthening and rebuilding of these at Plymouth was identical to the earlier rebuilds at Bideford.The body of 190 ATT 940 was not scrapped at Penryn but was used to rebody a PS1 HD 7893.

One J that was not considered useable was later sold to a showman and so surives today. Restoration is well under way.



Winkleigh 2007



The rebodied vehicles started returning in December 1957 and as I remember it 1225 the L6A was the first to return and a friend and myself were proudly shown it by the depot foreman. They were very speedy vehicle with the six cylinder engine and the light-weight body. The driver did suffer a little from the noise and heat of the engine which was beside him and inside the saloon.

Six were delivered with upswept rear ends for use on the Torpoint Ferry (4) and the Sandbanks Ferry (2). All but 1223 JUO 988 lasted until 1969 / 1970. 1223 was written off in an accident in 1960.

At least two are in preservation.

The 13 rebuilt L type bus chassis

After the Second World War most bus companies had vehicles which at best were "tired" but many were well past their useful life. Replacement vehicles were not easy to purchase with supplies being very limited. Many companies were able to rejuvenate vehicles by either rebuilding or re-bodying chassis that they had refurbished themselves. This had been a time honoured way of updating mid-life vehicles.


137 FJ 8967 an H from 1933 carrying its second body (Bristol) fitted in 1942 and would be typical in styling of the immediate post-war fleet. Soon to be back on the road fully restored.

Western and Southern National commenced the rebodying of their fleet of J and L single deckers between 1947 and 1950 generally in that order. JC Beadle of Dartford produced the bodies which were similar to the then current Tilling specifications. The chassis retained the high KV type radiator.Whilst the J type chassis were very poor they received new chassis frames the L type did not.



333 DOD 518 an L5G built in 1940 with a Bristol B45R body received this Beadle B35R body in 1950. Lucky to survive long enough after withdrawal and sale to be preserved.

Western National also decide that it would be worthwhile re-habilitatiing 15 older buses of the H type. This would produced 15 more modern saloons at a fraction of the cost even if new saloons were available. This produced a batch of vehicles identical to the L type such as 333.


This photo is a surivor being amongst the first I took and dates from 1957. The rest of the collection was sold in the 1960s when I was a student ! This is the third body but the chassis type now becomes debateable !

Here the story evolves !

At the time that this was being considered i.e. 1950 Bristol were switch to production of the 30ft LL and had surplus chassis frames available as spare parts. The 15 chassis frames earmarked for L6As 1264 - 1278 LTA 893 - 900 / 966 - 968 were used for the rebuilding of the chosen Hs. All useable parts including the KV radiators were used but the chassis (like the Js previously) though technically L type retained their original registrations and chassis numbers (i.e H).

A further 23 L type chassis frames were collected from Bristol and brought to Bideford. There ten were built by SNOC into rolling chassis and were returned to Bristol to become 1245 - 49 LTA 724 - LTA 728 and 1259 - 63 LTA 888 - LTA 892. All these had Duple coach bodies and were Royal Blue vehicles. The remainder of the frames were stacked at Bideford.




In 1951 coach 1236 HOD 99 (L5G / Beadle similar to HOD 30) was destroyed by fire and completely gutted.

The remains were stored at Bideford until 1953 when it was realised that the store of 13 L type chassis frames could be put to some use so an LL 30ft chassis was made up from the old and the new frames and with a Bristol B39R body entered service in 1954.

The resulting LL bus was so succesful that another twelve vehicles were sought and so they were sourced and sent to Bideford

1953 366 372 373 GTA 391 GTA 392 GTA 393 Bristol B39R
1954 374 375 376 CVF 843 CVF 844 CVF 848 Bristol B43R
1955 377 378 379 CVF 842 CVF 852 CVF 854 ECW B39R
1955 262 331 365 ETT 956 DOD 516 GTA 390 ECW B39R


ECW B39R body

Bristol B39R

ECW B39R seen here in the Southern National fleet, but to me a Western National vehicle as it was a Plymouth vehicle until 1963. One that I liked to conduct on !

E & O E

AEC Matador Recovery

The AEC Matador was built in large numbers during the Second World War. In all about 10,000 were built and were known simply as the 853 or O853. Originally built as a Medium Artillery Tractor its usefulness in other roles was soon recognised.

9620 had been built by the time the war time contracts ended in November 1945.

 

The civilian Mtador was the O346 and production resumed in mid 1945 later being designated the O347 in 1947 when the Mark III goods range was introduced in 1947. In January 1948 the model designation of all vehicles was altered to 3471

Weighing nearly 8 tons it was powered by the AEC A187 6 cylinder diesel 7.58 litre engine which delivered a maximum power of 95 BHP at 1800 rpm. They soon became popular with independent recovery operators as well as the larger bus operators. They valued their towing and winching ability and the 7.7 litre diesel engine which was guaranteed to start in any weather, no matter how long it had been standing.

A 6-wheeled version was also built and designated the 0854, typical body types included fuel tankers and various armoured bodies



Many were rebuilt with a more modern body and at the same time more modern equipment was fitted.

Western and Southern National operated seven according to my records.


Believed to be 624 JOD. Seaton.



Rebuilt Series I believed to be 873 DUO. Taunton

Camborne


PFJ 847M at Willis, Bodmin







PFJ 850M Loddiswell



PFJ 850M came to WNOC from DGOTC and after sale to Torbay Council was donated by Colin Billington to the WHOTT Museum.


The Series I rebuild had flat split windscreen whilst the series II had curved windscreens. Although similar in appearance there were very many other differences.

624 JOD RV3 ---- 5/59 withdrawn 1981 not rebuilt (?)

873 DUO RV4 ---- 11/61 rebuilt Series I

PFJ 847M RV5 1939 11/68 rebuilt Series II to WN Ltd

PFJ 848M RV6 1943 4/70 to ND Ltd

PFJ 849M RV7 1944 1/71 withdrawn 1982 to Benedicts Garage, Tiverton

PFJ 850M RV8 1943 5/70 rebuilt Series II to DG Ltd

PFJ 899M RV1 1942 1/71 withdrawn 1981 not rebuilt

624 JOD and PFJ 899M were dumped at the rear of Laira Bridge for quite a while until they disappeared.

Any added information welcome. Please contact me at

tg.partridge@gmail.com.

Video Clip ( )

Kingsbridge 18th September

The same clips have been uploaded to Youtube for comparison purposes.

Video Clips (2)

This clip when exported as an mpeg has a file size of 37mb


Video: Size 720x576,
Rate 25.000 (PAL),
Aspect: 1.0926 (DV PAL 4:3),
Interlacing Top First (PAL, not DV),
Compression Variable bit rate 4200.00 kbps
Audio:Format 16-bit Stereo 48000 Hz (DVD),
Compression Constant bit rate 224.00 kbps

Clip taken from the rear of an FDC Dart 40037 S374 SUX

Video Clips

As you know in an effort to manage my time better and to pass on some of my involvement with buses I have sadly had to seek new ways of communicating to friends on the internet.

The main restriction has always been file sizes that e-groups require versus that of the image size now produced by modern cameras.

Video really has been a no go area until sites such as Youtube came along. Despite quite large permitted files sites do re-render what is submitted.

There are so many variables from the source camera to the format etc of the finished clip.

For the next few days I will be experimenting with producing clips taken yesterday. For the source I used a Sony DCR-HC22E. This is a very compact unit that fits neatly into a jacket pocket and has touch screen controls.

The video is captured by a firewire connection and using Serif Movieplus 4 (being upgraded) is exported as a highly compressed mpeg before being uploaded to blogger.




One of the FDC Park & Ride Enviro 400s enters St Andrews Cross roundabout in Plymouth

Sh*t Happens

Not the most polite of sayings but.........

It is known that most bumps and scrapes happen in the depot but........ why me ?

Unfortunately instead of going forward my Tally Ho! went backwards and ran into my SUL. I was not driving by the way !


This is a bit more serious than it looks as for some reason the top panel has been creased in two places.



As the panel is fibre glass this should be a straight forward repair.



A day later and a new glass and rim for the headlight had been fixed and 1202 made the "Ice Cream" run to Dartmouth. This time Colin Billington drove and took the coastal route. What views.

The SU is improving but still requires more TLC and will have the hydraulics bled again to improve the throttle and the brakes. (They do work but not at their best). The oil leak has been cured for the time being but a permanent repair will be done later when I take the oil filter assembly off the engine.

Here are a few experimental video clips of the drive.

Firstly1202 leaving the depot.



One of Tally Ho! 's B10M / Marshall deckers squeezes pass.

The climb out and the view of Slapton Ley.

NB. You will get a smoother ride when you look at the clip for the second time.

Look at http://www.flickr.com/photos/tgphotos/ for "rush hour" in Dartmouth. In the space of ten minutes a variety of vehicles went by !

Westpoint - the WHOTT Rally

As it worked out only three of the fleet managed to attend the WHOTT Rally today. Nevermind they were all in service with the RE and SU making trips to Exter and the LH taking the internal roadways at the site.

Paul drove LH6L 112 KTT 42P

Roger drove RELL6G 2700 HDV 626E

Whilst I drove the SUL 1202 336 EDV.

Now a couple of quiet weeks when perhaps I can update you all on the status of my fleet of preserved buses and coaches.

The "Step entrance Darts"

This is the story of the early Darts that had a standard floor and a step in the entrance

The classic Dart SFD with Plaxton Pointer body. This is K544ORH 9SDL3016/1074 Pn 929HMN104B34F new 10/1992 as London Buses Ltd DRL44

In the late 1980s the company owning Dennis and Duple noticed a gap in the market for buses. There was nothing between the minibus and a full size single decker bus. In 1989 the Hestair Group introduced the Dennis Dart. This was a rear engine bus, 9m in length and 2.3m wide. It was powered by the well proven combination of a Cummins 6BT engine coupled to an Allison AT545 gearbox. Duple produced the Dartline body that seated 28 passengers. Later differing lengths of 8.5m and 9.8m were introduced with varying seating capacity.

Production ran from 101 to 3570 with deliveries starting in August1989 and ending May 1998.

New to London Buses Ltd as DT1 this was the first of many Darts for London. This is chassis 8.5SDL3003/140 and despite the Carlyle badge carried when with London United has Duple body D8901/003

Another Duple bodied Dart 8.5 this is DT12 and continued in use as seen here in West London. From DT28 Carlyle produced the bodies for the DT class.Soon after it was launched, Duple was sold to Plaxton and its Blackpool plant was closed down. Plaxton decided not to acquire the design rights of the Duple Dartline and it was sold to Carlyle, who continued producing the bodywork from 1991.

H158 NON was a 8.5SDL3003/402 Ce C25.205 B28F new 1/91 to London Buses as DT158.

North Devon (Red Bus) was an early buyer of Darts and added a pair in April 1991. Seen in First colours is H801 GDV 9.8SDL3004/439 Carlyle B40F C27.017

Production passed tfrom Carlyle of Marshall of Cambridge in 1992 and they bodiedjust five Darts to this design. In 1993, Marshall updated the design ironing out the weaknesses of the original design.

Updated Marshall body on M809FTT 9.8SDL3040/2121 Ml C37.026 B40F 9/1994 North Devon 809

In 1990, Wadham Stringer bodied their first Dart with a bodywork called the Portsdown, but it was sold in small numbers and replaced by the UVG Urbanstar in 1995.

Portsdown bodied J459JOW 9SDL3011/616 WS 3605/91 B37F 2/1992 Wadham Stringer,Waterlooville , seen here with First Devon and Cornwall. Photo by courtesy of Nick Rice

Urbanstar bodied N428FOW Ds Dt 9.8SDL3054/3097 UVG 5138/95 B40F 1/1996 New to Gascoine,Sandford but seen here with First.

In the same year, the Irish coach builders Wright of Ballymena bodied the Dart with the Handybus, Again popular with London Buses they were not only unsual in the design but their Irish registrations. Early examples has a split windscreen.

JDZ2409 Ds Dt 9SDL3002/318 Wt M158 B35F 12/1990 London Buses Ltd DWL9

Later examples had a single pane windscreen.

NDZ3151 Ds Dt 8.5SDL3015/1340 Wt P316 B29F 2/1993 London Buses Ltd DW151. Seen here with Stagecoach Devon.

In early 1991, Plaxton launched the Pointer as it was built at Reeve Burgess's plant it was initially designated as Reeve Burgess Pointer , until later in the same year when it was transferred to When production was moved to Plaxton at Scarborough, it became the familar Plaxton Pointer. This bodywork quickly became the most popular, even though its boxy appearance was considered unattractive.

Badged as Reeves Burgess Pointer. H108THE Ds Dt 8.5SDL3003/487 Pn 918DAR0211 B28F 5/1991 London Buses Ltd DR8 RB body no 18396

K101SFJ 9.8SDL3017/940 Pn 929.8HPN0344 B40F 8/1992 Plymouth Citybus 101

Southampton had a batch of gas powered Darts.N162GOT Ds Dt SFD232BR5TGD13222 Pn 969.2HWN5126 B35F 4/1996 Southampton City Transport 333

Later in 1991, East Lancs bodied the Dart with its EL2000

M454LLJ Ds Dt 9.8SDL3054/2418 B13904 B40F 4/1995 Bournemouth Transport 454

In the latter half of 1991, Alexander launched the Dash, which was sold reasonably well.

J550GCD Ds Dt 9.8SDL3017/880 Ar AM92/1591/71 B40F 6/1992 Sussex Coastline Buses 550

P640PGP Ds Dt SFD412BR5TGD13501 Ar 9605/25 B36F 10/1996 Selkent 635 , seen here with Stagecoach Devon. Later bodies carried this design

Northern Counties introduced the Paladin on the Dart chassis.. Initially, it was built with a design of a barrel shaped windscreen with quarterlights, later models had a deep double-curvature two-piece windscreen. It was phased out when Plaxton bought Northern Counties in 1995.

K33GOW Ds Dt 9.8SDL3017/1009 NC 3796 DP40F 11/1992 Go Whittle,Kidderminster

L670SMC 9SDL3034/1873 NC 4860 B31F 7/1994 Capital Citybus 670, seen here with First Devon and Cornwall.

As the low floor buses became more popular in late 1990s, orders for standard-floor Dart dropped heavily and production was ceased in 1998.

Ferrybus selection

LH6L's were used at first and carried boards at the front as seen here with 1591 at Cremyll.

Seen with fellow FLF's allocated at that time to Torpoint. In 1982 Torpoint had 5 LH's 1589/90/91/92 and 1594. 1594 had the seating increased to 52 using a 3 + 2 arrangement.

With their larger capacity Nationals were soon to be found operating the "Ferrybus" and appeared in this livery. From what I recall the following carried this livery from about the beginning of 1985.

2804 GFJ 668N
2871 AFJ 710T

and the Midland Red imports

2886 GOL 414N
2887 GOL 424N
2888 GOL 427N
2889 JOX 527P
2897 NHA 249M
2899 JOX 527P
2900 NOE 591R


2887 was rushed into service in Midland Red livery.

By the middle of 1986 Western National had decided to repaint the "Ferrybus" fleet into the then standard bus livery. The only difference being the Ferrybus names.

The Cornish sisters carried Cornwall Busways.

LH Motorcross !

Img_0337
Originally uploaded by TGPhotos

Just had to do this, given the opportunity!

Today was a scorcher in the South Hams part of Devon. A few jobs on the Dart L401 VCV were completed. This included fitting a Plymouth area blind. Looks good.

So the afternoon was seen as a chance to cool down by taking my ex Devon General LH6L 112 KTT 42P to Dartmouth for an ice-cream. For us mortals not Katie !

On the way we called in to see the progress with the Bournemouth Tiger Cub 266 RRU 903. Getting there!

However access to the “depot” was restricted by building work, work that meant that the Dominator and various farm machines had to be parked in an adjacent field.

This gave the photo opportunity of the day!

More photos at

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tgphotos/

Do remember that both this blog and Flickr have RSS feeds – so keep in touch with what’s new.

Take a look at

http://uk.youtube.com/tgprojects

The Roland Levinsky Building

Img_9252
Originally uploaded by TGPhotos

Professor Roland Levinsky, who died in an accident on New Year's Day 2007 aged 63, was an international leader in the field of immunodeficiency diseases, working in bone marrow transplantation, stem cell biology and gene therapy; as vice-chancellor and chief executive of the University of Plymouth he was also a fearless and controversial administrator.

Roland Levinsky died when he was hit by a falling power cable while he was walking his dog near his home.

Professor Levinsky made a huge contribution to the university, the city and the region. He set a very clear direction, with a vision of creating a truly first-rate university, where science and the arts were fully aligned and working within an overarching regional mission. Relocating outlying campuses from Seale-Hayne, Exeter and Exmouth to Plymouth was a key part of this vision and involved a major investment and construction programme in Plymouth. The impressive new £35 million arts and community building, due to open to students in September 2007, is to be named The Roland Levinsky Building.


Professor Mark Cleary commented: “Many people have suggested that we should name the new arts building after Roland and we think it is a fitting tribute to his inspiration, leadership and great love of the arts. We have discussed this proposal with Roland’s family and they are entirely supportive of our plan. We plan to hold an official opening of the new building in the autumn term.”


The Roland Levinsky Building, on Rowe Street, will house the university’s Faculty of Arts and cultural programme Peninsula Arts, the School of Architecture and extensive teaching facilities, as well as gallery space, café, cinema, studio space and offices for creative businesses – with public access. It was designed by internationally acclaimed architects Henning Larsen, well-known for their work on the Royal Danish Opera House and the Olympic Village in New York. The building has been part-financed by the European Union, European Regional Development Fund and the South West of England Regional Development Agency.

Preserving the present for the future - the Dennis Pointer Dart.

P8300814
Originally uploaded by TGPhotos

The Dart has been around since 1988 when Dennis spotted a niche in the market and brought out what was just the right bus at the right time. The Hestair Group (owners of Dennis and Duple) decided to produce a midibus ie a bus between the minibus and a full sized single-decker. Although aimed at the midi bus market, the Dart offered full size bus features, and this newcomer would dominate the next decade's single deck market.

Launched in 1989 it was 2.3m and intially available 9m in length. Other lengths (8.5m and 9.8m) were later added. It was powered by a Cummins 6BT engine coupled to an Allison AT545 gearbox. This was a very successful arrangement.

Although available with a variety of bodies, the most popular would be the Pointer. Initially built at the Reeves Burgess plant and referred to at first the Reeves Burgess Pointer production was moved to Plaxton's plant at Scarborough the same year. From then on it was the Plaxton Pointer Dart.

It continued in production until 1998 as by then the Dart was available with a super low floor. This was the start of a large family of SLF Darts amongst which would be the SPD (Super Pointer Dart at 11.3m) and the MPD (Mini Pointer Dart at 8.8m). In its evolution there have been changes to the engine but they still were Cummins and Allison !

Because of changes with the manufacturing company it became the Transbus Dart and continued in production as the Alexander Dart. Still currently in production it is being succeeded by the Alexander Dennis Enviro 200 Dart, a midibus manufactured by Alexander Dennis for the UK market as the successor of the Dart SLF chassis and Pointer body.

Western National Ltd took delivery of 6 Darts in 1994. This followed by a larger batch of 20 in 1995. These were all 9.8m in length and had capacities of 37, 38 or 40. Also in 1995 they took delivery of 3 shorter 9m 35 seater Darts.

401 – 406 L401 VCV – L406 VCV
407 – 426 M407 CCV – M426 CCV
501 – 503 M501 CCV – M503 CCV

Other Darts have been acquired or loaned but this was the indigenous stock. Later deliveries were all SLF (Super Low Floor) Darts.

When introduced they carried the livery introduced by Badgerline known for years as the flag livery, although the official title is the “Ticket” livery. At the rear was the infamous Badger. They broke with tradition by not carrying fleet numbers, though they soon appeared at the fuel aperture. 401 will be preserved in that livery.

Upon acquisition she has been treated to a new set of tyres and had some mechanical work done, the major work being replacing the multi-function air junction. A minor weld under the driver's cab was required but she shows none of the known weakness areas in the chassis. She was altered soon after delivery by the addition of a second fuel tank. This was done to increase her range of operations.

Today she passed a class 5 MoT test at Plymouth Citybus. It is hoped to bring her to Westpoint (Exeter) Rally on the 16th September

.