TROOPER2:
A couple of photographs of Alexander bodied Mercedes-Benz 0305 buses in Hong Kong:1
ME24 seen parked outside the multi-storey bus depot at Tuen Mun in the New Territories.
It had just been re-painted.0
ME33 in an all-over advertising livery for ‘Barbecue Paradise’ seen parked in Kowloon ready
to return to Tuen Mun.
Thanks Trooper. I went to HK in the late '90s but all I can remember riding on were Denniseses (Dennii?) and tired Gardner 6LX-engined things.
A bit more on the NZ Bristol RE I mentioned earlier.
AFAICT all REs exported to NZ by BCV had the 0.510 (when the Kiwis - ChCh especially - really wanted the 0.680 or Gardner 6LXB). Bodies were supplied in CKD form by ECW (on which an NZ coach-builder [Hawke], based their design) and by Hess of Switzerland. In a strange reversal of the normal course of things, one Hess-bodied 0.510 RE (ex-Christchurch 538, JD4954) was exported from NZ to the UK:
flickr.com/photos/28431353@N02/6727747555
There’s a bit more history on the Bristol Omnibus Vehicle Collection website here: bristolbuses.co.uk/kiwi.html
Thanks also to ‘Leyland600’ for this: flickr.com/photos/16224165@N04/8697332606
Now that the genie is out of the bottle, was the Leyland National as bad as its reputation suggests?
I only ask because although I’ve ridden on them I’ve never driven one, let alone done so day-in, day-out.
See also the Leyland 0.500 thread: viewtopic.php?f=35&t=152426
2014 at the Community Shop Isle of Eriskay Outer Hebrides, from here the bus travels to the south of the island aprrox 2 miles to connect to the ferry from Isle of Barra then north through the Isles of South Uist, Benbecula, North Uist and Berneray to connect with ferry to Isle of Harris stunning scenery all the way.
Oily
Credit to Jack Snell for the photo.
Oily
The pic above reminds me of a discovery I made by accident a few years ago whilst researching transport.
An American bus manufacturer called Crown built school buses with Fuller gearboxes. Nice! The set of pictures below show 1987 6x4 models with a Fuller RTX10 'box coupled with a ■■■■■■■ 300. My kind of bus!!
Continued…
Probably the first time I see the inside of the cockpit of an American bus; nice and interesting! Thanks!
Ray Smyth:
Pictures of buses in and around Wigan Bus Station earlier today. 2/3/2020. Ray.
Hello Ray
Wigan looks to have changed a lot since I went into exile nearly 40 years ago. I’m guessing the bus station is in the Hallgate area now, as that looks like the Royal Mail sorting office in the background and also Coops sewing factory
I know from this thread that you were a Ribble driver years ago and have quite a collection of old pictures. Do you, by any chance, have anything relating to fleet number 1799 RCK 944; it was a Burlingham bodied Leyland PD3 based at the garage in Wallgate near your old yard?
Hi.
Have you seen this one ?
Regards John.
old 67:
Hi.
Have you seen this one ?Regards John.
Hello John - thank-you very much for finding that for me; much appreciated.
That bus has stuck in my mind for years for no better reason than my dad, with me in the passenger seat ran into the back of it with his Ford Thames 400e pickup in 1971 in Wallgate, Wigan! One of the metal brake pipes burst and he couldn’t stop. Nobody was hurt, but the pickup ended up in Calderbanks scrap yard whilst the bus ran around Wigan with the imprint of the flat front of the Thames embedded in the back panels for weeks afterwards.
Thanks again
It’s a pleasure, glad you liked it.
Regards John.
A couple of photos for Green Devil.
One of 1799s, sisters, 1775 (RCK920), is preserved by the Ribble Vehicle Preservation Trust;
TROOPER2:
A couple of photos for Green Devil.Many thanks Trooper 2
I travelled all over Lancashire and up into the Lake District on these old buses in my youth. Things never felt the same after the Leyland Nationals started to come in after about 1972 and the old fleet started to disappear. Good to see that at least a few have been preserved
Thanks again
Thanks to Green Devil, Old67, & Trooper2 for the pictures and info regarding Ribble Leyland PD3 machines.
During my 2 years at Ribble from early 1968, I drove 1799 many times. The PD3s were regularly used on route
113 Wigan to Preston ( Via Leyland ), 320 Wigan to Liverpool, 352/362 Wigan to St Helens & 376/386 Wigan
to Southport. Toward the end of 1969, Wigan depot received Leyland PD3, 1760, which was as rough as a
bears backside in many ways, a few weeks later it disappeared. About a month later it came back to Wigan
depot, it had been totally rebuilt throughout and painted, and it was a great pleasure to drive. After my time
with Ribble, 1760 received an overall advertising paint job for Lennons Supermarket, in my opinion, a dreadful image. 
Cheers, Ray.
Thank-you for the reply, Ray
I lived on the 352/362 route and probably rode with you a few times. Wasn’t there some strange rule about boarding and alighting between Orrell Post and Wigan, so as not to take trade away from Wigan Corporation?
I remember the Lennon’s bus as well - you’re right, it was an absolute mess! Wasn’t another one painted pink around about the same time?
A pastime in my youth was collecting the registration numbers from the Wigan Corporation buses. HJP 1 / 2 / 3 etc. There were a lot of low number registrations, and I often wonder if they were sold on as private plates after SELNEC took over the fleet and scrapped most of them. Those registrations would be worth quite a bit these days, but I’ve never seen any of them around.
