1950 Bedford(Ebay)

[Lee Bradley]

apparently you took me seriously.... 

It was on the web, it must be true.

[Oonrahnjay]

I use to ride to school on one of those double deckers, where in the UK is she from?

     She's from Shoreham-on-Sea, east of London near the Thames Estuary.  It is a "Manchester jumbo" built on a 33-foot Daimler frame (thus about 4 feet longer than standard).   First registered May, 1976.  It's a "low-bridge" model, meaning that it's 13'6" overall height, this legal in North America.  Originally equipped with the Leyland O-680 6-cylinder engine (something about soapy sticks and dogs' backsides) and the Daimler select-automatic transmission.  Has a "mid-ship" stair, which is nice for conserving space upstairs.  I closed in both original UK-doors and added an RV type door on the right side (US kerb).

[moosemanusa]

     She's from Shoreham-on-Sea, east of London near the Thames Estuary.  It is a "Manchester jumbo" built on a 33-foot Daimler frame (thus about 4 feet longer than standard).   First registered May, 1976.  It's a "low-bridge" model, meaning that it's 13'6" overall height, this legal in North America.  Originally equipped with the Leyland O-680 6-cylinder engine (something about soapy sticks and dogs' backsides) and the Daimler select-automatic transmission.  Has a "mid-ship" stair, which is nice for conserving space upstairs.  I closed in both original UK-doors and added an RV type door on the right side (US kerb).

Ahhh Shoreham, I know it well! most of the deckers were purchased from the hippies and then ran into the ground, I've seen more of the older types here in the US than I did back there!

The Leylands are interesting engines, only played with the landrover engines myself but i hear they are just bigger versions..

so why didnt you pick a routemaster?

[Iceni John]

     She's from Shoreham-on-Sea, east of London near the Thames Estuary. 

Was it a Southdown bus, or a Brighton & Hove bus?   I spent nine years at school not far from there, and have fond memories of taking Southdown's Leyland Leopards into town  -  they had a great exhaust growl from their 680 engines, not as throaty as a Gardner-engined Bristol RE (but nothing is!), but good buses anyway.   I vaguely recollect something similar to that old Bedford OB that we took trips in  -  it was SLOW!   There was also a Commer bus with the infamous Knocker engine, and that was LOUD!   (Three cylinders, six pistons, no heads and one crankshaft in the middle  -  work that one out!)

John

[Oonrahnjay]

Was it a Southdown bus, or a Brighton & Hove bus?   I spent nine years at school not far from there, and have fond memories of taking Southdown's Leyland Leopards into town  -  they had a great exhaust growl from their 680 engines, not as throaty as a Gardner-engined Bristol RE (but nothing is!), but good buses anyway.   I vaguely recollect something similar to that old Bedford OB that we took trips in  -  it was SLOW!   There was also a Commer bus with the infamous Knocker engine, and that was LOUD!   (Three cylinders, six pistons, no heads and one crankshaft in the middle  -  work that one out!)

John

     Duhh, goes to show that three weeks in the USVI and too much rum will do for you!   It's *Southend-on-Sea* that was the first purchaser.  I looked at a Routemaster long and hard but there were some things that just didn't fit with what I wanted to do -- they're short and a lot of the area (esp lower saloon) is taken up with "driveline".  In addition, there didn't seem to be any for sale (in any condition) for months that weren't 14'4" or 14'2" and that is illegal/overheight in all US states and Canadian provinces I know of (there are a couple of Maritimes in Canada that may be outliers).  Plus, there seemed to be issues with a practical door at the entrance platform (more floor space and interior volume lost); the whole idea of a double-decker was to maximize volume and floor space for the available length; sort of like a two-story house.  The "rear drive" layout just seemed to work out.  But the Routemaster was the emotional favorite!

    When I went to pick the bus up at the port, I'd been wondering about carrying capacity.  When I saw the placard "Carrying capacity; 81 seated, 17 standing, 1 crew -- Total 99 persons", I knew that carrying capacity wasn't going to be an issue!  But the Leyland engine proved to be a quick starter and smooth runner but just *way* low on power -- little acceleration and low top speed.  The book for the model in my bus said 150 Hp but it had been in "school bus" service and the injection pump had been turned down to reduce power and make the engine more reliable.  Never could figure out how to bring it back to "stock" but I'm not sure that "stock" would have been much better; and all the experts said that if you really spin those engines, you risk head gaskets (not as much as the Gardner, but still risky).

[moosemanusa]

its from SAAAAARRRFFFFF end (only people who have been there will understand)..

I didn't think Brighton and Hove ran them due to the tunnels along the coast there.

My home town had the "badger lines" then the french came in and took over (see that happened here also)..

as for the 3 cylinder and 6 pistons, wouldnt that be a Flat 3 ?