Bussing in England

[bevans6]

Well, I wasn't bussing, but spending two weeks in England on vacation.  Driving around I see many many more buses than I would see at home, Volvo's, Van Hools, Mercedes, Setra's and brands I've never heard of before.  All beautifully styled, smooth sides, quite tall even when not double decked.  Many have an off-side entry door in the middle, with stairs, in addition to the normal curb-side front entry door, and the height means quite tall bays.  Lots of the tiny headlights and interesting LED tail and marker lights.  Some have heavily rounded aero style noses.

Man, I have respect for the drivers!  British roads are challenging, the average lane width goes down to between 8 and 9 feet wide before they give up with the center stripe and just figure it's one way at a time.   Think about hustling your bus down a lane that is 6" wider on each side than your tire footprint, winding about like crazy, and the speed limit appears to be as fast as possible!  I'm staying in a town called St Keverne, near Lizard in Cornwall, and some of the roads are thousands of years old.  I've spent some significant time backing up to a wide spot so another car can pass!  All of the roads are lined with walls up to 6 feet tall, themselves topped with and surrounded by hedges that go up to 12', and often join up at the top to form a dense tunnel that you drive through!  A lot of the long haul buses seem to be short, maybe 30', with a short wheel base for a great turning radius, but others seem to be maybe 40' with tag axles.  What a hoot, in London we stayed very near a main bus terminal near Victoria Station, and there were more buses than you could shake a stick at!  I noticed one negotiating a very tight turn, the tags where steering at about the same angle as the steer wheels where at!

I'll be glad to get home, I've been planning the next round of upgrades to my MCI!  I wonder how I can make it turn as tight as these buses?

Brian

[Iceni John]

As an expat from those sceptered isles I can well concur with your observations.   I have ridden many a mile in National Express' Leyland Tiger coaches (in the UK the short-distance buses are "buses", long-distance buses are "coaches"), mid-engine with semi-automatic shifting, and my favorite times would be when returning on the late night coach from London's Victoria Coach Station to Norfolk, blasting along narrow A and B roads doing 70 MPH or more, hearing the tires chirping around the corners, the driver driving it like a sports car, down shifting at the corners, basically driving full throttle all the way, because if he didn't we would lose time on the schedule.   Fun!   Nothing beats a mid-engine coach for handling and stability, especially when the roads are icy.   I still vividly remember one time in a rear-engine Bristol VR double-decker sliding down an icy straight hill at about 30 degrees to our direction of travel, hoping we wouldn't meet another vehicle coming uphill towards us because we were using the whole width of the road!

I also have a question about turning circles.   My 2-axle bus has a 263" wheelbase, but its turning circle isn't that good.   The newer Thomas pushers and the local OCTA transit buses, even the bendy-buses, have much better front wheel cut-in angles than my bus.   Is there anything I can do to improve my front wheels' maximum turn angle?   There still seems to be some space next to the knuckles when they are at full lock, and they are well clear of the bodywork.   Would a different tierod help, or does the entire front axle have to be different?   I have a 14,400 lb GAWR Rockwell axle, but Rockwell's Field Maintenance Manual No.2 and Technical Service Aid updates don't specifically address this issue.   It would definitely make manoeuvering in and out of my tight storage space much easier.

Thanks, John

[Jeremy]

Whereabouts in Norfolk are you from I-J? I have a place in Wroxham.

My bus is one of those mid-engined short-wheelbase jobs. I chose a short one basically so I could get round the sharp turn in my driveway - but since most RVs here are comparatively small I figured a lot of campsites would look more kindly on a bus that's nearer 30 feet than 40. I've no idea how the handling compares as it's the only bus I've driven.

My bus came from Devon, incidentally, which is the neighbouring county to Cornwall, and equally rural and narrow-roaded.

Jeremy

[Iceni John]

Hi Jeremy,

Wow, small world!   I've lived in Norwich ("A Fine City") several times, Watton (if God gave the world an enema he would shove the tube up Watton), Holt, Little Walsingham, attended Great Yarmouth College of Further Education, and have cycled every road within a 15-mile radius of Norwich.   I generally don't miss England as a whole, but I do miss Norfolk, especially Norwich which is still one of my all-time favorite places to live and work.   I know a lot has changed since I left, but I still read the Grauniad and EDP websites, and as a recovered (maybe still recovering?) trainaholic I try to make sense of the post-BR railway and their TOCs  -  I worked for BR when trains were still blue and grey, and when ASLEF called the shots.

Bus (and train) travel here seems very sanitized compared to England.   I miss the energy and pace of European and British buses and trains, but even that pales compared to the frenetic anarchy of rush hour in Delhi or Mexico City.   You definitely wouldn't want to drive a bus there.   Tijuana is bad enough!

John