Preserved Buses

[Tony]

Hi tony am I right in thinking the SCG box was the one that had the characteristic whine in top gear in the fleetline andeven louder Iin the VRT? But not in Atlanteans?

SCG was definately the one in local Fleetlines

[Bob]

It was definitely in the Vr's too and the national bus company ones. Walsall' s VR'S were quite unreliable weren't they? In comparison to the Fleetlines? I think Ailsa's had SCG boxes too. I cannot imagine the noise passengers had to endure on those things!  Especially on the aston expressway

[nitromatt1]

It was definitely in the Vr's too and the national bus company ones. Walsall' s VR'S were quite unreliable weren't they? In comparison to the Fleetlines? I think Ailsa's had SCG boxes too. I cannot imagine the noise passengers had to endure on those things!  Especially on the aston expressway

I think I've seen Ailsas with both SCG and Voith automatic gearboxes

[Bob]

Yeah thats right,  Cardiff's and Merseyside pte ones had voiths. Theres a video of a merseybus one on YouTube.  Sounds like a DAF Sb200.  Very noisy.

The WMPTE ones didnt have them though.

[Justin Tyme]

Fleetlines, Bristol VRs and REs, BMMO D9s and S17-S23s and a few other types (including semi-auto AEC Reliances) normally had SCG "epicyclic" gearboxes.

Leyland semi autos generally had "pneumocyclic" gearboxes, which used a larger gear lever affair, usually mounted on a separate pedestal.  Leyland Nationals and Olympians, however, had what I think were electric gearboxes, closer to the SCG model.

I think WMPTE's Ailsas were initially automatic but converted to semi-autos at a young age - can anyone confirm?

Towards the end of the 1970s and early 1980s, as automatic gearboxes became more reliable and smoother, they became more common in Leyland Atlanteans and other types, but they were rare in Fleetlines and VRs.  WMPTE kept to SCGs in Fleetlines right up to the end.

In answer to the question about Walsall's VRs, they seemed to perform OK but the Walsall area was not as arduous as Birmingham.  They were pleasant buses to ride on, with good sound effects from the exhaust and gave a smoother ride at speed than Fleetlines.  I believe there were very expensive to overhaul, and that led to shorter lives.  For city work, the Fleetline was better.

[Bob]

I remember reading that eventually all the wolverhampton VRs were got rid of and transferred to walsall ( surviving examples that werent withdrawn/sold ) around 1983.

Were there ever any voith atlantean buses ?

[Justin Tyme]

I remember reading that eventually all the wolverhampton VRs were got rid of and transferred to walsall ( surviving examples that werent withdrawn/sold ) around 1983.

Were there ever any voith atlantean buses ?

You are right about the Wolverhampton VRs, Bob.

There were some Voith Atlanteans.  South Yorkshire PTE had quite a few, and some of them ran in Birmingham after they were purchased by Smiths/Your Bus in the early 1990s.

[Bob]

Just out of interest were they UET-S ? I remember green bus having one in cannock and initially sounding like a voith.Think Iit got converted to pneumocyclic after wards tho

[Bob]

I cant imagine what a voith atlantean would sound like to travel on ( I only saw/heard the green bus one in passing at cannock bus station in 1994)

[Justin Tyme]

I think the Your Bus ones were V reg - but I'm not sure.  I didn't travel on one, but they sounded strange from the outside.

But then I did grow up with Fleetlines, D9s and even the odd S16!

[Cheese]

I think the Your Bus ones were V reg - but I'm not sure.  I didn't travel on one, but they sounded strange from the outside.

But then I did grow up with Fleetlines, D9s and even the odd S16!

Think Your Bus had CWG-V registered Atlanteans, possibly a mixture of the Roe and Alexander bodied ones. Having grown up in Sheffield and travelled on these all the time as a child they were fantastic buses but did make some odd noises compared to other Atlanteans. CWG696V was looking very nice in preserved SYPTE livery at the Rotherham open day today. Also, the Gemini painted in SYPTE brown and cream looked really good.

[Bob]

I always thought the sliding vent window put in the rear upper deck looked very odd on south Yorkshire buses. Made alexander ones look ugly especially

[busfan2847]

I think the Your Bus ones were V reg - but I'm not sure.  I didn't travel on one, but they sounded strange from the outside.

But then I did grow up with Fleetlines, D9s and even the odd S16!

Think Your Bus had CWG-V registered Atlanteans, possibly a mixture of the Roe and Alexander bodied ones. Having grown up in Sheffield and travelled on these all the time as a child they were fantastic buses but did make some odd noises compared to other Atlanteans. CWG696V was looking very nice in preserved SYPTE livery at the Rotherham open day today. Also, the Gemini painted in SYPTE brown and cream looked really good.

Yes they had Alexander bodied CWG688V, CWG698V, CWG703V, CWG706V and Roe bodied CWG745V, CWG751V, CWG761V, CWG770V.

[Stuharris 6360]

Not NX related, but Midland Red 5545 was going up the Hagley Road out of Birmingham, by Five Ways at 12:30, full of passengers.

What type of vehicle is that?

Its an S16:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/48422263@N03/14026947443/in/pool-1972093@N20

I'm sure LS will be able to tell us all about them

*mischevious smile*

Probably one of Midland Red's least successful designs. Most Midland Red buses were well ahead of the competition when launched, but the only 'advance' in the S16 was it was the first 40ft long design, trouble was it was just a stretched S15 so still had a manual gearbox, while D9s and S17s being built at the same time were semi automatic, and the engine was underpowered for the stretched 52 seater.

Ah right. Whenever I think of semi-auto transmissions, I think of the flappy paddle gears you get in modern Ferraris and the like - but I wouldn't imagine the computing was available back then.... so how did semi-auto transmissions in buses work?

The first bus gearboxes classed as semi-automatic for licensing were the pre-selecter gearboxes which were first produced in the 1930s
Most Birmingham Standards including surviving 3225 and LT RTs had these where you select the next gear via a changer, either a steering column selector or a normal type gear stick, then when you actually want it to change you press the gear change pedal on the floor similar to a clutch, but not one.
Two Coventry engineers then invented an epicyclic gearbox that didn't require the pedal and just changed off the selector. These two brilliant engineers then formed the company which became Self-Changing Gears (SCG) who made most of the semi-automatic gearboxes fitted to buses for many years.
The current 'floppy-paddle' gearboxes work on exactly the same priciple, just more sophisticated that Mr Wilson & Mr Siddeley invented in the 1950s

Tony, were the Routemaster gearboxes unique, weren't you able to use it as a normal gearbox or select it to drive automatically!

[Tony]

Not NX related, but Midland Red 5545 was going up the Hagley Road out of Birmingham, by Five Ways at 12:30, full of passengers.

What type of vehicle is that?

Its an S16:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/48422263@N03/14026947443/in/pool-1972093@N20

I'm sure LS will be able to tell us all about them

*mischevious smile*

Probably one of Midland Red's least successful designs. Most Midland Red buses were well ahead of the competition when launched, but the only 'advance' in the S16 was it was the first 40ft long design, trouble was it was just a stretched S15 so still had a manual gearbox, while D9s and S17s being built at the same time were semi automatic, and the engine was underpowered for the stretched 52 seater.

Ah right. Whenever I think of semi-auto transmissions, I think of the flappy paddle gears you get in modern Ferraris and the like - but I wouldn't imagine the computing was available back then.... so how did semi-auto transmissions in buses work?

The first bus gearboxes classed as semi-automatic for licensing were the pre-selecter gearboxes which were first produced in the 1930s
Most Birmingham Standards including surviving 3225 and LT RTs had these where you select the next gear via a changer, either a steering column selector or a normal type gear stick, then when you actually want it to change you press the gear change pedal on the floor similar to a clutch, but not one.
Two Coventry engineers then invented an epicyclic gearbox that didn't require the pedal and just changed off the selector. These two brilliant engineers then formed the company which became Self-Changing Gears (SCG) who made most of the semi-automatic gearboxes fitted to buses for many years.
The current 'floppy-paddle' gearboxes work on exactly the same priciple, just more sophisticated that Mr Wilson & Mr Siddeley invented in the 1950s

Tony, were the Routemaster gearboxes unique, weren't you able to use it as a normal gearbox or select it to drive automatically!

Not unique, I believe some Leyland Nationals & Lynx may have also had the same feature. The Routemaster wasn't a 'normal' gearbox, it was semi-automatic