Aaah, the memories! Parramatta-Ryde had some weird coach work on their buses. Punchbowl and Harris Park ran Hino all with manual transmission too I think? Baxters and Bedford, blast from the past, rare to see a Bedford bus these days unless in a collection. Metro-West at Meadowbank used to have a Bedford too I think before Ken Butt bought them out. North & Western used to have some really old ex Canberra buses used on morning/arvo school runs too, think they were Ansair? Simsmetal would have dealt with them by now or they are chook houses in a farmers backyard in rural NSW. Great video Greg and thank you! 10/10
@@jamesfrench7299 Yup while NationalBus had quite a similar livery to those busses in Sydney there as they had virtually the same livery but with inverted colours so it was mostly red but with a yellow stripe! However some NationalBus buses had a fully yellow livery with red logos! :)
@@Techno-Universal what I meant was the bus with white AOA for random breath testing at 1:03. The front styling resembles Melbourne's mark 1 MAN SL200 to me at least. The bus company often built it's own bodies. This MAN was completed by them in 1980 after it was heavily damaged during shipping. I rode it a few times. The others seen with the vöv bodies were acquired later by them from Action but one not seen but with same looking body, was acquired with the white one but they were able to rebuild it with the normal vöv styling intact. I used to ride them regularly in the late 1980s and were my first exposure to the SL200. Both had Renk gearboxes.
@@jamesfrench7299 Definitely quite interesting! I believe the SL200 EX buses that were larger were a lot more common in Melbourne but they did have air conditioning and based on how those buses had mostly wood grain interiors with the climate control air channels also following that same scheme they most likely had air conditioning from the factory! In that case they probably also would of been some of the first buses in Melbourne’s metropolitan network to have air conditioning! I also remember seeing the Mercedes mini buses in Melbourne using the exact same livery as WestBus but operating under the NationalBus name but some of them did have Ventura’s blue livery and logos! :)
I had no idea how vibrant the bus scene still was in Parra back then.
You did well capturing such a good array of bus types. Thanks for showing us.
Parramatta Ryde busses used to build their own bodies
Used to catch their AEC Reliances in the 80s.
Yep and so unique and great looking buses aswel@@thomasarmstrong3804
Oh wow, 22 years later the videos end up on TH-cam, this was really one of a kind!
Aaah, the memories! Parramatta-Ryde had some weird coach work on their buses. Punchbowl and Harris Park ran Hino all with manual transmission too I think? Baxters and Bedford, blast from the past, rare to see a Bedford bus these days unless in a collection. Metro-West at Meadowbank used to have a Bedford too I think before Ken Butt bought them out. North & Western used to have some really old ex Canberra buses used on morning/arvo school runs too, think they were Ansair? Simsmetal would have dealt with them by now or they are chook houses in a farmers backyard in rural NSW. Great video Greg and thank you! 10/10
Great memories how things have changed in twenty years seems like a life time ago
Thanks Greg, that took me back to my childhood!
Great stuff! Good to see the Parramatta interchange before the mid-2000s upgrade.
Very nice, do you have any footage around the Shire? I’d kill to see it!
The MAN LS200s were also used in Melbourne by NationalBus until they retired them in 2018-2020! :)
Notice the resemblance to the mk1 of that first one? It was a home body by the bus company.
@@jamesfrench7299
Yup while NationalBus had quite a similar livery to those busses in Sydney there as they had virtually the same livery but with inverted colours so it was mostly red but with a yellow stripe! However some NationalBus buses had a fully yellow livery with red logos! :)
@@Techno-Universal what I meant was the bus with white AOA for random breath testing at 1:03.
The front styling resembles Melbourne's mark 1 MAN SL200 to me at least. The bus company often built it's own bodies. This MAN was completed by them in 1980 after it was heavily damaged during shipping. I rode it a few times. The others seen with the vöv bodies were acquired later by them from Action but one not seen but with same looking body, was acquired with the white one but they were able to rebuild it with the normal vöv styling intact. I used to ride them regularly in the late 1980s and were my first exposure to the SL200. Both had Renk gearboxes.
@@jamesfrench7299
Definitely quite interesting! I believe the SL200 EX buses that were larger were a lot more common in Melbourne but they did have air conditioning and based on how those buses had mostly wood grain interiors with the climate control air channels also following that same scheme they most likely had air conditioning from the factory! In that case they probably also would of been some of the first buses in Melbourne’s metropolitan network to have air conditioning!
I also remember seeing the Mercedes mini buses in Melbourne using the exact same livery as WestBus but operating under the NationalBus name but some of them did have Ventura’s blue livery and logos! :)