Oh the memories. I used to be a bus driver in the 80's for WMPTE, and I loved to drive these Fleetlines, in actual fact I was one of the last condutors to be employed . I trained at Perry Barr garage but worked at Oak Lane garage in West Bromwich, hearing that engine bought back a lot of memories. Thanks Fuzz and keep up the good work !!!!!!
So glad to see this great bus still running and cared for. Brings back many memories of travelling on these in the 70’s in Walsall and surrounding areas. Brilliant video Fuzz 👍
My best friend at school got to use the upper emergency exit on a double decker. The bus pulled to the side of a country road to let a vehicle past, the road collapsed and the bus ended up on its side in a ditch. I was quite envious, partly as I missed the excitement and partly as he got to miss pe 🤣
Splendid video and an important one. It’s vital to restore, maintain and operate buses from the past. They are part of the fabric of our past and social history. Excellent work. Looking forward to more of the same! Thank you.
So amazing i came across your channel. The last 9yrs i drove several central London routes (mainly#12), i also got to be an experimental driver for the new Tri-Axle with rear wheel steering , we only had one , no idea if its going into production. I drove mainly the new versions of the route-master, But before that came out i had a bonkers selection of around 60 versions of the standard double deck. I could go on and on, But just wanted to thank you for this fascinating documentary , Very cool
I've always been into buses ever since I was a kid in the 70s. In fact the first vehicle I ever drove was a fully laden Lodekka round a field at a bus rally in Norwich in 1980. And I also have a quirky fondness of all the different wipers on cars buses and trucks. I prefer the double pantograph set-up as in the Leyland National Bristol VRT etc. Great video Fuzz. So funny when you go on a bus monologue on the shed & buried old King Cole never looks happy lol.
Lodekka, that's a beast to drive. I only had an automatic licence as a Routemaster driver when I went to Wilts & Dorset and had to pass a manual test on a Lodekka. Although double declutch was the norm my instructor showed us how to change gear without it by getting the engine revs right. Also the bus would still chug along slowly in top without the accelerator because of the torque.
Lovely walk-around and description! The aroma of Dunlopillo we used to say! Wonderful to see this "Jumbo" preserved; I grew up on the Bristol Rd routes when these were operated by the 3900s in the late 60's and early '70s and I haunted Selly Oak garage to the point that even the garage inspectors knew me! It certainly helped propoel me into bus preservation and my eventual career in London Transport, albeit the Underground, but for me it's very easy to get happily nostalgic about the great Birmingham City Transport and WMPTE. Now, about a repaint into BCT livery...!
I used to ride on one of these on the way to college in Coventry. It was just before they were phased out and the MCW's and Lynx's took over. They were amazingly warm in the winter though, especially at the back!
Great video Fuzz. You never showed the drivers upstairs viewing portal, (the screen he could look in from the cab that showed upstairs). That always fascinated me as a kid.
Depends where London got rid of theirs early due they were unreliable compared to Routemasters, AEC RT and less simple compared to them. Mcw Metrobuses were superior in that respect
Great video-love the bus -an absolute work of art😊 When I was at college in the 90s they had a Gardner engine in one of the class rooms all set up to run for demonstrations. They only started it once though because it shook everything off the shelves in the whole block😂
A wonderful video Fuzz and brought back many memories of the WMPTE fleetlines in and around Halesowen where I live and have grown up I agree they all had a smell of their own and loved the fleetline scream as they accelerated away and loved the red seats and blue walls Travelled on them many times a week for years and always a delight glad to see that one has a great home with you! Daniel
Thanks for the excellent tour Fuzz. This is my all time favourite bus - these SOExxxx registered ones were typically used on the Bristol Road 61/2/3 services running from the former Birmingham City Transport Selly Oak Depot. Speeding down the Bristol Road with the front upstairs window vents open gave rise to a loud whistling which added to the experience! I gather they had a weakness around the exit door which reduced their service life sadly.
Brilliant Fuzz, love car sausage. Never missed a series since it started. Love the old buses and coaches especially the leyland leopard but that bus is spotless. 👍
Remembering the 60's and every Hippy worth their Salt had a Bus/Coach to roam about in - My Personal preference was the Hearse! ... But would've loved to have had the room to keep a BUS! .... Brilliant Hobby/Passion ... Keep it UP Fuzz 🤠
Great video Fuzz. We used to have these in London and outer London boroughs as the DMS prior to getting the first Leyland Titans. Good to see you:re keeping the memory alive.
Beautiful bus pal was brought up riding fleetlines in huddersfield listening to the gardner and the whine from the axle ,they certainly could shift too
What a great surprise to get a Fuzz video and it’s a stonkingly tasty bus! Thanks for making Friday night in the USA fun again. You have lots of fans here not jut motorbike and auto fans but we love Brit buses too! More please! Maybe an old Karsan or a lovely history of the Roadmaster bus 🚌 Been a Fuzz fan since you came here during PWEI days. Great seeing you working with Henry Cole but we need an all Fuzz Fettle Hour. Thanks for keeping the cool stuff alive and sharing the process. 👏🏻✌🏻
Awesome tour of an old classic bus. When I was at High School in the 80's, the school bus was a company called Ribble Buses. They were red and similar age to your bus. I was always fascinated with buses back then. The regular driver at the time would let me stand at the front where I would watch him drive it and have a good natter. I remember the same gear stick and set up. I wanted to be a bus driver but never took it up and became a car mechanic instead.
The one thing that really resonated with me and took me back to my childhood was the gear change. That little lever used to fascinate me as a kid in the 70's, how did that little thing manage to change gear when the gearstick on my dad's Rover was WAY bigger? It seemed like magic. Also the brass cover plate used to get warn smooth in the top left hand corner and I used to imagine all the drivers that had caused that. Cheers Fuzz.
I have fond memories of these buses, back when I was growing up in Birmingham. My Uncle John drove for WMPTE from the early 60's until he retired in 2002. Based out of the Selly Oak garage. Used to always let me travel for free 🤫 don't tell anyone.
Great video. Love the bus. It's quite possible i may have travelled on this bus at some point during the early to mid 80's. A mate and I used to buy a "day tripper" which cost 75 pence as i recall. We would go all over the midlands on a Saturday just because we liked riding around on buses. We'd start from Stourbridge and very often into Birmingham too. Great memories. I enjoyed the tour of the bus Fuzz 👍 it's a superb machine. Also great seeing you with Henry on Shed and Buried.
Great buz them fuzz, use to catch them type every day going to and from school in the eighties..... were quite nippy if my memory serves me well. Wishing you well brother 🙏
Great stuff Fuzz, I remember the Fleetline, but I also remember the Northern buses around Sunderland in the Northeast and they had Daimlers , much older though , but they had the greatest deep exhaust note, I hope your Fleetline sounds good.
Andrews of Sheffield gobbled up loads of ex West Midlands fleetlines during de regulation in the 80s, they were everywhere , the gearing was perfect for Sheffields steep hills , especially in the snow ( most times ) 👍
I wonder if that is the museum that has one of the Routemasters that I used to work in London RM606? I know it is undergoing restoration up there and was operated by Kelvin after London.
@@kristinajendesen7111 RM606 is still in shed 97 at the SVBM. Not a lot of work has been done recently as the owner passed away recently. There remains a lot of work still to do to it.
@@brianmelrose-fp8fu Thanks for that 😊 Sad to hear about the owner though 🥺 I bought an RML in 2005, didn't have it for long though. Wish I could have bought one that I used to work on like 606
Good walk round a 60s Fleetline. In my neck of the woods (Leeds) smoking wasn't permitted downstairs, so the bus ceilings were white. White upstairs too, because cigarette smoke didn't tend to tarnish modern laminates, jn the same way as painted surfaces.
I work at Pensnett garage now, I remember some older buses as a kid but the oldest bus I've driven is a Metro number 2957. Always nice when we get one come around the garage.
My stepson has a couple of buses. His favourite one is his VanHool bodied Volvo Ailsa. Helped him to drive it from Sheffield back to his bus preservation group in Glasgow. Drove lovely but cost a fortune in deisel that day.
Used to take journeys on these in the 80’s up to the early 90’s when visiting my nan and grandads in West Bromwich during the school holidays. I used to change the bus number on the destination board at the back as you could reach the leavers on the back seat🥴😂😂
Have you never fancied a halfcab Fuzz? I grew up with the CVG-6s in Coventry & later went on to drive Routemasters in London in 1985. I saw you draw one forward in one programme but wish you had the chance to have a real go. Best buses ever made, automatic with manual override, PAS, dual hydraulic brakes. Well maintained they'll still run rings around a modern bus. At Westbourne Park I occasionally drove Metros & Titans too. Moving South I drove for Wilts & Dorset driving DMS's, Bristol VRs, REs & LHs, Crossvilles & Nationals. Short career on the buses. Joining BR in 1987 I later went on to drive Class 159 trains with Cummings engines, love the sound of a diesel. Routemasters and 159s will always be my first love.
As a small child in the late ‘70s I went to an open day at the LT Aldenham bus works, you were able to board a bus that was on a tilt table and they would tip it over to test / demonstrate the rollover angle. Quite a thing
Open days at Chiswick they used to let passengers sit on a skid pan bus for 50p a go. The buses were driven by the trainers. Can you imagine that now with H&S? Two wonderful places sadly gone Aldenham & Chiswick.
@@kristinajendesen7111 Also at an airshow at North Weald (which was owned by LT for driver training) in the early - mid 80s you could pay £1 and drive an RT bus around a short circuit. As a child I paid my £1 and therefore the first vehicle I ever drovebwas an RT double decker
I never thought of them not having a fuel gauge. I used to drive VRs for Wilts & Dorset. Fitters used to take care of that part of course, we just filled them with water in the morning. (Don't tell Fuzz...much nicer to drive than Fleetlines).
Hi Fuzz. maybe see you at bristol show on sunday? Our VRs came from Alder Valley, Thames Valley, Neuclear Agency. We then moved to limpalongs in various models, tridents from ensign and before i retired B9s from Edinburgh. caroline
Probably seen your bus at Wythall. Used to live in dudley from 1977 to 1985 so used buses to go into town. If not Bristol show then Sywell or showbus. one of Corby independants used former Wilts and Dorset VRs for schools in the same livery. Belong to the Northampton group of buses with 778,794,919 and 757 in the shed. When i rebuilt 311 the engine was the same but horizontal not vertical. Only job i had to do was alter the fuel timing and it ran well. Caroline
My ole man worked on Trawlers in GY. I often wondered why,not only he visited various docks, but many bus depot with me in the van. Used same Gardener engines, many trips to Manchester. Up to a couple of years ago he had spares many new in wax paper , fuel pumps ect. Unfortunatly he got rid to a lucky metal yard. But when ever I see a Gardner it pings memories.
I was born in 1972, I remember them buses in Birmingham when I was young, they were like being on a roller coaster without the safety harness, you had to cling on to them seats, if the bus went round a sharp/fast bend or turn or you'd be slammed up the window or flung on the floor, where you have a choice of hitting metal or wood depending on where you're sitting
I drove many miles in these as a Birmingham bus driver. Was at (now gone) Quinton bus garage and later Yardley Wood garage. They were bloody hard work i tell you, but a reliable bus for sure. The steering was air operated on early models, very, very hard work. Then came the Metrobus to replace the Fleetline. I miss the Fleetline though. Really good in snow too, the Metrobus couldn't handle snow roads very well.
@@stevenobrien3763 Birmingham Central, or Liverpool Street as its better known. Still operational in 2024 (Digbeth), but was supposed to have been gone due to redevelopment. Don't know how much longer it'll be operational, anyones guess.
Great video Fuzz!
This takes me back, worked at the Daimler Radford works on these between 1966 to 1973.
Great to see Fuzz on his own (without annoying co-presenters). Loved the video, thank you.
Who ever do you mean lol 😂
Lovely bus! The Gardner engine sounds beautiful! Hats off to you bods for keeping these vehicles going.
Oh the memories. I used to be a bus driver in the 80's for WMPTE, and I loved to drive these Fleetlines, in actual fact I was one of the last condutors to be employed . I trained at Perry Barr garage but worked at Oak Lane garage in West Bromwich, hearing that engine bought back a lot of memories. Thanks Fuzz and keep up the good work !!!!!!
My dad worked at oak lane a good while back
Nice to see you Fuzz, top bloke!
Didn’t know you knew him?
@@Cargirl99 I don't?
@@BigBrother1993how’s your day?
@@Cargirl99He obviously doesn't.
@@mattlevin2205who are you talking to?😮
So glad to see this great bus still running and cared for. Brings back many memories of travelling on these in the 70’s in Walsall and surrounding areas. Brilliant video Fuzz 👍
From being a part of the big-beat soundtrack of the 90s, to keeping classic vehicles alive - fantastic!
Fuzz, you and Ian @hubnut should have a special wiper appreciation channel
Same here. Do it!
I love Fuzz's knowledge and enthusiasm for buses. It's great to see, keep 'em coming!
Made me cry. My Dad drove on in the sixties. Sadly he died in 91.
I always like Fuzz’s presentation style, because even when you think it’s not going to be interesting, he just makes it entertaining and engaging. 😎👍
Remember these so well, great bus, great nostalgia, thanks fuzz
My best friend at school got to use the upper emergency exit on a double decker. The bus pulled to the side of a country road to let a vehicle past, the road collapsed and the bus ended up on its side in a ditch. I was quite envious, partly as I missed the excitement and partly as he got to miss pe 🤣
Hi Fuzz 😃! Saw you on Car SOS, absolutely cracking. Love the bus. Keep up the good work mate 👍🏼
Oh. My. Word. So, so many memories of buses in Birmingham from the 70s and 80s there...
Fuzz has a great presentation style. Easy to watch.😊
Fantastic walk around. Gardener Diesels are arguably the best sounding Diesel Engine of all time.
Splendid video and an important one. It’s vital to restore, maintain and operate buses from the past. They are part of the fabric of our past and social history. Excellent work. Looking forward to more of the same! Thank you.
Thats a great old Bus and an equally nice video ,thanks for sharing .
Good God that brings back childhood memories!😊
I did my apprenticeship with L Gardner & Sons before been made redundant in 1986, I enjoyed every minute. Great memories
The Patricroft works is long gone now. I worked with a few blokes at the bus depot who served their time there
So amazing i came across your channel. The last 9yrs i drove several central London routes (mainly#12), i also got to be an experimental driver for the new Tri-Axle with rear wheel steering , we only had one , no idea if its going into production. I drove mainly the new versions of the route-master, But before that came out i had a bonkers selection of around 60 versions of the standard double deck. I could go on and on, But just wanted to thank you for this fascinating documentary , Very cool
Very informative. Really enjoyed the video. unlikely I will ever own one but it great to see these old buses kept on thr road.
Fuzz your Mrs must really love you. Top man mate thanks for the entertainment & your skill, knowledge…
These buses were and are fabulous machines
I've always been into buses ever since I was a kid in the 70s. In fact the first vehicle I ever drove was a fully laden Lodekka round a field at a bus rally in Norwich in 1980. And I also have a quirky fondness of all the different wipers on cars buses and trucks. I prefer the double pantograph set-up as in the Leyland National Bristol VRT etc. Great video Fuzz. So funny when you go on a bus monologue on the shed & buried old King Cole never looks happy lol.
Lodekka, that's a beast to drive. I only had an automatic licence as a Routemaster driver when I went to Wilts & Dorset and had to pass a manual test on a Lodekka.
Although double declutch was the norm my instructor showed us how to change gear without it by getting the engine revs right.
Also the bus would still chug along slowly in top without the accelerator because of the torque.
Lovely walk-around and description! The aroma of Dunlopillo we used to say! Wonderful to see this "Jumbo" preserved; I grew up on the Bristol Rd routes when these were operated by the 3900s in the late 60's and early '70s and I haunted Selly Oak garage to the point that even the garage inspectors knew me! It certainly helped propoel me into bus preservation and my eventual career in London Transport, albeit the Underground, but for me it's very easy to get happily nostalgic about the great Birmingham City Transport and WMPTE. Now, about a repaint into BCT livery...!
I used to ride on one of these on the way to college in Coventry. It was just before they were phased out and the MCW's and Lynx's took over. They were amazingly warm in the winter though, especially at the back!
I used to catch them to & from Canley too. Stank of engine fumes & oil sitting at the back downstairs but best place in winter.
Cracking bus that!! 👏🏼
Fuzz you always make me smile, great video
I love buses grew up with them l like Leyland leopard & Tiger good to see you doing something you enjoy keep it up enjoy watching
FUZZ IS A LEGEND!
Great video Fuzz. You never showed the drivers upstairs viewing portal, (the screen he could look in from the cab that showed upstairs). That always fascinated me as a kid.
Probably more reliable than modern ones
I saw one of those Gardener engines running with a con rod coming out the side of the block.
Certainly simpler electrical systems and the Gardner engines were incredibly reliable if, in the 6LXs case, somewhat underpowered.
Depends where London got rid of theirs early due they were unreliable compared to Routemasters, AEC RT and less simple compared to them. Mcw Metrobuses were superior in that respect
They are. They were also badged as Daimler and were hardly broken down
Nice bit of nostalgia there, cheers Fuzz. These ended up on private charter, carting school kids about Walsall in the 70's and 80's.
Wow! Great Video Fuzz :)
Wow! Great video 😊
Great presentation, awesome bus too!
Very interesting and clearly explained. Reminds me of a time gone by!
Great video-love the bus -an absolute work of art😊
When I was at college in the 90s they had a Gardner engine in one of the class rooms all set up to run for demonstrations. They only started it once though because it shook everything off the shelves in the whole block😂
Thanks Fuzz, think I rode on her, perhaps in Birmingham late 1980s and early 90s. They are lots of fun.
Great video! 😮
A wonderful video Fuzz and brought back many memories of the WMPTE fleetlines in and around Halesowen where I live and have grown up
I agree they all had a smell of their own and loved the fleetline scream as they accelerated away and loved the red seats and blue walls
Travelled on them many times a week for years and always a delight glad to see that one has a great home with you! Daniel
Thanks for the excellent tour Fuzz. This is my all time favourite bus - these SOExxxx registered ones were typically used on the Bristol Road 61/2/3 services running from the former Birmingham City Transport Selly Oak Depot. Speeding down the Bristol Road with the front upstairs window vents open gave rise to a loud whistling which added to the experience! I gather they had a weakness around the exit door which reduced their service life sadly.
All the buses that used to operate on the Bristol road from two garages was Liverpool Street and the other Sally Oak
Wow, that must be the type of bus my nanna used to take me to town on when i was a little boy!!! Thanks Fuzz!!!🚍👍🏻🙂
It's brilliant Fuzz. I did my PSV fitters Apprenticeship on those and Leyland Atlantlantian AN68s at West Yorkshire PTE in the early 1980s :)
Brilliant Fuzz, love car sausage. Never missed a series since it started. Love the old buses and coaches especially the leyland leopard but that bus is spotless. 👍
Remembering the 60's and every Hippy worth their Salt had a Bus/Coach to roam about in - My Personal preference was the Hearse! ... But would've loved to have had the room to keep a BUS! .... Brilliant Hobby/Passion ... Keep it UP Fuzz 🤠
Great video Fuzz. We used to have these in London and outer London boroughs as the DMS prior to getting the first Leyland Titans. Good to see you:re keeping the memory alive.
Beautiful bus pal was brought up riding fleetlines in huddersfield listening to the gardner and the whine from the axle ,they certainly could shift too
What a great surprise to get a Fuzz video and it’s a stonkingly tasty bus! Thanks for making Friday night in the USA fun again. You have lots of fans here not jut motorbike and auto fans but we love Brit buses too! More please! Maybe an old Karsan or a lovely history of the Roadmaster bus 🚌 Been a Fuzz fan since you came here
during PWEI days. Great seeing you working with Henry Cole but we need an all Fuzz Fettle Hour. Thanks for keeping the cool stuff alive and sharing the process. 👏🏻✌🏻
Awesome tour of an old classic bus. When I was at High School in the 80's, the school bus was a company called Ribble Buses. They were red and similar age to your bus. I was always fascinated with buses back then. The regular driver at the time would let me stand at the front where I would watch him drive it and have a good natter. I remember the same gear stick and set up. I wanted to be a bus driver but never took it up and became a car mechanic instead.
Got to love a gardener one of the best engines ever made so reliable
Excellent video Fuzz.
Great video. Drove many Fleetlines at Western/Clydeside Scottish
Love this, what a great simple Bus vid.
Great to hear the sound of that engine again.
Bloody hell, theres a blast from the past.....!
Nice video fuzz,i had a preserved Blackpool bus from 2008 to 2018 a good bit smaller than that mind.
Great video! So many memories; the sound of the Gardner engine and I know exactly what you mean about the smell of the interior 👍
Beautiful Fleetline Fuzz .. the WMPTE standards were a great looking bus..
The one thing that really resonated with me and took me back to my childhood was the gear change. That little lever used to fascinate me as a kid in the 70's, how did that little thing manage to change gear when the gearstick on my dad's Rover was WAY bigger? It seemed like magic. Also the brass cover plate used to get warn smooth in the top left hand corner and I used to imagine all the drivers that had caused that. Cheers Fuzz.
I know exactly what you mean! I really wanted an SCG gearchange on my bike, rather than the Sturmey Archer trigger change 😂
Brill tour takes me back to my childhood ❤
I have fond memories of these buses, back when I was growing up in Birmingham. My Uncle John drove for WMPTE from the early 60's until he retired in 2002. Based out of the Selly Oak garage. Used to always let me travel for free 🤫 don't tell anyone.
Great video. Love the bus. It's quite possible i may have travelled on this bus at some point during the early to mid 80's. A mate and I used to buy a "day tripper" which cost 75 pence as i recall. We would go all over the midlands on a Saturday just because we liked riding around on buses. We'd start from Stourbridge and very often into Birmingham too. Great memories. I enjoyed the tour of the bus Fuzz 👍 it's a superb machine. Also great seeing you with Henry on Shed and Buried.
Great buz them fuzz, use to catch them type every day going to and from school in the eighties..... were quite nippy if my memory serves me well.
Wishing you well brother 🙏
Great stuff Fuzz, I remember the Fleetline, but I also remember the Northern buses around Sunderland in the Northeast and they had Daimlers , much older though , but they had the greatest deep exhaust note, I hope your Fleetline sounds good.
Great video Fuzz. Not being too nerdie, but I noticed the back lights identical to the Lodeckas that served my childhood
Lovely bus man, would have been nice in Birmingham city transport livery fantastic anyway…😎
lovely bus Fuzz , Gardner Engine major plus point 👍🏻
Great video loved it 👌
Thanks! 😀
Andrews of Sheffield gobbled up loads of ex West Midlands fleetlines during de regulation in the 80s, they were everywhere , the gearing was perfect for Sheffields steep hills , especially in the snow ( most times ) 👍
I've probably travelled on that bus. Nice video Fuzz.
Great bus. All the old Daimler buses I have driven for a living in the late 70s had white steering wheel
What an interesting video, I’m a Brummie and I probably went to school on that one!😊
Thanks for the video :) just spent a great day at the Scottish Vintage bus museum last Sunday . Amazing collection !
I wonder if that is the museum that has one of the Routemasters that I used to work in London RM606? I know it is undergoing restoration up there and was operated by Kelvin after London.
@@kristinajendesen7111 they do have a Routemaster in the workshop ☺️
@@DrMillerfan Sounds like the same one 😊
@@kristinajendesen7111 RM606 is still in shed 97 at the SVBM. Not a lot of work has been done recently as the owner passed away recently. There remains a lot of work still to do to it.
@@brianmelrose-fp8fu Thanks for that 😊 Sad to hear about the owner though 🥺
I bought an RML in 2005, didn't have it for long though. Wish I could have bought one that I used to work on like 606
Good walk round a 60s Fleetline. In my neck of the woods (Leeds) smoking wasn't permitted downstairs, so the bus ceilings were white. White upstairs too, because cigarette smoke didn't tend to tarnish modern laminates, jn the same way as painted surfaces.
Top guy Fuzz. Great drummer too.
I work at Pensnett garage now, I remember some older buses as a kid but the oldest bus I've driven is a Metro number 2957. Always nice when we get one come around the garage.
My stepson has a couple of buses. His favourite one is his VanHool bodied Volvo Ailsa. Helped him to drive it from Sheffield back to his bus preservation group in Glasgow. Drove lovely but cost a fortune in deisel that day.
Used to take journeys on these in the 80’s up to the early 90’s when visiting my nan and grandads in West Bromwich during the school holidays. I used to change the bus number on the destination board at the back as you could reach the leavers on the back seat🥴😂😂
Very intresting video.
The old No.1 service in Coventry used to always be a Daimler Fleetliner travelled on that type of bus many a time as a kid in the 1970s.
Nice to see fuzzes hand us OK 👍 enthusiasm on his face I'm the same with old tippers scammels , foden.
Big fan of gardener engines, only thing was they smoked a bit until it warmed up, nice job Fuzz another one saved credit to you mate
MY FATHER WORKED ON THESE BUSES AT MILLER ST . ALSO THE NATIONALS & MCW . GREAT DAYS .
I remember getting busses just like that to school in the 90s 😂
Have you never fancied a halfcab Fuzz? I grew up with the CVG-6s in Coventry & later went on to drive Routemasters in London in 1985.
I saw you draw one forward in one programme but wish you had the chance to have a real go. Best buses ever made, automatic with manual override, PAS, dual hydraulic brakes. Well maintained they'll still run rings around a modern bus.
At Westbourne Park I occasionally drove Metros & Titans too.
Moving South I drove for Wilts & Dorset driving DMS's, Bristol VRs, REs & LHs, Crossvilles & Nationals. Short career on the buses.
Joining BR in 1987 I later went on to drive Class 159 trains with Cummings engines, love the sound of a diesel.
Routemasters and 159s will always be my first love.
Nice one Fuzz ! From one bus mechanic to another (ex: NBC ) 😊
Its pretty sad I used to go to school on one of these in 2010 aha! Should of been in a museum then!!!!
As a small child in the late ‘70s I went to an open day at the LT Aldenham bus works, you were able to board a bus that was on a tilt table and they would tip it over to test / demonstrate the rollover angle. Quite a thing
Open days at Chiswick they used to let passengers sit on a skid pan bus for 50p a go. The buses were driven by the trainers.
Can you imagine that now with H&S?
Two wonderful places sadly gone Aldenham & Chiswick.
@@kristinajendesen7111 Also at an airshow at North Weald (which was owned by LT for driver training) in the early - mid 80s you could pay £1 and drive an RT bus around a short circuit. As a child I paid my £1 and therefore the first vehicle I ever drovebwas an RT double decker
@@MisterTea74 RT Pre-select. I've never driven anything with a pre-select box. Our Daimler CVG-6s in Coventry had it.
Hi Fuzz. used to use the broom handle or a walking stick to measure fuel tanks on our old VRs. Caroline.
I never thought of them not having a fuel gauge. I used to drive VRs for Wilts & Dorset. Fitters used to take care of that part of course, we just filled them with water in the morning.
(Don't tell Fuzz...much nicer to drive than Fleetlines).
Hi Fuzz. maybe see you at bristol show on sunday? Our VRs came from Alder Valley, Thames Valley, Neuclear Agency. We then moved to limpalongs in various models, tridents from ensign and before i retired B9s from Edinburgh. caroline
Probably seen your bus at Wythall. Used to live in dudley from 1977 to 1985 so used buses to go into town. If not Bristol show then Sywell or showbus. one of Corby independants used former Wilts and Dorset VRs for schools in the same livery. Belong to the Northampton group of buses with 778,794,919 and 757 in the shed. When i rebuilt 311 the engine was the same but horizontal not vertical. Only job i had to do was alter the fuel timing and it ran well. Caroline
I remember driving these buses around South London in the 80's
James May would like this for sure!
Memories of school with this and similar aged models
My ole man worked on Trawlers in GY. I often wondered why,not only he visited various docks, but many bus depot with me in the van.
Used same Gardener engines, many trips to Manchester. Up to a couple of years ago he had spares many new in wax paper , fuel pumps ect. Unfortunatly he got rid to a lucky metal yard. But when ever I see a Gardner it pings memories.
I was born in 1972, I remember them buses in Birmingham when I was young, they were like being on a roller coaster without the safety harness, you had to cling on to them seats, if the bus went round a sharp/fast bend or turn or you'd be slammed up the window or flung on the floor, where you have a choice of hitting metal or wood depending on where you're sitting
I drove many miles in these as a Birmingham bus driver. Was at (now gone) Quinton bus garage and later Yardley Wood garage. They were bloody hard work i tell you, but a reliable bus for sure. The steering was air operated on early models, very, very hard work. Then came the Metrobus to replace the Fleetline. I miss the Fleetline though. Really good in snow too, the Metrobus couldn't handle snow roads very well.
Which depot was the massive one I think WMT’s main depot on a roundabout at the bottom of a flyover just outside Birmingham city centre?🤔
@@stevenobrien3763
Birmingham Central, or Liverpool Street as its better known. Still operational in 2024 (Digbeth), but was supposed to have been gone due to redevelopment. Don't know how much longer it'll be operational, anyones guess.
Beautiful bus :)