Trivia: Rare and unusual bus and coach types

MotCO said:

Crystals of Orpington ran a couple of Leyland Cub Lex Maxetas on route 146. C923-4 DKR. https://www.flickr.com/photos/18186...-LLvgyD-rcBL2U-29G4QXv-fC3bmr-2ptDuKT-29G4P6p

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Leyland Cubs, as buses, were also quite rare. Other than Crystals the only other operators I can think.of which had them were Central Scottish (two), Greater Manchester PTE (two), West Yorkshire PTE (fifteen) and Lothian (eighteen). The Central, Greater Manchester and Lothian ones were bodied by Duple, those for West Yorkshire had Optare bodies.

harz99 said:

H909SKW. Whittaker Europa bodied Renault S75 midibus. Afaik the only one built on this chassis and possibly the only one built period.

HKX553V. Bedford JJL integral midibus. The last survivor of only 4 built.

I owned/operated both the above in the 90s/00s, the Renault was scrapped and the JJL is in a preservationist's hands.

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The Europa looked quite smart, surprised they didn't get more orders.

The JJLs were all taken up by the local council in Maidstone in Kent, AFAIK one or more did end up with Boroline

DunsBus said:

Leyland Cubs, as buses, were also quite rare. Other than Crystals the only other operators I can think.of which had them were Central Scottish (two), Greater Manchester PTE (two), West Yorkshire PTE (fifteen) and Lothian (eighteen). The Central, Greater Manchester and Lothian ones were bodied by Duple, those for West Yorkshire had Optare bodies.

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The Greater Manchester ones were Reeve Burgess.

Leyland Bus said:

The Greater Manchester ones were Reeve Burgess.

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Happy to be corrected.

DunsBus said:

Happy to be corrected.

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Happy to help

DunsBus said:

Leyland Cubs, as buses, were also quite rare. Other than Crystals the only other operators I can think.of which had them were Central Scottish (two), Greater Manchester PTE (two), West Yorkshire PTE (fifteen) and Lothian (eighteen). The Central, Greater Manchester and Lothian ones were bodied by Duple, those for West Yorkshire had Optare bodies.

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This is one of the West Yorkshire PTE examples that have been preserved:

TheGrandWazoo said:

Perhaps in small numbers for South Yorkshire but not certain NC bodied Dominators were that rare. Think GM Buses had about 30, and Cleveland Transit had 20-odd.

Funnily enough, Transit also had B6s with Pointer bodywork. I seem to recall that Merseybus had a fairly substantial batch too

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These were the type i was mentioning about a Northern Counties Dennis Dominator in South Yorkshire (not my picture - credit to photographer):

Some more, all pictures not mine & full credit to the photographer who took the pictures:
Technobus Pantheon which were in use in Liverpool.
The ACE Cougar single decker: https://www.flickr.com/photos/mjf-southsea/53108084467/in/photolist
There was also an ACE Puma built with Van Hool coach body, not many of these were built.
This appears to be a rather unusual looking Dennis Dart with UVG Urbanstar bodywork, but has a Pointer 2 front end: https://www.flickr.com/photos/21611052@N02/4608917584/in/pool-uniquebuses/
One bus that TM Travel had was Q723 GHG, A Leyland Tiger with Eastern Coachworks body.
This one seems a very unusual bus, Ipswich Buses B114 LDX: https://www.flickr.com/photos/21611052@N02/3886945946/in/pool-uniquebuses/
Some I remember with Yorkshire Traction were Scania K93 with Wright Endeavor body, I remember seeing this & thinking they looked extremely tall.
Quest 80 with Locomotors body, not many were built.
Lincolnshire RoadCar had a batch of long wheelbase Leyland Olympian's with East Lancs body: https://www.flickr.com/photos/thespian/5570127295/in/pool-uniquebuses/
One Dennis Dominator at SYPTE C45 HDT (B450CKW) is the last Trolleybus built in the U.K, was used on a trial line near Doncaster Racecourse & is now preserved at Sandtoft.
There was a batch of Volvo Ailsa built for London which had 2 staircases & the doors at front & rear. Only ones i have seen with twin staircases on a bus since is the Borismaster in London.
The Leyland with Lex Tillotson bodywork, one of the ugliest vehicles built:https://www.flickr.com/photos/southlancs/albums/72157625757591799/
N199 PYJ The Neoplan bodied Dennis Dart ALX 200 built from a kit in South Africa, later ended up with Stagecoach Chesterfield as 33297.
D850 AAV: A Leyland Atlantean originally built for Baghdad but never made it: https://www.flickr.com/photos/solenteer/14591350027/in/pool-uniquebuses/
First Leeds i remember had a rare looking Scania with East Lancs MaxCi bodywork, fleet number 61134.

Wasn't there also a bus bodied Jonckheere for one of the London companies Scan coaches I think, there wasn't many of them over here?

Swanny200 said:

Wasn't there also a bus bodied Jonckheere for one of the London companies Scan coaches I think, there wasn't many of them over here?

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Yes - see post #10

TheGrandWazoo said:

Yes - see post #10

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thank you

Not seen these mentioned above (apologies if I've missed it). Western National had just twelve of these 1967 Bedford VAM5/ ECW B41F combinations, 700-711 (KDV130F-KDV141F). I think Eastern Counties and West Yorkshire Road Car had four each, so a relatively small build by ECW standards, although no doubt they incorporated many standard parts from other ECW bodies of the time.

There were a few based at Dartmouth, and upon seeing one of their veteran drivers inch his way behind the bulkhead to enter the driving seat from the offside, I remarked upon it being an unusual design.

He looked at me sternly, and said 'Young man, this piece of machinery was never designed - it just happened!'

My holiday photo below from 1979, apologies for poor quality due to my youth and cheap East German slide film.

Towers said:

H523 CTR comes to mind, ACE Cougar with Wadham Stringer body. Transverse seating down the nearside, too! A functional but smart looking thing which carried on in service for a good while after Firsthgroup absorbed its owner, People’s Provincial of Hampshire, and is thankfully now preserved.

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Good to hear of this being preserved. I remember seeing it in the People's Provincial fleet. Another Hampshire based operator Hants & Sussex operated secondhand AEC Swifts. Not so unusual in the respect of the OP, but these were still in service well into the mid-1990's.

Whisky Papa said:

Not seen these mentioned above (apologies if I've missed it). Western National had just twelve of these 1967 Bedford VAM5/ ECW B41F combinations, 700-711 (KDV130F-KDV141F). I think Eastern Counties and West Yorkshire Road Car had four each, so a relatively small build by ECW standards, although no doubt they incorporated many standard parts from other ECW bodies of the time.

There were a few based at Dartmouth, and upon seeing one of their veteran drivers inch his way behind the bulkhead to enter the driving seat from the offside, I remarked upon it being an unusual design.

He looked at me sternly, and said 'Young man, this piece of machinery was never designed - it just happened!'

My holiday photo below from 1979, apologies for poor quality due to my youth and cheap East German slide film.

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Eastern Counties and West Yorkshire had four each, so 20 in total. The West Yorkshire ones lasted FIVE years!

Whisky Papa said:

Not seen these mentioned above (apologies if I've missed it). Western National had just twelve of these 1967 Bedford VAM5/ ECW B41F combinations, 700-711 (KDV130F-KDV141F). I think Eastern Counties and West Yorkshire Road Car had four each, so a relatively small build by ECW standards, although no doubt they incorporated many standard parts from other ECW bodies of the time.

There were a few based at Dartmouth, and upon seeing one of their veteran drivers inch his way behind the bulkhead to enter the driving seat from the offside, I remarked upon it being an unusual design.

He looked at me sternly, and said 'Young man, this piece of machinery was never designed - it just happened!'

My holiday photo below from 1979, apologies for poor quality due to my youth and cheap East German slide film.

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In a similar vein, Alder Valley had about 20 Ford R1014's - nothing too odd about that as other NBC subsidiaries had lightweight Fords at that time, however where those others had Plaxton Derwent, Duple Dominant or Willowbrook 001 bodies, the Alder Valley ones oddly were ECW bodied in a style similar to Bristol RE / LHs- I can't think of any other ECW bodied Fords off-hand.

A couple were cut down to 27 seaters for use in Marlow where there was a bridge with a weight restriction.

JD2168 said:

One bus that TM Travel had was Q723 GHG, A Leyland Tiger with Eastern Coachworks body.

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A Tiger with ECW bodywork didn't strike me as unusual until I looked into more details about this machine. It was in fact a major rebuild with the chassis having a rear engine. And the bodywork is more like a National than the contemporary ECW style. I wonder if Leyland had realised that the Lynx was not really interesting rural operators and decided to try and produce a modern RE, perhaps with the intention of making it available to other body builders. What might have been.

Shaw S Hunter said:

A Tiger with ECW bodywork didn't strike me as unusual until I looked into more details about this machine. It was in fact a major rebuild with the chassis having a rear engine. And the bodywork is more like a National than the contemporary ECW style. I wonder if Leyland had realised that the Lynx was not really interesting rural operators and decided to try and produce a modern RE, perhaps with the intention of making it available to other body builders. What might have been.

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No, it was intended for export markets who preferred local bodies to integrals. I guess if anything it was the spiritual successor to the B21. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leyland_B21

A0wen said:

In a similar vein, Alder Valley had about 20 Ford R1014's - nothing too odd about that as other NBC subsidiaries had lightweight Fords at that time, however where those others had Plaxton Derwent, Duple Dominant or Willowbrook 001 bodies, the Alder Valley ones oddly were ECW bodied in a style similar to Bristol RE / LHs- I can't think of any other ECW bodied Fords off-hand.

A couple were cut down to 27 seaters for use in Marlow where there was a bridge with a weight restriction.

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Hants & Dorset also had a batch of those ECW bodied Fords that were also delivered in tandem with LHs - a good side by side shot from Dave58282 on Flickr. They had about 15.

A0wen said:

In a similar vein, Alder Valley had about 20 Ford R1014's - nothing too odd about that as other NBC subsidiaries had lightweight Fords at that time, however where those others had Plaxton Derwent, Duple Dominant or Willowbrook 001 bodies, the Alder Valley ones oddly were ECW bodied in a style similar to Bristol RE / LHs- I can't think of any other ECW bodied Fords off-hand.

A couple were cut down to 27 seaters for use in Marlow where there was a bridge with a weight restriction.

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A search of buslistsontheweb.co.uk reveals that there were 50 such vehicles - too many for this thread. Please do some proper research before posting.

Shaw S Hunter said:

A Tiger with ECW bodywork didn't strike me as unusual until I looked into more details about this machine. It was in fact a major rebuild with the chassis having a rear engine. And the bodywork is more like a National than the contemporary ECW style. I wonder if Leyland had realised that the Lynx was not really interesting rural operators and decided to try and produce a modern RE, perhaps with the intention of making it available to other body builders. What might have been.

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Another what might-have-been was the ECW B51 prototype, VHK177L.
That one was a rebuild, so OT, but the plan was to build the the body on refurbished Bristol RE chassis for the NBC - some of which had already been prepared for rebodying.

As we know, that plan was scrapped when Leyland offered end-of-line Leopards to the NBC, along with Tigers and the B51s went on to these instead, with disastrous consequences. This meant that VHK remained a one-off if only by default.

CN04NRJ said:

Dennis Javelin/Duple 300 (bus) body?

Had the misfortune of driving this one a few times at Edwards Coaches, all noise and absolutely no go with the ZF 4 speed. Bit of trivia on this bus, Edwards were buying a number of Ailsas from Ferris Coaches (Nantgarw), and on the condition they bought all of the Volvos this came free.

New to Leask & Silver, Lerwick.

Dennis Javelin/Duple 300

zzzzzzz

flic.kr

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Drove two of these, One was a G plate and absolutely crap, the other was F756 NPJ ex demonstrator with 6 speed manual, it was a flying machine. Still to this day fastest thing I've driven!

Spsf3232 said:

Drove two of these, One was a G plate and absolutely crap, the other was F756 NPJ ex demonstrator with 6 speed manual, it was a flying machine. Still to this day fastest thing I've driven!

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It was dreadful, deafening engine noise and absolutely flat as a pancake.

I really enjoyed the manual Javelins there, pleasant clutch/gear action compared to the B10Ms, Tigers and DAFs. This little thing was a rocket, also a possible contender for 'unusual';

The late, lamented, Silcox of Pembrke Dock had several odd buses. ODE402 was a new chassis mated with a MCCW trolleybus body! https://www.flickr.com/photos/jenny...CaZ-fBpCs8-4UwWCp-eMwqWR-fBujTJ-AP9oio-fBYjZ2

They were also renown for converting LHD Dennis Javelins ex MOD into service buses, such as https://www.flickr.com/photos/rtwelshbuses/5410931557/in/dateposted/

I've received a couple of queries regarding re-bodied vehicles and whether or not they can be included here. My intention was that any vehicles listed should be as originally built and, after some consideration, I'm going to stick to that and say that re-bodied buses are not eligible for inclusion. There's probably enough subject matter there for a thread in its own right!

I hope a fresh coat of leaf green paint and (possibly?) the removal of a couple of seats won't disqualify Western National's ten Bristol LH6L / Marshall coaches (1316-25, BDV 316/8 L and NTT 317,319-25 M), subsequently downgraded to service use? I was not aware of any similar combination with any other operator, and I'm pretty sure they were only 7'6'' width to boot.

My photo again, in Totnes, 1979.

Whisky Papa said:

I hope a fresh coat of leaf green paint and (possibly?) the removal of a couple of seats won't disqualify Western National's ten Bristol LH6L / Marshall coaches (1316-25, BDV 316/8 L and NTT 317,319-25 M), subsequently downgraded to service use? I was not aware of any similar combination with any other operator, and I'm pretty sure they were only 7'6'' width to boot.

My photo again, in Totnes, 1979.

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GASH of Newark had one as well LRC291P

Northampton Transports Bristol VRT with Alexander bodies, the only ones with peaked fronts and domed rear roofs. Apologies if already mentioned.

Grahamk748 said:

Northampton Transports Bristol VRT with Alexander bodies, the only ones with peaked fronts and domed rear roofs. Apologies if already mentioned.

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Unusual yes - but there were over 30 of them !

GusB said:

I've received a couple of queries regarding re-bodied vehicles and whether or not they can be included here. My intention was that any vehicles listed should be as originally built and, after some consideration, I'm going to stick to that and say that re-bodied buses are not eligible for inclusion. There's probably enough subject matter there for a thread in its own right!

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would that include RT1 because it entered service as ST1140 with a second hand body, then rebodied and reclassified as RT1?
the Bournemouth open top trolleybuses would be disqualified as they were rebuilds of existing buses
suggest Hastings 1A to 8A, open top double deck trolleybuses

This thread has certainly thrown up a wide variety of odd and unusual buses but there are a few more that I can add to the list. The attached photos are all mine. Would I be right in thinking that welfare buses and novelty buses fall outside the scope of this thread?

Metro Scania demonstrator VWD 401H.
This bus differs from the production Metro Scania by having glazed rear corners. I travelled across south London by Routemaster on my way from Oxford to Woolwich to sample it on LT route 99 (Woolwich – Erith).

Leyland Lowloader
Leyland’s first attempt at a rear engine double decker was unveiled in 1952. Registered STF 90, it had a turbocharged O.350 engine mounted transversely in the rear offside corner and carried a Saunders Roe full front rear entrance open platform body. It had the overall appearance of a trolleybus of that era. The rear engine allowed the bus to be lowheight to rival the Bristol Lodekka but without having to accommodate a propshaft under the floor. A second version (XTC 684) appeared in 1954 with a similar layout but had an MCW half cab lowheight Orion style body and platform doors. Both buses were sold on for further use. I had the pleasure of travelling on XTC 684 on a quick trip round Leighton Buzzard but can't trace that I took a photo. I believe the bus is still in preservation. STF 90, however, has been scrapped.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/rw3-497alh/16035877772
http://www.sct61.org.uk/index/chassis/la/zzxtc684

Silver Eagle
The Eagle range of coaches was developed for American interstate bus operator Trailways. Initially they were built in Belgium but later production moved to Texas. Some right hand drive versions were produced for South Africa and Australia. One also made it to the UK and was exhibited at the 1976 Southsea bus rally with Tatlocks fleetnames. However, I don’t think it ever operated here.

Walsall Daimler CRC6-36 XDH 56G
This bus was had a passing mention in post #84 as being a long Fleetline. However, it is rather more than that as it has Cummins V6-200 engine in the rear offside corner which allows it have both front and rear doors and two staircases. At 36ft long with 86 seats it was, for a time, the biggest bus in the country. A closed circuit TV camera was used to allow the driver to observe the rear door but, when I travelled on it between Walsall and Birmingham, it had a conductor. This bus survives in preservation.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/86020500@N06/10508928396

SELNEC Mercedes O305/Northern Counties
In 1973 SELNEC bought two of these single deck buses as part of a number of “experimental” buses that it acquired whilst it was assessing future vehicle policy. Whilst it was a very neat design, it clearly did not find favour and these 2 buses were the only ones built. In the days before bus spotting apps, finding odd vehicles in a large fleet in a large built-up area was always a challenge but, working on published information, I travelled to Oldham to find them. I thought I was in luck when I saw one coming along the road towards me. I had just got my camera ready when it turned down a side street and was not seen again.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/tarquinius_superbus/50803933052

Park Royal Royalist
Park Royal was very much a bus builder but, from time to time, tried to diversify into building coaches. In 1967, it developed the Royalist. This was a coach, which to my eyes, was attractively modern with straight line styling. It was initially built on a rear engined Albion chassis which it was thought would appeal to smaller operators though there were plans to offer it on Bedford or Ford chassis. In the event only 5 were built, all on the Albion chassis. One was a demonstrator, the others went to the Red House Garage group in Coventry.
http://www.sct61.org.uk/index/body/pr/zzjcs819f

Barton Transport Bedford VAL
The Bedford VAL was very commonplace as a coach and, to a lesser extent, as a bus. However, Barton Transport had a fleet where the difference between buses and coaches was blurred and, even then, could be relied upon to have something different. Its VALs had Yeates bodies with coach styling and seats but with dual sliding doors so were suitable for bus and coach work.


Plaxton Leopard Interurban
I cannot see that anyone has mentioned the Lothian dual door Plaxton Leopard commuter coaches. There cannot be many of them and I doubt if there will be any more.

Fast Starter
This vehicle was mentioned in post #64 where it was established that only 12 were sold in UK, one of which ended up with McGills. However, if Bus Lists on the Web is to be believed, the McGills bus is even more rare as it is one of only two that had a wheelchair lift. If anyone has photos of the lift from inside or outside the vehicle, I would be very interested to see them.

I was going to suggest the Plaxton 4000 coach until I realised how many were used in the UK . [Any survivors??].