I stand corrected.
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Lothian Group discussion (Lothian City, Lothian Country Bus and East Coast Buses)
- Thread starter GusB
- Start date
I stand corrected.
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RomeoCharlie71
Established Member
Northampton is in the (East) Midlands!
Northampton is in the (East) Midlands!
I stand uncorrected, you can probably tell I haven't spent much time in that dark place called England
It's on the last 2 to leave the garage, that's often been a B5LH recently with the odd London B9TL as well. Think it's whatever is spare around 0630 so I wouldn't read anything significant into it.
GusB
Established Member
While it's understandable that new forum members may have questions that have already been covered, I would urge existing members to be courteous in their responses.
To our newer members, please also bear in mind that repetitive questions can often be a bit wearing. There is a fleet list kicking about on the interwebs somewhere. We do also have a search facility on this site that allows you to search a particular forum, a specific thread or the whole site for certain keywords. Entering a fleet number as a keyword search in this thread will indicate if it has been raised before.
You can also use Google to search the forum by entering the following into the search box:
site:railforums.co.uk <keyword>
into
To our newer members, please also bear in mind that repetitive questions can often be a bit wearing. There is a fleet list kicking about on the interwebs somewhere. We do also have a search facility on this site that allows you to search a particular forum, a specific thread or the whole site for certain keywords. Entering a fleet number as a keyword search in this thread will indicate if it has been raised before.
You can also use Google to search the forum by entering the following into the search box:
site:railforums.co.uk <keyword>
into
Jordanscot
Member
i often read this forum but decided to join so I can break the secret! I went past seafield today and managed to see a new single deck;anything except going back to what the new buses are
Unless anyone is willing to share pictures then we can discuss them freely
The B8’s are Evora’s and it looked like it was ready to go! Had full Lothian livery and highback seats, contactless sign and fleet number on front - also looked really long compared to any singles they have just now..
didn’t seem to be many there though..hopefully the rest are hiding somewhere else or being delivered soon
Auld reekie
Member
- Joined
- 23 Jun 2018
- Messages
- 372
I hope you haven’t signed the Official Secrets Act.
Jordanscot
Member
fortunately I don’t work for them so I missed the secret act!!!
Thanks for the info, cannot wait to see these buses!
Jordan Adam
Established Member
In
Hurray! At last we can talk about them
I'm told they are 13.2m.
They are 13.2M, same chassis as the ECB examples.
The whole secrecy about them is just ridiculous. Are people here going to be upset that the supposed ADL build never happened or something? The whole thing sounded so complicated.
Even if the MCV demonstrator they had before wasn't great, they could have fed back their issues and as part of an order, made sure said issues would not be present in their order.
Even if the MCV demonstrator they had before wasn't great, they could have fed back their issues and as part of an order, made sure said issues would not be present in their order.
Jordanscot
Member
They looked big but didn’t realise 13.2m - I’ve just looked up the XLB’s for comparison and they are 13.4m so these things are total beasts for single deck city buses!In
Hurray! At last we can talk about them
I'm told they are 13.2m.
OmniCity999
Established Member
Indeed, i've driven said vehicle around engineering and im reliably informed they are among some of the highest spec single deck vehicles around. They've had a bit of extra work done regarding build quality.
The newish East Coast eclipses (10051-10065) are 13.2m too!
Jordanscot
Member
Is it common for only a few to arrive ahead of the 30 or are they being held elsewhere until launch?
I know omni said it gives a chance for engineers and drivers to become familiar but for them being built in Egypt, surely you’d send them all together no?
I know omni said it gives a chance for engineers and drivers to become familiar but for them being built in Egypt, surely you’d send them all together no?
OmniCity999
Established Member
Yes! there are 1 or 2 kicking about just now - this allows familiarity training for Engineering etc.
There are others in store but not within Lothian, we havent officially accepted any yet - their here on training.
Longest two axle rigid bus/coach I've driven is 12m so I'm really looking forward to driving these. They'll be incredibly welcome on the 30 which is approaching pre-covid loadings on some journeys even with the increased frequency.
I'm wondering if there'll be driver familiarisation beforehand for the extra length? Although with the newest drivers having passed their tests in February I can't see it being much of an issue.
GusB
Established Member
It's not that ridiculous, really. If Lothian want to keep a new batch of vehicles under wraps until such time as they're ready to announce an order, it's up to them. I think what annoys some people here is the fact that staff weren't able to talk about them, as is the case with many other companies who are about to introduce something new. Like it or not, we do have to respect that.
Anyhow, I'm glad the cat's finally out of the bag and thank you to @Jordanscot for putting everyone out of their misery! Welcome to the forum too
SpeedbirdA350
Member
I know the 12.2m has 46 seats (43 with 3 tipups) but do we know how many in the 13.2m version?
OmniCity999
Established Member
~49 seated im led to believe - with a nice amount of standing space.
computerSaysNo
Established Member
- Joined
- 14 Dec 2018
- Messages
- 1,436
Will the new buses have a smaller engine than the ECB examples? (Ie were the ECB ones ordered with a more powerful engine, knowing that they'd be blasting down the A1 at 62mph a lot of the time, as opposed to the new ones which are for pottering round the city at 20/30mph?)
Graham Alexand
Member
Any pictures of the Evora's (B8RLE's) yet?
B8RLE chassis all have the same 7.7l engines - power output might be different though and I'd imagine they'd be limited to 50 rather than 56 (I believe that's the limit for buses without seatbelts).
OmniCity999
Established Member
All of our B8RLE's will be the same mechanically.
Nobody has shared one yet, head down to Seafield mid-week for a look, there's usually one outside.
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Hopefully a little quicker than a 7900 in regen mode dutifully going through every single gear up a hill
RomeoCharlie71
Established Member
Do they smoke like a chimney too?Hopefully a little quicker than a 7900 in regen mode dutifully going through every single gear up a hill
(link to a Twitter post where smoke can be seen billowing out of the engine cubicle at the rear of a B5LH whilst performing an exhaust regen)
Do they smoke like a chimney too?
(link to a Twitter post where smoke can be seen billowing out of the engine cubicle at the rear of a B5LH whilst performing an exhaust regen)
Haven't seen that myself, the B5LH Geminis aren't so bad when they're doing a regen but the engines are so downrated in the 7900s the performance drop is abysmal.
That smoke into the saloon does look a bit concerning!
RomeoCharlie71
Established Member
Fair enough, ours have a habit of going through every gear too and revving high as well. They do a good job at filling the city centre with smoke... Someone did tell the driver about the smoke but just told them to open windows/move upstairs (control had told him to carry on as it's "normal").
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Finally, someone has taken one for the team and said the new B8s are MCV bodied... I had known for a wee while now. Although, I hadn't signed the Lothian Secrecy Act 2020, I did find it quite amusing reading the conspiracy theories
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