Eastern Coach Works closure 30th Anniversary.

[Trainfan344]

Next weekend on the 8th and 9th July the East Anglia Transport Museum will be commemorating the 30th closure of Eastern Coach Works in Lowestoft. With a weekend full of visiting ECW bodied vehicles from all over the country. There will be a free park & ride service, and bus services to Lowestoft and Beccles.

http://eatransportmuseum.co.uk/visit-us.html

 

[Titfield]

I am sure you meant to say "commemorating".

 

[Statto]

Next weekend on the 8th and 9th July the East Anglia Transport Museum will be celebrating the 30th closure of Eastern Coach Works in Lowestoft. With a weekend full of visiting ECW bodied vehicles from all over the country. There will be a free park & ride service, and bus services to Lowestoft and Beccles.

http://eatransportmuseum.co.uk/visit-us.html

Celebrating, the buses ECW built weren't that bad where they?

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Celebrating, the buses ECW built weren't that bad where they?

An essential part of my childhood. My local depot had an allocation of c.25 - aside from 1 or 2 Leopards or REs (with bodies by Plaxton, Willowbrook or Duple) at any time for a bit of coaching, the rest were all ECW! We avoided Leyland Nationals for many years.

There was one ECW aberration - the B51 - but my father's firm never had them.

 

[carlberry]

Celebrating, the buses ECW built weren't that bad where they?

celebrating the closure suggests that some people have a different view!

 

[Trainfan344]

Whoops, that'll teach me to not proof read!

 

[Trainfan344]

Yesterday, we brought L263 the last Eastern Coach Works Bodied bus home from Full Circle where it had undergone restoration including addition of the rear doors and Selkent Travel Livery. Photo Credit: S. Hobbs.

 

[randyrippley]

Why did ECW bodies always have the heads of failed pot rivets rattling inside the grab rails?
Were their riveters incompetent?

 

[A0]

An essential part of my childhood. My local depot had an allocation of c.25 - aside from 1 or 2 Leopards or REs (with bodies by Plaxton, Willowbrook or Duple) at any time for a bit of coaching, the rest were all ECW! We avoided Leyland Nationals for many years.

There was one ECW aberration - the B51 - but my father's firm never had them.

A bit harsh on the B51 - the prototype one was very good, indeed is still running around to this day. The issue was ECW as a result of their close working with Bristol had become used to making bodies suitable for rear-engined chassis.

Why is this relevant? Because when they made the B51 for use on Leopards and Tigers they underestimated the strength needed for the boot to take the luggage - which resulted in the first few depositing their luggage on the motorway whilst doing Nat Express work - they remedied that fairly quickly.

The B51 was a far better body than the Willowbrook 003 which preceded it by a couple of years, yet disappeared much sooner.

If you look at the use of B51s with Green Line, the B51s bodied TLs were delivered alongside the Duple Dominant bodied TDs yet outlasted them.

They were delivered before the Plaxton 3200 bodied TPs yet again lasted almost as long in service as most of the TPs did.

The only reason alot of TLs were re-bodied, by Midland Red North, was MRN wanted more Tigers for bus work - bearing in mind they'd been using some Duple Dominant bus bodied Tigers on bus duties since the early 80s.

A lot of ex-Green Line Tigers came off lease in the early / mid 90s in part as the network contracted - MRN picked those up and it wasn't just B51 bodied ones, there were some others such as the BTLs which were stripped of their bodies and despatched to East Lancs (part of Drawlane with MRN).

 

[GusB]

Being located north of the border, I'd never seen a B51 until the Inverness bus war, when there was a sudden influx of ex-NBC vehicles from other Stagecoach fleets. Some of them gradually moved further east as vehicles were swapped around and it was a bit of a surprise to have a former Cumberland ECW Leopard turn up on the school run one morning.

They weren't the prettiest of bodies, but they were functional I suppose, and they could look quite good with the right livery application.

https://flic.kr/p/EuUKdS

This one appears to have had quite a long life after Stagecoach.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

A bit harsh on the B51 - the prototype one was very good, indeed is still running around to this day. The issue was ECW as a result of their close working with Bristol had become used to making bodies suitable for rear-engined chassis.

Why is this relevant? Because when they made the B51 for use on Leopards and Tigers they underestimated the strength needed for the boot to take the luggage - which resulted in the first few depositing their luggage on the motorway whilst doing Nat Express work - they remedied that fairly quickly.

The B51 was a far better body than the Willowbrook 003 which preceded it by a couple of years, yet disappeared much sooner.

If you look at the use of B51s with Green Line, the B51s bodied TLs were delivered alongside the Duple Dominant bodied TDs yet outlasted them.

They were delivered before the Plaxton 3200 bodied TPs yet again lasted almost as long in service as most of the TPs did.

The only reason alot of TLs were re-bodied, by Midland Red North, was MRN wanted more Tigers for bus work - bearing in mind they'd been using some Duple Dominant bus bodied Tigers on bus duties since the early 80s.

A lot of ex-Green Line Tigers came off lease in the early / mid 90s in part as the network contracted - MRN picked those up and it wasn't just B51 bodied ones, there were some others such as the BTLs which were stripped of their bodies and despatched to East Lancs (part of Drawlane with MRN).

The issue with the rear engined vs. mid engined is the very point/aberration I was referring to

The B51 wasn't bought in great numbers. LCBS had a large batch but there were many others only bought a handful. It was perhaps that it arrived at the wrong time - the change to coach licensing meant that standards were much higher and the Paramount 3200 or Duple Laser were much more comfortable (reflecting their use on local expresses and Nat Ex work). It also arrived after the end of the bus grant and that had an impact on the DP coach

It was better than the Willowbrook 003, of that I can't disagree. My father's depot had one delivered new and it was clearly rubbish from the start, one of
25 in the fleet.

You're right that Drawlane had a lot of LCBS Tigers that didn't really have a role and had an NBV that they wouldn't recoup from selling (with ECW and Berkhof bodies that didn't have the best of reputations - rightly or wrongly) and so rebodying with EL2000s and allowing the replacement of many knackered, unreliable and thirsty MRN Nationals made a lot of sense.

BTW, the TDs were leased from Kirkby Kingsforth and returned off lease, whereas the TLs were owned so that explains their retention.

 

[A0]

The issue with the rear engined vs. mid engined is the very point/aberration I was referring to

The B51 wasn't bought in great numbers. LCBS had a large batch but there were many others only bought a handful. It was perhaps that it arrived at the wrong time - the change to coach licensing meant that standards were much higher and the Paramount 3200 or Duple Laser were much more comfortable (reflecting their use on local expresses and Nat Ex work). It also arrived after the end of the bus grant and that had an impact on the DP coach

It was better than the Willowbrook 003, of that I can't disagree. My father's depot had one delivered new and it was clearly rubbish from the start, one of
25 in the fleet.

You're right that Drawlane had a lot of LCBS Tigers that didn't really have a role and had an NBV that they wouldn't recoup from selling (with ECW and Berkhof bodies that didn't have the best of reputations - rightly or wrongly) and so rebodying with EL2000s and allowing the replacement of many knackered, unreliable and thirsty MRN Nationals made a lot of sense.

BTW, the TDs were leased from Kirkby Kingsforth and returned off lease, whereas the TLs were owned so that explains their retention.

I'm sure I read that the TLs were leased as well, albeit LCBS bought a number of them at the end of their leases.

This site seems to agree> http://www.countrybus.org/LC_coach/TL.htm

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

I'm sure I read that the TLs were leased as well, albeit LCBS bought a number of them at the end of their leases.

This site seems to agree> http://www.countrybus.org/LC_coach/TL.htm

Lord knows what's on that site - blocked by my work malware

I know the TDs were leased but wasn't aware the TLs were. Perhaps that some were retained was what confused me.

 

[carlberry]

Lord knows what's on that site - blocked by my work malware

I know the TDs were leased but wasn't aware the TLs were. Perhaps that some were retained was what confused me.

Dont know what the malware is getting worked up about. However the start of the article takes us back to the original statement that the B51 wasnt ECW's finest hour (however it hadn't wanted to sell it on new chassis and it already had experience of how bad it's bodies were on Leopards because of issues with some of the Mark 2 bodies for GMPTE.

Quote:
The Type B51 body from Eastern Coach Works originated as a rebuild project on the Bristol RE chassis, making extensive use of glass-fibre mouldings, to a rounded style that always makes me think of a jelly mould. Then Leyland offered cheap end-of-line Leopard chassis, and B51s were built on the new chassis for United Counties. They were not a great success, as on the Leopard chassis there was no provision for supporting the large boot that National Express work required. They wobbled. After a couple of weeks the boot fell off one in service, spilling luggage over the motorway. Not good. Flimsy fibreglass mouldings supporting enormous glass windscreens were also found wanting.
Not a London Country TL, but an ex-Maidstone & District B51, shown here to illustrate the jelly-mould effect of the body styling. (At Mike Nash's Weybridge Depot, June 2001)
The new coaches continued the trend for smaller, high-set windows, in this case all darkened, and came with GB plates on both sides of the rear registration plate.

London Country ordered 42 for 1982, mounted on the new Leyland Tiger chassis with TL11 engine, which offered a performance boost as well as air suspension. Delivery was a little erratic, as the boot and windscreen problems were sorted out by ECW with reinforcing kits, and most of the coaches had to receive post-August WPH *** Y registrations, having originally been built with TPC *** X plates. But after an inauspicious beginning the coaches had long lives with Green Line, some being bought after the initial six-seven year leases from Leyland expired.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Dont know what the malware is getting worked up about. However the start of the article takes us back to the original statement that the B51 wasnt ECW's finest hour (however it hadn't wanted to sell it on new chassis and it already had experience of how bad it's bodies were on Leopards because of issues with some of the Mark 2 bodies for GMPTE.

Quote:
The Type B51 body from Eastern Coach Works originated as a rebuild project on the Bristol RE chassis, making extensive use of glass-fibre mouldings, to a rounded style that always makes me think of a jelly mould. Then Leyland offered cheap end-of-line Leopard chassis, and B51s were built on the new chassis for United Counties. They were not a great success, as on the Leopard chassis there was no provision for supporting the large boot that National Express work required. They wobbled. After a couple of weeks the boot fell off one in service, spilling luggage over the motorway. Not good. Flimsy fibreglass mouldings supporting enormous glass windscreens were also found wanting.
Not a London Country TL, but an ex-Maidstone & District B51, shown here to illustrate the jelly-mould effect of the body styling. (At Mike Nash's Weybridge Depot, June 2001)
The new coaches continued the trend for smaller, high-set windows, in this case all darkened, and came with GB plates on both sides of the rear registration plate.

London Country ordered 42 for 1982, mounted on the new Leyland Tiger chassis with TL11 engine, which offered a performance boost as well as air suspension. Delivery was a little erratic, as the boot and windscreen problems were sorted out by ECW with reinforcing kits, and most of the coaches had to receive post-August WPH *** Y registrations, having originally been built with TPC *** X plates. But after an inauspicious beginning the coaches had long lives with Green Line, some being bought after the initial six-seven year leases from Leyland expired.

Thanks to both of you

However, still think for the reasons detailed, it perhaps was a noble failure (at least in part) and certainly nothing compared to the cardboard Leopard!

 

[83G/84D]

I was hoping to attend this event however I am unable to do so.

If anyone attends I'd appreciate a list of buses present (so that I can see what I missed!)

 

[Trainfan344]

I was hoping to attend this event however I am unable to do so.

If anyone attends I'd appreciate a list of buses present (so that I can see what I missed!)

Will see what I can find about tomorrow for you.

 

[83G/84D]

Will see what I can find about tomorrow for you.

Thanks very much.

 

[Trainfan344]

Thanks to all who came along to the event, and those who brought vehicles, we had over 1,300 visitors over the weekend!