I'm no bus guru but recently I noticed the variety of models and providers hired-in for local events and rail-replacement services. A few motley photos are here:
This week sees track infrastructure work at Portsmouth Harbour and around Fareham. Rail Replacement buses are a real mixture, to my eyes (I have zero bus knowledge :) ). Apart from the Enviros - which seem to be of different body lengths - I have no idea what the others are. I'd appreciate a...
www.railforums.co.uk
Now - an ask of the wise forum members:
Posts #19, #23, #27: the seven examples of Eclipse Gemini 1 and 2, have
six different bodyside variants - and the pair with matching bodysides, have differing upper front handrails.
I haven't found any online information explaining that myriad of Eclipse Gemini bodyside options.
Is there a reliable online source of such info? Many thanks.
Well I may not be 'wise', but I can go some way to explain some of the differences. The first and most boring point would be that different buses were new to different operators, built to a different specification (and possibly later modified by the operators themselves) so details vary. Even then if the same operator bought several batches of buses, they won't necessarily be identical.
In post #19 the blue Metrobus liveried Eclipse Gemini 2 has rubber-mounted gasket windows, which can be painted in between. The glass is held in place with a piece of rubber gripping it all the way around the edge.
Compare that to the First liveried bus in post #27 which has bonded type glazing, where the windows are continuous with no gaps in between. The glass is glued in place and is arguably more stylish, but at the expense of being more difficult to replace if one gets broken. Other types of bus like the ALX400 also offer gasket/bonded window variants.
The yellow Gemini in post #23 lacks the small window in the lower deck because it is ex-London, and London specified a straight staircase that took up more room. Also ex-London buses tend to be converted from 2 doors to 1, so on the nearside 'converted' buses sometimes have different window layouts to ones built only with one door (again, this applies to lots of bus models, not just Wright Geminis)
One of the Purple Gemini 2s in post #23 is another Eclipse Gemini 2 with bonded glazing an a Volvo B9TL chassis. The other one has gasket glazing, but is of the rarer VDL DB300 chassis* type, and I believe the body on these is called a Wright Pulsar Gemini 2DL.
*technically the DB300 is a semi-integral bus without a traditional chassis, but is easier to differentiate it from the Volvo by calling it one!
Burrows Coaches grey example in post #27 is an overall longer variant, so the short windows seen on the others are replaced by long ones to make up the length. If you happen to see a Gemini that was new to Lothian, then these are extra-long with a set of three stretched windows at the centre of each deck.
The final two in post #27 are built to First Group's standard specification with bonded passenger windows.
Wright also changed the design of the Gemini's rear end when they switched from bodying the Volvo B7TL to Volvo B9TL chassis, and there are a few different styles of dashboard available too. So much on a bus can be built-to-order it ends up being a semi-bespoke product, resulting in a lot of differences!
And going off topic a little, how Wright name their bodywork changes depending on the chassis:
Eclipse = Volvo chassis
Solar = Scania chassis
Pulsar = DAF/VDL chassis
And if it's a double decker 'Gemini' is added
Or an articulated bus 'Fusion' is added
So "Wright Eclipse Gemini" is almost code for a Volvo double decker
"Wright Eclipse Fusion" is for a Volvo 'bendy' bus
"Wright Solar" is for a Scania single decker
And then there are a bunch of exceptions to the rule, but that's the basic system.
'Gemini' on its own (without 'Eclipse') generally refers to either Eclipse Geminis since they are by far the most common, or just the Gemini bodywork type in general.
