Stagecoach North West Discussion

[Dallamlad]

No their not according to a lot of fleetlists these vehicles have been in reserve for months. They couldn't afford to put them in reserve and there's no real need. If they are to be put in reserve god help the 2/2A.

Yes PB do have a lot of old vehicles from the 80's would you beleive so they will be scrapped and yeah over busing is an issue so we may see some new stuff yet woop!

 

[cainebj]

i'm not sure what the website is. i was sent this fleet list over msn.
the 19xxx buses have alexander dennis chassis'.

this is the 1st list i have seen those 4 tridents in reserve on. would make sense to get them to lillyhall really. lillyhall badly needs new deckers, has as already been said!

 

[mbonwick]

Can you put it in a zip file and attach it please Cainebj?
Thinking about the fleet numbers, I suppose you can't go higher than 19xxx because of the clash with B10Ms! I'm sure 15xxx has been used before though, if this is true, it would make more sense to start again from 10xxx.

 

[Dallamlad]

Well the fleetlists I've seen have told me that the buses you mentioned have been reserved for a while. However I've been using them in Lancaster and see them regularly. If Lancaster lost 4 Dennis Tridents as well as the 5 Trident 2's we lost it wouldn't be good at all. It would be more likely for Lillyhall to get 4 of our Trident 2's.

This ones not quite accurate but does the job generaly. Tje 4 Den Tridents are shown in red near the bottom of the ST NW list.

http://www.freewebs.com/nwbus/fleetlists.htm

 

[K768 DAO]

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[Dallamlad]

I diden't know they had these in Preston? Funded by the council i assume.

http://www.freewebs.com/nwbus/apps/photos/photo.jsp?photoID=21347655&prev=1

 

[mbonwick]

One of PBs 9.2m Solos I think, definitely not a Versa.
It's odd about Lancaster's Tridents, however that list is slightly behind; 20661 and 20699 haven't swapped and 20777 is in store (ISTR it got pulled back out?)
20451 is also shown as reserve by it, so again OOD

 

[Dallamlad]

Yes it is behind but the Tridents have been shown as reserved for months. i'm not sure what other lists say.

Yes its a Solo SR. They smart actually if not a little odd.

 

[mbonwick]

I'll tell you what it is then...they're still showing as reserve from when they arrived!
18330/365/the other mention were some of the last to be delivered/repainted

 

[Dallamlad]

Yes thats it your right. I think 18330 was last to turn up. Good thinking!

So yeah i think its safe to say their staying with us few lol

 

[K768 DAO]

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[Dallamlad]

yeah they will probs stay on Park & Ride as I'm sure as with most cities the council may have part funded the vehicles.

 

[K768 DAO]

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[cainebj]

sorry it has taken me so long, router playing up :@
i have had a quick flick through it, and there are a few things out of date on it. hopefully these will get changed soon!

 

[K768 DAO]

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[Dallamlad]

Very interesting read. As you say a few mistakes but accurate generally. My god there's a lot of Merc lol.

 

[cainebj]

they still say Kendal, but T602, T606 and T607 are highlighted. i'm guessing it means they are to be transferred!
i'll see if i can get it in another format

 

[K768 DAO]

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[cainebj]

just recieved it now. it is an excel file, but is protected! not sure how flexible it is. i think it could be read only, but not sure. havnt really investigated it yet!

{attachment removed. please email me if you wish to see it. it is the same information as the PDF i attached}

 

[K768 DAO]

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[driver9000]

Enviro400 buses are 19xxx the 15xxx series is used for vehicles that dont fit in with the general fleet (ie the Bristol VR and a few Atlanteans)

There is a B6 working out of Fleetwood, not sure of its number but it did have an LED blind fitted to it, I spied it working an 84 near Blackpool the other day. I certainly dont miss being crammed into a B6 cab - horrible things Volvo should be ashamed of themselves for creating such a thing, they were created out of Volvos bits box after they saw how well the Dart was being snapped up!

Its a shame to see the demise of Preston Bus, another independant consigned to the history books.

Lancasters S reg Solos that came from GTL did have Roller blinds front and back when they first appeared, the B10Bs also had roller blinds but got redundant Brite-Tech screens.

Can I assume that when 'flip dots' are mentioned you are talking about the Hanover Deric+ screens that look a dirty green when lit up?

 

[cainebj]

Can I assume that when 'flip dots' are mentioned you are talking about the Hanover Deric+ screens that look a dirty green when lit up?

if they are the ones in the 51reg solo's that lillyhall got from preston, then yes. they are the ones that have the auto change thing on them, that i mentioned a few pages back, e.g. "X4" changing to "Penrith" changing to "X4 Penrith via Cockermouth Keswick". i think the ALX300's in lancashire used to do it (they did when carlisle had them)

 

[K768 DAO]

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[cainebj]

47474 is in storage rather than reserve, after being accident damaged. not sure why its shown as reserve really.

LED screens are much better, and are fitted to 20768 i noticed a while ago P134XCN had one, but i havnt seen P129 yet. P134 also had the blue trim in it. would be better if lillyhall used the scrolling feature on the enviro 300s and darts though (30 / 31 routes)

 

[driver9000]

Lancaster had a brief flirtation with the number/destination being shown seperately, but after numerous complaints they were put back to how they should be. Lancaster has some locations where buses on the same route share the same side of the road but go to opposite ends.

I liked the Hanover blind much more than the Brite-Tech, but some asked you to 'confirm' the desitnation before it was loaded - I ran many a time showing the wrong destination on the front with the head unit asking 'Confirm: 4 University'

 

[mbonwick]

Can someone please clarify the difference between brite-tech and flip dots? Thanks.

 

[cainebj]

other people will be able to tell you better than my way. my way to explain, is brite-techs are the ones that most often fail, and can be pretty hard to read. they are on the B10m's. flip dots are a lot easier to read, generally brighter and a lot clearer.

 

[driver9000]

Can someone please clarify the difference between brite-tech and flip dots? Thanks.

I can as I wrote a small user guide to them for trainees.

Brite-Tech letters are made up of small bricks that flip round to show the destination (badly). To select the destination the driver is issued a list, and has to enter the code using buttons marked 'Hundreds' 'Tens' 'Units' I always found them unresponsive and would freeze up or miss out the destination you wanted. The actual screen wasnt too reliable with rogue bricks being placed making the screen difficult to read.

Hanover screens use a flip over system of small hexagons, and were much more reliable. To select the destination the driver simply entered the route number and then scrolled through the available destinations for the route concerned. The Vultron side indicators on the J reg Olympians used the flip over system but were small recatangles and the numbers were selected using three selector wheels.

 

[mbonwick]

So, to all intents and purposes, they're both the green dots that you can't read? Either because it's scrambled, or because it's too dark and far away

 

[driver9000]

When the bricks are clean they are legible from a fair distance but over time they get dirty (look at the rear route indicators on the MANs at WL)