Froggy55:
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Found this on a French forum. This one was registered in Nottingham in 1974, but were they common? I had never seen one before.
Just over 1000 and built at Volvo’s plant in Irvine. Popular in Scotland and Indonesia with some sales to the PTE’s of West Midlands, Merseyside, South Yorkshire, small batches to Tyneside and Greater Manchester. Also taken by Maidstone & District, Cardiff and Derby Corporations and smaller operators particularly in Ayrshire. TOE527N was the first production model following on from demonstrator THS273M.
Copy of Post I made during an earlier discuussion about Volvo Ailsas and London Transport’s V3 shown in Chris Sampson’s picture.
London Transport trialed three Volvo Ailsas before putting second hand examples into service. I had the privilege of being on the team which restored the unique V3 to its current show condition. It was, to put it mildly not the easiest vehicle to work on, engine access was very difficult for anything other than routine servicing and the rest of the layout was not much better. The drivers cab was extremely cramped and if memory is correct some engine items were accessed through small detachable panels from the cab side. It could be considered the forerunner to the Borisbus since it had a front and a rear exit and two staircases. The plan was to have the great reveal at the North Weald bus rally in I think 2006 or 2007, along with a front entrance RM which had been painted as an advertisement for one of the BBC radio stations.
To say that the bus fought to the bitter end not to make an appearance would be rather more than an understatement, the thing had a personality all of its own. It had required a massive amount of work to reinstate the missing rear doors, the upper deck seat mountings in the floor were in the wrong place for some seats and it took days on end to fit the windows. My colleague Paul was tearing his hair out and it was only his determination and perseverance which saw the bus making its Class VI test appointment on the Friday afternoon. I went home confident in the knowledge that Sunday would be achieved and with all work done it merely remained for the cleaners to do their job and Paul to titivate on the Saturday.
That was not to be. I turned up early on Sunday to take the RM. I waited for the best part of an hour, but no Paul, no one knew either what had occurred nor why V3 was still in the workshop, so I set off. Around 2 or 3pm V3 and Paul turned up at North Weald along with the saga. Sometime on the Saturday when all final preparations had been completed V3 had refused to start. Paul had removed the starter, but there was nothing which he or the local auto electrician could do with it, IIRC it was opposite hand rotation and more or less a special to the Volvo Ailsa. Numerous phone calls were made and a replacement located somewhere I think in the Nottingham or Sheffield area.
By 4am Sunday Paul had successfully collected it, fitted it and it worked reliably.
An Arriva Double Decker passing through Pemberton on the A577 earlier today
on route 352, St Helens to Wigan, formerly a Ribble route for many years.
Not seen any of them during the last few weeks, I believe they were on strike.
Special body commissioned by Dorset County Council Education Committee and built by Lee Motors of Bournemouth, credit to Andrew Bone for the photo and info.
Oily
Chile and a 2013 snap of a Marcopolo Paradise 1800 DD Volvo, the suspension setup would suggest it doesn’t always run on tarmac. Credit to RLGNZLZ for the photo.
Oily
A bus at Wigan Bus Station on route 111, Wigan to Preston, via Eccleston and Leyland, earlier today.
In my opinion, the paintwork on this bus is far nicer than the livery of most Stagecoach vehicles. 26.08.2022.
Froggy55:
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Found this on a French forum. This one was registered in Nottingham in 1974, but were they common? I had never seen one before.
There were a few in Glasgow - can’t remember numbers maybe 50ish - and they were unusual in-so-far as they had the engine upfront and the driver has a sliding door on the off side. They were popular to drive because the were much, much faster than the Atlanteans or Gardiner Metrobuses (there were a few of those in the fleet with ■■■■■■■ motors but they were no quicker). Later, in the mid to late 80s Strathclyde’s Buses were taking mid-mounted horizontally engined Volvo Ailsa’s designated AH. I was asked to go and pick one up brand new from Volvo at Barrhead as a spare driver and i recall before leaving the output inspector saying “you’ll love it - it’s like a huge Jaguar”. He was right. Very quick for a service bus. That would have been October 1989. At that stage all Volvos in the fleet were Larkfield based.
Froggy55:
Found this on a French forum. This one was registered in Nottingham in 1974, but were they common? I had never seen one before.
There were a few in Glasgow - can’t remember numbers maybe 50ish - and they were unusual in-so-far as they had the engine upfront and the driver has a sliding door on the off side. They were popular to drive because the were much, much faster than the Atlanteans or Gardiner Metrobuses (there were a few of those in the fleet with ■■■■■■■ motors but they were no quicker). Later, in the mid to late 80s Strathclyde’s Buses were taking mid-mounted horizontally engined Volvo Ailsa’s designated AH. I was asked to go and pick one up brand new from Volvo at Barrhead as a spare driver and i recall before leaving the output inspector saying “you’ll love it - it’s like a huge Jaguar”. He was right. Very quick for a service bus. That would have been October 1989. At that stage all Volvos in the fleet were Larkfield based.
Between GCT and Strathclyde they had just over 150 of them. The GCT one’s were given fleet numbers in the AV range whilst those bought during Strathclyde’s tenure simply had the prefix A. Some of them had hinged drivers doors as opposed to sliding but I don’t know if that was done as part of the original build or retrofitted. AV1 has been preserved with a sliding door but certainly operated in service with a hinged door. Sliding doors would be good on a warm day as I imagine the heat from the engine could have been a problem. Pics taken off facebook.
No health and safety issues then with an open door in those days
This is the prototype of the new London double decker bus seen being driven out of
the Wrightbus factory in Ballymena in Northern Ireland with Boris Johnson, the then
Mayor of London at the wheel toward the end of 2011. Picture from Gavin Booth.
, credit to Alwyn Ladell for the photo.
