What is the story with them, didn't they run in Sheffield for a while and then took them out of service only to put them back in service and use them for the express service to meadowhall? anyways I used to love riding on them, always used to try to get on the middle bits where there was lots of movement. Great stuff. I was only little but when I got on the bus it always seems a mile long walking all the way towards th back...and all those doors with loads of bells to press :)

What were they?

They were single deck buses, which were about twice the length of normal buses. They had a bendy bit in the middle so that they could go around corners.

They were magic, I could've rode on them all day if I hadn't been working at the time!
I like to sit in the middle too!!

Just to be anal, bendy buses were actually introduced in Sheffield twice. We used to have them back in the 80s, and then they reintroduced them again in the early 90s.

These buses are quite common on the continent, and were German, I believe.

They were all named after famous ships, too. And each had a plaque just behind the driver.

Now HOW sad am I?

@metaframe: I remember they were free the first time round - summat to do with em being an experiement or summat and they weren't allowed to charge ppl to use em?!!

The route used to be called the City Clipper, and it used to run to the S&E which later got pulled down to make way for Safeways

The first Sheffield bendy-bus appeared in either 1980 or 81. I don't quite remember. The first batch (which consisted of around 10-12 vehicles I believe) were sourced from two different manufacturers. One was the german firm of MAN who had much experience in producing similar buses for the continent, while the other firm was Leyland. The Leyland buses looked very like the integrally constructed Leyland National which South Yorkshire PTE had in service at the time, although they were actually Leyland DAB chassis built in Germany and bodied using many of the Leyland National's components.

At the time operation of vehicles with passenger carrying trailers in Britain was not permitted, but a loophole in the law allowed them if they were not operating for 'Hire or reward' (ie taking fares).

The passengers loved them and as a small boy I was taken by my grandmother form Shuttlewood near Chesterfield just to see them. At one point being put in the driver's seat of one of them so she could take a picture which I still have somewhere.

By the mid-80's all these buses had gone. I don't know the reason, but the city clipper was by this time operated by ordinary rigid Leyland Nationals, one of which was a specially adapted 'kneeling bus'.

However it wasn't long before the need for high capacity bendy-buses was realised once again, and so an order was placed with Leyland DAB in Germany for 13 new vehicles as the originals had all been sold.

10 of this second batch were of the three door type destined for the famous City Clipper route and were named after famous clipper sailing ships such as 'Pegasus' and 'The Great Republic'. The other three went to Rotherham depot for fastline work, had coach seats and only two doors.

The work these buses did varied over the years and for a while they were indeed painted blue and used on the Meadowhall Shuttle.

They were all taken out of service a couple of years ago, once again for no apparent reason.

Of the first batch from the early 80s, the MAN examples were eventually sold to an operator in Australia while at least two of the Leyland ones are said to be preserved. One (so I'm told) is with a private owner while another is in the care of the Keighley Bus Museum.

Meanwhile, I have one of the rigid Leyland Nationals AAK111T which I hope to restore to it's original condition soon.

I hope this answers your questions.

Andy.

:D

They have had bendy buses in Germany for ages used to take my son on one when I lived over there and they were brilliant, special places for big prams not just pushchairs which meant you did not have to fold everything up and this was over 20 years ago.

I hate the new smiley buses Sheffield has there is no room at the back and they put them on at rush hours so the bus fills up quicker than the normal old type of busses.

Do the new double-deckers have cameras on the top deck? I noticed they don't have the old busses mirrors - I'd think the new ones will get vandalised quickly if there's no way of identifying the vandals (not that having the driver able to see upstairs stopped the old ones from being damaged)

Originally posted by "Chris"

Do the new double-deckers have cameras on the top deck? I noticed they don't have the old busses mirrors - I'd think the new ones will get vandalised quickly if there's no way of identifying the vandals (not that having the driver able to see upstairs stopped the old ones from being damaged)

I not been on a bus for quite a long time but I heard there was now cameras in place. However, the driver does still need to keep an eye on what's happening upstairs so removing these doesn't seem like a great idea.

The New Flyer Company out of Winnipeg, Canada, have supplied at least a dozen 'bendy' buses (they call them articulated coaches) to Edmonton transit, who I drive for. They are used year round in Edmonton, even in minus 30 celcius weather! No problems with them except they have had first gear disabled in the transmission. This was in response to senior citizens complaining that they could not hold on tight enough when the buses started off from a stop. (The buses have a 350 hp engine!) Now dangerously slow when pulling out into traffic!! We have what we call a 'Super Shuttle' express that will call at every hotel in the downtown area, and then go non stop to West Edmonton Mall, the worlds biggest! This will be a 'bendy bus', but, and this is typical of Edmonton Transit, the bus will not run in the evenings, or on week ends!!(the busiest times)

Originally posted by oldtimer
The New Flyer Company out of Winnipeg, Canada, have supplied at least a dozen 'bendy' buses (they call them articulated coaches) to Edmonton transit, who I drive for. They are used year round in Edmonton, even in minus 30 celcius weather! No problems with them except they have had first gear disabled in the transmission. This was in response to senior citizens complaining that they could not hold on tight enough when the buses started off from a stop. (The buses have a 350 hp engine!) Now dangerously slow when pulling out into traffic!! We have what we call a 'Super Shuttle' express that will call at every hotel in the downtown area, and then go non stop to West Edmonton Mall, the worlds biggest! This will be a 'bendy bus', but, and this is typical of Edmonton Transit, the bus will not run in the evenings, or on week ends!!(the busiest times)

That shuttle service sounds like a good service.

After a recent visit to York I noticed that these Bendy Buses are still in use and provide 3 excellent park and ride services that cover the whole of york. Basically they have got it sussed. Why can't Sheffield have an operation like this?

they are still used on the sheffield to scunthorpe route 909

We were in york yesterday (mon 18th) and first buses are running bendibuses there, we saw a couple of them, all brand new and looking good.

I thought the bendy buses were a great idea and used to enjoy riding on them, they could easily be used in places where the normal rigid chassis buses couln't get.

I was sad to see them go and cannot rememember any reason being given for their removal, I would certainly like to see them re-introduced.

Seem to remember the Bendies being on the Stocksbridge route for a while, used to ride on the plate in the middle trying to make it spin, impossible to do but fun on a boring bus journey, does anyone remember the ticket machines that printed the coin on the back of the ticket? in purple if I remember right

Originally posted by speeder
Seem to remember the Bendies being on the Stocksbridge route for a while, used to ride on the plate in the middle trying to make it spin, impossible to do but fun on a boring bus journey, does anyone remember the ticket machines that printed the coin on the back of the ticket? in purple if I remember right

Yes, I remember that. You put your fare into a machine with a plastic bubble top and it printed a photocopy of the coins out on the ticket so if an inspector got on he could check that you had paid the right amount.

Originally posted by max
Yes, I remember that. You put your fare into a machine with a plastic bubble top and it printed a photocopy of the coins out on the ticket so if an inspector got on he could check that you had paid the right amount.

The machine was called a Videmat machine. As for the buses, I've just found one of the original Sheffield Bendy Buses dating from 1980. It's current owners want rid of it, so I'm hoping to acquire it and bring it back to Sheffield. If anyone out there feels they may be able to help in bringing this historic vehicle back to the city streets then drop me an e-mail to andy.cooper@ic24.net

What would you do with it, when it's here?

Would you have it painted in SYT beige and red?

Originally posted by Andy
What would you do with it, when it's here?

Would you have it painted in SYT beige and red?

Hopefully it will be available to take part in special events in the city such as processions, or classic car shows etc. It would also be available to take part in special free bus services similar to those which operate in Keighley every Christmas day or Winchester every new year, giving a service when there would otherwise not be a bus to get people where they need to go. This is usually mainly for those who have loved ones in hospital who still need to go to see them, even on the holidays.

As for the red and beige, this particular bus (numbered 2007 in Sheffield) never carried it. It was one of the very first artics in 1980 and was painted mainly white with orange and green stripes. Anyone remember it?

They were great - they imprinted an image (a bit like a brass rubbing, really) on the ticket in the days when it was about 4p for a standard journey. A mate of mine collected all his small change for ages and put it all in the machine at once, creating a ticket about 10 feet long - he pinned it to his wall

just come back from germany,loads of bendy buses there,probably our cast offs,:lol:

Originally posted by pauline
just come back from germany,loads of bendy buses there,probably our cast offs,:lol:

That's where they were made.

I hope Andy, you have bought one of the MAN buses and not the Leyland ones. We had nothing but trouble with the Leyland buses, they were a lash up, the middle section tended to "ground" at certain points. They were surprisingly easy to drive once you got used to them, the rear axle was actually a standard front axle with the steering coupled to the turntable, when turning, the rear wheels would turn in the opposite direction to the front, so in effect, the bus went round a corner like a train carriage, the rear following in a curve. It meant, when you took a tight curve, provided any curb etc was cleared by the middle wheels, the rear would also. They were finished in Sheffield when the maintenance costs started escalating, and the scrapping of heavily subsidised fares meant the numbers of passengers traveling did not warrant the capacity of such large vehicles. They could be a pig to reverse though! this was an aquired art!!

I was in London the other weekend, and they have bendibuses in service down there .

They look a bit wierd, because they are painted up in the "London-bus-red" livery, just red, no colour except for the yellow "first" (bus company logo) sign. I'm used to seeing the colours on bus livery broken up as it is in Sheffield.

PT

The bendy buses were taken to the Rotherham Depot about 4 years ago, and there they stood for about 12 month until they were taken away! they were registared in 1986 on a C plate!. They used to have a built in intercom system for the driver to tell you which door to leave the bus by! But i don't think many drivers used this facility. First group have purchased some new ones but are used in other citys around England, they do swap and change their livery around for service demand, so maybe if more people started using public transport we would see them back on our roads again in the future. i used to work for Mainline and remember a storey of a driver driving the bus around the old hole in the road at Sheffield, but the bus locked on and closed the road for several hours! apparently it was caos!

Originally posted by demeer
they are still used on the sheffield to scunthorpe route 909

not any more. i used to use the 909 every week but they have stopped now. for some odd reason??

http://www.hpac.org.uk/cgi-bin/hpac.pl?_cgifunction=form&_layout=picturesheffield&keyval=sheff.id=4321


Hope this works - if not just go to

www.picturesheffield.com and go to 'b'

I well remember the bendy bus that lovked up on an island, but the island in question was the one at the end of Leopold St, turning down Church St, a new driver thought he still had to take a wide swing to get round, and got the front end up against the railings. When he attempted to reverse a bit, the angle of bend caused the automatic anti-jacknife device to cut in which locks the brakes on. When that happens, only a fitter can release them.
It took a while for a fitter to get there, in the meantime, the entire area came to a standstill.

I think it would be a good idea if bendy buses made a noise like an accordion every time they came to a stop or went around a corner.

Maybe this new idea will bring back 'bendibuses' to Sheffield. Star Article (http://www.sheffieldtoday.net/viewarticle.aspx?ArticleID=791960&SectionID=58&Search=super%20tram%20buses&Searchtype=any&SearchSection=58&DateFrom=011995&DateTo=062004&Page=1&ReturnPage=Results.aspx)

my son,s class won the comp for the best name, and they named one of the buses with it......storm queen or king sommat like that.they took them all to london for the day as well

that's right, each bendibus had it's own name, after some of the ships in the old Clipper-class of ship that carried things like tea etc. ("city clipper" bus service...? clipper ships? names ? bright idea, no?)

Actually............ especially as the new multiple mini "interchanges are being implemented across the city centre, I think it will be more than necessary to bring in a similar sort of service, to connect the many smaller "stations" and tram stops. People who are frail/ elderly, or have mobility difficulties will not want to be trecking all the way across the city to find the right bus stop!

However! I digress! Back on topic!!!!!!!!!!

I remember there was one of the bendi buses called "Fiery Cross", i always used to look out for that particular vehicle. there was "southern.." (something or other). Mr PT used to annoy me by pronouncing it "Feerie Cross" ( he also pronounces hair as "Hurr", so what can i say!!!)

PT

I'm sure I saw one running in Rotherham the other day? Anyone else seen one?

Originally posted by Plain Talker
that's right, each bendibus had it's own name, after some of the ships in the old Clipper-class of ship that carried things like tea etc. ("city clipper" bus service...? clipper ships? names ? bright idea, no?)

Actually............ especially as the new multiple mini "interchanges are being implemented across the city centre, I think it will be more than necessary to bring in a similar sort of service, to connect the many smaller "stations" and tram stops. People who are frail/ elderly, or have mobility difficulties will not want to be trecking all the way across the city to find the right bus stop!

However! I digress! Back on topic!!!!!!!!!!

I remember there was one of the bendi buses called "Fiery Cross", i always used to look out for that particular vehicle. there was "southern.." (something or other). Mr PT used to annoy me by pronouncing it "Feerie Cross" ( he also pronounces hair as "Hurr", so what can i say!!!)

PT

I don't remember Fiery Cross as being one of the names. There were actually 13 bendies in this second batch (the ones with C pre-fix registrations. The first 10 were triple door buses for Sheffield's City Clipper, while the last three were dual door COACHES for one of the Fastline services (I think in Rotherham) and so these three were based at Rotherham depot.

Some of the names of the forst 10 were as follows:

Queen Of Clippers
Cutty Sark
Pegasus
The Great Republic

The Great Republic was fleet number 2010, making it the highest numbered bus to be named.

At least some of these vehicles are still around, if you know where to look. Two or three of them were working down in Bath until recently, but have now been sold on. I'm also told there is one at Humberside Airport.

As for the pioneering first batch of bendybuses, they only worked in Sheffield for a few months between 1980-81 if I remember right. Of these the MAN buses went to the Chaserider subsiduary of the National Bus Company, but were eventually sold for further service in Australia!!!! The Leyland examples found new uses, most of them being converted into mobile exhibition units. It ios one of these (2007) which has been rescued by yours truely and will be returning to Sheffield soon as a museum exhibit, making occasional appearances on the road for special events.

Watch out for it back on a street near you soon!;)

Oooooo.. I remeber bendy busses, i was very young when they stopped running like, but they were so cool! (just thought i'd add that) X

Werent they like the bus equivalent to the supertram....

We've got them in London but they kept setting on fire for a while.I know commuting isn't the greatest experience but being on fire takes the biscuit!:D

i just drove past the safeway on chesterfield road and i saw a bendy bus at the bus stop..........it wasnt in service tho.....wonder wot its doin there......anyone else see it?

Bendy buses have a terrible consistancy to catch fire.

When you've seen one on fire outside the Dorchester in London you have seen it all.

Originally posted by foxy27
Werent they like the bus equivalent to the supertram....

I wouldn't describe them as that.

Originally posted by AndrewM
Bendy buses have a terrible consistancy to catch fire.

When you've seen one on fire outside the Dorchester in London you have seen it all.

There is a design fault with the London bendys, built by Mercedes, which memans fuel pipes have a tendancy to fracture and drip diesel onto hot parts of the engine.

They were all temporarily withdrawn a few weeks ago for modification and are now back in service. I haven't heard of any more fires since, but I would be interested to know if there are any.

I also have a preserved Mercedes from the generation before the London vehicles. This too caught fire when I collected it, but for different reasons. Luckily the fire was only minor and no significant damage was done.

I can remember going to St Thomas Moors School and our school won a competition to name one of the buses cos they all had plaques on the partition behind the driver, with a picture and the buses name.

We named one of them "Pegasus" can't remember any of the other names but yeah I used to love sitting in the middle and going round the corners :clap:

first group are buying some more they cost 3/4 of a million each going on the road in sheffield next year

If my memory serves me correctly,the second batch of Bendy buses had problems with the doors not shutting when the Sun shone on the sensors on the side of the steps(this was to stop the doors being closed on people as they were getting off).I remeber the driver coming over the tanoy system asking you to press the emergency door close button!

I don't remember anything about the doors not closing.

I do remember the names though. These were carried by the second generation of bendys in Sheffield. There were 13 all together, but the final 3 were 'Fastline' ones for service elsewhere (either Rotherham or Doncaster I think). They had coach seating and only two doors, while the Sheffield ones had ordinary bus seats and 3 doors. These Sheffield examples were named after clipper ships as they were used on a service known as the City Clipper. One was indeed called Pegasus (I have a feeling it was either 2007 or 2008. Others were called Queen Of Clippers, Cutty Sark and The Great Republic, which was numerically the last of the Sheffield ones, being numbered 2010 by SYT.

2010 was also known as 'White Lightning' by some, even though it wasn't white! But that's another story!

Am I right in thinking the Bendy buses were originally called in Sheffield "the clipper", and went round and round town continuously as a sort of Park and Ride. We used to get on free so there was a mad rush for the doors, ( ? more than 2).
There was usually on a saturdays a young man called Clive who used to ring the bell for everyone and give directions to the driver, which made for an interesing ride!

I remember one man died on the bus and I had visions of him going round and round before being discovered a bit like the film EL Cid.

Hazel

hi Hazel....ooops that makes you sound like a park...sorry.
anyhow, I think the reason that the bendy buses were free initially is because they couldn't get a fare carrying licence for some reason or another, so had to be run free.

owdlad

Originally posted by andy1702
I don't remember anything about the doors not closing.

I do remember the names though. These were carried by the second generation of bendys in Sheffield. There were 13 all together, but the final 3 were 'Fastline' ones for service elsewhere (either Rotherham or Doncaster I think). They had coach seating and only two doors, while the Sheffield ones had ordinary bus seats and 3 doors. These Sheffield examples were named after clipper ships as they were used on a service known as the City Clipper. One was indeed called Pegasus (I have a feeling it was either 2007 or 2008. Others were called Queen Of Clippers, Cutty Sark and The Great Republic, which was numerically the last of the Sheffield ones, being numbered 2010 by SYT.

2010 was also known as 'White Lightning' by some, even though it wasn't white! But that's another story!

There was one called "Fiery Cross", which I remember.

They had decorative signs on the wall, inside, which said the name of the vehicle, and the name of the school which had chosen that name,

the date of the naming was also put on the poster.

the names were taken from the names of the clipper ships which were used back-and-forth across the Atlantic as cargo ships.

I think that it would be an excellent idea to have the clipper buses making a comeback in Sheffield city centre. (in whatever form.. bendibuses or ordinary, accessible rolling-stock)

They'd be very useful for making connections with the widely spread-out landmarks in the city, from the moor to the markets. it would help parents with prams, the elderly and those laden with shopping, as well as people with mobility impairments and/or wheelchair users.

It is quite a hike up the hill to the town hall, even from either the bottom of the moor, or, worse, from the markets up to the town hall.

PT

I think that it would be an excellent idea to have the clipper buses making a comeback in Sheffield city centre. (in whatever form.. bendibuses or ordinary, accessible rolling-stock)

They'd be very useful for making connections with the widely spread-out landmarks in the city, from the moor to the markets. it would help parents with prams, the elderly and those laden with shopping, as well as people with mobility impairments and/or wheelchair users.

It is quite a hike up the hill to the town hall, even from either the bottom of the moor, or, worse, from the markets up to the town hall

yet again "wheel chair user" comes in to the subject every ones on about bendi buses how good they where what they are like names of them

go on ring frist tell them a bus drivers sayin nasty things
well try driving around sheffield all day prams wheel chairs how long have we carryed them they no that you can only carry 2 push chairs or one wheel chair but they look at you like you have asked them for £20 note when you tell them you are full

Why have you got such a problem with my saying that the return of the city clipper service would be of great benefit to the city centre?

what the heck is so wrong of me, in saying that there are many sectors of the community hou would be helped if the service were revived?

You wouldn't be the driver I am forever locking horns with, over the ramps on buses would you?

There's one particular one, who persistently refuses to operate the ramp to let me and my chair on, saying "I am not trained to deploy the ramp", despite the fact that, at First's Olive Grove Garage, there is no untrained driver, any more...

your nastiness and attitude sounds suspiciously like the attitude from this bloke...

ok,

Next.... Contributors... (one and all...)

your homework tonight is as follows.....

how, and why would the whole of the city centre benefit, or not benefit by being regenerated by the reintroduction of the bendibuses/ City Clipper Service... discuss....

PT

Ok, as an ex-Sheffield driver and owner of a number of preserved buses in museums (including one of Sheffield's original bendy-buses) I have a few more points to make and a few truths to tell.

Firstly, a bendy bus is by far the best way of moving large numbers of people over relatively short distances. Much time is lost with conventional buses in what is known as 'dwell time' at stops while passengers board and alight. This is obviously increased for disabled users / people with luggage / shopping bags etc.

A huge amount of time is lost while people make their way up and down stais on a conventional double decker. Even if the driver sets off while the passenger is going up there, people do not tend to come down again until the bus has actually stopped.

This dwell time may seem insignificant to most people and I can understand those who are not educated in the subject wondering why this couple of minutes makes a difference.

Well..... allow me to explain. One of those new low floor buses everyone wants costs somewhere in the region of £150,000 plus. So obviously the fewer you need to run a service the better.

Now lets think up an imaginary bus route, say from the City to Meadowhall. Allowing for traffic and stopping to pick up passengers this would probably take about 30 mins on average. This makes it a 1 hour round trip for any particular vehicle.

Now lets say we want to run every 10 minutes, so that's 6 buses we need to buy. Total = £900,000. But if one breaks down or needs servicing then we need a spare, as our less able bodied friends wouldn't be happy if we just sent along any old ordinary bus when they were expecting a low floor one. That takes the total over the million pound mark to £1,050,000.

But if we could shave just 5 mins off the journey each way that would mean a bus could do a round trip in 50 mins and so we would save a vehicle. That's an instant saving of £150,000 for the vehicle, not forgetting saving a drivers wage every day and saving on maintenance time as the mechanics now only have 5 buses and 1 spare to look after rather than the original 6 + spare.

So you begin to see why the pressure is on for buses to be driven faster and faster, do you not? The people who write bus timetables don't actually go out on the road in a bus and see how long it takes like they used to. They just see the cost saving and think 5 mins won't matter. Passing the buck instead to the poor old driver to try and keep his bus on time.

Of course, with added traffic on the roads these days and more traffic lights, speed humps etc things actually take LONGER than they used to. But the money men sitting in their offices back at the bus company don't think about that. They do however sack drivers who are late.

Now if you were driving a bus, how would you feel?

If you want a simple measure of how bad things have got, about 30 years ago a mathematical system was devised for scheduling buses that really worked. What they did was to drive around a complete route, never exceeding 30mph. This was usually done in the inspector's van, so you can quite easily do it in your car. Every time a bus stop was passed 30 seconds were added to the recorded time for the journey, as 30 seconds was worked out as the average 'dwell time'.

Try doing that on any Sheffield route today and you'll find the modern day timetables are hopelessly unrealistic, resulting in buses turning around part way along their route as they literally meet themselves coming back! Next time you're waiting for that missing bus, that's what happened to it!

So what we need are fast buses that can load and unload passengers quickly. Which brings me neatly back to where we started with the bendy bus.

And drivers who say they are difficult to drive? It's NONSENSE! If anyone on here doesn't believe me, I'd remind them I have one and they are welcome to have a go themselves!

:)

Where are they kept Andy, I might just take you up on that, but not on the roads. :)

Yes, when we were young, bendies were great. We always stood on the middle bit where two sections of floor moved independently (or seemed to) and the sides were rubber concertinas.

Bring em back, paint them cream and blue and stick the Sheffield coat of Arms on the side.

Ah the memories!!

I too remember Bendibusses, quite fondly though hopefully not in a perverted fashion. I remember them more in the early eighties when it felt strange for Sheffield to be leading the way in something, especially in public transport.

If, as some of you suggest they are no longer in use in Sheffield then it can hardly come as a surprise can it? After all, it's hard enough to negotiate our roads in a citreon C5 than in a half-a-mile long bus!! (<<<Sad attempt at humour!)

The Bendy bus's were much like todays Trams, I liked em.

Originally posted by Lickszz
I not been on a bus for quite a long time but I heard there was now cameras in place. However, the driver does still need to keep an eye on what's happening upstairs so removing these doesn't seem like a great idea.

the new deckers do have camera's & they store all recorded info on a hard drive so when criminal damage or vanalism is caused they look back on hard drive to find the culprits then inform the police

Originally posted by Lickszz
What is the story with them, didn't they run in Sheffield for a while and then took them out of service only to put them back in service and use them for the express service to meadowhall? anyways I used to love riding on them, always used to try to get on the middle bits where there was lots of movement. Great stuff. I was only little but when I got on the bus it always seems a mile long walking all the way towards th back...and all those doors with loads of bells to press :)

they finally took them out of service for the last time due to costs of servicing them & repairs,they (mainline) transferred them down south somewhere ( bristol area i think) to do the airport runs

Originally posted by mark1971
they finally took them out of service for the last time due to costs of servicing them & repairs,they (mainline) transferred them down south somewhere ( bristol area i think) to do the airport runs

They now have them in south London.Three burst into flames in the space of four weeks,so they took them out of service for a time to find out what the trouble was,one week later they were back in service and said it was engine trouble and they had fixed it.

I remember talking to one bus driver who said that the bendy buses would ocasionally lock bent and require mechanical intervention to straighten things out.
He did say that he was turning right from Leopold Street into Church Street when this happened.
I last saw one in operation linking Zeebrugge ferry terminal to Brugge railway station.

I remember being on a bendy bus and noticed a bulldog sitting on the floor actually astride the circular joint in the floor. When the bus turned a corner one bum cheek went one way and the other the opposite way. The look on that poor dog's face was priceless.

just found this great picture of an old sheffield bendy bus (http://www.photo-transport.co.uk/buses/artic-conquest/syt-2003-c103hdt-sheffield-sep89.JPG) just pulling into pond street (building on the left is the old sheaf valley baths) :thumbsup:

I'm sure someone will correct me if I am wrong but seem to remember being told one of the problems was that they were not very good getting up steep hills like Rininglow Road.

Originally posted by nuf_said
I remember being on a bendy bus and noticed a bulldog sitting on the floor actually astride the circular joint in the floor. When the bus turned a corner one bum cheek went one way and the other the opposite way. The look on that poor dog's face was priceless.


LOL,TOP POSTING KEEP EM COMING

Hi there, when bendi buses were introduced to Sheffield, they had to have a special dispensation from the Ministry of |Transport to run in service.
The drivers had special training to drive them and received a seperate licence. I was one of the lucky people to receive such a licence and was one of the first drivers to take the bendi bus in service on the old route 56 ( Wybourn)

Deleted by @crookes

I was a bus driver in Sheffield until 1973 and so never got to drive the bendi-buses in Sheffield. However, I got a job with the Lincolnshire TEC in 1992 who eventually acquired a Leyland Bendi-Bus from Heathrow Airport. Reg. No. RLN 237W. It was the airport shuttle bus and appeared briefly in the film 'A Fish called Wanda'. The bus was almost entirely stripped out and turned into a mobile I.T. Training and Jobs Information vehicle.

The front end was manned by the then Employment Service and used as a mobile Job Centre. The rear was manned by the staff of Holland Training Services and used for the purpose of training people in Information Technology. This service was free. The vehicle visited five locations throughout the week in areas of social and economic deprivation.

It ran in tandem with a Leyland Atlantean that used to belong to the Miners Union. Reg. No. RCU 587S. Due to running costs both vehicles were replaced by two Leyland Leopards, from Hulleys of Ixworth. Eventually the service was reduced to one vehicle and sold on to Boston College. FIL 4742 the last in the line was sold to Dents of Market Rasen and this combined service ceased in 2004. Customer use was over 2,000 per month on average.

I can correct the comment about bendi-buses not being able to get up steep hills etc, this is twaddle! they have a 12 ltr engine which can cope with any of the Sheffield area, it also gives them a fair performance, they can get off the mark as quick as most cars.
All of the models used in Sheffield had an anti-jacknife device fitted, which provented the bus from bending beyond a certain angle, if this angle was exceeded the brakes came on and stopped on! it required a fitter to attend to release them after such an event had taken place. I was an inspector on duty in Leopold St when the incident mentioned where one of the early M.A.N. buses had the brakes lock on on the island at the top of Church St, the driver, who was still getting used to driving one of these buses, took a wide swing round the island. he exceeded the angle of bend and stopped all traffic for a couple of hours untill fitters from Greenland Rd were able to get to the scene.
For anyone who does not know, this was totally unnescary, as the rear wheels are steered by linkage to the turntable, and the rear portion of the bus follows an exact line with the front, provided the rear wheels of the front section clear any obstacle, the rear section will follow in exactly the same line.

Originally posted by Chris
Do the new double-deckers have cameras on the top deck? I noticed they don't have the old busses mirrors - I'd think the new ones will get vandalised quickly if there's no way of identifying the vandals (not that having the driver able to see upstairs stopped the old ones from being damaged)

Yes they do indeed.

Originally posted by SCENIC
Hi there, when bendi buses were introduced to Sheffield, they had to have a special dispensation from the Ministry of |Transport to run in service.
The drivers had special training to drive them and received a seperate licence. I was one of the lucky people to receive such a licence and was one of the first drivers to take the bendi bus in service on the old route 56 ( Wybourn)

Is the licence still valid? Would you have to take the test again if they brought them back?

wow interesting read,,,,
but how sad, a massive topic on bendy buses lol

I started work at the sypte back in 1983 as an apprentice Bodymaker. This entailed all the servicing and repairs to the fleets vehicle bodywork. I can remember the bendy buses coming in to service , which i thought was around 1986. I can remember fitting the name plates of the vehicles , what people are talking about , but oddly enough can't remember any of the specific names :confused:
I can also remember fitting flags to the frt roof corners , like the England flags we all have flying from our cars at times.
Also , could be mistaken but i seem to remember the first vehicles being painted a different paint scheme to the clipper scheme photo seen earlier on in the thread.

I saw a brand new one on richmond park avenue in rotherham in november 2005 it was on the meadowhell route so maybe theyre making a comeback, mind you it had trade plates on so who knows?:loopy:

I worked on a few around 1980. We had to fit little flag holders to the sides and also fit plaques to the front I think it was. The plaques had an embossed drawing of a ship (maybe a clipper ) with a name eg Cutty Sark so they all had a name. What a waste of money! Good to ride on though:)

I worked on a few around 1980. We had to fit little flag holders to the sides and also fit plaques to the front I think it was. The plaques had an embossed drawing of a ship (maybe a clipper ) with a name eg Cutty Sark so they all had a name. What a waste of money! Good to ride on though:)

I remember the plaques on the city clipper bendibuses, they were all named after the famous clipper ships.

I remember the names of Cutty Sark, and Fiery Cross, but I can't remember the names of the rest, sadly.

I do remember that a number of schools across the city took part in naming the buses, one of which was my lad's school, St John's, Park.

The plaques, indeed, had a picture of an old Clipper ship on them, which also stated the name of the ship the bus was named after, and the name of the school which chose that name.

I actually thought it was nice, for the children of the individual schools. Perhaps giving them a sense of ownership, and participation, which would hopefully give them a sense of pride in the vehicles, preventing vandalism?

edit to say that the plaques were affixed to the wall of teh bus, inside, just behind the drivers' cabs.
PT

Bendy buses were fab! I can always remember on one of the first ones, a woman dropped a loaf of bread just as it went round a corner and had to wait for the bread to come back to her LOL We went to a bus open day at Rotherham Midland Garage and you could walk under one ... only to find out that the bendy part was held together with buckles and straps!!!

I used to love getting them to Meadowhall and I can honestly say I never went on the Cutty Sark! I also remember one bad winter when one jack-knifed going down to the Debenhams traffic lights.

Bendy buses on the city clipper were great my kids like to stand on the turntable part on the tram they do not believe that buses were made that way

The origional bath consisted of ten 5 from MAN and 5 from Leyland . They were used on the city clipper at first which was free as you couldnt charge on a vehicle towing a trailer. Before they were introduced several demonstrators had visited the city including a yellow left hand drive which was used on short trips from pond street to pond street - you couldnt get off as the doors were on the road side.

The city clipper was a shoppers service that ran from pond street to the s&e COOP at the bottom of eccleshall road how somerfield i think

When the servie was introduced all buses had data collectors with stop watches do ing timings for a report.

When the law was changed they were used on the 56 service (Wybourn) i cant remember them on stocksbridge services.

They were withdrawn due to a pay dispute the union wanted a large increase for driving them they thought that they would win as they couldnt see the pte climbing down over the bendis. They were wrong during the final negotians severall single deck buses were being driven to Sheffield from Nottingham for use on the city clipper. The bendis went off service one thursday evening and were replaced by the nottingham buses at first these were on hire but were purchased by the pte. All the nottingham buses were in advert liveries for nottingham firms.

At least two of the origional batch still exist

Latter on they were reintroduced this time using

Leyland , 13 were bought the last 3 were coach seated and had 2 doors (as oposed to the 3 in the others) and were used on the X91 to Thurnscoe (I think) the ex Dearneways service.

The otheres were used on other services including a modified sheffield - rotherham service the 24 I think and were used a modified 41 Jordanthorpe city- Hackenthorpe.

The first one was loaned to various operators including belfast , london etc.

Some ended up in bath and some in sotherhern island one is for sale at the moment .

An interesting period there are plans to reintroduce a third generation but I will believe it when i see it.

Bendy Buses, still use them in Nitra Slovakia

and in Havana, Cuba

The modern bendy buses are used a lot in York, they look very slick and streamlined at the side of the old ones, one thing I can't understand, the engines are in the rear portion, I wonder which wheels they drive? The original MAN and Leylands were like a conventional single decker with a trailer pulled by the front unit.
I think the York buses operated by First Bus, are Volvo's with a Wright body.

What is the story with them, didn't they run in Sheffield for a while and then took them out of service only to put them back in service and use them for the express service to meadowhall? anyways I used to love riding on them, always used to try to get on the middle bits where there was lots of movement. Great stuff. I was only little but when I got on the bus it always seems a mile long walking all the way towards th back...and all those doors with loads of bells to press :)

Think they sent them to leeds lol ,saw one the other day

The modern bendy buses are used a lot in York, they look very slick and streamlined at the side of the old ones, one thing I can't understand, the engines are in the rear portion, I wonder which wheels they drive? The original MAN and Leylands were like a conventional single decker with a trailer pulled by the front unit.
I think the York buses operated by First Bus, are Volvo's with a Wright body.

The York ones are called the "FTR".

There are a few, belonging to first West Yorkshire, working the number 4 route in l**ds.

Don't get excited about the bendy buses in York - they are a nuisance to other road users because they are too big and often block 2 lanes at traffic lights. They are known locally as "purple slugs" and the "ftr" they painted on them soon became known as "free travel for residents" because they put the driver (he's called a "pilot""!!!) where he couldn't sell tickets, so they rely on machines which are ..er.. unreliable, or put on a conductor (remember them?!) to sell tickets, thereby doubling their manning costs at a stroke. Sheer genius! :D Stick to your double deckers, Sheffield - they're a lot better.
P.S Didn't a bendy-bus also get stuck on the roundabout, when there was one, at the junctions of Townhead/West/Leopold/Church Street back in the '80s as well? Couldn't go forwards and couldn't go backwards - don't know how they resolved that one?!:rolleyes:

I know this is an old thread so haven't read it all, but here my additions\corrections to post number seven from Andy.

Eight Bendy Busses were leased by the PTE in 1981 from Mann of Germany. Four went into service on the city Clipper rout number 500 and 501 for Christmas of that year. Four were held at East Bank RD Garage and were taken apart by Leyland Daf personnel.

Leayland had on a number of occasions attempted to build an articulated bus bus failed to make the bit in the middle work with the transmission. They had tried a number of time to get hold of a Mann vehicle but had been refused and the 'deal' with the PTE was their last but successfully attempt to do this.

After they had satisfied that they had come up with the right reverse engineering solution the Mann busses were sent back to Germany and 12 Leayland daf vehicles were sent to Sheffield to replace them on basically a free lease for five years.

Unfortunately they hadn't quite fixed the problem and they had to be sent back to be fixed but returned abut 2 years later as I remember.

Re the Leyland buses, we thought they were very poor at the side of the MAN vehicles, they were basicaly a lash up of a Leyland National with a trailer added.
They used to "droop" slightly in the middle, and when going round Leopold island would "ground" in the concertina area, altogether a very poor alternative.

I don't know why they didn't fix it but that was a big difference between the two, even in that shot of the leyland coming into pond st you can see the bend drooping on the force of the bus breaking to go around the corner, the man version had a hydraulic lift in the center on both halves that kept both in line with each other but the leyland had nothing simply nothing as if the problem didn't exist

When the law was changed they were used on the 56 service (Wybourn) i cant remember them on stocksbridge services.

They were used on the X57/8? service which ran through the estates, I remember catching them home from my dads to Wharncliffe Side, used them mainly at weekends and evenings, when there were not enough passengers for a double decker