Bendy Buses

[little malc 10]

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!!

[Plain Talker 11]

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

[roth ghost 10]

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!

[Fletch 10]

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??

[tiffy 10]

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

 

http://www.picturesheffield.com and go to 'b'

[little malc 10]

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.

[Bushbaby 11]

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.

[367squadron 10]

Maybe this new idea will bring back 'bendibuses' to Sheffield. Star Article

[cheeky boy 10]

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

[Plain Talker 11]

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

[qazitory 10]

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

[andy1702 10]

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!