Bendy Buses

[Hopman 46]

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.

[nuf_said 10]

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.

[bladesgirl 10]

just found this great picture of an old sheffield bendy bus just pulling into pond street (building on the left is the old sheaf valley baths)

[Fudbeer 12]

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.

[mark1971 10]

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

[SCENIC 10]

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)

[crookes 10]

Deleted by @crookes

[crookes 10]

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 Mulleys 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.

Edited August 21, 2015 by crookes

[little malc 10]

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.

[d71146 10]

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.

[Yellowrose 10]

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?

[Abyss 10]

wow interesting read,,,,

but how sad, a massive topic on bendy buses lol