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Imagine if FACCo had a facility like this!
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 23, 2021 8:46 pm    Post subject: Imagine if FACCo had a facility like this! Reply with quote

See:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldenham_Works *

It's hard to imagine an operation like this here in the States; just imagine if FACCo utilized such a facility! **

Sadly, this former LONDON TRANSPORT facility has vanished without a trace.

Very in-depth look on how the double-deck bodies and chassis were interchangeable (bodies and chassis, for generations, were built by a number of different builders).....

"NYO"

*(Be sure to check out the links at the bottom of the page)

**Staff was transported to this huge facility via bus; buses transported LT workers to Aldenham from some 40 garages!
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 23, 2021 10:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Preserved FACCo open-top #303 was quite similar to the early motorbuses that ran in London.

The "B" and "K" types, which were among the earliest London buses, were basically similar; in their later years, such older buses, for the most part, were upgraded with enclosed top decks and pneumatic tyres (tires)

Others were retired as newer, more modern buses arrived, and were converted to "tree loppers" or "tower wagons", used to lubricate tram and trolleybus overhead, or "mobile staff canteens".....

http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?155413

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)


Last edited by NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 on Sun Oct 24, 2021 1:02 am; edited 1 time in total
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 23, 2021 11:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The preserved "Queen Mary":

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?155394

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

FACCo entered the rear-engine double-deck era with the arrival of the big "QUEEN MARY" type in the later 1930's; in London, however, the first production model rear-engined double deckers did not appear until the early/mid-1960's.

These double-deckers were the first to eliminate the need for conductors, and also, the firt to have front entrances with folding doors.

The famed "ROUTEMASTER" was not only the very last London bus designed for a two-man crew, but, also, it was also the last two-man bus to operate in London......

"NYO"
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 23, 2021 11:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

This vintage "RT", operating in "Noo Yawk" for Horn & Hardart, is, indeed, a loooooonnng way from Trafalagar Square...........

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?157311

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

The iconic "RT" entered service on an experimental basis during 1939; the type was an immediate success, but the outbreak of WW2 delayed the arrival of the 150 ordered by the LPTB.

Production was halted until after the War, and the first postwar "RT's" began arriving in 1947; however, it would still be several years before "RT" deliveries hit their full stride.

Even though these now-iconic buses all looked pretty much alike, there were variations, including wider bodies, and specially-contoured roofs (and lowered upper decks) for operation under low railway viaducts and the Blackwall Tunnel*; some of the earlier buses were also equipped with rooftop route number boxes, further adding to the variations within the type.....

*(Earlier "Tunnel" Buses"/'Lowbridges") pre-dated the arrival of the "RT" class by many years)
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 23, 2021 11:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Had FACCo continued to operate double-deckers into the 1960's (and had remained an "indy" company) their new double-deckers might have been similar to the modern "ATLANTEAN".......

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leyland_Atlantean
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 23, 2021 11:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The MaBSTOA demo (LEYLAND) in 1977; as can be seen here, in later years, double-deckers, like most buses here and abroad, were becoming quite boxy.......

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?156314

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?154250

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 23, 2021 11:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Preserved ex-FACCO #1263 (1931 YELLOW) was reminiscent of London's "ST" class, which dated to about 1930.

The "ST"' class soldiered on for many years, with a number still in revenue service for several years after WW2.

The "LT" was similar to the "ST", but, like the double-deckers once operated by SURFACE, had three axles......

"NYO"
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Sun Oct 24, 2021 12:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

When FACCo began operating the "Queen Mary" types in th 1930's, this signaled the beginning of the end for the time-honored bus conductors; once the last open-toppers were retired in 1946, FACCo buses were all one-man ("OMO") in England ("One Man Operation")

When the last of London's iconic "RT's" were retired in the late 1970's, the only buses which still used two-man crews were the "ROUTEMATERS".

With the retirement of these now-historic buses in 2005, the era of the bus conductor in London, which began in the 1800's, forever drew to a close.

It is also interesting to note that single-deck buses (or coaches) also, for many years, utilized conductors in Great Britain*........

"NYO"

*(During the First World War, female bus conductors became commonplace, during the manpower shortage; they soon became known as "clippies", because of the tickets thy punched)


Last edited by NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 on Sun Oct 24, 2021 12:59 am; edited 2 times in total
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Sun Oct 24, 2021 12:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Had this photo (showing two preserved ex-FACCo buses) been taken in London, you would have had an interesting comparison between a "K"-type of 1920, and a 1960's ATLANTEAN.

This photo is quite interesting, also, as it clearly depict the tremendous advancement in double-deck bus design, over the course of a few decades......

http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?153572

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)


Last edited by NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 on Sun Oct 24, 2021 12:56 am; edited 1 time in total
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Sun Oct 24, 2021 12:31 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Interesting reading (much historic information/photos) on the two most popular and iconic buses ever to operate in London; interesting, too, to see the differences between them and the double-deckers operated by FACCo.......

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AEC_Routemaster

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AEC_Regent_III_RT
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Sun Oct 24, 2021 12:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

In Great Britain, they have long, long taken the saving and restoration of historic buses (and other public transport vehicles) VERY seriously.

Just imagine if there were similar museums (on this elaborate scale) here in "Noo Yawk"(!!) Shocked

These museums are truly awe-inspiring and magnificent......

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Bus_Museum *

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Transport_Museum **

*(Note the large number of preserved and restored buses in this museum)

**(In this incredible museum, you also have handsomely restored vintage tube stock [Underground trains] trams, and trolleybuses.....truly magnificent!)
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PostPosted: Sun Oct 24, 2021 9:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Unlike New York, in London, the Metropolitan Police kept extremely tight reins on London's major bus operator of the day, "GENERAL", (LGOC) as well as the other "indy" operators.

The Police, which originally began enforcing many regulations regarding the buses in 1909, tightly restricted the seating capacity, overall length, overall width, un-laden weight, and gross laden weight.

Double-decker buses could not have enclosed upper decks because the PCO (Public Carriage Office) worried that a heavily-loaded bus might overturn if it had to swerve to avoid an accident.

The trams, by contrast, ran on rails and could not swerve as buses could, and, thus, were allowed enclosed upper decks.

It was not until the mid-1920's that the PCO began to relax that requirement, and the LGOC rushed to provide its new and existing buses with enclosed upper decks (rainy day passengers were, of course, QUITE delighted!)

The PCO was also slow to permit windscreens for the driver, and to allow enclosed staircases, but, by the end of the 1920's, such restrictions were finally lifted.

However, a number of older buses retained their open tops until they were retired.

The Metropolitan Police, for many years, also required that all buses be equipped with old-fashioned bulb horns, supplementing the modern electric horns/Klaxons, which had been in use elsewhere for many years prior.

It would have been quite interesting to see how FACCo might have dealt with similar regulations.......

"NYO"
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PostPosted: Sun Oct 24, 2021 11:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

In this 1973 view, we see the HORN & HARDART "RT" alongside an "AVE. B." Fishbowl, making for an interesting comparison of bus stylings from the United States and Great Britain:

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?154486

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

Needless to say, there was nothing operating on the streets of London, back in the day, that could have even be seen as having the slightest resemblence to a Fishbowl from "across the pond".

By the 1960's, single-deck, OMO buses (with rear doors) were becoming quite commonplace in London, operated by both LONDON TRANSPORT and "RED ARROW" (these were the AEC "Swifts").......

"NYO"
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PostPosted: Sun Oct 24, 2021 11:16 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

See:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AEC_Swift

(imagine these "boxy" buses in green with MaBSTOA script emblazoned on their flanks?) Wink

Also:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leyland_National
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W.B. Fishbowl



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PostPosted: Sun Oct 24, 2021 12:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Heck, I can imagine a Fishbowl built with the entrance/exit and driver's side on the reverse of how they were built in the States and Canada.
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