[MNL] J690 XAK (Read 1,148 times)

[manontheinside]

In order:

The SPDs are terrible, no one is kidding themselves on that issue! They were not the first as they were for First Huddersfield and Essex IIRC.

689 never carried a dot matrix, only 690 and it wasn't a long marriage. The photo provided suggests to me about 1994 (check out the petrol price and ask yourselves if bus fares have doubled in that time!), not least because 690 was one of the early repaints into Mainline and because the 2/59 were still to Malin Bridge.

However, in this picture it will have already lost its dot matrix as it didn't last that long. The unit in question (and i know not why!) had been pulled from a G reg B10M which had previously carried it.

51s original allocation of B10Ms were 601-12 (i.e. the first lot), but when the H-THLs turned up it tended to be the H batch. 689 and 690 were both regulars on the 51, but i would suggest they were more common on the 93.

Hope that clears a few things up.

[metromadman]

that pic is not old, it is very old !! it is mainline still

[Tom B]

manontheinside said:

The SPDs are terrible, no one is kidding themselves on that issue! They were not the first as they were for First Huddersfield and Essex IIRC.

Mmm - can't wait for the day they leave...

Edit: more on topic, I'm pretty sure I saw a B10M the other week with the old grey + red/yellow/blue striped moquette in the Interchange! Didnt know any survived.

[greenbus]

Mainline has only been gone nine years though!

[manontheinside]

Indeed. The old 'Mainline' moquette still lives although only in H-THL type buses. They are thin on the ground now (many have at least been re-covered) and many have had 'all grey' in place of the original when they have worn out. However, there are certainly some left like 686-690 at Olive Grove.

[dave72122]

Mostly all the rotherham b10m's still have the old moquette seats,but some have the new first seats, or the old mainline seats.

[22438]

Yes, I noticed that the bus in question (690) only has about half of the seats still with the old moquette - many have been covered in plain grey (seemingly with extra back padding) or the newer Mainline red design.

And let's not let this turn into another rant about SPDs

[metromadman]

i know that 60495/6/9/507/8/9 and a few more in the 6052* batch which have been refurbsihed

[metromadman]

I love 60507/8/9, they used to be oparated from Halfway depot and i love them, the best buses i have ever been on, i mean probely worn out a bit, but when they was fairly new they was lovely, you could fall a sleep in them lol

[manontheinside]

Depends on the type of refurbishment you refer to. 651/2/3 and 663/4/6 were given the full works, followed by 676. 679 was also refurbished but despite being 'First-ised' retained its old seating frames in the same style as the refurbed S-LLO Olympians.

60499 was never refurbished in that way. Although some Rotherham based buses were upgraded with Mainline 'Caterpillar' moquette, they didn't even get grabrails painted, new flooring etc - so hardly a refurbishment.

And yeah, they were a superb refurbishment in their day. Never did find out quite what those seats were, but they were pretty good and soft. Was on one recently and although they aren't quite as fresh as they were, they are still great vehicles. Take away the barbie 2 fades and they look new. Indeed, Mrs MOTI thought they were!

[galaxy]

Mrs Galaxy also suffers from the same confusion as Mrs MOTI by the looks!

[22438]

I think there are also some buses that have First-style upholstery but on the old frames, and they don't have the new floors and purple bars under the window like some of the "refurbished-but-with-old-seat-frames" ones do. It seems that no two refurbishments are exactly alike!

[manontheinside]

Well, none of the G-NWAs, J-AWFs, M-VETSs or N-CKYs have been done in the way you describe (except for 771 but that has got all the repanelling and new floor care of its fiery moment).

That leaves the H batch, and i'm 99% certain there are no 'just seat cover' refurbs. The only buses i can think of with just the re-trimmed seats are one or two of the 'Prison-van' Darts at Olive Grove.

[22438]

Well I might have got some of the details wrong, but I'm sure it didn't have the purple bars. This was a long time ago anyway, it could have changed now.

Said Darts are the small Wright-bodied ones, yes? It definitely wasn't one of them.

[manontheinside]

Yeah, they are the ones.

Certainly wouldn't have been a Dominator and i can't think of anything else that would fit the bill. Sounds B10M-ish, but to my knowledge, no such bus exists.