Honda-SOHC
General => Out & About => Topic started by: Orcade-Ian on August 09, 2026, 11:15:54 AM
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A mate down in Lancashire was at the Much Hoole gathering near Preston and not 1 but 2 350/4's turned up - so Mike P, they do exist in the flesh and not just in photos. Yes, there is a very nice 550/4 K lurking in the background on one pic
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Ian
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Nice bikes, but what is it that had you call the thread London Buses?
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Cos London buses are renowned for not being on time then turning up in pairs!
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Thanks Bryan,
Sorry for the apparently misleading thread title then, I thought most folk knew that legend had it that there was never a bus when you needed one, then 2 would turn up at the same time.
Ian
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Thanks Bryan,
Sorry for the apparently misleading thread title then, I thought most folk knew that legend had it that there was never a bus when you needed one, then 2 would turn up at the same time.
Ian
Ian, this just isn't correct, these things happen in THREES! :o
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Thanks Bryan,
Sorry for the apparently misleading thread title then, I thought most folk knew that legend had it that there was never a bus when you needed one, then 2 would turn up at the same time.
Ian
Ian, this just isn't correct, these things happen in THREES! :o
You are probably right about THREES but I think you might have to wait a lot longer for three 350/4s to turn up together at a small show in Lancashire - especially all the same colour!
Ian
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Its down to inflation you know, i liked when they retired all the routemasters as to old then had to un retire then cos the new stuff kept braking down!
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That's similar here in Orkney Bryan, some of the ageing ferry fleet, totally unfit for service have been dragged out of retirement when the replacements - told by many that they are unsuitable, have broken down.
Ian
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I was a bus driver twice in my working life. The second time they retired a load of old buses for emissions etc. Then they brought a load back as all the new buses went down to London for the Olympics or the Ryder cup, so much for emissions. They came back but the drivers had to suffer with unsuitable equipment along with the passengers. I admit I would try and break the old buses whenever I got one. The bus companies say one thing and do another.
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Routemaster buses........Back in the distant past of 1983 when I was a coach trimmer I worked at Chalk Farm bus garage in north London for a while. We used to operate RM's on the Number 24 bus route. London Transport was formed in 1933 and it celebrated it's 50th anniversary in 1983 with a transport gala at the Chiswick Bus overhaul works.
Considering we had RM1933 on our bus fleet at Chalk Farm we decided to restore the bus and to enter it into the gala. We spent a lot of our own time restoring the bus, I retrimmed the seats and replaced all the mauve rexine material used to line the interior of the bus.
We painted it in the colours used by London Transport in 1933 and took it to the gala where it won first prize and it became our show bus and only allowed into service during the day.
The photo shows the finished bus at another show.
Anyone who collects die cast models may be aware of a Chinese company called Sun Star, they brought out a model of RM1933 in its 1983 colours. My brother bought one for me on my 60th.
RM1933 sold a couple of years ago for £58,000!
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If we are on about buses i spent some time working at Stroud(glos) depot of Bristol Omnibus where i saw Lodekkas, Bristol RE and Spaceships(older gardiner engined manual gearbox) plus the DP coaches and leopards.
Plus of course the infamous Leyland National, 50+ mods to fuel system within 9 months, valve springs breaking on the god awful Leyland fixed head ohc diesel, weighed more tha a dekker, caried less people and did less mpg!
If you want beakdown and worksp stories i can go on for hours
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And the Leyland National bus body was also used to build the Pacer trains for British Rail back in the 1980’s. Single boogie at each end of the carriage makes for a spine crunching ride!
We went in one a few years ago from Exeter to North Devon, it was absolutely knackered.
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Anyone remember in the 1980s when London buses were carrying an advert poster of Nigel Mansell at the wheel? Well I was despatch riding at the time and the publisher Century Hutchinson sent me to Westbourne Park bus depo where the shoot was happening. I rode in and approached the caravan he had there, I saw him watching me coming. He was interested in what I had arrived on, my Suzuki RG500Gamma 8) was having day out due to GS450 workhorse having work done on it. He came out for a looksee and chinwag, yet it was still an assistant who signed my docket sheet. :(
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Ee! I'm right glad I used that misleading topic title, some great stories from all of you, ta!
The only bus one I can add was when I was sitting on the back seat of a newly restored Bedford OB (stop sniggering you lot!) there were no other seats apart from the driver's and we were off to Preston for its Ministry Test. It had been lovingly restored by my great friend Norman Wade (sadly no longer with us) and featured on Top Gear with Tony Mason on the Blackpool run. Happy days! Norman served his apprenticeship with HF Brockbank (Brockie) the well known BSA motorcycle dealer and racer in Southport, so there is a motorcycle connection somewhere.
Ian
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Your post has reminded me of when I used to collect used Vauxhall's from Luton employers (Circa 1965) who were allowed to buy two cars a year at a big discount. The Vauxhall dealers would buy these low mileage cars from the employers when they were 6-12 months old, everyone in the chain made a tidy profit.
Frequently on the Luton run we would see new Bedfords Bus Chassis on the M1 presumably on their way to coachbuilders. They had a makeshift drivers seat with a plywood board in front & behind. The drivers wore goggles to keep the insects out of their eyes. No windscreens so not a nice job when it was cold or raining.
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Ted, because they were not registered no speedos either!
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No 70 mph limit back then either.
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The best graffiti I saw on a bus. There was in the 1980s a public service ad on the back of London buses, about motorcycle safety 'It's not the bike that bleeds' it said. Someone had written on one 'A despatch rider is not afraid to die' :o :o :o
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I think I read on here, for older riders it's not just the Honda of our youth that drives us to ride into old age, its also the knowledge that we are stradling a mobile branch of the Digitas Clinic, that thought keeps us focused and risk averse.
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I remember the Leyland National, odd thing to drive. Had power steering on but not off, so you’d have hands going slow around the corner but going like bees wings trying to get the lock off again.
I learnt in a Leyland PD2, crash box. Still double declutch in the car to this day. Can’t seem to shake the habit. My favourite bus was a Bristol VRT, low bridge double decker. Fantastic brakes. Powerful as hell. I had a friend who was on what we called the last bus. In the 70s you left the bus station snd went hell for leather to the destination, turned round and leathered it back, sod the timetable. On the way back on the A6 the police stopped him. It was raining a little so the road was wet, You’ve got something dangling under your bus the police said. Get out and have a look, so they made him kneel down on a wet road and look under the bus. Nothing there he says, oh sorry they say, must have been your foot coming through the floor, now slow down.
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I worked for London Transport for nearly 11 years in Romford. 3 years as a conductor, then passes my test in a RTW with a pre-select gearbox. One of my best ever jobs. The final 28 years of my working life I was a coach driver. Attached (hopefully!) is the actual bus that I leant and took my test in. (RTW 62)
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Those vrt were wonderfull machince as long as you could keep bevel boxes in them, and the early gardner engine ones with air throttle were real.fun to.reverse
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There’s a picture on eBay showing a SELNEC southern British Leyland PD2 on a 192 bus service, which was run by both the Manchester and Stockport depots. I spotted it one day and was amazed to see the conductor standing at the side was actually me in around 1975. I bought the pic, even recognised who the driver was. There was another of the same type bus on the 316 service and it’s me driving with my normal conductor stood talking to me on the stand.
Your bus is a lot like the Leyland PD2 Tricky, very similar. Only ever drove one pre-select, we didn’t have any at our depot. Wicked things if you got the gear change wrong, used to jam your leg into the steering wheel when it kicked back.
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I worked for London Transport for nearly 11 years in Romford. 3 years as a conductor, then passes my test in a RTW with a pre-select gearbox. One of my best ever jobs. The final 28 years of my working life I was a coach driver. Attached (hopefully!) is the actual bus that I leant and took my test in. (RTW 62)
Nice bus Micky. My brother part owns (and drives a 1948 vintage RT in London Country colours). Working for LT you probably used to buy 'Griffin Home Sales'. This was food made at the LT Croydon food factory. They used to sell tea bags, sausages, huge shortbread biscuits the size of a side plate with a Griffin stamped in the middle. My ex-wife's sister had her wedding cake made there. All gone now in the name of privatisation and 'efficiency'.
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When I started at High School in 1960, I had to get a bus into Hull Paragon Station, then another (usually a trolley bus) to the School and the same on return. I saw bigger lads jump off the bus platform and then run alongside to save a bit of time. "I'll have some of that" thought I, but my next bus departed from the opposite direction. I had obviously not worked out the physics, as I jumped down and promptly fell flat on my arse, to the great amusement of everyone watching! I did perfect the technique eventually, until the Atlanteans came along with folding doors at the front, under the watchful eye and control of the driver.
Ian