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Post by redexpress on Jul 29, 2021 19:51:41 GMT
But was the Olympus body available on the Trident E400 'chassis'? It was, but AFAIK the only one ever built was the one CT Plus ordered for the W13 (EO1 - PN08 SWJ) which required one d/d for schools journeys - in practice it spent most of its time on the 388. That certainly wasn't the only Olympus built on a Trident/E400 chassis - the 54 DOEs that are being discussed here are of the same type. There was also one example for Courtney (RX58HVJ).
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Post by redexpress on Jul 29, 2021 19:53:14 GMT
Were DOE's available after the original order - I thought they and the SOEs were East Lancs swansong. It was only the Esteem that had officially been discontinued when GAL placed their order and the SOEs were the last produced but the Olympus was still available as Metrobus had orders for the 54 and 75 albeit with a different engine. There were also some 2010 reg examples with Courtneys and if I recall Optare didn’t remove the Olympus from their site until much later after their own build chassis project was discontinued. Yes, Optare discontinued the Esteem because they wanted to push customers towards their integral single-deckers. In reality I suspect most of their potential customers just went for integral ADL products instead. The only reason the Olympus continued to be built (on other manufacturers' chassis) was that Optare hadn't managed to come up with a convincing integral double-decker.
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Post by southlondonbus on Jul 29, 2021 19:53:39 GMT
I have to say the DOEs have served the area very well. I'll miss them when gone now
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Post by snowman on Jul 29, 2021 19:57:12 GMT
I think your right actually. I seem to recall hearing a factory in Darwen re opened to process the order. When you think Docklands buses had those 9 Scanias for the 425 we could have seen a follow order for Sutton. Could still be a large amount of Scania Omnictys running around Sutton. Darwen was the name of the company that bought East Lancs when it went bust, Darwen was based in Blackburn and not the town of Darwen.
The company Darwen then bought Optare, and renamed the new merged company Optare which is why the DOEs and SOEs were coded as Double Optare Enviro and Single Optare Enviro. The SOEs were the last of Esteem bodies bulit in 2009 but the last Optare Olympus was built in 2011 - YJ11EMV a Volvo B9TL for Imperial, Colnbrook. I think the single decks were Esteem bodies not Enviro, but used ADL E200 Dart chassis The DOEs had ADL Trident chassis with Olympus bodies I think VE 1-3 arrived few weeks before the first DOEs with the then new 2 axle version of the Volvo B9TL chassis but with Enviro400 bodies. So oddly Go Ahead actually chose Tridents and E400s but not on same vehicles
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Post by Deleted on Jul 29, 2021 20:05:26 GMT
It was only the Esteem that had officially been discontinued when GAL placed their order and the SOEs were the last produced but the Olympus was still available as Metrobus had orders for the 54 and 75 albeit with a different engine. There were also some 2010 reg examples with Courtneys and if I recall Optare didn’t remove the Olympus from their site until much later after their own build chassis project was discontinued. Yes, Optare discontinued the Esteem because they wanted to push customers towards their integral single-deckers. In reality I suspect most of their potential customers just went for integral ADL products instead. The only reason the Olympus continued to be built (on other manufacturers' chassis) was that Optare hadn't managed to come up with a convincing integral double-decker. Indeed, it’s a shame Optare didn’t proceed with either the Rapta or the integral model Olympus. The Rapta was fairly interesting looking from the photos I’ve seen but it was just a case of wrong time for an industry that was suffering in the recession.
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Post by redexpress on Jul 29, 2021 20:09:30 GMT
Darwen was the name of the company that bought East Lancs when it went bust, Darwen was based in Blackburn and not the town of Darwen.
The company Darwen then bought Optare, and renamed the new merged company Optare which is why the DOEs and SOEs were coded as Double Optare Enviro and Single Optare Enviro. The SOEs were the last of Esteem bodies bulit in 2009 but the last Optare Olympus was built in 2011 - YJ11EMV a Volvo B9TL for Imperial, Colnbrook. I think the single decks were Esteem bodies not Enviro, but used ADL E200 Dart chassis The DOEs had ADL Trident chassis with Olympus bodies I think VE 1-3 arrived few weeks before the first DOEs with the then new 2 axle version of the Volvo B9TL chassis but with Enviro400 bodies. So oddly Go Ahead actually chose Tridents and E400s but not on same vehicles True, although the VEs had actually been ordered much earlier but were delayed - they were actually ordered for a PVR increase on route 85 back in 2007. This was during the time when the B9TL was not approved for TfL work because of the noise issue with earlier B7TLs; the order of 3 VEs was eventually agreed as a trial for the type.
The DOEs and SOEs were ordered at a time when ADL had a big backlog of orders and were quoting very long lead times, which probably influenced Go-Ahead's decision to look elsewhere.
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Post by southlondonbus on Jul 29, 2021 21:09:42 GMT
I think the single decks were Esteem bodies not Enviro, but used ADL E200 Dart chassis The DOEs had ADL Trident chassis with Olympus bodies I think VE 1-3 arrived few weeks before the first DOEs with the then new 2 axle version of the Volvo B9TL chassis but with Enviro400 bodies. So oddly Go Ahead actually chose Tridents and E400s but not on same vehicles True, although the VEs had actually been ordered much earlier but were delayed - they were actually ordered for a PVR increase on route 85 back in 2007. This was during the time when the B9TL was not approved for TfL work because of the noise issue with earlier B7TLs; the order of 3 VEs was eventually agreed as a trial for the type. The DOEs and SOEs were ordered at a time when ADL had a big backlog of orders and were quoting very long lead times, which probably influenced Go-Ahead's decision to look elsewhere.
Followed on from the EVLs in giving Sutton a different type to other Go Ahead garages.
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Post by dashing0ne on Jul 30, 2021 7:33:26 GMT
I think the single decks were Esteem bodies not Enviro, but used ADL E200 Dart chassis The DOEs had ADL Trident chassis with Olympus bodies I think VE 1-3 arrived few weeks before the first DOEs with the then new 2 axle version of the Volvo B9TL chassis but with Enviro400 bodies. So oddly Go Ahead actually chose Tridents and E400s but not on same vehicles True, although the VEs had actually been ordered much earlier but were delayed - they were actually ordered for a PVR increase on route 85 back in 2007. This was during the time when the B9TL was not approved for TfL work because of the noise issue with earlier B7TLs; the order of 3 VEs was eventually agreed as a trial for the type.
The DOEs and SOEs were ordered at a time when ADL had a big backlog of orders and were quoting very long lead times, which probably influenced Go-Ahead's decision to look elsewhere.
Yes the VE's were for the 85 but when lost they transferred to A for the 213 to replace older buses.
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Post by mkay315 on Jul 30, 2021 22:58:36 GMT
Speaking about the rough buses on the 147 WH241 E202 looks like it really has gone through the trenches. That bus really needs a paint and a bit. It looks scruffy.
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Post by WH241 on Jul 31, 2021 9:16:18 GMT
Speaking about the rough buses on the 147 WH241 E202 looks like it really has gone through the trenches. That bus really needs a paint and a bit. It looks scruffy. E202 lives on the 147 almost daily but is actually allocated to the 687 on paper so has never been refurbished. I do wonder what the 147 batch will be like in two years time. Having said newer buses might become available nearer the tender renewal.
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Post by YY13VKP on Jul 31, 2021 9:46:43 GMT
Speaking about the rough buses on the 147 WH241 E202 looks like it really has gone through the trenches. That bus really needs a paint and a bit. It looks scruffy. E202 lives on the 147 almost daily but is actually allocated to the 687 on paper so has never been refurbished. I do wonder what the 147 batch will be like in two years time. Having said newer buses might become available nearer the tender renewal. The 687 was retendered recently so it should theoretically speaking be getting a refurbished soon. GAL have quite a few school buses to refurbish, including the remaining RR WHV’s and WVL358/359 at C, so they should do them over the summer while the schools are out
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Post by london23 on Jul 31, 2021 11:30:32 GMT
At the moment there is currently 6 Double deckers on Route 286 which is good to see as I think it needs Double deckers now but I know it is down to shortage of Single deckers which are currently of the road.
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Post by MetrolineGA1511 on Aug 1, 2021 7:53:10 GMT
Question when the 358 receives new buses is there anything stopping the old ones being displaced to the 286 or to the 108 and the 108 buses moving to the 286? The only thing stopping the 358 Citaros going to the 108 is there's no real need for them to move over, the 108 has its allocation of vehicles If anything they'll probably transfer to Go Ahead Manchester who have a growing fleet of Citaros Manchester won't have anything needing replacing by then. I think those Citaros could go to Go North East to replace OmniCity saloons.
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Post by MetrolineGA1511 on Aug 1, 2021 8:03:46 GMT
Do you think the Spare MHV's from the 63 could replace the Doe's at Sutton or send 10 to putney to fully convert the 22 to MHV's and send the WHV's from that to the 131 to replace 10 of the WVN's I have the feeling that GA are bidding to retain routes 93, 151 & 154 using MHVs and will allocate them there if retained, or elsewhere otherwise. Disclaimer: I know there are insufficient MHVs coming spare for all 3 routes so some additional vehicles will be needed if all 3 routes are retained.
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Post by MetrolineGA1511 on Aug 1, 2021 8:08:09 GMT
FW will be full with the electric stuff won not long ago and I can’t see something like the 71 or 85 being moved out as TV is probably full as well. In fact, I’d go as far as saying they might not bid at all and leave it to Abellio & Go-Ahead to fight over. As for A themselves, I don’t see a full electric conversion of the four main double decker routes happening regardless of the 132’s trial but certainly at least 2-3. We still don't know who will get the proposed routes in Sutton, S2 etc. Will affect who has space. A doesn't seem to have any spare space. I think TV is full, FW virtually full, and TF will be crammed with 111. Rather makes those Sutton area tenders unpredictable as garage space will be a big factor. And generally can't park electric buses in a haphazard way and be able to plug them in which might make space even more tight. Route 213 could be won by RATP at FW with route 281 moving to AV. In practice I agree that a GA retain seems more likely.
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