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Post by Deleted on Feb 10, 2015 20:33:56 GMT
Bit of a historical one this.
Catching up on the Big Red Bus made me think about the NV class. These buses have a relatively short service life in London because of the sudden influx of low floor buses in the late 90s /00s.
When was the last NV removed from service?
I know Stagecoach also had modern step entrance Volvos that also had a very short London life.
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Post by eggmiester on Feb 11, 2015 2:50:32 GMT
The last NV's in TFL service were those that were operational as of early Dec 2005, of the last routes to use NV's were the 601 and 602 from BX which had dedicated NV's allocated from sept to dec 2005 (in other words they were only permitted on the schools routes), running their last TFL journeys at the end of the autumn term in December.
A sizeable batch soldiered on with LC/LG's commercial fleet from 2005 onwards working all over London and beyond, this included the convertible open toppers 165, 170 and 171. As well as that the Training fleet had numerous NV's in fact all training buses at the time were NV's. However the training and commercial NV fleets were then reduced from around 2009 as surplus PVL's started to move over from the service fleet. For the training dept all NV's left the fleet by 2010 as new test rules requiring buses to be ABS fitted and minimum 10 meters in length (NV's were 9 meters something) were introduced. The commercial fleet took on a number of PVL's too, some were refurbished and single doored as well, displacing NV's. The last NV's in service with Go-Ahead London (by now) were indeed the two General liveried O/T's, 170 and 171 who were finally withdrawn late last year.
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Post by vjaska on Feb 11, 2015 5:11:44 GMT
The NV's were great buses - around here, the 35, 45 & 133 were allocated NV's at one point with rare outings on the 3, 37 & 196. I even managed to ride a yellow handrail example on the 36 which had presumably deputised for a Routemaster.
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Post by Nathan on Feb 11, 2015 9:34:05 GMT
The NV's were great buses - around here, the 35, 45 & 133 were allocated NV's at one point with rare outings on the 3, 37 & 196. I even managed to ride a yellow handrail example on the 36 which had presumably deputised for a Routemaster. Oh yeah...I remember the old buses at NX. I'm not sure if they were NVs because I must have been about 5/6 years old when they where still around in New Cross/Lewisham. I remember there were ones with green handrails were more common than others with yellow ones. What was the different with them anyway? I always prefferred the yellow handrail ones... |
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Post by ThinLizzy on Feb 11, 2015 16:19:23 GMT
The NV's were great buses - around here, the 35, 45 & 133 were allocated NV's at one point with rare outings on the 3, 37 & 196. I even managed to ride a yellow handrail example on the 36 which had presumably deputised for a Routemaster. Stagecoach East Londons low-height, long wheelbase, single doored ones on the 262 and 473 (many many years ago) were fabulous. My local garage BK missed out on VN/VAs which was a bit of a shame. My favourites were Capital Citybus' 167 and 168, and the 67s P-reg ones which were absolute flyers |
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Post by 6HP502C on Feb 11, 2015 21:57:22 GMT
The NV's were great buses - around here, the 35, 45 & 133 were allocated NV's at one point with rare outings on the 3, 37 & 196. I even managed to ride a yellow handrail example on the 36 which had presumably deputised for a Routemaster. Oh yeah...I remember the old buses at NX. I'm not sure if they were NVs because I must have been about 5/6 years old when they where still around in New Cross/Lewisham. I remember there were ones with green handrails were more common than others with yellow ones. What was the different with them anyway? I always prefferred the yellow handrail ones... The yellow bars and red seat moquette was an interior user in the earlier NVs - the newer design featured the green and the more colourful seats. Excellent site about NVs and pretty much all step entrance buses in London - www.countrybus.org/Volvo/NV.htm |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 30, 2015 21:33:56 GMT
I remember the NVs quite vividly, even though I was young when they were new. I love the way the Volvo Olympian sounds. It sorta "woos" all over the place, along with the "waaah!" from the gear changes, and let's not forget the occasional big clash sound from something (brake cylinders?). The idle sound is nice too. Such a nice deep engine note.
I always preferred the ones with the green handrails. Those ones all had the full livery applied to them too if I remember correctly, which the Northern Counties Palatine looked good in, with its "sad eyes" windows on the top deck. I don't remember the Palatine 2 examples at all for whatever reason. I suppose they didn't drift down to South London a lot.
I found that page linked above a while ago. It mentions the NVs that were loaned to Metrobus and repainted, then returned and used on the 35 and 40. I remember being out one day and seeing a blue and yellow bus on the 35. I wasn't all that familiar with Metrobus back then, so I didn't know what to make of it.
I remember Peckham was using NVs on route 381, seemingly until they lost it to Travel London in 2004/5. They were also used on my old local route, the P3, or 343 as we know it now. Even after the introduction of the PVLs, an odd NV would still appear on the 343, which was fun to spot. It was cool to see the blue driver trainer NVs out and about too.
Occasionally the NVs still appear in their old operating area, usually as school buses. Some of them are painted in a dingy burgundy colour with tinted windows, which I don't think looks all that.
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Post by 6HP502C on Oct 1, 2015 21:57:10 GMT
I remember the NVs quite vividly, even though I was young when they were new. I love the way the Volvo Olympian sounds. It sorta "woos" all over the place, along with the "waaah!" from the gear changes, and let's not forget the occasional big clash sound from something (brake cylinders?). The idle sound is nice too. Such a nice deep engine note. I always preferred the ones with the green handrails. Those ones all had the full livery applied to them too if I remember correctly, which the Northern Counties Palatine looked good in, with its "sad eyes" windows on the top deck. I don't remember the Palatine 2 examples at all for whatever reason. I suppose they didn't drift down to South London a lot. I found that page linked above a while ago. It mentions the NVs that were loaned to Metrobus and repainted, then returned and used on the 35 and 40. I remember being out one day and seeing a blue and yellow bus on the 35. I wasn't all that familiar with Metrobus back then, so I didn't know what to make of it. I remember Peckham was using NVs on route 381, seemingly until they lost it to Travel London in 2004/5. They were also used on my old local route, the P3, or 343 as we know it now. Even after the introduction of the PVLs, an odd NV would still appear on the 343, which was fun to spot. It was cool to see the blue driver trainer NVs out and about too. Occasionally the NVs still appear in their old operating area, usually as school buses. Some of them are painted in a dingy burgundy colour with tinted windows, which I don't think looks all that. |
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Post by M1104 on Oct 1, 2015 23:23:44 GMT
I remember Peckham was using NVs on route 381, seemingly until they lost it to Travel London in 2004/5. They were also used on my old local route, the P3, or 343 as we know it now. Even after the introduction of the PVLs, an odd NV would still appear on the 343, which was fun to spot. It was cool to see the blue driver trainer NVs out and about too. I remember Peckham beforehand having the single doored AV class Volvos on the 381, although the route was then the P11 when the buses were delivered new. The ZF gearbox was a bit different from the NVs in that the torque break came in early, like with the B7TLs. There were also NVs from Q ordered for the Docklands route D1 and also utilised on the N109. Like the AVs these were also single doors but had Cummins L10 engines (later NVs having Volvo engines). |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 2, 2015 1:04:20 GMT
I remember Peckham was using NVs on route 381, seemingly until they lost it to Travel London in 2004/5. They were also used on my old local route, the P3, or 343 as we know it now. Even after the introduction of the PVLs, an odd NV would still appear on the 343, which was fun to spot. It was cool to see the blue driver trainer NVs out and about too. I remember Peckham beforehand having the single doored AV class Volvos on the 381, although the route was then the P11 when the buses were delivered new. The ZF gearbox was a bit different from the NVs in that the torque break came in early, like with the B7TLs. There were also NVs from Q ordered for the Docklands route D1 and also utilised on the N109. Like the AVs these were also single doors but had Cummins L10 engines (later NVs having Volvo engines). I do kinda sorta remember those AVs. Do you know their registration convention? I remember the early NVs too. I always thought it was strange how they were single door, and I definitely remember them sounding different. |
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Post by vjaska on Oct 2, 2015 1:08:09 GMT
I remember Peckham was using NVs on route 381, seemingly until they lost it to Travel London in 2004/5. They were also used on my old local route, the P3, or 343 as we know it now. Even after the introduction of the PVLs, an odd NV would still appear on the 343, which was fun to spot. It was cool to see the blue driver trainer NVs out and about too. I remember Peckham beforehand having the single doored AV class Volvos on the 381, although the route was then the P11 when the buses were delivered new. The ZF gearbox was a bit different from the NVs in that the torque break came in early, like with the B7TLs. There were also NVs from Q ordered for the Docklands route D1 and also utilised on the N109. Like the AVs these were also single doors but had Cummins L10 engines (later NVs having Volvo engines). When did the N109 use NV's as I always thought it was just T's until the N159 was introduced. That was the good old days were night routes weren't always operated by the day routes operator like the N137 which was run from Q using AVL's. |
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Post by vjaska on Oct 2, 2015 1:09:52 GMT
I remember Peckham beforehand having the single doored AV class Volvos on the 381, although the route was then the P11 when the buses were delivered new. The ZF gearbox was a bit different from the NVs in that the torque break came in early, like with the B7TLs. There were also NVs from Q ordered for the Docklands route D1 and also utilised on the N109. Like the AVs these were also single doors but had Cummins L10 engines (later NVs having Volvo engines). I do kinda sorta remember those AVs. Do you know their registration convention? I remember the early NVs too. I always thought it was strange how they were single door, and I definitely remember them sounding different. They were M MYM reg Olympians. |
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Post by M1104 on Oct 2, 2015 10:09:12 GMT
I remember Peckham beforehand having the single doored AV class Volvos on the 381, although the route was then the P11 when the buses were delivered new. The ZF gearbox was a bit different from the NVs in that the torque break came in early, like with the B7TLs. There were also NVs from Q ordered for the Docklands route D1 and also utilised on the N109. Like the AVs these were also single doors but had Cummins L10 engines (later NVs having Volvo engines). When did the N109 use NV's as I always thought it was just T's until the N159 was introduced. That was the good old days were night routes weren't always operated by the day routes operator like the N137 which was run from Q using AVL's. I can't remember the exact year but it would have been around the mid to late 90s, around the time when the firm was hiring new recruits (on minimum wage) that were fresh off the dole. If I remember correctly the N109 was then replacing the N78. |
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Post by M1104 on Oct 2, 2015 10:18:31 GMT
I do kinda sorta remember those AVs. Do you know their registration convention? I remember the early NVs too. I always thought it was strange how they were single door, and I definitely remember them sounding different. They were M MYM reg Olympians. Indeed, Alexander Royale bodied instead of Northern County Palatine. |
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Post by John tuthill on Oct 2, 2015 12:40:16 GMT
I remember Peckham beforehand having the single doored AV class Volvos on the 381, although the route was then the P11 when the buses were delivered new. The ZF gearbox was a bit different from the NVs in that the torque break came in early, like with the B7TLs. There were also NVs from Q ordered for the Docklands route D1 and also utilised on the N109. Like the AVs these were also single doors but had Cummins L10 engines (later NVs having Volvo engines). . Do you know their registration convention? I remember the early NVs too. I always thought it was strange how they were single door, and I definitely remember them sounding different. Here's AV1 courtesy of Ian's Bus Stop page  Attachment Deleted |
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