Todays question, which was raised on the Exhibition National whilst it was at the Aire Valley Running Day at Bolton Abbey. What gearbox was fitted to the 1962 ex Albion Lowlander Demonstrator 747 EUS which was a sold to Bamber Bridge Motor Services later in 1962, becoming Ribble (1968) in 1967, when Ribble took over B.B.M.S. ?
Was the vehicle fitted with a manual or a semi-auto gearbox, when it operated out of Preston Selborne Street Depot, when it was in service with Ribble ?
TRN 810 V Wrote:What gearbox was fitted to the 1962 ex Albion Lowlander Demonstrator 747 EUS which was a sold to Bamber Bridge Motor Services later in 1962, becoming Ribble (1968) in 1967, when Ribble took over B.B.M.S. ?
Was the vehicle fitted with a manual or a semi-auto gearbox, when it operated out of Preston Selborne Street Depot, when it was in service with Ribble ?
747EUS was new as chassis designation LR1
LR1 = pneumocyclic
LR3 = manual
LR5 = pneumocyclic with rear air suspension
LR7 = manual with rear air suspension
Ribble 1851-60 were LR3
Ribble 1861 - 6 were LR1
Sources of info ; Leyland Bus by Doug Jack and
http://www.buslistsontheweb.co.uk
Mark
I beg to differ Mark.
Leyland Bus - D. Jack Page 318, Quote - "The LR3 (manual) model was exclusive to the South Notts Bus Co. (5), plus the Bamber Bridge ex-demonstrator and one early chassis which was eventually sold to Western S.M.T." (a total of 7.)
So the Ribble original 10 Ribble examples could not have been LR3, but LR1.
52 years of Ribble - Ribble Enthusiasts Club and P.S.V Circle list
the 1964 build of ten UCK 851 - UCK 860 (1851 - 1860) and the six 1965 build ARN 861C -ARN 866C (1861 - 1866) as being LR1, which agrees with D. Jack as above and disagrees with Bus Lists on the Web.
TRN 810 V Wrote:I beg to differ Mark.
Leyland Bus - D. Jack Page 318, Quote - "The LR3 (manual) model was exclusive to the South Notts Bus Co. (5), plus the Bamber Bridge ex-demonstrator and one early chassis which was eventually sold to Western S.M.T." (a total of 7.)
So the Ribble original 10 Ribble examples could not have been LR3, but LR1.
52 years of Ribble - Ribble Enthusiasts Club and P.S.V Circle list
the 1964 build of ten UCK 851 - UCK 860 (1851 - 1860) and the six 1965 build ARN 861C -ARN 866C (1861 - 1866) as being LR1, which agrees with D. Jack as above and disagrees with Bus Lists on the Web.
I've talked to friends who worked for Ribble in the late 1960s / early 70s and drove both types of Lowlanders. They say the Ribble ones had pneumocyclic gears while the dreaded 747 EUS had a manual box. As is well known the latter was detested by most (all?) drivers and was used by Wigan depot as spare bus to deter requests for a changeover.
Ray
Albion Lowlander Demonstrator 747 EUS definitely had a manual gearbox when my father aquired it for B.B.M.S. in 1962.
J.R.P.
A simlpe question, did 747 EUS get painted into NBC red and have NBC fleetnames. Never seen a photo (or can't recall one) of it in NBC. When it came from BBMS it was in Ribble red, underlined names and the original destin screen. Then it was rebuilt but kept the underlined name. Then it got the lowercase style names. Is this how it got scrapped?? And if it was in NBC red did it have fleet names on the rear. Any one know.
Thanks
No, it never got painted into Poppy Red, it got parked up behind the paint shop in Nov 1975 and stayed there until Sep 1976, having been noted in the process of having its engine removed on 30/6/76.
Chris
Any photo's of it, during its service life?
Regards,
Mike from Norwich
take a look at flickr there are several around, as well as before it came to Ribble.
A request from a visitor to the Ribble Day at BCVM - does anyone know where he can acquire a model of this vehicle, with a St Helens destination? I believe it's a Britbus model.
Freda