On Sun, 24 Nov 2019 11:55:10 -0000 (UTC), Anna Noyd-Dryver
wrote:
wrote:
On Sat, 23 Nov 2019 23:13:31 -0000
"NY" wrote:
"Charles Ellson" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 23 Nov 2019 12:34:10 +0000 (UTC), wrote:
It took me 4 days to learn to drive a bus - test on the 5th. And that
involves
having to actually steer the vehicle through narrow streets and around
parked
vehicles, not something train drivers have to worry about. So I reckon 2
or 3
days to learn to push a lever backwards and forwards and get a feel for
braking under different loads (no different to an HGV) and a few more
weeks for
for learning signals, basic trouble shooting and some routes. A month
tops.
What sort of vehicles had you driven before then? Were you already used to
driving anything larger than a standard Ford Cortina size of car?
Articulated HGV so I had a bit of a prior advantage.
Driving an ordinary car felt very weird afterwards - the steering wheel felt
so high up, when I'd got used to the elbows-resting-on-my-knees position for
steering the van.
Driving a lorry is like driving a large car for me. Driving a bus is wierd
however because you're about a meter in front of the steering wheels so you
have to leave turning movements later than feels normal.
Unless you're driving a half-cab or an Optare Solo 
Bin lorries and some other specialist vehicles share the 'cab well forward'
position of a bus.
Often built by the same company - Dennis. Another of their design
oddities is cabs very close to the ground, usually on airport vehicles
but also see on some refuse vehicles.