"Andy Lord" wrote in message
oups.com...
On Mar 19, 1:13 pm, John B wrote:
Stephen Firth wrote:
NM wrote:

D/D tend to be used in cities

Unfortunately this is not true.

Wrong.

Stagecoach tend to use DD buses for
rural routes.

Not in Hampshire.

IIRC Stagecoach (and other operators) were given huge subsidies to
update their fleet within London. The buses that were replaced were
then moved all over the country to replace the ageing stock left over
from Stagecoach's various acquisitions.

Almost right, so far. London, I beleive, set a maximum age for the buses
(Routenmasters excepted) , so the contractors had to supply newish buses for
London, As you say, they then cascaded the older buses down to places like
Hampshirte, who then cascaded their buses down to places like Cornwall...

They even shipped some of them
out of the country to bolster the fleets of some of their other
operations.

Not totally: the 6-wheel Megabuses operated by stagecoach originated in Hong
Kong, where a similar "maximum age" restriction was written into the
contracts. At £2000 each for shipping these from Hong Kong, plus the cost
of fitting heaters and demisters, these were cheap buses for stagecoach's
use in UK. (they complied otherwise with UK PCV construction regs).

Hence the ex-London double-deckers cropping up all over the country.
There is quite a movement of vehicles within the larger groups, from one
part of the country to another.... nothing new there, NBC were doing it in
the 1970s, swapping ECOC FLFs with Scottish bus group VRs.

--
IanH

"®i©ardo" wrote in message
.uk...
Paul Scott wrote:
"John B" wrote in message
...
Stephen Firth wrote:

NM wrote:

D/D tend to be used in cities
Unfortunately this is not true.
Wrong.

Stagecoach tend to use DD buses for
rural routes.
Not in Hampshire.


Er yes they do, I was on one this morning between Bishops Waltham and
Swanmore. Stagecoach 69...

Paul
Thus proving that an "expert" knows more and more about less and less.

Quite possibly a DD would be programmed in to cater for the Swanmore school
pond-life. Obviously, that bus would then work back towards Winchester
later in the morning, very lightly loaded (unless all the grannies came out
with their free passes....)

Derek Geldard wrote:
On Mon, 19 Mar 2007 20:50:33 +0000, Arthur Figgis
wrote:

Boltar wrote:
Outside of a Harry Potter film , have triple deckers ever been used in
the UK (or anywhere else for that matter)? Is there any technical
reason other than height why they couldn't be used - centre of gravity
or passenger evacuation for example?
I _think_ I've seen photos of a tour bus used for exotic holidays in
China or Central Asia which had minimalist sleeping quarters onboard,
arranged in such as way as to sort-of have three decks. It also pulled a
trailer, IIRC.

Das Rollende Hotel :

http://www.pbase.com/bmcmorrow/image/71691822

Looks like it goes to Greenwich:
http://www.pbase.com/bmcmorrow/image/71691825

--
Arthur Figgis Surrey, UK

Derek Geldard wrote:

On Mon, 19 Mar 2007 20:50:33 +0000, Arthur Figgis
wrote:

Boltar wrote:
Outside of a Harry Potter film , have triple deckers ever been used in
the UK (or anywhere else for that matter)? Is there any technical
reason other than height why they couldn't be used - centre of gravity
or passenger evacuation for example?

I _think_ I've seen photos of a tour bus used for exotic holidays in
China or Central Asia which had minimalist sleeping quarters onboard,
arranged in such as way as to sort-of have three decks. It also pulled a
trailer, IIRC.

Das Rollende Hotel :

http://www.pbase.com/bmcmorrow/image/71691822

Years ago I did a tour of the Sahara, and we encountered one of these
buses. We were touring in a series of Citroen CXs with some Peugeot 305s
and a couple of Land Rovers. One of the guides said that two years
before - that would be around 1976 I think - he had found one of these
buses with everyone aboard dead. They had gone to sleep in the "coffins"
provided and had (presumably) slept late into the day. The heat of the
sun had baked them in the beds. I have no idea why they did not wake,
although the contrast between the freezing temperatures of night and the
heat of the day may have been a factor.

"Arthur Figgis" wrote in message
...

Now quite the same thing, but there are trains on the Continent with seats
on three levels (downstairs, upstairs, and a middle level at the ends over
the wheels), and I suppose a bus could be arranged in a similar manner if
someone thought of a reason to bother.
--
Arthur Figgis Surrey, UK

Arthur

The trains you are thinking of are common in Europe, USA, Canada, China (I
think), at least.

They are, however, only double deckers in practice. The middle levels are
only over the wheels and are usually used for entrance/exit and standing
customers only (there may be tip up emergency seats in some instances),
there is still only room for two sets of seated passengers even within other
countries extended loading gauges.

Closest to triple decker might be some of the older dome observation coaches
in the USA & Canada - ISTR that some had short domes with passenger seating
on the normal level and in the dome with a buffet & crew quarters at low
level under the dome. The full length domes used on the trans-continental
Canadian have the buffet & a gift shop plus crew quarters under the dome,
but do not, IIRC, have anything on the middle level apart from the corridor
connection and doors.

Peter
--
Peter & Elizabeth Corser
Leighton Buzzard, UK




----== Posted via Newsfeeds.Com - Unlimited-Unrestricted-Secure Usenet News==----
http://www.newsfeeds.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! 100,000 Newsgroups
---= East/West-Coast Server Farms - Total Privacy via Encryption =---

In message , John B
writes


Stephen Firth wrote:

NM wrote:

D/D tend to be used in cities

Unfortunately this is not true.

Wrong.

Stagecoach tend to use DD buses for
rural routes.

Not in Hampshire.

National Express use (or did) them Glasgow to London overnight, I was on
one about 3 years ago.
--
Clive.

In message , Stephen Firth
writes
One of the guides said that two years
before - that would be around 1976 I think - he had found one of these
buses with everyone aboard dead. They had gone to sleep in the "coffins"
provided and had (presumably) slept late into the day. The heat of the
sun had baked them in the beds. I have no idea why they did not wake,
although the contrast between the freezing temperatures of night and the
heat of the day may have been a factor.
Ready cooked from the freezer? ;-)
--
Clive.

On Mar 20, 12:40 am, "Peter Corser"
wrote:
The trains you are thinking of are common in Europe, USA, Canada, China (I
think), at least.

They are, however, only double deckers in practice. The middle levels are
only over the wheels and are usually used for entrance/exit and standing
customers only (there may be tip up emergency seats in some instances),
there is still only room for two sets of seated passengers even within other
countries extended loading gauges.

Normally in Europe I think the doors are on the lower level - the
space above the wheels is seating and a sort of landing halfway up the
stairs.

In article , ian henden
says...

Shame it's wrong. Having actually driven a 15ft 9in high trailer quite
a lot, it is no worse than a normal height one.

Maybe, but a DD bus in high sidewinds, at motorway speed, is hairy.

Only to those with no experience of driving them.

An artic rig will have

a) more axles (so rather more weight low down) and

b) they will be distributed over a greater length of the vehicle (which
must contribute to directional stability) and

c) the load distribution of a truck is different. In a bus, half loaded,
then that half load will usually go and sit upstairs.... leaving the bottom
deck empty save for a few grannies....

And a bus has ballast weights.....


--
Conor

Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright
until you hear them speak.........

In article .com,
furnessvale says...
On 19 Mar, 16:55, Conor wrote:
In article om,
furnessvale says...

On 19 Mar, 09:37, "Boltar" wrote:
Outside of a Harry Potter film , have triple deckers ever been used in
the UK (or anywhere else for that matter)? Is there any technical
reason other than height why they couldn't be used - centre of gravity
or passenger evacuation for example?

Triple deck road trailers are a major hazard on our roads in windy
weather. ?

You mean double deck...

I mean triple deck. The Wilson Tridecker for one, unless the
authorities have seen sense and banned them. The third deck is
obtained by underslinging like a low loader. Thus the lowest floor
nearly touches the road, the roof is 15' 9" above ground and a side
wind has nowhere to escape.

THe double deck fridge trailers are a stepframe too.


And actually they aren't. I can't recall ever seeing one on its side. I
also drove the very first reefer ones that came to the UK and they were
no worse in high winds than a normal trailer.

Quite a number of tri-deckers have gone over. One I particularly
remember went over on the M6 a good few years ago wiping out a family
of eleven in one hit.

Can't see what the difference is unless they've improved the design.
Does help if you load it accordingly though.

--
Conor

Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright
until you hear them speak.........