'S no Problem! London Rescued By Bendy Buses
 

.... The Headline Boris Couldn't Risk.

Some of London's buses would have had problems getting out this morning, but
the central area was pretty clear early on, on all major routes, and still
is at 8pm.

And yet Boris allowed a couple of dozen bendies to sit in a yard at Waterloo
all day, rather than have them working shuttles in the central area.

Even working their 'official' routes (Red Arrows), they's have made life
easier for a lot of Londoners; with a bit of imagination, they could have
also worked a straight central area East-west shuttle, and maybe a
north-south.

But the thought of Bendies being useful was a step too far for Boris.

Will they sit in the yard all week? we'll see.
--

Andrew
"If A is success in life, then A = x + y + z.
Work is x; y is play; and z is keeping your mouth shut." ~ Albert Einstein

'S no Problem! London Rescued By Bendy Buses
 

Andrew Heenan wrote:
... The Headline Boris Couldn't Risk.

Some of London's buses would have had problems getting out this morning, but
the central area was pretty clear early on, on all major routes, and still
is at 8pm.

And yet Boris allowed a couple of dozen bendies to sit in a yard at Waterloo
all day, rather than have them working shuttles in the central area.

Even working their 'official' routes (Red Arrows), they's have made life
easier for a lot of Londoners; with a bit of imagination, they could have
also worked a straight central area East-west shuttle, and maybe a
north-south.

But the thought of Bendies being useful was a step too far for Boris.

Will they sit in the yard all week? we'll see.

I'm not actually aware of any bendy routes operating today, except the
29 and that was rumoured to be with double-deckers. I'd love to know
the truth of what happened there.

IIRC Southwark was one of the councils rumoured to be less than stellar
with the gritting. Westminster was OK. Obviously to run a route you
need all intervening points dealt with, which is why you need a *plan*.

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/medi...hive/4146.aspx

t

'S no Problem! London Rescued By Bendy Buses
 

I'm not actually aware of any bendy routes operating today, except the
29 and that was rumoured to be with double-deckers. I'd love to know
the truth of what happened there.


The N73 was operating this afternoon..

'S no Problem! London Rescued By Bendy Buses
 

On Mon, 02 Feb 2009 20:21:27 +0000, Tom Barry
wrote this gibberish:

Andrew Heenan wrote:
... The Headline Boris Couldn't Risk.

Some of London's buses would have had problems getting out this morning, but
the central area was pretty clear early on, on all major routes, and still
is at 8pm.

And yet Boris allowed a couple of dozen bendies to sit in a yard at Waterloo
all day, rather than have them working shuttles in the central area.

Even working their 'official' routes (Red Arrows), they's have made life
easier for a lot of Londoners; with a bit of imagination, they could have
also worked a straight central area East-west shuttle, and maybe a
north-south.

But the thought of Bendies being useful was a step too far for Boris.

Will they sit in the yard all week? we'll see.

I'm not actually aware of any bendy routes operating today, except the
29 and that was rumoured to be with double-deckers. I'd love to know
the truth of what happened there.

IIRC Southwark was one of the councils rumoured to be less than stellar
with the gritting. Westminster was OK. Obviously to run a route you
need all intervening points dealt with, which is why you need a *plan*.

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/medi...hive/4146.aspx

t

I photographed a brace of 38's in the clapton depot today, in the same
parking areas were the staff cars, which seem to have managed to make
it into work ok....

I'm very disappointed to see that the busses were kept off the roads
leaving people to struggle to make their journeys on foot, all manner
of delivery vehicles were out working.
--
Mark Varley
MarkVarleyPhoto.co.uk
TwistedPhotography.co.uk
London, England.

'S no Problem! London Rescued By Bendy Buses
 

On Mon, 2 Feb 2009 20:08:55 -0000, "Andrew Heenan"
wrote:

... The Headline Boris Couldn't Risk.

Some of London's buses would have had problems getting out this morning, but
the central area was pretty clear early on, on all major routes, and still
is at 8pm.

And yet Boris allowed a couple of dozen bendies to sit in a yard at Waterloo
all day, rather than have them working shuttles in the central area.

Even working their 'official' routes (Red Arrows), they's have made life
easier for a lot of Londoners; with a bit of imagination, they could have
also worked a straight central area East-west shuttle, and maybe a
north-south.

But the thought of Bendies being useful was a step too far for Boris.

Will they sit in the yard all week? we'll see.


yes but happens if the bus gets into a bit of a slide or cannot get
traction going round corners, something some of the drivers don't seem
to have mastered in dry weather ?

'S no Problem! London Rescued By Bendy Buses
 

"martyn dawe" wrote ..
yes but happens if the bus gets into a bit of a slide or cannot get
traction going round corners, something some of the drivers don't seem
to have mastered in dry weather ?

I've never experienced that, and I was writing on the basis that they'd be
using appropriately trained drivers.
(silly old me, huh?)
--

Andrew

"If A is success in life, then A = x + y + z.
Work is x; y is play; and z is keeping your mouth shut." ~ Albert Einstein

'S no Problem! London Rescued By Bendy Buses
 

'S no Problem! London Rescued By Bendy Buses
 

"Adrian" wrote in :
I'm not that familiar with the Models used in London but Southampton
had some a few years back. The type used there had their driven axle on
the rear section,on one of the rare occasions that city got a smattering
of snow one of these showed the weakness in that arrangement by
colliding with a pub on a sharp corner. The middle set of wheels lost
grip and the rear section carried on pushing causing the bus to
jackknife in the middle.

What makes that "weakness" rather than a "driver error" - I'm really not
clear.

It's like looking at a jack-knifed articulated lorry and writing off the
whole breed, isn't it?
--

Andrew

'S no Problem! London Rescued By Bendy Buses
 

wrote ...
Artic lorries don't have the driven wheels on the trailer ,the tractor
unit pulls it. most artic jacknifes occur under braking.
with the bendie buses the traction is at the back so on a slippery
surface the effect is like trying to push a length of string. its very
likely to bend.

At the risk of being boring, bendies have managed perfectly well in Europe
for 40 or 50 years; why is it that they don't have all these problems, if
they are are 'design weaknesses'?

Seems a little odd to me.
--

Andrew

'S no Problem! London Rescued By Bendy Buses
 

On 4 Feb, 01:34, "Andrew Heenan" wrote:
At the risk of being boring, bendies have managed perfectly well in Europe
for 40 or 50 years; why is it that they don't have all these problems, if
they are are 'design weaknesses'?

Rear-engined bendy buses are a modern invention - there's some
ridiculously complicated hydraulics and computer control in the hinge
to stop them jacknifing constantly. It's a miracle they work at all,
and I can well imagine the system can't cope at all with icy roads (or
more specifically, the centre axle losing grip and sliding sideways).

Front-engined bendy buses have no such concerns, as they're no
different from an ordinary single decker with a trailer.

U

'S no Problem! London Rescued By Bendy Buses
 

Mr Thant wrote

On 4 Feb, 01:34, "Andrew Heenan" wrote:
At the risk of being boring, bendies have managed perfectly well in
Europe
for 40 or 50 years; why is it that they don't have all these
problems, if
they are are 'design weaknesses'?

Rear-engined bendy buses are a modern invention - there's some
ridiculously complicated hydraulics and computer control in the hinge
to stop them jacknifing constantly. It's a miracle they work at all,
and I can well imagine the system can't cope at all with icy roads
(or
more specifically, the centre axle losing grip and sliding sideways).

Check the list of icy European countries and the number of years
rear-engined bendy buses have operated in each ?

Front-engined bendy buses have no such concerns, as they're no
different from an ordinary single decker with a trailer.

Or Artics, which which were required to add anti-jacknifing hydraulics
twenty years back.

--
Mike D

'S no Problem! London Rescued By Bendy Buses
 

Mr Thant gurgled happily,
sounding much like they were saying:

Rear-engined bendy buses are a modern invention

I must have imagined catching them in Sheffield in the very early '80s,
then.

Definitely rear-engined.
http://www.geocities.com/transportpa...ve/bendy04.JPG

'S no Problem! London Rescued By Bendy Buses
 

Mr Thant wrote:
snip

Rear-engined bendy buses are a modern invention - there's some
ridiculously complicated hydraulics and computer control in the hinge
to stop them jacknifing constantly.

snip

Actually you couldn't be further from the truth. The articulated joint
(manufactured by Hubner) is very simple comprising of a large centre
rotating bearing and two self contained hydraulic rams to passively
counteract the jacknife effect.

Link here http://ischmelzer.com/HNG19_5.html

The same unit is fitted to both the Scania and Volvo bendies.
The computer control is to let the front half know where the back half
is going so the engine and ABS systems can apply power and brake in the
right proportion.

Bob

'S no Problem! London Rescued By Bendy Buses
 

Andrew Heenan wrote:
"martyn dawe" wrote ..
yes but happens if the bus gets into a bit of a slide or cannot get
traction going round corners, something some of the drivers don't seem
to have mastered in dry weather ?

I've never experienced that, and I was writing on the basis that they'd be
using appropriately trained drivers.
(silly old me, huh?)

I can't remember if it was a bendy bus, but I missed a train in Geneva
one winter because the bus I was on had hit a parked car.

--
Arthur Figgis Surrey, UK

'S no Problem! London Rescued By Bendy Buses
 

On Feb 2, 8:21*pm, Tom Barry wrote:

I'm not actually aware of any bendy routes operating today, except the
29 and that was rumoured to be with double-deckers. *I'd love to know
the truth of what happened there.

As spotted he
http://flickr.com/photos/nicohogg/3249362458/

'S no Problem! London Rescued By Bendy Buses
 

On Thu, 5 Feb 2009, martin wrote:

On Feb 2, 8:21*pm, Tom Barry wrote:

I'm not actually aware of any bendy routes operating today, except the
29 and that was rumoured to be with double-deckers. *I'd love to know
the truth of what happened there.

As spotted he
http://flickr.com/photos/nicohogg/3249362458/

That's just round the corner from my house!

tom

--
GOLDIE LOOKIN' CHAIN [...] will ultimately make all other forms of music
both redundant and unnecessary -- NTK