Farish buses start to arrive!

[bluedepot]

i'm going to buy the national in stagecoach livery...


tim

[PLD]

Now, I really need some white "London Country" NBC branding for the Leyland Nationals and will consider doing a vinyl strip to run along the roofline if no better alternative is available.

I think you will find a ready market for most NBC fleetnames - virtually all NBC fleets had VRs and Nationals at some time...

[tadpole]

Oxford South Midland were famous for never having any Nationals, their single deck fleet being mostly coaches and various random oddities.  Alder Valley ran Nationals into Gloucester Green regularly from Reading and Newbury, as if to say "look what we've got". I didn't see any COMS drivers in tears over it.

I'm happy to be corrected, but I don't recall Midland Red having any VRs. Not ECW bodies ones, anyway? Maybe some second-hand ones in later years?

[PLD]

Bachmann have released a statement regarding the size issues in response to the RM Web Thread:
They acknowledge they are undersize (but say 1:152 rather than 1:160) however it does not say whether they intend to correct it for future releases...

[H]

When Ixion/Dapol owned up to producing a British N gauge model (GWR steam loco) to the wrong scale they withdrew them and re-made it to the correct scale; exchanging customer bought models at no further cost.

Will Bachmann match that I wonder?

H.

[PLD]

Oxford South Midland were famous for never having any Nationals, their single deck fleet being mostly coaches and various random oddities.  Alder Valley ran Nationals into Gloucester Green regularly from Reading and Newbury, as if to say "look what we've got". I didn't see any COMS drivers in tears over it.

I'm happy to be corrected, but I don't recall Midland Red having any VRs. Not ECW bodies ones, anyway? Maybe some second-hand ones in later years?

I did say 'virtually all'... but of course there were exceptions (and Midland Red was always a law unto itself!) The other one is Southern Vectis who I don't think had any Nationals from new (they may have later got some second hand)

[guest311]

a bit off thread, but can anyone tell me what types would have been in service around Inverness in the late 1980s, and any idea of schemes ?

had thought probably Nationals, but not certain.

cheers

alan

[Fratton]

a bit off thread, but can anyone tell me what types would have been in service around Inverness in the late 1980s, and any idea of schemes ?

had thought probably Nationals, but not certain.

cheers

alan

my grandad lives just down the coast in lossiemouth in morayshire, from trips to elgin ther was a mix all different buses that i couldnt even start to pretend to identify but i can recalect seeing nationals til a bit later up there but then i dont know if the same operator (bluebird i think it was) served inverness,,,

[guest311]

Many thanks for that Fratton, I'll google bluebird and see what come us.

cheers

alan

[Fratton]

they had olympians in the late 80's so nationals shouldnt be too unrealistic, they are stagecoach bluebird now, most of the pictures taken of them are in elgin so i would search inverness,,,

[tadpole]

I'll try to help with the Inverness late 80s question - I moved to Aberdeen in the very in 1990ish, so caught the tail end of this era:

Single deckers -  Undoubtedly Alexander bodied Leylands/Volvos, Y-types, P-types and T-types. Probably NOT many Nationals actually.

Double deckers - fleetlines/Atlanteans, and as already mentioned, Olympians. Again, mostly Alexander bodied.

Liveries - country buses would've been SBG-style Highland red/turquoise - gradually being replaced by early Stagecoach. There was also Rapsons, blue livery, but I think that might've been formed later when Highland hived off certain areas which got amalgamated with someone else - not sure?? (I'd imagine McBraynes fits into this story somewhere, too). The City buses also became Stagecoach, branded "IT" (Inverness Traction, Bluebird branding came much later). Not sure what livery they would have worn before, maybe Highland as well?

[EtchedPixels]

Bachmann have released a statement regarding the size issues in response to the RM Web Thread:
They acknowledge they are undersize (but say 1:152 rather than 1:160)

They look smaller than that and people who've micrometered them say some at least are nearer 1:160 than much else.

[H]

Bachmann have released a statement regarding the size issues in response to the RM Web Thread:
They acknowledge they are undersize (but say 1:152 rather than 1:160)

They look smaller than that and people who've micrometered them say some at least are nearer 1:160 than much else.

They certainly are. And even worse is the fact that the scale they are made to is inconsistant; the height, length and width all seem to be to different scales.

1:152 would probably have been a lot more acceptable and less noticeable with 1:148, but 1:160................ oh dear.

H.

[PLD]

Bachmann have released a statement regarding the size issues in response to the RM Web Thread:
They acknowledge they are undersize (but say 1:152 rather than 1:160)

They look smaller than that and people who've micrometered them say some at least are nearer 1:160 than much else.

Sorry, I could have made that clearer...

It is Bachmann who are now saying they are 1:152, rather than the 1:160 we modellers agree them to be closest to having measured them...

[EtchedPixels]

Yeah 1:152 wouldn't bother me  - its within the 'looks right' window providing you don't put the same or very similar thing in 1:152 and 1:148 next to each other but 1:160 is the point at which people start appearing not to fit in and it looks odd IMHO.

Mind you I've had worse. I got an "N scale" white metal landrover that looked tiny.  Seems it was actually 1:200 or so. It's now looking fine on a Z scale plank