I went to Fiji on and end of season trip with the Moorebanl-Liverpool Hockey Club, here are some photos taken around Suva, the were so many buses with Sydney "look a like" clours.

Shore buses could pass as Punchbowl of Fiji

NewcastleBuses wrote:Shore buses could pass as Punchbowl of Fiji

I don't know what was in your cereal this morning but, PUNCHBOWL??? I can see where the Blue/White/Grey and Red could easily be recognised as reminicent of Punchbowls RED & CREAM livery!

Wonder how many of the VIKINGS spent many happy hours running around Liverpool/Miller/Sth Liverpool Rd etc before retiring to the tropics?

Albion is God over there! They still run the things to this day I believe, or have they turned to old Hinos now?

You will find a number of chassis under these buses were either exported new or second hand.Here is a example Horrell Wollongong two of there ex Albions.MO-6243 a VK55 was sold to Toongabbie transport services as there MO-5789 then came back to Wollongong to JJ Hill then sold to Transmission & Industrial the body was scrapped and the chassis was exported to Fiji.The other Horrell Albion was MO-6391 a VK41 ex Colleambally ex Higlett Camdem MO-3701(5/75) came back to Wollongong to JJ Hill then sold Transmission & Industrial the body scrapped and the chassis exported to Fiji.

I was referring to the wings logo being similar "busriders"

Bus Riders wrote:

NewcastleBuses wrote:Shore buses could pass as Punchbowl of Fiji

I don't know what was in your cereal this morning but, PUNCHBOWL??? I can see where the Blue/White/Grey and Red could easily be recognised as reminicent of Punchbowls RED & CREAM livery!

Wonder how many of the VIKINGS spent many happy hours running around Liverpool/Miller/Sth Liverpool Rd etc before retiring to the tropics?

Well, by the livery of most of the PBC buses on route services last night, NewcastleBuses is correct! I'm sure that they could meet most of their weekend requirements with new B7RLE's.

I should upload some of my F1J1 bus action from my Dec 92 visit. Many of those featured were still running then. Many of the vehicles I noted were bodied locally by LAL, which in the Hindi means "beloved". Swifty, in 92 many if not all of the Albion badged buses were in fact powered by Leyland 400 diesels, the original Albion mills with most likely 10 zillion to the power of 12 kms on the clock having long gone to god. The Leyland 400s still sounded nice. I found a bridge in Suva not far from the market bus terminal where some dramatic shots of these buses heeling over as they exited could be obtained.

I believe the Leyland 400 motor was of Albion origin inherited and labelled Leyland after being part of the BL group. open to correction.

Fiji is the Malta of Albions!

All Albion Viking VK41's had the Leyland 400 engine, as did the VK43's. There was a variant to the VK43, which ran a rear mounted AV505 AEC engine. The Albion Viking VK55's and rear engined VK57's all ran the Leyland 401 engines. Later, the Albion Clydesdale CD23B, also used the Leyland 401 engine. It had full air brakes, 10 stud wheels and a beefier version of the hub reduction rear end. The biggest problem with the VK41 was the air over hydraulic brakes, but they were by far the best to drive, with light steering and that classic exhaust note. Many operator's such as Rowe's, Bowman's and the Royle Bros had a wonderful run from Albion products.

A fascinating bunch of shots and theres a number of the buses depicted still in service. The SB's are mostly long gone but theres still a large number of Albions in service some having received replacement ssteel bodies and new regos so it gets a bit difficult to track them. Also in the late seventies when plates were changed from black to white a lot of buses with single alpha numbers were given new D.#### series plates or new double alpha ones, so this adds to the confusion in tracking. Regards the Seddons endeavours have been made to track all the known ones that entered the country, but here you are throwing in a few more unrecorded ones. Part of the problem with these is that chassis have been heavily Leylanised over the years and in some cases they received new bodies and regos. There are still some in service.

The urls for these pages have been been passed on to the members of
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/P ... nds_Buses/
and
http://www.flickr.com/groups/391249@N20/
where there are a hard core of Fiji fans who will be delighted to see your uploads

A few comments...

Fiji1
Vatauqa AO.030 moved on to the George Transport fleet and was still in service in late 2007 but by February 2010 it was derelict at Lakeba St.

Fiji2
Shore D5417. We havent picked up on this plate previously, a rerego in the late seventies, and it most likely it was recorded with a single alpha black plate previously. It is quite probable the chassis is still in service rebodied with new plates, as Shore have treated quite a number of their wooden bodied machines in that manner, some quite recently and very tidy looking.. There is one Shore Seddon still in daily service with this style of body and I understand another, an Albion, is stored at the depot

Fiji3
One can only sit and drool at this Shore lineup. Pity we cant get all the regos. There at least one SB there and possibly some Seddons amongst the Albions, the latter of which a fair number may have been rebodied and are still in service. the fleet was pretty well completely recorded by Ian Lynas in 1975 while black plates were still in use, but anything with single alpha plates then was probably given a D#### and weve lost track of them

Fiji4
Central D.0158 would have had a single alpha black plate originally going back to around 1965. Whether it was ever rebuilt or what became of it is unknown. A very similar bus was P258

Fiji5
AC.059, yet another unrecorded Seddon Pennine and unknown livery and ownership. Could be Nairs, Nadera or someone else subsequently taken over by one of the larger operators

Fiji6
AO.532 yet another unrecorded Seddon Pennine and unknown livery and ownership probably taken over by one of the larger operators

Fiji7
City Tranport eventually taken over by George Transport. It has a D rego D.?462 indicating it previously carried a single alpha number when it had black plates. No apparent record of this bus is to hand.
The one to right is of interest as it looks to be in the livery of A Khalil Khan, an operator on the Suva Nausori run taken over by Luke Raikadroka

Fiji8
Shore AZ.969 still alive and well but sporting a LAL type front and back

Fiji9
Shore D.5987 not in records to hand but previously it would have carried a black plate in the 0001-9999 series or a single alpha one

Fiji10
Tebara, is it BG.490. A Shreedhar built PMC style Albion of this number was with Tebara but was sold with a a route to an S Mani and then on to Karoi and Sons by 1992 at which time it was in a very bedraggled state and had no side windows.

Regards
Peter Trevor

Re Image Fiji5
Seddon Pennine AC.059

On comparing this with an Ian Lynas 1975 shot of Nairs AJ.081 Seddon in the same colours with a deeper single blue waistband and cream along the bottom, combined with the route, its a pretty safe bet to say AC.059 also was Nairs Transport from Nasinu on the Suva-Nausori corridor. Nairs still had two similar Seddons AC.326 and AK.617 still in service in 2010 (subsequently replated NAIRS6 and NAIRS7) with NAIRS6 painted in the new red livery by January 2011, and presumably both are still running albeit with Leyland Albion axles and engines.
2010 shots below enphasising many more recent body modifications

Regards
Peter Trevor

Re Fiji8
Shore Buses AZ.969

Heres a recent shot of AZ.969 taken on 21-Jul-2011 by Bhaskar Rao

Regards
Peter Trevor

Re Fiji
Vatuaqa Transport AO.030

She was still running around Suva with George Transport in 2007 but by February 2010 was derelict in their yard
Attached

Regards
Peter Trevor

Quote
Re: Fiji buses in 1980

Postby On Air » Sun Apr 01, 2012 9:07 pm
I should upload some of my F1J1 bus action from my Dec 92 visit. Many of those featured were still running then. Many of the vehicles I noted were bodied locally by LAL, which in the Hindi means "beloved". Swifty, in 92 many if not all of the Albion badged buses were in fact powered by Leyland 400 diesels, the original Albion mills with most likely 10 zillion to the power of 12 kms on the clock having long gone to god. The Leyland 400s still sounded nice. I found a bridge in Suva not far from the market bus terminal where some dramatic shots of these buses heeling over as they exited could be obtained.

Time has moved on and one new computer later then a hard drive crash that lost all........ did you ever manage to post your 1992 shots. They would be invaluable in helping towards filling in missing and unknown data on bus lists for Fiji

Regards
Peter Trevor

On Air wrote:I should upload some of my F1J1 bus action from my Dec 92 visit. Many of those featured were still running then. Many of the vehicles I noted were bodied locally by LAL, which in the Hindi means "beloved". Swifty, in 92 many if not all of the Albion badged buses were in fact powered by Leyland 400 diesels, the original Albion mills with most likely 10 zillion to the power of 12 kms on the clock having long gone to god. The Leyland 400s still sounded nice. I found a bridge in Suva not far from the market bus terminal where some dramatic shots of these buses heeling over as they exited could be obtained.

Your 1992 visit sounds interesting to know what buses you photographed and at what locations. It may provide with some missing links and turn up some buses lost without race when the records were computerised in 1999.

Regards
Peter Trevor