Ex SA Education Bedford found in NSW

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Centralian
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Ex SA Education Bedford found in NSW

Post by Centralian »

Just prior to Christmas I found this Bedford diesel/Freighter being converted into a caravan/mobile home in the Blue Mountains NSW. The owner tells me he bought it 3 years ago and drove it home from Mt Gambier. Unfortunately I'd forgotten my glasses and couldn't get any identification plate details. There was no fleet number visible.
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baytram366
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Re: Ex SA Education Bedford found in NSW

Post by baytram366 »

Great find there. How old would this bus be?
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system improver
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Re: Ex SA Education Bedford found in NSW

Post by system improver »

baytram366 wrote:... How old would this bus be?
About 45 years old. This design came in about 1965 and continued for a number of years.

Here's a link to a post some time back that you might find interesting:

http://www.busaustralia.com/forum/viewt ... sa#p433438
TT
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Re: Ex SA Education Bedford found in NSW

Post by TT »

Going by the rego plate (still the original as they weren't Govt plates or linked to fleet numbers then), it would have been in the fleet range of the mid 700s (around 760). These were released new in 1975/76. The style of the tailights (inset), the rectangular and not rounded front indicators and the slightly larger and rounded signwriting is also a giveaway and shows it to be one of the last Bedfords with the Freighter body before the PMC bodies were fitted. So, in short, about 35 years old. Such great buses: I learnt to drive buses in ones about 4 years older than this one.
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Centralian
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Re: Ex SA Education Bedford found in NSW

Post by Centralian »

I recall the current owner telling me it was built in 1976.
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system improver
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Re: Ex SA Education Bedford found in NSW

Post by system improver »

Centralian wrote:I recall the current owner telling me it was built in 1976.
Not possible. But who cares?
TT
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Re: Ex SA Education Bedford found in NSW

Post by TT »

How is it not possible? My calculations, as posted above, is that it's either 1975 or 76 built. But you obviously know better?
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system improver
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Re: Ex SA Education Bedford found in NSW

Post by system improver »

According to a list that I have, the last Freighter Bedford SB5 went to EDSA 11/73. If I had the body number, I could tell you exactly when this one was delivered. But there were heaps to the same design (some SB3s as well) over a perod of about eight years. If someone has list of additional SB5s that went to EDSA, I'd be pleased to receive that advice.
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DarrenH
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Re: Ex SA Education Bedford found in NSW

Post by DarrenH »

This ex SA Bedford still looks original and appears to be in very good condition for it's age.
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1whoknows
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Re: Ex SA Education Bedford found in NSW

Post by 1whoknows »

Wrong on that one system improver - Centralian and TT are correct - the deliveries of that style did continue into 1975 and even early 1976 but did not quite make it to the change of name from freighter to PMCSA in June 1976.

The SBNs were I believe about the last batch of regos used for these (bearing in mind that they did not come out in anything even approaching alphabetical order).
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TT
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Re: Ex SA Education Bedford found in NSW

Post by TT »

Bus 784 was reg SBU794 and 779 was SBU789. Both were based in the Riverland late in their lives (about 1985) and I drove both. In those days EDSA buses were replaced when about 10 years old (my Bedford 577 built 1971 was replaced by a new Inter Acco in 1981, with 577 going to auction [with lots of other Beddies] being bought by a private contractor in the Riverland and back on a run that actually shared the same road for part of its run with where it used to run).

Now it seems the yellow EDSA fleet (the full-sized Hino BX at least, not the Coasters, etc) are kept until they are 25 years of age, which makes them almost useless for private contractors. Still plenty running around out there that were delivered around 1987.

Anyway I'm still sticking to my story, that the one in the photo that started this thread was delivered new around 1975.
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witsend
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Re: Ex SA Education Bedford found in NSW

Post by witsend »

I can tell you that the one I'm driving was commissioned in September 1986.
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