"Festival of Vintage" 2016

[Lt. Commander Data]

Ok, ok, I know most of you have probably already seen pictures of it, if not attended yourself. But I thought I would still post some of my shots here for the benefit of the people who were unable to attend. I will be showing pictures of the preserved buses on show at the NRM, some trains from the NRM and some aircraft from the Aviation Museum. Ran out of time to visit the Maratime Museum unfortunately, just remember I come from an area of town with an hourly Sunday bus service (Adelaide Hills, 864 runs hourly).

I would like to thank the owners of the preserved buses and all volenteers who helped out on the day, it was certainly a good event which I will hopefully be attending next year as well. And also apologies for some of the captions, I don't remember enough of the stuff written on the information stands to write good captions unfortunately.


An old departures board at the NRM. Presumably from Adelaide Station. It is showing a Bridgewater train and Victor Harbour train, and their stopping patterns. Sorry about the poor lighting.

Instead of taking a front on shot with these three vehicles, I decided to do something different and take one of the rear. So to the left is MAN SL200/PMC 'PMC Commuter' #1897, the middle is Volvo B58/PMC 'Commuter' #1466 and to the right is Bluebird Railcar #257.

MAN SL200/PMC 'Commuter' #1897 is now preserved, and is seen here at the NRM on show. It was nice to be able to get in and look around, even sit in the driver's seat!

The interior of the Voolov, #1466. I'm,, guessing it has armrests becuase it was made for longer distance jourbeys to the outer suburbs. It's a nice bus in a nice livery, I'm just disappointed it is a Lonsdale one not a Hills one, but I'm sure no one else really cares...

On the inside of the Volvo is an STA Fare Scale from 1984. Certainly a big difference to what they are now!

I'm sure by now you're all like "but he hasn't posted a photo of the front of the Volov yet". Well, here's one. Volvo B58/PMC 'Commuter' #1466 sits patiently at the NRM on show to the public. This one had a better dash layout to the SL200 IMO, shots of them to follow shortly.

A trolleybus. Unfortunately I can't remember what type, was this a Sunbeam? #488 is preserved by St. Kilda Tram Museum and is seen on show at the NRM.

The interior of the Trolleybus shown above. It is a little bit spartan, but quite comfortable. The front door was operated by the driver using a lever not dis-similar to a handbrake. The driver's area was a little uncomfortable for my liking, but then again my standards are probably quite high coming from this ear.

The interior of the Regal Mk IV #623 (ex-MTT, ex-STA) which is preserved by the St Kilda Tram Museum also. This bus was a manual. I can just imagine if I was driving, stalling with a full busload of people in the middle of Britannia Roundabout.

The exterior of the Regal Mk IV. This bus was donated to the Tram Museum, but then entered service again due to a bus shortage. I'm assuming that was when Lewis Bros stopped running metropolitan services. A very nice looking MTT logo on the front.

Stay tuned for the next two posts to follow very shortly.

[leyland4ever]

488 trolleybus is a Leyland - colloquially known as a "Canton" -the MTT purchased 26 of these chasses, which were on their way by sea to Canton (China) when the second world war broke out in 1945, and the order could not be delivered.

The MTT built the bodies in the Hackney workshops over 3 or 4 years, and about 16 of them lasted until the end of the trolleybus system in July 1963.

Perth and Hobart also acquired some of these chasses.

Quite an attractive body, although quite small by later MTT standards!

And talking of later MTT standards - 623 is a 1955 AEC Regal Mark lV, with Freighter/Lawton Body - one of 70 such units built to replace trams - there was another batch of Regal 1Vs (700 series), and 169 Leyland Worldmasters, all with the three-door body.

Sorry to disappoint you, but it is not a manual, but a "preselect" gearbox - technically impossible to stall unless there are major problems with either the engine or gearbox!

The third pedal, on the driver's left, is not a clutch, but an 'actuating' pedal, and it does not like being treated as a clutch!

To select a gear, the small gear lever, just underneath the steering wheel, is shifted to the appropriate position - this does not do anything at all at the time, other than to 'preselect' that gear. When the time comes to actually engage it, the pedal is depressed in one movement to the floor, held for a second or so, and then released, again in one movement. The gear is then engaged, and the next likely gear is preselected, and so on.

Very useful particularly if you need to move the steering wheel (which was not power assisted) at the same time as changing gear!

The process is air operated at the gearbox end, using a system of valves - beyond that gets well beyond my comprehension!

Earlier versions (in Adelaide's case, the Daimler double deckers) were not air assisted - the whole thing worked mechanically. It could be rather dangerous if the driver mistreated the actuating pedal, or the gearbox was out of adjustment. The levers would sort of double back on themselves, causing the pedal to shoot up several inches further than usual, and if it caught your leg, you knew all about it!

Driving automatics must take all the excitement out of the job!!!

Thanks very much for the excellent photos - they certainly bring back many memories!

Cheers,

Trevor

[Lt. Commander Data]

Thankyou for that information Leyland4ever, that preselect thing certainly makes sense. When I sat in the driver's seat I noticed the gearstick and third pedal, hence my thinking it was a manual. Automatics do certianly make driving a bit more boring, but do make it a bit safer. It's my pleasure to share these photos, good to know they are appreciated.


The interior of the SL200. Not quite as nice as the B58's, but still better than that of buses of today.


The driver's area of the B58. Very simple, and easy to read controls and stuff. Nice to hold a big wheel in my hands instead of small ones which cars of today have.


The driver's area of the SL200. A bit more cluttered. I wonder whethere there are any drivers or ex-drivers who were lucky enough to drive both and give a valid comparison of the two?


Who remembers the old Crozet validators? Probably most people, they're not that old. I was not sorry to see them go, unreliable pieces of ----.


A big change of scenery is Scania K280/CB80 #1912 heading back to Port Depot via the backstreets of Port Adelaide where the museums are located. Taken while waiting for the shuttle bus to come.


This was the bus that was doing the loop around the museum. This is a Leyland Lodekka. Not a bad ride, had a bit of nice driveline sound on the lower deck.

Below is an assortment of model aeroplanes on display at the Aviation museum:





One more post to come.

[Lt. Commander Data]

This is what I took to be a cruel joke - QANTAS showing a B747 flying into Adelaide. It is definitely not a regular occurrence, so possibly a bit of false advertising going on there. Even so, I thought it was a cool poster worth sharing.


A Spitfire from WWII in the Aviation Museum. The craft above is a Fokker 72 modified for the CSIRO.


An RAAF McDonnell Douglas DC-3 which has been decomissioned. Underneath it is a Vampire jet. Thanks for Marc506 for the extra info here.


One of the planes used for Nuclear testing in Maralinga in the 1950s by the British. It is a Canberra.


Another shot showing the Spitfire and CSIRO Fokker 72, with the RAAF DC-3 sticking its nose in, literally


Bluebird railcar #257 has been preserved by the NRM. It was a nice train to ride on and look at. Very comfortable seats, which are reversible as well so they can face the direction of travel. I recall some trains in Sydney doing that as well, it's a shame the 3000s and 4000s don't


Recently retired 'Jumbo' (2000) railcar #2112 is sitting behind a fence at the NRM. I was a bit disapointed it wasn't on show, but I guess it's not very vintage compared to Brill and the Bluebird and other trains that were on display.

And to finish this posting, and indeed that from me for the rest of the month, another bus:

On my way back to the station MAN NL202/ABM '160' was on route 361 to the Port, and I couldn't resist in perfect photo conditions like this to take a photo. If only it was another vintage bus...

Note: I have many more pictures of rail related stuff form the Rail Museum, if anyone wishes to see some I am happy to post them at a later date.

[busrider]

The red decker shown there is a Bristol Lodekka, the other red decker getting around on thecweekend was a Leyland Olympian.

[marc506]

This is what I took to be a cruel joke - QANTAS showing a B747 flying into Adelaide. It is definitely not a regular occurrence, so possibly a bit of false advertising going on there. Even so, I thought it was a cool poster worth sharing.

It definitely used to be more common. My Grandparents flew out of Adelaide on QANTAS 747 when traveling on an overseas trip and that was in 1984 and when there was the separate International Terminal.

Oh and yes the bomber used in the nuclear tests was the Canberra, the ex-RAAF is a DC-3 and the silver fighter is a Vampire.

[Bedford-29]

The red half cab is a Bristol Loddeka FLF

[Route 506]

Great set of pictures! Thanks for sharing with us

I couldn't get there this year, so these pictures were a nice memory of what we once had!

[coach driver 1981]

Great pictures seeing 1466 back in original condition reminds me catching it to school back in the day on a 744