Page 1 of 1

Blue & White bus service Greenacre Nsw with add 0n

Posted: Fri May 15, 2009 3:48 pm
by ALBION1881
I have found another Ex Mtt Tassie Aec Regal IV from the Leon Batman collection and this one still in its Mtt livery and looks in great shape in the picture so hope this interest someone down there in Tassie what do think compare body styles with the ex Sydney DGT Aec regal IV in service with Toronto bus service what do you think this is another picture from the Leon Batman collection.

Re: Blue & White bus service Greenacre Nsw

Posted: Fri May 15, 2009 5:51 pm
by Tas Bus Nut
FANTASTIC!!! this one. Looks AWESOME!!

Re: Blue & White bus service Greenacre Nsw with add 0n

Posted: Fri May 15, 2009 7:21 pm
by system improver
There's something about green and cream with black details and gold crests (missing in the above picture). Somehow, white with decals doesn't quite make it. Oh well, that's progress!

Re: Blue & White bus service Greenacre Nsw with add 0n

Posted: Sat May 16, 2009 12:08 am
by stevegj52
The Tassie one looks a lot better than the AEC in the first pic,Green and Cream certainly suits them.
Does anyone know when these beauties were taken out of service in Hobart,I remember riding them in 68 so I am guessing it wasnt long after that.

Re: Blue & White bus service Greenacre Nsw with add 0n

Posted: Fri May 22, 2009 1:16 pm
by royaltiger
stevegj52 wrote:The Tassie one looks a lot better than the AEC in the first pic,Green and Cream certainly suits them.
Does anyone know when these beauties were taken out of service in Hobart,I remember riding them in 68 so I am guessing it wasnt long after that.
Gee, they would only have been about 10-12 years old in '68, wouldn't they?

Re: Blue & White bus service Greenacre Nsw with add 0n

Posted: Fri May 22, 2009 10:51 pm
by VIKing
In the 1970's RM Campbell P/L of Bankstown ran a bus dealership as well as a car dealership. The cars were sold form a yard on the Hume Highway at Greenacre, the buses were sold from 2 yards (located on opposite sides of the road) in the Bankstown industrial area. Their head office was actually at a third site near to Bankstown station. The main product sold was the Leyland range. In 1975 RM campbells purchased a large batch of ex MTT Tasmania AECs for resale. There were 9 AEC Reliance 470s and 11 AEC Regal IV's. I think the picture of the Regal IV was taken in the street outside one of Campbells yards in Bankstown before delivery to Blue and White. Blue and White purchased 2 of the Regal IV's - which were later sold to John J Hills in Wollongong and 2 buses were purchased from John J Hills in return. Blue and White also purchased one of the AEC Reliance 470s which became m/o 145 (Comeng body). Interestingly several of these ex Tasmanian AECs were sold by Campbells direct for use as caravans and the like and did not see further service as buses.

Re: Blue & White bus service Greenacre Nsw with add 0n

Posted: Sat May 23, 2009 2:17 pm
by GM
VIKing, Were R M Campbells car yard on the corner of Stacey St Bankstown?
If I remember they used to park some of their buses in the car yard.
Their main factories were in Eldridge Rd, round the corner from Edgar St?
Were they the same Campbells who used to be in Chappel Rd Bankstown and did the chassis conversions for Syd Wood. GM

Re: Blue & White bus service Greenacre Nsw with add 0n

Posted: Sat May 23, 2009 5:19 pm
by stevegj52
VIKing wrote:In the 1970's RM Campbell P/L of Bankstown ran a bus dealership as well as a car dealership. The cars were sold form a yard on the Hume Highway at Greenacre, the buses were sold from 2 yards (located on opposite sides of the road) in the Bankstown industrial area. Their head office was actually at a third site near to Bankstown station. The main product sold was the Leyland range. In 1975 RM campbells purchased a large batch of ex MTT Tasmania AECs for resale. There were 9 AEC Reliance 470s and 11 AEC Regal IV's. I think the picture of the Regal IV was taken in the street outside one of Campbells yards in Bankstown before delivery to Blue and White. Blue and White purchased 2 of the Regal IV's - which were later sold to John J Hills in Wollongong and 2 buses were purchased from John J Hills in return. Blue and White also purchased one of the AEC Reliance 470s which became m/o 145 (Comeng body). Interestingly several of these ex Tasmanian AECs were sold by Campbells direct for use as caravans and the like and did not see further service as buses.
Thanks for that info VIking,I thought it would have been in the early 70's and they were looked after.I could never understand why the then MTT changed to Bedford rather than keep using Diesel powered buses.Think the next Diesel's were the first batch of Hino's .

Re: Blue & White bus service Greenacre Nsw with add 0n

Posted: Sat May 23, 2009 5:24 pm
by VIKing
Hi GM. The RM Campbells car yard, which yes at times did have a few buses on show was on the Hume Highway, but I don't think it was at Stacey St, I am sure either the corner of Rawson Rd or Boronia Rd. The yard ended up under the Campbells name selling Daihatsu cars. The last bus I remember seeing displayed at this yard for sale was an ex Lever, Queanbeyan vehicle at some stage in the 1980s. The actual head office was located at 221 Chapel Rd, Bankstown - it was on the first floor as I recall from my only visit there when I met Mr Max Campbell. I don't recall the rest of the complex there, but the ground floor was probably being used for car servicing / work so it could well have been where buses would have been worked on in earlier years.

By the early 1970s the bus workshop was brick building near the corner of Harris St and Edgar St in Condell Park / Revesby. The building is still there (well 12 months ago whren I last was in the area) now painted white and occupied by Kingsley Windows from memory. There was a vacant block of land across the road in Harris St which was used for parking buses that were available for sale. This block is ow occupied by an office building.

In the early 1970s RM Campbells sold new Leyland products and used this facility in Harris Street to carry out services, mantenance and conversion work. The Super Comets converrted from truck chassis to bus chassis were built here, I remember visiting in what must have been early 1976 to see a timber wall blocking physical and visual access to part of the workshop. It was unlocked and I was shown in - RM Campbells were converting a Vk55 chassis to centre engined (one that was boduied by PMC and sold to Harry Griffiths at Portland NSW) and they did not want anyone from Leyland to see what they were doing. I remember seeing "Leyland" 245F truck chassis there waiting for conversion to bus chassis and bodying by PMC (these were usually about 23 seaters).

The bus sales were handled by 2 gentlemen Ron Ferguson and Brian Woolnough. RM Campbells had some customers in the Sydney metropolitan area, but sold a vast number of buses to country NSW operators. RM Campbells also operated a refurbishment division where they would purchase late model buses (not just trade in vehicles) which were excessively knocked around / worn / not maintained. They would overhaul, repaint , refurbish them back to as new standard and then resell them. At one stage there were several Fords from Baraba so treated, one of which then operated fro Drummond Transit in Sydney.
As a complete point of trivia, when the buses were refurbished they were repainted into "stock" colours for resale, the colours used were 1960's model Holden colours such as "Fowlers Ivory" (our famaily 1964 EH Holden was painted this colour).
Later, RM Campbells sold IBC chassis and Hino products. I am not sure when they stopped servicing the bus and coach market, but am guessing sometime in the 1980s.

Re: Blue & White bus service Greenacre Nsw with add 0n

Posted: Sat May 23, 2009 5:30 pm
by Fleet Lists
The actual head office was located at 221 Chapel Rd, Bankstown - it was on the first floor as I recall from my only visit there when I met Mr Max Campbell. I don't recall the rest of the complex there, but the ground floor was probably being used for car servicing / work so it could well have been where buses would have been worked on in earlier years.
I lived just around the corner from there in the fifties and sixties.
They did have a car sales showroom on the ground floor for a number of years and also a spare parts sales area.

Re: Blue & White bus service Greenacre Nsw with add 0n

Posted: Sat May 23, 2009 5:57 pm
by GM
Drummond's certainly did buy a Ford from Campbells but what colour it was I cannot tell.
I am led to believe that it came from Saladin of Blayney.
Campbells certainally did a good job of refurbishment. All the inside lower panels and seat backs were Marvey Plate which discouraged School Children from writing on them with their textas.
Photo fron person unknown. GM

Re: Blue & White bus service Greenacre Nsw with add 0n

Posted: Sat May 23, 2009 6:18 pm
by VIKing
Hi GM
This Ford certainly has a bit of history. It was a R226 body CV179 6/9/67 new as C44F. It was new to Rutty Figtree TV490, was traded to Gilberts Punchbowl 5/70, resold 29/6/70 to Riverstone BS as m/o 5300. It was traded back to Gilberts 11/72 (though not delivered to them 1/73), it was resold to CR Hardcastle, Barraba 28/3/73 MO 7031. RM Campbells purchased it (along with a number of Hardcastle's buses) in 2/75. It was refurbished - and converted to B53F - then sold 10/4/76 (over a year after purchase) to Saledine, Blayney MO7337. It was then traded 11/77 on a new Viking Vk55 / PMC (MO 006). Resold 1/78 to Drummond Transit reg 16/01/78 as m/o 364 (as in the photo). It was reregistered m/o 073 by 4/80, then sold by 6/81 to The Entrance Red Bus Service, where it worked as fleet #59, MO 8779. It was traded 11/89 to Mercedes Benz on a new bus, I don't know where it went after that.

Re: Blue & White bus service Greenacre Nsw with add 0n

Posted: Sun May 24, 2009 2:33 pm
by GM
Hi VIKing
A very travelled vehicle.
Attached photos at Rutty's, Riverstone & Entrance Red. GM

Re: Blue & White bus service Greenacre Nsw with add 0n

Posted: Wed May 27, 2009 7:47 am
by ALBION1881
Here is two CVI bodied fords from the Leon Batman collection one is cornwells NSW and one ruttys Figtree NSW they might be of interest.