Recent Mercedes-Benz O405 photos

[Randommann]

Hello All,

In the last 6 months or so, I have witnessed the phasing out of Mercedes-Benz O405s from both Sydney and my home city, Armidale. Naturally, I took a fair amount of photos of these beasts during this time as I will probably not experience one again for a long time now.

I thought that I would post some here as some sort of mini-tribute to these buses. These photos include some more unique shots I took during the STA Mercedes-Benz O405 Mark V farewell tour that I attended in December last year, as well as some recent shots of Armidale's ailed O405s.

Since there are more than 10 photos in total, I will make a second post in this thread very shortly which will house the Armidale pictures.
Enjoy!

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Part 2, or "The Armidale section", will be posted below.

[Randommann]

Part 2 of my "recent O405 collection".

Edwards of Armidale's O405s finished service in April-May 2016 upon the arrival of new Iveco Euromidi school buses to replace them. Not surprisingly, the Ivecos are now rattling more than the O405s ever did. Here are some pictures of Edwards' two ex. Quinces units near the end of their Armidale days.

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The Mercedes-Benz O405s in Armidale helped me get interested in buses in the first place, so it is the end of a personal era for me to see them go in my general area. I haven't heard a modern engine that sounded nearly as "wholesome" as an OM447h. This, combined with the W3E retarder sounds and the hub reduction notes, made the early O405 acoustically a unique but also great bus in my opinion.

Thanks for viewing!
The Man of Randomness.

[Swift]

There are still plenty of Busways CC bodied 0405s with the throaty om447h combined with ZFs going around Woy Woy Mon-Fri. I get the pleasure of hearing them pass my house regularly in Ettalong Beach on the many routes through here.
Whenever I pass their depot at Kincumber, I see STACKS of them parked against the rear fence, even in busy times when there are plenty on the road.

[Randommann]

You're very lucky Swift! Perhaps I should catch a Busways CC O405 while I'm in Sydney next time.

[Ben_Daui]

The difference between the transmissions & brake retard noise is the difference between the Ex Quince STA/Busways.

[Randommann]

The difference between the transmissions & brake retard noise is the difference between the Ex Quince STA/Busways.

I know that, but the ZF howl in its place is still grand!

(And that post of me quoting myself was a stuff-up, by the way - only just realised that it happened)

[Swift]

The ZF versions are slower off the mark but have more gears to keep the engine revs lower and therefore increases durability and fuel economy as well as offering a much better top cruising speed.
The ones with Transdev, Mt Kuringai will sit on over 110km/h flat chat as I personally witnessed on the M1!!
I believe the Busways units have a shorter rear axle ratio but will still sit on about 100km/h or close to.
The Mercedes W3 transmissions have excellent off the mark performance but are only a three speed so are only good for 82km/h while at full cry. These transmissions are notoriously temperamental as well, but so is the ZF with it's often clunky shifting, particularly if the gas pedal is released suddenly. The Mercedes transmission is much better in this regard.
Overall though, the ZF is a better choice and sounds terrific in an 0405.

[Randommann]

The ZF versions are slower off the mark but have more gears to keep the engine revs lower and therefore increases durability and fuel economy as well as offering a much better top cruising speed.
The ones with Transdev, Mt Kuringai will sit on over 110km/h flat chat as I personally witnessed on the M1!!
I believe the Busways units have a shorter rear axle ratio but will still sit on about 100km/h or close to.
The Mercedes W3 transmissions have excellent off the mark performance but are only a three speed so are only good for 82km/h while at full cry. These transmissions are notoriously temperamental as well, but so is the ZF with it's often clunky shifting, particularly if the gas pedal is released suddenly. The Mercedes transmission is much better in this regard.
Overall though, the ZF is a better choice and sounds terrific in an 0405.

I did have a small taste of a ZF-equipped O405 in STA 3533 during the farewell tour, and it was very impressive. It had both a mix of the O405s I'm used to and a nice-sounding modern bus in one (Which I suppose what the bus kind of actually was anyways). I'll always love the W3E noises but the ZF-equipped O405 noise in 3533 gave off an equally great impression, just a different one. The bus always seemed to be "comfortable" during the run given the higher top speed, narrower ratios and whatnot - something a Mark V would not boast going flat strap on the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Edwards' Metro 90 O405s were by far the fastest off the mark in the fleet. They were actually fairly unique amongst the school buses since the others had 6-7 litre engines that had little torque at low RPM. Compared to them, the OM447h engines were hulks in terms of pure capacity and immediate torque. The off-the-mark performance was greatly beneficial in Armidale given the surprising amount of traffic during peak hours (Coupled with some tricky intersections).
Considering that basically all of Armidale's streets are limited to 50kph, the low top speed from the W3E wasn't a problem. In many ways I think that the W3E's advantages make use of Armidale's environment very well (Though they might still use more fuel than a ZF-equipped O405 would here).

6195 MO (New to Blue Ribbon) was the smoothest of the bunch in terms of gear changes. I couldn't feel them at all whenever I rode on it! It was perhaps ironic that its gearbox failed about 12 months ago which left it sitting in the yard since. A bit of a shame I'd say given that its body was in better condition than the Quinces ones too.
In a lot of ways the Hinos/OH1418s that replaced the O405s on their runs about a month ago offered a downgrade in features, despite their newer age.