MAN SL202 Retirements

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MAN SL202 Retirements

Post by Lt. Commander Data »

Considering the SL202 retirements are starting up, I thought I'd start a thread about it. My vision for this thread is for it to be like the AdMet V2 Summary thread, where I will edit this post as withdrawals are reports. Please only post confirmed withdrawals here, small speculation is fine (i.e no one has seen xxx bus for 2 months, is it still in service?) though. Now for a bit of background on the SL202s.

Image
MAN SL202 Diesel #421 on route X30 to West Lakes. Taken on the 29th of July 2016 opposite the RAH.
The MAN SL202 Diesels were introduced to service with the STA in April 1992, starting with 1321 and 1322. 25 diesel versions were made, with the numbers 1321-1345. After the STA was dissolved in 1994, they were in service with TransAdelaide with the same numbers.
When TransAdelaide was privatised, 1321-1338 went into service with Serco, and were renumbered to 421-438. 1339-1345 were transferred (and subsequently renumbered) to Serco in 2002. They then moved to Torrens Transit in 2005, and 441-445 to Light-City Buses in 2011. All diesel SL202s were used on the O-Bahn. The first 5 buses (421-425) had a different gearbox to the rest, a ZF as opposed to a Voith.

Image
MAN SL202 CNG #1628 on route 171, taken opposite the RAH on the 21st of July 2016.
The MAN SL202 CNGs were introduced to service with the STA in March 1993, starting with 1601. They were progressively brought into service until they reached 1699; the 100th SL202 CNG was numbered 1600. After the STA was dissolved in 1994, they were in service with TransAdelaide with the same numbers.
When TransAdelaide was privatised, some of the buses went into service with Serco, the rest with Torrens Transit. The buses that entered service with Serco (1641-1699, 1600) were renumbered to 841-899 and 840, while the ones operated by Torrens Transit remained in the 1600 range (as 1601-1640).
After Serco lost their contracts, 840-899 were in service with Torrens Transit.
In 2011 when Light-City buses won the Outer North-East and North-South contract areas, 840-899 were transferred to them. When they lost several routes to Torrens Transit due to on-time running issues (routes 190-196, 230-232 and W90-W91), many SL202 CNGs were transferred back to Torrens Transit. There buses were 840-851, 852-854, 857-861, 863-867, 875, 883 and 891-899. 1601-1603, 1605 stayed at Torrens Transit for a while after the new contracts in 2011 before being transferred to Light-City Buses. They then moved back to Torrens Transit and are currently in service with them.
Some CNG models were given modifications by AEC, these being 849, 883, 896, 1604, 1617 and 1622.
Some CNG models were also trialled on the O-Bahn, but ultimately deemed too underpowered for the job. These buses were 1601 and 1617.

The SL202 CNGs were the first main CNG bus type used in Adelaide.
The SL202s were also the last high-floor chassis ordered for Adelaide (with certain odd-bods (like LCB's 611-613) not counting, as they weren't ordered for Adelaide, rather bought second hand).
MAN SL202 buses entered service in the red and blue "Speedstripe livery". Sometime in the early 2000s they were repainted into standard "AdMet" livery, as shown in the pictures.

All SL202s were bodied by PMC Adelaide, with Diesel and CNG buses having the same body on them. The body used on the SL202s is very similar to that on NL202s and 11.190s.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And now on to the number part...

SL202 Diesels Currently in Service:
425, 426, 428, 432, 438, 439, 441, 443-445

Number still in service = 10. Original number in service = 25. Percentage of original still in service = 40%


SL202 CNGs Currently in Service:
1601-1621, 1623-1640, 840-864, 866-874, 876-882, 884-895, 897-899

Number still in service = 95. Original number in service = 100. Percentage of original still in service = 95%


SL202 Diesels removed:
421-424, 427-431, 433-437, 440, 442 (6)
SL202 CNGs removed:
1622, 865, 875, 883, 896 (5)


Other photos of SL202s posted here by me can be found here and here.
Please note: All information listed above is from Fleetlists and information available elsewhere on this board. Some operator information was sourced from Wikipedia and in The Phonj's post below. If anyone has any corrections for any of the info shown above, please don’t hesitate to tell me.

Edit 1, 07/09/16: Minor fix regarding the whereabouts of 444.
Edit 2, 07/09/16: Information on operators and AEC modified buses corrected. Livery information added in as well.
Edit 3, 18/09: 443 returned to service.
Edit 3, 20/09: 421, 422, 423 listed as removed.
Edit 4, 20/09: 422 added back in lieu of recent post.
Edit 5, 22/09: 427 listed as removed.
Edit 6, 9/10: 440 listed as removed.
Edit 7, 20/10: 426 listed as removed, 440 added back in lieu of recent post.
Edit 8, 21/10: 440 listed as removed (again), 426 reinstated as in service.
Edit 9, 28/10: 424 listed as removed.
Edit 10, 31/10: 429 listed as removed.
Edit 11, 11/11/16: 442 listed as removed.
Edit 12, 23/12/16: 436 listed as removed.
Edit 13, 12/04/17: 422, 430, 431, 433, 434, 435, 436 and 437 listed as removed.
Last edited by Lt. Commander Data on Wed Apr 12, 2017 5:26 pm, edited 21 times in total.
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Re: MAN SL202 Retirements

Post by jibb »

444 is still in service at Morphettville,
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Re: MAN SL202 Retirements

Post by Hawkeye »

No mention of 444 :lol:
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Re: MAN SL202 Retirements

Post by Lt. Commander Data »

Hawkeye wrote:No mention of 444 :lol:
That's the issue; it said 421-442, 445. 443 is gone, but 444 is still in service, so should have said 421-442, 444, 445. Fixed now.
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Re: MAN SL202 Retirements

Post by The Phonj »

Couple of comments to make....

STA was never privatised per se. It was effectively a split of the former Authority into separate operations and administration roles. The administration role became the Passenger Transport Board while the operations side became TransAdelaide.

Upon privatisation in 2000, Serco received 1321-1338 (renumbered 421-438. 1339-1345 went to Torrens Transit, but in c. 2002 went to Serco where they received their current fleet numbers.

1601-1603, 1605 didn't go straight to Light-City, they stayed at Torrens for a while before being transferred. From memory, they returned to Torrens before the Light-City routes were transferred to Torrens.

CNG buses fitted with AEC gas management systems were: 1604, 1617, 1622, 849, 883, 896.
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Re: MAN SL202 Retirements

Post by TA3001 »

So why does 1617 sound different to 1604? It sounds like it has something wrong with it, where as 1604 has a high pitch retarder/braking sound, but nothing else noteworthy about it. It's exactly the same as 878.
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Re: MAN SL202 Retirements

Post by UNV »

Don't have chances to experience 443, the last o-bahn equipped SL202, any more. What a pity!
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Re: MAN SL202 Retirements

Post by witsend »

I'm expecting that the sale of these vehicles will prove very interesting. The diesels will go, no doubt. I'm sure a number of people on here have been saving for them to be listed soon. However, 100 CNG life expired buses, hmmm. Wonder what will happen there. As I understand it, there aren't exactly many facilities for privately fueling CNG outside the current bus depots.
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Re: MAN SL202 Retirements

Post by Lt. Commander Data »

witsend wrote:I'm expecting that the sale of these vehicles will prove very interesting. The diesels will go, no doubt. I'm sure a number of people on here have been saving for them to be listed soon. However, 100 CNG life expired buses, hmmm. Wonder what will happen there. As I understand it, there aren't exactly many facilities for privately fueling CNG outside the current bus depots.
Rail subs, I recon. Use the CNGs on normal route work (from CP, Morphettville, Mile End, etc.) and then "normal" buses from these depots at Elizabeth/Pooraka for the Gawler electrification. After that...? I wonder whether Horizons West (in WA) has CNG refuelling facilities... conversion for a bus that age would be pointless, maybe stright to Sims?
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Re: MAN SL202 Retirements

Post by PD2/20 »

Lt. Commander Data wrote:
Rail subs, I recon. Use the CNGs on normal route work (from CP, Morphettville, Mile End, etc.) and then "normal" buses from these depots at Elizabeth/Pooraka for the Gawler electrification. After that...? I wonder whether Horizons West (in WA) has CNG refuelling facilities... conversion for a bus that age would be pointless, maybe stright to Sims?
The size of the rail sub fleet for Gawler electrification work could possibly be smaller than the previous closures which involved track replacement as well. The initial electification has been planned for Adelaide to Salisbury. Even this could be done as a number of smaller stretches Adelaide - Islington - Dry Creek - Mawson Lakes. A major part of the work is the erection of the masts. Also quite a lot of the Adelaide Yard wiring was done overnight.
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Re: MAN SL202 Retirements

Post by The Phonj »

I can't see a large scale closure of Adelaide-Dry Creek happening for the electrification of the line; isolating the railcar depot from the rest of the network would effectively require closure of the entire network. I can see a lot of night work and weekend closures for the work to proceed however; and these closures could easily be accommodated with the regular fleet from any contractor.

A random thought though; could the storage of surplus buses be a hark back to the 1970's when the MTT stored about 50 surplus "three-door" buses; mostly Leyland Worldmasters. These were ultimately returned to traffic in 1974 when Lewis Bros stopped running metropolitan route services. Why they were stored? - I'll have to leave that to an older member but it was at around the time of oil crisis - should a shortage of oil occur in Australia, or the prices considerably increase, an increase in demand on Adelaide Metro services would certainly occur.
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Re: MAN SL202 Retirements

Post by witsend »

I'd expect that it'd be night and weekend works. With the proximity of the ARTC line, full closure isn't going to happen. Bus subs between Mawson Lakes and the City at Night would probably work OK. If you work out that they will also need to close the entire harbour line for T2T, it means the Belair Line is the only line that needs services. Diesel can be stored, and refuelled at Seaford overnight at least, or Adelaide Railway Station yards.
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Re: MAN SL202 Retirements

Post by Eagle Eye »

The Phonj wrote:Cry Creek
:cry: :cry: :cry:
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Re: MAN SL202 Retirements

Post by coach driver 1981 »

443 is still in service not retired just yet
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Re: MAN SL202 Retirements

Post by jibb »

coach driver 1981 wrote:443 is still in service not retired just yet
Already mentioned in "September observations".
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Re: MAN SL202 Retirements

Post by coach driver 1981 »

Has port started retiring these buses yet? Went past port depot today and 427, 431, 435, and one other bus sitting along the fence line today not sure if theyre being retired or were all there for mechanical work
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Re: MAN SL202 Retirements

Post by TA3001 »

435's been out of service for weeks now, but 427 and 431 were in service last month. I think that track is basically known as the dead track, which probably means that a vehicle is waiting for parts or retired.

Wasn't aware of the last two mentioned having any issues.
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Re: MAN SL202 Retirements

Post by TT »

I don't think 421 and 423 have been dispatched for over a week now and I think the last time 422 was used was last Tuesday so I think those 3 have all done their last run, but not sure if officially retired yet.
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Re: MAN SL202 Retirements

Post by operator541 »

Hi guys, what's the usual way of sale for ex metro buses these days? Considering looking at getting one.
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Re: MAN SL202 Retirements

Post by Diesel_MAN »

TT wrote:I don't think 421 and 423 have been dispatched for over a week now and I think the last time 422 was used was last Tuesday so I think those 3 have all done their last run, but not sure if officially retired yet.
I haven't seen 421 on TransitTimes since late last week, but I physically saw 422 on a 150 today. I'd have caught it if I had found it on TransitTimes before it started doing that 150.
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Re: MAN SL202 Retirements

Post by UNV »

Saw 441 & 442 at the same time at Modbury In/c this afternoon, which were doing 557 & 543 services. Interesting.
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Re: MAN SL202 Retirements

Post by TA3001 »

This has nothing to do with retirements. Shouldn't this be in the obs thread?
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Re: MAN SL202 Retirements

Post by UNV »

Oh sorry, it just came to my mind when skimming though this thread, my fault.
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Re: MAN SL202 Retirements

Post by I Follow PAFC »

See the MAN SL202 a lot on the 333.
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Re: MAN SL202 Retirements

Post by Diesel_MAN »

I Follow PAFC wrote:See the MAN SL202 a lot on the 333.
They're used commonly on many of Torrens Transit and Light-City Buses' routes. The only exceptions to that are O-Bahn routes, as 443 probably isn't be used on them every single weekday.
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