Historic buses

This first one looks modern, and was taken in 2007, but could easily be over 35 years old. When posted elsewhere, I didn't get a chassis/body maker, but the suggestion that it was second-hand from the prolific SA school fleet of the same type. I guess that it was still mobile in 2007: drive it in in June; out in October. I have seen it much more buried in snow. However, despite the purpose which it serves, they did not want skateboarders riding over the roof while performing rail tricks.
I may have been miscued. In the late 1970s, all parking for Mt Baw Baw was at the foot of the steep climb (unsurfaced), at Neulynn's (the site of an earlier timber mill). Everyone went by 4wd minibus to the chairlift base. Now the road is surfaced, the chairlift is dismantled, people drive to a mountaintop carpark, and Neulynn's is deserted. My suspicion is that the Falls Creek bus is part of the former Baw Baw fleet. That may have had four vehicles, with no two the same.

Roderick.

070830Th FallsCreek (Vic.). Terrain Park support bus.

I recall buses like this at a NSW resort.

They were 4WD International chassis.

merged with the opening post

M&MTB had a large fleet of AEC Regal Mk III half-cab buses. Following a union dispute re driver-only buses, Arbitration Commission ruled that the maximum number of seats for doo would be 31. A lot of Mk IIIs were shortened. The 1950s Mk IVs were built as 31 (much longer in Adelaide); the 1970s Mk VIs were all short. The IVs had preselector gearboxes; I am not sure what the older and newer ones had.

Roderick.

Apr.78 Box Hill (Melbourne, Vic.): M&MTB AEC Regal Mk VI (probably 723, aligned with the registration) & Mk III 519.

Here are some of the existing bus threads in this historic section. There are also many in the Events section, and the campervans converted from old buses thread.

Hoy:
www.hcvc.com.au/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1400035402
Atlantean:
www.hcvc.com.au/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1402628935
Bedford:
www.hcvc.com.au/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1395377954
Invicta:
www.hcvc.com.au/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1394674785
White and other semitrailer buses: www.hcvc.com.au/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1355351722
1961 Morris:
www.hcvc.com.au/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1392637504
Old double deck: www.hcvc.com.au/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1385023162

Roderick.

Near Powelltown (Vic.): LRRSA tour (exploring remains of timber tramways), McGeary's Parlor Coaches Bedford VAM 27, with a Denning body, operating for Australian Pacific. Sat.2.12.67. (Roderick Smith)
I guess: 'Continental Cruiser'?
Notice the usual cheating: 'Jet air' conditioned, which isn't airconditioning at all, just forced draft. Airlines used the same ploy: TAA with the 'Nation's jetline' emblazoned on F27s, and the notorious 'Jetair', which ran DC3s.

Roderick

Roderick, it is a VAM Bedford with a Denning body.

Kalgoorlie station (WA): The morning WAGR bus to Esperance, L67 with a trailer. Sat.18.1.69. (Roderick Smith)
I don't know how common the hauling of a trailer was on other routes. In this era, most of the road to Esperance was a single lane of bitumen, with wide gravel verges. When two vehicles met, either both would get off (at high speed), or a road train would hold the bitumen, and everything else would get off.
From Australian Bus Fleet Lists:
WAGR L67 Leyland Royal Tiger Cub RTC1/1 629309 body by M Nixon C30F [ie 30 seats plus freight?] Leyland EO600 6cyl 9.8 L 125 hp [90 kW] diesel engine

Roderick

These were built over 35 years ago: through 1977-78 (possibly a bit earlier, and possibly a bit later). M&MTB obtained 100. I have no idea how successful they were, and can't join the love/loathe debate. Class leader 850 was allocated to Tramway Museum Society of Victoria, and has been used for many tours (including one to Sydney). Here it is at Ballarat on a club tour to visit the preserved tramway.

Roderick.

920926Sa Ballarat (Vic.). MTA Volvo B59 850. J Bounds.

Here are two of Western Australian Government Railways passenger-cargo Fodens. These dated from 1950, and were used on minor routes.
WAGR had a very varied fleet over many years. See www.perthbus.info/index.php?page=10 .
It lists 21 of this PVSC6 model.
Other threads have looked at some of the other makes.

Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor

690127M Jerramungup (WA). Foden DP48. R Smith.



690121Tu Narrogin (WA) bus (probably Foden). R Smith