London Buses 1986-Inside Loughton Garage on its Last Night-Leyland Nationals Galore!
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- čas přidán 7. 09. 2024
- Some more Leyland National action now, this time Loughton Garage on its last night of operation, 23 May 1986. See inside views of the garage, buses going through the wash, service buses arriving for the last time and shots of the dock area around the back and the FFD pit area with Titan's from West Ham and Barking. This garage was opened in 1953 replacing the ex LGOC one across the road (that still stands as a DIY store) and was a lot bigger in anticipation of the mini new town planned for the Debden Estate. Due to Green Belt legislation that never happened and Loughton was always underused. Part of it was used to store new RT buses when first opened and in later years was rented out to a private company. By 1986 LRT route tendering had caught up with the out-of-London operations which most of Loughton's work was and the garage lost all of it's work and so closed after service on Friday 23 May 1986. We see the garage on that day in the early part of the evening, with Leyland Nationals running in, a Leyton one picking up some bits & pieces for their allocation and a visiting RT dropping in. If you liked the video please subscribe to my channel, there are lots more transport & quirky vids to upload!
Can anybody else smell them Nationals too..? To me they had a very distinctive scent about them and the high quality of this footage made me remember that warm ambiance
Thank you....i do remember the look, and smell of the blue smoke of the MkI Nationals....definatly an experience working at Leyton were we had 30 plus of them!
Those Leyland Nationals are magnificent vehicles. The design is timeless, still a very modern looking bus even after 40 odd years.
And very stylish design unmatched ever since.
I don't know why modern buses don't have rivets.
Why don't you get rivets in modern bus construction?
@@crazyleyland5106bonding glue
I have always loved the sound of a National 1 being thrashed. One of the sounds of my childhood and I miss it.
Yes, they were part of the scene in my teens......
I love the guy at the start with the pipe hanging from his mouth whilst driving the LS.
An old school LT worker!.....
I think every bus depot used to have one lol
Good capture for the ages.
Has anyone noticed how laid back the workplace was then ? Work got done, but everyone was jovial. Unlike today where the 'fun' word has been made illegal in the workplace, and it's all eyes down and serious. Horrible world now.
Dover One Foxtrot you're right. The clowning really made this clip. Nowadays everybody has to take on the appearance of being proper. It's all part of this big brother world were in.
Yes, i think people could still have a laugh at work in those days....before everyone was brought up to be offended at everyone and everything!.......
Completely agree mate, it’s a pretty sad place now, wish a few of us like mined ones could go back to a better time.
I used to work for London Country. No exactly what you mean. Best working days of my life. So many characters, so many laughs and the work still got done.
Great video. I did my apprenticeship at Peckham (Queens road) and we used to have a great laugh, lots of workplace banter with us apprentices getting the brunt of it but the jobs all still got done, fond memories. The LS was never my favourite to work on, give me an RM(L) or even a T any day 😂
Absolutely brilliant ! Thank goodness someone thought of filming this for posterity !
It was actually a friend of mine who got me whipped up to do this night (i stayed until the last bus was in and he drove me home) plus things like Aldenham Works or Chiswick Works.....and he was the one into AEC vehicles and had me filming all the fire brigade films i have uploaded....i'm pleased he did now!
I’m so glad he did - in fact THX 139S - I drove at Neaves (Norfolk) before she was scraped 😞 happy days but looking back now, sad, thinking that once they’ve gone, they’ve gone forever- would’ve thought a bus would impact .....
*Posterity!!
Leyland National Heaven.
I so miss them beasts.
Yes, there's some real good National thrash on this complete with blue smoke.......
@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus
👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
Love the London Nationals as they were fully automatic the same as Cardiff's ones 212-221.
Ours kicked down too so you could thrash it back into first gear lol😄😄😄
Them destination flaps banging open and closed everytime you had a severe gear change was immense🤗.
ah the memories.
Thanks so much for sharing this.
👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
chris217 Melbourne's fleet of 30 Nationals in Australia had the ZF 2 speed auto. Second gear had a locking torque converter clutch.
The ZF dial controller with D, N and R positions was inv place of the stick gear shifter. One unit with this transmission operated in the UK.
@@jamesfrench7299
Cardiff Bus had a batch of ZF Nationals too.
Nos. 201-211. To the same configuration to your description.
No good on very hilly routes and prone to overheating on long stretches.
They were beasts.
Screamed in first gear til about 30mph.
Barrow Borough Transport was the only other operator in the UK I knew of that operated ZF Nationals,but I knew about the Australian ones. Wernt they 10.9m versions too?
In the UK we operated 10.m and 11.3 m versions.
Need to search youtube for the Austrailian models in action tbh.
Would be great to see.
chris217 that's some good information. It was a rarely taken up official option. Melbourne and Metropolitan Tramways Board (M&MTB) ordered theirs in 10.3m length in 1975. Other operators such as Canberra's Australian Capital Territory Internal Omnibus Network (ACTION) operated 70 of the 10.9m length developed for the Australian market to maximise length while meeting axle weight limits. This was achieved using the 11.3m section forward of the rear axle and the 10.3m rearward.
I bet the ZF version had a lot of slip from a standing start as though it were being driven from second or even third gear in the semi auto version with a slipping fluid flywheel into the bargain!!
I'd love to hear one.
Nationals were great buses for the passenger- two seating heights (too high and too low)...plus a heating system based on blowing hot air down wards from the roof!!
But who can forget the thrill (or vibration) of a ride on the back seat when a ‘Sirling Moss’ driver was in charge on the last trip of the day? Always amazed that the engines never rattled themselves out the back of the bus, whilst the haze of blue smoke is probably still lingering around the site of this depot today!!!
Great stuff indeed!!
Yes, Nationals have a charm all their own. I have driven a few, lovely buses.....
Brings back many memories, great to see Reg again after all these years.
I aim to please, glad you enjoyed it....and see old faces again....
Those were t days when Britain had a thing called FREE SPEECH now it’s called political correctness
Great video, nice to see that someone took the time to film this .
I had a soft spot for Loughton, the London bus garage in the countryside.... It had RT's, MB's and SMS's when i first knew it.....
Superb footage! That bus wash looked a bit erratic, no wonder they all had filthy rear ends.
You had to go through really slow so the brushes could rub along the back windows. This being the last the garage closed i don't suppose the General Hands were too concerned........
To think being on them going to see Queen at Wembley stadium (1986 Magic Tour) not know that was the last time I would see Freddie mercury alive
How lucky were you 👍, I miss the 80s full stop, great times
Love the clatter and whine of the Nationals. Always a sad day when a long-time garage closes
Yes, the original Nationals had a unique sound all their own. Loughton had a very short history really, the original garage still exists as a Homebase store but this one here opened in 1954 but had closed by 1986. It was a very large garage, built for the planned Debden New Town but the Green Belt legislation put paid to that. So the garage never came close to being full and parts were sub-let, the section where the buses were stored and locked in after service this evening was the are concerned.
Please be a part 2 please!!
This is the best LN footage I have seen to date. I just cannot believe it.
I can't thank you enough.
Funnily enough, there is more! I was there until the last bus ran in....a sad day!
Lovely!!!!
Great footage as ever. Never got to do Loughton. Closest I got was with my dad on the first day of the X99 Forester which we got from Billericay to Basildon then all the way to Harlow. From memory I think the building at L was still standing then. If only I'd appreciated things more then!!
It was still standing in 1988 as i went there on a bus tour and we were able to look around the place. I'm pretty sure by 1990 it was demolished sadly.....
@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus and the old depot across the way just had a quick makeover into yet another Lidl store and yet more car traffic. As if the well heeled residents of Loughton were starving...
@@ccjelley2390 Lol....i know what you mean, i would have though more of a Somerfield around there than a Lidl! Amazing that the old garage still survives though.....
@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus Since Lidl got to work on it this year, it's become unrecognisable again, though the old west wall survives to be seen. I should have taken a photo after all the Homebase veneer came off - it looked like an old cinema or theatre. Now it's been clad again, but the old front probably survives underneath.
Old skool London, greatly missed.
Yes, i know exactly how you feel......
My dad spent 38 years working for London Underground first as a cleaner on the buses and then on London Underground and then driving the underground trains and then TFL then as a private contractor health and safety officer and protection master on London Underground through a contractor and he used to have the red London Underground vans to drive in the beginning , I also remember when these buses and the Leyland Titans and Olympians and the Routemasters were in service and riding on them, thank you for the memories.
My pleasure.... i too worked for the Underground and buses over the years.....
I just love this. I missed out on Loughton, I was only 15 when it closed. Looked great and I loved the LSs. Please can we have part two sooner than soon?
Thanks for sharing.
My pleasure, i'll see what i can do.....Have you seen my other Loughton routes vids? See them here czcams.com/video/glZCSLY3w48/video.html and here czcams.com/video/-qJUswJbtRc/video.html
Another excellent video with a few faces I recognize from back in the day . Thanks for uploading Richard . Regards, Paul.
My pleasure. I can't believe this was 34 years ago now.......
@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus Yes how time flys by, happy days at WH.
@@DELTIC55007 yes, i worked there for 9 months....Titan's and Routemasters until they left and Poplar shut, then it was Titan's and Nationals......
Great video cheers mate
Great nationals people having fun wow clipboards worst nightmare lol that bus wash is a state of the art eco version too lol
Great footage. Can't say the same about that bus wash!
I don't think they were too bothered how clean they were this night.....
I love the sound of the Leyland National great sound
Yes, i liked the thrash of a Mark 1 nNtional!
@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus ok cool the mk II makes a great sound aswell
I worked for North Western in Liverpool, we had a batch of BYW-V Nationals re-engined with Volvo engines, I wonder if any of them were ever allocated to Loughton a garage I had heard of but never knew much about, thanks for sharing
I have some video i took of Liverpool, lots of Titans but do remember seeing a couple of ex LT nationals in red & yellow. And a MkII, LS 489 i think, with a small operater with light blue buses. It had its original body, not a Greenway job.....
Oohh that's familiar. Different route but that was my school bus!
Leyland Nationals were in use all over London in the 1980s.....
Wow never knew this 😊 great vid very intresting
I aim to please.....
I remember the union meetings; pre-privatisation. I was at Streatham Garage. They always said that Loughton would be the first casualty if it went ahead. Privatising the buses has only worked for a few rich people. Not the passengers; and definately not the staff. Even some of the larger companies; were not allowed to stay as they were upon privatisation. They were sold off piecemeal they were told they were too large and that would hurt competition. Why do those rules not apply now? Over a certain size bus companies should be forced to sell on. They said that instead of 2 buses an hour; competition meant people could get ten. Unfortunately they got all ten buses at the same time. Time I suggest for a rethink.
They had some foresight although Loughton wasn't the first. Poplar had shut in November 1985 but it was one of the early ones. London is still regulated to a lrage degree but outside it is very hit & miss as to what service you get.
@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus Its one of the reasons that public transport used to be so strictly controlled. To stop the mayhem. I remember Nicholas Ridley (Transport minister;Thatcher Cabinet) wanting all London Buses replaced by self employed drivers in minibuses. It was a serious recomendation too. He had shares in a far east manufacturer of mini buses. The T&GWU found that out. Purely a co-incidence he said, then she sacked him.. It didn't help that Margret Thatcher said that anyone over 30 that relies on public transport is a failure. I don't know what will happen now. Social distancing and the like. Interesting times ahead I think.
Understeer heaven
Great buses back in the day the 80's they were a little noisy and smokey I miss them 👍😄
Yes, i worked in bus garage's back then, always a smokey place to be.....i can still see & 'feel' the blue tinged smoke!
recently arrived on a railway near you.👍👍 well if you lived outside London anyway..
You don't like Nationals on wheels?.......Some have to be saved, they did indeed help BR keep lines open back in the 80s.....
@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus they just seemed a backward step at the time . first week of use liverpool to wigan there was a severe storm. and BR were so worried they'd be blown off an embankment or viaduct they rolled out all the old class 1xx they had just withdrawn till they could be tested empty in a real life gale. my dad was a guard on them. ... admittedly they're a million times better on cw rail. if only they'd had bogeys on they'd have been brilliant .but yes they were the saviour of branch lines and commuter rail.. but they ended up doing liverpool to Blackpool. leeds to carlisle. far too long a journey for comfort.
@@Mitch-Hendren Yes, i agree totally, they were used on a lot of lines unsuited to what they were. But they have tromped on for years, they were typical Nationals....built like tanks!
@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus not bad for something that was only meant to last 10 years.. like our house, steel prefab built in 1946 as a stop gap. still occupied today . while the "permanent replacement " large panel maisonettes for them were built in 1972 and demolished with concrete defects by 1989 .
Fantastic footage. I was lucky enough to own LS274 a few years ago, any footage from Leyton Depot? Keep the excellent videos coming.
I do have some film from Leyton but only Routemasters i'm afraid.....but i may well some upload soon......
10:06 Australia Post ran a fleet of these about the same time span as the LS in LT roundel years -and they were all over red.
They were assembled by Ford Australia and had 4.1 litre inline sixes with three speed automatic.
I think they are the best looking van ever made.
Sounds like they had a bit of thrash about them....
Soi Buakhao the engines were from the Aussie Ford Falcon cars like the yellow police interceptor sedans you see near the start of Mad Max (1979).
If you weren't looking, they sounded exactly the same. That's what fascinated me about them.
Leyland National wow this bus rocks the engine looks good and used to be on Midlands London I don't know when it got withdrawn Leyland national is a good bus in London
So was the Leyland Titan and Leyland Olympian are old buses
I used to ride T595 to school when it was at Leyton
At this time Leyton had no Titans, only Routemasters and Nationals. Funnily enough Loughton only had Titan's for about 9 months before it went all National.
THX 226S, and THX 255S ended their days with Glyn Williams Travel (Crosskeys then Pontllanfraith) in South Wales, after being on the road their for a few years, AYR 349T also went to Glyn Williams Travel but finished its days working for Shamrock Travel of Pontypridd.
Thanks for the info about their fate, always nice to know some lived on for a while longer!
I grew up in Yorkshire where these were a common site in the same colour running for WYRCC serving Leeds and Bradford. Indentical except for single door and no service number indicator at the rear. I loved these buses.... 😍
LT had theirs built to suit their needs, bit like Metrobuses, MCW only offered their original design, LT came along, suggested they might buy several hundred but only mod'd to LT's spec. Strangely enough MCW decided they would change the build to suit LT! It paid off though, LT brought 1442 of them!.....
love the leyland national
Yes, a good solidly built bus, complete with factory fitted blue smoke.... lol
The 179 run in from Chingford station was always flat out...
That was the one Loughton route that LB won on tendering. LRT wasn't happy about that so there was a 'tender error' and the route was re-awarded to another operator!
Can someone explain to me the funny 'handle' in the middle of the National's windscreen
It seems older buses had a border in the middle of the front windscreen up until the mid 2000s
I didn't know that "newer" vehicles allowed to display those silver-on-black number plates back then - now it's only pre-1973.
London Transport vehicles were, right up until the last Titans and Metrobuses were delivered in 1984! They had an exemption from the rules.....
@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus Also Edinburgh and Reading continued with white on black rear plates into the 80s.
So thank you for the bus vids but one thing got my attention.... your channel name.... soi buakhao...... livingnin thailand or there regularly?
I visit semi regularly.... and i have a few vids uploaded from Thailand including Thai buses, trains & planes! czcams.com/play/PLRjJ3alLpN5w3OWY_taGsi3MXOSWFZ3TK.html
I forgot how smoky some of the old bus exhausts were! It's almost impenetrable at 2:10!
Ah, yes! The Leyland National blue smoke.....well known for it as they thrashed up!
When Diesel fumes were good for you 😂
I breathed in quite a lot in my time, along with tube tunnel dust!
Just noticed that these Nationals were fitted with Timtronic ticket machines. Were these kept at the receiving garages or were they swapped over to other machines?
Those machines may well have been unique to Loughton, the Leyton National appears to have a base plate for an Almex E machine. If Loughton did have their own machines then any vehicles transfered out would have had it removed.
That’s another great video! Have you got any internal footage from (the old) WH garage? Many thanks.
There are some inside shots on these uploads czcams.com/video/RsBH376L5lE/video.html and czcams.com/video/TBe3TBJLZ3M/video.html....enjoy!
Ok, many thanks 👍
THX the sound test?
did i see THX156S in the video? was THX155S located here as i've driven that bus with vanguard coaches of bedworth in the early 1990's.
Could have been, Loughton had an all LS allocatioin at the end. A lot were withdrawn atfter it closed and sold off....
@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus thank you for your reply
@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus that makes this a very historically significant video. Just noticed the last of the Nationals 437 getting washed.
A 1980 build.
How spooky - I believe I am in this footage
Where were you that evening?......
5 minutes 40 seconds in - a young 18 year old, rolled down overalls and white T-shirt - and by the looks of the gloves I was fuelling that evening!
@@vincentdalzell8741 I remember you well.... a bit of a loon if i rememeber?...... lol. I used to work at West Ham with the other younger Generalhand on duty that evening.....
@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus just young and naive - Good video brought back some nice memories.
Was it you that uploaded the video of OK Travel in Peterlee?
No, that is not one of mine.....
Strange ticket machines there
It may have been because a lot of Loughton's work was outside the Londaon area, in Essex. The fare structure was different outside London, the 201s didn't touch London at all!
LS513 is over here in NSW, wanted to buy it but couldn't afford the 10k sterling she wanted
W Wood I came across LS13 in Dee Why a few years ago and the engine sounded shot! Tired is an understatement!!
Wow! That's a lot for a National......
Soi Buakhao Australians think anything old it worth a mint, yet want to lowball you for your stuff!
That pipe in his mouth!😀, better days, when diesels were diesels, and people could speak freely, and London was still Britain.
Yes, life was more laid back then and people happier even if they didn't always know it!
Great Channel... May we add you as a featured channel?
Thank you, as is yours, i've had a little peek! Yes, that sounds ok, i take it my uploads will still play as Soi Buakhao? I'm always happy for more people to see the classic films i have shot over the years.......
@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus Yes absolutely it's simply a link to the channel so when folk click the link they are taken to your channel and your films... Feel free to subscribe and link to us if you like... We'd love to have you! :)
I WORKED AT LOUGHTON GARAGE MY NAME IS CLIVE SHEPHERD LIVE IN DEVON NOW
(MY LOVELY WIFE PASSED ON IN NOV 2019 SADLY MISSED) REMEMBER IT WELL FOND MEMORIES BEST WISHES TO ALL THAT REMAIN ...CLIVE
Hi Clive, i hope my vid reminded you of happier times. I remember Loughton with RTs on the 20A & 167A, MBs on the 20s and SMSs on the 167 & 254. A lovely little garage, when out filming near the end, a driver on the 201s got talking to my mate & i in the garage canteen (we were LT staff back then) and we managed to get him to stop near Ivy Chimneys to wait the other 201 and get both on film together! That's for a future upload, but have you seen my other Loughton vids? See them here czcams.com/video/glZCSLY3w48/video.html and here czcams.com/video/-qJUswJbtRc/video.html
I think LS 306 was ex Poplar. Great memories. I did my LT bus driver training at this garage in 1976. Funny little place. Sad it's gone. Btw, was that Mick Langley in the LS?
I can't remember his name. I never actually worked at Loughton but knew one of the General Hands and the Leyton engineers. But it wasn't a little place, it was actually huge! If filled to capacity it would probably park 150 or so buses. But the Debden Estate never got enlarged into a New Town so it was always under utilised.....
@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus thanks great footage.👍
You know what would happen nowadays. “You can’t find in the bus station. It’s against the law”.
Oh yes, they would go mental nowadays! At the time i was LT staff and knew one of the night Generalhands so getting in was easy, especially as you say it was more laid back then! I did the same at Edmonton's last night, film for another upload i think....
Did LT like the Leyland National?
Yes, they had a trail batch of 6 alongside 6 Metro-Scania's. They performed better than the MS class and when an order for 51 Nationals for Venezuela was cancelled LT took them on. They de-rathed the engines and they performed reasonably well into the late 80s....They started to be withdrawn when some routes got busier and were able to go double deck (like the 248, re-routed away from a low bridge) or being surplas due to the route tending process starting and the route losses LT incured.....
@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus Thanks for the information, I worked at the Leyland National factory at Lillyhall Workington
@@ronmccullock1407 I did read from more than one source that LT considered them among their most reliable buses and were very happy with them. Way better than their MBS and SMS class.
I think the auto gear change helped keep their revs low in service, as well as London's flat topography and mild climate helping prevent overheating. I notice in Soi's footage of them on route, they putt along without revving too much, compared to how I remember them driven with manual change setting!
@@jamesfrench7299 Thanks for clarifying
I remember Loughton when it had RT’s, that was years ago, couldn’t recall those dirty polluting Leyland Nationals, then one day 30/40 years later, the garage had been demolished.
I remember RTs running from Loughton the the 20A and the 217A. There were MBs on the 20s and SMS's on the 167 & 254s. The garage was still there in 1988 but was demolished by 1990. While the original still stands on the other side of the road!
Soi Buakhao
My memories are fading fast, couldn’t tell you the bus routes now or the vehicle types.
B15 Titan
They were from other garage's and at Loughton as it was an FFD Test Centre. Loughton only had Titan's for around 9 months back in 1982 and then went all National......
What was the RT doing? Surely they weren't still running in 1986? I grew up in south London and saw plenty of RMs but never an RT. Leyland Nationals were horrible, noisy buggers.
Matthew Smith it was a preserved one likely brought along as a farewell.
Correct! Wasn't there long as i recall......
@2.15
Il never ever forget that smell of the exhaust.........check that for climate change !!!!! Greta !!!!!!!
Lol...... great sense of humour......
@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus 🙏🏻 thank you
Respect
Climate change = C.C in numerology
33 ....its THEM talking to each other