Arriva North West - Bootle Depot

[SLTRegular]

RE: Arriva North West - Bootle Depot
4064 was one of my favourites when allocated to Skem its not the best at Hills namely Upholland it used to struggle up it to be honest not as bad as 3024/5 but still quite bad that was on the 375/385/395/313 but its certainly fun on country roads especially around Ormskirk and seems quite well padded seats for a DLA. is 4064 one of the Derby or Bootle refurbed examples as i remmeber one of the companies had higher standards than the other as the one that refurbed 4091 hardly even did anything to it and entered service at Skem in a Vandalised London state i think this is why 4091 transferred to Speke and Manchester as cover quite often because Skem seemed ashamed of it..

[MPTE1955]

RE: Arriva North West - Bootle Depot
I think 4064 might have been a Bootle refurbishment, you can't tell where the middle doors would have been on the their ones. Whereas with the Derby refurbishments you can easily see where they were, if were to look at say 4064 & 4026 for example you will be able to spot the difference.

[mathias]

RE: Arriva North West - Bootle Depot
Odd allocations on 52/52A today, with Trident/Enviro400 deckers seen, such as 4423 (MX09 LXE).
2228 (X228 ANC) DartSLF/Pointer2 also seen on this route.

SO WHERE ARE THE PULSARS THEN?
In for MOT possibly??
The 2917-2929 Pulsar1s are EXACTLY four years old today (new 01-02-2009), so this might explain it then?

And the DVLA describe these Pulsars as DAF buses, rather than VDLs. Odd!

[MPTE1955]

RE: Arriva North West - Bootle Depot
A pulsar 1 was on the the 60 this morning, didnt catch which one as on the other side of Queens Drive, it was dark and I was driving, however this is still unusual for one of these to be working 60 in a weekday.

[Wright Eclipse]

RE: Arriva North West - Bootle Depot

(01/02/2013 16:23)mathias Wrote:  And the DVLA describe these Pulsars as DAF buses, rather than VDLs. Odd!

arnt DAF & VDL The same thing,isnt it just like calling a Transbus/ADL Dart a Dennis Dart?

[H101GEV (Administrator)]

RE: Arriva North West - Bootle Depot
Some interesting workings from Bootle today with 2228, 7649 and 4423 all substituting for Pulsars on the 52, while the 56 was fully in the hands of DLAs. 4030 worked what is normally the single decker working, with 4074 and 4089 the other allocations. One of the other old liveried DLAs (presumably 4026 or 4028) was on what I'm pretty certain was the 55, seen entering Queen Square at around 15.55.

Had a ride on 4074 which for me is still a very good example. I can't fault its ride at all - the engine makes a nice sound that varies from its sisters and it showed a good turn of speed today. Add in a very presentable interior and you have an impressive bus in my view.

[H101GEV (Administrator)]

RE: Arriva North West - Bootle Depot
Had a ride on 4028 today along the majority of the 61 route and for me, it is a fine bus. It didn't have any speed issues at all, accelerating well and maintaining a good speed throughout the trip - certainly 4094 was a lot slower. The only real issue concerned the hard seat backs, but this didn't spoil what was a pleasant ride. The difference between this and former Bootle bus 3313 today was enormous.

[H101GEV (Administrator)]

RE: Arriva North West - Bootle Depot

(31/01/2013 21:06)SLTRegular Wrote:  4064 was one of my favourites when allocated to Skem its not the best at Hills namely Upholland it used to struggle up it to be honest not as bad as 3024/5 but still quite bad that was on the 375/385/395/313 but its certainly fun on country roads especially around Ormskirk and seems quite well padded seats for a DLA. is 4064 one of the Derby or Bootle refurbed examples as i remmeber one of the companies had higher standards than the other as the one that refurbed 4091 hardly even did anything to it and entered service at Skem in a Vandalised London state i think this is why 4091 transferred to Speke and Manchester as cover quite often because Skem seemed ashamed of it..

Generally, it is the Derby (Pickerings) conversions which are inferior and often virtually untouched from London condition. The majority of the second batch of DLA cascades (2010-11) were converted at Pickerings but I believe some visited Bootle for internal work prior to entering service. The registration plates show where the conversion took place - the Derby ones have Pickerings insignia below the registration, the Bootle ones Arriva insignia. The Bootle conversions tend to have the Arriva website address at the rear of the bus and are all internally refurbished, although a few feature the older moquette as opposed to 'blue blocks'.

4091 I think was only loaned to Skem until 4094 (a fully refurbished example) arrived in early 2011. I haven't managed a ride on 4091 yet but from photos it looks like one of those left practically in London internal condition, with the vandalism you mention and no doubt flat seat backs as well. I think the Pickerings ones had some of the seat back linoleum replaced but not a lot else.

Definite Pickerings conversions are the following, which have unrefurbished interiors: 4012-4020, 4040, 4041, 4056, 4076, 4078, 4079, 4083, 4089-4091, 4093, 4095-4097, 4140, 4143, 4157, 4159. I also think that 4060 and 4098 were Pickerings visitors and a number of others are possible too.

The original seven cascades were all done at Bootle if memory serves despite their clearly poor external conversion. These examples are unique amongst the DLAs in that they lack opening side windows at the front of the top deck, and unlike the later cascades they retain high-backed seating on the back row downstairs.

[M113 YKC]

RE: Arriva North West - Bootle Depot
I rode on Marshall V662 DVU (7662) this morning on the 58 between Netherton and Liverpool. They must have fixed its faults because I enjoyed this fine journey! There were few rattles and the bus was pretty-much quick off of the line and it sounded quite nice. My chosen seat was quite uncomfortable. There ARE worse Marshalls than this - one off of the top of my head is V675 DVU (7675)...!

[MPTE1955]

RE: Arriva North West - Bootle Depot
Its been a couple of weeks since I rode 7662 and it was as bad as ever back then, so if its that much better it certainly must have had something done. Of course I said that about 2233 when I rode it the other week when that had improved, so maybe Bootle are starting to give their darts a bit more care these days.