Yes!

He plainly has a passion for driving these effectively.

Thank you. I learnt a lot from many many rides on RE's as a child, and ended up being taught by one of those drivers. I'm not perfect, but I tend to drive how I like to be driven, if that makes sense.

@@scatmancraig1974 I've driven Leyland Atlanteans, Nationals. Tigers, Olympians and Leopards for over 30 years and I've seen so many folks crucify gearboxes. And I agree, I drive the way I expect to be driven

I'm the same, cut my teeth on Atlanteans and Mk2 Nationals. I currently own a Mk1 that I've almost restored externally.

@@scatmancraig1974 Wow, that would be something to see. I've had to stop driving buses due to poor health plus I repaired them too, but I remain very interested in them. Me and my old boss are good mates and he operated old Atlanteans, ex Nottingham City Transport ones. we were always repairing them lol

If you search for "Project Super National" on Facebook, I have a page set up for its restoration. I've been at it for almost 3 years now, still a long way to go but definitely closer to finished than started! I've driven a few ex Nottingham Atlanteans and Fleetlines, good buses. I worked for Black Country Tours in Dudley for a while, at one time their whole fleet was ex Nottingham.

I don't know much about driving buses, but it looked a wee bit "competitive" in places, especially re those bikers. I remember the TWOC/Busways wars, enacted between rival gangs of knackered Bristol LHs and yellow Atlanteans, cutting each other up at bus stops. The driving style seems familiar...

However, benign road rage sounds better here than in any of the contemporary soulless milk-floats

had me laughing with the bikers at the lights, was this restored?

Wasps in jam jars.

When I was a kid back in the 70s, forget astronauts, I thought bus drivers were the coolest people on the planet.

That's exactly what I thought when I was aged 5, riding top-deck on the 5 from Benton Estate to town on a Metropolitan. Once I realised the effort involved, at 7 I realised that my station in life was to be a space cadet.I've never looked back (but I always engage reverse first)

I fancied being a fitter.

I wanted to do this in the 70’s. It was actually my ambition but life took me the military route for 12 years, but in those 12 years when we did Battalion moves within the UK we would often go with National Express who were running Plaxton Panorama Elites which I adored.

Apart from the maximum speed being about 55 on this particular vehicle, the sound effects should be pretty similar.

I remember United Having those Bristols back in the 70s and 80s, loved the ones with the coach type seats where you got a good view from the front, others had the luggage rack at the front like this one

@@mauricebarnett6951 There were several batches of United dual-purpose Bristol REs used for the longer routes across County Durham and Northumberland. Most were RELH6G (G = Gardner) but ten (numbered 6085-6094) were delivered as RELH6L (L = Leyland) and these "lively" vehicles were a joy to drive. You just had to be careful with the gear changes - as exemplified by Mr Schofield in his excellent video!

@@Neash2 yes i remember the bodies were Eastern Coach Works used to run mainly from Hartlepool to Durham

Absolutely. This bus and her sisters regularly whined up the Great North Road at full pelt between Barras Bridge and the Blue House roundabout then, in about the 3 minutes that were available to pluck up the courage to ask out the flame-haired girl from Central High who alighted at Moor Crescent. I did succeed in this endeavour, but no dice. I'm still looking for her after all these years. I was going to say that modern buses have no character, but the Alexander Dennis Enviro 400s have a similar sound, albeit fully automatic. A strange amalgam of the Bristol RE/VR/Metropolitan and Atlantean Geordie soundtrack of yore

Thank you for the kind comments, particularly as it's me driving. I wish I'd been able to get some external footage too, but the only time I wasn't driving it, I was directing the driver who was!

@@scatmancraig1974 no problem! Please post some more videos from this bus if you can.

I have another longer video in the pipeline, which includes the footage on this one, plus highlights from my journey to and from the event. I'm trying to edit that one properly, as for a while I couldn't re-download my easy to use video editor following a hard drive failure a few months back. It'll take me a while to get it done though as so busy at work.

@@1973ts epic isn't she? That'd make the windows rattle round Obelisk Rise eh sonny?

The sound of these was awesome in the hills of the south Wales valleys

Me to aboutlesy love old buses

You were lucky myles around by us we only had nationals and fleetlines

More like all bark and no bite

And to me, the transmission whine.

At Stroud we had the whole line up off R

Ours had plaxton bodies

I think almost all Atlanteans, at least the AN68 ones, had the 0680. Although in Fleetlines there was a Gardner option.

.... . M .m .... ..lllll.. . .... M..

Definitely not! The Gardners were very quiet buses to drive and very smooth. The ones I drove were 5 speed constant mesh gearbox with very smooth air suspension and the beautiful Gardner engines. The SL's were good for 75mph and the LL's 65mph. Keeping the revs up on hills was a must.

It would definitely be interesting to see what an RE would sound like with the 2-speed ZF in it. Fully automatic ZF's didn't really feature in UK buses in any quantity until the 1980's onwards. A handful of UK Leyland Nationals were fitted with them, including in my own National. Sadly, mine got replaced with the standard 5-speed Pneumocyclic semi-automatix box many years ago.

sootyridesagain Melbourne ran 30 Nationals with the ZF and Adelaide were a huge user of this rugged transmission with 292 AEC Swifts with 691 engines and another 61 in a later batch with 760s all ZF equipped. They also ran another 307 Volvo B59s with that transmission and Brisbane ran 98. One advantage of the ZF is it had a lock up torque converter in 2nd giving a slightly taller final drive effect due to no slip. Don't worry Australia ran plenty of semi auto buses as well including some Volvo B58s. Denmark ran Leyland 0680 buses with 2 and 3 speed Voiths and Sydney even experimented with a three speed Voith in one of their Leopards during the 1980s!

@@scatmancraig1974 I found the full auto Nationals gave a very harsh gearchange compared to a well driven semi.

@@stevesales4263 the Brisbane Panthers weren't called whiplash buses for nothing.

@jamesfrench7299 I hate a harsh auto. A worn crash or synchro manual box or any poor semi causing poor changes can be mitigated by adapting the driving. A poor fully auto ends up with a bus load of nodding dogs and whinging about the driver.

No turbo here, but it sure sounds good.

only the 680 power plus got a turbo

@@adamfletcher4262 i might be wrong, but I thought the Australia o.690 was the only one with a turbo.

@@owenlewis8006 I'm sure the 680 power plus was offered with turbo

The engine in this bus is a horizontal 11.1 litre Leyland 680, so basically the same engine as most Atlanteans from the 70's onwards, but laid on its side rather than being vertically mounted. Earlier Atlanteans had the smaller Leyland 600, which is basically the same engine but with a slightly smaller capacity at 9.8 litres.

It's the same engine and transmission as the Hedingham Omniheaps I used to travel on and there some of these used too I think, or they had the same bodies on the Atlantean. Most godawful was a short single decker thing, I think ex army, that did layer hill at a walking pace if you were lucky. I hate to imagine that thing trying clingoe or Layer Hill on ice...

It's a habit I've got into. On some semi-auto transmissions, if you select 1st on a 4-speed, (or 2nd on a 5-speed) from a standing start, the gearbox will noticeably jolt or snatch as it takes up the drive. Initially selecting a higher gear, then the lower gear you want reduces the severity of the jolt. Some gearboxes are worse than others at this, Pneumocyclic boxes in Leopards and Nationals are usually the worst offenders.

@@scatmancraig1974 Do these gearboxes not have bands that can get "confused" as you select a gear and then another straight away?

@@virtualspokespeople4066 there is a slight delay when the previous gear deselects, but this is only really a problem when you attempt full throttle 'slam' gear changes, or when going from forwards to reverse and vice versa.

With this type of gear change I should imagine it would be disastrous if you selected the wrong gear with the switch - straight from 2 d to 5th?

Apologies for the handbrake issue, entirely my fault. I've been driving vehicles with on/off air handbrakes for far too long now, so point noted. With regards to the exhaust, it isn't blowing, and there's certainly nothing wrong with the engine. I don't think there's a lot still inside the silencer though. Great if you like noisy RE's though, which I do.

@@scatmancraig1974 no worries. The handbrake is an old style based on a ratchet and notches. If the notches wear down then at some point the hand brake won't stay on and if you find a replacement its a real pain to replace!! I think as you say theres probably not much left in the silencer then, thats why its louder, i do love the trash of an RE always have, if you search on here for AXI 2541 thats my baby.

@@scatmancraig1974 there always had a pronounced bark. i love it, keep it like it is! nice gearchanging too, good to see some1 use a semi auto properly

@@lucythemoggy1970 This particular bus is a lot louder than a normal Leyland powered RE, I'm told the exhaust silencer internals have long since disintegrated. And I do try and stick to textbook style gear changing, but I do occasionally throw a quick change into the mix. My aim is to drive the way I like to be driven when I'm a passenger.

@@scatmancraig1974 it sounds awesome

No, it's a Leyland 680. No RE's were fitted with TL11's.

@@scatmancraig1974 thanks. Is that the same as a Leyland fleet line engine and is it turbod

@@paulconner9354 Some Fleetlines had 680's in them, but they don't have turbo's.

That's a growl ...deal with it...🤣🤣

Definitely, it's the law to drive an RE with the window fully open, even in the winter!

Boisterous yes, agressive and abrupt, definitely not. I drive how i like to be driven, so with a bit of passion and gusto. These machines were mercilessly abused by careless drivers day in, day out, so i think that driving them hard but with some care is keeping in the spirit of things.

I do somewhat agree. Unnecessary gear changes on the approach to hazards leading to poor speed control, gears are for going, brakes for stopping. Get the speed down to what you need then just block change to the appropriate gear. It makes for a better balanced, less urgent drive. Erratic rather than smooth use of the gas, you tend to do little blips on the loud pedal then immediately on to the brakes. It ruins fluency. Good all round observations are also the key to a good drive. For example, turning right. In addition to the procedures on the approach to a hazard or turn, when making the manoeuvre mirror work should be excellent. Assuming all procedures are followed on the approach, it needs good observation to the road you are entering. Check the danger mirror, in this case the o/s, check the opposite mirror to see what's on the near side, then back to the offside and then frequent checks to confirm what is happening with alternate mirror checks as well as scanning the roads all around. Awareness and planning relies on top class observation.

I do have a video of me driving KHW309E waiting for me to edit, Mike Ede was very kind in allowing me to drive it and JMW169P back to back earlier in the year. Sadly, the video of JMW isn't very good as tyke camera came loose on the mounting. I was up for buying TRY118H not long after i drove it, sadly Covid got in the way of that plan. I did get 2nd prize and bought BXI2590 instead, but that needs some exhaust tuning to get it to sound as an RE should!

@@scatmancraig1974 Wow you drove Carmel KHW309E, what do you think of her, a worthy sparring partner in the RE Loudathon. Regarding your recent RE purchase is BIXI a snorting 680,or a 6LXB mogadon motor ?,although i havent heard JMW169P close up as ,Mike,s tweeked her Gardner 6LX, certainly has a knack of making a Gardner roar. Fit BIXI with a straight through pipe ,then you can really bounce some serious decibels.

KHW was lovely to drive, arguably even better than TRY but with a slightly quieter exhaust. Lower geared though, so i had a job to keep up with JMW that i was following at the time. JMW, which is 6HLXB powered, has a very raucous engine, but a much quieter exhaust, as most Gardner RE'a tend to have. My BXI is 6HLXB powered. I've adjusted the throttle cable to such an extent that i swear it revs far higher than any Gardner RE I've experienced. Exhaust is very quiet though, I've removed the silencer baffles, which had made it sound worse. So when i get chance, I'm going to custom build a complete new system to make it sound loud but without it sounding like it's blowing, which is how it currently is.

Caig, ditch the silencer ,fit a straight pipe, make BIXI Bark to wake the dead. Carmel being a town or city bus is geared short for good acceleration in fast traffic between stops. A partial solution is a taller ratio DP diff and five speed box .

The exhaust definitely isn't blowing, just very very loud. I suspect the silencer innards have long since departed, thus enhancing the already loud exhaust on a Leyland powered RE.

maybe it wants to be a National

No. Don't AGREE.

@@MrThecarebear oh ok.

Trollie troll troll

Ok Greta

Why are u watching u don't know what u are talking about!