1980 Leyland Atlantean 11.1 litre 6 cylinder diesel Update 13/12/10

[macturbo]

Originally Posted by capricougar theres a bus scrap yard at annfield plain,co durham, Yeah it was called NorthEast Bus Breakers but it closed a couple of years back as far as I know mate.

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[danny_boy699]

nice project mate

[Jordy]

Great project!

[TOMMY_RS]

bloody hell, thats a bit of a mad project lol
whats the aim? to get it going ok etc or make it like new?
bet it takes forever to polish lol

[rsbenj1]

funny that cos i break buses for a living

[macturbo]

Slight update guys.
Ive been to a scrapyard in Middlesbrough and stripped an Atlantean for its windows and seats etc.
Work has been slow as we have just secured another bus for restoration and its just been towed back to Newcastle in the last 2 weeks or so.

We are in talks with a firm to lease a warehouse from them as we now have nearly 20 buses
These are the photos of the scrap bus we stripped.








These photos show the new bus we have acquired for restoration.
The company in Great Dunmow, Dons of Dunmow donated the bus for preservation rather than scrap it.
Looks a right state at the present but it is worth restoring.
This bus when new had a centre door fitted, but was part of a unique batch of 71 deckers to be delivered with a nearside staircase.

[Twins]

Blimey you boys dont mess about when stripping one for parts ,loving the scania wrecker proper old skool

[A16X_TM]

haha mental, i love it!

theres a bus museum near me in st helens, it was the old bus depot.

was used as just a shed for the old buses for years, then they done it up and opened it to the public, been meaning to go in for the last 5 years..


http://holmes.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/museum.html

[Jordy]

Love it! You don't see those old busses or those yards here at my place(Belgium).
Great to see!

[rscos2004]

Originally Posted by macturbo

Yeah it was called NorthEast Bus Breakers but it closed a couple of years back as far as I know mate.

Mega project there used to be a massive bus and coach breakers near ashby de la zouch.

[vroooom ptssssh]

Pretty cool! you boys have your work cut out, keep the updates coming its really interesting

[macturbo]

Cheers lads.
Ive now done a website with photos of all our deckers on if anyones interested.
www.twbpg.co.uk

[andy888]

a want one to pimp about the farm in!

[rsbenj1]

think you should sell the old shell

[JonnyBravo]

Not thats a serious project !

Out of interest where did the second bus come from as I see Always recovered it and their down the road from me which I guess is a few hundred miles away from yourself ?!

Sorry if I missed you mention that bit !

[kidsRS]

A mate of mine has this rotting away in his field full of motors a 1923 leyland i think it is, would of been beautiful in its day!
Just think this beauty will have never seen a paki!

[JonnyBravo]

I can't see that comment going down too well

That said I do like that bus !

[adam151082]

Originally Posted by kidsRS

A mate of mine has this rotting away in his field full of motors a 1923 leyland i think it is, would of been beautiful in its day!
Just think this beauty will have never seen a paki!

Wish id neva seen one


Crazzy thread btw.

[macturbo]

Originally Posted by JonnyBravo

Out of interest where did the second bus come from as I see Always recovered it and their down the road from me which I guess is a few hundred miles away from yourself ?!

Originally the second bus was from Newcastle when new but was sold to Colchester Borough Transport in 1983.
It ended its working days with Boons of Boreham on school work before being sold to Dons of Dunmow for spare parts to keep there fleet of Atlanteans going.

We have used Allways of Huntingdon a few times now, very reliable service so far!
It cost us just short 1K to have it towed nearly 300 miles back to Newcastle.

This is the same bus when nearly operating for the Tyne and Wear Transport.
This is how we plan to restore it after Ive finished my own bus first though!

[macturbo]

Originally Posted by kidsRS

A mate of mine has this rotting away in his field full of motors a 1923 leyland i think it is, would of been beautiful in its day!

Do you have any more photos or the reg of the bus mate?
If its for sale we could be interested in restoring that.
Obviously it would be in a que but it would get done.

Heres our latest project finished.
Well I say finished we need to reupholster the interior with the correct Marquette but the minimum order would be enough to do nearly 10 double deckers and cost 7k for the privilege!
New in service:

Last years in service having being re registered and its front end modified.

Under restoration and original reg re reinstated.
We had to make a new front end for it.

Full repanel and repaint.










This is 1 of only 2 of these exact models built. They were prototypes but is now the only example left in the world so we had to restore it.
We sprayed the bus rather than hand painting it for a better finish.
It has now won best 1980's decker at Showbus at Duxford.

[MadRod]

The first Resto thread ive ever read all the way through.

Great Project

[Martin-Hadland]

Originally Posted by macturbo

Buses of 30 years old or more can be driven on a normal car licence for private use aslong as you dont carry more than 8 passengers.

Thats cool, I want one now

[Hman205]

Originally Posted by Martin-Reyland

Thats cool, I want one now

Whats that 8 passengers + the Escort + Mondeo etc......

[warrenpenalver]

Originally Posted by Hman205

Whats that 8 passengers + the Escort + Mondeo etc......

thats my thoughts too. Upstairs done up nice, bit of workshop, bit of living, then to a ramp at the back to drive in proper italian job/knightrider style!!!

[kidsRS]

Ill take some more pics when i go down next soon, and yes it would be for sale and theres another 1 next to it in a worse state, they have been there probly about 30 years maybe more.

[A16X_TM]

love it!

how do you find all the old photos and find out who owned them / ran them e.t.c.??

[Ginger Will]

Originally Posted by macturbo

You on abut Neil?
My old decker I had ws at Tyne tuneel storage but they let anyne in. Strangers were walking in off the street and tampering with buses, parts going missing so I wont go back there.

I got some boxes and bubble wrap from there and couldnt believe how lax the secuirity was!

I did some surveys of Bus depots in London and couldn't beleive the way they were repaired, just bodged up and sprayed over the pit. I mentioned it to one of the mechanics in jest and he said its because they are always being clattered so its pointless doing them perfectly.

I love your work on that one above.

You should try and get an old 306 to Tynemouth, I have stood waiting for those and they are rare as fook!

[THEDMAN]

A proper Atlantean!!!

I used to travel on them every day going to school.

http://david-godon.fotopic.net/p54223336.html

[Rob_DOHC]

Bloody amazing mate! Keep em coming! just out of interest (not that it matters because this is great reading) are you a ford man?

Would love to have a double decker as a massive camper.

What do you do with the buses when they're done?

Rob,

[erjones]

Amazing project, i use to go to school on a bus like the first blue one, wasnt looked after that well as during winter months it wouldnt always turn up lol

[It's Czech Mate]

Cool thread, will keep watching, please keep updating

[scottyrs]

great thread this good to see something abit diifrent

[Shings]

Is there any Value in this?

Or is it purely for 'fun'

[Twins]

Looks great all sprayed up

[BRIGSPORT]

A quality read! Want to do something similar, but with a scania v8 tractor unit. Can these be driven on a car license if they have no 5th wheel? Keep up the good work.

[Zetecfiesta]

saw this: http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/forums/...ad.php?t=50059

and thought of this thread!!

[jonny s2]

different

[gouch1]

gr8 work very intresting thread

[turbo m]

I can remember working on atlantians for guide friday all they ever did was spray everything chassis silver! Looks like you have a lot better faclities than us and were a multi million pound company.Great stuff..

[macturbo]

Cant believe its been so long since I last updated this!!

Theres so much that has been happening I don't know where to start

We now have set up a formal preservation group and I have set us up a website which I try and update as often as possible.
See the following link for more details:
http://www.tyneandwearbuspreservation.co.uk/index.html

We have bought a number of buses in recent months, you can google the reg's for more pics:
Bristol RE OWC720M, Bristol VR SGR935V, Leyland Atlantean UVK290T, MCW Metrobus C771OCN,
Leyland Olympian C656LFT, Leyland Olympian SJR612Y, Daimler Fleetline ETY91L, Leyland Atlantean MVK538R.

We also now have our own warehouse which we signed the lease to in July.
On the restoration front for my bus I have been plodding along with it in amongst arranging other things.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Igvm-lPMiHc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=881Xr...eature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7LQA...eature=related

I have refurbished the front end as seen in the photos.
I had a set of "Magic bus" blinds made up and fitted. I have finally finished the fitting brand new wiring looms to the rear end so all the lights work as the should.
Most of the seat frames are now in place on the upper deck as well.

The rear bonnet had a rotten hinge which I have now repaired (you can see the photos of me grinding the old hinge out of the bonnet) and refitted it to the bus.