Commercial Vehicle Thread

[fx45]

Originally Posted by jagan0677

There were quite a few attempts from AL/Tata to convert the coach market from bus-body-on-truck chassis to a pure-coach design, which unfortunately, did not take off. However I am sure there were valuable learnings on the Indian market dynamics for these manufacturers.
But i believe there were a few body-builders who were so good at the bus-body-on-truck-chassis engineering and production, that this factor, IMHO, was a genuine hindrance to any (premature)efforts to convert to pure-coach engineering. I believe RUBY and LGB(more in south) really built a great reputation for themselves in this line of work. I think RUBY was also exporting to some African markets.
I remember having read somewhere, quite some time back, that some RUBY coaches were so well built, that few operators used to take a RUBY-bodied bus which had run 5-7 years, scrap the chassis and mount the body on a new chassis.

you right on this one.. my old school bus which was having a ruby body got scrapped some yrs ago due to the new law of 8 yr or more getting scrapped. so the travel company took the body off that 1210 and put it on a brand new 1510 chasis and its still there.. with the same color. but new chasis and a new reg. number.

whnever i see it passin by my house.. i remember my good old school days.

so yes its true. many travel companies replaced the older chasis but kept the old bodies still going on.. reason... the durability factor.

[nbr]

Originally Posted by condor

Prashanth, here's three Carona's parked on Kanakapura Road (just before Thalagahattapura). The two on the front sport Pune number plates.

When i was in india, i went personally to the Bangalore bus station to checkout the Corona buses,i was kindoff shy to click pictures. One thing i noticed was it no where mentions as Ashok Leyland. Its just got stickers around as Majestic (i guess Bodybuilders)& cummins(engine used). Are you sure its an Ashok leyland or just another chinese assembled bus

[directinjection]

Originally Posted by ram

Anybody have pics of the Kirloskar-Neoplan coach sold in India?

Have them in my archives. Will post them definitely.

[AMATMO]

Originally Posted by directinjection

Have them in my archives. Will post them definitely.

that would be great.
how old are they?
and where were those buses used?

[Stratos]

I still remember the 3 Kirloskar-Neoplan buses that used to be parked at Shivaji Park, Dadar when I was very small. They were red in colour. I would always walk from that road to see them.

Does anyone remember those?? GTO?? F50??

[moralfibre]

Originally Posted by Stratos

I still remember the 3 Kirloskar-Neoplan buses that used to be parked at Shivaji Park, Dadar when I was very small. They were red in colour. I would always walk from that road to see them.

They were run by a company named Unique Coaches but I am sure they were never Red in colour.

[simplyself]

Nice to see a commercial vehicle thread.

As for the Tata Vs AL debate, the APSRTC buses in AP form an interesting pattern. All the Telangana ditsricts, including Hyderabad, have AL buses and the rest of the districts have Tata buses. Couldnt get the reason behind it though I think it was for the sake of convenience in the maintenance/repair of the vehicles.

[Spitfire]

Found these rotting in Goa. They have been lying in the same place for the last decade or so. The Buses have been parked there complete with the seats, doors and glass everything intact. But most of the stuff has dissappeared over time. Met the guy who owns the area these are stored. Anyone wanna buy one? Will get more pics soon if required. And yes these were run by Unique Travels like Moralfibre said. I have travelled in them too, they used to leave from Margao, stop in Panaji and Mapusa to pick up passengers. There used to be a host(dont remember the exact word) who used to help everyone on board. More like a flight steward. We used to get water bottles and play housie on board. Used to be a very comfortable journey. Volvo buses are very recent the Unique coaches were way ahead of the times.

[AMATMO]

good uou brought these up, it so bad buses like these are rotting when we dont have many decent buses on road

you must have found these buses on the road that goes to pernem, right?

[Spitfire]

@Amatmao: Yep right opposite the glass fibre factory. There are a couple of them in a much better state in Margao. I will try and see if i can get any information.

[dkamath]

Originally Posted by nbr

Are you sure its an Ashok leyland or just another chinese assembled bus

I had last seen a KSRTC Corona sleeper bus and it had sported a large sticker on its side, near the engine at the rear, reading something like "Cummins turbo". Guess its a private Co. building coaches and engines from Cummins.

[Transsenger]

Originally Posted by fx45

. It was introduced for city transport and there was even one running in Bombay's BEST in 1991. The capacity of this bus was not large, muts have been around 30 seats only. It was almost identical to the Tata's low-floor Starbuses that are becoming popular today.

do you have a picture of it.. its not even stated anywhere on the BEST website.[/quote]


An Ashok Leyland integral bus run by MTC chennai in the early 1980's.

[Transsenger]

Originally Posted by dkamath

Hi, you'll get to see them in the KSRTC bus terminus at Majestic. There was news that KSRTC was evaluating other vendors for having a cheaper replacement to the Volvos, and between Corona and Ashok Leyland, it appears that the latter has won the race. But not seen AL buses though.

By the way, anyone's travelled by the Tata Globus buses doing duty for the KeralaSRTC? If yes, hows the ride, noise and speed characteristics?

The Kerala State RTC has 19 Tata Globus. These buses mostly run between banglore and Cochin, Trivandrum, thrissur etc. These are basically Tata LPO1616 chassis fitted with 160hp cummins B series turbo intercooler engine. The Globus body have been built by ACGL. The A/c (thermoKing) is driven by the bus engine itself and no additional donkey engine is provided. The interiors are well furnished and comfortable. But problems like water leakage, poor fitting quality etc can be noted. Otherwise they are doing well.
maximum speed is around 75 -85Kmph.
ride is good...thanks to cummins engine.
The driver cabin is non a/c and less ventillated.
Considerable a good product from Tatas.

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by dkamath

Hi, you'll get to see them in the KSRTC bus terminus at Majestic. There was news that KSRTC was evaluating other vendors for having a cheaper replacement to the Volvos, and between Corona and Ashok Leyland, it appears that the latter has won the race. But not seen AL buses though.

Spotted these guys sleeping off at Kempegowda Bus station in Bangalore! There were about 5 Coronas at the bus station while I was there! These buses are actually run by NEKRTC (the sticker jobs say NWKRTC though!)

These buses run on these routes: Gulbarga-Bangalore, Raichur-Bangalore, Sindhanur-Bangalore, Bidar-Bangalore, Bellary-Bangalore and Hospet-Hyderabad.

Originally Posted by dkamath

By the way, anyone's travelled by the Tata Globus buses doing duty for the KeralaSRTC? If yes, hows the ride, noise and speed characteristics?

I had traveled on one of these Globuses from Bangalore to Thrissur some time the second week of May.



The Suspension was good, and the AC was effective. The bus lacked power to tide over ghat sections with AC on. The vibration levels are too high when the bus reaches its top speed. The seating was good, and the leg room was nice.

[agspins]

Originally Posted by Spitfire

Found these rotting in Goa. They have been lying in the same place for the last decade or so. The Buses have been parked there complete with the seats, doors and glass everything intact. But most of the stuff has dissappeared over time. Met the guy who owns the area these are stored. Anyone wanna buy one? Will get more pics soon if required. And yes these were run by Unique Travels like Moralfibre said. I have travelled in them too, they used to leave from Margao, stop in Panaji and Mapusa to pick up passengers. There used to be a host(dont remember the exact word) who used to help everyone on board. More like a flight steward. We used to get water bottles and play housie on board. Used to be a very comfortable journey. Volvo buses are very recent the Unique coaches were way ahead of the times.

Very clearly i remember those buses...i travelled to panaji in one of those in 1991-92.AFA i remember they had cummins engines..use to look ahead of times and used to serve welcome drink (frootie..) and water bottles.....