Bus History

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Bus History

The Model London bus that you or your children have ridden in today was built in 1965 by a very clever man called Alexander (Sandy )Frazer. He built eight “B” type buses in total and we believe this is the only surviving example in running order.

Sandy was a very clever designer and built many scale model vehicles for theme parks and museums. For the keen enthusiasts amongst you, his video diaries are well worth watching. See also our Links page for a link to the website of AF Motors, run by Sandys relatives.

Our model bus has had five owners and is quite famous throughout the length and breadth of the country. It has been on the front pages of hundreds of newspapers, featured on television and has even been written about in children books. Thousands of people have ridden on it, including the rich and the famous. Probably the most famous being members of the Royal family at Althorp house including, we believe, Princess Diana.

It has given many of hours of pleasure to thousands of children, and we hope it will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

General Data of original 1910 “B” Type Bus and 1965 Model children’s bus.

Full Size Bus was… 12ft. 5in. High. 6ft. 11in. Wide.

The magic width allowed for route boards to be added on both sides of the body and still remain within the Police regulation maximum width of 7ft. 2in.

The model bus you see today, is an exact half scale replica of these sizes.

Chassis frame was built of White Ash.

It had 5/32 Flitch plates of nickel steel on both sides of the wooden core. This extended to the full length of the frame and there were cross members of the same construction opposite the rear spring mountings. A light cross member joined the dumb irons and carried the starting handle.

The model bus is built upon the same principle using White Ash & Oak.

Tyres.

Solid tyres In earlier motor bus days had been prohibitively expensive and unreliable, but by 1910 these had improved. From their extreme cost of ten pence per mile and a new life of just a few hundred miles in 1902, their cost was now down to two pence a mile on contract, with a life in tens of thousands of miles.

Fortunately the tyres on our Model Bus run at .005p per mile.

Engine.

Four Cylinder side valve unit. 100mm cBore with 140mm stroke. Giving about 30h.p. From 5.3 litres. (Slightly larger 36h.p. engine was also available)

The Model bus uses a 1200 cc 4 cylinder OHV Water cooled engine from a 1965 Triumph Herald.

Gearbox.

Silent Chain pattern with sliding dog clutches housed in massive unit half way along the chassis. It was connected to the clutch and rear axle by two splined shafts of equal length. It used heavy fabric universal joints except for the rear of the gearbox which used a steel ball type of joint. There were three forward speeds with multiple link silent chains, selected by a right hand gear lever in a “gate” with a small foot peddle to protect reverse gear. The Gear lever and large hand brake lever were mounted outside the off side frame member. Power was transmitted through a large conical clutch with leather facings and held in engagement by a single central helical spring.

The model bus uses a specially shortened gearbox from a Triumph Herald.

Front/rear Axle

This was an “I” section stamping and the swivel axles carried plain floating bushes of phosphor bronze on the hubs. The rear wheels ran on floating bushes between hardened steel liners and had the steel brake drums bolted directly on to the spokes.

The Model Bus uses a Hilman Imp front axle swivel hub assembly, and a modified Bedford HA rear axle. (Axle tubes & half shafts, cut & sleeved).

Radiator/Cooling

Cooling was by thermo syphon circulation although many later engines had pumps fitted. There was a by pass through the water jacket to warm the induction pipe, and the radiator had a small belt driven fan. The first radiators had plain copper tubes. Later ones had gilled tubes in five off set banks. From 1914 radiators were designed with larger header tanks which allowed the top to rise in an elegant curve to the filler cap and carried the word “General” in the ring and bar symbol.

The Model bus uses a finned tube radiator from a Ford 100E. It is “overfilled” with Glycol and has a four bladed belt fan to avoid overheating.

Brakes

The brake was a simple affair and consisted of a contracting band on the short exposed transmission drive shaft between the clutch and the gearbox.

Model Bus uses Austin A30 floating brake system to rear drums operated by bar and pinion pivot system. This is the safest, and preferred method of braking advised by the showman’s guild vehicle inspectors.

Side protection.

With an increase in road incidents, considerable thought was given to some form of side protection between the front and rear wheels so as to afford the wandering passenger and stray dogs some degree of protection. It is impossible to do this separate subject justice in this paper, suffice to say that many experimental and lavish protection systems were tried. However, by 1914 most “B” types were fitted with now famous “Ploughshare Lifeguard”

Model bus has exact number of scaled “Ploughshare Lifeguard” replicated in timber.

Lighting.

Until about 1913 “General” used oil or cumbersome acetylene lamps.

The gas generator for these was a large container on the driver’s bench seat, which took the calcium carbide with a smaller tank above it for the water. But typically, only one large lamp (some times two for country routes) were fitted to the radiator. From the very beginning though, the big destination board set above the driver’s canopy was always lit by its own separate lamp.

After 1916 however, police regulations required side lamps. These where often of the oil burning type and were fitted on brackets to the drivers dashboard.

Electric light though, was gradually introduced from 1912 and was generated by a dynamo with friction drive to the flywheel. A wooden box built under the overhanging body housed the battery. This new form of lighting allowed further developments such as combining the destination boards lighting and the service number with one light box. Interior lighting and a stair lamp followed shortly after.

Model bus has replica scale lighting on driver’s dashboard. With battery box under overhanging body.

Cost. £300.00

Our Model Bus cost a little more than this to produce in 1965!