Hi all,

Just wondering if anyone could tell me why the Go North East Leyland Lynes were rebuilt both at the front and rear? Was also wondering when these rebuilds were done? When they were brand new they looked like this at the front: - https://www.flickr.com/photos/ian_simpson/2938247546 and then rebuilt to look like this https://www.flickr.com/photos/66289212@N07/49926097833. When they were new I remember they had the number plate on the bonnet at the rear and i'm sure it was moved to the top right corner and a new bonnet was fitted. Also noticed they done a rear rebuild with some of the ex MCW Metrobus Mark IIs. Just asking out of curiousity really as I have been watching some old bus vids on YouTube.

Thanks

(30 Mar 2023, 11:43 pm)Washingtonian wrote Hi all,

Just wondering if anyone could tell me why the Go North East Leyland Lynes were rebuilt both at the front and rear? Was also wondering when these rebuilds were done? When they were brand new they looked like this at the front: - https://www.flickr.com/photos/ian_simpson/2938247546 and then rebuilt to look like this https://www.flickr.com/photos/66289212@N07/49926097833. When they were new I remember they had the number plate on the bonnet at the rear and i'm sure it was moved to the top right corner and a new bonnet was fitted. Also noticed they done a rear rebuild with some of the ex MCW Metrobus Mark IIs. Just asking out of curiousity really as I have been watching some old bus vids on YouTube.

Thanks

The Metrobuse back end rebuilds were for corrosion iirc, and I think were carried out by Marshalls.  Not sure if other modifications were carried out at the same time, I'm thinking maybe DiPTAC for those with long enough memories, or if it was just for the corrosion.

No idea on the reasoning for the Lynxes but would would presume something similar.  I do know they were absolutely fugly once done though.

The Lynxes were for cost reasons, replacing expensive fibreglass front parts with cheaper to replace aluminum parts, and with the Lynxes being boxy, it was an easy thing to do on them.

(31 Mar 2023, 12:58 pm)Chris 1 wrote The Metrobuse back end rebuilds were for corrosion iirc, and I think were carried out by Marshalls.  Not sure if other modifications were carried out at the same time, I'm thinking maybe DiPTAC for those with long enough memories, or if it was just for the corrosion.

No idea on the reasoning for the Lynxes but would would presume something similar.  I do know they were absolutely fugly once done though.

Thanks Chris. Yeah I totally agree that the Lynxes looked so much better before their rebuilds and I didn't feel the same liking for them afterwards. I had wondered if their was something wrong with the windscreens on them as to why they carried out the work. I had wondered if the Metrobuses had similiar issues with the rear windows as they were given a smaller window afterwards. I noticed that not all of them had rear rebuilds too, so some of them must have been ok. It seemed that GNE really valued the Nationals, Lynes, Olympians and Metrobuses as they spent a lot of money and time on them and they lasted in the fleet for a good while afterwards which was great to see.

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(31 Mar 2023, 9:02 pm)Rapidsnap wrote The Lynxes were for cost reasons, replacing expensive fibreglass front parts with cheaper to replace aluminum parts, and with the Lynxes being boxy, it was an easy thing to do on them.

Ah right. Never realised this. Thanks for that

I may be wrong here but from memory I think 4725 was the first one to be done - and that's only from me being a lad and riding them every day from Washy to Heworth.

Again, this is from memory and maybe from some information I've seen whilst looking over NNRG stuff, I believe either the body or chassis on the lynx suffered badly from corrosion, and I remember the paint blebbing badly around panel edges quite early on in their service life, maybe the plastic skirts etc were removed because of this (just a guess), they didn't seem to wear that well either with bigger and bigger bolts and washers being needed to hold them into place, although I do agree what they did when they removed them really didn't do anything for the looks of them - and when you combine that with the awful Wear Buses paint scheme, after the inital shine had worn off they looked even worse.

Its odd that DIPTAC was mentioned because I could have sworn these had it as standard when they came with the original red (and brown?) seats - but looking at other pictures maybe they were just black, and possibly upgraded when they did the seat retrim into the yellow diamond type bars. One thing I do remember from the start is that the luggage racks behind the entrance door were awful - noisy and the front bar was just far to weak to be of any real use, they were bent almost straight away and luggage frequently fell off them.

Reading elsewhere the drivers windscreen seemed to have a bit of an issue with it falling out, although I'm not sure whether it was a problem in the GAN fleet.

(01 Apr 2023, 1:30 pm)xpm wrote I may be wrong here but from memory I think 4725 was the first one to be done - and that's only from me being a lad and riding them every day from Washy to Heworth.

Again, this is from memory and maybe from some information I've seen whilst looking over NNRG stuff, I believe either the body or chassis on the lynx suffered badly from corrosion, and I remember the paint blebbing badly around panel edges quite early on in their service life, maybe the plastic skirts etc were removed because of this (just a guess), they didn't seem to wear that well either with bigger and bigger bolts and washers being needed to hold them into place, although I do agree what they did when they removed them really didn't do anything for the looks of them - and when you combine that with the awful Wear Buses paint scheme, after the inital shine had worn off they looked even worse.

Its odd that DIPTAC was mentioned because I could have sworn these had it as standard when they came with the original red (and brown?) seats - but looking at other pictures maybe they were just black, and possibly upgraded when they did the seat retrim into the yellow diamond type bars.  One thing I do remember from the start is that the luggage racks behind the entrance door were awful - noisy and the front bar was just far to weak to be of any real use, they were bent almost straight away and luggage frequently fell off them.

Reading elsewhere the drivers windscreen seemed to have a bit of an issue with it falling out, although I'm not sure whether it was a problem in the GAN fleet.

Thanks for all your help and info. Yeah I must say I never noticed any other bus operator rebuilding their Lynxes to be honest so does make you wonder if it was a problem with GAN's fleet. I'm sure the likes of the old Busways and United ones were never rebuilt.

I quite liked the first version of the Wear Buses livery to be honest and I think it suited the Lynx but I didn't care too much for the second version with the light green top half and mid green lower half.

(30 Mar 2023, 11:43 pm)Washingtonian wrote Hi all,

Just wondering if anyone could tell me why the Go North East Leyland Lynes were rebuilt both at the front and rear? Was also wondering when these rebuilds were done? When they were brand new they looked like this at the front: - https://www.flickr.com/photos/ian_simpson/2938247546 and then rebuilt to look like this https://www.flickr.com/photos/66289212@N07/49926097833. When they were new I remember they had the number plate on the bonnet at the rear and i'm sure it was moved to the top right corner and a new bonnet was fitted. Also noticed they done a rear rebuild with some of the ex  MCW Metrobus Mark IIs. Just asking out of curiousity really as I have been watching some old bus vids on YouTube.

Thanks

Which ones were these? Racked by brain and I can't remember any native examples having the rebuild.

(08 Apr 2023, 12:51 pm)Andreos1 wrote Which ones were these? Racked by brain and I can't remember any native examples having the rebuild.

I'm pretty sure most of them had rear rebuilds in the late 90s, round about the time they started painting the fleet in the red and blue livery. I'm not sure about the Y-regs but I'm pretty certain all of the A-reg ones were done. The majority of the C-reg ones were also done but I know a few weren't - 3752/5/7/8 come to mind.

Here are a couple of photos I've found of the rear rebuilds: - https://www.flickr.com/photos/gjm-photog...hotostream
https://www.flickr.com/photos/gjm-photog...hotostream

(30 Mar 2023, 11:43 pm)Washingtonian wrote Hi all,

Just wondering if anyone could tell me why the Go North East Leyland Lynes were rebuilt both at the front and rear? Was also wondering when these rebuilds were done? When they were brand new they looked like this at the front: - https://www.flickr.com/photos/ian_simpson/2938247546 and then rebuilt to look like this https://www.flickr.com/photos/66289212@N07/49926097833. When they were new I remember they had the number plate on the bonnet at the rear and i'm sure it was moved to the top right corner and a new bonnet was fitted. Also noticed they done a rear rebuild with some of the ex MCW Metrobus Mark IIs. Just asking out of curiousity really as I have been watching some old bus vids on YouTube.

Thanks

Leyland “Lynx’s”

Since the leyland lynx’s were the updated version of the nationals, the nationals outlasted the lynx’s, didn’t Redby had some second hand mark 2 lynx’s?.

I wonder if Busways and Cleveland transit would of ever bought lynx’s if TWOC and Teeside motor services (TMS) didn’t start up and ran competition routes.


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(09 Apr 2023, 7:03 am)cbma06 wrote Leyland “Lynx’s”

Since the leyland lynx’s were the updated version of the nationals, the nationals outlasted the lynx’s, didn’t Redby had some second hand mark 2 lynx’s?.

I wonder if Busways and Cleveland transit would of ever bought lynx’s if TWOC and Teeside motor services (TMS) didn’t start up and ran competition routes.


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Aye those! 

Yeah I'm sure Redby had 2 mark 2 lynx's that later transferred to GNE, as did a few mark 1s. They were often used on the X2.

I think the likes of TWOC and Teeside Motor Services were operating before the lynx's came on the scene. Not sure what year they started but I would guess the 80s maybe? Really not sure. What I will say is it would be interesting if there were more competitors to take on the big bus companies today as there were back then. I bet the big companies would have no trouble finding money for buses and routes if that was the case!