(05 Feb 2025, 12:24 pm)Brampton Trev wrote What do you mean by ruined?
Too many miles in a week?
Not suited to going at 50mph or above for miles on end?
In what way do the 27*** handle the route better - different engine or gearbox or number of gears?
Stagecoach CNL bought a pair of E300s new, 27141 and 27142 64 reg with coach type seating, for the 685 and they seemed to do alright until replaced by the 68 reg E400MMCs. Compared to Slatyford and Walker, the Stagecoach CNL Carlilse depot has a lot of long routes where 50mph is usual.
So from what an engineer told me it’s something to do with the suspension on a 262 compared to the 27***’s, they can’t handle the potholes etc like the 27’s can which means they’ve gotta go in for work every so often. It’s the same with the older 260’s they must be built different to the older buses. But regards to the 27’s being better they never had to limit the speed on them so I guess they didn’t use as much fuel as the E200MMC’s but obviously the 262’s are more comfortable for longer journeys than the E300’s.
Apparently there were sections on route where you could claw time back by doing 57/58mph when the buses allowed it but being limited to 50mph they can’t claw back as much time as they used to when running late.