Forum | Merseyside Dennis Dart Website

I had the usual venture out to Liverpool and Birkenhead today, this is what I rode:

6 Huyton to Liverpool (7612) - This was generally average. It rattled a bit, and was a tad on the sluggish side. And we waited 15 minutes at Edge Lane for a new driver, due to the driver going past the temporary changeover point... He was a nice fella though! There were some cheery passengers who were taking the mick towards the back when we finally pulled away, with a number of people on the bus shouting "Wheyyy" as we pulled off :P

71 Liverpool to Birkenhead (First 60112) - This was excellent! I really wanted to ride an Ultralow, due to them being my favourite bus type. This bus barely rattled, and sounded nice (not as nice as a P-HEM though!)

1 Birkenhead to Liverpool (First 60055) - This was the same as 60112 really! Just a slower driver, quite depressing through the tunnel to be honest...

15 Liverpool to West Derby Road (3061) - This was fantastic! Great kickdown in parts, and barely rattling whilst doing so!

61 Old Swan to West Derby Village (4028) - Quite nice. It was relatively fast, and rattles were to a minimum. Interior was scruffy though, with a lot of Speke B7 seats on the bottom deck.

13 West Derby Village (2407) - Very poor. It rattled, crashed and banged all the way and vibrated in idle. It was fast though.

472 Liverpool to Birkenhead (4000) - Quite nice. It was fast, and hardly rattled at all. By far the best of the three President's!

407 Birkenhead to Liverpool (4203) - The same as previous weeks really, rattly, loud and generally awful.

8 Liverpool to Huyton (2204) - Fantastic! It was the same driver who I had on 2202 a few weeks back (although he did come off at GL), so there was plenty of speed! And, the only evident rattles were from the side blind panel and the cab door.

I had a nice day out to Warrington again today, however all I rode was Cadets bar 1 Pulsar, so its hardly worth posting about!
Got a day out ahead tomorrow so I should have something to post then :P

i spent a local day in st helens riding paladins and darts best dart being 2298 and best paladin of the lot i had being 1054 for making some chav fall of the back seat :P

Did 2298 still have some trim hanging from the ceiling?

not that i can recall but i could have (truth be told i was very tired)

Haha, no worries! Looked poor to say the least when it was hanging and swinging around!

well if its not been sorted they best sort it before its withdrawn as i really like that plaxton pointer 1, a good example of how buses should look

tomoz i will start my day in birkenhead then god knows where i will end up

I headed out again today, this is what I rode:

6 Huyton to Liverpool (2575) - Fantastic! It absolutely flew all the way, kickingdown a lot. It DIDN'T rattle at all. It's put most of the Pulsar's to shame! What a great start to the day!

15 Liverpool to West Derby Road (3058) - This was a lot better then last time I rode it. It rattled a lot less, and sounded much nicer. Worthy of note was it STILL retains it's Maltese interior stickers and "arriva.com.mt" website address!

13 West Derby Road to Liverpool (2413) - Fantastic! It was very fast, and barely rattled. By far the best of the DAF ALX300's!

472 Liverpool to Birkenhead (4204) - Pretty poor. It vibrated it idle, and had an incredibly annoying pole squeak. It did sound nice, though.

1 Birkenhead to Liverpool (First 65734) - Quite nice. It didn't rattle, and sounded fantastic. But it was let down massively by an incredibly slow driver.

13 Liverpool to West Derby Road (2669) - Very poor. It was in safe mode, so was very sluggish. There were also some alarming rattles from the axle.

10C Prescot Road to Liverpool (Stagecoach 34743) - Very poor. It rattled violently, with the emergency exit bar providing the biggest headache. The fanbelt squealed, and the cooling fan was on. It was fast though.

7 Liverpool to Huyton (2575) - I finished the day pretty much how I started, on 2575. The same as before really, flawless!

HTIOI

A good read Luke! Seeing as my post was lost on the old forum and I can't find a cached version anywhere, I'll just reiterate my point about 'safe mode' though:

It's likely that a lot of buses are not at all in 'safe mode' which actually refers to the automated tuning down of the engine upon an ad-blue filter failure meaning that the bus is running off of pure diesel/not mixing the ad-blue correctly and therefore, for it to remain at the previous power rating would mean that emissions would increase. More likely is that these vehicles have been tuned down by fitters in the depot for what could be a variety of reasons. If for any reason leaving the engine at it's current power rating could lead to a failed monthly check/MOT for example, it gets tuned down via a computer in depot and then they rarely get tuned back up, unless someone says something, through being forgotten about or the fitters just not having the time. Another example would be to protect a vulnerable engine which has been known to fail repeatedly; tuning it down will obviously preserve its life and usability. This can also be done on any vehicle which has the facility so in theory could effect Cadets, Enviro300s, Enviro400s etc. Indeed, I've previously noted it on one of our Cadets, 2492, here in St Helens although that has since been rectified. Hope this clears things up a bit!

(07/06/2012 15:52)CX54 DKD Wrote: [ -> ]It's likely that a lot of buses are not at all in 'safe mode' which actually refers to the automated tuning down of the engine upon an ad-blue filter failure meaning that the bus is running off of pure diesel/not mixing the ad-blue correctly and therefore, for it to remain at the previous power rating would mean that emissions would increase. More likely is that these vehicles have been tuned down by fitters in the depot for what could be a variety of reasons. If for any reason leaving the engine at it's current power rating could lead to a failed monthly check/MOT for example, it gets tuned down via a computer in depot and then they rarely get tuned back up, unless someone says something, through being forgotten about or the fitters just not having the time. Another example would be to protect a vulnerable engine which has been known to fail repeatedly; tuning it down will obviously preserve its life and usability. This can also be done on any vehicle which has the facility so in theory could effect Cadets, Enviro300s, Enviro400s etc. Indeed, I've previously noted it on one of our Cadets, 2492, here in St Helens although that has since been rectified. Hope this clears things up a bit!

That clears it up for me perfectly CX54. A very interesting read indeed - thanks for posting