STA Canberra Mercedes 8625

captainch · Post by **captainch** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 12:15 pm

the trouble was there were about 6 drivers who would drive this bus continualy ,as they liked it , plus looked after it, now we have these " instand driver " who hate to use a mk2 as a staff bus , thats the reason why, god help hem in the days off non power steering ,non a.c buses

Mother · Post by **Mother** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 3:42 pm

Yes, captainch, Mother remembers these days well.

For example, a driver was given a Mk2 Leopard in the 80s, but then cried to the shed driver: "Don't give me a Leopard - I've got to do two trips to the city!"

Or: "Don't give me a Leopard - I'm doing Carlingfords all afternoon."

captainch · Post by **captainch** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 4:00 pm

correct " mother" or they would get a medical certificate, must have power steering merc & they would use it for one trip on light duties, whilst other poor bastards would do 3 round 433 to balmain/millers point whith swinging loads on a mk 1 leopard non power steering, give me the good old days , hope you & your zimmer frame , & the nursing home let u out for the randwick tour, good to see if you can make it, will save some empty wine casks incase theres no c..........y bags provided. you can tell us all your storys when you were a show girl at the "taxi club"

Sir Pompously · Post by **Sir Pompously** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 6:04 pm

Used to love these old Mercs, back in the days of ACTION owning them. Remember riding them with my Grandad and once home from school when our normal bus never showed up. But I know I have ridden on them many a time. Next time I was up in Sydney I was hoping to try and track it down and get a shot or two (Or grab a day trip to Sydney in the next few weeks), but now it is out of service I think I can waiti till october to get any photos!

One Livery I would love to see it back in is its ACTION 'Z' livery. With the blue stripe underneath the windows that made a 'Z' shape below the drivers window and on the front door, and above the blue was white, below was orange. Personal opinion as I just love that livery, but it is in pretty good paint condition at the moment anyways in STA.

Simes · Post by **Simes** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 9:00 pm

There's still about 5 with Veolia, they run out of Taren Point so if you timed your trip for a weekend with a whole lot of trackwork - they might make an appearence on routework- failing that, school work, plus the ones at Metrolink and Interline (that come to mind)

Swift · Post by **Swift** » Sun Sep 03, 2006 11:18 am

The Canberra ones feel more confined inside compared to the Sydney ones.
I much prefer the Sydney version.

Simes · Post by **Simes** » Sun Sep 03, 2006 5:30 pm

Swift obsessor wrote:The Canberra ones feel more confined inside compared to the Sydney ones.
I much prefer the Sydney version.

Yeah my experience on the (then) South Trans ex ACTION mercs, I found the seats were squished in a bit more down the back as opposed to the PMC O305's

Mother · Post by **Mother** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 9:15 am

To reply to captainch, Mother has a new zimmerframe and is hoping to have broken it in just in time for the Randwick tour.

Yes, I also enjoyed the reactions of some of Ryde's former shed drivers (all now retired or resigned) when the precious ones would complain about having to drive a Leopard to the city and back. "YOU'RE A BUS DRIVER. I'VE ALLOCATED YOU A BUS. NOW F*** OFF!"

Rail Bus · Post by **Rail Bus** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 9:36 am

I have seen the Connex Canberra Mercs out doing weekend weekend route-work, along with a load of Mk2 Mercs. I have been told that these buses have bad rust in their bodies, hence their early withdrawals from private service. I also see the Interline and Oliveri Canberra Mercs out doing their route-work and local school sports runs on a regular basis. I wonder what condition their bodies are in...? Considering that Interline have repainted some of theirs into the new livery within the last 12 months, perhaps the bodies on these ones are ok?

Good luck to the Sydney Bus Museum on obtaining 8625. Last I heard Spencer Ross wanted a fortune for it despite its apparently poor body condition.

Post by **Deano** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 10:26 am

Good to hear this bus has been withdrawn, I can't believe the fanfare given to this PoS, despite it being unique, it is otherwise just another Canberra Mercedes. It was absolutely stupid the amount of money that STA spent on it to only do one of them instead of all 9 of them. This one admittedly has less rust than some of the others getting around, but will only deteriorate rapidly.

Premier Illawarra have had to remove the rust from some of the ex Rutty's ex Action Mercedes twice since they have taken over, and that's only 5 years and they've had to be done again. The design of these buses is very poor, and the bodies suffer major vibrations, and due to the poor design of the panel work salt and water can always find a way to creep into the framework of the bus.

If the Museum is keen enough to take up this bus, it will mean alot of money will need to be spent on re installing the original Action Cab, moving around the front seats which have been altered greatly, then the bus will only get about another 3 years of life before RTA put a defect on it due to excessive rust.

The only good condition Action Mercedes would be the ones at Interline which have not been subjective to constant salt air, and have all recently been refurbed, (they also have a unique unit, 670 the last Action merc). But once again they'll only last another 5 years max before they begin their self rust program and fall to bits all over again.

STA are only following the trend of most Private operators who are now looking to withdraw this class of vehicle before RTA finds out how much rust is in them.

Dave Wilson · Post by **Dave Wilson** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 12:06 pm

It doesn't particularly matter about the rust in 3529 - the Sydney Bus Museum deals with rust 50,000 times worse than what is in that bus. 3529 also has to be viewed in the STA context. The NSW Government authorities have always had magnificent oddities in their fleets such the two door pre war AEC dds, the deck and half observation coaches and Mr and Mrs Whippy etc. Not that it is good practice to preserve too many oddities but in my view 3529 is a classic and its uniqueness is heightened by the corporate livery and its previous history.

Action buses need to be preserved in Canberra. We have sought to create a small national capitals collection at Tempe (Melbourne,Adelaide,Canberra,Darwin so far). The thrust is the early 50s and whether it extends to Perth Brisbane Hobart will depend on whther good examples of buses from those cities are found.

andyr · Post by **andyr** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 3:28 pm

Deano wrote:Good to hear this bus has been withdrawn, I can't believe the fanfare given to this PoS, despite it being unique, it is otherwise just another Canberra Mercedes.

Careful Deano - the same could possibly be said about your beloved Mk II, of which much was made of it's journey back to Sydney.

What may be a PoS (point of sale???

) to you, could be quite unique and of interest to others.

No offence intended....

Ben O · Post by **Ben O** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 6:06 pm

andyr wrote:
Deano wrote:Good to hear this bus has been withdrawn, I can't believe the fanfare given to this PoS, despite it being unique, it is otherwise just another Canberra Mercedes.
Careful Deano - the same could possibly be said about your beloved Mk II, of which much was made of it's journey back to Sydney.

What may be a PoS (point of sale??? ) to you, could be quite unique and of interest to others.

No offence intended....

POS - Piece of XXX. Which the bus is. I agree with Deano. It may be unique, but its pretty shitty otherwise.

The museum has a mk II merc, bound to get a III and an IV. Is there really a need for another O305? What about the masses of private buses we've lost over the years... some which are still lying around, awaiting prevervation.

Dave Wilson · Post by **Dave Wilson** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 7:01 pm

I think we have done extraordinarily well with private buses, considering that in the main, private operators are extreme tight arses and self interested. They can't even see the beauty of preserving the family names in perpetuity. Yeah we might get a few tours for zilch but when it comes to donation of buses, they have always been shitheaps that have been offered. And I mean garbage scows. When it comes to Syd Metro anything any good or rare in the SBM collection such as the Reliance M/O 634, M/0 100, have been purchased. Even 612 came from the STA!!!

The private,private bus freaks ought to lobby a few operators - don't whinge on the discussion board 'cause they won't notice.

Andy Lee · Post by **Andy Lee** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 7:02 pm

I think it would be better suited to a "private" collection, it indeed is not a great vehicle, nor is it's claim to fame that great.
And the seed of all it's problems is that the body was made of mild steel, same as the MK1 Leopards,so in other words they rust from the outside in and the inside out.

R-C · Post by **R-C** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 9:45 pm

Speaking of the Ansair bodied things... take a look at the Scania CNGs and Low Floors.

3410 at one stage had no separation behind the back seats and the engine bay, due it being rusted out...

A closer look at the Ansair bodies in the fleet will show you the extent of the appauling qualities of the bodywork...

Some have rust in the joints, some have in the drivers cab, some behind the doors... One of the ones in the low floor type scania had to have the bus roof replaced due to the hole in the roof under the air con unit due to rust!

Swift · Post by **Swift** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 11:47 pm

Maybe we need to start a thread on the topic of rusty buses spotted in service.
I remember seeing rust in one of M's 14.5s inside on the inner panel edges in the front step area of the bus.
I also spotted some in one of Hopkinson's Volvo B59 rebodies inside where the inner panels meet the floor under one of the seats toward tyhe back.
I wonder what other buses are out there with the dreaded rot rearing it's head??

Windy · Post by **Windy** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 10:30 am

Swift obsessor wrote:Maybe we need to start a thread on the topic of rusty buses spotted in service.
I remember seeing rust in one of M's 14.5s inside on the inner panel edges in the front step area of the bus.
I also spotted some in one of Hopkinson's Volvo B59 rebodies inside where the inner panels meet the floor under one of the seats toward tyhe back.
I wonder what other buses are out there with the dreaded rot rearing it's head??

I don't know whether that would be an appropriate topic given the audience this board attracts.

Rail Bus · Post by **Rail Bus** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 11:37 am

Dave Wilson wrote:It doesn't particularly matter about the rust in 3529 - the Sydney Bus Museum deals with rust 50,000 times worse than what is in that bus. 3529 also has to be viewed in the STA context. The NSW Government authorities have always had magnificent oddities in their fleets such the two door pre war AEC dds, the deck and half observation coaches (Camel Backs [LL]) and Mr and Mrs Whippy etc. Not that it is good practice to preserve too many oddities but in my view 3529 is a classic and its uniqueness is heightened by the corporate livery and its previous history.

I quite agree, hence my favourable comment in my last posting on this subject. If 8625 were to be restored back to its Canberra configuration, then the acquistion of this particular bus would be a waste of time. For anyone who wants a Canberra Merc in ACTION livery, get an original or semi-original one from elsewhere.

It does not matter that 8625 may have to go into storage somewhere for some years before the rust is cut out of it and the bus is available for use as a historic veichle. It just joins the queue.

The issue of preserving 0.305 Mercs is becoming a sore point amongst some readers of this board. I note that it is these people who can do no more to help the cause of bus preservation than to type rubbish on discussion boards or at the very most take poor quality digital images of buses.

The likes of Dave Wilson have been preserving buses since before some readers of this board were even born!

Others, such as Andy Lee, Mosman Is/Mosman Was, myself, and the Parker boys have been doing it for a number of years now, and will continue doing so for a long time yet. To those who don't like the number of Mk2 Mercs being saved, buy a bus yourself and do something with it besides dribling!

A final note on Mk2 Merc presevation: What are all you foamers going to say in a few years time when there aren't ANY Mk2 Mercs in service in Australia, and the only ones around outside of preservation are wrecks? Is it going to be: "OH! I wish I'd taken more notice of them when they were running! Can someone give some photos of them? I'm a drop kick!"

Ben O · Post by **Ben O** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 6:07 pm

I must have missed this before, but I do think that 3529 might be better off in a private collection. If it were to be kept in suitable order (under cover preferrably), I could see it coming out of "storage" in years to come once its been forgotten about, and interesting many people.

Or in museum storage? Whatever happens.