Rethinking the shape of the bus

From the article Cobol posted:

BBC News said:
A full-scale model of London's new Routemaster bus has been unveiled.

Surely a full scale model of a bus is... a bus. As much as I approve of a successor to the Routemaster, my god that thing is ugly. It looks like it ran over a cyberman and some bits collected around the headlights.
 
Dont HGV's and stuff have to stick to the flat front, cab over engine thing so that the bad boys can pack nicely into ships and other forms of transport? isnt everything a nearly standard size so that any trailer will fit any shipping container and stuff like that?

I always wonder why most European trucks are basically blocks on wheels.
 
That too, if everyone started driving nose trucks Stena Line and Cobelfret would be angry. And it's terribly unpractical to navigate a truck through many cities (especially Napoli comes to mind) with a flatnose, let alone how difficult it'd be with a nosetruck.

But those are miscellaneous items, the real answer is that we in Europe restrict the length of the entire vehicle (tractor+trailer(s)) whereas the americans treat them as two separate entities.

I doubt that thing is over 4m tall, my guess would be 4.00m exactly... else it would need a special permit every time it wanted to go through Germany, and would have to avoid many major routes such as the A7 through Hamburg.

Can't say how tall the Berkhof 3000 HDA was as they never made any but the Neoplan Jumbocruiser, another articulated double decker and out of production since 1992, was 4000 mm tall. The Beluas double deckers that run here are 4205 tall, all* bridges in Sweden are built to accomodate 4500mm tall vehicles compared to 4000 mm in continental Europa.

*Not all of them of course, but all that cross roads designated for HGV's.
 
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You don't necessarily have to worry about 4 metre height restrictions. A little lateral (well, longditudinal) thinking solves the problem.

I present these buses :

http://img140.imageshack.**/img140/2991/longbus2wm6.jpg

http://img3.imageshack.**/img3/576/longbushm4.jpg
 
Dont HGV's and stuff have to stick to the flat front, cab over engine thing so that the bad boys can pack nicely into ships and other forms of transport? isnt everything a nearly standard size so that any trailer will fit any shipping container and stuff like that?

I always wonder why most European trucks are basically blocks on wheels.

Age old reality that once you find an optimal design you stick with it.
 
Function dictates form.

Want a shape to go fast? Make it low and slippery. Want it to carry stuff? Make it a box.

/thread
 
You don't necessarily have to worry about 4 metre height restrictions. A little lateral thinking solves the problem.

https://pic.armedcats.net/k/kn/knarkas/2011/04/19/A350_-_800_Airbus.jpg

:D

The first long bus looks shooped but I can't tell from some of the pixels on the second one. It looks quite real. But to build such a thing would be madness unless it's an exhibition piece that doesnt move.

As a token of Tuesday I give you Estonian trailer buses.
https://pic.armedcats.net/k/kn/knarkas/2011/04/19/36441of6.jpg
 
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You don't necessarily have to worry about 4 metre height restrictions. A little lateral (well, longditudinal) thinking solves the problem.

I present these buses :

http://img140.imageshack.**/img140/2991/longbus2wm6.jpg

http://img3.imageshack.**/img3/576/longbushm4.jpg

You see, that quite simply will not work anywere (even if they were real) unless maybee the Australian outback.....the first that is, the second one needs his own planet to turn :p

You see trailers, (what the pieces basicly are) tend to creep to the inside in a corner, the more hingepoints (the harmonica bits) a vehicle has the bigger an issue this becomes, there is no corner in the world this side of an airfield that will get round whithout taking out the scenery on the inside......And I realy dont want to know how a jack-knife feels in those things, trains run on rails for a reason you know :p
 
You see, that quite simply will not work anywere (even if they were real) unless maybee the Australian outback.....the first that is, the second one needs his own planet to turn :p

You see trailers, (what the pieces basicly are) tend to creep to the inside in a corner, the more hingepoints (the harmonica bits) a vehicle has the bigger an issue this becomes, there is no corner in the world this side of an airfield that will get round whithout taking out the scenery on the inside......And I realy dont want to know how a jack-knife feels in those things, trains run on rails for a reason you know :p

Who are you and what have you done with the real Cowboy? :p

Seriously that's very much the point. I remember footage of outback roadtrains from some years ago where they have to cross the oncoming carriageway just to be able to make a left turn. Mind you they are so damn big the oncoming traffic doesn't really have much of a choice.
 
Who are you and what have you done with the real Cowboy? :p

What? :p I'm good with big stuff it's down on the ground I fuck up
 
If some modern tech was applied to that thing then it could technically be possible, just not a very good idea. It would need one of two things: An electronic differential that can shift the drive in each 'trailer' to keep it going in a straight line or turn it when necessary. An electronic brake controller to do the same thing at the cost of brake pads. Sensors would measure the angle of the leading tractor unit and first one or two trailers and mimic it, knowing how many revolutions of the wheels before commencing the turn.

In theory they could make very tight turns this way, acting like Snake does, even down to the point where it would probably crash into a wall at some point.
 
IMG_8647.JPG

- Disney's Tram Service: Walt Disney World operates 28 trams with 7 cars per tram, 6 seats per car, 5-passenger capacity per seat, with a total occupancy of 210. The trams reach a total length of 171 feet with top speeds of 14 miles per hour and at a cost of one million dollars per tram.

These things act like a snake, with four wheel steering. The turning radius wasn't horrible and would be possible on wide city streets.

-Robert
 
You see trailers, (what the pieces basicly are) tend to creep to the inside in a corner, the more hingepoints (the harmonica bits) a vehicle has the bigger an issue this becomes, there is no corner in the world this side of an airfield that will get round whithout taking out the scenery on the inside.

This is true but I saw something on The New Inventors (Australia) not long ago that solved that problem. Every trailer followed the line of the one in front. Can't remember how it worked but it was simple and mechanical, will have to do a search.
 
The Thomas Saf-T-Liner C2 was pretty radical when it came out in like 05 IIRC:

C@_TBB-SCR-Ad-Image-09_LG.jpg

C2_Saf-T-Liner-C2-school-bus_LG.jpg

C2_08_Visibility_LG.jpg


Yes...I'm a bit of a school bus enthusiast...:p
 
The Thomas Saf-T-Liner C2 was pretty radical when it came out in like 05 IIRC:

C2_08_Visibility_LG.jpg


Yes...I'm a bit of a school bus enthusiast...:p

If I had to look at that dash all day while pressed up against the sidepanel on the left constantly flipping stupidly placed switches with my left arm I would get another job.....who the hell designed that? someone with one arm and one leg? :p
 
The Thomas Saf-T-Liner C2 was pretty radical when it came out in like 05 IIRC:

C@_TBB-SCR-Ad-Image-09_LG.jpg

C2_Saf-T-Liner-C2-school-bus_LG.jpg

C2_08_Visibility_LG.jpg


Yes...I'm a bit of a school bus enthusiast...:p

If I had to look at that dash all day while pressed up against the sidepanel on the left constantly flipping stupidly placed switches with my left arm I would get another job.....who the hell designed that? someone with one arm and one leg? :p
RHD FTW!
 
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