Garden Railway Forum

I guess the new hybrid train-bus system got inspiration from the garden models. But here, it is testing in Japan.

https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14055442

This wikipedia article suggests they have been around since the 1970s, but I'm sure I've seen an even earlier version somewhere....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road%E2%8 ... rail_buses

Rik

I seem to recall a system somewhere in the West Midlands area, possibly Birmingham, around the '70's (?) where road buses had dedicated routes defined by parallel concrete walls, where they were guided by side-mounted castors(?) of some sort, so the driver had no need to steer the bus. They didn't need to swap over running wheels from tyres to bogies. Short lived as I remember!

Peter Butler wrote: ↑Wed Dec 08, 2021 3:59 pm I seem to recall a system somewhere

Yes, I definitely remember seing it on tv. I thought it in demo form but may have been a real system, I can't remember the detail. Was probably on "Tomorrows World" at a guess.

Peter Butler wrote: ↑Wed Dec 08, 2021 3:59 pm I seem to recall a system somewhere in the West Midlands area, possibly Birmingham, around the '70's (?) where road buses had dedicated routes defined by parallel concrete walls, where they were guided by side-mounted castors(?) of some sort, so the driver had no need to steer the bus. They didn't need to swap over running wheels from tyres to bogies. Short lived as I remember!

There is a guided busway in operation between Cambridge and Huntingdon, it was only finished in the last 10 years or so and runs all the time. As mentioned above, a standard bus fitted with side guide wheels that run inside a concrete wall, a car would just fall down the middle holes. the bus driver does nothing except line it up on the entrance to the guided part and then does the forward and stopping bit only.

Example of typical Merc driver who thinks the rules don't apply to him.

How about this from 1932 (coincidentally the year the PLR is set in)
https://www.therailwayhub.co.uk/11791/f ... by-events/


Rik

The Japanese system is a standard Hi-rail chassis, which have been around since Adam was in short pants. They are more commonly used with a truck body for track maintenance.

There's at least one narrow gauge Hi-rail truck around. Puff Rail use one on 2'6" for the fire patrol that follows steam hauled trains during the fire season.


The guided buses look like an O-Bahn. The germans invented it in the early 1980's, there's one in Essen and Adelaide has had a line since '86. The O-Bahn was developed by Daimler-Benz, so presumably the dropkick in the Merc thought that meant he would be able to drive on it as well...........

Graeme

Ah, now, the problem there is that the guided busway is clearly broad gauge, whereas a Mercedes is standard gauge:

Peter Butler wrote: ↑Wed Dec 08, 2021 3:59 pm I seem to recall a system somewhere in the West Midlands area, possibly Birmingham, around the '70's (?) where road buses had dedicated routes defined by parallel concrete walls, where they were guided by side-mounted castors(?) of some sort, so the driver had no need to steer the bus. They didn't need to swap over running wheels from tyres to bogies. Short lived as I remember!

It was in Birmingham, and called Tracline 65 but as you say, short-lived, mainly due to deregulation of bus services, and the operator who won the Sunday service on the route didn't want to fit their fleet with the necessary running gear. It was the first guided bus way in the UK, although many cities now have similar systems - Bradford is one I'm most familiar with now.