ALL THE NOISES! R reg Dart hold gears and noisy brakes! 

so cute

Music to my ears she was!

@@derektaylor2941 AT545's never had lock up.

I used to always look forward as a kid to get on these single deckers hoping to catch one with this engine, was always in love with that turbine sound, still am!! Saddens me that these buses are all getting replaced I gotta buy one init

@@stoplookingatmeplease1230 I caught them as a kid in the original gay 'Barbie' livery from 1997. Went on these to school and all the way through college. Then in 2013 I end up as a first bus driver driving them. They just started pulling them out of service just before I left the firm so I was lucky as they had them up to 2014. Funny things to drive. They were like a very long bumper car or a dodgem car. Bit bouncy and all over the place on a rough patchy road mainly because of the very small wheels which weren't really proportionate to the size of the bus. The brake pedal and brakes were horrendous. Standard Darts were a Bit slow and didn't feel like they were making much forward progress. Air throttle darts like the ex Hong Kong version were better. Didn't have a brilliant full steering lock but then the steering angle was built for 8.5 metres which was then stretched out to 10.5 with the same steering angle plus they were old and dated. Mind you saying that Wright Streetlite Maxi's and 2022 E200 Enviro's are no better on steering lock then older buses really. I suppose Darts were built at a time when there was less traffic around in 1997 so they could use more of the road to turn or corner or overhang the front over the other side of the roads because there wasnt as much traffic for it to interfere with as much as there is now. Nevertheless good buses that pretty much over-stood the test of time. Scratchy clattery naturally aspirated 5.9 cummins engine that filled the room with engine noise as it was driving. Turbine gearbox whine in second gear as your going around street corners. Then got the exhaust 'bellow' or the 'Fart' from the rear down pipe as it leaves. God I miss these buses!

@@1ns4ne1d10t Absolutely! Miss these aswell, especially when drivers let the RPMs go down while in 2nd gear and then give it throttle again , the way it whines, climactic I would say haha - I remember them having tiny wheels! Pretty goofy indeed but I loved them - thanks for this precious info mate

@@stoplookingatmeplease1230 Dennis Dart SLF's were the last of a 'Proper' bus really. Rough, functional, naturally aspirated, simple. Because of the small wheels they did grab into sunken drain hole covers and wham over road joins a fair bit. But nobody ever complained about any bus body being put on the SLF chassis. Southampton had Solent Blueline Caetano Compasses and First Southampton Plaxton pointer II's. Same buses but different looks. Other companies like Yellow buses of Bournemouth had Alexander Single deckers and Marshall versions of the same bus. I never drove a Compass version because I didnt work for Solent Blueline. Should imagine it's exactly the same as a Pointer. Though I did drive some of the uglier 10m 1st generation Pointers which were 0.5 meters shorter then the usual pointers (Half a window shorter). Exactly the same as a regular later shape Pointer to drive. Same Funfair dodgem car pedals. Basic bus but good fun to drive though. Naturally aspirated so one touch of the pedal had an instant rev change like a banana transit with a York engine.

Typical ol’ Cummins 6BT noise 😈😂

Thats because the Caetano Compass is the same bus as the Plaxton. They were all built with the same floor, wheels, chassis, engine, gearbox, brakes, in just one factory. The standard cummins 5.9 SLF Dart and Alison transmission were put in over 10 different styles and makes of Bus bodywork. In Southampton we had both versions. Caetano compass's run by Solent blueline and First Southampton running Plaxton Pointer II buses on 1997/R registrations. They were both the same. Bit like a Ford Mondeo to a Jaguar X Type. The only difference is the way they looked and the style of the body. Seat, steering wheel, dashboard, speedometer, start/stop/run key, dodgem car pedals, seat position were all repeated from bus to bus. So no matter what it looked like on the outside they all drove the same.

Glad you enjoyed 😊

I don't like it that much with optare chassis, it suits dart and e20d chassis the most

Even e200s are becoming more rare now especially the older versions (pre 2010) that were basically just a dart its actually quite sad to see

@@cam43002 we got plenty of 2000s 200s although recently i have noticed a lot more new ones We still got quite a few 04/05 omniekkas quite freshly imported from Brighton But only 2 darts left and i think one js training only

@@beamboy07 wow your lucky a load of our 09/59 plate e200s have gone for scrap the last things we had resembling a dart will miss them

Gears were being manually downshifted by the selector.

Yes it has

really ? not ldv convoys theyre most popular in late 90s early 10s

​@@beamboy07he's obviously not on about LDV bloody convoys, a lot of school buses did use this engine though, and proper school buses, american ones

@@wharris302 idk what my point even was there XD

The Bluebird TC2000 and Thomas MVP EF used this drivetrain.

Couldn't agree more!

T305JRH is good for doing that downshifting whine!

Just a "dennis" dart, dennis "specialist " did firetruck and bin lorries

1950’s architecture does make it look quite like the brutalist architecture you get in Eastern Europe/ Russia. Not all of Plymouth looks like this however, mainly just the core of the city centre.

Plymouth City Bus from new 😊

Cummins 4BT 3.9L Alison world AT-545

SORN (Statutory off-road notice) is to tell DVLA that a vehicle isn’t, or no longer being used on the road. That should answer your question

@@BusesinLondon345 that is different to being scrapped. Being stored or used for parts which technically isn't scrapped

@@danielr5000-d1s it should still get registered as SORN regardless. Like I said, a SORN is to inform DVLA that a vehicle “ISNT” or is “NO LONGER” being used on the road.

@@BusesinLondon345 no it shouldn't. If it is only getting scrapped then it can be left as untaxed and if it is being scrapped it won't return to the road. It needs to be sorn if being used for parts because it technically isn't scrapped and could even be brought back to the road if someone decided to repair it

No mate, it was actually me, but didn’t want to get in trouble by saying it was me when I worked there 😂😂