Denver Junkyard of Buses

[Driver@BTN]

Here's a collection of buses shot by ABPV's Dave Moorman in Denver Colorodo on 30th and Blake Streets.:

[Driver@BTN]

Continued:

[TTCBusBabe]

Any idea how long they have been there?  You think they could have sold the double deckers for tourisim somewhere, guess the "beware of dog" sign didn't deter the graffitti artists.

[Driver@BTN]

Nope, no story associated with the postings, only a simple caption which I've already relayed. Maybe Erin (who's from the Denver area) can fill in the blanks for us when she gets here.

[Cyberider]

How sad.  Kind of reminds me of an auction that was just held in Nebraska or Kansas.  Several dozen old buses parked out in the country with stuff growing all over them.  Twins, GM Old and News, Flxys, Ramblers, etc.  It sounded like most of them would be going to scrap. 

[Devochka]

I don't live far from there.  I will go check it out tonight and see what I can see.  There is a company here in Denver that charters those old London double-decker buses, it isn't really a charter company as much as it is a gimmick for "party buses."

If you want to see RTD's "graveyard" of recently retired buses, it is behind District Shops at 1900 31st St, 80216.  If you look at this link:

http://tinyurl.com/lqdve

You can see all of the buses in the lower left corner of the satellite image.  You can see the lot easily from I-25 and I-70, and it is currently full of Flxible Metro Ds and Es as well as the older Gillig Phantoms.  I imagine this lot is where buses sit until they are auctioned off by RTD.  I will try to go by there and get some pics tonight.

_erin

[Devochka]

Here is RTD's "junkyard" located on Weston St, behind District Shops:







There are a lot more buses there that I couldn't get pics of because the gates were closed and locked.  I will try to get some shots from the highways to give you folks an idea of the size of this "junkyard."

To see the full-size images of the above pics as well as a couple of shots of Platte Division and a shot of Greyhound's bus depot on 25th and Curtis, check out:

http://erinwardphotography.com/2006-07-03/

_erin

[Merlinbus]

What a sad end for these vehicles. All the double deckers are ex UK vehicles. The ones with the centre doors were some of London Transport`s infamous DMS class of bus. They were Daimler engined vehicles, with Park Royal bodies. I drove them in the mid 70`s Among the others are a Leyland Atlantean and a ECW Bristol FLF.. They went a long way to fade into oblivion.

[TTCBusBabe]

Very sad in all yards, just think how many there are..wish I had the time, money and space to rebuild them.

[AMoreira81]

Are some of those double deckers VR double deckers? (I ask because there are some alive and well for a tour operator in Philadelphia.)

[Merlinbus]

No, it doesn`t look like it. The green one is a bristol FLF half cab. Some of the DMS`s were fitted with different types of engines, depending on their age. Some were fitted with Gardner 6LXB engines, which were also fitted in VR`s.

[SEPTA8119]

Ex-RTD 8206L is still alive and running in suburban Philly for a private bus company that operates a transit line (rather badly, I might add).  8206L is now Krapf's Transit "9412" operating the "A" bus between Coatesville and West Chester.  There are still a couple of RTD-related interior signs posted (with the bus number plate and it's braille translation underneath).

This company also operates a pair of ex-Foothill Gillgs - F1000 (#9410) and F1012 (#9411).

[Devochka]

Ex-RTD 8206L is still alive and running in suburban Philly for a private bus company that operates a transit line (rather badly, I might add).  8206L is now Krapf's Transit "9412" operating the "A" bus between Coatesville and West Chester.  There are still a couple of RTD-related interior signs posted (with the bus number plate and it's braille translation underneath).

This company also operates a pair of ex-Foothill Gillgs - F1000 (#9410) and F1012 (#9411).

8206L was a 40' Gillig Phantom that was leased to Laidlaw, one of our contractors.  I feel sorry for Krapf's for buying anything that was leased by Laidlaw -- Laidlaw was infamous for taking very bad care of their leased buses.  In fact, because of their inability to take care of our older buses (they had way too many problems with buses breaking down all the time), we decided to give them our brand new buses to see if that would help....

In the junkyard now are a bunch of MCI A-models, our old 1700 series buses....

_erin

[RIPTA42]

How sad.  Kind of reminds me of an auction that was just held in Nebraska or Kansas.  Several dozen old buses parked out in the country with stuff growing all over them.  Twins, GM Old and News, Flxys, Ramblers, etc.  It sounded like most of them would be going to scrap. 

Sounds like you're referring to the Robert Sklenar estate auction in Takameh, NE this past June.  That's where Omaha "reclaimed" ten of its retired Old Looks to restore and put back into service.  I *think* Seashore Trolley Museum took home a Twin Coach artic, but I could be mistaken.  From what I heard, most of the equipment there was beyond salvageable.