catfan 14,793 Posted April 9, 2017 Report Share Posted April 9, 2017 Skill's open day 2017. A nice collection of coaches on display today. A brand new 72 seater Volvo coach ! I've seen double deckers with that capity. This one is done by fitting smaller seats in a 3x2 configuration, built especially for school trips. Silverdale Coaches owned by Skill's. Plus numerous other coaches owned by Skill's. National Express coach owned by Skill's used on contract run to London. Wheelchair lift room inside for wheelchair ! Relaxation area at the rear of the coach with two tables for passengers to go & have a hot drink from the on board kitchen area, not forgetting the on board toilet ! Pass the keys ! 1 5 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
catfan 14,793 Posted April 9, 2017 Report Share Posted April 9, 2017 Forgot to add. Some new coaches now that Skill's have bought cost getting on for a staggering. £300K, each ! 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
loppylugs 8,429 Posted April 9, 2017 Report Share Posted April 9, 2017 Looks like you'll soon need an airline pilot's license to drive one of them, Mick. Seating layout looks almost like a plane too. Good photos, thanks. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
catfan 14,793 Posted April 9, 2017 Report Share Posted April 9, 2017 Chatting to a member of staff & mentioned that I had done a bit of bus & coaching in the past & was asked if I would like a job ? Quite serious too, thanks but no thanks I said. PSV license revoked on med grounds. 1 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jill Sparrow 10,305 Posted April 9, 2017 Report Share Posted April 9, 2017 Things have come a long way since Bertha Skill's wet fish shop on Ilkeston Road! 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
catfan 14,793 Posted April 9, 2017 Report Share Posted April 9, 2017 All singing & all dancing coaches too 1 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
loppylugs 8,429 Posted April 10, 2017 Report Share Posted April 10, 2017 sorry it cost you your PSV license. Sounds like you were ready for a break anyway, though. Last time I was in Nottingham was 1997. We rented a car from a place on Bath Street. I think it may have been Hertz. We did o-k but I remember then complaining about the volume of traffic. We drove out of Bath street to the centre of town and then down Derby road to Stapleford. It felt funny driving on the left again as well. I was glad when we got to Stapleford. We did o-k after that. That was twenty years ago. Hard to believe and it must be even heavier now. 3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Oztalgian 3,278 Posted April 10, 2017 Report Share Posted April 10, 2017 Catfan, Does the three two configuration affect the handling of the coach with potentially more weight on the off side than the nearside? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
catfan 14,793 Posted April 10, 2017 Report Share Posted April 10, 2017 Good question Oz, but no. Self leveling air suspension all around takes care of that. Loppy, re Hertz rent-a-car on Bath Street. Believe that place is the old Post Office building where all the vans & trucks were based there. Remembering the old BSA Bantam motorbikes used for telegram delivery were also based there too. 1 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
banjo48 928 Posted April 10, 2017 Report Share Posted April 10, 2017 Catfan The old post office building was originally the mechanised parcel sorting office, I worked there on it's construction, and many times after it opened. The place is literally full of blue asbestos (crysidilite sp.) very nasty stuff indeed, we were there when it was found to be carcegenic and cause mesothelioma. We were told to have regular chest xrays and if affected we would be covered, whatever that means in todays age. It was literally boxed in to seal it away, with hundreds of sheets of plywood, it was supposedly fireproofing for the steel structural element of the building. Sorry to go OT. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
catfan 14,793 Posted April 18, 2017 Report Share Posted April 18, 2017 Last weekend's trip to Eastbourne was a bit different, coach wise anyway. At the last moment our allocated coach was changed to a coach used by some ice hockey team, Nottm Panthers or something, it must be some sort of "girly" hockey game. Anyway the coach had tables & chairs plus other extra's & very nice to it was. Usual Neoplan bodied Scania but half decent anyway ! Mrs C & I had four seats & a table all to ourselves ! 1 5 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
benjamin1945 16,155 Posted April 18, 2017 Report Share Posted April 18, 2017 My sort of Coach that Catfan.........4 Ash-trays...........lol. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
FLY2 10,108 Posted April 18, 2017 Report Share Posted April 18, 2017 That's for holding your beer, so as nothing gets spilt or wasted. ........ Well, the drinker gets wasted eventually ! 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
katyjay 5,091 Posted April 19, 2017 Report Share Posted April 19, 2017 Not seen 3 letters and 4 numbers on a number plate before. Is it for buses only? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
catfan 14,793 Posted April 19, 2017 Report Share Posted April 19, 2017 No, anyone can purchase number plates these days subject to various conditions. These are old northern ireland plates, the letter "i" gives the game away ! Coach operators like to use so called private plates away so as not to show the true age of the coach ! All Skill's coaches are all quite recent I'm glad to say ! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Cliff Ton 10,464 Posted April 19, 2017 Report Share Posted April 19, 2017 I posted this before somewhere, but it fits in here as well. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
catfan 14,793 Posted June 28, 2017 Report Share Posted June 28, 2017 Skill's latest pair of new buses. One luxury coach & one luxury double decker. The DD is named "Arthur" after Arthur Skill the company founder. Not my poor quality picture but Skill's ! 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Merthyr Imp 729 Posted June 28, 2017 Report Share Posted June 28, 2017 All rather different from these days: At Huntingdon Street, early 1970s. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DAVIDW 1,683 Posted June 29, 2017 Report Share Posted June 29, 2017 Last week (remember when it was hot !) , we were walking in Portreath , (Cornwall) and a young lady thrust 2 tickets in our hands for a free coffee at a place called the Gold Centre . It mainly sells jewellery but has a few other small attractions. Be rude not to accept so went along to get the coffee , though did purchase an expensive piece of cake ! There was only one coach in the car park , a Skills , could have been the new one above . Good to hear some Nott'm accents again . 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Chulla 4,946 Posted June 29, 2017 Report Share Posted June 29, 2017 #93. If you want to know what happened to all those old Leyland and Bedford coaches, they ended up in Malta. They were modified to incorporate air conditioning - they took the windows out!. They had a driver (with an image of his patron saint hanging in front of him) and a ticket ripper-upper. I jest not, while the driver just sat there his mate took your ticket and put a rip in it. That was his job. It was great place for old British cars too. I heard that when they went into the EU, its regulations put paid to the old vehicles. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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