DBL Volvo Orana in Aboriginal livery

Irisbus Rider · September 20, 2008, 12:24:43 PM

Beautiful beast.

Love it. The bus is mine!

Buzz Killington · September 20, 2008, 12:29:10 PM

i think i saw that from a distance yesterday.. i was in garema place and saw something that looked a lot like that go past in the interchange

Quite an interesting design!

Snorzac · September 20, 2008, 05:39:29 PM

Not as good as the 2 ACTION ones. Nothing looks good on an 'Orana'. They have to be the ugliest buses on earth.

Sir Pompously · September 20, 2008, 05:59:10 PM

I beg to differ, they are quite a stylish design, however most are just poorly built. No one, Ansair, AP or even Pheonix Bus who inherited the body could get rid of the rattles and design flaws. When new, repainted or refurbished the Orana looks its best, especially in the new Sydney Buses livery.

Nice photos, that is the bus I sighted the other day on Commonwealth Ave. Farewell Drake, I remember that livery from when I was in about year 7 or 8.

Snorzac · September 20, 2008, 06:04:29 PM

One of the DBL liveries leaks when it rain and the people from Sydney that I have experienced think their Oranas are ugly as all fuck.

Irisbus Rider · September 20, 2008, 06:13:00 PM

Oranas are awesome, what are you talking about.............Oh, wait, you're from Canberra.

Even though I never saw my first Orana until I moved to Canberra, I love the design, the rear, interior, and front, just great. And the rattles aren't that bad, nothing a roll of sticky foam won't fix. They've just been neglected.

That one, coupled with a B10B underneath it, it is stunning.

Thanks for all the comments too.

belcodriver · September 20, 2008, 07:03:37 PM

Cars in the bus interchange

Buzz Killington · September 21, 2008, 12:30:19 AM

lol

the bus was in a riverside plaza AOA prior to the drake one IIRC..

Irisbus Rider · September 21, 2008, 06:17:53 AM

Thanks for the comments and info, Riverside plaza, eh?

Cars in the interchange are never a good sight.

belcodriver · September 21, 2008, 12:17:49 PM

Quote from: Irisbus Rider on September 21, 2008, 06:17:53 AM
Cars in the interchange are never a good sight.

No. When leaving from Platform 5 in the city, several times I've had cars stopped at the lights to my right and then make the left turn into Northbourne by cutting in front of the bus, narrowly avoiding a well-deserved t-boning.

Snorzac · September 21, 2008, 07:46:34 PM

Judging by the Government logos on it, I doubt this will be the only one to look like this, Sydney Buses may have some.

Irisbus Rider · September 21, 2008, 08:36:31 PM

Yeah, when I first saw all these buses turning left onto Northbourne from the Interchange, I thought, thats just an accident waiting to happen, especially if you've got a leadfoot Intertown driver heading northbound, who wants to beat the other bus off the traffic lights. Then, bang.
As for car drivers through there, their ignorance and stupidity of driving through the interchange deserves some panel damage anyway!

Thats the only one in NSW like this as far as I know.
But, yeah, give it time, it might spread.

Trolleybusracer · September 21, 2008, 10:28:18 PM

the one thing i love about them oranas is the "Mask" Over the "Eyes"

Irisbus Rider · September 22, 2008, 01:47:15 PM

Yeah. Probably a good idea too, prevents rocks being thrown up and cracking the headlights, like so many of our CB60s are. You can tell by the headlight fogging up!

Trolleybusracer · September 22, 2008, 05:07:58 PM

reminds me of Zorro

Snorzac · September 22, 2008, 05:13:13 PM

Quote from: Sir Pompously on September 20, 2008, 05:59:10 PM
I beg to differ, they are quite a stylish design, however most are just poorly built. No one, Ansair, AP or even Pheonix Bus who inherited the body could get rid of the rattles and design flaws. When new, repainted or refurbished the Orana looks its best, especially in the new Sydney Buses livery.

Nice photos, that is the bus I sighted the other day on Commonwealth Ave. Farewell Drake, I remember that livery from when I was in about year 7 or 8.

I don't think that it would be that long that Drake add. I can remember the Riverside add from about 2003-4. But they were similar so it could be easy to get mixed up.

Buzz Killington · September 22, 2008, 05:33:33 PM

they weren't similar.. riverside was purple and white, drake was blue and green..

Irisbus Rider · September 22, 2008, 06:03:34 PM

Drake was a darkish blue. It looked faded, and was fairly old, I never saw the Riverside one, and I came here in 2001, so it is probably at least 6 years old.

Sir Pompously · September 22, 2008, 09:09:56 PM

Riverside Plaza would have come off maybe when I was in Year 8 in 2002. Could have been early 2003, but Drake has been on for years and this Orana was a regular at Marist almost every morning. Both, from memory, were very faded in their dying days.

Snorzac · September 22, 2008, 09:38:01 PM

Okay, you are probably right. I don't really remember the drake livery up until a few years ago, but when I use Deanes to go to visit my grandmother in Q I have never really had an Orana. Except for that grumpy old dick head who is just about the rudest person in the world. When I go next week I intend on going MAN hunting before getting hopefully an 0305.

Simes · September 23, 2008, 12:44:37 AM

Quote from: Irisbus Rider on September 20, 2008, 06:13:00 PM
Oranas are awesome, what are you talking about.............Oh, wait, you're from Canberra.

Even though I never saw my first Orana until I moved to Canberra, I love the design, the rear, interior, and front, just great. And the rattles aren't that bad, nothing a roll of sticky foam won't fix. They've just been neglected.

That one, coupled with a B10B underneath it, it is stunning.

Thanks for all the comments too.

There are 150 of the fucking things down the road in 3 sizes regular, long or low floor - crap bodies I'm looking forward to the orana bonfire in about 10 yrs

and seeing something different round here too. Admittedly seeing mk3's was a bit of a thrill only for that, until I rode a few however a proportion have picked up in terms of performance lately. But back in '06, I was not a happy chappy seeing well maintained 2's go off to Po Bo(of course there were dogs but still), then only to get the spear soon after!

Irisbus Rider · September 23, 2008, 12:32:59 PM

Quote from: Simes on September 23, 2008, 12:44:37 AM
There are 150 of the fucking things down the road in 3 sizes regular, long or low floor - crap bodies I'm looking forward to the orana bonfire in about 10 yrs and seeing something different round here too. Admittedly seeing mk3's was a bit of a thrill only for that, until I rode a few however a proportion have picked up in terms of performance lately. But back in '06, I was not a happy chappy seeing well maintained 2's go off to Po Bo(of course there were dogs but still), then only to get the spear soon after!

Crap bodies? Don't tell that to Norbert

Well, yeah, true with the MkIIs, some paper pusher saw their age and thought, oh, we'd better get rid of those old pieces of junk.
Damn I hate it when that happens, those buses could have lasted many many more years.

As for the STA Orana bodies, most of the time, the thing wrong with them is whats below the body, especially when you buy so many Scanias! And most of those are hanging around the SW area, that doesn't do any mercy to the bodies either.
But, then again, the Volvo B10BLEs are pretty crap too. I dunno, until you don't ride that Deanes one, with a high floor B10B beneath the body, you will think the Oranas are crap. But this one, ahhhhh, not a rattle, quiet, and a comfortable layout. Love it! See, it's the ideal bus, when it's got a good chassis, and a good body!

Simes · September 24, 2008, 07:19:24 PM

I enjoy telling Norbert that actually

I guess those 2 Orana's "behave" because they aren't Scanias (stiff suspension etc) and because of when they were built? My theory being the company wasn't teetering on the edge of collapse like they were when the B10BLE's up here were coming out, short cuts and what not.....

Snorzac · September 24, 2008, 07:40:15 PM

yay. someone agrees with me. oranas are crap

Irisbus Rider · September 24, 2008, 10:32:39 PM

Quote from: Simes on September 24, 2008, 07:19:24 PM
I enjoy telling Norbert that actually

I guess those 2 Orana's "behave" because they aren't Scanias (stiff suspension etc) and because of when they were built? My theory being the company wasn't teetering on the edge of collapse like they were when the B10BLE's up here were coming out, short cuts and what not.....

Damn right. Those Volvos B10BLEs are disgraceful.

I dunno, the suspension does make a big difference.