Dave Tapsell
Overland Buses (i)
Turkey: September 1968
This is a 1948 Maudslay Marathon III bus (JXM 563) owned and operated by Safaris Overland on a trip to India that left London on Saturday, 7 September 1968. Just over five weeks later the bus arrived in Delhi. I'd boarded it as a passenger, became its mechanic when it broke down, and in Turkey, had become its co-driver.
The Maudslay had an AEC A173 diesel engine (7,581 cc) and a 4-speed crash gearbox; the brakes were vacuum assisted; the chassis number was Mly Mn 70223. The vehicle had been re-bodied in 1957 and fitted with the 35-seat Duple Vega body shown in the photo; it had probably started life with a Whitson half-cab body. Before being bought later on by Safaris Overland, JXM 563 was operated by Duvals of Surbition; it was number 36 in the Duvals fleet. Later on it was also owned by Cresta Coaches of Wimbledon.
In this photograph the bus has stopped on the road from Trabzon, on the Black Sea coast, to Erzurum – this was the old dirt road up to the Zigana Pass ( over 6,600ft. ) in north-eastern Turkey. We had stopped as the AEC engine had been overheating during the gruelling climb from sea level. The two local Turkish boys had appeared and asked for cigarettes using sign language. John, the bus owner and driver, is talking to them; in the background are some of the passengers: Penny, Bill, Hank and Harry.
Most of the passengers were intending to leave the bus in Delhi and make their own way on to Australia or the Far East. This was best done by a train journey from Delhi to Calcutta, plane to Bangkok (to bypass Burma), and then by several trains down through Thailand and Malaysia to Singapore. From there, flights were available to Australia; the cheapest ticket was to Darwin. Some people continued through Indonesia to Bali and Portugese Timor, before flying on to Australia. That wasn't an option for me though as I'd almost run out of cash and what little remained was spent on a plane ticket from Singapore to Darwin – where I'd hoped to find work as soon as possible, as I'd entered Australia with only two dollars left out of what I started off with in England, seven weeks before.
Overland Buses (i)
Turkey: September 1968
This is a 1948 Maudslay Marathon III bus (JXM 563) owned and operated by Safaris Overland on a trip to India that left London on Saturday, 7 September 1968. Just over five weeks later the bus arrived in Delhi. I'd boarded it as a passenger, became its mechanic when it broke down, and in Turkey, had become its co-driver.
The Maudslay had an AEC A173 diesel engine (7,581 cc) and a 4-speed crash gearbox; the brakes were vacuum assisted; the chassis number was Mly Mn 70223. The vehicle had been re-bodied in 1957 and fitted with the 35-seat Duple Vega body shown in the photo; it had probably started life with a Whitson half-cab body. Before being bought later on by Safaris Overland, JXM 563 was operated by Duvals of Surbition; it was number 36 in the Duvals fleet. Later on it was also owned by Cresta Coaches of Wimbledon.
In this photograph the bus has stopped on the road from Trabzon, on the Black Sea coast, to Erzurum – this was the old dirt road up to the Zigana Pass ( over 6,600ft. ) in north-eastern Turkey. We had stopped as the AEC engine had been overheating during the gruelling climb from sea level. The two local Turkish boys had appeared and asked for cigarettes using sign language. John, the bus owner and driver, is talking to them; in the background are some of the passengers: Penny, Bill, Hank and Harry.
Most of the passengers were intending to leave the bus in Delhi and make their own way on to Australia or the Far East. This was best done by a train journey from Delhi to Calcutta, plane to Bangkok (to bypass Burma), and then by several trains down through Thailand and Malaysia to Singapore. From there, flights were available to Australia; the cheapest ticket was to Darwin. Some people continued through Indonesia to Bali and Portugese Timor, before flying on to Australia. That wasn't an option for me though as I'd almost run out of cash and what little remained was spent on a plane ticket from Singapore to Darwin – where I'd hoped to find work as soon as possible, as I'd entered Australia with only two dollars left out of what I started off with in England, seven weeks before.