New in 2001/2002, Mürztaler Verkehrs Gesellschaft (MVG) bought a small fleet of 12m Mercedes-Benz Citaros as these buses replaced most of the trolleybus fleet as the wires came down in 2002.
The Citaros were some of the first buses for MVG to wear this revised livery which carried the same colours as the previous livery which I've done earlier this year on MVG's no.30. The yellow/blue/white lined livery was ditched for this blue/white livery covering the front portion with the roof and the wheels remained yellow. Soon the older fleet were painted in this plain yet attractive livery making even older buses like the Mercedes-Benz O405GTDs look a lot more modern.
This version of the MVG livery was since revised on the Mercedes-Benz Citaro 2s as the blue roof was omitted leaving just the very front panels painted blue with the rest of the body left in unpainted white, probably to cut costs and/or place bigger adverts on. The characteristic yellow wheel caps still remain with MVG's standard bus fleet, all apart from a Citaro 2 wearing the old pre 1990s orange/white heritage livery as the bus features white wheel caps.
No.41 was the first 12m rigid bus to enter the fleet with 3 doors and was numerically the first of the batch of the trolleybus replacing fleet although wasn't the first Citaro with MVG as the first one entered service back in 1998 whilst the trolleybuses were still in operation 1 year after the last trolleybus was launched into service.
No.41 spent its entire approx 13/14 year life with the company and over time the only changes its seen was the branding and the promotional adverts it carried. The bus once carried adverts for the ECE (Einkaufes Centrum Europaplatz), a shopping centre in the town centre of Kapfenberg which the bus passes on nearly every route its on as Kapfenberg is where this bus is based. The mentioned advert was carried on MVG's fleet from the mid-90s up until the 2000s.
This fleet of Mercedes-Benz Citaros during the mid-2010s were replaced by Euro 6 engined Mercedes-Benz Citaro 2s as no.41 was cannibalised for a fire brigade training exercise as MVG's Facebook page once posted images of the bus' final fate in 2016 where it was pulled by a fire engine whilst looking very sorry for itself with parts missing, although fire engines and Citaros are talked about a lot since the mid-2000s, this bus was never damaged by fire at all as far as I'm aware...!
Besides no.41 being cannibalised for training exercise work for the fire service, the other Citaros ventured to other fleets outside Austria or were rendered withdrawn.
This bus is a strong reminder of 2012 as I saw this bus in person that year as I took a photo of this very bus in Bruck a.d. Mur on the 2 service. I also rode this bus from the small Austrian town to Kapfenberg that year. As a result I drawn the bus in its 2012 state operating a no.1 service to Euromarkt which is a small retail park in Kapfenberg which I visited back in 2012.
Mercedes-Benz Citaros might not be as common sight here in the UK as the native British-built variety were used to seeing here but as you can see in countries like Germany and Austria, the Citaro still remains one of the best selling buses since the year the model was released. Seen with various configurations the Citaro evolved with a facelifted front and rear end and was later given a total restyle and was named the Citaro 2 which is still sold to this day. Old Citaros like MVG's 41 seen here were famous for bursting into flames as seen with London's artic fleet in 2004, but despite this MVG's fleet as far as I know haven't burst into flames at all.
The design of the Citaro inspired many manufacturers to mimick the bodywork or take some styling hints from this type. The windows extending over the cove panels was later seen on various buses across the globe, including from MAN, MCV, and even Wrightbus (to name a few) took that idea on.
To those who have followed my work since the beginning might recognise this bus as I drawn this way back in 2012 but since things have changed since then I thought I'd go and have another go with this bus.
Unauthorised use is not allowed as your uploads with my work being used without permission will immediately be reported. My work is all done using MS Paint with no other software being used as I have never used such for my work since the beginning.
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I am to post bus drawings more often on Twitter throughout 2021, and the link to my Twitter account can be found right here where I also post about the odd random thing aswell > twitter.com/MetroRider30
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If there was a bus I'd love to go back and do again for today, it'd be this one. MVG (Mürztaler Verkehrs Gesellschaft)'s no.30 (III) first entered service 30 years to this day, which just so happens to be the day I was born.
The bus drawing is an updated one from the one I did back in 2018. This is actually depicting MVG's no.30's earlier days as I found out recently that it carried the DM logo. (DM is a shop in Austria).
No.30 (III) was part of a fleet of four Mercedes-Benz O405GTDs for the trolleybus and diesel lines and was the first one to enter service out of the four.
No.30 was originally a demonstrator back in 1987 (carrying its Rastatt reg plate RA-LE 529) as its demonstrating days came to an end when on 21/03/1990 (ironically my date of birth), the bus found full term use at MVG.
The bus retained its livery when new as it is actually EVAG of Essen's standard as this bus is the sole Mercedes-Benz O405GTD to wear it as the rest of EVAG's similar buses wore special liveries seen here... www.flickr.com/photos/73079833@N02/49116944872/in/photoli...
Interestingly, MVG took a huge liking to this bus' livery so they adapted it onto the rest of their fleet so don't be confused when you might think EVAG and MVG are related, they're not. The blue/white/yellow colours can still be seen to this day on MVG's current fleet which is mainly made up of Euro 6 engined Mercedes-Benz Citaro 2s. Sadly though, the white/blue/yellow colours which has been seen since the day I was born is sadly being phased out by a green/white incarnation of the 'Verbund Linie' livery with the green in a very similar shade to the 'Leeds City' livery. This green/cream livery will be seen in a large section on buses around the Styrian district with Regiobus being another company to see their buses wear that livery, this will cause confusion to those who aren't familiar with buses in the area!
MVG's no.30 originally carried branding for itself being a duobus, meaning its a trolleybus with a normal diesel engine for when its not under the wires.
Later, MVG purchased three more O405GTD Mercs one of which was new and two from the German city of Potsdam which were only two years old at the time of transfer.
No.30 was later wearing a few variations of the Interspar supermarket (or shopping mall) which is along the Grazer Strasse which no.30 passed regularly whilst ferrying passengers between the Austrian towns of Bruck a.d. Mur and Kapfenberg on routes 1, 2 and 3. The latter variation of the overall Interspar advert also advertised 14 other shops at the same shopping mall.
In 2002, the wires came down meaning a large number of the trolleybuses were made redundant so were transferred to other cities around Europe, but the Mercedes-Benz O405GTDs lived on for a few more years as their booms were removed as this meant they were running just like standard O405Gs.
In 2005, withdrawl of this type started as in March that year as no.30 was sadly the first of the type to be withdrawn with the rest to follow in 2007/2008 as the replacements were new 15m MAN Lion's City LLs and ex-Graz Mercedes-Benz Citaro Ls which have since left the company as passenger numbers fell and the buses' length was causing problems as the turning circle was pretty poor on the long rigids.
The whereabouts of this bus now remain unknown, although according to the Obusse in Kapfenberg & Bruck a.d. Mur book, no.30 was sold and a rumour from elsewhere states this bus was in Romania at one point, although no photos or any other proof state that this was infact true. If anyone knows where this bus is, could you please let me know as I am very curious about its whereabouts.
Unauthorised use is not allowed as your uploads with my work being used without permission will immediately be reported. My work is all done using MS Paint with no other software being used as I have never used such for my work since the beginning.
For any general enquiries, like questions, requests etc, please send me an email as my email address is michaelwindle38@yahoo.co.uk.
For news, bus drawings and more, by all means follow me on Facebook right here > www.facebook.com/MetroRider30
I also have a DeviantArt page right here www.deviantart.com/mspainted-by-michael if you are part of that group.
I am to post bus drawings more often on Twitter throughout 2021, and the link to my Twitter account can be found right here where I also post about the odd random thing aswell > twitter.com/MetroRider30
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Never expected to see this in my stream with the trend of UK based buses like the Wrightbus variety did you? Well it starts off something a little different from the usual trend in normal buses, as you well know MBD changed its name to Transport Art so just to pull away slightly from the usual bus related stuff, here's something not too different in the shape of the Cobus 3000 an airport bus used for airside work transferring passengers to and from the plane.
This Cobus 3000 is based at Vienna International Airport along with various similar buses in the same fleet. But these particular Cobus 3000s are quite unique thanks to their extra seventh passenger door at the very back as you won't get that on many of the type.
These buses were joined by new generation Cobus 3000s which have the same front end as the Caetano Levante.
The Cobus 3000 is built by Caetano/Contrac which are only suited for airside work with the door layout and also the width which is wider than the standard service buses on the roads. This bus is very similar to the Cobus 2700 as that's the shorter variant along with a minibus which is also suited for airside work despite it being narrow enough for conventional bus work but would possibly be for private jet transfers.
The bus I believe bears a strong resemblance to the Wright Eclipse bodied Volvo B7L as this drawing was drawn using such drawing. The rear seemingly large window area and corner mounted headlights are what reminds me of the Irish built bus of the early 2000s. Although the drawing was slightly easier thanks to the spacious interior plus with both sides of the vehicle almost identical, however getting the width right was a tiny problem. Although many might think why the side interior views lack detail, its because the handrails and seats are hidden.
I rode a few of these buses in Vienna and Zurich when on holiday although while flying through other airports I also managed to ride conventional buses like the Neoplan airside buses, Mercedes Citaro, MAN Lion's City and the Mercedes O405N all in artic and rigid form although I've not rode the rigid MAN Lion's City yet. But before the Cobus 300s were withdrawn, I rode them in Zurich before they got replaced by new Cobus 3000s with the Caetano Levante type front end sometime after 2007 and found them to be nice attractive buses although contravision spoilt the appearance on the entire fleet.
Very ironic about this drawing not only this is the first airport bus I've done, but also the only one so far which doesn't have registration plates.
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In 1986 and 1987, EVAG (Essener Verkehrs-AG) bought the first 18 Mercedes-Benz O405GTD duobuses for their rapid transit network in the German city of Essen.
3718 is one of those batch and as with the other 17, these buses despite being the first of their type, really did stand out to the rest of which were produced.
The buses were used on the rapid transit system in Essen where these buses would use the guided busways which these were shared with trams.
These buses and the trams would often go underground via a guided busway which as far as I'm aware buses don't go down there anymore. The buses would go into 'trolleybus mode' when on the guideways as they run often in 'diesel mode' where the wires don't cover the route the buses are on.
Conventional diesel rigid buses were known to share the guideway with these articulated duobuses.
Later on, 1718 and the rest of the fleet were not only repainted into the dark brown/red/grey livery which was a little similar to the original blue/yellow/grey/dark brown livery, but they were also retrofitted with two more sets of doors on the offside so passengers could board on the opposite sides.
Sadly this system fell out of favour and when the new buses were bought which were low floor O405GN articulated all-diesels.
Today the service is worked by Mercedes-Benz Citaro Gs and since their withdrawal in Essen, the buses were transferred to other European countries like Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Russia, Romania and/or Belarus.
Despite me not knowing Essen that well let alone many of my followers on here but Essen's bus network has some reminders of my home city of Leeds. Leeds too has a few guided busway systems and for that reason, our local operator at the time Yorkshire Rider sent one of our Superbus branded Alexander Strider bodied Scania N113DRBs over for trials. In response, EVAG sent an O405GTD to the Isle of Wight for unknown reasons as a photo was taken of the bus when a Leyland Olympian was about to pass it.
Speaking of Yorkshire Rider's Superbus brand, in 1997 the sole example of the Alexander Cityranger bodied Mercedes-Benz O405G was trialled on guided busways in Leeds as K1 GRT was the only articulated Mercedes-Benz O405 series bus to work on guided busways outside Essen.
The Mercedes-Benz O405GTD is what is known as a 'duobus', an articulated trolleybus which has a diesel engine so it can take on routes which aren't electrified with overhead wires. The 'GTD' initials stand for G for 'Gelenkbus' (translates to articulated bus), T for trolleybus and D for diesel as the bus is of course powered by electric and diesel engine. It replaces the similar O305GTD but was to be replaced by the O405GNTD, the low-floor equivalent but only one prototype was made so after that, Mercedes-Benz produced no trolleybuses after that however some diesel Citaros from Hungary and Poland were rebuilt as trolleybuses. Saying that from the same Polish town, there's also some converted Mercedes-Benz O405Ns which ended up as trolleybuses.
It is believed only one of these buses still lives on and that is one in Esslingen and is believed to be the final of its type to be produced. The bus is now living on in preservation with a perfectly working diesel engine but the electrics aren't currently in working order.
Just to let you know, unauthorised use of my photos and drawings is strictly prohibited. All my work is done using MS Paint, I don't copy and paste images off Google and use on my work unless stated otherwise.
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I am to post bus drawings more often on Twitter throughout 2021, and the link to my Twitter account can be found right here where I also post about the odd random thing aswell > twitter.com/MetroRider30
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New in 1992, 191 was delivered to bus company named Wupsi based in the German city of Leverkusen as part of a growing fleet of Mercedes-Benz O405Gs.
The bus has had a long life as it was with a few companies across Germany. In 2008 the bus moved to Bonn before moving to Koblenz in 2010.
So really 191's life has been a long and interesting one, lasting longer than many buses in the UK which were built around the early 90s as they fell out of favour for low floors, and to say this bus is of the articulated type just proves how the Germans keep their buses on the road as over there there's no such thing as DDA over there as a few Mercedes-Benz O405Gs are still around including of both step entry and low floor variety.
In 2017 however, 191 was modelled by Rietze in 1.87 (HO) scale and one of the models produced resides amongst my existing model bus collection and was my first Amazon purchase also costing me only £6.74, a real bargain!
The Mercedes-Benz O405 range was very popular as it was introduced in 1983 as a modern alternative to the O305 range. The type was eventually discontinued as the much loved O405 range was succeeded by the Citaro as production of the O405 type was discontinued back in 2001. The O405 was available in rigid and artic form with some trolleybus versions also being produced with standard and auxiliary diesel engines.
Unauthorised use is not allowed as your uploads with my work being used without permission will immediately be reported. My work is all done using MS Paint with no other software being used as I have never used such for my work since the beginning.
For any general enquiries, like questions, requests etc, please send me an email as my email address is michaelwindle38@yahoo.co.uk.
For news, bus drawings and more, by all means follow me on Facebook right here > www.facebook.com/MetroRider30
I also have a DeviantArt page right here www.deviantart.com/mspainted-by-michael if you are part of that group.
I am to post bus drawings more often on Twitter throughout 2021, and the link to my Twitter account can be found right here where I also post about the odd random thing aswell > twitter.com/MetroRider30
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