It's a bit of a squeeze trying to get Basel 921 into the viewfinder without standing in the middle of the road and getting run over in the process, but even though it's not perfect it was still worth the effort as this bus and it's sister 922 were shortly to be withdrawn. It seems rather a waste as Swiss buses never appear on the surface to get old and have a timeless quality about them almost making time stand still till they finally go.
These vehicles actually have an interesting history.
ReplyDeleteThere were only two such vehicles in Basel. 921 was built by Mercedes as a demonstartor specifically with the Swiss market in mind. It was extensively demonstarted in Basel and some of the features were in direct response to Basel's demands and operating conditions.
However, at the time buying foreign buses was out of the question and no order was placed. Mercedes sold the vehicle to Kaiserslautern (Germany) where it ran until that system closed.
Then Basel acquired it at a knock-down price together with its sister vehicle 922, which had been delivered to kaiserslautern from new. In this way, this vehicle did finally come to operate in the city for which it had been designed.
Following withdrawal both vehicles went to Brasov (Romania).
Thank you for these interesting notes as it is all new to me. I might have travelled around Switzerland a great deal but my knowledge is hampered by the lanaguage problems, particularly those long German words.
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