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Last day of cab hopping for a few weeks thank fuck, the MAN passed it's MOT this afternoon; it's to come off again during the Easter school holidays for more work I think. Today's horses were GJI 627, a Van Hool bodied Volvo B12M new to Marbill as SA02 RZB, and Ford Transit SB63 GNU for the backshift which is the last of a batch purchased from Arnold Shark Car & Van Rental a few years back.

School trip was back bang on time so instructions were to return to the ranch to swap to a minibus for the Vale of Leven works run tonight, so a wee stint in the Sprinter makes a nice change.

Absolutely not. We've picked up a couple of their runs but other than that it's best left alone.

Long day today, two schools this morning, day trip to that Edinburgh then back through for a workers run in and out tonight. Had a choice of two buses this morning (luxury!) and one was a DAF, so it's the turn of the other Elcock Volvo today.

Today's horse, with no prizes given for the former owner; this one and it's sister BVS have only been on fleet for a couple of weeks and were supposed to be painted by now but vehicle shortages saw that idea sidelined for the time being.

Glad you've got this sorted Motown; the one thing going round in my head is though... why the fuck does a trip computer involve a different headlamp relay?! 🤣

Looks like a wheelchair conversion? Old boy in my work has a 61-plate panel van but it's a couple of months younger than that one.

0 It's bodywork is our issue with the MAN; the wiper linkage is completely fucked and seems to be NLA, even through the usual sources like Moseley and Transervex. The last windscreen it needed took nine weeks to arrive. The flap in the bottom of the toilet bowl is pneumatic, it's been on back order for about fifteen weeks. Parts for the seats are NLA and probably 50% of them are now locked upright because the rams are burst due to heavy handed passengers. The fuel tank has started to go porous so it was planned to replace it before MOT, but it's been on back order since November so it's being pulled out and sent for repair. It's not limited to mine, but the Beulas bodywork doesn't help; we've two VDL Futura 2s off the road just now, a 66-plate's been off for nearly three weeks for the steering box to be reconditioned (none new available at present) while a 14-plate is getting it's third gearbox and gearbox wiring loom in two years; the gearbox for it came before the steering box and as a result the 66-plate is now waiting on a gearbox wiring loom too. Scania are really, really bad just now; gearbox ECUs have been on back order for months, an operator near me has had an OmniLink? coach off the road for the guts of six months now and the ECUs cannot be reconditioned according to Alliance, OmniTech et al. Our workshop foreman is tearing his hair out.

Jumping puddles today with one of the tiny Turkish Temsa trio. My MAN is off for MOT now but spares availability may mean I lose it for a couple of weeks - it's 6 years and 3 1/2 months old 😳

Looks like it's got all it's nearside wheeltrims so likely WA10 ENH with Gilbert.

Also a spot from yesterday, a lesser spotted Yutong belonging to Scottish Power.

Never been a fan of 3+2 seaters, they're inheritly dangerous in an accident or fire as there is such a reduced margin to get everyone off. We've got umpteen including the only 12.7-metre, two axle Bova Futura in Scotland licensed as a 77-seater. It's extraordinarily unpleasant, most of ours are 72s or 75s. We've also just sent the eldest of our VDL Futura 2s off for 3+2 conversion, a 62-plate new as a demo. Not sure how many seats it'll come back with yet.

Three weeks off sick but back at work on Monday past; a "phased return" meant a mere 60 hours worked (not driven!) in five days so far, with tonight being day six; off tomorrow then back in a 15 hour day on Monday. This was yesterday, with my daily featuring on Simon & Garfunkel's lesser known follow up to Sound of Silence.

From that flickr.

Prestwick, Priestland, Caldercruix, Plains and Balloch are about the furthest out points our schools are from Beith... we get about!

We've taken on their Prestwick Academy runs to Monkton and Symington. Had a nose at that ADN "article" comments... long memories down Ayrshire way.

In.

A facebook memory from the other day. Eight years ago I was working for Gibson Direct as a driver/manager and my daily drive for the majority of the year or so I spent there was this 1987 Leyland Tiger new to the BAOR but first entered PSV use in the UK with Turners as XHY 256 after conversion to RHD. It was one of a pair at Gibsons referred to as Bert (G235 BRT) and Ernie (E691 NOU).

Whilst looking for all the world like any other Wright bodied single decker, M527 UGS is a very rare Mercedes OH1416. At the time of my photograph it was operating for James King at Kirkcowan in Dumfries & Galloway, it had been new to Universitybus of Hatfield. The OH1416 was very much a mediumweight more in the vein of the Dennis Lance than the Scania N113 or Volvo B10B. Power came from a 5.9-litre inline-6 Mercedes OM366 turbodiesel rated at around 160bhp - effectively a six-pot version of the 3.9-litre 4-pot OM364 normally found in the Mercedes 811D et all - driving through an Allison 4 speed automatic transmission. In total 16 OH1416s were sold in the UK & Eire, fifteen buses and one as a command unit for Buckinghamshire Fire & Rescue and all bar two supplied to the Western Education & Library Board in Northern Ireland were long wheelbase 47-seaters. All sixteen carried Wright's 'Urbanranger' bodywork.

Ulsterbus and Citybus were a prolific user of the Bristol RELL, the vast majority fitted with bodywork by Alexander (Belfast) to their X-type design, itself derived from a Potter design. AXI 2554 was a little of a year old at the time of this September 1987 view; yes, really. Both fleets were known for stockpiling buses, with several REs registered as late the last quarter of 1986, 2554 being registered in August of that year. After service it was one of around 25 which passed to Lough Swilly in 2005 where it did a further two years service as 86-DL-2727 before returning north of the border to City Sightseeing Belfast. It passed for scrap through Wilson's Auction, Mallusk in 2009.

Wilson's won a number of school contracts at St Andrew's Academy in Paisley in the late 1980s, a seventy five mile round trip from their base at Medwyn Garage in Carnwath. In an effort to mitigate the lost mileage, Wilson's registered a local bus service between Paisley Cross, Lochfield, Foxbar and Glenburn for between school times using whatever vehicles had operated in on the contract that day. MSG 914T was an 11-metre Volvo B58 with Plaxton-bodywork new to Allan, Gorebridge.

Inverclyde was a hotbed of competition in the 1980s, with almost any vehicle that could carry fare paying passengers pressed into service, down to and including Ford Sierras. Inverclyde Transport were the operator of this 1971 Plaxton-bodied Bedford VAS operating a local service to Leven Road in 1987. It had been new to Docherty, Irvine.

Ann's Coaches have run a well presented fleet for many years from their base in Kirkintilloch. This former Eastern National Ford Transit was barely eighteen months old at the time of this shot in February 1988 at Lenzie operating service 177 to Cardowan.

Marshall of Cambridge were a long established coachbuilder but by the early 1990s were primarily building their own versions of the former Carlyle coachworks designs under the Marshall Specialist Vehicles banner. Iveco's Eurorider found moderate success as a coach in the UK, normally with Beulas bodywork though Plaxton's Panther was also available for a time. Three, however, were bodied by Marshall as the 'Maxibus'; two of these were finished as non-PSVs for St Johns Ambulance as S76/78 LLT but the first built entered service as a 51-seater with Whitelaw, Stonehouse as S947 NGB. It remained unique as a type and it was very pleasant to travel on from what I remember. It spent all of it's sixteen year career with Whitelaw, being withdrawn in late 2014.

Whilst @Inspector Moroseas doing his thing many years before I was, in the early 2000s I was a bus spotter, at least until about 2007 when what little interest for me there still was more or less vanished. Any remaining interest I had was beaten out of after joining the industry itself and also through a series of unfortunate incidents involved in my own preserved bus fleet. Anyway. I shall post some from my own lens as opposed to those from the collection I helped from a skip rescue many years ago. Red Lion of Blantyre, although run (on paper at least) by Stevie Curness, had it's roots in Munro of Uddingston with Raymond and Jean Munro both having their hand in at Red Lion. While the government were the largest buyers of the Plaxton Derwent 2 on Leyland Tiger chassis, B16 CTL was a relatively unusual Plaxton Derwent 2-bodied Dennis Javelin built to coach spec, complete with in swing door, one of a pair for the Home Office as H441 XHX. After Red Lion it passed to Low Fell before returning to Lanarkshire with Stuart Shevill at Carluke.