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846 mile round trip. Dave and I'll need to go via Aberdeen or summat to make it a day out.

Did someone say Tagora?

Found it - YPL 383T. It was rebuilt from more or less Urban Bus light spec to Mk2, complete with a Leopard coach spec 680 in place of the original 510, in 1997 by Northern Bus. It later ran with at least two other operators, though I'm not entirely sure of the provenance of the rebuild.

Sorry, I wasn't too clear! Eastern Counties' DPW 781T was the one which ended up with a full Mk2 front including windscreens after running into the back of KVG 605V. If memory serves there was a London Country Mk1 ended up with a Mk2 front but I don't remember the story behind it.

There is genuinely no infamy about it; Gordon McGill was OCD, and whether they physically were or not all the Nationals simply had to look the same. "B-series" Mk2s KKG 109W and KRS 536V were also fitted with dummy pods on rebuild. AAK 112T came to McGill in March 1989 from Somerbus and arrived in SYT orange, brown & cream with no grille on the front as well so that's on them! Oh and when I say rebuild... this is AAK 112T in the workshops.

OVV wasn't an accident rebuild; it was rebuilt by United Counties with a front radiator, additional higher mounted air intakes and was a testbed for improving the National for UCOC's needs. It wasn't particularly successful and as UCOC were a decker heavy concern the Nationals they did have were disposed of relatively early.

Ahhhh yes... OVV 517R, with the most creative front number plate ever seen on a National. DPW 781T ran up the arse of an ECOC Mk2 - KVG 605V from memory - and was rebuilt using the front of that bus. OVV 517R was purely a result of UCOC being unable to leave anything the fuck alone - ISTR it ran for some time with a naturally aspirated 510 which certainly helped reduce oil consumption and smoke, but also decimated performance. It ended it's days with Kelvin Central IIRC. UCOC were generally dissatisfied with the higher echelons on the NBC and very much went their own way, including completely rebuilding series one Bristol VRs to series three specification, largely because the NBC told them they couldn't have new VRs.

Finally for this evening, some Autoshite Allover Adverts.

Greater Glasgow PTE purchased a batch of twenty 10.3m Mk1 Nationals in 1979 as their LN1-20, registered GGE 156-175T, primarily to replace the Leyland Panthers bought new in the late 60s which had been an unmitigated disaster. Delivered in white, yellow and green, all twenty later recieved the later Strathclyde orange and black scheme but had relatively short lives with the PTE.

As Leyland Nationals are a topic once more, I shall do some Nationals. McGill of Barrhead took their first pair of Nationals in June 1977 and eventually purchased sixteen of the type new, comprising eight Mk1s (TDS 611/2R, XYS 595/6S, DYS 636/7T and LGA 977/8V) and eight Mk2s (UGE 388/9W, BHS 206/7X, B724/5 AGD and C263/4 FGG). As an aside and something which @Inspector Moroseay or may not know, whilst C49 OCM was the last National built, C263/4 FGG were I believe the last two to enter service some six months later in May of 1986. There were also a number of second hand examples purchased including the only 10.3/6 metre examples operated. Some photos of the second hand examples follow; SGR 549R was the only one not to operate in fleet livery at any point, being acquired originally only for spares but operated for a short time. I have also included the solitary Leyland Lynx purchased second hand which did not find favour.

The six came from Paton, Renfrew along with four Duple Dominants (L7-10), in five pairs; NHS 480/1L, SHS 961/2M and NGE 613/4P being the Willowbrooks, with SSU 396/7R and YHS 281/2S being the Dominants. The Dominants ended up with Midland via Islay, NHS 480L and the two NGE-Ps stayed at Western and Clydeside ended up with NHS 481L and the two SHS-Ms. SSU 397R was a rather odd specimen as it was rebodied by Midland Scottish in the late 1980s with a second hand Alexander Y-type body.

Clydeside inherited just over a dozen former London DMS class Daimler Fleetlines from Western Scottish on formation of the company in June 1985. The majority worked from Johnstone, Inchinnan and Paisley depots and lasted around three years before returning to London with Bexleybus; at the same time Clydeside were still acquiring Routemasters from LT. These Fleetlines carried a number of different destination layouts, as shown below.

Western Scottish acquired six second Willowbrook Leyland Leopards in 1980, numbered L1-6; GL4 later became Clydeside 597 and lasted long enough to pass to Ulsterbus in 1988 before joining Lough Swilly later on.

Guy Wulfrunians at West Riding?

14 plate with an Allison. None of your ZF sneezymatic guff.

All morning in an Enviro 200. Lucky me.

My OBC reckons 7.82mpg which isn't far off the actual 7.36mpg. 10mpg on National seems low for lots of motorway running, I'd have been expecting mid 11s on distance work. The MAN has it's good points; the steering lock is on par with the Volvo, it's got a really good lock. The 6 speed 'box in the MAN means it's a bit more pleasant round the doors but it's not got the grunt the B12 had when things get a bit hilly. The Volvo brakes are sharper and the retarder is much more user friendly; the MAN retarder operates via the brake pedal rather than a separate stalk. The other side of that is that you can regulate your speed on the MAN much better than the Volvo, meaning you can tap the brake pedal to bring the retarder on then use the cruise control to physically control your speed. So far even on the steepest gradients I've used it'll hold the set speed downhill to within +2mph. The MAN on board computer is a hellish overcomplicated thing compared to the Volvo setup and the steering wheel controls are similarly overcomplicated. The physical cab space in the MAN is better but I think that's more to do with Beulas than anything else. The MAN is a lot heavier on fuel and adblue than the Volvo was but both have really small tanks compared to the 900ish litre Bova tanks. Personal opinion on kit available today... Volvo first, MAN second, anything DAF - VDL, Temsa and Irizar - in a distant fourth behind Scania. In fact Irizars are worse again, fifth place. Terrible things.

At Marbill drivers are responsible for fuelling, washing and cleaning their bus. My current daily 2016 MAN 19.360 is fitted with a 10.5-litre MAN D2066 engine rated at 360bhp mated to a 6-speed ZF auto 'box. Bodywork is by Beulas to their Cygnus design and seats 53, with a centre sunken toilet. ULW is 13650kgs. I kept meaning to do a fuel economy comparison between this and my previous daily, a 2008 57-seater Plaxton Panther-bodied Volvo B12B with a 420bhp 12-litre engine (with the wastegate siezed closed) mated to a 12-speed i-Shift automated manual weighing in just under 13 tonnes. A typical combined cycle on both buses, several months apart, on two days similar duties - some fast running plus more or less stage carriage running on Faslane staff runs and school duties. Volvo: 317 miles, 176.9 litres - 8.14mpg MAN: 365 miles, 226.2 litres - 7.36mpg My absolute level best on the Volvo was 9.14mpg (on a Kyle of Lochalsh & return) but I've not managed a decent distance run in the MAN to compare that.

Up that way it's likely to have been 75 seaters WA10 ENF, WA10 ENH or KC10 ABC; the other white ones are NXZ 9123 (WA60 DNO) which is still a 55 seater eeking out it's days in Dumbarton and JE10 LJE which is normally down at Loudoun Academy.

It's a 14-plate - SF14 CZT I think- bought new and still on it's original paint. Sister CZS was identical but left the fleet a good while ago. It was our first Futura 2, followed by SF65 CZU (and my MAN Beulas SF65 CZV), then SF66 NPA. Since then the majority of vehicles have been second hand, including another four Futura 2s - AD62 AAA (ex SN62 DCE, originally a demo), DAZ 1527 (ex SS63 AAA), WJ17 EYR and WJ17 EYS.

Sunday overtime on the Nuclear Riviera; this Futura 2 is our last orange front line coach, only three 77 seat Futura Classics and the four remaining Q-type B10Ms school buses still carry it.

Daily drive versus night drive. Helpfully the high road between Garelochhead and Coulport was shut due to a landslide tonight, so ended up going the long way round the peninsula to the base.

Two please!

From my experience it's not the fucking catering, anyway.

We're over it four times a day... can do it with my eyes shut! Dropped pin https://maps.app.goo.gl/BBgV8Nns6FVe71aG8 This was the scene. Google doesn't really convey the road itself at that point; it's marked a 40mph bend, and it really is a 40 at the very maximum. They were A82 bound, it's a very steep drop onto a 40mph right hander. 95% of the rest of the road can be done flat out* but that bit... no. (*50mph, officer)