THE SCOTTISH VINTAGE BUS MUSEUM –
DSD 936V
DETAILS
Chassis: Seddon Pennine 7
Body: Alexander T-type
Engine: Gardner 6HLXB
First
Licensed: 1979
Photo: 2008 Running Day, Kelty (Grant Thomson)
BACKGROUND HISTORY
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anyone help
HISTORY OF THIS VEHICLE
DSD936V is a Seddon Pennine VII with
Alexander 'T' Type 45 seat body. It was delivered new in 1979 to Western SMT as
fleet number S2936 and carried a predominantly white livery with black roof and
waist stripe. It was initially allocated to Stranraer depot. In September 1983 it was renumbered
S936. In 1985 it was transferred to the newly formed fleet of Clydeside Scottish and allocated to
Inchinnan depot for use on
Glasgow Airport express services.
In 1988 it was transferred back to the Western
Scottish fleet as S436 where it served at least at Dumfries and Kilmarnock
depots before being withdrawn in 1997 under Stagecoach ownership who donated it
to the Scottish Vintage Bus Museum. Photo:
pre 1997, In Service in Irvine (Anon)
Photo: pre 1983, Buchanan
Bus Station, Glasgow (ET Collection)
For several years the Seddon lay
unwanted in one of the Museum sheds as RRS46R, a Duple bodied Leyland Leopard,
also donated by Stagecoach, received all the attention and care as the Museum
runabout.
Photo: Lathalmond, 2002 (Ross Scoular)
RESTORATION DETAILS
In
2004 Museum member Bernard Dale agreed to take custodianship of the vehicle
with a long term view of putting it back on the road when RRS was finally
withdrawn from service. DSD was allocated a space in the workshop and Bernard
duly set to work on the vehicle as and when time allowed. Much of the bodywork
fittings were removed and stored pending refurbishment or replacement.
Mechanically the vehicle seemed in reasonable order, one air tank leaked, the
engine needed slight timing adjustment and new batteries were required. The bus
was also taken to Rennies,
courtesy of Raymond Devlin's tow wagon, for steam cleaning which exposed some
other underside work which required attention. Work progressed with no set timescale
for completion, mostly by Bernard who generally ploughed a lone furrow.
However, this all changed when RRS
was withdrawn from immediate service in October 2006 following the discovery of
severe body framework corrosion. A decision was taken to concentrate all
efforts on getting the Seddon on the road as a direct replacement for the
Leopard. A target date of Easter 2007 was set.
Much
of the major work was farmed out to our resident professionals. Although the
original intention was to refit most of the existing panels it was decided to
replace most with new. Any existing panelling still on the vehicle was removed and this
revealed that the body framework was in remarkably good condition. The panel
removal afforded the opportunity to get the vehicle chassis blasted and painted
by Trailer Refurb. All glazing was removed to allow painting to be carried out
around the window pillars. Ian Loggie rubbed down all the trim to a shine. Mechanically the bus was sound but
the electrics caused a few headaches for Roland Williams. Eventually all the
components were replaced and painting was carried out by our resident painter,
Peter Mitchell. Prior to going for a MoT it was taken to MAN Diesel at Halbeath for a tachograph calibration. This presented them
with a few headaches, as the wiring was not as simple as it should be so a
delay was experienced before we got the bus back. Gordon McGregor transformed
the appallingly minging
seats into a very presentable set with the use of his magic cleaning machine.
Photo: February 2007,
Roland at work (Eddie Taylor)
Eventually, some weeks later than
planned, the bus went for a MoT but failed on a few minor items. However, as the vehicle was invited to
attend the 70th anniversary celebrations of Western SMT in Kilmarnock in June,
the Glasgow Vintage Vehicle Trust offered to get the vehicle MoT'd which they eventually did after
another failure due to steering pump problems.
Photo: June 2007,
Kilmarnock (Donald Booth)
The bus is back at Lathalmond but still needs quite a bit of TLC internally to get it in anything like
the condition of the Leopard that it replaces. But it has proved itself on long
journeys by attending the Centenary celebrations of Fishwick's in Leyland in July 2007 (when the
only problem was both wipers failing) ……….
Photo: July
2007, Fishwick’s Garage (Jim Crichton)
………. and the Tyne-Tees rally in June 2008
Photo: June 2008 South Shields (Jim Crichton)
Thanks to
all who helped in any small way to get DSD back on the road, especially Bernard
who slogged away on his own over a few years. Watch this space for further
updates.
Eddie
Taylor