THE SCOTTISH VINTAGE BUS MUSEUM - 2008 SHOWBUS

GOING SCOTTISH TO SHOWBUS

by Donald Booth (abridged)

Showbus is the largest bus & coach gathering of the rally calendar. Held at the end of September, it regularly attracts c500 vehicles, and is something of a crossover between a vintage/enthusiast and an industry event, with vehicles from both categories attending. Showbus is held at the Imperial War Museum at Duxford, near Cambridge, which is a superb attraction in its own right, with all aspects of warfare represented, and a fine collection of aircraft, both military and civilian.

Southward Bound (CLICK ON PHOTOS FOR LARGER IMAGE)

A team of around 20 was assembled, from both east and west of Scotland, some travelling from as far as Ayrshire, Dunoon, Galashiels and even Fort William to join.

Departure from Glasgow was at 0800 on Saturday 27th September. Various pick-ups were made on the outskirts of Edinburgh and the route south chosen roughly corresponded with one of the Edinburgh-London routes which the M types operated. This was via the A68 to Lauder, where the Borders contingent joined. Photographs were taken here of 750 at the Eagle Hotel, one of the stops on the London service in days gone by.

After Lauder the A697 was followed through Greenlaw, Coldstream, Wooler etc. The weather was fine and it was a pleasant run through the rolling landscape of the Borders. However we reflected that it must have been very different and much more taxing for the driver on a cold dark night on these fairly winding

Picking up on Edinburgh Bypass at Dreghorn (JC)

A-roads. However, expectations were lower in those days and they probably thought nothing of it. We paused briefly at Wooler for a photograph of 750 outside the former United Automobile Services depot which again was a pick-up point on the London service. From here we pressed on, joining the Al and staying on it until a lunch stop at Darlington. This cost us rather more time than a motorway service area stop but was desirable on food cost grounds and also to provide some additional interest on the way south for the keener bus enthusiasts on board.

After leaving Darlington we stuck to the A1/A1M all the way to Peterborough, the type of road on which the M type Seddon really comes into its own. This historic highway gradually bears less and less of a resemblance to the basic dual-carriageway format it was when 750 regularly operated, with more and more sections being upgraded to motorway standard. The biggest works of late being in the Ferrybridge area a few years ago, and at the time of the journey the section immediately south of Wetherby was being upgraded. A comfort stop was timed to occur at Barnsdale Bar services (to the south of the A1M/M62 junction).

This is on one of the non-upgraded Al sections and was the service area that both Eastern Scottish & Western SMT used on their overnight services to London. Although not a particularly inspiring service area (being little more than a petrol station and Little Chef these days, rather than the grand sounding 'Forte's Autogrill' as it was described in the SBG's timetables of the time) it served the purpose and I was pleased we had made the historical link.

The Eagle Hotel, Lauder (Jim Crichton)

Scottish Bus Enthusiasts Descend Upon Peterborough Hotel

The Holiday Inn Peterborough West was reached at approximately 1700 which was pretty much what was expected notwithstanding the delays experienced in Darlington with traffic. Not long after arrival the rather unexpected sight of a brand new Stagecoach Alexander Dennis Enviro 400 double-decker appeared in the coach park, with another large contingent of Scottish enthusiasts Showbus-bound. Two bus loads of camera-toting bus enthusiasts thence descended upon the hotel, much to the apparent surprise of an Indian wedding party which was just leaving the hotel after a day of festivities. They just got out in time.,..

Setting off at 0900 the following morning for Showbus, we were joined by a gentleman from Peterborough who had a particular interest in M types who had made contact with me via the SVBM website and Jim Crichton. Although he admitted to not particularly being a bus enthusiast, the M types had caught his imagination whilst visiting Scottish relatives in the early 1980s, and he was delighted to have made our acquaintance and having the chance to ride

Holiday Inn, Peterborough (Gary Conn)

on 750 more than 20 years later. It turned out he was a Traffic Policeman patrolling various motorways in the area, so we were careful with the right foot...

Showbus itself was everything we expected it to be, with so many vehicles present it was impossible to view them all. 750 appeared to attract much interest although our parking space was not ideal for photography in terms of position of fencing and in relation to the sun.

As far as is known, this was the first visit of an M type to Showbus since the early 1980s (at which time Showbus was held at Woburn Abbey).

Vehicles of note at Showbus are too many to mention (see thumbnails below), but a few which were of particular interest to me included a Glasgow Corporation Leyland Titan PD3 (SGD407) in mid-restoration, the vehicle residing at the Castle Point Museum at Canvey Island, Essex.

Others included a now very rare Duple Dominant 3 bodied Volvo B10M of Provence |Private Hire, St

En-route to Showbus

Albans. The Duple Dominant 3, and its big sister the Goldliner 3, were the direct successors to the M type, and indeed were designed specifically with the Scottish Bus Group in mind for M type replacements in the early 1980s, and indeed borrowed the parallelogram shaped windows of the M type Very few of these coaches now survive, Duple build quality being somewhat legendary in its susceptibility to corrosion. The Provence example was in exceptionally good condition and would be a worthy addition to the ranks of preserved coaches, perhaps masquerading as a Scottish vehicle?

An impressive line-up of no less than 10 Bristol VRTs from the nearby fleet of Emblings, Guyhurn was also something of a spectacle to see, and a Lothian Regional Transport Y type Bedford from the Gifford collection had also made the long journey south.

Another vehicle with a Scottish connection was a Van Hool bodied Volvo B58 of Village Green Motors. This started out with an Alexander AY body at a time when Volvo were courting the Scottish Bus Group with its recently imported B58 chassis. It was later exported to Northern Ireland where it was lengthened to 12m and fitted with a Van Hool Alizee body of the style common in the 1980s.

Jim Methven wins the prize for the most unusual photograph taken, from on board |a vintage De Haviland Dragonfly aircraft which was operating local pleasure flights from the adjacent runway.

ON SHOW

Northward Bound

Departure from Showbus was at approximately 1600 for a fast run north via the A1M/A1 all the way to Edinburgh and then M8 to Glasgow. A chip stop was made at Wetherby, where we were alleged to have eaten the fish & chips which had been ordered in advance by the Stagecoach team in the double-decker who arrived just behind us! Nobody went hungry though and this chip shop is highly recommended. The Borders contingent were dropped in Berwick-upon-Tweed from whence lifts had been arranged.

The weather had been dry for the run north for which we were grateful, but upon crossing the border it took a turn for the worse and as we turned west strong headwinds were experienced which required much stirring of the gearstick in order to maintain progress, the Seddon not being liberally endowed with power for such conditions.

Arrival back in Glasgow was approx 0100 which again was roughly what was envisaged. 750 performed faultlessly throughout the trip which was a considerable relief after all the repairs and work that was put in

WETHERBY (Donald Booth)

to ready her for this trip.

An enjoyable weekend was had by all, and thanks are due to all who helped make the trip possible in terms of repairs, spares and preparation and of course all who participated in the trip.

CLICK ON A THUMBNAIL TO SEE AN ENLARGED PHOTO

On show

BOR 767

Provincial

424 DCD

Southdown

GR 9007

Sunderland

XGV 226

PPH

CLB 572

Taxi

GSX 121N

Lothian

J20 HFR

Morecambe & Heysham

NLE 538

London Transport

EKL 456K

Maidstone & District

OVF 229 (Left)

OVL 473 (Right)

Lincolnshire

CJH 123V (Left)

JWV 270W (Right)

Brighton & Hove

KBD 712D

Eastern Counties

RVB 977S (Left)

TPN 103S (Right)

Southdown

NWW 163K (Left)

VHK 177L (Right)

Eastern National

859 ETW

Eastern National

HDV 641E

Royal Blue

8031 PT

Economic

HPW 133

Eastern Counties

AJN 825

Westcliffe

OBE 187

Lincolnshire

WNO 478

Eastern National

FRP 692 (Left)

Eastern National

VNO 859 (Right)

Eastern National

CNH 862 (Left)

HAP 938

Brighton & Hove

SGD 407

Glasgow

MXX 261

London

PFN 864

East Kent

JOJ 489 (Left)

Birmingham

GR 9007 (Right)

Sunderland

757 KFC

Oxford

KNK 373H

Richards

LTA 750

Royal Blue

MYB 33

KDB 696

North Western

CFN 104

East Kent

KHC 369

Eastbourne

FJF193

Leicester

DBC 190C (Left)

Leicester

LFJ 16F (Right)

Leicester

D101 NOW (Left)

C920 FMP (Right)

West Riding

PRR 454R (Left)

A811 CCD (Right)

Southdown

TRN 808V

Ribble

RNA 236J (Left)

Greater Manchester

E930 PBE (Right)

Stanways

FLY 775J (Left)

D278 FAS (Right)

Strathtay

RVW 90W

Colchester

MSF 750P (Left)

Eastern Scottish

North-bound

Blyth Services

G251 SRG

Blyth Services

Wetherby

(Donald Booth)

Wetherby

(Donald Booth)