SCOTTISH VINTAGE BUS MUSEUM

THE SCOTTISH VINTAGE BUS MUSEUM - 2002 STAGECOACH PERTH VINTAGE BUS RUNNING DAY

Stagecoach Perth organised their second Vintage Bus Running Day for June 1st 2002 - timed to celebrate the Queen's Golden Jubilee. Once again they requested the assistance of qualified driver- and conductor-members of the SVBM to crewe the buses. This year, instead of the vintage buses running as duplicates, they replaced service buses on several routes.

Following our return to Mill Street we returned to the depot for a 40-minute layover, before we did our last run - a single journey - to Spittalfield, after which it was straight back to the depot for around 1820. All-in-all a very enjoyable day - especially with the bonus of getting a drive on a newer bus.
I spent the day driving 1967 ex-Bluebird Bristol MW6G (HDV 639 E) between Mill Street and Spittalfield, with Graham Martin-Bates as conductor. Following our second trip to Spittalfield, we had a 40-minute layover after which the bus refused to start. A frantic phone call to Stagecoach resulted in us taking P 494 BRS - which lies over at Spittalfield with N 211 LTN - for the next round trip, whilst a mechanic was sent out to Spittalfield. (Unexpected bonus for me, getting to drive a 'new' bus).	Above: HDV 639 E in Mill Street (Jim Crichton)
Above: HDV 639 E in Spittalfield with (l to r) P 494 BRS and N 211 LTN (Jim Crichton)	On the way back to Spittalfield, we met the returning mechanic who informed me that he had been unable to find any fault but had started the engine several times. What he didn't say was that he had left a cheeky note next to the starter button, with an arrow pointing to it, and the words 'STARTER BUTTON'. (I later discovered there was an intermittent fault with the starter).
The 1525 bus only goes as far as Stanley, and the majority of passengers were photographers - probably taking the shorter run after hearing about my driving. After arriving in Stanley, we had to do a local loop followed by a 15-minute layover when the photographers alighted and snapped away to their hearts' content until I made moves to get moving. We did another local loop then it was back to Mill Street. I pinched the photo on the right - and several others on this page - from one of their web sites - Andrew Gronneberg's www.scotbus.co.uk - with his approval of course - thanks.

THE START OF A LONG WEEKEND FOR BXA 464 B (An excerpt from the SVBM members' magazine)

At the beginning of the year it had been decided that our Bristol Lodekka BXA 464 B, known affectionately as FRD199, would attend the Tyne Tees Run on 2^nd June. This is a Historic Commercial Vehicle Society organised event from Stockton to South Shields, and attracts around 200 historic commercial vehicles of all sorts. However little did we realise then that we would be involved in a weekend jaunt of some 600 miles.

In March we had an approach from Brian Souter (yes Mr Stagecoach!) asking if FRD 199 would be available for the Jubilee Vintage Service. Unfortunately our bus only had a Class 5 MOT which negated its use on service work. This did not deter Stagecoach however, who asked that if we were to obtain a Class 6 MOT at their expense would we be interested. One does not get many offers like that in a lifetime so we wholeheartedly agreed.

The Bus Doctor carried out most of the main engineering work required while the rest of us helped out where we could. Surprisingly, the bus did not need a great deal of upgrade work to be carried out and it passed the Class 6 test at the first attempt.

Above: In Mill Street (Scotbus)

Saturday 1^st June saw the crew of Mike Chapman and Eddie Taylor at the Museum at 6am ready for the day’s service work. The bus was scheduled to work on Route 1 and 2, a circular service taking in the west side of Perth through Letham and Tulloch. Upon arrival at Perth Stagecoach depot the bus was filled with diesel and our guest driver, none other than Brian Souter himself, took over the controls for the first three service runs. Despite Brian not haven driven this bus for some 15 years he handled it like he had driven it only the day before, whilst Mike and Eddie took turns to collect fares using an old Setright ticket machine. Flat fares of 50p and 25p made life easy. Thereafter Mike and Eddie shared the driving and conducting. However, keeping to a normal schedule designed for modern low floor MAN single deckers was not an easy task. Only once was any great time lost, but this was due to heavy traffic.

The bus performed admirably apart from the front brakes tending to seize up due to overheating with all the constant stop starts. This made pulling away from the Bus Station a somewhat embarrassing task as the bus wanted to stop as soon as neutral was engaged during gear up changes. It actually got to the never before heard of scenario where Mike and Eddie were seen arguing about who was NOT going to drive!!

Above: Approaching Mill Street (Jim Crichton)

The shift finished around 6.30pm and upon return to the depot the tank was again filled up, and money collected was tallied and deposited. Upon return to Lathalmond the crew went home for a short clean up and break before part 2 of the adventure weekend - joined by another two of the co-owners, who had been crewing HDV 639 E and HGM 335 E at Perth.