Summertime

 Well its always a pleasure when a long term project is completed and turns out as you hoped it would. In this case Metropolitan Scania MD60. Although much maligned in service they are very impressive vehicles and the links between the DMS and the later Metrobuses are everywhere you look inside. Sadly we just missed getting it on show at RM60 and a shortage of test dates now as we approach the new school term and no fixed event we are aiming for means its public debut has been delayed a little.

 The iconic old 'Dunlop' bridge at Silverstone made a great back drop for some of our fleet that were at the iconic circuit operating a shuttle service at the Silverstone Classic event. Over the course of the long weekend the vehicles carried thousands of people, with the fine weather the open tops were particularly popular, it all made for a great weekend!

 Our latest acquisition is this superb 1931 TD2 that was new to Jersey Motor Transport as J6332. She served on the island, including through the occupation until 1960 when she was purchased by the renowned collector the late Michael Banfield who oversaw its restoration in 1963-64. The vehicle remains in fantastic original condition but is just tiring and needs some work to put it back into concourse condition. There is however an issue with the Jersey registration which we are of course desperate to keep with the bus and which we are hoping can be resolved quickly as once that is done we would commence work on her.

Lastly, no it is not a garage door but is the reframed rear end, platform and rear emergency exit for the ex London/Southend Daimler preparing to be refitted to the bus. The whole rear end was in poor shape and is without doubt the worst part of the vehicle so the refitting of this area will be a huge leap forwards for the project and one that I can hopefully update the blog on next month.