Y344 XBN

History

154 was new to First Manchester in 2001, one of many Wright Floline bodied examples in the fleet at that time. However, it didn’t stay in the fleet long, and by 2006 it was working for First Scotland East out of Larbert Depot, along with many of the other Manchester Scanias.

It spent its entire passenger carrying career in First’s Barbie scheme, retaining it all the way up to 2015, when it was chosen to become a driver trainer, gaining the base Olympia livery, with pink and blue chevrons at each end. As is usual, this conversion resulted in the cab bulkhead being cut down, an additional seat and handbrake being fitted, and some seats removed.

On the sale of First Midland Bluebird to McGills Group in September 2022, 60198 was renumbered 1600, and parked up inside the shed at Larbert, not seeing any use in the new Midland Bluebird fleet. A chance email after a tip-off revealed that 1600 still existed, and was on the disposal list, due to be removed in a week’s time. On learning this, we rushed up that week, gave it a thorough inspection, with the assistance of the team at Larbert, and made the deal to take it on the spot. A real story of good timing and luck!

In Preservation

Before departing from Larbert for the final time, a hydraulic hose developed a leak towards the rear, leaving a trail of fluid. We were extremely grateful to McGills for calling Pirtek out to perform a repair on the spot, and at no cost to us, which saved us a lot of hassle in the future. They also refitted the front bumper, and the cab window, which had been removed at some point during its period in storage. After speaking to MD Ralph Roberts, from a chance encounter on depot, he kindly offered to let us acquire spare seats from scrap-destined X136 NSS, which has helped us to get a complete set to restore the interior to its original configuration.

Since we’ve had 154 back home, we’ve undertaken quite a bit of work to return it to roadworthy and original condition. After a short period with our friends at Wigan Bus Preservation, we quickly discovered that the roof was far from watertight, due to failure of the roof seam seals along the sides of the main panel. The old sealant was removed, a much more labour intensive job than it may sound, new sealant laid, and for a belt and braces approach, flashband has been installed over the sealant once it had thoroughly cured. The corroded centre roof vent has been removed to be rebuilt with new steel plate, and the radio pods also resealed. This has stopped the worst of the water ingress, but the air chill pods and windows still require weatherproofing attention. The smashed cab window was also replaced with one from a donor Cadet, and the additional mirrors fitted for training purposes were removed.

Once again, by pure luck, we had acquired a First spec Floline cab bulkhead and door from a yard in Platt Bridge, intended to be modified to fit 571 - in the event, we never ended up getting the time to trim it to size, and there were other priorities at the time. Thankfully, that meant we had a complete and correct spec bulkhead to fit 154, which would have been impossible to source otherwise. This has now been reinstalled in place of the cut down bulkhead, while at the same time removing a whole host of redundant wiring, and non-original fixtures that had been added to the cab over the years. We’re still working on restoring the original saloon climate controls, but this is a longer term project, as the roof boxes have been cut out, and the wiring modified significantly.

Another trip to Scotland yielded a full set of brand-new condition seat cushions for the Linea seats fitted to First vehicles of this age, with thanks to Ewan and the GVVT. These have since replaced the original seats that were still fitted some 25 years on, which really improves the interior, as you can imagine. We’ve also been making good progress on acquiring enough Wright branded seat handles to replace any non-original ones that have been fitted over the years, or those from a donor bus.

Mechanically, there has also been plenty to do. In addition to replacing the fuel filter, another power steering hose has been replaced, over the rear axle, as well as a new water pump, radiator, and intercooler gaskets while it was apart. Plenty more to do on this front, to cure the various minor leaks, and years of corrosion damage to most of the steel pipes tucked away underneath.

The interior as acquired, with worn and missing seats, and a significant leak.

The roof was resealed to prevent water ingress.

The radiator and water pump have also been replaced after leaks were found from both.

Future Plans

On the corrosion front, there are also some areas of chassis and framework that require attention, which are currently being addressed by our friends at Image Coachworks. Some of the windows also allow water in, along with the air chill pods on the roof, so these will need to be removed and bonded back on. The central ventilation pod framework is also quite rotten, so will need to be recreated, as it is unsurprisingly an obsolete part. As previously mentioned, the saloon climate control system has been heavily butchered, so will require quite a bit of work to regain its original functionality, but we’re hopeful the parts can be found, or rebuilt.

Once the necessary works have been carried out, a full re panel and repaint into the original Barbie livery, with Manchester fleetnames and Gold Service taglines, is on the cards, along with fabricating new seat brackets to refit the missing seats, and longer term, the floor will need substantial replacement to bring it up to a high standard overall.