We were progressing well into August now, with 2599 now safely back at 'HQ' after her little visit to Dom at Motor-Canics, and she had the honour of doing her very first wedding job, providing transport for the wedding of Paul's friends Kelly and Kieran Atherton on Saturday 5 August. Sadly I could not attend due to prior work commitments, but reports back from the day suggest the bus received a positive reception. At this point, I shall for one time only had over to our leader Paul for this special report on the Buses Festival event at Gaydon near Warwick - an event your blogmaster did not make it to thanks to being shafted into adding to a certain Rupert Murdoch's millions...but anyway I digress!
"So after 19 months of blogmaster Dan having all the credit here, I finally get let loose for one time only for the following report - the 2015 buses festival at Gaydon!
It was a nice start to the 23 August. I went to the farm did the necessary checks - even put fuel in - and set off to pick up a few people who were joining me for this adventure.
There was something definitely missing from the usual crowd of me, Calum, Gary and Jean and Pete. We even had Robbie Hadfield with us for the first time on 2599.
The banter with myself and blogmaster Dan was missing, and it wasn't the same without him (aww thanks Paul - Dan) .
As we pressed on we had a driver change and let Calum have a play. At this point, I got the entry card which had my name on it and the photo to be placed on today's most wanted!
As we pulled in to Warwick services, we did the usual coffee, toilet and cigarette stop (depending on your needs), and after letting Gary into the hot seat we set off on our way to Gaydon."
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| (C) Robbie Hadfield |
"As we arrived in glorious sunshine we were greeted by
the stewards and sent on our way to park up with the other buses and
there was such a wide variety of vehicles. Old and new, and I was very
impressed with the layout and the organisation of everything. So all of
the people on the bus set off and I started to take pictures and then
set off for my first journey on of the running vehicles as 2599 was on
static display. And what should turn up but ex Devon general Bristol LH KTT 38P which had just been purchased by a very good friend of mine
Lawrence Mortimer. I went for a ride on it, and I was most impressed! So as I headed back, the heavens opened up and
everyone started to enter the fabulous motor museum and wow ! The
cars in there are fabulous!! A few to mention are the Aston Martin Vanquish as featured in the James Bond film 'Die another Day', the McLaren
that BBC's 'Top Gear' tested, the Thunderbirds Ford 'FAB1' and my personal
favourite, the Back to the Future DeLorean."
"So as the rain settled down a bit I ventured out to
find Mr & Mrs Crosby sampling London Ttransport 'Green Line' RF627. At this point, I
thought I am going to join the queue and go on the next bus which
turned out to be ex-Greater Glasgow PTE Leyland atlantean HGD 903L.
She was amazing and I took the appropriate photos, after that. I needed a Bristol fix, and what a fix I got when Western National MW EDV502D
showed up. As I was travelling on this magnificent machine I
noticed some of my friends from the Irish Transport Heratige group had
come over to the event and we started talking about 2599 and the
progress we had achieved in such a short space of time. And this gave
me an idea. The I.T.H lads had come a long way to go to this event. So
I thought, let's give them something to remember. So I asked if they
would like a ride on 2599?
THEY DIDN'T NEED ASKING TWICE! Their eyes lit up and the grins on their faces got wider. So as we
returned to base I talked to the stewards about taking 2599 out . To
which they replied, we could do with an extra bus! . So the I.T.H lads
along with myself, Gary and Jean, Robbie and Mark Ashton were on the
bus, and more people started to approach us and jump on. By the time I
pulled up to do a run, we had a good 20 people on! And while we were waiting a certain Mr Wilkinson was standing in front of 2599 when (unbeknown to our group at the time - Dan)
someone from Buses magazine took a photo of 2599 (which has since appeared in print - your 15mins of fame Pete!! Dan)"
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| (C) Robbie Hadfield |
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| (C) Robbie Hadfield |
"So with Robbie guiding me we arrived at the village Church to stop for photos, when Robbie asked me if he could have a
go, to which I replied yes. So after making sure that all the passengers
had appropriate life insurance Robbie set off, and the 2599 grin was
there for everyone to see. His inner 8 year old had come out to play, and he absolutely loved it. To be honest, Robbie did very well with
2599 after just being put in the hot seat. So as we arrived back it was smiles all round and we parked up next to ex-Trent dual door Bristol RE 356 (FRB208H). Eventually, it was time to go, and we set off for home, Gary had a drive,
Calum had a drive, and even Robbie had another drive -even I got a play at the end!! It was a fabulous event and one I would recommend to anyone."
Paul Waplington (speaking about 'Buses Festival' at Gaydon 2015)
Scores on the doors (as Paul said when he sent me this post), he doesn't make a bad blog writer, bless him. We also asked our good friend Robbie for a quote on the day's proceedings, which he has kindly allowed us to publish here along with several of his own photographs.
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| (C) Robbie Hadfield |
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| (C) Robbie Hadfield | |
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| (C) Robbie Hadfield |
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| (C) Robbie Hadfield |
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| (C) Robbie Hadfield |
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| (C) Robbie Hadfield |
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| (C) Robbie Hadfield |
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| (C) Robbie Hadfield |
"It was a great day out, never been there before but
chose BUSES festival over Showbus and from the sounds of it I'm glad I
did. First time I'd ever been after hearing about the success of last
year's event. Lots of activity with buses giving out rides and busy
stalls inside the museum and in marquee's outside. There was a bit of
rain in the late afternoon with many visitors choosing to escape to the
Motor Museum for shelter. I'm looking forward to next years event and am
very grateful for Paul Waplington trusting me with 2599 not once...but
twice! It's not a cheap hobby but you could tell how proud Paul is of
his small fleet. Well done BUSES and well done Paul."
Robbie Hadfield (speaking about 'Buses Festival' at Gaydon 2015)
Thank you gents for your fantastic reports, its much appreciated - both of you make good writers, I only wish I could have been there to take my own photos and report on proceedings...ahh well, next year perhaps??
And so our next blog post takes us deeper into Summer, as we leave July behind and enter August. As mentioned in previous posts, 2599's exhaust had been making strange noises during our excursion to Alton with a distinct 'clattering' sound to be heard, quite unconventional for a Gardner-engined RE. We also had a mystery light keep illuminating on the dashboard which was giving us cause for concern, so with this in mind we booked her in for a service with our good friend Dom Guy at Motor-Canics in Bilborough, the bus making the journey there less than 24hrs after arriving back from Hampshire.
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| (C) Dom Guy/Motor-Canics |
After just over a week spent awaiting its turn in the queue, 2599 was soon over a pit being inspected. Dom soon found the source of the mystery dashboard light to be a water leak where the aged hose and clips had cracked, these being duly replaced. The blowing exhaust issue was also looked into, with the manifolds and a few other items removed and cleaned before being reattached (turns out the manifold that had been repaired and reinstated back in 2014 had rattled loose, causing the blowing). A missing stud on the block was also replaced, and with a few new bolts and the gaskets reattached she soon roared back into life. Dom also then treated the bus to a service, checking and changing the fluids (like most old ladies, 2599 was getting a little dry in places, so levels were duly topped up), and soon enough she was good to go once again!
On behalf of the group, thanks must go to Dom and Motor-Canics for a first class job, and I make no apologies for leaving a cheeky little plug for them here: www.motorcanics.co.uk
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| (C) Dom Guy/Motor-Canics |
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| (C) Dom Guy/Motor-Canics |
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| (C) Dom Guy/Motor-Canics |
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| (C) Dom Guy/Motor-Canics |
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| (C) Dom Guy/Motor-Canics |
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| (C) Dom Guy/Motor-Canics |
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| (C) Dom Guy/Motor-Canics |
After a weekend touring Hampshire with 2599, and a few days off to recover, your blogmaster was now back to the daily grind of 'driving a desk' helping to add to Rupert Murdoch's millions (something I thankfully no longer do), however after such a successful week away, it would only be fit to 'go out on a high'...
Paul was tasked with fetching his extended family back from East Midlands Airport in 1321 after a fortnight away in Fuerteventura for his nephew Brandon's 21st, a journey on which I would also tag along between my first and second shifts back at work. A reverse of the outward run a fortnight before, we set off under the cover of darkness and after a quick coffee in the 24hr truckstop near Kegworth, set about waiting around in Donington Services before we picked the weary birthday party up at around 00:30hrs. A spirited run was enjoyed along the A453 to Colwick, where we found 1321 to have developed a bizarre electrical defect on the tail lights when they suddenly began working erratically. A brief visit to Silverdale was undertaken where the night fitters kindly took time to take a look into the sudden issue, but to no avail - it appeared we had a mystery defect, not ideal at almost 0230hrs!
Seems there was work to be done, but that is for a future chapter...
We settled back into the normality of the daily grind, with Paul and Calum being back at work, and your blogmaster enjoying some well deserved holiday away from adding to Rupert Murdoch's millions, with the buzz of 2599's first major event still in our minds. The blowing exhaust issue was causing us some concern, so with this in mind we sent the bus to Motor-Canics at Bilborough for our good friend Dom Guy to investigate.
Whilst away at Bilborough, I paid a visit to see Dom and check on progress with 2599, as well as to add the latest addition to the bus. As you will recall several posts ago, I spoke quite personally about the death of our good friend Tony Challons and the impact of this upon ourselves and our group. I had grown up knowing Tony, and he was certainly one of life's characters who told it how it was, and I still smile to this day about our 'quick visits' to his home in Underwood that usually ended up in several cups of coffee and sat about reminiscing and talking buses for hours on end, and I make no apologies for mentioning this again. His untimely and sudden death had come as a shock to us all back in May, and having been such a good friend over the years and done so much for us in providing crucial parts towards 2599's restoration, we felt it only fitting to do something to honour his memory.
So I was proud to have the honour of affixing a small plaque on 2599's cab bulkhead in memory of our departed friend Tony, who sadly was never able to have the satisfaction of seeing the bus in person or the pleasure of driving her as we had planned for him to do, but at least his memory will live on, and he can now ride along with the bus wherever we go. And I am not ashamed to admit after affixing the plaque standing there reliving the fond memories Tony and I shared and shedding a small tear, or to say that once again writing this particular post was somewhat more emotional for me on a personal level.
But for now, I find it fitting to end on a quote from our own leader Paul that has been used here once before- "R.I.P Tony, the lights are all green my friend"
We awoke the next morning, and after checking out of the hotel we filled the bus with propulsion fluids and made our way towards Anstey Park, stopping off along the way in Alton Town Centre for some photographs of 2599 outside the local church, and our own propulsion fluids, a hearty breakfast and coffee in the local Wetherspoons (a pub tick for your blogmaster, who signs such establishments, but I digress...)
It was fascinating while sat in the pub tucking into a fry-up watching scores of heritage buses passing by, and very soon we were amongst them joining the queue to enter Anstey Park. After a long and intense day on the Saturday (especially for our leader Paul), we had opted to keep 2599 static at this event, so that we could enjoy the day's proceedings at a more leisurely pace. The first port of call on arrival for myself while everyone settled in was the public conveniences, where your blogmaster ditched his jeans for a pair of shorts (health warning duly issued for those of a nervous disposition I may add), taking advantage of the baking hot July sun that we had been blessed with. Returning to the bus, we secured our belongings and locked up, at which point Paul set off in one direction, while Michael, Calum and I set off in another, wandering around the site taking photographs of the large numbers of exhibits, frequently becoming separated as we stopped to photograph different exhibits or to be greeted by friends of the group.
After wandering around in circles on the rally field for what seemed like hours, Michael, Calum and I ended up in the 'Bus Station' area, where Michael's attention was grabbed by ex-London & Country Volvo Citybus G610BHP waiting to a trip to Hedge Corner on service 38, a vehicle type he had become well acquainted with during his early driving career working for Arriva Derby. We enjoyed a spirited run on this quality machine, and arriving back at Alton Sainsbury's Michael and I left Calum to continue back to Anstey Park while we crossed over and eventually boarded Cresta Coaches Leyland Tiger KPV810, an East Lancs Myllenium rebody for Strathtay Scottish that had subsequently seen service with Wootens' Tiger Line operation. A spirited run was enjoyed to Lasham on service 28, and we vacated at Alton Railway Station to see what delights awaited us next.
Having tried to board two Leyland Nationals with no success due to large loadings, we settled upon a Stagecoach South Coast Volvo B10M, Alexander PS-bodied 622 (L622TDY) for the short hop back to Anstey Park, and I for one was certainly disappointed that I could not have sampled a longer ride on this quality motor, a vehicle type I am most familar with thanks to my local Stagecoach division, East Midland, running large numbers 'back in the day'. Back at Anstey Park, I was stood talking to Michael as a red and cream ex-South Notts Bedford OB (KNN314) owned by Lee Simmonds came into view, at which point he turned to me and said "either my eyes are deceiving me Mr Stone, or that is Mr Waplington driving a Bedford OB!". After a cursory glance and advice to seek the guidance of an optician in Michael's direction, the mystery driver turned his head slightly, and the distinctive stripe in the hair revealed it was indeed our leader, at the helm of an OB!!! Still eating my words, and uttering my apologies to Michael, Paul stepped off the platform to a barrage of "how the bloody hell have you managed to get a drive of that, you jammy git?!?!"
Stunned disbelief subsided and photos taken, my attention subsequently turned to Southern Vectis VR 621 (OSF307G), now restored in a coat of NBC leaf green having once been operated by local coach company Johnsons of Hodthorpe as a school bus. A short hop to Alton Station and back on service 23 was to be enjoyed, and it was back at Anstey Park where I bumped into our good friend Neil Markwick, who informed me he was to work the 15:00 13C to Oakhanger using Western Buses Alexander Y-type Leyland Leopard DL756 (WDS291V). We jumped aboard for a catch-up before running light onto the 'Bus Station' to begin service, and a spirited run around rural Hampshire of around 1 1/4hrs was enjoyed. Back at Anstey Park, and with bashing opportunities now limited, I retired back to 2599, before being approached by Jason Rayner to take part in an RE line-up, amassing a grand total of seven examples. A fine sight indeed!
It was after this we said our goodbyes, sought the opportunity for a quick toilet stop and a final group photo before we left for the long drive back to Nottinghamshire. A slight detour was made at Alton Station to say goodbye to Steve Thorpe and the Hants & Surrey RE lads before we left, and a customary 'buses and beer' seminar took place to mark this. The return took around 6hrs in total, with a couple of stops thrown in and an unusual shunting exercise at Northampton Services to get 2599 positioned under a cracking sunset, arriving back at HQ just 20 minutes shy of Midnight.
And our thoughts? Wow! What an epic weekend, and one we never thought 2599 would participate in at all! Apart from a blowing exhaust, she performed faultlessly and received favourable comment, and the gang had many a laugh along the way (as usual). All in all, a cracking weekend! But now, sadly back to reality...
