The Irish Adventure: Part 1 24/04/15

So it was not even 3am, day had not even broken, and I found myself admiring what little view I have over the Peaks as we wind our way towards Glossop and Manchester Airport. Our destination? Belfast. Yep, you guessed it, we were off to the Irish Transport Heritage rally at Cultra for the second year running, and there was an air of excitement amongst myself and my travelling companions, Paul, Mark Ashton and Colin Farrow.


We had opted at the last minute to leave the car on English soil in the care of Manchester Airport and fly over instead of taking the ferry. A quick trip from the car park to departures on one of the Airport's Dennis Darts, we checked in/weighed our luggage/got frisked by security (well, your blogmaster did, must have a guilty face) most excited for the trip ahead. Our 'office' for the journey was to be FlyBe dash 8 Q400 G-JECG, and we settled in to enjoy flight BE470 and our short hop over the Irish sea to Belfast City Airport which we reached inside of an hour.

Grabbing our belongings, we checked out, and were soon aboard Citybus Solo 1881 heading into Belfast on the 600 service, and after a brief bus journey up to the hotel to drop off cases/coats etc. we headed back into Belfast for a day of buses and Irish scenery. It was at this point that Colin left us to photograph the city bus scene, while Paul, Mark and I decided to be a little more adventureous and board Ulsterbus 'Goldline' Ayats Bravo 2013 for the 2hr leap from Belfast Europa to Coleraine on the 10:45 218 service. We settled into our upstairs front seats, and over the course of the journey combined admiring the view with catching up on lost sleep from our early start. This journey was somewhat significant for us, as not only did we pass through 1321's former home at Antrim Depot/Buscentre (a place we hope to bring her back one day), but we were about to explore 2599's former stomping ground around Coleraine.

Our long journey had made us hungry, so while Mark observed the local bus scene at Coleraine Buscentre, Paul and I disappeared off to a local greasy spoon in the nearby shopping precinct for a proper Ulster Fry (highly recommended) and to talk about progress and the future. After lunch we regrouped with Mark, only for Paul to subsequently disappear mysteriously. Unable to track him down, he suddenly reappeared from the Inspector's office inside the Buscentre, where we were introduced to the senior duty inspector for Coleraine, whom was most pleased to hear of 2599's progress and duly allowed us to have a look around the depot, where the engineering staff made us most welcome, even downing tools briefly to position their Leyland Tiger towcar in the perfect spot for photographs. A fantastic bunch of gents, we shook hands, said our farewells (promising to return 2599 to her homeland sometime in the future) and made tracks towards our next chariot, Ulsterbus Solo SR 1949 on the 14:10 'Causeway Rambler' 402 service, where we took in the scenery around Bushmills as we made our way to Giant's Causeway.

Initially tempted with returning to Coleraine on an Ulsterbus Volvo B10BLE on the 172 (a route our own 2599 would have once worked), we flagged what is now some of Ulsterbus' oldest traction to admire the beauty of Giant's Causeway, and have a ride down to the stones. We were simply blown away with this stunning bit of the world, a place of such rugged beauty and charm (well worth the £8.50 admission fee). Since a young age, I'd always wanted to come to Giant's Causeway for some reason, and having actually been and seen it for myself in person I would certainly recommend it to anyone who visits Northern Ireland! The photographs here do not do this beautiful place any justice sadly...

And with an hour to go before our next 172 back to oleraine, we retired to the little pub on the end of the Causeway where a drop of Bushmills Whisky was sampled (by your blogmaster anyway) before boarding Ulsterbus Scania 2420 for the journey back to the Buscentre. With time not on our side by this point, we boarded 'Goldline' Irizar i4 1060 for the 2hr journey back to Belfast Europa on the 218, to retire (eventually) to the local PizzaExpress for some top notch grub and a few beverages and subsequently our home for the next three nights, Belfast's Gregory Guesthouse.

It was a case of deja-vu...the Irish adventure had begun again!

Brake-ing news 18/04/15

There was a positive mood in the air, with another Northern Ireland visit just days away and your blogmaster having broken up from work for a fortnight, all was well. Saturday 18 April dawned sunny and relatively warm as Paul and Gary made tracks to the farm for another afternoon of work on 2599. Further steps in the right direction were made today when Gary managed to get the anchor pin bushes reamed out to accept the new pins, before going on to refit the relined brake shoes.

Paul was so pleased with Gary's progress that I was summoned to the farm to have a look. I was to be collected by an unusually large blue & cream 'car' (namely 1321) and, naturally, we took the most indirect route back to the farm stopping off under the arch of the old Kimberley Brewery, now sadly lying derelict awaiting its fate. Smiles all round upon viewing progress, and of course it was only natural that we celebrated this progress by paying a customary visit to a local ale house type-establishment for an alcoholic beverage (for most) in the afternoon sun.

Another day on the farm 10/04/15

While your blogmaster was working hard (well, attending at least, too much hard work is bad for you they tell me) Paul and Gary paid a second visit to the farm to draw a conclusion to the work undertaken towards the front end of 2599, both internally and externally. 

First of all, Gary jacked the bus up to remove the block of wood under the front wheel while the new cross-member plate was being fitted, meaning that 2599 was now standing on solid ground for the first time for several months. The next task was to re-hinge some lose panels, including the access flap for the isolator switch on the nearside and an access flap for the screenwash just above the platform. Once some red lino has arrived, the wood over the battery box region can be covered over before getting onto the biggest job for some time - re-assembling the rear wheel and hub assembly and the rear nearside brakes.

Floor in 03/04/15

A little more progress made with 2599 on this day, with Gary going up to the bus to do a little more work around the battery box area. The wood has been trimmed down further in size and is now sealed in place where the now redundant floor trap used to be. And believe me, Gary has done a good job too! The sponginess in the floor around this region is now gone, with no movement in the new wood whatsoever (even with my 6ft3 fat lump stood on it!)

Now that it is secured to the new steelwork around the battery box, all that remains to do now is to sand it down a little further once the sealant has set properly, lay the lino over the wood and refit the missing seat.

22/03/15 pt2: Shoes off...

Our day out at Norwich for the group's second rally appearance of the year wasn't our only highlight from Sunday 22 March. While your blogmaster and project leader were gallavanting around Norwich and rural Norfolk in 1321 Gary was grafting away once again on 2599, where our attention had returned to the rear brakes now that the battery box repairs had been completed. With Tim's work commitments in the real world and subsequent departure to pastures new in Birmingham to pursue new opportunities in the Railway industry, the brakes had taken something of a back seat so Gary picked up from where Tim's hard work had left off.

With a lot of persuasion, Gary established that the bushes in the shoe were not sitting centrally, preventing it from coming off, so he heated them up to flip the shoe over while it was in situ, to then padsaw the ends of the bushes off to finally remove the shoe. By doing this, the axle mounts were not damaged by trying to punch the bushes out, and it means that the shoe is good enough to be relined with two new bushes and can be used again.

A small update it may be, but a massive effort for all concerned! Between Tim, Nik and Gary's hard work, it has taken on and off around ten months, but the shoe was finally off! We could now press on with refitting and rebuilding the rear brakes, but that is a story for a future chapter, dear readers...for now, as they say, duty calls!

22/03/15 pt1: The day we went to Naaaah-ritch, a roight nice city hint et...

Sunday 22 March, one month after our last rally debut, and dawn was actually breaking as we dragged 1321 out of the farm around 6am to attend our second rally of the season, the Norwich Bus Running Day. Apart from a brief stop for stretching of legs and for people to shake hands with Mr Porcelain, we made excellent progress, arriving at our first port of call - Kings Lynn - just before 09:15. It was here the bulk of our passengers transferred to preserved ex-Eastern Counties Bristol RE/ECW RE747 (GCL349N) for onward travel to Norwich, with Paul following in 1321, stopping off en-route at Swaffham services for photos, refreshments and forward propulsion fluids.

(C) Stephen Longmire

(C) Reg Vardy

We arrived at Norwich County Hall about 10:45, and wow! Our jaws dropped, a sea of proper buses - many new to Eastern Counties or operated by independents in the region - as far as the eye could see! The site was thick with people also, eager to take photographs and ride on the motely collection of heritage buses on offer. So after photographing much of what was on offer at County Hall (Paul and the gang had buggered off by this stage on an Eastern Counties VR), I decided to sample Eastern Counties FS LFS125 (GNG125C) for a round trip into Norwich and back, which did not disappoint I am pleased to say. My attention then turned to a lovely Plaxton Paramount-bodied Bedford of Norfolk Coachways 2176MZ, on which your blogmaster and some of his associates took a ride around Stoke Holy Cross and Trowse before our very own 1321 made her second trip of the day around the same circuit as the Bedford, complete with a full load of happy punters, many of whom had most favourable comments about the bus and even more surprisingly about its shareholders, as I found when I checked in on a post about the event on the Norwich Buses Blog where Paul and I were described as "wonderful group of gents with the most amazing sense of humour". Seeing the smiles on people's faces and comments like this all go a long way, and make our efforts as a group worthwhile, and it really is appreciated.

(C) Patrick Munford

(C) Kieran Smith c/o Norwich Buses Blog

And while Paul was out on an open-top VR somewhere in Norwich, there was just time for your blogmaster to squeeeeeze in one more run on Richard Walker's Eastern Counties Leyland National Greenway LG587 (WAH587S) to Mulbarton and back, beautifully restored in post-NBC Eastern Counties red, cream and orange. It is just a shame the post-NBC era around the late 80's/early 90's isn't represented a bit more in preservation.

Sadly, after all this excitement, it was time to head home, and after saying our goodbyes and passing on our thanks to the organisers of this fantastic, well organised event, we headed back in the direction of Nottingham with the sun setting. The journey back was not without its problems, an accident on the A47 adding over an hour onto our journey home, but we arrived back in Nottinghamshire around 21:30 after an excellent day.

And our verdict? Fantastic! We were most impressed with proceedings, and it was great to talk to so many people who genuinely took an interest in 1321 and our group. It was also great to make some fantastic new friends and contacts, many of whom we hope to see on the rally circuit again very soon...

A Mother's Day treat 15/03/15

 

Prior to 1321's second rally appearance at the Norwich Bus Running Day the following weekend, Paul and I were both off work on Sunday 15 March (Mother's day), so we decided to have a run out with the Tiger and blow off a few cobwebs. Nothing spectacular to report in this chapter, had a run round the Nottingham area stopping off for a few photos, prior to randomly ending up in Grantham for lunch (as you do eh?!!!) It was also a good opportunity for Paul to surprise one of our supporters, Kath Parry, and her family for a Mother's day treat. Here are a selection of photos from the day's events...