| Leyland Olympian LR 9 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Service History | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Although the City of St. Albans was in the depths of Hertfordshire, it still had one route operated by red London Transport buses. The 84 ran from the Barnet area through South Mimms and London Colney to terminate in the City Centre. By 1970, the red RTs had been replaced with single-doored MB Merlins, then from around 1975 DMSs appeared. In 1979/80 there were substitutions of DMSs by SMS Swifts. In late 1981, new Metrobuses appeared. It seemed that almost as far back as Roman times, there had been red 84s in the City!
By the early 1980s, the route was supported by Hertfordshire County Council funds and a consequence of this was that the route was tendered for a further period of operation from April 1982. The award of the route to London Country meant that the 84 was about to go green! (As compensation, the LCBS 313 route towards Enfield went over to LT control). LCBS ordered some new double-deck vehicles for 1982 which included an allocation at St Albans (SA) for the 84 and other duties. Having standardised on the Leyland Atlantean from 1972 (apart from an odd batch of Bristol VRs based at Grays), the last ones were delivered in mid 1981 (to SA!). From 1982, LCBS was to start taking deliveries of Leyland's new double-deck model, the Olympian. The LCBS Olympians, coded "LR", were bodied by Charles H Roe in Leeds and came with Leyland's new TL11 engine. Their immediate predecessors, the Atlanteans had also come with the Leyland engine (O.600) / Roe combination, so there was logic in this specification. Indeed, the LR windscreens were directly interchangeable with those on Atlanteans! The first LCBS batch of Olympians were given fleet numbers LR 1-30 and registered TPD 101X - 130X in sequence. These are actually Surrey registrations, a consequence of LCBS's head office being at Reigate. Livery was National Bus Company green, with a broad white band between decks, set off with black wheels. A notable feature was the difference in depth between upper and lower deck windows. Interiors were trimmed in the then-standard National Bus Company orangey-brown moquette. LR 9, (TPD 109X), was delivered to LCBS at Reigate in early May 1982 then sent to SA. Operation of the 84 route had actually started on 24th April, so this vehicle's arrival bolstered the allocation of the "correct" vehicles. Of the initial batch of 30 LRs, 11 were allocated to SA from new. Apart from use on the 84, the SA allocation of Olympians also saw use on special "schools" services, or certain trips on local routes where their 72-seat capacity was needed. Although I was not entirely convinced about the 84 being run by green buses, the appearance of an LR on occasions when I went home from school by the 361 route in preference to the train were very welcome! My records show that I must have travelled on LR 9 on at least one occasion. |
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After running the route for four years, LCBS lost the Hertfordshire County Council contract for the 84 in June 1986, but the LRs were retained at SA, there being plenty of other double deck work at the garage.
With the split of London Country into four parts in the run-up to privatisation, LR 9 passed to LC North East in late 1986. In June 1987, LC North East successfully won the contract for LT route 292 from Borehamwood to Edgware/Colindale. This was a London Transport contract and a board had to be carried on the front with an LT roundel and the word "BUS"! Brackets were fitted above the radiator panel to accommodate this Unfortunate industrial action in February 1988 saw LCNE lose the LT contract for the 292, as a consequence the LRs at St Albans were redeployed at Hertford Garage (HG), modernising the double deck fleet there. They were used on routes in the Lea Valley. The further split of LCNE took place on 1st January 1989 and garages in the eastern portion passed to the new company "County Bus", including HG. This garage soon closed and in April 1989, LR 9 moved a little further east to Harlow (HA). LR 9 never received the London Country North East colours, remaining in National Bus green. Eventually the County Bus dark green and cream livery was applied, together with "Lea Valley" branding. Various moves took place during the 1990s but LR 9 remained in the immediate Lea Valley area until 2002. By this time, County Bus had passed into the ownership of the Arriva group. Elsewhere in the Arriva empire there was a need for additional vehicles at High Wycombe. It seems that a refurbishment scheme was in progress on relatively recent Olympians and LR 9 was required to provide cover while this work was on-going. In February 2002, the move to the Chiltern Hills took place; at this time, LR 9 was still in well-used County Bus colours. Before entering service in her new home, many panels were renewed and she was repainted in Arriva corporate livery. By July 2002, the Olympian refurbishment scheme had been completed. Arriva had taken over the former Wycombe Bus garage, adjacent to the Bus Station, and no longer had need of the garage on Cressex Industrial Estate. In conjunction with the closure of Cressex, a number of vehicles were disposed of, including LR 9. That month. she was disposed of to West Kent Bus & Coach Sales. |
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| Purchase for Preservation | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Some time in 2000 or 2001, I had concluded that a London Country LR really ought to be preserved. Ideally, it ought to be one with some St Albans pedigree, even better if it was one on which I had ridden! As I recall, there may have been mention in a magazine that LR 2 had been scrapped (former SA vehicle), so I ought to consider making a move sooner rather than later.
Initial contact was made with Arriva via a contact in Leaside. He pointed me at the man in Arriva The Shires who dealt with vehicle disposals. I tracked him down and we had a chat about early Olympians, what state they were in and where they were; none were due for disposal at that time, but he would keep me in mind. The list comprised:-
I believe that "refurbished" meant a cosmetic facelift. Had I had the choice at that time, LR 23 would have been out of the equation as I wanted one of the original "route 84" buses, while LR 9 would have been top of the list as both un-refurbished and having been ridden-in by myself! Any of the others would have been acceptable, but the "refurbishment" may have taken a bit of work to undo. Time passed and one day, out of nowhere, my man in Arriva The Shires left a message to ask if I wanted LR 54 (A154 FPG)? This had been at Garston (Watford) Garage and had been in some sort of upper deck collision; following repairs and a repaint in Arriva livery, they wanted rid of it as the roof still leaked! The price was a bit high and it was not on my shopping list, so I declined. (This is not the last we will hear of it!) Early in 2002, Arriva The Shires closed Luton Castle Street Garage and moved to a new site towards Dunstable. As part of the move, a number of staff had been made redundant, including my contact for vehicle disposals, as I found out when I rang for an update on things. The person I ended-up speaking with seemed to have no concept of "early LR, new to St Albans", so I thought that the Olympian of my dreams would remain just that. Reference to the fleet news pages of "Buses" magazine showed that West Kent Bus & Coach Sales had broken up LR 23, while LR 17 had passed through Ensign Bus to an operator in Gloucestershire who had dismantled it. Further disheartening news. While speaking to a contact of mine, conversation turned to LR preservation and it emerged that it might be worth my while talking to Stuart at West Kent Bus & Coach, which I did. West Kent were well-placed to acquire vehicles being disposed of by The Shires and it emerged that he actually had LR 7 in his yard but the engine needed a bit of work; further to this, he mentioned about LR 9's move to High Wycombe and that it might become available in the Summer. As this one was top of the shopping list, I suddenly regained hope! One of Stuart's staff occasionally did some work on The Shires' vehicles and he believed LR 9 to be in fairly good order; apparently, though, LR 10 was not very nice and was best avoided… Further interest originated from a totally different source; Kentish operator Nu-Venture had LR 3, also new to SA and ridden-in by me, which was due to be traded-in to Stuart for some other vehicle. The discussion ended with me having an option on LR 3 or LR 9. I had seen LR 3 at the Cobham Bus Museum rear-engined rally late in 2001 and recalled that it looked fairly presentable, although the seats had been re-trimmed in a red, flowery moquette! LR 3 was sort of favourite, having a lower number, but unknown mechanical condition and those red seats were minus points. Time passed and in July 2002 I was at the North Weald Rally; a Leyland National from Nu-Venture entered the site and I took the opportunity of asking those on-board if LR 3 was about to be traded-in. They were all rather appalled at the potential loss of one of their favourite buses, so the next day I rang Stuart to find out his view. The response was "never mind LR 3, I am just about to get a batch of vehicles from The Shires and your name is on LR 9". Also in that deal was LR 15, but that was assigned to Crawley Luxury Coaches; being refurbished it was of lesser interest anyway. Having lost out on vehicles by delaying, I took a leap of faith and arranged for LR 9 to be paid for without even seeing it! Insurance was arranged and I took a trip to the Cressex Depot at High Wycombe, early in August. Fortunately I was pleased with what I saw. The Garage staff topped-up the fluid levels and even gave her a quick steam clean before I left, while derelict LR 55 in the yard provided a few useful parts. As there were still blinds fitted, I stopped at the roadside in the Watford area and set them to "361 Not In Service"; a lap of the How Wood Estate, past my old house, followed while en route home! |
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| Initial Assessment | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| So, what had I bought? Well, LR 9 was very straight, having been re-panelled and painted in February 2002, all of six months before! There were a few lash-ups, a few places where interior panels were damaged, some damage to the lower deck floor covering near the fuel filler neck and a fair few cushions in the wrong moquette. There was one short section of step nosing at the very back, downstairs with the modern black/yellow zigzag, but overall she was not in bad shape for a twenty year old vehicle. Around the engine bay, there were a few bits of corrosion, most notable on the top rail from which the boot lid is hinged. Although in Arriva livery, the fleet names had been peeled off and a red line crudely daubed around the waist, to denote that it was no longer an Arriva vehicle. As described above, I had been offered LR 54 some time before; evidently it had not been sold at that time because West Kent had acquired it as part of that mid-2002 disposal batch. Dumped at the Stevenage Garage, it provided a useful source of parts including enough cushions to give LR 9 a reasonable matching set in correct moquette, some cab warning lights and a very good steering wheel! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| First Rally Appearances | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Showbus in September 2002 was to be the first outing for LR 9. She was displayed in "as-acquired" condition, although a suitable SA destination blind and non-dayglo number blinds were fitted, while the wheels had been painted the correct shade of black! The rally was quite productive in that some correct pattern rear light units were sourced while a genuine SA blind insert panel for 292 route destinations appeared courtesy of Chris Sullivan, who used to drive LR 9 on that route! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In The Queue | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2003 was started with the MOT test expired, but with hope of obtaining a test soon. I have banished that small length of zigzag step nosing (!) and done a few other little jobs. LR 9 is currently stood awaiting restoration, but there is work to do on SNC168 and AN53 first. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Allocation History | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| New 5/82 - RGu, SA, 2/88 HG, 4/89 HA, 8/90 - HD, 7/93 - WE, 9/97 - HA, 2/02 - WB, 7/02 - HWw | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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