Dominator 100 repanelled

Leicester Dominator 100 has returned to the workshop and a pause in its restoration whilst other projects progressed. The offside is now being repanelled and the restoration will depart from the original East Lancs specification, by using sealent to stop water ingress! Another major exercise though is the replacement of all glazing rubbers. The original design used standard claytonrite rubbers with mitred corners to fit the square-edged frames instead of the more typical radius corners. Unfortunately, as the rubbers shrank this gave rise to four points on every window where water ingress could occur!

A King Alfred discovery - Panther 419

King Alfred the Great is noted for his defence of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of southern England from the vikings. Now the picture shown could be mistaken for the carcass of one of the long boats that the invading vikings travelled in, but it is actually the skeleton roof structure of King Alfred Panther 419!

The roof framing of 419 was loose and the original Plaxton construction can, at best, be described as flimsy! We have stripped down the main longitudinal areas for renewal but, as part of the process, the structure will be improved upon.

Budapest Tour buses go blue

All three of the ex-Lothian open top Leyland Olympian buses acquired through Ensignbus have now been exported to Hungary for use on a new sightseeing tour in Budapest. The buses are former Lothian E303/304/335MSG, built in 1988.

The BusWorks has converted the buses for right-hand drive operation with additional door and door opening/closing warning devices required for passenger service in Hungary.

After their successful 1,000 mile road trip across Belguim, Germany and Austria, the buses have passed their certification in Hungary and the first two buses, E303MSG and E304MSG have been re-sprayed in the operator's blue livery and await vinyls for the Budapest tour.

UCOC Lodekka glazed

UCOC Lodekka 651 has been transformed by the fitting of the newly manufactured cream window rubbers and new glazing, making the bus look much more complete. 651 has not been fully glazed for many years, having suffered badly at the hands of vandals who had smashed almost every window on the bus before it was rescued by Rushden HTS and despatched to the BusWorks for restoration.

Work has also commenced on the re-flooring of the bus in specially commissioned green Treadmaster.

King Alfred Panther roof rebuild resumes

After devoting many man hours to the extensive restoration & conversion work on two ex-London RML Routemasters, work is now progressing apace on other projects, including the King Alfred Panther 419.

The bus has come to the BusWorks for a complete roof rebuild and as can be seen in this view, the roof has been stripped down to its basic frame. This revealed that many of the roof joints were rotten or broken, but also the exceptional amount of timber and little strenthening steelwork. This was a feature of the traditional Plaxton coachwork of the period, but even so the full length timber cant & waist rails were unusual by the early 1970s.

Unfortunately, the stripping of the roof has revealed weaknesses elsewhere in the structure of the bodywork - typical though of the 36ft. long 'Derwent' style bodies.

Bristol VRT prepared for export

Former Alder Valley, but latterly Western Greyhound Bristol VRT CJH119V is being prepared for export to Budapest, Hungary where it will be used on sightseeing work alongside the recently converted ex-Lothian open top Olympians. An offside door is being fitted to the vehicle before it makes the journey to the Hungarian capital, whilst the upper deck seating is being replaced.
Acquired by the BusWorks' parent company back in 2008, CJH119V has been in store and never used by the ClassicBus North West subsidiary and so the vehicle has been selected as a reserve bus for a new sightseeing venture.

Olympians exported to Hungary

Two of the three ex-Lothian open top Olympian buses have been exported to Hungary in readiness for sightseeing work this summer in the capital city, Budapest. E303MSG and E304MSG made the journey to Hull and then by P&O ferry to Zeebrugge, before the 1,000 mile road trip across Belguim, Germany and Austria. They arrived in Budapest on Sunday 19 June and are now being resprayed in the sightseeing operators' colour scheme. Both buses were fitted with offside platform doors for European use by the BusWorks before export.