Familiar Face Returns!

317 during a break on the journey "back home"

Two years ago I reduced my fleet in order to try and bring my finances under control and as a result my first ever bus (that I owned), Dennis Dart J317XVX, was sold to a new owner in the North West.

Well fast forward to September this year and word reached me that the owner had put the vehicle up for sale on eBay.

Notwithstanding the fact that it was the first vehicle to get me in the bus preservation game, the Wright Handybus bodywork is relatively rare in preservation terms, so I couldn't stand by and watch some non bus preservationist get their hands on it and butcher it again for a failed non PCV "project" (I originally acquired it from someone who had chopped up the original interior in order to create a mobile IT suite).

With a price agreed, today was collection day.

Although some electrical issues seem to have crept in since I last owned the vehicle, it duly completed the 240 mile journey back to Essex without fuss.

First job, electrical issues aside, is to sand down the orange paint job and get it back into the Cream & Green County Bus livery.