Clacton Rally

It was the Clacton bus rally yesterday and visiting buses/people were not put off despite the weather being cloudy all day with rain in the afternoon. Some 60 buses were in attendance and the crowds were consistently good all day. It was very pleasing to see the trend of poor support at events turned around........I sincerely hope we see a repeat at my next planned event, North Weald on 21st June as that event really has suffered in recent years.

It was particularly surprising how busy the two open toppers were given the poor weather!

For my part I took DAF P337ROO - its likely to be my main vehicle this season with Dart J317XVX acting as back up (Volvo not currently MOT'd and having a rest after much use last year).

Somehow or other myself & the DAF ended up as the lead vehicle for the convoy run from Great Yeldham to Clacton. The journey went well with no issues at all - I'm very happy with 337's reliability now so expected a trouble free day anyway.

I was booked to operate two runs on the town centre service and the fisrt was almost a full 70 seat load!! Good job I took a decker!! The second run was much later in the day and so was expectedly quieter. I didn't drive for this run; much like last year at Clacton, a couple of other owners had a go as they were curious as to how the DAF drove (and its always a pleasant change to be a passenger on your own motor from time to time). Both drivers were very complimentary about 337........quite right too as she is a lovely drive!!

Here's a couple of images of the service runs - the first image is onsite at the rally and the second is in Clacton town centre.....

For the return journey back home, I was again elected to take the lead for our convoy - a chance presented itself in one of the villages at a set of traffic lights for some roadworks.........there's actually 7 buses in this image!!

London Bus Museum's Spring Gathering

After the tow back following the failed attempt to reach the South East Bus Festival at Detling, DAF P337ROO was again subject to more mechanical work. In addition to fixing the leaking power steering pipe, an inspection was carried out prior to MOT - it was found that the exhaust back box needed replacing as did the pipes off the compressor, so these were replaced too. A few other odd jobs were also done, including engine oil & filter change.

The MOT was a straightforward affair with no advisories.

So the big question was, would it make the trip to Brooklands? From where I keep my buses its a 200 mile round trip......

Well I'm pleased to say she made it with no issues at all. In fact she ran so well I even diverted off on the way back to visit friends and pop into Lakeside bus station for a cheeky photo!

Here she is at Brooklands:

And here we are in Lakeside bus station. Unfortunately my camera couldn't pick up the destination blind in the bright sunlight, but as my friends live on the 33 route, and I'd accidentally picked that stand to pull onto, I cheekily put up the Ensign route on 337:

New year same issues!

So a new season has begun and today it was my first rally of 2015, the South East Bus Festival at Detling in Kent.

Given that its always been my intention to get DAF P337ROO to this event - I can run it in service and its carrying an advert for Yeldham Transport Collection's open day on 17th May (shameless plug!) - it took priority over the winter break. In fact this is attempt number two at getting this motor to Detling as despite being booked in last year, I wasn't able to get it taxed in time.

The previous overheating issue has now been resolved thanks to a brand new radiator, thermostat and fan drive belt.......and the electronic destination equipment has been upgraded from a Bright Tech system to Hanover along with additional side and rear displays. The former work was required as the original radiator was found to be two thirds blocked and the latter now means I have full control over the displays and can update them whenever I like via my laptop.

So, we were all set for a successful start to the new rally season........

Then, whilst on my way to Detling, an all too familiar issue appeared to raise its ugly head as I negotiated a roundabout............so I pulled into the first available bus stop and had a look underneath towards the back...........sure enough, Red fluid was running out onto the road. Just like sister 335 at North Weald two seasons back, we had a failed power steering pipe.

I knew from the previous experience that this was a straight tow back to base job as driving it with no fluid can damage the power steering pump beyond repair.

I'm almost fully trained now in the art of putting a bus on the back of a suspended tow!!

RIP 335

You may recall throughout this blog the amount of grief I've experienced with DAF P335ROO.

To name a few things:

Angle drive
Throttle cable failure
Compressor pipe failure, twice!
Footbrake Valve
Gearbox
Air dryer pack
Radiator
Power Steering

It shut down the MOT station for 7 hours, broke down almost every time I took it out on the road and came back from North Weald bus rally on the back of a tow truck.

The final straw was a tank - a proper millitary one - reversing into it at my storage location damaging the nearside front corner, fibre glass panels inside and out plus both windscreens.

Well having decided that I can no longer trust the vehicle, a few enquiries were made regarding the price of scrap and the decision was taken to send it to one the bus graveyards at Barnsley. Wigley's of Barnsley came and took 335 today and that's the end of its story. RIP 335 - you certainly made a few memories for me!

The up's and downs of bus preservation

Show Bus

Showbus returned to Duxford in September and so I took advantage of the closeness to my storage location to take along both D302PEV and P337ROO.

The day itself went well with both vehicles receiving positive feedback. Having popped upstairs on 337 part way through the warm day to open the upper deck windows [to let some heat out] I noticed condensation on the rear offside window. This is right above the header tank for the engine cooling system and so as expected, it took about 2 litres of water when checked prior to departure.

Having driven 337 back home and parked her up, I became aware a few minutes later that she was leaking water from the back end. Further investigation showed water leaking from the header tank via a pressure release cap. And sure enough, the condensation was back on that upper deck window.

It was suggested that I may have overfilled it with coolant. I was always told to fill 'em to the maximum mark as a bus driver but it was explained that doing so leaves no room for expansion when the coolant heats up and so its better to fill it to just above the minimum mark. Once it cooled down I refilled it to just above the minimum mark as advised and took it out for a drive. Upon returning there was no loss of water..........so it would appear we solved the issue........

Canvey

Canvey bus rally was yesterday and I went along with P337ROO as I planned to run in service.

Given the previous water issues, I ensured we left with the coolant just above the minimum mark and stopped off for diesel after about 40 minutes. A check at the back revealed no water leaking. Another check upon arrival at Canvey also revealed no water leak and no other obvious issues (ie, condensation or overheating).

I duly completed 4, or possibly 5 (I wasn't counting!) round trips on the museum to display shuttle before parking up. It was pleasing to carry healthy loads as it means I get to drive under full load conditions and it gives the vehicle a proper work out by doing the job it was built to do. Having built some trust in the motor I thoroughly enjoyed myself going round and round in circles.

Another check after the service runs revealed a very minor water leak via the pressure release cap - probably not even half a litre. I elected to not check the water level given the advice about not over filling it. I figured that I hadn't lost much and so with no condensation on that upper deck window and no other obvious signs of overheating we ought to be fine for the return journey.

Having given a private tour of the Island to some friends at the end of the event, we duly set off for the return journey............40 minutes in I started getting a low oil level alarm when stopping at traffic lights or roundabouts. I pulled into a layby to check it out and upon getting to back of the bus I was greeted with a significant amount of steam and some water coming of the header tank pressure release valve. 337 had overheated proper and it took a good 10 minutes to cool down enough to release the filler cap. A check of the oil showed it to be bang on the maximum mark!!

Just when I thought I'd turned a corner and found a reliable DAF after all the grief with 335........arrgghhhh!!!

Having learned a lesson when a fellow preservationist had problem at the Clacton rally, I now carry 20 litres of water on board so was instantly relieved to realise that once 337 cooled down we could soon have her topped up again and be on our way (assuming the engine hadn't been cooked). 20 litres later I had it just above the minimum mark on the header tank. Yep, that's not a typo - it had lost 20 litres - and it didn't loose all 20 when I stopped as the puddle underneath was nowhere near big enough. So when did it lose those 20 litres???!!

Anyway, thinking back to the day I drove it back from Sheffield, I had found it ran better at a maximum speed of 50mph. Up until this problem occuring I had been doing around 53/54mph for about 20 minutes. Having decided that driving slower may be a good idea I drove all the way back to the storage location (another 40 minutes) without going above 45mph. Upon parking up back at base I rechecked the back end................no water leaks and the coolant still just above the minimum mark as it was after refilling at the roadside.

Hmm....

Because of the issues with 337 and the likelihood of no quick fix, I'll be taking the old faithful, D302PEV, to Transport fest instead of 337.

Bus & Coach Preservation magazine

Dart J317XVX was featured in Bus & Coach Preservation magazine's October 2014 edition. This came about through somebody else at my storage location already setting up an article for their vehicle with the magazine.

Initially though, the feature was going to be about Volvo D302PEV but upon finding out that P337ROO's repaint was imminent and spotting 317 in the shed, Nick Larkin (who'd come to do a photo shoot and interview) decided to switch the plan and hold back on the Volvo so that a full Harris feature could be done with two vehicles.

The Dart was duly posed in several locations in North Essex though the weather was unhelpful - bright sunlight made it difficult to get any decent shots of the cream coloured Dart. Its not often us Brits moan about too much sun! Although the bus was the subject of all the attention, I certainly feel I know what models go through now as they pose in various ways trying to satisfy their photographers needs!

With 337 now ready, the photoshoot and interview for 302 & 337 was completed a couple of days ago - somewhat rushed as Nick had been let down by another vehicle and had space to fill in the November 2014 issue. We posed the vehicles in a North Essex village which is normally as a quiet as a church mouse......and just as we started it became the busiest area in the UK.

Eventually though we got the shots Nick wanted and having seen a rough outline of the article, I look forward to the magazine hitting the shelves.

Going dotty

After being let down by three different graphics companies, I finally found one willing to take on the challenge of doing the dots for 337. Viscount International of Woodford, East London, came highly recommended by several other preservationists and they weren't wrong - theses guy's really are the bee's knee's.

It took several weeks to finally arrive at a design I was happy with (I was never truly happy with version carried by 335 and vowed to better replicate the Harris Bus fade on 337) - as you can see from the sneaky peak images below, I reckon we've nailed it this time.