THE SHOWBUS LONDON & HOME COUNTIES BUS IMAGE GALLERY
Arriva the Shires Northern Counties doubledeck buses
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Possibly the prize acquisition from Motts Yellow Bus operations in 1995 was 5108 (F506OYW). Known as "The Blunderbus", the vehicle was new to the London Borough of Lambeth as a playbus. Motts acquired it with virtually no mileage on the clock when it was about 5 years old. Motts fitted it out themselves with parts from Northern Counties as the interior did not even have a staircase. It was one of the last bodies built by NCME in the Manchester style, the Olympian chassis also had an unusual engine gearbox combination. It is thought Lambeth paid over list price for not having the usual internal fixtures, sometimes you can just see them coming! The bus passed to Arriva with most of the Yellow Bus fleet and was one of the last buses painted from Shires to Arriva livery as it was also one of the last to be painted in Shires blue and yellow. Unusually, at the time, it retained Lambeth's white whilst in the Yellow Bus fleet and saw more use on hire and contract work than their bus services.
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 In summer 2006 the Blunderbus is seen in Wycombe High Street on town service 326. The bus has since been retired. East Midlands based McEwens bought it off Arriva and probably had a bargain, moreso if they knew its history. |
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 Olympian 5135 (N35JPP) is seen on the 280 in Oxford on a sunny June day in 2008. |
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 Sister vehicle 5139 (N39JPP) still going strong six years later is seen arriving at SHOWBUS 2014.
Picture ref 14-0420 |
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Still "Celebrating Luton" in September 2014 was another Volvo Olympian from the same batch, 5142 (N42JPP). Seen in the town centre 5142 advocates "love Luton" - guess somebody has to!
Picture ref A5120 |
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