Thursday 8 March 2012

You wait ages then two come at once!

After waiting ages for the opportunity to undertake work on a Crosville Lodekka - we now have two genuine Crosville examples now going through the works! DLG881 is privately owned and has arrived for internal refurbishment only. The bus has had a very interesting history. It was Crosville's last surviving closed top 'LD' series Lodekka to operate in passenger service, surviving until 1979 and even then it's life was extended on driver training duties.
It was still being used as a trainer when it passed upon deregulation to North Western Road Car Company and was not withdrawn until 1993. But even then, DLG881 found another new lease of life - it was restored to passenger use and painted red and cream for a heritage tour of Northwich. Final withdrawal came in 1998, later operating with Rexquote (in Southdown style green & Cream) before finally passing into preservation in 2004.
Work at the BusWorks will include a full seat retrim and interior tidying up. The exterior was repainted in NBC Crosville livery some years ago.