Something that isn’t trains for this diary entry.
As some of you may know, I occasionally drive preserved buses (i used to own one too!). The past week, I’ve had the honour of driving 3 completely different buses!
The first was preserved Ex Stagecoach Dover (then Eastbourne & Gloucester) E300 GX06 DYW from Weymouth back to Cheltenham after a group outing on Bank Holiday Monday.
I would have travelled on this bus countless times going to & from School back in its Dover days.
The 2nd was AEC Swift VJG187J. I took this too and from an event in Deal in Kent.
Unlike the E300 which is fully automatic, the Swift is a Semi-Automatic so has a gear changer but no clutch. Very nice and easy to drive!
The 3rd of the buses is AEC Regent AFN780B which I drove around Deal for an event on Saturday, then again today for a private group outing. This bus is different again (apart from being a double decker) as it has a full synchro-mesh manual gearbox & no power steering (like the swift) so takes a fair amount of pre-planning with manouvering.
