In what seems like an annual ritual, the search for a more appropriate location took SM106 onto the road again in August. Some month or two back I was phoned out of the blue by a contact that I had given up on completely. He owns a disused and rather dilapidated coach garage in a village down the Conwy Valley, and had let it to a company making 'granite' kitchen worktops and ornamental stonework. I have to put granite in inverted commas because (as a practising geologist) I have to point out that the majority of 'granites' sold into the trade are NO SUCH THING, but are gabbros, syenogabbros and gneisses - but I have to agree that does not roll off the tongue exactly. Anyway, issues around the lack of an electricity supply and the use of a large generator to power his machine tools resulted in relocation of the business, and a surplus coach garage more or less unfit for any other prospective use. An agreement was reached and SM106 was readied for the road over the weekend of 9-10th August. A happy coincidence was the absence of the tram and most of the kit from the shed while it appeared in a carnival on Bodafon Fields in Llandudno. This time the local motive power was Brian's 1953 David Brown tractor, which was much more manoeuverable in the shed and yard.

Out in the sunshine again. Note the cab-window luxury! Photo © J.Wilkins

Big bus - little tractor - NO PROBLEM. Photo © J.Wilkins

On Monday 11th August the convoy headed off down the valley after teatime, ably led by escorts Len and 'Windy'. There are no photographs because it was a dull and occasionally drizzly evening. Unlike the A55, our route had some interesting gradients and twisty sections requiring some concentration on everybody's part. We were relieved when we were simply overtaken by a police car without any comment after a particularly testing, half-mile, first-gear climb from Graig up Bodnant Hill. I was also rather shocked to see one of Llew Jones monster coaches fly past on the downhill shortly after - but his drivers know that road only too well, I am sure! The shunt into the garage was compromised by parked cars, which we had sought to avoid by warning the landlord of our intentions, but in the event we did not hold up the traffic for long and the Arriva 19 to Llandudno passed us easily while the Matador was turned before pushing back under Len's expert guidance and getting a 'hole in one' despite the restricted access. The only mishap was touching a beam at the back of the garage that was lower than all the others, and which the rear dome slid neatly under rather than crashing into. Subsequent examination showed no damage, but the roof beam has been pushed back somewhat where it encountered the first joint strapping. A brisk ride home on the Matador 'light engine', then home for something to eat by 21:30h. Good work! The spare engine, radiator and road wheels followed a few weeks later on a small truck with a hoist.

Although it was already well-known, the problem of water leaking into the garage from the gutter between the two roof pitches seemed much worse once the bus was parked in a puddle. It was immediately obvious that there was a blockage, so the first job was to get onto the roof and clean out the gutter, and find why water ran down the wall and not down the drainpipes! An hour of shovelling years-worth of the proverbial into a bucket and sweeping the gutter clean paid dividends, as did pushing the lead flashing back into place. Proof of the effectiveness of this treatment was finding the floor drier than I had ever seen it despite the torrential rainfall (and minor flooding in the Conwy Valley) of the first week of September. With a bit of luck, more work on the flashings should see the end of the wet problem - before the winter sets in.

Work on the vehicle has been limited so far, but the opportunity has been taken to unload all the rubbish thrown on board for the move from Anglesey, sorting the old panels into a scrap and a pending pile. About half of the stacked seat-frames have also been removed to give access to the engine and mezzanine floor. A key work-area is on the rear dome so that the painting of the roof can be completed - a job which was interrupted by the move from Anglesey. The other concern is the deterioration of the new panelling, so maybe some work on painting the body before the weather gets too cold would be worthwhile. In the period since the green paint was formulated, changes in the permitted ingredients has meant some delay while it is re-formulated. A wonderful thing, progress, isn't it?

SM106 in her new garage - front dome rubbed down and waiting for paint. Photo © J.Wilkins

The offside 'downstairs' in etch primer - yes I know I have missed a bit! Photo © J.Wilkins

The morning of ShowBus dawned overcast, but overnight rain had ceased. This was good, because it meant that I would not be able to work on painting our house! Not going to ShowBus on the pretext of looking after my own vehicle (rather than those of everyone else) is one thing, but house-painting is quite another. The first job was to wash down the area around the windows that I had prepared earlier, then clean out the gutters and rub down the front dome for a top coat. The top coat to the front dome is critical to getting the destination blind glass and the ventilators re-installed. It is also the start of the process to finish the roof and paint it the same colour end-to-end. My original tin was running out and had dried up too much to guarantee the colour. I had asked for aerosol cans of etch primer in addition to a regular litre tin because I thought it would be easier to spray the gutters and strapping rather than rely upon the usual roller. A good choice, I think, but of course time will tell, and there was a lot of masking to do. While that was drying, I set about the top-coat on the front dome, and had a very enjoyable time as ever. The HMG synthetic polyurethane is excellent, compliant stuff and the green covered nicely on the flatted finishing coat from last time. Only the front two bays have been finished properly, the remainder is in subtle shades of DIY undercoat. Then I used up my roller and paint-tray putting the undercoat onto the offside gutter and window area. Standing back, it was truly great to see the green paint spreading downwards and I went home happy.

Experience has shown that rubbing down and top-coating two bays of the roof in one session is a sensible workload for one person, i.e. me - particularly when it is done by hand. So, bays 2 and 3 were prepared, and a while spent on other stuff while it all dried off in the somewhat limited sunlight coming through the rooflights of the garage. Great strides are taking place on the rearmost bay and rear dome, where almost all the green paint is now removed and minor repairs to the grp and gelcoat are about to commence. It has also proved necessary to remove the curved offside-rear quarter panels due to damage sustained during removal from Northchapel. A great shame to have to undo repairs performed by Ian Barrett. Fortunately the upper panel carrying the rear lights is undamaged, as it would be awkward to remanufacture and it is an original spare part in pink PRV primer. Not an easy job unscrewing the wooden formers, as the black bitumastic paint has stuck so well that the panels are inseparable from the woodwork! The flimsy support for the engine cover was easily bent back into its correct position, and there appears to be no serious damage.

Replacement weatherstrip has now arrived from COH Baines for the cab window and dome areas. As part of the preparation for finishing the front dome I have been examining the original, rather damaged air-intakes which were panelled over by Blue Lake. A multitude of holes to fill and dings to repair make these unattractive when compared with the replacements sourced by Steve Fennell. He obtained a lot of body spares from SM533 which was being dismantled by the Cardiff team seeking mechanical parts for their Swift MBO 512F. The obvious green paint and subtle differences point to MCW provenance, but under a layer of grotty grey I found the blue stripes which adorned the roof, as seen in the photo posted on the AEC Web Forum, confirming the origin. The grey livery that was subsequently applied belongs to an agricultural college in the south-west who purchased the vehicle from Don Allmey when he had finished using it as a mobile sale stall at rallies. The construction of the air-intakes differs from the PRV original; grp boxes are stuck to a black, sheet material which is thicker and stronger than the rather floppy grp of the PRV examples. Well done, Steve!

With Winter approaching, the problem of the leaky gutter between the garage roof pitches was looming larger, but climbing onto the roof is such a drag that I have been putting it off. I had it in mind to cut strips from the scrap body panelling and fold them to make an extension of the gutter side so that the lead flashing would actually shed water into the gutter instead of down the wall and onto the floor. With an extension cable from my landlord's utility room I fetched out my trusty Bosch jigsaw and did just that. To ensure that they stayed put I even pop-rivetted the strips in place and tidied the flashing. I was delighted when heavy rain shortly afterwards did not appear on the floor of the garage. The score is now Rain - 0, JW - 4. When the building is demolished, I hope that it will amuse someone to find the legend "ROUTE 59 SUMMERSDALE" attached to the gutter.

SM106's rarely-seen rear view - and it is not pretty. Photo © J.Wilkins

The metalwork of the front step-well - far too shiny! Photo © J.Wilkins

The afternoon was spent in fettling the rear of the front step-well. I cut the Checkmate plate some while ago, but the problem of bending to shape was only recently solved. I don't know if PRV did the same, but the MCW front step that I inherited with the bus had the aluminium of the step riser in three pieces rivetted together. That seemed hard work, and I tried to avoid the rivetting altogether by making it in one piece. Getting the dimensions correct was too hard, so I opted for a folded front corner and a rivetted rear, where there is generally more space due to the curious angles involved. You can see this in the picture above. In the end, David Williams (Llandudno) managed the tricky job (apparently by hand) of bending the front corner and the flanges which support the plywood tread. For strength and durability I am sure it was the right decision. The rear plate had to be bent on two edges and have cutouts for the supporting metalwork, so it was a fiddly job and having the jigsaw on site was really useful, while the 'ship' bending jig proved its worth again. You can see the difference in appearance between the new metal and the dirty, corroded pattern in the picture. By the end of the afternoon I had a complete step-well and it looked terrific. It must still be drilled and fixed, but I want to consider the remainder of the cosmetic panelwork before drilling any more holes.

November has seen further advances on the front step. The rather tedious job of drilling the multiple holes along the diagonal edge of the saloon floor took a while, particularly as the angle could not be drilled in situ for all of its length and required unbolting to get at the front two holes. An angle-drill like a dentist uses would be a very handy thing sometimes. The rear part of the step well required only a couple of holes, so it was soon fixed. Eventually, all the pop-rivets that I have used temporarily will have to be replaced by proper mushroom-headed rivets which match those used throughout the entrance and luggage pen areas. The temporary plywood tread was then trimmed to fit neatly and laid in place making it possible to climb in properly through the front once more. A strange sensation.........I have also set about fettling the rear dome area which requires attention with body filler before it is ready for painting - also there is a dent in the rear section of the roof which was poorly filled previously. While I had power this was cut back with my angle-grinder to make good base to finish properly and feather into the vertical rise above the gutter where earlier errors were very visible. The other long-standing job was to remove the offside-rear wheels, drum and hub and fit the oil seal. This was omitted in the hurried departure from Anglesey. Now that the front dome is fully painted, and rubber obtained, I have put a piece of glass into the destination blind aperture. This was in the rear originally, and painted over in blue but bearing the legend "59 Service" in vinyl on the inside. Original glass is worth keeping because it is subtly curved to match the front dome, and I will use the new piece that I had cut and tempered at the rear which is truly flat. Altogether a huge improvement over the cracked and discoloured piece of perpex which I removed and discarded over four years ago!

December proved to be very cold and dark in the garage, so any idea of using paint was quickly binned. Great uncertainty surrounded my home life with the passing into administration of my employer, but we are working hard on reviving the old business and should be up and running again in the New Year. Short sessions during morning hours have seen great strides on the nearside panelling by the driver's cab. Painting the back of the panels before assembly is out of the question, so it will have to be put together in kit-form ready for a grand finale in the Spring. There are dozens of holes to drill, some of them must be picked up using the old panels as a template, and all are drilled by hand. Most of the fixings in this area are screws, not rivets. SM106 already looks heaps better with the curved quarter panels in place, especially now that the aperture has been cut for the nearside sidelight. One original sidelight unit is dreadfully corroded and looks like rusty lacework, while the other has rusted away and dropped off leaving just a bezel attached to the old panel. I am hoping to find a replacement pair without paying Routemaster prices - seems they were also used on the DMS. The replacement nearside quarter panel is not so well made, and may require another attempt. Sadly, the DMS (labelled) replacement has the sidelight aperture in the wrong place, but according to photographs it should be nowhere near the headlight anyway. Good news is the lovely dry floor - attention to the leaves in the gutter is essential but not especially demanding!