The Summer has not been kind to SM106. A long break while we were on a fortnight's holiday was compounded by urgent preparation for erection of my new greenhouse, work commitments at an all-time high due to holiday-cover arrangements and a geology trip to eastern Germany. In the city of Halle I was able to take full advantage of the wonderful tram network, including one short trip on a Soviet-era Tatra. The only buses that I saw were Citaros and MAN/Neoplan single-deckers, some of the latter gas-powered in that eco-orientated country. Less obviously green were the steam locomotives of the Harzer Schmalspurbahn, but immensely enjoyable on a suitably damp and atmospheric August day on the Brocken. Another high-point was visiting one of the lignite mines and seeing the monster bucket-wheel excavator, and an exhibition including 900mm gauge Bo-Bo-Bo electric (crocodile) locomotives which were apparently the most powerful ever built for lines of that gauge. It is a shame that they were all taken out of service and mostly scrapped when that area of the pit was closed in 1992. There is so much interesting kit about in the World, and most of it won't be seen at Showbus!

Work at the rear-end has halted awaiting a technical solution to the problem of drawing together the loose ends of the gutter moulding so that new holes can be drilled for attachment, but the new trim strips for the emergency exit window are prepared and it is basically ready for tidying-up. At the front, the cab window pan has been fitted beneath the flashing strip and the reinforcing-plate for the indicator attachment has been fitted at the back of the GRP moulding. The beading which covers the joints in the panels in the area are quite complex, so cutting and drilling those has occupied quite a while. The most fiddly part is the postcard-sized panel which matches the width of the GRP window pan with the lower body rib - there is a wide panel which covers the frontmost window pillar behind the cab. Two more bays-worth of lower body panels have been rubbed-down ready for painting, but warmer and drier weather is required for finishing that. Good news from Wigan: Mike Lloyd is busily painting RT1018 with the formula green paint that was matched from SM106 by HMG. What a great endorsement. He is anxious for warm, dry weather too! The driver's seat has also been re-upholstered, so now the squab and back actually match and are not damaged. Not important, but another job ticked off the list.

Paintwork reaches the emergency exit. Photo © J.Wilkins

Progress on the emergency window. Photo © J.Wilkins

A split-shift over the Showbus weekend saw the newly rubbed-down panels in etch-primer and two coats of green undercoat. While the brush was out, the area around the windows on the offside lower saloon was also cleaned up and undercoated carefully. Who knows, if a bit of warmth comes back it may be possible to put some topcoat on and get some windows back in. I think it a profound irony that the white and green primer look suspiciously like NBC livery - what does that tell us? Also rivetted on a bit of beading that was fettled the other weekend, so now the cab area is beginning to look better. I purchased a "barrel-strainer" (aka turnbuckle) in our local builders' hardware store, so experiments were undertaken in pulling the rear gutter moulding into place, quite successfuly, I thought. A present arrived from Dick Turpin, who found NOS emergency door pull-handles at Cobham Open Day - the shiny new chrome is just the ticket, thanks. A mid-week evening surprise for SM106 was a visit from Eddie Knorn, who has helped a great deal over the years in one way or another. After a good nosey around we retired to the Old Ship Inn for a meal, helped down by some real ale from the Conwy Brewery. The first weekend of October was spent at home decorating the new entrance door to our bathroom development, clearly a task of huge importance in terms of domestic harmony. However, Sunday afternoon was spent in making new beading and drilling pilot holes for the emergency exit window panelling. A remarkable discovery was that the n/s gutter stayed more or less in place after the strain was taken off, so I guess it must have stretched into shape - which is brilliant. A bit of rubbing down and primer were applied in the rear blind box, which is almost ready for the internal panel to be re-applied. Altogether a great week!

Since the last update, two sessions have been spent on the emergency exit window area. It is very time-consuming business measuring-out, drilling and countersinking the screw holes in the beading, so the length that runs across beneath the window took up much of a morning. The lower window trim was then cut to length and drilled. Finally, it was necessary to consider the fit of the offside quarter panel, which was taken off a while back as part of the campaign to repair the damage to the lower corner panels. This panel is going to present a bit of a problem, since it appears that I have drilled holes in the side edge which are incompatible with its proper position at the rear. With luck, new holes will not coincide with the old to a serious degree. As that day warmed-up nicely, all of the trim, panel and mouldings were rubbed down, primed and undercoated so on the next visit the whole kit was assembled. Suddenly the rear of a London Country bus was revealed, and it looked very much like the back of a bus should. A chance conversation with Nigel Adams led to the offer of a new 'REVERSING' legend assembly that he had as a spare for the Three Counties Museum Bristol LH (which is ex LCBS BN31). The original from SM106 has almost disintegrated, and the spare from MBS545 is seriously rusty - which suggests that the seal of the rubber gasket was never terribly good, and some improvement is required.

Maurice's refurbished throttle linkage. Photo © J.Wilkins

Paintwork around the emergency window. That's as far as it goes this year. Photo © J.Wilkins

Attention then turned to the front end, and fitting the trim strip which covers the wooden rail above the towing-hatch panel. This is clearly a spare item recovered from SM533, but the curved angle-section is identical and it fitted nicely. It won't be seen, but it's good to know it's there! The wooden filler which runs down the support strut for the lower hinge of the towing-hatch panel was next in line for attention. This had been improvised from a piece of oak, which is certainly tough enough, but wouldn't let go of the lower fixing screw which had then to be cut through with a hacksaw. Drilling the old screw out was an amusing diversion, as was then drilling out the hole and plugging it. Now it is nicely fettled to avoid the damage to the angle of the strut and reinstalled (there has been a shunt and the front bent inwards, stretching the web of the steel angle, which is now too long and buckled where the strut was straightened - should have cut it out and welded it, I suppose). Soon, I shall have to get to grips with those fog-lamp panels....

After re-installing the wooden filler on the nearside towing-hatch strut, a certain amount of thought was applied to the obvious slant to the panel. The hinges of the panel are bolted firmly to the struts, but the securing screws locate in fittings on the front dash. Adjusting the distance between them is therefore not a simple business, and some careful measurement is required to find out exactly what is out of kilter. A determined action has been set in train to fit the windscreen pan, but the first attempt at offering it up under the flashing strip failed because it must fit over the captive studs for the offside mirror. After removing and re-annealing the stip, another attempt was made by inserting the strip under the dome with the pan in-situ, and that was showing distinct promise before I had to pack up and go home (in the dark). Small steps will lead eventually to a solution, I am sure.

A work session with Maurice on the occasion of my birthday weekend saw the re-attachment of the throttle cross-shaft and linkage assembly. That was a really fiddly job, and I am glad it's over. Now, however, the throttle can be advanced without the drooping link fouling the fuel injection pipes, which is a great step forward and the return spring actually returns it! New spacers for the hinge pin on the fuel filler cap are now in hand ready for fitting, and Maurice also set-to with a drill and attached the curved rib ahead of the nearside rear wheel - a job which has been hanging around awaiting more attention to the bodywork in that area. A recent Cook's Tour of Cheshire took me to Routemaster Buses Ltd. near Nantwich, whose collection of vehicles is quite remarkable. The visit was about networking, and the hope of joining an order for Multislat flooring - but I was very pleased and surprised to depart with a gift in the shape of a replacement towing hatch cover that carried a number plate for sibling SM130, which departed life at MA via Booth's of Rotherham in 1980. In case anybody is interested, they are exchangeable between DMS and SM - leading to a strange sight of an EGN J registered Londoner! Yes, I do know that the plate was moved to prevent that sort of event in real life. It was also good to catch up with MBS444 which I saw last in Hitchin a long time back (it seems).