Winter is never a good time for bus restoration - at least if you do not occupy a heated and lighted space - but at least the weather has been significantly drier and more amenable than in some recent years, so the groundworks for the shed continued steadily, with the front apron laid, the roadway lined out and associated landscaping largely completed by late February. Work on the bus has been only minor. Purchasing a sheet of self-adhesive foam rubber sheet was a step forward, and a new gasket cut out to bed the lenses into the nearside indicator casting, which just needs a new bulb to complete. I have to thank my father Maurice for recovering indicator castings and (critically) the short piece of aluminium extrusion which locks the lenses in place. Most of the castings were missing this obscure part, so I feel very fortunate that it did not turn out to be another intractable hurdle to overcome.

The nearside indicator casting in its cuddle-pack Photo © J.Wilkins

The driving mirror with its new glass Photo © J.Wilkins

A chance email conversation with Mike Lloyd of RT1018 and the Friends (of Classic London Buses of the Fifties, which the SM is not) led to a surprise and essentially unplanned attendance at the Spring running day of the North West Museum of Motor Transport at St.Helens. I have to say that I enjoyed immensely a couple of runs around town on Salford 109, an AEC Reliance that last carried passengers 38 years ago. Sitting over an AH505 engine with a competent and enthusiastic driver in charge was a fine start to a year of bus preservation endeavour. Mike made me a very welcome gift of a bona-fide SM driver's mirror which he reckoned was recovered during the clearance of Windsor garage. It was also a fine opportunity to be re-acquainted with RT1018 herself during a backstage tour of the workshop bays. The last time we met was at Stevenage Garage in 1981, the occasion of my wife and I sharing a seat on an RT for the first time, though we had enjoyed a fine run on a Green Line RF from London to Windsor and a return journey to Weston (383) on a Superbus SM in the mid seventies - does that make me feel old? A new reflector glass was soon purchased through the good offices of Carlyle Bus & Coach (42-251, 8x5 inch convex) for a remarkably small sum, though the associated enquiry after a white moulded rubber step nosing for the interior saloon step was less successful. Ever friendly, Gary assured me that he was doing his best to obtain stock once a critical level of orders built up. Anyway, back to the mirror, which detailed examination of old pictures showed was of a unique pattern, and different to that on the Merlins which was the same as RT and RF vintage, although they are carried on the same bracket. Finding such a mirror casting was something that had worried me a little in the past, while striving for authenticity. Pink primer and red finish of the main parts soon turned green.

The long-awaited move to the new garage suddenly came to a climax the day before the Llandudno Transport Festival. After a site visit by Anthony from Llew Jones International (operators of our local no.19 routes and coaches national and international) to look at the bus and its position in the Trefriw garage, a day was chosen for the move and at long last the game was on! The first, and most troublesome job was to open the garage doors wide enough for the bus to emerge. Obviously the first attempt was just a trial run, but it took nearly two hours to open and then shut the two sliding doors, which have not been exercised properly for 9 years since we moved in. I was amazed when I realised that it was so long. The problem, basically, is that the doors no longer hang from the runners properly, but drag on the ground, though I am not sure why unless the supporting beam has sunk over the years. Luckily, when the big day (or early evening in fact) came the freshly exercised doors gave in much more easily. The unit from the rig was definitely too high to enter the garage, so the next task was to drag the bus into the daylight so that she could be put on a bar for a short transit to a quiet, straight and level spot for loading. Setting the steering and moving a metre at a time proved to be highly successful, with my Clio providing the small impulse necessary to make each leg of the short journey. In fact, it was soon found that in the garage entrance the floor sloped enough for gravity to do the trick, and it was only necessary to use the stop-block to arrest the bus intermittently as she rolled down to the threshold. It was an extraordinary sight to see her out in daylight again.

Clio pulls it off! Photo © J.Wilkins

Awaiting the serious muscle machine Photo © J.Wilkins

While this drama was unfolding, the trailer was dropped off on Gower Road, and the muscle machine came back to pick up SM106 on a bar for the short transit over the bridge in the village. Winching her onto the trailer seemed to take an age, but before long she was strapped-down and ready for the run via Tal-y-cafn to Llanrwst.

Winching onto the trailer.... Photo © J.Wilkins

....and pushing back onto the main road. Photo © J.Wilkins

Once she was under way, I drove over to Llanrwst to open the door of the new garage and make sure there was no heap of building supplies in the way. It seemed to take a long time but eventually a faint beeping noise could be heard as the rig was reversed along the road and straight to the apron outside. SM106 was then run down the ramp under gravity and deposited INSIDE the garage without further ado. Everybody breathed a sigh of relief at a flawless operation and the door was quickly closed against prying eyes. I have to congratulate Llew Jones on a very smooth job, which took less than 2½ hours in total.

Home sweet home Photo © J.Wilkins

After a good night's sleep it was time to party at the Llandudno Transport Festival, where I was very pleased to have a go in ex London Transport Leyland Titan T122. which saw a spell of duty in Liverpool and is now preserved in MTL livery at the Northwest Vehicle Restoration Trust. The rest of the Bank Holiday weekend passed in a blur, with a fine collection of buses and coaches to marshall and 219 passenger-carrying trips in and around Llandudno operated successfully. What larks, eh?

Classic pose for banter over the bonnet of an RM. © Rachel