Fleetline 1537

On the 28 of may 2007 Myself and James Duncan travelled to Wilbys yard in Broughton, North Lincolnshire to view former Midland Scottish Daimler Fleetline LMS169W. Our intention, if she was fit and roadworthy, was to drive her home to Scotland despite a head gasket fault causing her to overheat.

Upon inspection we made the decision to take her home. After loading up with water and fueling up in Brigg we began our long and arduous trip home.

 

We weren't far out of Brigg heading for Barnetby and the A15 when i noticed the water temperature starting to creep up and enough steam at the rear to put an A4 pacific locomotive to shame! Oops, should've paid more attention!

We quickly found a layby and shut her down then opened the water cap to a Vesuvian eruption of water! Just as well we were prepared.

This was to become our point of no return. we had to decide wether to turn back now or carry on. Any sensible person would have turned back however we were far from sensible and came to the conclusion that as neither of us had to be anywhere particular that week we'd carry on, neither of us really contemplating the enormous journey ahead!

Our second pit stop came in the form of the services at the junction of the M180 and the A15 where we rather sensibly decided to have a long stop to let the engine cool off and fill up 1 of 3 25 gallon water drums we had , which was emptied at the previous pit stop. we also decided that as neither of us had eaten since breakfast (although had drunk much free tea thanks to traveling first class with GNER) we'd take advantage and visit Little Chef.

We ordered our food and to our delight came the biggest (and tastiest) 2 burgers we've ever seen!

With us refueled and the bus cooled down we set off. Our new goal being the Humber Bridge.

After 1 or 2 brief pit stops we arrived at the Humber Bridge. We decided that as we had quite a climb to get up the bridge we'd take another breather and found a layby just before the bridge. We spent about 20 minutes here before tackling the bridge. Roadworks meant we were down to one lane and had a tailback of many not so happy motorists chugging across the bridge at about 15 mph through to the Tollbooth where we became £11 lighter for the privilege!

With Hulls evening peak looming we stopped just after the bridge to wait out the heavy traffic, also taking the opportunity to take on supplies and provisions. 

Just after 6pm we decided things had quietened enough for us to make a break for York. our route now took us over the A164 then the A1079 which we would remain on until York.

We had a fairly uneventful journey to York stopping regularly to allow the engine to cool and top up with water also allowing built up traffic to pass us. Things were going well and we anticipated an early morning arrival in Edinburgh just before the morning peak. However things rarely go to plan!

York was reached at around 8pm and we headed through the city and round the inner ring road to reach the A19. This was to be our road all the way to Newcastle passing through Northallerton and Teeside enroute.

Travelling the A19 was an extremely daunting task! Following our progress at home was an extremely enthusiastic David Webster who kept our spirits up and reminded us we were not alone.

It was extremely wet outside and with no demisters the journey through Teeside slow, cold and very tiring. At around 4am we were a stones throw from Newcastle. With pit stops now coming less than every 5 minutes now, we decided to stop for breakfast and found our way into Washington services on the A1(M). We parked up just after 5am and headed across the bridge to the main part of the services. Almost turning blue from the cold, we opened the door at the end of the bridge and nearly melted in the amazing blast of heat that welcomed us. we went to the food hall and discovered we were a little too early for breakfast so we took a seat and waited for 6am.

At 9.30am i was kicked and told to wake up, apparently we weren't allowed to sleep there but the staff allowed us too until there boss turned up, many thanks to them, it was the best 4 hours sleep i'd had in years!

After an amazing breakfast it was time again to hit the road. We left at about 10.30am, the Newcastle peak very much still in full swing as we headed round the A1 towards the Airport and the north. 

Due to the slight technicality of spending an unscheduled 5 hours in Newcastle, we lost sight of our original goal to be in the Edinburgh conurbation before the morning peak much to the dismay of our intrepid tracker David Webster who had been having kittens because our roll and sausage was on the table and he had lost contact at around 4am! Not only that but we agreed it would be unlikely we'd get there by the evening peak!!! It was indeed a long, slow and in all honesty boring trip up the A1 peppered with plenty of pit stops including a scenic stop after berwick where we had a longer rest and tucked into our remaining supplies whilst taking in the sea breeze.

The next part of the journey was perhaps the most daunting, at an average speed of 15 - 20 MPH and a stop at just about every layby and bus stop enroute to allow traffic pass.

At last we made it to dual carriageway which signalled for us the approach to Edinburgh and meant the hardest part of the journey was over, we had turned the page and were now heading west for the first time in our journey. It had been clearly evident for some time that there was no way we would make Beith at a reasonable, time even if we could arrange for someone to open up for us, there was no way we could give an accurate arrival time! Thus plan B had to be devised and quickly (i didn't fancy another night in the cold!). A quick call was made and overnight parking was arranged at a friends farm in Cumbernauld, convenient as it was within 2 miles of both our homes and my lovely warm bed which i so craved!).

Fast approaching Edinburgh (well ok, slowly approaching Edinburgh) we were greeted by a welcoming party formed of our long suffering and extremely enthusiastic navigator David Webster and his father. They gave us a guide into Dalkeith where our (cold?) rolls and sausage were still waiting! Unfortunately as time was not on our side (around 8pm) we had to forego Davids fantastic hospitality in favour of a sausage supper oot the chippie! No sooner had we had our chips than it was time to say goodbye to David, his dad, and Dalkieth and with a roar that the town hasn't heard in many a year we were gone, off to that most fabulous of roads the Edinburgh City bypass! 

Or so it should have been!!! 

After a reasonably quiet trouble free journey via the A720 and the M9 we decided on finishing the journey by taking 1537 past her birthplace in Camelon, Falkirk. Things went fine with plenty water stops, a trip via Falkirk bus station, Alexanders, Bonnybridge and Allandale saw us near the finishing post at Old Inns petrol station, Cumbernauld. We stopped here to top up our water supplies as we still had to go to Abronhill via Croy station to pick up James's car and didn't want to take the risk of being caught short. Then disaster struck!

I glanced down at the dash panel and noticed the air pressure warning light had come on. No problem, she's just lost some through heavy braking i thought? Wrong!!! After revving and revving and revving the needle never rose. we were in trouble and had to make it the last mile to the farm without using any air. This involved negotiating some steep hills and a single track road, however we made it and managed to reverse into the farm parking area just as the last gasp of air bled from the tanks. Extremely relieved we shut her down and called a taxi to take us home, the time being after 11pm we were well ready for bed and slept well and long knowing that 1537 would definitely not be going to Beith the following day!

Our journey time from start to finish had been approximately 34 hours from Broughton, Scunthorpe to Cumbernauld giving an average speed of about 9 MPH!

Our stay at Cumbernauld was now to be somewhat extended, thanks to the farm owner i was able to stave off an expensive tow for a while at least. i had been given a reprieve until the weekend to get 1537 fixed and on her way. The loss of air pressure was quickly traced to the air condenser and we, well James, made an attempt to fix it (i was too, ahem, tall lying down to get under!). It wasn't long until we declared ourselves beat, and called in the expert.

David Webster came to my rescue on the saturday and done a fantastic job, stripping the condenser, fixing the problem and putting it all back together in about 10 minutes! We fired her up and all was well, the air pressure built up and we were running again, a quick test run round Abronhill would prove things were fine.

Unfortunately it was not meant to be. A quick stop to check the water revealed we had some red fluid flowing from the engine compartment! We raced back to the farm hopeful of arriving before she ran out of steam (deja vu). On inspection it turned out to be the power steering reservoir. A connecting pipe had become dislodged and was patched up by hero of the day, David. Another test trip ensued and a trip to the petrol station to buy some automatic transmission fluid for the reservoir.

Another day over and we were finally ready to go, the day of departure would be the following Friday.

On thursday the 7th of June in preparation for Fridays trip to Beith, i took 1537 to Old Inns petrol station to top up the fuel. It gave me an oppurtunity to make sure the repairs of the previous week were holding up fine, which of course they did. The last job then was back to the farm and fill up the 3 water containers for Fridays journey. Back at the farm i was pleased to be able to tell the owner the bus would be away first thing in the morning.