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With the limited number of shows and events this year due to the pandemic, we have steadily chipped away at 1005 in completing the final bits of its restoration. Some elements of the restoration that we haven't noted over the past year have been the renewing of the floor, retrimming of the seats as well as new Fare Box.
The Fare Box is a replica that has been handmade by Arthur who has done a cracking job.
This weekend was eagerly anticipated, a weekend that we were all looking forward too. Back in the summer, Lance Jobson visited the depot to measure up the vinyls we required for the bus. Most of the vinyls would be much the same that were applied to the bus in its previous state, however there were some changes and additional details to be applied.
The most notable change is the cms Carlislebus name. When painted into its anniversary cms livery by Stagecoach back in 2010 for the company's Carlisle Open Day, the bus carried the cms Cumberland name. cms Carlislebus was for a time Cumberland's brand name for the Carlisle city network of services. The nostalgic return of the name, which adored cms buses in Carlisle during the 1970s and 1980s, was an event that we have all been looking forward to seeing.
The fleet number applied to the bus is now 1005, instead of the Stagecoach Group number of 14245. Fleet numbers are now located below the front windscreen too, two of them applied as there were when brand new to Cumberland Motor Services. Our group website address is also applied to the bus where the legal lettering would normally found on a service bus.
Other notable changes since our last update, the Leyland and Alexander badges have been put back on the bus after they were removed for repaint.
Also now in situ are a new set of fog lights. A set were on the bus when new, however due to cost and availability of them the vehicles were retrofitted with another type of fog light over the years. Some of the Olympians during their service life actually had their fog lights completely removed and panelled over.
The bus really is looking the part now, the vinyls complete the look of the bus and emphasis the smart repaint of the vehicle. We must thank Dougie (Stephen Douglas) for applying the vinyls to 1005.
Dougie of course repainted the bus during the spring of this year, we can't thank him enough as the bus is looking, in what is probably, the best it has since it left the factory back in 1988 .
As mentioned above, the vinyls were supplied by Lance Jobson who worked his magic in recreating the cms Carlislebus vinyls, fleet numbers and other decals.
One final addition to the bus is the vinyl above the door. The group have decided to name the bus Arthur, with the lettering visible on the upper red band. The bus has been called Arthur in tribute to Arthur Brown our bodyman who has spent the last few years carrying out much of the work to the bus. From repanelling and body preparation, Arthur has worked tirelessly on the bus to help us achieve the perfect look for 1005.
As we approach the winter, over the next few weeks there is still a list of jobs to do. The next jobs to be completed on the vehicle are the rear lights, applying original badges back to the rear (Leyland, Olympian, Alexander) and also to paint the trims and apply Leyland Hubs.
It was today marked the end of painting the exterior of 1005. Our Olympian is now in the base colours of the cms Carlisle Bus livery, looking superb here sat in the paint shop at Stagecoach Carlisle's Willowholme depot.
With only some minor touching up to do, the only painting jobs to do now is to sand the wheels down and repaint them NBC style grey to freshen them up. The tyres will also see some black paint applied to them.
As seen in the latest photos, the rear bumper needs to be refitted and we will hopefully be sorting the fog lights out this weekend, as well as reinstating the original chrome headlight surrounds and the Leyland/Alexander badges. The Carlisle Bus vinyls and other decals are still to applied.
Looking much more like herself, 1005 sits in the paint shop at Willowholme.
Sleek from the front, and sleek from the back - just the rear bumper and Leyland/Alexander badges to go.
Our thanks go to Stephen Douglas, who has done a cracking job at repainting 1005.
Everyone at Carlisle Bus would like to thank our painter, Stephen Douglas. "Dougie" has been a bus painter for 28 years now, so we all knew that 1005 was in the most capable of hands - 1005 looks fantastic, looking fresh from the factory!
Work will now continue at pace with other minor jobs to finish it off, with updates to follow over the coming weeks. So stay tuned!
The tubs of paint have been open all day at the depot as more 'red' goes into the Carlisle Bus livery on 1005. The repaint is coming along really well, with almost all of the final red gloss now applied to the bodywork.
A further update from the paintshop today, with the red undercoat on 1005 now complete.
The front and rear bumper, plus the front grill are all that is left to undercoat before pull attention can be given to painting the top gloss coat.
With the turn of the weekend, the attention of the Willowholme paintshop was back on 1005, continuing the task of repainting the vehicle into cms Carlisle Bus livery.
The final cream gloss coating has continued to be applied to the cream undercoat on the roof and central horizontal stripe. Our painter, Stephen Douglas, has also made a start on applying the familiar Cumberland Motor Services red to the band between the upper and lower deck windows.
Arthur Brown, who is our bodyman, also took the opportunity to fine-tune some previous minor bodywork preparation before paint is applied.
The glossy texture and shine of the red being applied has completely changed the look feel of the bus when you walk into the paintshop and see it - it is really rewarding to see the livery coming together.
Our bodyman Arthur Brown carries out some final bodywork preparations around the engine door.
Cream and red final gloss coats meet as the repaint of 1005 into cms Carlisle Bus livery continues.
Stephen Douglas, our painter, starts applying the final cream glass coat to the horizontal cream stripe.
With the relaxing of the Covid-19 lockdown, on the evening of Tuesday 12th May our Carlisle Bus Olympian 1005 was moved into the paint shop at Carlisle's Willlowholme depot, to commence its repaint journey into Carlisle Bus livery. Our painter Stephen Douglas, who works in the Stagecoach paint shop, has began with the cream undercoat.
The bus has been in a rubbed down state for a number of months now, longer than anticipated, so it was a welcome site for our group to see fresh paint applied to 1005. The Carlisle Bus decals and graphic will soon be ordered too.
The bodywork repairs have now been completed on 1005, and is ready for repaint in the near future. Tonight, work turned to solving some of the electrical gremlins on the bus.
Saturday was another productive day down at the depot working on the 1005 in readiness for the rally season. The main task of the day was to improve the appearance of the emergency exit door. The result saw the fitting of new formica grey laminate to the bottom half of the door and new checker-plate metal. When the door is closed, the checker-plate safely covers the battery isolator switch under the back seats and provides a 'kick plate' to the bottom door.
Another task of the day was the removal of the floor coverings and more seats have been replaced. Only a couple of seats are left to be re-trimmed.
Two years ago we laid new flooring to the bus and much of it has been hidden away under a plastic protective covering ever since it went down, so to not damage it while we carry out restoration works. With much of the internal refurbishment works now complete on the bus, we removed the protective covering off the floor in the saloon for the very first time, which has given us a real feel of how close the bus is to completion.
Some very minor panel work still to be completed is next on the agenda, before the the bus can go into the paintshop to be repainted back into it's iconic red and cream colours.
Over the weekend of the 8th and 9th February 2020, Storm Ciara hit the North of England. Heavy rainfall from Ciara caused severe disruption, and as a result the Environment Agency issued 186 flood alerts across the UK.
On the Sunday evening, it was announced that Stagecoach Carlisle's depot flood evacuation plan would be put into action for the second time in five years - where all vehicles in the depot would be relocated to areas of higher ground within the city. The evacuation plan was created in the wake of the catastrophic floods of 2005, where many buses were lost due to the flood water.
With Carlisle Bus Leyland Olympian 1005 being stored at the depot, it was necessary to move the vehicle. 1005 and a number of other Stagecoach vehicles undergoing maintenance work were moved to a secure site at the M6's Junction 42 Services. Serviceable Stagecoach vehicles were parked around the city's bus station and Lowther Street. Luckily rising floodwaters did not reach the depot on this occasion.
In 2015, a similar exercise was carried out where 1005 was moved to Penrith depot when Storm Desmond hit. At the time, 1005 was partway through heavy restoration work and had many windows removed, and with the bad weather, 1005 sat out in the rain for much of the storm so required much clean-up work once it returned to a dry depot. The 2015 storm did flood the depot, so evacuation was needed after all.
1005 missing some windows and panels when on transfer to Penrith to escape the flooding of 2015.
The aftermath of unavoidable being stored outside at Penrith depot partway through restoration work.
Due to the extream weather of Storm Desmond in 2015, 1005 suffered quite a downpour internally.
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