THE ACQUISITION OF THE FIRST OF ONLY 34 DENNIS DOMINOS, AND THE 1984 COMMERCIAL VEHICLE MOTOR SHOW EXHIBIT 1751 (C751 YBA)

Rail travel in Manchester suffered from the problem that for many years Piccadilly Station serviced the south of the Country, and after the closure of Central Station, Victoria Station serviced the north of the Country with no crossover.

Because of this difficulty, in 1972, the then SELNEC PTE commissioned the building of 43 Minibuses to operate a shuttle service between Manchester Piccadilly and Victoria Stations. This operated very successfully for a number of years with the Seddon Minibuses which were built mainly for this purpose, being 1700-1742, of which the SELNEC Preservation Society has acquired three very relevant examples for preservation, 1700,1711 and 1735.

These vehicles needed to be replaced, and in 1984, by collaboration between Dennis and Northern Counties, an entirely new Minibus was produced, being the Dennis Domino which was a cut-down version of the Dennis Dominator chassis. Only 34 were built, with 20 for Greater Manchester with special bespoke Northern Counties B24F/standee bodywork, 1751 - 1770 (C751 YBA - C770 YBA) and 14 for South Yorkshire, bodied by Optare, with B33F bodywork 41 - 54 (C41 HDT - C44 HDT/B45 FET/C46 HDT - C54 HDT).

The very first chassis became 1751 (SDA 1201/101) then seven were built for South Yorkshire (SDA 1202/102 - 108) followed by eleven for Grater Manchester 1751 - 1762 (SDA 1201/109 - 119), then another seven for South Yorkshire (SDA 1202/120 - 126) and finally eight for GMT 1763 - 1770 (SDA 1201/127 - 134).

They have Perkins 6.354 engines, Maxwell 4-speed automatic gearboxes, and ZF power steering. 1751, the first of the Dominos, was completed almost in time for the Commercial Vehicle Motor Show in October 1984, with the registration number 'Midi 85'. In actual fact, the body and chassis were complete but the chassis lacked an engine and gearbox.

The Domino is 25' 2" long and 7' 6" wide. The body has a welded tubular steel frame and square-cornered side windows which are bonded to the structure rather than being held in place by rubber gaskets.

A new Centreline livery was devised with white for the main side panels, orange for the roof and a brown and orange striped skirt. The showbus, 1751, also featured orange hand rails and seat frames, although subsequent bodies, 1752-1770, used conventional polished steel.

The destination display is set behind the windscreen, there are 24 seats and a large luggage pen over the nearside front wheel arch. The other wheel arches have inward-facing seats for three passengers each whilst the forward-facing seats are arranged in two-plus-one fashion, to give space for up to 14 standees, giving a maximum load of 38.

Before the tenth vehicle (1760) was delivered, it spent some time in London on trials in Red livery, in the hope of large orders for Dennis and Northern Counties, which never transpired. Eventually, years later, Dennis were successful in the Midi bus market with the Dart that succeeded the Domino, which unfortunately, failed to attract large orders.

In all, these 20 vehicles were delivered to GMT and operated on the shuttle service between Piccadilly and Victoria, for a number of years. However, because of the introduction of the Metrolink Tram System, effectively bridging the South with the North, this service and hence these buses became surplus. During their operating life, four of them through fire and damage, were scrapped, being 1759, 1765, 1767 and 1770.

A few of them operated on other services, but they never found favour in any other setting, except the one for which they were designed, being the Pic-Vic Commuter service during the week and shopping services at the weekends, and hence, they were put in storage at GM Buses South Ltd. for a number of years, and this problem was inherited by Stagecoach Manchester. Although these vehicles were Midi Buses, they had a very high purchase value, and thus, a high Net Book value, and remained in storage for some time.

The SELNEC Preservation Society had expressed the view to Stagecoach Manchester that it would seem very appropriate for us to preserve one of these vehicles, as we are always trying to obtain examples of Design and Development arising our of co-ordinated Transport Policy in the Greater Manchester area, following the formation of the SELNEC PTE on 1st November 1969. These vehicles are a bespoke example of a particular Transport requirement in the Greater Manchester area, and seemed an ideal candidate for preservation.

Originally, because of the high cost of these vehicles and the fact that depreciation had not reduced the Net Book value significantly, they were available at the cost of £10,000 each when we originally enquired about 1751, as confirmed by Stagecoach Magazine on 6th November 1997.

However, all 16 vehicles, except the four that had previously gone for scrap, 1759, 1765, 1767 and 1770, remained in storage and it was apparent that a buyer would not be found. Consequently, a decision was taken by Stagecoach Manchester to write them off, and a deal was done with Whitings to buy all 16 for £8,000, i.e. £500 each.

Mr L B Warneford the Managing Director of Stagecoach Manchester had promised to write to us when these buses were to be disposed of, and true to his word, they wrote to us on 2nd September 1998, indicating that if we were still interested in 1751 (which naturally we were) having seen it and photographed it on our Tour on 23rd May 1998, then we could purchase it for the scrap value of £500. Unfortunately, the letter arrived just as one of our Trustees went away, and by the time it was realised that the vehicle was available for sale, it was 14th September 1998, by which time, all but 1751 had been towed to the Scrap Yard.

Frantic efforts then took place in the next few days, to ensure we raised the funds and purchased 1751, which we did. We were told later that in fact 1751 had been hooked up to a Tow Wagon and was nearly taken to the Scrap Yard, to be dismantled with the other 15, and would have suffered that fate (in the absence of any response to the letter of 2nd September 1998) had it not been for the fortuitous intervention of staff at Bennett Street/Hyde Road who had the vehicle unhooked, as they were aware of our preservation efforts and were sure we would be in contact in due course, which, of course, we were.

By 13th September 1998, 12 of the 15 vehicles taken to the scrap yard had been entirely cut up by Whitings as they had pre-sold the engines, but we managed to arrange for one of our Trustees to visit their Yard on Friday, 18th September 1998, the day designated for the last three to be cut up. He managed to obtain a series of parts from the three vehicles left there, which were being cut up that day, being 1752, 1753 and 1756.

From them, he managed to obtain a front panel, two front corner panels, winding and destination gear, a complete dashboard, a series of electrical fittings from the cab, and seating units and cushions. On the three buses in question, none of the rear corner panels were intact, but fortunately, a couple of these were found in the Yard, including one from 1763.

Subsequently, on visiting 1751 at Bennett Street on 20th September 1998, and putting batteries in the bus, we managed to start it and build-up the air, which takes some time because the vehicle has air suspension as well as other auxiliaries. Inevitably, we found a few faults that needed to be rectified, a hinge taken off the driver's door, air door staying open, cushions missing, etc. and we had to replace most of the circuit breakers and fuses, which we were able to do in the cab area from those obtained at the Scrap Yard on 18th September 1998.

However, there were two issues of concern to us, firstly the bus was not charging the batteries and most importantly, it would not drive in any of the gears, despite the air having been built up and the bus having only done 38,000 miles in service. Consequently, because we wished to drive the vehicle under its own power to our premises rather than having it towed (which facility was kindly offered to us by Stagecoach Manchester) we contacted Dennis Specialist Vehicles on 12th October 1998, as we were sure they would be interested in the fact that we hoped to preserve one of their very rare Domino experimental vehicles, and they did indeed assist.

Their Customer Services Manager arranged for a local Dennis Engineer to examine the vehicle, which he did in mid-November 1998. He indicated that the main problems were the need to fit a new alternator, the EP Unit needed some attention, and sections of wiring in the engine compartment needed to be replaced.

With assistance from Stagecoach Manchester, 1751 was towed on to Hyde Road pits on Tuesday, 1st December 1998 and two Engineers from Dennis set about rectifying the main problems during that day. We were therefore in a position to collect the bus later that day from Hyde Road and then drive it (for the first time) that evening. We parked it up at Bennett Street Yard, and on Saturday, 5th December 1998 collected it and drove it to storage premises in Wigan, and we are very much indebted to Stagecoach Manchester and Dennis Specialist Vehicles for all their help.

GMT Dennis Domino Liveries

We have been in contact with the previous owner of 53 (C53 HDT), the preserved example of one of the 14 South Yorkshire Dominos, and have been provided with the current status of these vehicles.

Numbers 41 and 46 were with Pioneer of Rochdale, which was absorbed into First Manchester, interestingly giving what was GM Buses North Ltd the Dominos they did not inherit at the split of GM Buses on 1st April 1994 when the 20 Northern Counties bodied Dominos were to remain in the South. We understand that 41 may have been re-engined but both have now been sold by First Manchester to the new owner of No 53 - taking the total to three preserved examples of this batch of 14 buses.

We are told that 42 is down a ditch at Alton Towers and appears as part of the new Nemesis ride and consequently is likely to be in that position for many years to come. 43-45/47-51 are scrapped, 52 is with Michael Frank Coaches in Sunderland and 54 scrapped. Therefore, out of the 14 South Yorkshire Dennis Dominos bodied by Optare, five still remain in existence.

1751 was secured from Stagecoach Manchester in September 1998 and initially some work was undertaken on it by engineers from Dennis Vehicles, in order that it was in a condition to be driven from their Bennett Street yard to our premises in Wigan in December 1998. Thereafter the vehicle spent a two week period at the Dennis Customer Service Centre in Durham, during August 1999, where it was substantially serviced and rectified in order to pass, as it did, a Class 5 MOT to take part in the Trans Lancs Historic Vehicle Rally from the Museum of Transport to Heaton Park, on 5th September 1999, and it features on the video of this event along with 1066, 7185, 7206 and 6990.

Unfortunately, however, shortly after the rally it developed a fluid leak which was eventually tracked down to the power steering fluid system, and when time allowed during a busy schedule in 2000 arrangements were made for engineers from the Wigan facility of Dennis Customer Vehicles to visit our premises in Wigan to examine the vehicle.

On 13th October 2000 they identified that there was a problem with the seals on the power steering fluid unit and consequently rectified the power steering fluid system by replacing the necessary parts, therefore restoring the vehicle to a fully mobile condition. The bus remains in Greater Manchester Buses South livery, however, as indicated in the news section of this newsletter, in terms of future projects it is possible that it may be restored to its original GMT Centreline Domino 1985 Motor Show condition in 2003.

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