ACQUISITION OF GRATER MANCHESTER'S LAST FLEETLINE 6990 (DWH 706W) AND THE LAST VEHICLE DELIVERED TO LUT

Our objectives to obtain Greater Manchester's last Fleetline were that although LUT was purchased by GM Transport Ltd on 1st January 1976, it was not incorporated into the fleet until 1st April 1981. However, in the knowledge that this would one day take place, the later deliveries of rear engined vehicles to LUT were built to the identical specification of the more conventional GMT Standard.

In all, there were 90 vehicles so delivered as LUT 485-529/542/570-613 between 1977 and 1980. We were in negotiations to acquire the first LUT Standard, 6901 to return to its original red/grey condition, when we also considered the subject of trying to decide whether it would be a worthwhile objective to try to preserve Greater Manchester's last, not only Standard Fleetline, but the last Fleetline of all time, following on from the first delivered to LUT 97 (561 TD) and Manchester 4590 (4590 NE) in 1962.

In this exercise, we had to consider which vehicle would warrant the description of the last Greater Manchester Fleetline. The last of the GMT batch of Fleetlines, 8001-8150 was 8150 (4150 - MNC 493W) on 22nd August 1980. However, this was delivered in advance of the last of the LUT batch of Fleetlines, 6990, which was delivered on 1st January 1981. LUT was not incorporated into Greater Manchester Transport until 1st April 1981, but it can now be said that 6990 is, in fact, the last Greater Manchester Fleetline of all time.

Clearly, therefore, when considering preserving the last Fleetline it would have to be 6990. We made contact with Greater Manchester Buses North Ltd (trading as First Manchester) with regard to this vehicle, and they acknowledged our interest in it, being Greater Manchester's last Fleetline.

Indeed, of the 90 Leyland Fleetlines delivered to LUT to GMT Standard specifications, the first 30 (LUT Numbers 485-514) subsequently re-numbered in the GMT series 6901-6930, were delivered in LUT red and grey colours. The remaining 60 (LUT Numbers 515-529/542/570-613) were delivered in a special orange/ white/orange livery with a wavy GMT 'M' symbol but Fleet name Lancashire United Transport and were numbered eventually on incorporation to GMT as 6931-6990. This special orange/white/orange livery was similar as that applied to GMT Leyland Titan B15's - 4001-4015 and the majority of the Metrobuses starting as 5001.

6990 (LUT 613) was also significant in that as well as being Greater Manchester's last Fleetline and a 'book-end' to the preserved 1962 Fleetline 561TD, it is also the very last vehicle delivered new to Lancashire United Transport on 1st January 1981 prior to its absorption into the GMT Fleet on 1st April 1981.

In the article about the end of the West Midlands Fleetlines in the January 1998 edition of Buses Magazine, they indicated that West Midlands had a total of 2,292 Fleetlines in respect of those inherited and those ordered by the West Midlands PTE, of which 840 were their 'Standard Fleetline'. Our research has indicated that SELNEC/GMPTE operated a total of 1,282 Fleetlines from inherited fleets or ordered specifically for them, of which 14 where single deck and 605 were Standard Fleetlines, being EX7-EX21, 7151-7500, 8001-8150 and 6901-6990.

A total list of Fleetlines as inherited by SELNEC/GMPTE or ordered by them, appears below:

We had confirmation from First Manchester in February 1998 that when 6990 became available, we would be contacted, which we were, by letter of 7th December 1998. The bus had been taken out of service due to a minor cylinder-head gasket problem which was affecting the heating system. Quite understandably, in the cold weather, drivers were reluctant to take it out on service with no heating. Because a batch of new Volvo Olympians had arrived, it was decided that the bus would not be repaired, and arrangements were made for us to acquire it, which we did on Friday, 11th December 1998, when we received all appropriate paperwork.

We then visited Bolton Depot on Sunday, 13th December 1998, to collect 6990 to take it to our storage premises in Wigan. It was taxed until 31st December 1998, and MOTed until February 1999, so we just needed to put it on our insurance for the day, to drive it to Wigan. During the trip, we kept stopping to keep the water topped-up due to the low water and high water temperature warning lights coming on and going off.

6990 was initially parked up next to EX19 which made an interesting comparison being the earliest existing Standard Fleetline from 1972 (EX19) and Greater Manchester's last Fleetline from 1981 (6990), both with Northern Counties bodywork, it was moved into Leigh during the summer of 2000.

The first co-ordinated body set up as a result of the Transport Act 1968, was SELNEC PTE from 1st November 1969, this became GMT from 1st April 1974 and GM Buses from 26th October 1986 which then became split into two companies due to Conservative Government pressure on 1st April 1994, into GM Buses North Ltd and GM Buses South Ltd.

These Companies subsequently became First Manchester and Stagecoach Manchester respectively.

Whereas Stagecoach Manchester disposed of all the remaining Fleetlines, and indeed their Atlanteans some years ago, the same was not true of the North part of the Company. In terms of Fleetlines, they had a number operating, being ex-GMT vehicles in the batch 8001-8150, and the ex-LUT batch 6901-6990, and had indicated they might consider a last Fleetline running day late in 1999 when the last Fleetlines were scheduled to come out of service.

However, as often happens in operational matters, decisions change and priorities alter. However, despite the withdrawal of 6990 and our acquisition of it on 11th December 1998, we had still anticipated that First Manchester would run Fleetlines until late 1999.

However, the number of Fleetlines had been dwindling towards the end of 1998 and we were then informed on Wednesday 6th January 1999, that the following day, Thursday 7th January 1999 would be the last Fleetline running day, which is what happened, and all operational running vehicles transferred after that date to First Calderdale in Yorkshire.

We were very kindly contacted by the local management at First Manchester's Depot in Bolton, who were the last operators of the Fleetlines, to indicate that they still had in their yard, two Fleetlines, 6982 and 6989, the first being in Manchester Red colours and the second in ex-GMB colours, both ready to be sent to the Scrap Yard, being their last two Fleetlines.

They were obviously aware of our requirement in general for spare parts for our ex-SELNEC/GMT Standard vehicles and in particular, our requirement to service our more recently acquired vehicles, especially EX19, 7501 and, of course, 6990.

Consequently, we were given an excellent opportunity to acquire spare parts to restore our SELNEC/GMT Standards in general and 6990 in particular, by being invited to First Manchester Depot in Bolton on Saturday, 16th January 1999 to remove all parts we need for immediate and long-term preservation from these two scrapped vehicles, 6982 and 6989. Our appreciation to First Manchester has been recorded, for their understanding on a practical level of the difficulties we face in preservation.

It is sad to note that 7th January 1999 was, in fact, the last day of Fleetline operation in Greater Manchester by those organisations reflecting co-ordinated operation of transport operations throughout the area after 37 years.

[ Back ] [ Up ] [ Next ]