February
until May 2004..... Not a very good start
to our year I afraid, with a suspect head Gasket,
Tyres and a MOT to over come. We had many problems
with the Head Gasket repair, in fact it turned into
a engine rebuild, which caused us loads of spares
availability problems. For those interested I have
added a page which covers the up hill battle we had
as the repairs commenced
[ Suspect Head Gasket...if
only].
May 2004.....The Abertillery District Museum were kind enough to
set up a Jones Exhibit through-out the month
of May. The displayed consisted of Jones photos
past, route maps, uniforms, a ticket machine and
lots more historical items. Also we included some of
our photos, certificates from our Rallies and a
Diary with the names of people we have had the
pleasure of meeting every where we have taken our
Bus. [
The Abertillery District
Museum Jones Exhibit
]
June 12th .....We
travelled up to Abertillery on the Saturday and
attended the Barry Island Transport Rally on the
Sunday. On Monday 14th, we parked the bus in Church
street Abertillery from 9.00am until 11.00am. The
Trophy on the right we won for "Bus travelling the
furthest distance to attend"
July 4th .....The
"Bluebell Railway" Rally. Our first local rally
since getting our bus back from the garage. [
Photo...
]
July 18th .....
We were approached by our Local "Eastbourne Lions
Club" several weeks ago to do a "Free Park &
Ride" for the Chinese Boat Racing Day.
So we
took it on [ Read more...]
July
25th .....The photo below is the
Sunday, we attended
the “Worthing
Bus
Rally” . |
|
After our visit
to the Garage that replaced our Head Gasket, things
have gone from bad to worse. Our first “run out”
after the “repair” was to Barry Island” in June.
That was a total disaster, in so much that we used
175 litres of water to do the journey, and lost the
radiator cap as well. Following a trip back to the
Garage on returning to Eastbourne, we were fobbed
off with the excuse that there was an air lock or
the engine must have a big crack in it to cause the
problem. Also, it would be “uneconomical to repair”
should they look into it any deeper.
Sadly, we took the
Bus away, and thought that this was the end. We
missed the next Rally, which was at North Weald.
That was a very big Show in Essex, ( mainly London
Transport Buses ). We managed to get to the
“Bluebell Railway Bus Rally” which was only 20 miles
away, but the Bus boiled up after about 5 miles, so
that took the shine off things.
August 8th
we struggled to get to the “Lavender
Iine” Bus Rally, which, once again was very close,
but the Bus still boiled up very quickly. The next
Show was at the “New Forest”. We missed this one as
it was 110 miles each way. This was the first time
in 4 years that we had failed to attend. August Bank
Holiday was busy. We did a local “Festival of
Transport” Show at Hellingly which was only 10 miles
away, but still the Bus boiled up.
The Monday, we
“went for broke”. We took the Bus to Gosport, in
Hampshire, just over a hundred miles each way. If it
seized up now, that would be it. The Bus had, had a
good life, so we went for it. As it was, we had
plenty of water on board and it started off a very
cold day. We made plenty of stops for water, and
eventually made it.
September,4th,
we did our first Wedding, that was a very short
driving day, thankfully. It still boiled up ! On
Sunday, 12th September, we decided that
we would do the “Amberley Bus Rally” and then call
it a day. We had done a few Rallies and it was time
to give up and look for a replacement engine,
somehow.
After that last
run, we were approached by an enthusiastic engineer,
again, to look at our Bus. He did offer to look at
it earlier in the year, but the Bus broke down
originally at the Bus Garage that did the work,
while we were there, having an estimate being done
for a replacement Speedo job. So the Bus stayed
there, unable to return.
The engineer,
called John, said that he would look at our Bus
“between jobs” and if it was repairable, he would
attempt it, but don’t expect miracles over night. I
managed to get another Head Gasket, and other bits
and bobs, and left it to him.
September 24th, the
bus was fired up and was a great delight to listen
to. It was so quiet, no water was being pumped out
under pressure through the radiator cap, no water
being squirted into the Bus interior, no overheating
after 20 minutes, BINGO ! At last we had a proper
Bus. This must have been the first time in many
years it had run properly.
We could have
done “Duxford Showbus” that weekend, but decided not
to chance it without giving it a good running in
period first. This was our first time in 5 years
that we had missed “Duxford”, but it was worth it.
Photo of myself standing next
to the Mayor of Worthing, and his Wife. |
