As the year draws to an end it is time to start to think about 2023 and where we want to go within the year with our end goal in sight.
In the first few months, we aim to have the engine up and running again giving us a chance to use the vehicle and put it further through its paces, They are no reason once the fuel system is sorted that the vehicle won’t operate and be perfect, Well we say perfect it will still have the few bugs that we want to iron out.
Fast forwarding through to the jobs that we want to do and those that we need to do. The big job of 2023 is the floor. This is something that isn’t urgent yet but it is something that is in need of doing the floor is strong but in some places, it is going a little soft. We are talking through floor and wood that has more than likely been there since day 1 of the bus being built.
One of our aims for 2023 is to update our route library as we have reuploaded the older videos to Youtube it is clear that sadly some have been lost or were never filmed again once the route had been updated the 250 Manchester Piccadilly to Trafford centre is a prime example of this as we have before the Metrolink was built but not after when the route was changed. We know that many used to watch and enjoy these types of videos and it has been a great shame that we have not been able to do them over the previous years due to many different factors. We hope in 2023 with some good support from you we will be able to resume the filming of the routes and bring you more Point of view route videos with the full cab view returning which more of you enjoyed than the dash view.
Another thing that we as a group and company have been discussing is the way that we want to store our tools and spare parts, Currently, everything is stored in the bus at the yard which is secure however it means the bus often ends up looking like a portable shed which is something we want to avoid when we are working so hard to restore it and keep the inside clean for you and other to enjoy when we take it to shows. So what we have come up with is we are wanting to find a cheap van of some kind large enough to make a small workshop and storage which should work out cheaper to store and more convenient than renting a lock-up from the Storage place we are at with the current storage price at £144 every 4 weeks. When we went back to the storage place we did ask about a small workshop under the arches of the railway and the price instantly made it a non-viable option with them wanting around £100 per week + vat for a unit which also would be a good walk from where the bus would be parked, with the idea of the van we are able to park the van behind or next to the bus meaning that everything is kept together there is also a good call for this as it would mean we are happier to travel further with the bus as we would be able to follow the bus in the van as a Fleet support vehicle with all our tools and spare in giving us every chance to fix most problems we would face and if we couldn’t we would have a vehicle that we could go and get a part to fix the problem so it would seem a good call however at this moment in time unless someone would want to donate an old van to us that we could either do up or repair than the prices are just too far out of our budget with the repairs that are happening to the bus.