As I said in my last post, the last Mercedes Benz O305 delivered new to Kingsgrove has been secured - 3069, it's popped an air bag which needs to be sorted soon, however being a 1987 chassis, I'm not going to put it on full rego and it is not eligible for HCRS until 2017 - so with it, the emphasis is keeping it maintained while it is laid up (I learned a few things with 2413 that I don't want to repeat), the school lights will stay on until I start the restoration, just a matter of treating surface rust and giving it a clean.
If you're a follower of this blog, you'll know I like to give some background on my vehicles - I did not do that with 3069 ay back in 2011, so I will make amends.
3069 was delivered new to Kingsgrove in August of 1987, served at Kingsgrove until April 1995 when (fittingly) it was the last mkIV O305 transferred out of Kingsgrove to make way for the CNG powered Scania L113 buses, 3069 was transferred to Waverley where the bus served until it was withdrawn in July 2011 - it missed out on the mid 2000's refurbishment program so really, the stretch panels will need replacing, the last big dose of attention it received would have been it's corporate repaint in the late 90's. Mechanically, 3069 is probably the strongest of the O305's in my fleet with a reconditioned engine and transmission, 1930 and 2413's both are somewhat worn
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| Greame Knappick |
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| Graeme Knappick |
February 2009 at Bondi Junction
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| David Wilson |
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| Graeme Knappick |
3069 just before withdrawal in June 2011
Mid last year another vehicle joined the fold - 3037, it was a Burwood bus all it's life until Burwood became a 100% Volvo depot with the opening of the new Leichhardt depot at the end of 2009. This bus had built up somewhat of a cult following amongst the bus nuts - it had received a refurbishment in 2006, then a rebuilt motor and transmission - however back in the 1990's at Burwood, it somehow ended up with a high speed differential meaning it could get to about 105km/h - a far cry from the 80km/h that most government Mercedes Benz O305's can usually attain. Also given the extra 'legs' the hubs howl on it like no other O305 I can think of. Here is one fan's video of 'the beast' in action before it was withdrawn
For a while there was talk of one person wanting to buy it, then another and back to another, ultimately, it sat on the withdrawn bus roads at Leichhardt for 2 months and I sounded the two people out, I had the funds, I purchased it, better to save it than for it to goto scrap like another MkIV Merc, 2930.
However, I did not want to have 2 MkIV's so I sold two other shares in the bus, one to RC and another party. The loose plan seems to be keep it registered on full private rego - easier when the cost is split 2 other ways, one day it will go back to original MkIV livery, will I be involved then? Not sure, however the vehicles I own outright always take precedence.
Then a few months later, State Transit started to list vehicles with auction companies, me being ever the parts hoarder, thought, yes, get one, rip it to bits for 3037 and 3069 - I ended up buying the most original late MkIV probably still in existence - 3026, and have regretted buying it, since I don't have the heart to part it out
Now it seems someone at State Transit wants me to buy one bus a year! in 2011 it was 3069, 2012- 3037, now in 2013, after thinking "should be a couple of years until the 5...." they start withdrawing early Mercedes Benz O405's - MkV's, now, in case you did not know, these were the buses that got me interested in buses as a kid, between the ages of 8 and 12, more of them appeared, they were loud, they looked more modern than their O305 predecessors.
Here's a video of 3096 (I got 3092) they were both new to Kingsgrove and both went to Newcastle and came back to Sydney to be based at Waverley.
A long time ago I found out that the first O405 delivered to Kingsgrove was 3092, it was delivered in the MkV style livery - the bus straight after it, 3093 was delivered in the Bi Centennial livery that about twenty buses were delivered in, as much as I liked the livery as a kid and still do, I know it would take alot of time and money to get the signage just right
Word came to me that 3092 had got the chop, so off to Leichhardt for a test drive. I probably had not ridden it since I was a kid, however it went very well, even the mechanic doing the driving for me commented "it's got balls". Needless to say, as soon as the tax invoice came through, I paid it and it got transferred up to Oakville.
3092's history, delivered new to Kingsgrove in January of 1988, it was however nominally it was assigned to Tempe depot until Tempe's closure as a bus depot in 1992. Then it was sent to PMC at Revesby to be painted into corporate livery in July 1994. After that - my theory is - it was sent to Newcastle - I don't recall seeing MkV's in the original corporate livery around Kingsgrove, I saw plenty of Burwood MkV's in that livery (some of the earliest repainted buses were Burwood based).
The O405's and MkIII and MkIV O305's were pushed out of Kingsgrove by the 100 CNG powered Scania L113's, from the mid 90's until 2413's withdrawal in 2007, Kingsgrove's fleet was made up of those Scania high floor buses plus diesel powered Scania L113 low floor vehicles, and a large fleet of MkII Mercedes Benz O305's, however through the early '00's as the O305's were withdrawn from Kingsgrove, they would be replaced by cascaded low floor Scania buses until the MkII fleet reached a level of about 40 to 50 vehicles.
3092 served Newcastle well and in 2006 it was refurbished by Nymans of Tamworth and came back in the second version of STA corporate livery (thankfully - that red line is a pain to remove!).
In May 2010, with Newcastle having no more O305's and new Volvo B12BLE's coming on strength to complement the earlier batch received in 2007 and 2008, the early Mercedes Benz O405's based in Newcastle were sent back to Sydney, so '92 along with 3094, 3096 and 3097 ended up at Waverley.
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| Graeme Knappick |
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| David Wilson |
 | 3092 at Circular Quay in September 1991 |
| Graeme Knappick |
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| Graeme Knappick |
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| Graeme Knappick |
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| Edison Kueng |
At this time Waverley had a small number of early O405's in it's fleet, a group of them seemed to be withdrawn in March, 3092 included, but then within a week they were back on the road again, as well as the prospect of the STA possibly just cannibalising most of the early O405's to keep the younger ones going, I did not want to miss out on at least a sample of 3092. However the hammer fell in April and 3092 was withdrawn along with 3084. Other early ones (from all depots) were rounded up with State Transits fleet optimisation plan which occurred in May, this also saw the end of the MAN SL202 fleet.
With all this going on in the background, I organised the viewing, and thought I had got myself a pretty good deal out of it - seemed the glut of withdrawn buses was a blessing to me.
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| Graeme Knappick |
Where to from here? Well I plan to finally start work on 2413, a few weeks ago I removed all the seat cushions in order to prime and paint them, also a replacement engine has been sourced for it and 1930. Hopefully 2413 will be an easy task, my aim, do them as I bought them, so 2413 1st, 1930 2nd and since both 3069 and 3092 have 1987 dated chassis, maybe do them side by side, reinstating the third window on both vehicles. Nice big L7's on 3092, it'll look smick!
