Monday 13 April 2020

Turning Japanese


Thanks to a recent post on Facebook, former Blackpool Atlantean 350 has been traced - to Japan! Since at least 2017 it has been parked by the side of the Nishi bypass in Okayama City. Some photos can be found here.

350 (GHG350W) was the last of the fifth batch of Atlanteans which entered service in May/June 1981. It lead a relatively simple life - suffering some fire damage in 1989. By 2003 it was the last of the first 50 left (with 351-64 also still in use), it was finally withdrawn in December 2005. It was then sold to Blackpool Council for use as a mobile mess room for the tramway track gang - following in the tyre prints of several older buses since the 1960s. It entered service in its new role in December 2006 with fleet number 270 and lasted until November 2012 when it was sold to a dealer in Warrington - and sometime between then and 2017 it left for Japan. DVLA reports a log book was issued in Jan 2014.

Closer to home and a recent post by James Liddell shows former 330 (URN330V) as part of a collection of stored vehicles from the Liddell fleet. This was only briefly used by Liddells and has been stored since around 2003! It was one of six purchased in August 2002 (325-327, 329 and 332 the others).