By the time I bought the bus in May 1994 it had been stored in a farmyard near Newport Pagnell for about four years and the paintwork had deteriorated markedly. However it seemed fine mechanically and so was made ready for the journey to its new home in Surrey. It was an uncharacteristically hot bank holiday Monday as we set off down the M1 at a steady 40mph.

We seemed to be making good progress but eventually the bus did what Swiftsdo best and boiled over! It was probably a combination of lack of use and the hot weather so we pulled off the motorway at Kings Langley. The boiling water gushing from the filler had damaged the alternator so I didn't really fancy driving the bus any further. One phone call later and Cobham's Paul Morris was on his way with a towing lorry. We eventually reached our destination without anymore problems.

Under the M25 near Kings Langley. Photo: Paul Morris

Norbiton garage, with RF 479 and LS 304. 9/94.

There was no question that 369 would be restored to anything other than its original L.T. livery, the aim being to get it as close as possible to its appearance when it first arrived at Merton garage it 1971. Serious restoration of the bus began immediately after the Routemaster Heritage Trust's 1994 Norbiton open day where it took part in a display of types which once operated from that garage.

The Park Royal body is steel framed with steel inner stress panels. Aluminium outer panels are riveted to this framework, except for the front and rear ends which have wooden fillers with the outer panels screwed on. It was obvious that all of the panels needed replacing and this would be a good opportunity to inspect the internal structure for corrosion and damage. The front end was deemed to be the trickiest bit so this was tackled first. all of the front panelling and the windscreen pan were removed to reveal largely rotten woodwork. Much of this was replaced with original L.T. items but some sections were made from scratch. A couple of ex British Rail mahogany table legs, suitably modified, also ended up in there! The glassfibre windscreen pan fell into three pieces on removal, this was repaired and strengthened with extra layers of fibreglass before refitting. At this point the opportunity was taken to conceal the windscreen washer plumbing as this equipment was not part of the original L.T. specification. The job I was dreading the most was refitting the extremely large two-piece windscreen. It took the best part of a weekend to do. There were one or two heart stopping moments as the glass momentarily slipped from my grasp so I wouldn't advise anyone else to try this on their own. There was then a slight delay in the proceedings due to the RHT's sudden eviction from Norbiton garage in January 1995. luckily a space was available at the Swift's previous home in Surrey, The bus was driven there without incident and with the assistance of Mike Nash. After settling into its new home the rear end of bus was tackled. This had suffered impact damage, probably in LT days. The back end was supposed to be completely flat and flush with the rear window but it was now pushed inwards with the top of the bonnet being three inches closer to the front of the bus than it should have been. Everything had to come off to expose the framework so that it could be re-aligned and welded.

Once again most of the woodwork was replaced and all new panels fitted. The sides of the bus were fairly straightforward in comparison. Copious Jenolite, primer and bituminous paint were all that was needed before renewing the side panels. While all this was going one Paul Morris was attending to the mechanical side of things which included a thorough overhaul of the brakes, re-torqueing of the cylinder head nuts and fitting a new unloader valve. A reconditioned alternator was fitted and Dave Kriesler managed to get the A.F.C. machine working again. Both Paul and Dave had worked on the type in L.T. days and they thought (or hoped) that they'd seen the last of these vehicles back in 1979!

Final preparation before painting. Photo: Ian Barrett

After a few weekends of surface preparation the bus was ready for its repaint. I had previously brush painted RM291 and didn't fancy going through all that again so the job was given to Spraycare of Dorking who did a superb job at a reasonable price. A task that would have taken me three weeks by hand was done in a couple of days. Fifteen litres of L.T. bus red ensured a deep and hopefully long lasting shine. The flake grey waistband was applied later by myself. The paint can was marked February 1966 which means that the grey band is actually older than the bus! One of the most satisfying parts of the project for me was the replacement of all the fixtures and fittings that were removed for the restoration, lights, mirrors, indicators etc. especially the ones that were brand new items straight out of the box. The best bit of all though, is the application of the transfers, many hours have been spent studying photographs to determine their exact position on the vehicle when it was new.

The day after completion, the bus was being moved outside for its official photographs when disaster struck. During a momentary lapse of concentration on my part the bus sideswiped the doorway, the impact shattered a side window and severely dented two panels. As can be imagined this was a very depressing moment, the bus had only been finished less than twelve hours ago and I had already broken it! Things looked better after I'd replaced the window but I didn't feel like repanelling again so the job was entrusted to Ian Barrett. By now the 1995 rally season was over so I set myself a nice long deadline for The bus's first public appearance. This was to be the 1996 Cobham open day on April 14th. The major outstanding jobs for MOT purposes were the cleaning and silvering of the chassis and replacing two corroded air tank straps. The chassis was done on the outdoor ramp using cleaning and spraying equipment kindly supplied by Dave Welton. Cobham stalwart Andy Baxter fixed the air tank. Attention now turned to the interior of the vehicle, much of which had been painted in an unauthentic light grey. The cab area, AFC cabinet and exit partitions were repainted Chinese green. All of the grey rexine in the front half of bus was renewed and the plastic window surrounds cleaned. During its time as a school bus it had been upseated from 33 to 41 by adding extra seats in the standing area. It was returned to original configuration using a couple of single seats from a DMS modified to fit on the offside of the Swift. The ceiling was thoroughly cleaned and treated to a few period posters. At last it was ready for its MOT, almost six years to the day since the expiry of the previous one.

I was quietly confident that it would pass with flying colours and luckily this proved to be the case. Holding that special piece of paper in your hand after hundreds of man-hours of hard work gives a feeling of immense satisfaction. Sadly this feeling instantly evaporated as we lost third gear on leaving the testing station. It made driving a bit tedious especially as first gear had disappeared a few weeks earlier. Luckily there were no steep hills on the way home and we got back without further incident or loss of gears.

Undergoing its first MOT for six years

Chances were that the gear problem was only caused by an electrical fault but it was still putting the planned Cobham debut, which was only days away, in jeopardy. Later in the week Paul's investigations revealed that the connector block housing on the EP valve was full of water and the electrical connections were badly corroded and broken or about to break. We were lucky not to have lost all of the gears during the MOT trip. Now I know why first gear failed immediately after the chassis had been steam cleaned! The connector housing was made waterproof to avoid further trouble and the Swift was now ready for the Cobham open day.
The bus was parked in the yard at Cobham and attracted a lot of interest as it has been many years since an original looking SMS has been seen on the rally circuit.

Since January 1997 SMS 369 has been a permanent resident of the Cobham Bus Museum and nothing more was done to the bus that year as I concentrated my efforts on RM 291. Although a roll of correct pattern seating moquette (Holdsworth Celestra) was obtained as eventually all of the seats will be re-upholstered.

The rear half of interior was restored in early 1998. This included renewal of the Rexine with original LT material, new Treadmaster flooring and repainting of the seat frames. The job was completed and the bus MOT'd in time for the Cobham 1998 open day on April 5th.

A problem with bus preservation is that any vehicle will only continue to exist so long as it is housed in a safe environment and someone is prepared to fund its upkeep. It has often been said that you never truly own a preserved vehicle - you are only looking after it for the next person and the only way to secure its future is for it ultimately to become part of an established collection. For this reason and knowing that the London Bus Preservation Trust had recently been awarded the status of full registration under The Museum and Galleries Commission national registration scheme, I felt that the future of the LBPT was now more secure; so after much deliberation I decided to donate the Swift to Cobham.

Ownership of SMS 369 was transferred to the London Bus Preservation Trust on April 1st 1999.

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