| 
|
|
China Motor Bus, Hong Kong
Right, the photos here are not taken in Hong Kong. If you have not
been told, you probably will not realise that the buses introduced in
this section are actually in Scotland, where is tens of thousands of miles
away from Hong Kong. So the question is, why does the Scottish Vintage
Bus Museum have two buses from Hong Kong? The reason is that both
buses are with Scottish built Alexander bodyworks. Well, thank
Alexander,
First Group,
and Volvo
for their initiatives in shipping back the buses home after serving
Hong Kong for some 20 years.
Here is a Leyland Victory MKII owned by China Motor Bus (CMB). It is with Alexander bodywork and its CMB fleet number in LV36. It should not be strange to the people of Hong Kong. It first entered service in 1980 and was a powerful front engine bus. In 1998, CMB lost its bus operation franchise in Hong Kong and its role was replaced by New World First Bus (NWFB), which was a joint venture by the New World Group and First Group. The new bus company was keen on getting all of its fleets modernised and air-conditioned. Leyland Victory MKII soon became a type of CMB old bus to be decommissioned. All of them were retired in year 2000. Although Victory MKII is usually known as a Leyland product, the chassis was actually built by Guy in their Woleverhampton plant and it was happened before Leyland acquired Guy. So, the museum records this bus as a "Guy" Victory MKII. Note the original Hong Kong number plate "CH9399" is still preserved (located on the right-hand side under the windscreen). In the meantime, the UK number plate "ESF647W" is added (located at the very bottom on the bumper). It is indeed interesting that both UK and HK number plates are existed in the same time. 
The view of the lower deck of the CMB's Leyland Victory MKII. The original CMB 2+3 hard back seats are still there and have not been modified. 
Fleet number SF31, CMB's short version Daimler Fleetline ( similar to Guy's situation, Daimler was also acquired by Leyland later so this bus is also known as Leyland Fleetline). It is also fit with Alexander bodywork. However, a NWFB livery has been pianted on to promote its route 15 running between Central and the Peak. 
As a contrast, Daimler Fleetline is a rear engine bus. Here is its Gardner engine. 
Let's have a picture for both Hong Kong buses! Say cheese! Next Page -- Various (1) >>><<< Previous Page -- Unusual Guy |