History
I lived in Stranraer from 1966 to 1976. During the mid
1970’s the bus fleet contained a mixture of Y-type Leopards and REs,
ECW Lodekkas, and Alexander MW6Gs and LUFs. The newest
Leopards at that time were DL2496-8, SCS 365-7M and DL2500,
GCS793N. They were all in black/white livery and were used
on schools work (where I saw them alot), local services and private
hires. After I left Stranraer I still followed the progress
of these vehicles, and in particular I always seemed to stumble upon
DL2497, SCS366M. So when I opened a fleet book about Ireland
a couple of years ago, I instantly recognised SCS366M grinning back at
me from the pages. In April 1999, while on holiday there, I
had the opportunity of tracking it down with its latest owner - O’Malleys
of Newport near Limerick. By coincidence it was parked
outside the depot beside the owner’s house. I spoke with
Edward O’Malley and he explained it was currently being used on
schools contracts and it was due to be withdrawn in August and that he
would be prepared to sell it to me then for preservation.
After weeks of preparation the first attempt to bring back SCS to
Scotland in August failed, as there were mechanical problems soon after
it left Limerick. September and October drifted by until …
Phone call
It started with a phone call. On Thursday night,
Edward O’Malley called to tell me that SCS had been taken on a low
loader that morning to Belfast. It was spending the night in
Dundalk, but would be arriving at the port early the next
morning. My task was to organise the remainder of the
journey to Lathalmond.
Arrangements
On Friday morning I confirmed with Stena Line in
Belfast that the bus had checked in. "Have you seen an
O’Malley bus ??" I asked. There was a pause ..
"Would that be the bus on the back of a lorry then ??" the
lady from Stena enquired. That would be it, I assured
her. Safe in the knowledge that SCS was now only 200 yards
from a ship rather than 200 miles as had been the case the day before, I
mapped out the big plan in earnest. I would fly from
Stansted to Shannon, pick up a rental car, drive to O’Malleys, do the
paperwork, drive to Belfast, drop the car, get on the boat with the bus,
sail to Stranraer, get off the boat with the bus, get towed to
Lathalmond, and sleep at a Travel Inn at Livingstone, visit Lathalmond
on Sunday, take a train to my parents in Coldstream, and fly from
Edinburgh to Stansted on Monday. All that was needed was to
book two flights, a car, a boat, a hotel, the tow and leave the train
ticket to chance (a risky business as I was to discover at Waverley
station on Sunday).
