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London General Gemini Volvo B7TL WVL204 Preservation, Southern, Southern (2026)

23/10/2023

Look where 204 got placed yesterday 😂😂
I love it! Bet that's ruffled a few feathers muhahaha 😈

30/09/2023

Apologies for the lack of updates on the FB page for a while, but plenty of action had been going on in real life!
If you find the FB pages for this or any of my buses going quiet for prolonged durations of time, your best bet for more up-to-date updates should be the Instagram page (https://instagram.com/preservedbusbunch?igshid=MzMyNGUyNmU2YQ==), as I find that easier to update frequently.
Having said that, I shouldn't forget about here either. 😳

Here's some pictures of the Weevil, first at Metrobus 40 held at Orpington Bus Garage; then at Northview Estate in Swanley - proving a double-decker can get round route 233; in East Grinstead after her most recent MOT; as well as the inspection pit at Mick Gould's, who very kindly accommodated us after being unable to make it for the original booked MOT date (long story short: the throttle position sensor went faulty and bus wouldn't get very far) - got a clean pass by the way! So here's to another year of Weeviling around and taking the bus places ☺️☺️
For everyone who made this possible so far, huge thank you…

30/09/2023

Real privilege to take part in this 😊
WVL204 had been eligible thanks to her tenure at Croydon garage [C], working mainly the 127s - but 405 did happen as well 🙂

17/04/2023

Here's some cool buses that came Brooklands yesterday 🚍
RMC, my pride+joy WVL204, museum's own WVL1, and DLA1 😁 Among many others.
Each of these is a survivor and a real bus. Each got passengers from A to B back in their heyday. Each took lot of effort and hard work to get it ready for the day 👊
Honestly folks, if civilians saw our bickerings about buses, they'd think we're insane. If it has room and multiple seats, it's a bus.

Also it's funny to read my own vehicle and others from its era being dumbed down to I quote: "low-floor plastic sh*t", when you've spent £363 on fuel, and hours upon hours to get the bus ready? 😳 How are such prejudiced narrow-minded remarks supposed to encourage owners towards showing up at events?

There seems to be big number of enthusiasts both old and young, just as bad as each other, who refuse to sample buses from outside their era.
And here I ask, how on earth are you supposed to know what a bus is like, if you never even rode it? How's such opinion supposed to be informed and valid, if you got no solid basis for it?
If you did get to ride multiple (not just single one as sometimes an individual bus is just a dog, or has slow driver), and you still don't like it, then fair enough. But you don't really know until you try...

I'd have thought being in this hobby, we all like travel, going new places, and trying out new vehicles. That being adventurous is a common trait of all bus people.
I personally will have a go sampling buses of all ages, from horse-drawn cart, to electrics. I want to know what it's like.
I don't like every single bus. We're all allowed to have an opinion. But let's at least be able to back up our arguments if we're to criticise something.

Our critic couldn't even say why he hated the LF buses. He did just say he owned 3 Metros and 8 buses overall. Note this was in past tense… If that isn't somewhat telling 😶🤐
Rather a "plastic" bus as it least it doesn't rot as much, Volvos certainly don't, MCWs however…

16/04/2023

Greetings from Brooklands Museum!
First event of the year for 204 🚍
WVL has some very nice neighbours both sides this time round 🙂

29/03/2023

In case you haven't seen the news yet…
Shame but unsurprising given the poor weather. Better luck next time, can see it rescheduled 🙂

28/03/2023

First event of the 2023 season 😄
Think got 204 tamed for time being…
Not scheduled to give rides on this occasion, but we'll see.
See you there!

26/09/2022

We were due to attend Showbus 2022 yesterday, but you may have noticed WVL204 was a no-show. Well let me explain why that was.

Every bus owner has their moments of pride (I hope). But every bus owner also will come to a point where things don't quite go to plan, and this Sunday came 204's turn, unfortunately!
I know some people prefer to only focus on the cuter bits of preservation, y'know just post pretty pictures and harvest the likes, and not include the creeping negatives, but I find that may inadvertently have fooled some people into believing it's easy, and it really isn't. I want to be frank about the not so cool moments too.

As previous events have shown, 204 has performed faultlessly, gave many fun rides, and brought me a lot of joy personally. (Maybe not counting getting a random leak in the door pipes twice, but that was really minor and an easy fix).
Every time I visit 204 I let her run; B7s are not very good at holding battery charge compared to Darts and Tridents, so my precaution to this was to install a battery isolating switch on the negative terminal, which I would always deactivate upon my departure. Although even that doesn't completely stop battery drain (nothing can, other than running the bus frequently and letting it charge), and the weekend prior this came a day where 204 had a slight trouble starting, but I eventually overcame that and all seemed fine afterwards. The dashboard console indicated the batteries were just below 23V, so a bit low from target 24V.

Week later, as part of a yard shunt, 204 got moved again but it was reported to me despite being boosted she still wouldn't fire up. A trick with cracking a fuel injector was carried out to get her going, although she would later cut out. Thank goodness I found all that out a day prior, so I could inform my companions for the day of complications and come prepared! The two who waited for pick-up further afar, made a very good choice to make alternative arrangements for the day as it turned out.

Now on Sunday morning, we turned up armed with size 17 spanner, and finding 204 won't start on booster alone, did the injector trick as instructed, but the first attempt you could tell the bus was not happy, with the engine hunting, and eventually cutting out. Attempt 2 went a lot better, keeping the boost pack on for longer and revving the bus to get the fuel flowing, and when we thought worst is past us, 204 maybe lasted 5mins before dying again. Now imagine if that happened to us at the side of M25!! Not taking that risk, hell no!

Now must investigate if it's air in the fuel system, some kind of blockage or contamination causing this, or perhaps the fuel pump itself.
For an engine to run, you need air and fuel. Cut either of those off, it will stop.
204 previously sat still for a bit before she was brought back to life under my ownership (remember the electrical module issues with no ignition?), so I'd be very surprised if it was the fuel pump, as it didn't show signs of wear before all this.
Then again air bubbles in the fuel system would be strange too as we never ran out of fuel before (Rule 1 of owning a B7TL: NEVER let it run out of fuel, just DON'T).

What it will turn out to be, we shall find out soon. I'll try to keep you folks updated.
I guess everything beforehand was all too good to be true, and 204 remembered it's a B7, and decided to have a hissy moment haha. 🙃
Then again it saved me over £100 on the day in tax and fuel. But don't worry inevitably that'll get spent elsewhere instead 🥲

02/08/2022

An events megapost.

In following order:

June 11th:
- Stockwell Garage Open Day 2022 (the goal was to make that, and we've succeeded! Even cooler was that this was my workplace at the time);
June 26th:
- Brooklands Summer Gathering (posing together with pioneer WVL1. Yes her sister may look all colourful and shiny, but 204 is a better mover 😉 Forgive the little bias haha);

July 17th:
- Alton Bus Rally (posing with fellow BBPG bus, the lovely L97 - dynamic duo we're now known as!);
July 23rd:
- Fulwell Garage Open Day 2022 (alongside M161);
July 24th:
- Victoria Coach Station 90th Anniversary Running Day (at the coach station, with RT4779 in the background).

Thank you everyone who helped to make this possible, especially on the engineering and driving side, you made a huge difference between make or break it. And thank you for all the feedback so far and to those who travelled with us.

A small but welcome development since last event is that WVL204 has regained the legal means to use her rightful LX05EZA plates at long last.

To sum it all up so far, 204 has done me proud.

22/07/2022

With 204 now running, it was time to do more prep. Other than clean up the whole bus, seats especially; had to ensure all lights were reconnected - with corner panels off, reverse and fog light were cut with the panels, so the correct wires were were identified and reunited with their other respective end.

I was kindly donated some Gemini headlight clusters and so was able to swap out the cracked unit (pictured) for an undamaged one.
The O/S/F panel with follow eventually but hadn't been done as of yet.

I've also gotten hold of the original style front indicator lights, whole units but only needed the base where lightbulbs go and the lens. These replaced the LEDs that were installed upon refurb. Wasn't the easiest item to wire at first attempt, as despite comparison another Gemini in the group and wiring up the light the same way, it did not initially work, but I got it figured out in the end.

With the bus running, a small leak was discovered above the rear doors. The culprit was a small pipe, which turned out to have a hole in it. Sourced a chunk of the same size, and had them swapped out which fully resolved the problem.

204 still had a dedicated Merton blindset fitted, which only featured school route 655 and Rail Replacement. I'm not a fan of WoB blinds on 1st gen low-floor buses though, and vehicle accurate dayglos had to make a come back. By sheer luck, I've just gotten in possession of a 2006 Putney [AF] blind set, which was subsequently fitted onto the bus! Thanks to my helpers 😂
Before anyone asks, the routes this features are: 14, 22, N22, 74, N74, 85, N85, 430 and 406F, for reference.

Once all seemed tidy, secure and working, got 204 booked in for MOT in Kent during the second week of June... And she done us proud as she's passed! 🙂
And therefore ready for Stockwell Open Day, which was her debut event. More on this later......

20/07/2022

You've would've spotted us at few events with no updates here as of yet…
That's because I'm still bit behind in the timeline 😂 Got to move back in time to the end of April, when 204 was just freshly towed in.

Cannot thank enough everyone who's helped out during those stages. The first course of action was tidying up the bus post-tow, putting back some of the removed panels, as well as re-tightening the rear brakes back up.
When 204 first got in, she did not even have any batteries; these were promptly sourced and haven't let me down since (although as good practice I always disconnect the negative terminal when I'm away). It was also known the bus did not have any ignition at this stage.

The culprit had been a CECM module just behind the driver, and the initial replacement has restored some life into the old girl, but the bus still wouldn't fire up. Later down the line it transpired this very module also had to be programmed/compatible to a Voith gearbox, otherwise the basic functions would still be read by the computer, but the information that the bus is in neutral gear would not be translated, and so the interlock would prevent it from starting up from both the cab and rear!
The workaround before we got down to the bottom of this was heading upstairs, accessing the panel behind the rear seats, and shorting out one of the relays to start up the bus 😂 Interesting place to go to start up a vehicle isn't it?
Previously we feared there was also something wrong with another module or one of the fuseboards, but turns out they were fine all along. And the first CECM module we tried just happened to come from a ZF B7 rather than Voith that 204 is on.

By then, WVL204 was now resurrected 🙂

05/07/2022

48 day difference……
From 204 being collected from her previous home, as a non-starter, to proudly posing at the Stockwell Garage Open Day 2022 on June 11th.

How did I defy the odds and manage to pull this all off, shall be revealed one by one…
With huge credit to my Friends of course! ☺️
So watch this space to find out how all the madness has ultimately paid off, stay tuned 🤞

London General Gemini Volvo B7TL WVL204 Preservation

23/10/2023

30/09/2023

30/09/2023

17/04/2023

16/04/2023

29/03/2023

28/03/2023

26/09/2022

02/08/2022

22/07/2022

20/07/2022

05/07/2022

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