Last Tuesday, as part of the “Big Bus Move”, Fageol Twin M852 went to Fraser Valley storage, and Brill trolleycoach 2040 was trucked to VTC. Also, part of the plan was a quick visual inspect of GM ‘Hillclimber’ 4107 to determine whether it could be driven to Langley.
Bryan Larrabee, Sean Keating, Milan Streit, and Lawrence Walker met at our satellite storage at 10am, off-loading the Fageol from the Mundie’s Landoll, trading it for Brill 2040. After that, their attention turned to ‘Fishbowl’ 4107. In preparation, it had been connected to a charger overnight.
Bryan:
“(When) we hit the starter… she wouldn’t start. Lawrence and Sean decided to connect our booster pack and the spare battery we brought from Langley to give it maximum power. After rechecking by Sean and Lawrence, Milan hit the rear starter switch and she started first try. We got a brief bit of black smoke on start up, and white smoke for another 10 seconds and no smoke afterwards.
We knew the fuel level was okay so we decided to chance the drive to Langley with Lawrence following closely in my truck. The bus ran fine. Brakes appeared to be okay and the steering was great. We parked the bus face in. All done by 2pm.”
4107 was selected for outdoor storage at the satellite storage site when we moved from Roseberry. Our intention in bringing it back was to determine what effect this was having on the coach. The exterior had some green-spot algae, mildew and mold, but nothing a good wash and scrub wouldn’t deal with.
On Sunday, Sean, Milan, Richard Dyer and Matthew Walker attended to examining its mechanical condition. Putting the bus upon on ramps, they inspected the suspension, steering, brakes and other items ‘below deck.’ The report: good, with just minor issues.
