Preserved Ex-Lothian Dennis Dart SPD Plaxton Pointer 2 61 (SK52 OJE) at SVBM

It’s that time of the year again. Edinburgh Fringe is obviously the main event at this time, but one other event has also opened its doors to the general public. Of course, I’m talking about the Scottish Vintage Bus Museum. The Scottish Vintage Bus Museum is set in a 49-acre site, north of Dunfermline and houses over 100 buses, and today (17/08/24) and tomorrow on Sunday (18/08/24) they will open their doors to the public to showcase many of their preserved buses as well as some modern buses being showcased by companies like Lothian, Ember, Stagecoach, and First Bus. The museum’s 2nd youngest bus in terms of total age is this Dennis Dart SPD Plaxton Pointer 2. This young Dart has had quite the history. 61 (registered as SK52 OJE) was delivered to Lothian in 2002 and had been based out of Longstone. In 2014, it was retrofitted with an Artemis hydraulic hybrid system in a joint project between Artemis Intelligent Power, Alexander Dennis Ltd and Lothian Buses, which is claimed to save up to 14% of fuel on typical urban bus routes. In 2019, it was sold to SVBM for preservation. It was rebuilt and put back to its original glory, and was given a plain white livery. In 2021, it was painted to display SVBM branding as well as paying homage to Lothian’s Madder and White livery. The moquette was also changed to Arriva’s pattern for some reason. 61 has since been kept at SVBM and has been allocated to the Halbeath - SVBM shuttle. This is also the only preserved Lothian Dart out there. Certainly one of my favourite buses of all time, a lot of memories of this bus as a kid when it was still at Lothian. ————————————————————————————————— Bus: Dennis Dart SPD Plaxton Pointer 2 Operator: Scottish Vintage Bus Museum Route: SVBM - Halbeath Shuttle Date of recording: 17/08/24