[Archive] Arriva North West - Speke Depot

[SL64 JFK]

RE: Arriva North West - Speke Depot

(05/08/2012 21:30)K101HUM Wrote:  Not disagreeing with you at all MPTE and fearful you may have interpreted that message there so apologies for that. The 15 years, like you say, is rapidly approaching for all the vehicles above, again as you quite rightly say. My point was that the company continues to invest its money and resources in them, so therefore as you say in a logical manor, there must be some sort of future (perhaps merely financial with the potential of re-sale factor more than presence in the operational fleet) in store. Just another factor that some of the B10B's survived past their 15th birthday and a more contemporary reference being 3360 and the valiant 7533, and think it may be a case for the Palatine 2's and remaining Palatine I's scattered across the North West and inevitably will be case for the S-JUA's. Its the book value which determines the status in the fleet. Not too sure without reference to another site on what date they were registered, but would understand that their book value with the refurbishments undertaken both externally and at the likes of Liverline would ensure they have some value yet. Or so theory would suggest.

This one seems to me to be a tough one to call - I'm not an expert in any stretch of the imagination but I do think the 15-year rule is a bit much for Darts as they get an absolute pounding and are less robust than heavyweight buses. Indeed, I think some Renowns could last 20 years if Arriva let them, whereas a lot of Marshalls were time expired after 10 years!

Whilst Marshalls are only just starting to hover around the 13-year-old mark in many cases, I do think the vast majority of them won't be around on their 14th birthdays because, as MPTE says, many of them are decrepit at best, and therefore their book values are probably going to be lower than those of Pointer 2s of similar ages (i.e. the T-PNBs).

With regards to Darts, 2273 has been withdrawn at St Helens and it's not even 14 years old yet. Whether it's got a major defect or not I'm not sure, but a Dart that's hovering around 14 years old is ready for retirement in my book - particularly those with bodies other than Plaxtons as they don't seem quite as robust for some reason.