If it hasn't happened already, when will (what I would class as the modern era) of electirc/hybrid buses start entering the preservation scene I wonder. If indeed it ever happens?
Are these things going to be living the traditional life cycle - major operator, perhaps a second operator, maybe even a third, then finally a small independent on schools and private hire work. Or are we a long way off from that being a reality, given the challenges of skills and infrastructure at the bottom end?
Will preservationists even have the necessary skills and infrastructure, or even access to the necessary parts, to ensure the earliest examples of this first generation of squadron service electric buses, can be saved? Or are they too valuable, if only from a recycling perspective?
Is an out of warranty privately owned electric bus even insurable? Would you risk storing it next to your prized Guy Arab or Leyland Olympian?
Hopefully I'm just out of touch and things are well in hand. Not that I can honestly say I'm remotely enthused by the prospect of going to see, much less ride on, a preserved E400H, a type which Stagecoach started operating in anger as long ago as 2011. Where are they now, if not still with their first owner?
(rather than being maudlin or distrubed, I was actually strangely excited to get the chance see the earliest ancestor of the Enviro400 diesel, brand new off the line, enter service on my local routes as a schoolkid, finally be restored and take pride of place at a major regional transport/vehicle show)
