20 June saw a devastating fire at the former depot of Enterprise & Silver Dawn, Waddington, Lincoln. So bad was the fire that it closed one side of the main road that runs past, the A607. The yard is now home to numerous preserved buses, all former Lincolnshire Road Car vehicles. 5 were totally destroyed in the fire and numerous others vandalised by those that are thought to have perpetrated the arson.
Gone for good, unfortunately, are the following vehicles:
2052 (HBE 502), a Bristol LL6B/ECW FC35F
2031 (GFW 849), a Bristol LL5G/ECW B39F
2138 (JBE 869), a Bristol KSW6G/ECW H60R
2351 (XPM 42), a Bristol FS6B/ECW CO33/27R "Lincolnshire Poacher" (latterly AFE 171A)
2717 (DFE 172D), a Bristol FLF/ECW H38/32F
These were being lovingly restored by former Enterprise & Silver Dawn owner and now local councillor, Mike Gallagher, member of the Lincolnshire Vintage Vehicle Society, a group which we at the LEYTR have close links. 2351 only needed a new coat of paint and would have been ready for its first ever rally in its new, fully preserved state. Many vehicles on the site have now been moved and we've been asked not to detail those 'saved' and/or their new locations to safeguard the likelihood of reprisals. One I'm happy to mention is the former Lincoln City Transport Leyland Olympian, 645 (KTL 45Y), which had only been taken out of service with RoadCar at Grimsby 6 months earlier. This suffered a smashed window where youths are believed to have thrown a concrete block through purely as devilment; it is also the vehicle I've put some money towards its upkeep (and preservation to its livery/trim as new) in the form of the ties I've bought from the person who now owns it. This vehicle now resides elsewhere in Lincolnshire, under cover and away from the possibility of further attacks.
Photo: Steve Dakin
