First Manchester

[P528LND]

RE: First Manchester
Just to sort out all confusion, Plaxton are still going, even though the name was removed for a short time.

The buses in question, if they are 56 reg, will indeed be ADL Dart SLFs. However if they'd have been built between 2001 and May 2004 they would have been Transbus Darts, as in May 2004 Transbus was sold to its management and was rebranded Alexander Dennis Ltd.

When Transbus took on the Dart in 2001, they changed the engine from the Cummins 6BT to be a Cummins ISBe 4-cylinder power pack which explains the different engine.

These will be amongst the last classic style Darts before the ADL Enviro200 went on to supercede it.

The name Plaxton was never readopted to describe the bodywork worn by the ADL Dart SLFs, and they stuck with just that, the ADL Dart SLF, as by that point, the three companies Dennis, Alexander and Plaxton were well and truly merged. To add, Transbus Coaches were sold before the Buses, subsequently being renamed Plaxton. Plaxton is now a subsidy of ADL and offers Coaches and alternate bus bodyworks to the Enviro range (whether this is true to date or not about the buses I cannot confirm.)