Leyland National KHH 378W

No 378

Chassis:  07186 Type NL116L11/1R Configuration:  B52F

No 378 is fully restored and on the road

No 378 seen in  September 2008

 

KHH 378W was new to Cumberland Motor Services (CMS), a subsidiary of the National Bus Company (NBC), in October 1980, receiving fleet number 378 and painted in NBC poppy red livery. It spent part of its early life in service in Workington, the town where it was built. Following the takeover of Cumberland by Stagecoach, the bus did the rounds of Stagecoach depots in north west England and south west Scotland. During 1993 it was transferred to Stagecoach Ribble, receiving fleet number 378, before returning to Stagecoach Cumberland, again as fleet number 378, in February 1997. In November 1997 it was transferred to Stagecoach Western Buses in Scotland and received the fleet number 759. It was subsequently acquired by a driver training school in Glasgow.

 

The bus was purchased for preservation by the Workington Transport Heritage Trust in February 2002 from the driver training school in Glasgow. It had been out of use for over 6 months after one of the school's contracts ended. With the assistance of a set of batteries to replace the original stolen set, the bus drove 140 miles back to Workington, the town of its birth, with no problems. Following purchase it had some bodywork repairs carried out, including some new panels, before being restored to cms Cumberland post NBC livery of red and ivory. It is now used at various community events in the area including our annual free Boxing Day town service.

 

 The bus was around 7 years old when it was photographed by Brian Pritchard (above) wearing the National Bus Company Poppy Red livery with white stripe.

Below are pictures of 378 whilst at Glasgow and soon after acquisition.