15/05/2026
Hey Everybody!
Thought I’d finally make a post about 18005 and it’s Journey into Preservation.
We were made aware of 18005 a few years ago and its use as a farm bus with Geddes Group. At this time 18005 was amongst about 4 of the SF53 batch to be surviving as the rest were scrapped back in 2022 after use at various depots after The Open 2022. Now 18005 is the sole surviving ALX400 from that batch and when we were heard it was for sale we couldn’t miss the chance.
Now with any other bus in farm use, it has some issues to rectify. The list as follows;
1. Drive Issue, when first inspected it the engine was running alright and when selecting drive would slowly cut the engine out. Reverse does nothing at all and would not rev. We had hooked car batteries to the batteries on 005 last night and while connected to them we turned it on and it would rev and when selecting drive would just kick it out of gear. We are having someone look at this on Monday to diagnose the fault.
2. Chassis has much surface corrosion on it but one of the outriggers at the rear nearside looks the worst out of the lot but have been reassured that this is easily repaired and sealed once the workshop facilities are available
3. It’s not the priority but the flooring will need replaced in 005 and we are hopeful by it’ll mostly the linoleum but some parts of the wooden floor are damaged and will need replaced further down the line.
We have our work cut out but we are hoping to get this all sorted so it can join the rally circuit as soon as possible. A big thanks to the team who recovered it from Arbroath to Leven, Geddes Group for their help in securing the bus and getting it ready for transport and Fife Heritage Railway for providing safe storage whilst we rectify the situation with the bus.
