A huge thank you to Jordan Adam for showing me some photos he took of K1 GRT including a very much needed cab shot of it.
New in 1992, K1 GRT was part of a fleet of Mercedes-Benz O405 single deckers, but this member of the fleet was going to be a one-off in more ways than one. The obvious difference is that it was the only artic of the fleet, also it was the only articulated bus Alexander had bodied, the only step-entry articulated Mercedes-Benz O405G for UK operations, and finally one of just two Alexander Cityrangers ever produced, the other was a rigid demonstrator which survived until 2006, that was K473 EDT.
The bus didn't spend all its life in Aberdeen, it was a used as a demonstrator for a few years for various Firstbus fleets when Grampian and Badgerline formed to make the big giant company. The bus was seen in Leicester, Northampton, Leeds, Huddersfield and perhaps a few other places. The bus wore a few liveries during its demonstrating life, as instead of the green it wears, it was red or blue instead, however by this time the original livery this bus wore was revised once under First Group ownership. Whilst here in Leeds K1 GRT was trialled on the guided busway up on Scott Hall Road with the regular Alexander Strider bodied Scania fleet as the bus gained guidewheels as this was one of only very few artics to have such, and the bus had received Superbus stickers on all sides. Despite being branded for the Superbus service, K1 GRT was also snapped on the route 2 from Roundhay to Corn Exchange. Only a handful of Wright Fusions were allocated to the Scott Hall Road runs but that fleet ended up on route 1 shortly after and no artics were ever to work on the route 2 again. Out of all the places K1 GRT demonstrated at, Leeds was the only city to have artics for a long period of time. Saying that as Leeds no longer has any artics, Aberdeen still has a few Wright Eclipse Fusions built in 2005, the rest of the fleet including some Wright Fusions from Glasgow have all being scrapped without one being saved for preservation, would be nice for W2 FAL to be saved, would make a good photo opportunity if alongside K1 GRT.
Later on, K1 GRT was repainted into the Barbie 2 livery before it got withdrawn as this bus was also the only articulated bus to ever be seen in such livery. But a few years later, no.1 was restored back in her original livery and now owned by the Aberdeen & District Transport Preservation Trust but doesn't see much outings due to technical difficulties. However besides being mainly a static display as a result of the reliability issues, K1 GRT does however see some outings and has performed faultlessly whilst ferrying passengers on running days.
Grampian Regional Transport was a keen customer though of the Mercedes-Benz O405 as they were all bodied by Alexander, Wright and Optare. This was all before Badgerline and GRT merged to become the transport giant we all recognise to this day as First Group.
The Alexander Cityranger was an extremely rare type which sits on the Mercedes-Benz O405 chassis. The body was based on the Alexander PS however the boxy shape of the body is almost identical to the Strider which was released a year later with a fair few differences. So now this is the sole Alexander Cityranger in existance, but unbeknown to many is that SBS Transit in Singapore operated a batch of Alexander PS bodied Mercedes-Benz O405 rigids so these aren't as unique as you'd think but still very. Later, Wrightbus produced their very own Cityranger body for the Mercedes-Benz O405 as only rigids were produced. The body was roundabouts a standard Wright Classic body but like with Alexander's and Optare's offerings had a Mercedes-Benz O405 front end.
K1 GRT is also the only O405G artic to ever enter service in the UK, not including the LF versions which worked with TWM and Metro in Belfast. And further more this was Alexander's only articulated bus they've ever had to release, no other manufacturer has ever made an articulated bus which was made to be a one-off product.
The bus has many similarities to the FTR brand which again used tram-style artics which were to be branded as transport for the future just like K1 GRT although K1 GRT was not a tram like bus. Also K1 GRT had visual announcements on board just like the FTR service had, but the screens proved unreliable - just like the FTR's which often didn't work, appeared discoloured or just kept cutting out when going over imperfections in the road. K1 GRT was most likely the reason behind First's long term affair with buying new articulated buses for their larger fleets but technically it isn't the oldest artic within the First fleet, as First Mainline had older Leyland DABs on the Meadowhall runs, as like with K1 GRT, one of that fleet remains in preservation, artics in preservation are currently a bit of a rarity although with many being built from the early 2000s, a few more are getting preserved.
Interestingly First Group was very keen on buying unique types, such types were all of articulated variety including the Wright Fusion bodied Volvo B10LA in 1998/1999 and the tram-styled Wright StreetCar bodied Volvo B7LA in 2005-2007. No other company bought these buses although they did open the gateway for Wrightbus to market the Eclipse/Solar Fusions to other operators in the UK like Dublin Bus, Nottingham City Transport and Go-North East. Saying that though all but one batch of the Wright Eclipse Fusions produced were for First fleets, interestingly all but one Solar Fusion was not ordered for First Group. So I do believe Grampian Regional Transport did start a small craze with articulated buses in the UK, but it wasn't the oldest articulated bus to work with First Group, as in Sheffield until 2001, First South Yorkshire had a fleet of older Leyland DABs.
Aberdeen started buying their first batch of articulated buses in the shape of Wright Eclipse Fusions which were the first of their type and the first buses to ever be built with any Wright Eclipse body.
Finally this bus is probably the closest thing I've seen in many ways to my favourite bus MVG's no.30 which I have since uploaded for my own 30th birthday, both are articulated Mercedes-Benz O405 with some differences, both have 3 doors, both were technically demonstrators but kept their original liveries whilst doing demonstration work, both had guide wheels at some point during their demonstrating lives and both have the operator and fleet number incorporated into the registration plate. However when back here in Leeds, K1 GRT's side stickers for Superbus reminded me of Duobus 30's Interspar adverts.
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