The Dennis Dominators were Central’s largest class of double decker vehicle in the mid to late 1980’s, and operated alongside 30 Volvo Ailsa’s delivered in 1978/79 (AH1-30), and later 10 Leyland Olympians delivered in 1986 (LO1-10).

All of the batch, except the first, had the stylish lowheight Alexander ‘RL’ bodywork, allowing them to be used on routes such as those between East Kilbride and Clydebank, which passed under the low bridge at Busby railway station on the outskirts of Glasgow.

Mechanically, almost all of Central's Dominators was powered by a Gardner 6LXB engine, coupled to a Voith DIWA 851 and drop centre rear axle. Exception to this was a small batch of 5 vehicles which featured the Rolls Royce Eagle 220E engine instead of the Gardner, and one vehicle which obtained a Maxwell gearbox instead of the Voith.

D23 was delivered to Central SMT in June 1982 to Airbles Depot, Motherwell. The original Certificate Of Fitness document is in possession and indicates she passed her initial testing on 14th May 1982.

She ran with Central until 1988 upon which she was transferred to Kelvin Scottish and subsequently Kelvin Central Buses in 1989. She was withdrawn from service in 1994, where she passed to Moffat & Willamson, Gauldry via Ensign (Dealer).

Whilst in service with Moffat & Williamson, D23 was used to transport attendees on the 2001 Omnibus Society Tour which took place on Saturday 6th October 2001.

After withdrawal from Moffat & Willamson, sisters D22 and D23 were sold to Arthur’s Coaches in Coatbridge during January 2004 for use on Hires, Contract and Schools Duties. D23 was withdrawn from service in the latter half of 2006 due to a gearbox failure. The vehicle was secured for preservation in February 2007, and was granted a place at Bridgeton Bus Garage in April 2007. D23 arrived on suspended tow at her new home on Sunday 22nd April 2007, which meant she was safe in Preservation for her 25th birthday.

At Bridgeton, she joins former Central vehicles, Leyland Leopard T150 (XGM450L), Seddon Pennine SP1 (MSJ385P) and ironically one of the vehicles replaced by her type when new, Bristol Lodekka BL346 (HGM346E). Another former stablemate at East Kilbride depot, Ailsa AH23 (LHS747V) is also preserved and is kept at the Transport Preservation Trust in Beith.

Since arrival at Bridgeton, an assessment of work to be carried out has been made and is now on-going with a list of “To Do” items being worked through. An East Kilbride Depot destination screen has been sourced and fitted, as has a Timtronic ticket machine.

On 16th October 2007, sister D22 was also purchased after withdrawl from service at Arthur’s Coaches. She was driven into Bridgeton, and after posing for photos with D23, the task began to canniablise her for spares to assist with D23’s restoration. After a very busy 2 months removing every useful part, D22’s lifeless hulk left Bridgeton on the back of a tow wagon on the 20th December 2007, for her last journey to the Scrapyard. Amongst the major components retrieved from D22 were the gearbox and engine - which were kept for spares.

The R Type was mainly an aluminium constructed body, with wooden floors, and some steel members around the lower front and rear frame. Happily, the condition of D23 is subsequently excellent. The wooden floor on D23 was replaced when she was with Moffat & Willamson, so thankfully that will not need replaced. As a comparison, D22's floor - which was not replaced, was rotten through in several places, which unfortunately was one of many reasons for her to be withdrawn from service.

From February through to September 2008, work commenced to get D23 driving again. The engine and gearbox were removed from D23 and when these were split, D23’s driving fault was discovered. The gearbox actually appeared to be okay and functioning correctly - and the fault was with the drive plate (which connects the engine and gearbox). Inside the drive plate, the mechanism had collapsed which prevented the gearbox obtaining power from the engine. This drive plate was replaced with D22’s. While the engine and gearbox were out, the opportunity was also taken to re-line the engine compartment with a brand new acoustic and heat proof lining. The engine and gearbox were then re-fitted and re-connected up to get the bus moving from the workbay to the pit under her own power - which was a major breakthrough! One of the next jobs will be to rewire the engine connections properly round the correct side of the rear cross member, and replace some wiring and hosing.

Some videos of D23 running for the first time exist on You Tube (The following links open in a new window):

Interior wise, the mission to obtain seats to the correct moquette pattern has always been on-going. This reached a new stage very recently, when perfect seats were noted in some former North Birmingham Busways Leyland Atlanteans which had been retrimmed recently in the moquette we are searching for. Two of these vehicles had been sent to PVS breakers in Barnsley, Yorkshire. An emergency rescue mission was put into place and these immaculate seats were recovered on 9th October 2008. The incorrect moquette will be removed from the current bases and backs on D23, correct vinyl applied to the edges and re-fitted to the Alexander seat frames currently inside D23 to ensure a full restore of the correct seating pattern.

The restoration will hopefully be fairly straight forward now that D23 is running, but there is no doubt, one of the few negative points of restoring a Dennis Dominator is the complexity of the bus mechanics - which were very advanced for its time. To assist with this, a collection of diagrams and manuals are slowly being accumulated to help solve any problems which have not been discovered yet or may arise in the future. When D23 is ready for painting she will be restored to Circa 1986 Central Scottish Livery, Red and Cream, with Hop On Transfers on the front, as she would have ran from East Kilbride.

D23 will serve as a reminder of the rear engined Central buses serving Glasgow and Lanarkshire during the 80’s and 90’s, and an example of the last modern buses operated prior to Central SMT closing, as well as a vehicle which operated from the now closed Airbles, Gavinburn, Airdrie and East Kilbride depots. D23 is also unique, in that not only being one of the few Dennis Dominators preserved in the world, it is at the moment, the only Scottish Dominator to survive into preservation.

A history is presented below: