WVL1 (LG02 KGP) - new in 2002.
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- Chassis: Volvo B7TL
- Engine: Volvo D7C diesel
- Gearbox: Voith I Shift
- Body: Wright Eclipse Gemini
- Capacity: 63 passengers (41 upper-deck, 22 lower-deck)
Withdrawn from service in 2017 (15 years)
Acquired by the Museum in 2017
Status: fully restored and operational; on display in the Museum
WVL1 is the first bus in the Museum's collection from the new Millenium and our first low-floor vehicle with wheelchair ramp.
The distinctive Wright Eclipse Gemini body has been popular with London operators since it first rolled-off the production line in Ballymena in 2001, and at one time was the most numerous post-privatisation type in the capital.
WVL1 spent its entire life at Stockwell garage [SW] in south London, operated by Go Ahead London General, a name recalling the original company that operated buses in the capital before London Transport was formed in 1933.
It is through the kindness of bus dealer, Ensignbus who made this vehicle available to us, that we can now display a bus type familiar to younger visitors and for those with limited mobility who may not find boarding our older heritage buses so easy.
WVL1 was given a complete repaint into its original livery by Hants & Dorset Trim in 2021.
- [top] Newly-repainted and in service on the Museum's Route 93 Event, 2021 [Deryck Fill]
- [left upper] In service on route 87 in Whitehall
- [left lower] Newly arrived at the Museum alongside RMC1461, 2017
- [below] Resplendent in its original livery, WVL1 in front of the Aircraft Factory at Brooklands, 2021 [David Harman]
