RCH 280R

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RCH 280R was a bus briefly operated by Sega for its annual tours in the United Kingdom during the early 1990s.

DVLA Data

SORN	(Note for non-UK residents: this means "Statutory Off Road Notification". The owner has told the authorities it is no longer on the road, and as such doesn't need to be taxed. Driving it on public roads is therefore illegal.)
MOT	No results returned
Vehicle Make	DAIMLER
Date of first registration	November 1976
Year of manufacture	1976
Cylinder capacity	1045 cc
Fuel type	DIESEL
Export marker	No
Vehicle status	SORN
Vehicle colour	GREEN
Wheelplan	2 AXLE RIGID BODY
Revenue weight	16000kg
Date of last V5C (logbook) issued	4 November 2014

Vehicle History

RCH 280R is a Leyland Fleetline, body Roe H--/--F. It is, however, badged as a Daimler. It was built in November 1976, and initially used by Derby City Transport before being retired from service for promotion.

Sega bought the bus some time around summer 1990, with its first known appearance on the Sega Challenge that year. It was present at Sega promotional events from then onwards in a variety of different paint schemes including the 1993 European Grand Prix with the other two Sega buses, JOV 750P and C648 FTT. It is known to have been present for the 1994 Sega in 2 Action! Tour, though it is unclear whether it participated in the 1995 tour.

Sega seems to have sold off the bus in 1995. The next 4 years of the bus's life are unknown, but in April 1999 it appeared again, still in the Sega in 2 Action! Tour livery, participating in bus racing at the Northampton International Raceway, in Brafield. Following this, around 2003 it was promoting the UK Government's Floodline, then was bought some time before June 2005 by a Hertfordshire-based company called GoGaming, who had fitted it out with PS2s.. While still being owned by the company as late as October 2008, the company's website gogaming.co.uk had gone by November 2010, and in 2013 RCH 280R showed up online for sale at £3,250, the company having seemingly gone bust. At the time, it had no MoT and 30 upstairs seats, with the mains hookup for onsite visits still present.

The bus was SORN'd in November 2014 by the purchaser of that sale, with the final information submitted to the DVLA revealing the bus had been repainted again, this time to green. And in late November 2014, the new owner, Highfield Primary School in Gateshead, proudly unveiled their new "book bus", with RCH 280R having been converted to a static library. It was officially opened by Tyneside author David Almond, and the bus is still there today, at co-ordinates 54°55'15.9"N, 1°45'31.8"W (54.921080, -1.758824).

Images

Derby livery, 1978.

1990-1991 livery (black and white photo).

1990-1991 livery.

Front left of bus, Sega Tour 1990.

On The Road livery.

Top of the bus, circa 1990/1991.

Top of the bus, circa 1990/1991.

Bottom of the bus, circa 1990/1991.

At the 1993 European Grand Prix (on the left) with its fellow buses and an F1 car.

At the 1993 European Grand Prix (on the left).

In 2 Action! Tour, 1994 (top and bottom left images)

Waiting to participate in bus racing, still in the In 2 Action! livery, at Northampton International Raceway.

Northampton International Raceway, April 1999 (far right of image).

In Floodline promotional livery, 2003.

In GoGaming.co.uk livery, 2005.

Vehicle data from the DVLA's website.

Reading Room Images

RCH 280R's final resting place; Highfield Primary School, Gateshead.