Maidstone & District Buses 5708 FKM708L and 5719 FKM719L

[JFO]

Hi everyone, while walking through the Medway City Industrial Estate in Rochester in July 2019, I was very suprised to spot these 3 Maidstone & District painted Leyland Atlantean Buses 5708 FKM708L and 5719 FKM719L and a tree cutter Bus 5703 FKM703L, and hopefully someone will save them too.

[Nicholas King]

FKM 708L and FKM 719L have (allegedly) been in preservation for almost 25 years.

                I think the “tree-lopper” is FKM 713L, which also went into preservation more than 20 years ago.  We have a terminal disposal in the Yorkshire graveyards for FKM 703L, as shown in our 1995 fleet history.

                All three of FKM 708/13/9L are with the same owner, and we have had no sightings or reports of any of them since June 2005.

                Which says something about levels of reporting from the Medway area?

 

Nicholas King

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[JFO]

"Which says something about levels of reporting from the Medway area?"

I guess it does, and I'm from Dover..., but Yes your right about the Tree Cutting Bus being 5713 FKM713L, typo on my part, and the yard these vehicles live in appears to be part of ASD Coaches: https://www.flickr.com/photos/69558134@N05/48390776171/, and acording to a photographer freind who works in the Transport industry, they have been there for about 16 years.
Finally lets not forget that 5718 FKM718L also still exists and lives a quite life in the Woods down at Wateringbury Railway Station near Maidstone as reported in my post "If you go down to the Woods today": https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/mdekbusclub/LfBTnSUNk4A.

[JFO]

When I drove past this yard on Saturday June 1st 2024, I noticed that all 3 of these vehicles had left the yard at some point very recently, though I don't know exactly when they left or where they have gone, but here's a link to a video of the interiors of these vehicles that I was recently sent by an ASD Employee: https://youtu.be/lNL56NPvYxU?si=TNGyyUoL5DHtx1o4.