Mid-hants Watercress Line 15th July 2001

[XFG 29Y] was new to Brighton Borough Transport fleet no. 29 during April 1983. It remained with Brighton Borough Transport until 1997. During its latter period of ownership with Brighton Borough Transport it was operated by the Lewes Coaches operation. It received its current advert livery whilst with Brighton Blue Bus in 1995 albeit for a different advertiser "Garden Pride" of Ditchling.

In 1997 [XFG 29Y] passed with the rest of the Brighton fleet to Brighton & Hove and was renumbered 129. It retained its advert here and had its front Brighton Blue Bus livery repainted into Brighton & Hove Red, Black and cream including the front grille and headlight surrounds. Its back end was rebuilt in 1997 using parts from scrapped [XFG 31Y].

In March 1998 [XFG 29Y] left Brighton and passed to Bygone Tours of Maidstone, Kent. It operated only very briefly here on their service 82 between Park Wood and Maidstone Hospital and Cornwallis School service 9 from Bearsted. During its time with Bygone Buses the advertisement lettering was changed to "Warmlake" garden centre of Sutton Valence.

In June 1998 [XFG 29Y] was sold to Nu-Venture Coaches also of Maidstone Kent where it was allocated to the Aylesford depot. The former Bygone 82 and 9 routes were also taken over and the bus initially remained on these services still with its front painted in Brighton & Hove livery. After a couple of weeks in service the front was painted completely white and Nu-Venture fleetnames were added above the grille, on the front in the side window on the near side, and on the back on the rear of the roof dome. As loadings increased on both 82 and 9 during the following year double deckers were drafted onto the service releasing [XFG 29Y] for service elsewhere. It settled down for a while on services 78 and 79 in Maidstone Town Centre until it was again released by the arrival of the two Dennis Darts. It is now a spare vehicle and can be seen operating on anything from School Contracts to the 205 service in Tonbridge and is a frequent sight around the Maidstone area. It has also seen service on the Chatham Park & Ride Service.

The front was painted into blue and white fleet livery during July 2000 when at the same time the black grille and headlight surrounds were restored and it regained its front Leyland Scroll badge. It received new upright rear light clusters in September 2000.

[XFG 29Y] was the first Mk2 National in the Nu-Venture fleet and at the time joined 2 mk1 examples, which have both since been scrapped. A further two Mk2 Nationals joined it during 1999 from Arriva Cymru. As with all NV's Nationals and Titan's [XFG 29Y] is fitted with a Gardner engine.