The
model -
this model was first announced as 'Coming Soon' in November 2022 (see
Photograph 1 below), however it was not released until 14th February 2024. The model is being sold through
Singapore
retailer, Knackstop, who have previously sold other Singapore
bus models.
In
late September 2023 I received an e-mail from a visitor to the site
saying that he had acquired the model and asked whether I could shed
any light on it. Photograph 2 was attached to the e-mail. I
duly responded and, tongue in cheek, asked if it
was for sale! I was informed it was not but at the same time
was advised that further photographs would be sent to me.
Unfortunately,
these never arrived and I was subsequently informed that the model had
indeed been sold!
On the 18th November 2023 I came across an
example on a German 'selling' website (see Photograph 3).
Unfortunately, the website did not allow UK residents to register,
so I contacted a friend in Holland asking if he could purchase the
model on my behalf. He kindly agreed and attempted to do so, but
unfortunately the seller would only post within Germany. I then
contacted another
friend, based in Germany, explaining my situation and she kindly
offered to help. She purchased the model and having received
it, subsequently forwarded it on to me in the UK.
I would
like to thank Gino Berk for his initial attempts to secure the model and
Franziska Richter, who successfully obtained the model and subsequently arranged for its safe delivery to me.
The model carries a fictitious registration of SG2021A - perhaps the
2021 is used to mark the year these buses were introduced. There is no
manufacturers name on the underside of the model or on the box and
there is no limited edition certificate.
The bus
- SG Bus operate 50 buses of this type, featuring three doors
and two staircases, which were
progressively delivered to Singapore from May 2021, with
the first unit being registered in September 2021. The 50 buses are
registered as SG6333M - SG6382X.
SMRT operate five of these buses,
Tower Transit operate 20 and SBS Transit operate 25.
The
buses made their revenue service debut on 26 October 2021,
operating on services 190 and 974.
The
above information has been extracted from the excellent LandTransportGuru
website.
|
