These Olympian's differed from the batch delivered in 1995 in that the upper deck front windows do not have opening vents.

During the summer of 2000 R756GDL [756] was repaired but the front VOLVO badge was not reinstated, following accident damage at Butterfly World, Wootton. [per Gavin Rowney]

Around October 2000 the between-deck vinyls were removed from the entire batch to allow for advertising space instead. [per Gavin Rowney]

During 2003 and early 2004 the entire batch were repainted into Island Explorer Underline Blue livery in:
May 2003: R754GDL [754] [per Gavin Rowney]
June 2003: R756GDL [756]
September 2003: R757GDL [757] [per Jeff Lyons]
October 2003: R755GDL [755] [per Jeff Lyons]
November 2003: R752GDL [752] [per Jeff Lyons]
December 2003: R758GDL [758] [per Jeff Lyons]
January 2004: R753GDL [753] [per Paul Budden] (vinyls applied by 3 March 2004)
January 2004: R759GDL [759] [per Jeff Lyons] (vinyls applied by 27 March 2004)

During 2003 several went on hire to Solent Blue Line operating on rail replacement contract work:
Between 24 to 26 October 2003: R756GDL [756] & R757GDL [757] to Go-Ahead South Central in South London. [per Marc Morgan-Huws & Gavin Rowney]
On 29/30 November 2003: R755GDL [755] & R756GDL [756] to Go-Ahead South Central. [per Marc Morgan-Huws]

During 2004 several went on hire to Solent Blue Line operating on rail replacement contract work:
On 20 March 2004: R755GDL [755] to TfL (Transport for London) for Piccadilly Line rail replacement. [per Marc Morgan-Huws]
On 26 June 2004: R753GDL [753] & R759GDL [759] to South West Trains between Virginia Water and Reading. [per Nathan Gorton & Ian Rivett]

On 21 September 2005: R754GDL [754] & R755GDL [755] went on hire to Solent Blue Line operating under contract to Wilts & Dorset on University Open Day Shuttles around Southampton. [per Dave Jolliffe]

Between 22 October 2005 and 23 October 2005 R752GDL [752] & R757GDL [757] went on loan to Solent Blue Line to operate in and around Central London in connection with the Trafalgar 200 celebrations. click here to view photos [per Phil Stockley]

During late December 2005 and early 2006 a further four Volvo Olympians, with Northern Counties DPH41/29F bodywork (virtually identical to R752-759GDL [752-759] except that all seats faced forward in the upper-deck), were transferred to Southern Vectis from SBL (Solent Blue Line) to cover during the refurbishment of the M-reg Olympians M744-751HDL [744-751] thus:
on 29 December 2005: R741XRV [760] (ex. SBL [741], named "Pride of the New Forest")
on 22 February 2006: R739XRV [761] (ex. SBL [739])
on 4 April 2006: R738XRV [762] (ex. SBL [738])
on 6 April 2006: R737XRV [763] (ex. SBL [737])
On 9 January 2006 R741XRV [760] entered service in SBL's "Asda" Green & White advertisement livery, but with vinyls removed.
on 1 March 2006 R739XRV [761] entered service in SBL's "Asda" Green & White advertisement livery.
R738XRV [762] & R737XRV [763] entered service in SBL's "BlueStar" Blue livery, but with vinyls removed.

Several of the batch were (or will be) repainted into 2006 Two-Tone Green livery and reseated to H48/29F by re-arrangement of the upper-deck seating only. All seats in the upper-deck now (or will) face forward with the exception of a singular longitudinal seat for one passenger facing inwards, on the offside behind the front seat at the top of the stairway:
On 28 March 2006: R758GDL [758] (but reseated H48/29F by 6 March 2006 - rear seat remained original) [per Dave Jolliffe / Gavin Rowney]
On 22 June 2006: R755GDL [755] [per Marc Morgan-Huws]
On 24 July 2006: R754GDL [754] [per Gavin Rowney]
On 19 September 2006: R757GDL [757] (livery variant: Green Grill & Headlight Surrounds) [per Phil Stockley / Anthony Poulton]
by 29 September 2006: R752GDL [752] (livery variant: Black Grill) [per Marc Morgan-Huws / Dave Jolliffe]
by 15 December 2006: R756GDL [756] [per Dave Jolliffe]
by 22 February 2007: R753GDL [753] [per Jonathan Kitcher / Marc Morgan-Huws]

They were (or will be) named:
on 19 April 2006: R758GDL [758] was named "Thorness Bay". [per Marc Morgan-Huws]
on 26 June 2006: R755GDL [755] was named "Steel Bay". [per Marc Morgan-Huws]
on 26 July 2006: R754GDL [754] was named "Luccombe Bay". [per Marc Morgan-Huws]
on 29 September 2006: R752GDL [752] was named "Mill Bay". [per Marc Morgan-Huws]
on 19 October 2006: R757GDL [757] was named "Horseshoe Bay, Bonchurch". [per Paul Budden]]
on 21 December 2006: R756GDL [756] was named "New Ditton Point" - subsequently renamed, see below. [per Marc Morgan-Huws]
on 13 March 2007: R753GDL [753] was named "Woody Point". [per Marc Morgan-Huws]
on 16 March 2007: R756GDL [756] was re-named to "New Ditch Point". [per Marc Morgan-Huws]
on 20 March 2007: R741XRV [641] was named "Ventnor Cove". [per Marc Morgan-Huws]
on 23 March 2007: R741XRV [639] was named "Steephill Cove". [per Marc Morgan-Huws]

Between 19 September 2006 and 28 September 2006 R757GDL [757] went on hire to Solent Blue Line operating on Park & Ride services for the Southampton Boat Show. [per Phil Stockley / Marc Morgan-Huws]

During 2006 several went on hire to Solent Blue Line operating on rail replacement contract work:
On 28 January 2006: R759GDL [759] between Brighton and Haywards Heath. [per Dave Jolliffe]
On 4 February 2006: R756GDL [756] between Three Bridges and Brighton/Lewes. [per Phil Stockley]
On 11 March 2006: R753GDL [753] between Portsmouth and Petersfield/Chichester/Southampton. [per Dave Jolliffe]
On 18 March 2006: R752GDL [752] between Portsmouth and Petersfield/Chichester. [per Dave Jolliffe]
On 26 March 2006: R759GDL [759] between Portsmouth and Petersfield/Chichester. [per Dave Jolliffe]

During 2006 several went on hire to Wilts & Dorset:
On 5 July 2006: R752GDL [752] & R758GDL [758] for Southampton University. [per Marc Morgan-Huws]

During late 2006/early 2007 those converted (or being converted) to open-top were fitted with a large Hanover electronic/digital destination screen at the front only:
by 12 December 2006: R737XRV [763] [per Gavin Rowney]
by 17 January 2007: R741XRV [641/760]
by 17 January 2007: R739XRV [761]
on 8 January 2007: R738XRV [762] [per Jonathan Kitcher]
by 12 January 2007: R759GDL [759] [per Jonathan Kitcher]

During 2006-2007 R759GDL [759] / R741XRV [760] / R739XRV [761] / R738XRV [762] & R737XRV [763] will be converted to open top as PO47/29F with new Orange & Blue seats, with work commencing on the first conversion of R741XRV [760] on 19 September 2006. On conversion they will be fitted with electronic destination screens (see below) and public address systems, they will also be fitted with a door at the top of the staircase and repainted into Island Breezers Blue & Orange Open-Top livery;
R741XRV [760] was completed by 20 March 2007 and renumbered to [641].
R739XRV [761] was completed by 23 March 2007 and renumbered to [639]. [per Jonathan Kitcher / Marc Morgan-Huws]
R738XRV [762] was converted by 22 February 2007 (but not reseated & repainted) and renumbered to [638]. [per Jonathan Kitcher]

An offside-front view of R755GDL [755] in original two-tone Island Explorer Blue livery ascending Brading High Street on 6 July 2000.
[photo copyright of Peter J. Relf]

Colour prints may be available to buy - please e-mail Peter J. Relf for details