THE SCOTTISH VINTAGE BUS MUSEUM – VEHICLE COMINGS AND GOINGS

 

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Aug 2011

Two new arrivals to report — but what a difference — separated in age by 92 years! Their respective owners have kindly put pen to paper (or should that be finger to keyboard?) with details.

THE NEWEST ARRIVAL IS ALSO THE OLDEST - BY FAR!

A W Brotchie

Text Box:  
Photo: Aug 2011, Jim Crichton

On 17 May 2011 the Vintage Bus Museum became host to its oldest resident — when Edinburgh horse tram 23 was delivered. With just a little headroom problem the veteran was lifted off the lorry by which it had been transported from its former — but temporary - home at the Longstone Garage of Lothian Buses. It is now stored in Shed 99 where restoration is to continue to completion.

The old car, dating from c1885, was located some six years ago in the garden of a house in Newtown St Boswells, where it had served for a century as a garden summer house, tool store, and, local rumour has it, a meeting place for members of the local ‘Wee Free’ congregation. New owners approached the SRPS at Bo’ness to try to discover what this “small old carriage" in their garden was, and it was soon identified as the saloon of a horse tram car, later to be confirmed as one which ran in Edinburgh.

A Trust was formed to preserve, restore, and exhibit the historic survivor and the ‘body’ was craned from the garden and taken to Lothian’s Seafield Works, where operations to identify it were commenced. After a short period, because of reorganisation, it became necessary to move it from Seafield. LB provided a space in the old rifle range at Longstone, where it has remained until the recent flit.

As only the saloon, remained, it has been necessary to fabricate new platforms, stairs, seating etc, and most of this work has been ably undertaken by Douglas Scoular (as a change from his usual bus activities at Lathalmond).

Wheels and all braking gear were obtained, originally below Douglas lsle of Man horse car 46. This had been purchased for a tramway proposal which never materialised. Their loss is our gain. The purchase included wheels cast in the foundry of Miller & Co in Edinburgh’s London Road (who supplied tram wheels to all corners of the globe). These were regauged, and a new support frame was constructed, by the Shed 47 Railway Group at Lathalmond. Metal fabrication for new light boxes (paraffin lamps!) has also been expertly carried out here, by Messrs Roemac Ltd.

The timber body was in remarkably good condition, having been, in its garden life, covered by a corrugated iron pitched roof, and raised above the ground on a brick underbuilding. Various species of timber were used in its construction; oak, ash, pine and mahogany are all in evidence — all in solid pieces, as ply had not then been invented. Surprisingly the elements in poorest condition were generally those of oak, much of the corner pillars and headstocks being reduced to ‘honeycomb’ consistency. Needless to say, these were the first parts to receive attention, with new materials replacing all rotten items.

Careful “archaeology’ has established the livery details. Below some ten coats of paint (which had provided excellent protection) the original dark blue colour - lined in gold leaf — was located, plus detail of the route description on the boards immediately above the windows. When the tram was built, route branding was (as it now is again) ‘all the rage’ in the Capital, and about twelve different route liveries were in use — in theory to aid recognition by the illiterate. Thus there were red cars, green cars, white, yellow, blue (as our car is) and several others — but no tartan cars! This is a pity, as tartan was used as a livery in Glasgow (the red and white version of the Menzies tartan) and in — of all places — Liverpool [Scouse tartan?]. ln the preserved horse tram the quarter light windows were of blue glass, engraved decoratively, and we are very fortunate that of the total of 14 of these, twelve originals still survive. Replacements for those missing have been made.

When Edinburgh opened its first horse tram route, on 6 November 1871, it was very quickly realised that the vehicles purchased were too heavy to be economically horsed on the city’s hills. The SSPCA were very active in ensuring that horse flesh was not maltreated, the outcome being a constant effort thereafter by the Tramway Company to produce cars of the lightest practical construction. In the early years vehicles were purchased from many different manufacturers, including Stephenson of New York and Starbuck of Birkenhead. Eventually, with the knowledge gained from these builders, the Company decided that they could do just as well themselves, and the first car built at their works at Shrubhill [the first of a succession of horse, then cable, then electric cars to emerge from there] was unveiled in May 1879. This design was refined and adjusted, with some single ended cars for the ‘Morningside Circle’ via Clinton Road, ‘reversible’ cars where, at a terminus the body of the car rotated on its chassis to face the opposite direction, and some small single deck cars - also some open ‘toastracks’ for summer and workmen’s services.

‘Our’ car was put in service about 1885, probably as a replacement for one of the first generation cars. The original operating company, the Edinburgh Street Tramways, owned exactly one hundred cars when their lease of the Edinburgh lines ended on 9 December 1893. A new company, the Edinburgh & District Tramways Co took over (from the beginning of June 1894) operation of the lines within the city and the old company was left to operate the Leith and Portobello lines. The cars were shared, 70 to the District Co, 30 remaining with the original Company. Car 23 remained with the Street Tramway Co until the lease of the Portobello lines (as far as Jock’s Lodge) expired at the end of January 1896, when along with five other cars it was handed over to the District Company. It was last licensed for the period to 28 May 1900, but for some now unfathomable reason it was then renumbered 22 and re-licensed to 28 October 1900. At this stage it was honourably retired and sold out of service.

This is the third Edinburgh tram to be preserved, and they have achieved this status in reverse order of age. Electric car 35 of 1948 has been unceremonially ‘dumped’ on the National Tramway Museum at Crich in Derbyshire by Edinburgh Council, who seemed unnaturally anxious to have it off their hands. It deserves a better fate. Former 1903 cable car 226, electrified in 1923, was rescued from the Borders some   years ago. This belongs to Lothian Buses and is currently in a dismantled state. In addition to these vehicles, an Edinburgh horse bus still exists, presently languishing in the Transport Museum at Leyland in Lancashire. It too deserves a better fate.

...and over to Gordon McGregor for the other new arrival".

Text Box:  
Photo: May 2005 Running Day
Gary Conn
LS103 (OJD903R) is a Leyland National, new to London Transport (LT) in July 1977, entering service on the 7th of that month, 7/7/77!! The bus was one of a batch purchased by LT to replace the RF class buses at Bromley Garage for the service 227. The bus was briefly stored at Bexleyheath Garage until the RF buses had been moved on. This was due to the limited space at Bromley. Bromley Garage became part of LT‘s Selkent district. LS103 finished its service with  LT in 1992 where it operated from Croydon Garage having spent all its life previously at Bromley.

Eastonways of Ramsgate purchased the bus and numerous other LT Nationals in 1992 for ferry contracts that they had. LS103 became fleet number 2 with its new  operator, painted blue and white with "Sally Ferries" all over it. In 1999 it was extensively refurbished by Eastonways, new floor, floor covering, new heaters and less seats having a standee capacity as it was to convey passengers to and from the ferries.

Once the bus was replaced by new low floor buses in 2001 this bus and others were sold to Mike Nash at Weybridge in Surrey. Mike sold the bus onto Andy Walcott, based in the Cannock area of the Midlands, who had a similar LT National in LS324, AYR324T. Andy had issues with LS324 and decided to transfer the excellent interior to LS103 - literally the whole lot before the bus was repainted into London Transport livery that it still carries today. Andy sold the bus to Martin Denman and Chris Jones in 2003. Martin brought the bus to Scotland and into the Glasgow Vintage

Vehicle Trust's premises at Bridgeton where he was a founder member. The bus was seen at various events in Scotland and was a regular visitor to Lathalmond. In 2009 I bought the bus from them and continued to house the bus at Bridgeton. The bus had been off the road since 2006 and only required minor attention prior to its MOT in March 2011 where it passed with flying colours. I moved the bus across to Lathalmond in plenty time for this year’s Running Day. Whilst en route we lost a fan belt in Dunfermline but as I was very close to Lathalmond carried on with no trouble.

The day before the running day a starting problem appeared; however this did not stop the bus being well used on the day. An old starter was removed from a spare Leyland 510 engine and overhauled locally and a new lift pump purchased to be fitted as well. With these jobs and other running improvements to be done I felt it appropriate to have this National join the fleet at Lathalmond. (Hmmm. -Ed.) It was sad to remove the bus from Bridgeton as it had a long association there; however it will return for the open day in October to its other Scottish home.

May 2011

In February, an explosion at the power feeder post to sheds 92 and 100, and the subsequent fire, destroyed the insulation of the underground feeder cable. Power was restored later in the day, to essential areas, but the incident highlighted the parlous state of the underground cabling throughout the site. A new cable was installed and finally went ‘live’ on 17 March. Planned replacement of another section to the Bluebird Suite has now been completed.

Quotes have been obtained for the remainder of the underground cabling, and it is hoped that this can take place later this year. Meanwhile, other, less pressing projects have had to be put on the back-burner for the time being.

The melting snow on the Bluebird Suite roof resulted in serious problems with water ingress for a few weeks, and urgent repairs to make it watertight were carried out.

On a more positive note, the Shed 4 café facility has been completely upgraded with new kitchen units, sink, urn and fan extractor – thanks to Doug Dickson’s efforts; a splendid job. Much work has also taken place in the office block – old radiator pipes have been removed and several rooms including the archive and the ‘ballroom’ have been treated to a lick of fresh paint, courtesy of Mark Farquar and Colin Groundwater, with assistance from Andrew Walker.

ARCHIVE UPDATE

Graham Martin-Bates

I am happy to report that the archive capacity has been increased with the preparation of another room in the office block for this purpose. I am grateful to those Committee and other members for their assistance in getting the room ready for moving in. I intend to have a desk available for use by members wishing to view items in the collection. I am currently considering ways to communicate details of the collection already catalogued — so watch this space!

Over the winter months I have spent some of my retirement time cataloguing a large collection of prints, mostly colour. An accumulation of workshop manuals and related material has been added to the library and duly catalogued.

A start has been made to sort, in stages, the vast collection of slides donated last year on behalf of the late Richard Prentice; this is likely to be a long-term project. Various donations continue to come in, all of which are most welcome e large or small. As ever, I can be contacted by writing to: Immeriach, St. Madoes, Glencarse, Perth PH2 7NF or telephoning 01738 860284 — or catch up with me at any Museum event. I intend to be available in the afternoon of the Running Day.

March 2011

Text Box:  
2005 Running Day (Stuart Thomson)
After the Open Weekend, Kenny Barclay swapped his Eastern Scottish Volvo Citibus E187HSF for GCS50V, a 1980 Leyland Leopard Y-type in Clydeside livery which featured on the cover of DUP59. This latterly had been at GVVT Bridgeton. Robin Thomas's Western SMT Bristol LD RAG411 also left Lathalmond for Bridgeton shortly thereafter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Dec 2010

NEW TRIMMING SHOP

We now have the services of a qualified trimmer and a new facility for this is being created in shed 99. I'm assured that very competitive rates can be offered to members who require seats retrimmed and anyone interested should make contact with Raymond Devlin in the first instance.

 

20100800 981EHY JP web.jpgEK8867 20100815 1445 web.jpgAt the 2010 Open Weekend three new arrivals appeared. The first was an old favourite, Wigan Corporation Leyland Tiger TS4 of 1932, 81(EK8867) (Left), owned since the 1960s by Dave Hoare. Its Santus body was refurbished many years ago at Whitburn by the late Jimmy Henderson and is a welcome addition to the Exhibition Hall.

(Left) EK8867 seen at the 2010 Open Weekend (J Crichton)

(Right) 981 EHY arriving at Lathalmond, August 2010, (J Pettie)

Click on photos to enlarge images

By contrast, the other two, Bristol MWs 981EHY and 990EHY, ex-Bristol O.C. were collected from Arbroath where they latterly served as fruit pickers' transport. They are only at Lathalmond temporarily, being en route to join Mike Walker's ever-increasing stable of former BOC buses sometime next year.

AUX296Dup_Web.jpg20100800 JTT724 JP web.jpgAt the same time Leyland Lynx lorry JTT724, having had its cab rebuilt by Andrew Crockett and BJ, headed south for Chepstow …..

….. whilst the unique Sentinel HSG/Cowieson AUX297, (Left) of Rod Wallace, has found a new home in Cheshire where it joins the old Hippo bowser KYY425D.

(Right) AUX 297 (Anon)

(Left) JTT724

 

 

20100328 1437 EVA324 Lathalmond web.jpgGVD47 196304 Barrhead IMacG Web.jpgLater on two Guys departed, Central SMT EVA324 to a new home in Northern Ireland …..

….. and McGills GVD47 to.... McGills Bus Service! Not the original - the new McGills based in Greenock although the old garage at Muriel Street, Barrhead is owned by them.

(Left) EVA324, March 2010, Lathalmond (J Crichton)

(Right) GVD47, 1963, Barrhead (IMacGregor)

 

 

 

We have also acquired the remains of Manchester Corporation 138 (VM4439), its first Leyland Tiger TS1 new in 1938. This had latterly been with the Manchester Transport Museum and was about to be consigned to scrap. Minus engine, gearbox and steering, what was left of the 1935 body has subsequently been dismantled by a group restoring a Manchester Crossley with a similar body and has provided valuable parts as a result. Believed to be the oldest surviving Tiger in existence, the chassis itself was restored some years ago and is in excellent condition, far too good to scrap. Anyone out there restoring a Tiger TS1 or TS2 looking for a sound chassis as a base

 


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About Us

Event Photos

Bus Profiles

Not Just Buses

Restoration Update

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