2011 – Issue 1 of 4

parents owned many years ago and featuring, even then, a sunshine roof.
I can just about remembering standing on the a seat with my head out in
the fresh air ...
In a shed at the far end of the site was the Willowbrook-bodied DP32F
AEC Regal III NJO 703. Unfortunately it was being worked on and looked
unlikely to be running at all that day.
Parked alongside the museum building was the Northern Counties-bodied
AEC Renown FWL371E with its rear emergency door open. Behind it,
slightly incongruously, stood a Citaro, bringing a taste of modernity to the
whole show. What made me laugh was the large photo on its rear of a
young couple kissing rather passionately. Well, I suppose sex will sell
almost anything, but give me City of Oxford’s old livery any time!
The museum building itself, funded by a handsome lottery grant, has
plenty to fascinate even those least interested in buses. Apart from the
vehicle there are plenty of old photographs and examples of old signs and
so on – a really good collection of memorabilia. Human interest is added
by having models of people placed here and there, including inside some
of the buses themselves. I stepped into an OB, JVF 528 ex Bensley of
Martham, and was startled to find I wasn’t on my own as I’d supposed.
There was a very life-like ‘driver’ at the wheel.
At the entrance to the building, incidentally, there’s an unusual exhibit, an
ex-City of Oxford Duple-bodied AEC Regal III OFC 205, pretty much as if
it had been left on a farmyard and allowed to deteriorate slowly in the
wind and the rain. Just inside the open door stands a hen (a plastic one,
naturally) but every now and then a recorded squawk gives some added
atmosphere (and frightens and delights the visiting kids) ...
As I stood there waiting to photograph the coach, a mother was busily
explaining the exhibit to her young daughter and it was great just to listen
to her, as a non-enthusiast, describing how people used to travel and
what kind of buses they used. The museum was obviously justifying its
existence and its heritage lottery grant.
Other interesting exhibits included JO 5403, a Brush-bodied open-top
AEC Regent 661 looking old but dignified and the chassis of JO 5032, an
AEC Regal 642 with ‘Regal 4’ (not ‘IV’) on its radiator.
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