This article needs additional citations for verification .(August 2024) |
Established | 1 August 2011 |
---|---|
Location | Brooklands |
Coordinates | 51°21′11″N0°27′54″W / 51.353°N 0.465°W |
Type | Transport museum |
Key holdings | London Buses |
President | The Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill |
Chairperson | Leon Daniels |
Curator | Ray Thorn |
Owner | London Bus Preservation Trust |
Website | https://www.londonbusmuseum.com |
The London Bus Museum is a purpose-built transport museum, open daily to the public and located at Brooklands in Weybridge, England. Entry is on a joint basis with Brooklands Museum.
The museum is operated by the London Bus Preservation Trust and exhibits around thirty-five examples (from its forty+ collection) of London buses, coaches and ancillary vehicles covering 100 years of development of the bus in London including Victorian-era horse-buses, 1920s open-top buses, streamlined 1930s designs and through World War II to the mass-standardisation of the 1950s, the AEC Routemasters of the 1960s and the rear-engined buses of the 1970s. The collection includes pre World War II AEC Regents, post-war AEC Regent III RTs and AEC Routemasters and the exhibits are arranged in an historical timeline, divided into galleries representing milestones in the development of the London bus, placing each artefact in its contemporary setting. [1] The Museum's collection contains some unique exhibits, many of which have been fully restored by the volunteers, including prototypes of the AEC Regent III RT and the Routemaster and the only surviving World War II "utility" bus that ran in London. [1]
The origins of the museum lie in the foundation of the London Bus Preservation Group (LBPG) in 1966, an association of individual owners of London buses who wished to pool their resources. Some members of that group had attempted to preserve old London buses as far back as 1952 but their first success came with the purchase in 1956 of a 1929 AEC Regal single-decker which had originated with the London General Omnibus Company and which is now generally recognised as the first bus to be privately preserved in the UK. In 1972, the LBPG acquired a former World War II aircraft factory, now demolished, near Cobham, Surrey, where the private Cobham Bus Museum was established, taking its name from the location.
Although the museum had in the interim become a Registered Charity and a Registered Museum, by the early 2000s its future was uncertain as the building was deteriorating and planning permission could not be obtained to operate a public museum from the location, thereby jeopardising both the charitable and museum statuses. Eventually, the operating Trust was able to negotiate the acquisition of a large plot of land from the nearby Brooklands Museum Trust on the location of the former Brooklands racing circuit and aircraft production site. A deal was struck for the redevelopment of the old museum site and the construction of a new building at the new location, thus providing the museum with a secure home from where it could open daily to the public. [2] The new, purpose-built premises opened on 1 August 2011 and the London Bus Museum name was adopted. [3]
The AEC Routemaster is a front-engined double-decker bus that was designed by London Transport and built by the Associated Equipment Company (AEC) and Park Royal Vehicles. The first prototype was completed in September 1954 and the last one was delivered in 1968. The layout of the vehicle was conventional for the time, with a half-cab, front-mounted engine and open rear platform, although the coach version was fitted with rear platform doors. Forward entrance vehicles with platform doors were also produced as was a unique front-entrance prototype with the engine mounted transversely at the rear.
London Buses route 11 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, England. Running between Fulham Town Hall and Waterloo station, it is operated by Go-Ahead London.
A double-decker bus or double-deck bus is a bus that has two storeys or decks. Double-deckers are primarily for commuter transport, but open-top models are used as sight-seeing buses for tourists, and there are coaches too for long-distance travel. They appear in many places around the world but are presently most commonly used as mass transport in cities of Britain, in Ireland, in Hong Kong, Berlin and in Singapore.
Associated Equipment Company (AEC) was a British vehicle manufacturer that built buses, motorcoaches and trucks from 1912 until 1979. The name Associated Equipment Company was hardly ever used; instead, it traded under the AEC and ACLO brands. During World War One, AEC was the most prolific British lorry manufacturer, after building London's buses before the war.
Arriva London is a major bus company operating services in Greater London. It is a subsidiary of Arriva UK Bus and operates services under contract to Transport for London. It was formed in 1998 from a fusion of previously separate Arriva subsidiaries Grey-Green, Leaside Buses, Kentish Bus, London & Country and South London Transport. Operations are split between two registered companies, Arriva London North Limited and Arriva London South Limited.
Duple Coachbuilders was a coach and bus bodybuilder in England from 1919 until 1989.
The AEC Regent III RT was one of the variants of the AEC Regent III. It was a double-decker bus produced jointly between AEC and London Transport. It was the standard red London bus in the 1950s and continued to outnumber the better-known Routemaster throughout the 1960s.
South East London & Kent Bus Company Limited, trading as Stagecoach London, is a bus company operating in central and south London and some parts of north-west Kent. The Selkent brand is a subsidiary of Stagecoach London and operates services under contract to Transport for London. The Selkent brand is not publicly used since 2010 as all buses are branded as Stagecoach, but it exists as a legal entity.
London Country Bus Services was a bus company that operated in South East England from 1970 until 1986, when it was split up and later sold as part of the bus deregulation programme.
Charles H Roe was a Yorkshire coachbuilding company. It was for most of its life based at Crossgates Carriage Works, in Leeds.
The Daimler Fleetline is a rear-engined double-decker bus chassis which was built between 1960 and 1983.
London Buses route 65 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, England. Running between Ealing Broadway station and Kingston upon Thames, it is operated by RATP Dev Transit London.
The Oxford Bus Museum is a transport museum at Long Hanborough, West Oxfordshire, England, about 4 miles (6.4 km) northeast of Witney and 7 miles (11 km) northwest of the city of Oxford. The museum houses a collection of 40 historic buses and coaches, the remains of four horse trams and a replica City of Oxford Tramways Company tram.
The Ipswich Transport Museum is a museum in Ipswich, Suffolk, England, devoted principally to the history of transport and engineering objects made or used in its local area.
Wirral Transport Museum is a museum situated approximately 0.5 miles (800 m) from the Mersey Ferry service at Woodside, Birkenhead, England.
In common with cars and trucks, preservation of buses in the United Kingdom is a hobby activity enjoyed by many people, both actively or passively. The active preservation and operation of preserved buses is undertaken by private individuals, organised trusts or societies, and even commercial operators. The preserved bus fleet in the UK includes dating from the earliest pre-war models right up to models manufactured after the year 2000.
The Daimler Freeline was an underfloor-engined bus chassis built by Daimler between 1951 and 1964. It was a very poor seller in the UK market for an underfloor-engined bus and coach chassis, but became a substantial export success.
The AEC Regal IV was a bus chassis manufactured by AEC.
Media related to London Bus Museum at Wikimedia Commons