Dundee Museum of Transport gallery: Restoration projects

 

These restoration projects are being undertaken with assistance from Dundee Museum of Transport and/or the vehicles are potential exhibits in our premises. DMofT does not own the vehicles listed here. If you have more photographs of Tayside's Transport heritage or know of a potential exhibit please get in touch through our contact page.

 

Click on a thumbnail picture to see the full-size image. Use the controls at the bottom of the image to control the automatic slideshow.

 

Dundee Corporation Daimler Fleetline bus PYJ461L 161: under restoration

 

In December 1972 Dundee Corporation took delivery of a fleet of 26 10 metre double-deck dual-door Daimler Fleetline buses seating 83 passengers, the highest capacity buses bought to date. These vehicles were registered PYJ442L to PYJ466L and took fleet numbers 142 to 166. They were also the first double-deck buses delivered new in the two-tone Corporation livery that signified driver-only "pay as you enter" vehicles. The windscreen on these buses was two-piece flat glass. The bodywork for these new Daimler Fleetlines was in stark contrast to the previous single door/rounded dome buses as they came with peaked domes instead. Initially these new buses were used on the 1/1A/1B St. Mary's route.

 

PYJ461L last saw service on the Tayway route which launched in November 1980 and it became one of a select few former Corporation buses to regularly operate outwith the City boundary as far as Monifieth.

 

These buses were withdrawn from service in March 1983 after just over 10 years in service. Thankfully PYJ461L never went very far - firstly to local farmer Mitchell and then to the Errol Airfield car boot sale where it lost all its seats and was turned into a book store. 161 was sent for scrap at the end of 2005 and was saved as it was in the process of being cut-up in January 2006.

 

This is going to be a long and difficult project as the bus basically has no interior and scores of damaged/missing panels. You can follow the progress of this project on the Tayway bus blog (external link). Here are direct links to the six latest posts on the Tayway blog:

 

 

PYJ461L when new in two-tone green livery. Sadly we have yet to find a colour photograph of the bus in this livery. After its first repaint into two-tone blue and white the bus kept its flat windscreen and top deck drainage holes. After its second repaint 161 was fitted with a curved windscreen and the top-deck drainage holes were panelled over. Sadly the front Daimler badge was removed and replaced with a 'Tayway' sticker instead. When the bus was sold to Mitchell they kept it in the same livery for a short time before repainting it. Looking very smart after a repaint, 161 was still with local farmer Mitchell. Sadly afterwards it was sold to a dealer at Errol Airport where all its seat were removed and scrapped. This is how 161 was found in a local scrapyard. As you can see the cutting-up was in progress just before it was saved. The front nearside view of the bus shows damage around the doors where the bus caught a pillar at the scrapyard. A view of the back of the bus on the lower deck after a previous owner had done some work on the bus before selling it on. And this is how the front of the bus looked after the current owners started work on it. Will all the bits be there? Some important items were safely stored on the top deck but will there be everything we need? The front of the top deck shows how some of the floor has rotted away whilst other parts have been cut away. It will all need to be removed and replaced. The cab area on 161 with original seat. 161 was stored outside for a number of years. However in december 2011 it was finally moved undercover for the first time in many years. Almost there! 161 is pushed into the garage where restoration work will be taking place over the next few years. Parked up inside the garage 161 is in good company beside former stable-mate GSL908N. Wonder how it is has been since this last happened? As work continued to floor the top deck we also managed to get all the lights working for the first time in many years. The top deck now has a new floor and vinyl will be laid in 2013. No more holes! The front deck floor is now complete and a brown vinyl will be laid in 2013 after which seat frames will be fixed in place. The front step metalwork has now been replaced. The centre-step metalwork has also been replaced and protected with anti-rust paint.

 

Leyland Titan bus PD3/3 KWG655: restoration currently on hold

 

Delivered new to Walter Alexander at Dundee in 1958, it passed to the new Northern company on its formation in 1961. After withdrawal from passenger service it became a driver trainer. It was then sold to a farmer in Aberdeenshire where it remained, out of use, for 20 years. Northern relied on Titans as its standard double-decker for many years.

 

The current owner purchased the vehicle at the end of 2006 and the engine started first time. It was painted in this orange and cream livery, with a handpainted broadside advert for the company’s express coach services to London. In July 2010 it was moved to the premises of an operator in Dundee where restoration has now begun thanks to the support of Airport Travel Dundee and Claverhouse Group for their generous support of this restoration.

 

Leyland Titan KWG655 pictured whilst in service at Trades Lane Dundee before entering the Seagate Bus Station. Later KWG655 became a driver training bus and it is pictured here alongside fellow training bus RWC943D. This is how the Leyland Titan was found before being acquired for preservation in 2008. Apparently it had been outside for over 20 years. Under cover for the first time in a couple of decades and kept company by two former Tayside Region buses. In July 2010 the bus was moved to Dundee for full restoration work to be carried out with help from the Claverhouse Training Group. Museum Chairman Jimmy McDonell guides the bus into its new home. Even after all this time it starts and drives well. Sadly the time the bus spent outside has taken its toll on the seats as this view of the upper deck reveals. Most of the light fittings remain and suitable replacements found for the others. Downstairs some of the seats have been changed from those originally fitted. The lowered gangway on the offside brings back memories of bumped heads for the unwary! Unsurprisingly being outside for so long has affected the stairs. They have now been removed and will be rebuilt before being reinstated. A view of the driver's cab shows just how basic the instrumentation was when it was built in 1958. These buses had a buzzer rather than a bell and this is where the unit would have been. Below is the date when the bus was last painted - 29 April 1975! A suitable steering wheel has been acquired for the restored bus and this has been professionally refurbished. A nearside view of the handpainted advertisements that were on the bus when in use as a driver trainer. Work starts on the offside to remove the paint and replace damage panels. A later view of the offside as more of the paint is slowly removed. Only a couple of panels of the hand-painted side advertisement remain. A number of the lower panels have had to be removed to either be replaced or to allow work to be carried out on the bodywork. A view of the lower deck after the seats had been removed. The battery boxes and dual driving controls remain in place. The rear platform had almost rotted away and would need to be rebuilt. Thanks to Claverhouse Training work progressed well and here more paint removal is taking place. New metalwork has now been fitted to support the newly rebuilt wooden platform. A close view of the radiator at the front of the bus with the surrounding metalwork removed.

 

Former 1961 Angus Area / Tayside Fire Brigade Turntable Ladder: under restoration

 

MTS279 is an example of the all-steel, all-British manufactured 100 ft (30 metres) hydraulically operated turntable ladders designed and built during the 1950s-1970s by the highly respected but now sadly long gone Merryweather & Sons Ltd of Greenwich. It was new to the old Angus Area Fire Brigade in 1961, remaining in service with Tayside Fire Brigade until the mid 1980s before being de-commissioned and finally sold out of service in 1992. Turntable Ladders of this type were then widely used by UK and Commonwealth Country fire brigades as their mainstay high-reach appliance. Their proven high reliability resulted in many remaining in service for 30 years or so, only being replaced when technology moved on and more advanced appliances were developed.

 

MTS279 was built by Merryweather & Sons Ltd for the old Angus Area Fire Brigade, passing to Tayside Fire Brigade on regionalisation in 1975. Photo courtesy of Ron Henderson Collection. Registered in Dundee on 1st June 1961 she entered service on 13 June, thereafter spending all her working life stationed in Dundee, much of it running out of the old 'North Station' on Strathmore Avenue. Photo courtesy of Ron Henderson Collection. After many years of being stored in the open, she is now once again under cover and the subject of a restoration project to restore her to her former glory.

 

Dundee Corporation Daimler CVG6 bus ETS964 returns home: under restoration

 

In April 2010 National Express Dundee very generously agreed to donate Daimler CVG6 ETS964 (fleet number 184) to the Taybus Vintage Vehicle Society. ETS 964 bus entered service with Dundee Corporation on 27 November 1955 and was withdrawn in September 1977.

 

On Sunday 30 May 2010 the bus was brought back from the Scottish Vintage Bus Museum at Lathalmond to the Taybus premises for work to commence on getting the bus back on the road as soon as possible.

 

Leaving Lathalmond after an 8-year stay, preserved Daimler CVG6 ETS964 was collected by Taybus Vintage Vehicle Society. On its way home on the A90 to Dundee the bus certainly drew quite a lot of interest from the passing motorists. Nearly right for the now changed blind display as the bus passes the Downfield roundabout on Dundee's Kingsway. Almost there as the bus goes under the Muirdrum flyover. The Leyland Constructor wrecker looks the part in matching Corporation livery. Daimler bus 184 being pushed into Taybus premises having been towed all the way by Rolls-Royce Eagle powered tow wagon Q131SES. And so to bed - the Daimler bus safely in the Taybus garage flanked by Bristol 204 (OSR204R) and, right, Ailsa 300 (WTS272T).