Ireland's Operating Bus Museum

DELAY IN DELIVERY OF BRISTOL RE's.

August 4, 2007. There has been a delay in the delivery of the Bristol RE's , if for no other reason than I want to have my holidays! We plan to do it in three stages, first taking all vehicles to Newry, then from Newry to Ballyraggett and finally from Ballyraggett to Cork. We now plan to start about August 8.

As regards Tigers we now plan to add ten Ulsterbus Tigers to the two we already have and the first of these, 2620, is expected in Newry about August 15. We are still trying to figure what machines would be best for preservation and here we rely on Pat Moss for his advice. Suggestions from readers are welcome. We expect delivery of these gradually over the next twelve months as there is no hurry and it is better to get good machines. So please tell us which you think are the best machines out there.

NEW OFFICE ARRIVES.
August 2, 2007. Our first of the three new offices has arrived at the museum. It is a portacabin and will be used as a dormitory and office.

The next office which is 15' x 20' will be delivered this week and assembled. This will be for our main office and house the managers and secretaries. Once this is in, then the third and largest at 25' x 25'' will be organised and this will be mainly for me, the kitchen and toilets.

After this comes the maintenance shed which will have seven bus bays, a paint bay and two body bays.

We have then designated six dry buses with no seats to store parts and these will be for electrical and small parts, wheels, tyres, seats, glass, panels. Due to the high incidcence of theft a very theftproof container will be used for tools.

STEPHEN PAYNE NEW CHIEF ENGINEER FOR THE MUSEUM.
July 23, 2007. Stephen Payne has been appointed Chief Engineer for the museum, which has been vacant since Padraig Williamson went to the U.K. Stephen is vastly skilled and has already done fantastic work with the museum. We welcome him and are so glad he has accepted.

MOGEELY RALLY A HUGE SUCCESS - 337 AND SS 737 ATTEND.
July 23, 2007. Mogeely Rally managed to attract the only spot of sunshine in the whole south and again was an outstanding success and bigger and better than ever.

The museum was represented by Ulsterbus Leyland Leopard 337 which was absolutely gleaming having been perfectly prepared by John Quirke. James O'Donovan brought his SS 737 having her also in superb condition.

337 was Absolutely Gleaming!

337 Rear View!

337 Inside!

337 Dash!

337 And the person who had her like new, John Quirke !

SS 737 arriving driven by James O'Donovan!

SS 337 Rear View!

SS 337 Inside!

SS 337 Dash Area!

Jaems O'Donovan who did all the work on his SS 737!

A complete set of photographs of the Rally will follow shortly.

FORD PLAXTON 85 WH 93 ARRIVES AT DEPOT.
July 22, 2007. This definitely must rank as one of the more bizarre episodes in the history of museum. We collected the bus and all was fine for three miles when fuel problems developed. From her sitting for so long dirt and silt prevented her feeding off the tank. After five or six restarts and short distances she stopped again so we got a hose and gave her direct feed. She then started sounding sick so we had to abandon her.

Stephen Payne and myself back on Sunday we went back and discovered we could get her to idle but she would stop anytime we tried to drive her any distance. We then hit on the bizarre solution of letting the Omega pull her the 78 miles to Cork which in did in amazing fashion cruising at times at 60 m.p.h. As long as she had air for the brakes this worked fine. But it presented a very bizarre sight having the Omega cruising at 60 being closely followed by a bus which probably never did 60 in its life! An interesting by product was that fuel consumption in the Omega dropped to 8 miles per gallon but then the Omega designers probably never thought of a twelve ton trailer in their design! You can imagine the expression on the faces of anyone we passed! We got her safely to the depot and she drove in with some style - and smoke - and she is safely there now. Our thanks to Francis Dempsey for having sourced this vehicle which is a Plaxton Paramount Ford, being one of the last ever built.

If any one knows her history please let us know. Her registration is 85 WH 93 and her body number is Plaxton 85.11 FT P2C.001. Andy Baldwin has given a wonderful insight into this vehicle. New as B638 KVO to Tansley (Derbyshire) she was originally right hand drive having being built for export to Denmark! Does anyone know who converted her back or where she went after Tansley?

Pat Shannon handing vehicle over to Barney Yourell!

Barney Yourell at wheel ready to go!

This is ridiculous. Omega pulled 85 WH 93 from The Ragg to Cork! Here seen at Skeheenarinky getting fuel.

Entering Yard!

Rear View!

Interior!

Drivers Area!

ULSTERBUS GETS ITS OWN PAGE
July 14, 2007. Because our Ulsterbus Fleet already tops twenty vehicles and could reach 100 in a year or so we have decided to devote an entire page to news of our Ulsterbus Fleet. It can be accessed by clicking "Ulsterbus" on the menu. It is well worth looking at and our collection is nothing short of amazing. I should say that any of our northern friends - or anywhere else for that matter - are most welcome to visit us and to drive any of the Ulsterbus fleet -assuming they can drive in the first place, of course!
THE WORKING WEEKEND SO FAR
July 8, 2007. It has been a great working weekend again and we started taking M82 and KC 35 out of hibernation. The rain came Sunday evening so we had to abandon. Stephen Payne was in charge and we achieved the following: (Photos will follow)

1. KC 157 came back to the yard from the city yard where she had been power washed. She is now ready for painting in the green livery probably with gold stripe.
2. M 82 was taken out of hibernation and we have started getting ready to start her.
3. KC35 was taken out of hibernation and we are getting ready to start her. All her diesel was stolen as usual.
4. Ford 83 WW 194 was brought up and fully washed and cleaned inside and now looks like new. The real credit here goes to PJ Digan of Ballyroe, Athy who kept her so well. This is an unusual vehicle in that she a Plaxton Paramount.
5. The Leopards were checked out.

IT GETS WORSE AND WORSE - MORE THEFT
July 7, 2007. We went over last night to start KC 160 and KC 169 so that we could take them to the car wash and get them ready for painting and discovered to our horror that the turbocharger had been stolen off 169 and the alternator, injector pump, tappets and a few other pieces off KC 160. It is absolutely appalling and it must have happened during my absence in Australia and New Zealand. Whoever took them knew exactly what they wanted and what they were doing.

If nothing else it proves our policy of getting as many of a model as possible is the correct one as we do have a spare alternator, turbocharger and all the other pieces on our scrap KC's. But we do not have the resources to cope with this amount of theft and it is really heartbreaking. If anyone out there has heard anything on the grapevine, please let us know. We may have located where the missing Tiger wheel went and will keep you informed. What is so sad is that I drove both 160 and 169 in myself and they were perfect and now this happens. I wonder what else we are going to discover!

This now definitely defines the scrap KC's from the operational KC's and KC 134 and KC 155 are now definitely being scrapped. KC 162 is also going to be scrapped due to all the electrics being taken but she will provide valuable parts for the others. As a matter of record in 2005 we lost over €20,000 due to vandalism. In 2006 we lost over €30,000 due to theft! Getting buses is the easy part.

This gives our final KC lineup as follows:

CURRENTLY FULLY OPERATIONAL
KC 35
KC 129
KC 155

MECHANICALLY PERFECT BUT AWAITING PAINTING
KC 152
KC 153
KC 159

WAS MECHANICALLY PERFECT BUT NOW NEEDS WORK
KC 160
KC 169

NEEDS TWO WINDSCREENS ONLY AND PAINTING BUT MECHANICALLY 100%
KC 147

SCRAPPING
KC 134
KC 155
KC 162

When you look at it, it really is quite an accomplishment what we have achieved in the saving of Bombardiers and I think we can be very proud of it.

For those of you from overseas a KC is a Cummins LT10 engined Bombardier chassis city bus.

POLICY ON RESTORATION
July 3, 2007. Brian Griffin has raised a point on the discussion board to which the answer merits wider discussion. The following is my answer to his question as to what buses we are restoring. Comments on the discussion board as always will be welcome.

I think Brian, you misunderstand the function of the museum.

It is not to restore buses but to have representative examples of the various types in working order.

If you have one or two buses, then you can consider restoring them but if you have a very large fleet like we have of over 250 buses then there is no such thing as restoration per se. The object is to keep your working models working.

In effect, other than Bus Eireann, we have the largest bus fleet in the country with nobody else even remotely coming near.

Now, as in any fleet, there is continuous deterioration, not to mention wear, so like any bus company you schedule your vehicles for maintenance and major overhaul as it becomes necessary.

We have buses in three categories:
1. Scrap for parts
2. In Poor condition but historic requiring major work and
3. Operational.

Right now we are concentrating on the operational vehicles, and major restoration will not commence until our new shed is ready this summer.

So let us take KC 157 as an example, a vehicle which is currently undergoing major overhaul. Is she being restored or overhauled? I would argue that, because of her condition, she is merely going through normal overhaul as there is no restoration necessary, as is the case for 70% of our vehicles.

Painting is not restoration, but the normal process of maintenance. It is our policy on all KC's to paint them as they come in for overhaul, because the last paint job done by Bus Eireann was appalling, whereas for Lothian vehicles, for example, they are so good they will not need it for five to seven years.

OK, so you say are you restoring the engine of KC 157. We have evaluated the engine, it is 100%, we do the filters, a few hoses and clips here and there and she is back for service. Is that restoration? I doubt it, but she does not need any.

So, in short, we do not really restore most of our vehicles. We just keep them in proper working order and in the best condition they can be in. If you consider a vehicle as 100% when it comes out of the workshop, then it deteriorates over seven to ten years to, say, 20% if left untouched. It is pretty well a scale deterioration unless you have a major failure, which is rare in a museum.

If you look at Bristol RELL6G 2187, to take the other side. She has apparently suffered a major engine failure even though the rest of her is pretty good. Therefore she now moves up the scale of maintenance as without an engine she does not run very well. When we fit the new engine, we will take the opportunity to deal with the other items which normally would have been left for a few more years. But she is not being restored. She is simply a working example that has a problem and will undergo overhaul sooner than planned due to the engine problem.

Everything is a question of resources. We have limited resources and we try and do the best we can with them. To take a final example, MD 42. She is not as good as we would like thanks to the Readymix bastards, but she is on the button and runs. She could do with some internal bodywork but we have decided to paint her only in this years overhaul schedule as the inside is really no different to when she was in service. But she is not restored, is not going to be restored and for that matter does not need restoration. She just needs some extra maintenance.

I hope this answers some of your questions, and as to what buses are being restored, the answer is probably none. We list the work we are doing on them on the main page as it is done and what what buses we operate. I would guess of the 250+ examples some 75% will start on the button and run fine. Thats not a bad achievement.

Michael Grimes

MORE STRANGE TIGER GOINGS ON.
July 1,2007. When we went to move another Tiger which we had driven in, we discovered the clutch master cylinder had disappeared. Somebody with a Tiger must know where to look as all the parts stolen have been from Tigers and they knew exactly what they wanted. It means we now have to tighten security even more and unfortunately this means no more unauthorised access to the depot. We just cannot affrod to have all these things stolen. And, believe it or not, we are also missing a Tiger wheel!

THIS WORKING WEEKEND AT MUSEUM
June 29, 2007. We have had a fabulous turnout this weekend with Ross Aitken and Kenny Baird from Scotland, Colm Lydon from Galway, Brendan Smith and Paul Buggy from Dublin and our own Stephen Lynch and Robert Doyle.

We got a lot done. The fence was re-erected where it had been removed and is finally complete. Ross and Kenny got the starter out of 340 and this has to go to be rebuilt and once that is done she will be back to 100% operational. Looking at it, we were extremely fortunate to have got her down safely as she definitely would not have restarted after leaving Dublin.

We then concentrated on KC 157 and we got her up to Cork where she will be washed today. After that we will paint her. We stopped at the No. 5 bus terminus en route to get the following photo. We will keep you informed.

AT THE NO. 5A BUS TERMINUS - WEBMASTER DRIVING!

A HAPPY WORKGROUP OUT FOR A RUN.

INTERESTING NEW ARRIVALS DUE SHORTLY
June 28, 2007. Next arrivals is a historic Bristol RELL6G and a National to replace the destroyed Aer Lingus National. They should be in within the next two weeks and as usual photos will be posted.

FORD 82 KE 590 TAKEN FOR A RUN.
June 20, 2007. We de-hibernated Ford Duple 82 KE 590 and moved her to the lower level. Following photographs were taken. Great credit is due to P.J. Dignan for the way he looked after her and his kind donation of her to the museum.

Front View. She looks very well.

Rear View.

Drivers Area.

Aaron Donoghue at the wheel.

Inside is super.

COPIES OF PHOTOGRAPHS

If anyone wants copies of photographs in high resolution .jpg format just drop us an e-mail at busmuseum@hotmail.com and we will gladly send them free of charge.

FANTASTIC WORKING WEEKEND AT DEPOT
June 11, 2007. Stephen Payne, Aaron Donohue, Colm Lydon and James O'Donovan came for the weekend and we got a fantastic amount of work done as can be seen from the narrative below. We enjoyed ourselves also taking both Leopard 337 and KC 157 to Knockraha for photographs. We will be having another working weekend in the near future and if any of our UK readers are interested please let me know and we will welcome them. We will collect them at the airport and provide transport. Drop me an e-mail at busmuseum@hotmail.com.

When we had vandalism we put up a new fence. Then we caught some tinkers stealing the fence. You just cannot win! Now we are having to protect the fence and hear Stephen and Aaron are busy doing so. It is interesting that our fence now is about 400 metres long which takes a bit of protecting.

BOMBARDIER KC 157 (UZG 157) REINCARNATED
HER GHOST ROAMS AGAIN

KC 157 is a Cummins engined Bombardier ex Bus Eireann citybus. She is in excellent mechanical condition and runs well. Aaron and Stephen got to work on her Saturday night, did all the usual persuasions to make a bus want to leave hibernation and hey presto, she was running around the yard on Sunday morning. So on June 10, 2007 we took her for a run to Knockraha and back which was territory she covered while in service and the following photographs could have been taken years ago. Many people thought they were seeing a ghost. Many of the photos are classics. Stephen Payne and myself aided by Aaron O'Donoghue did the driving.

Absolutely perfect. Drove in fine.

Standard Drivers Area.

Another View.

On the lane out of the depot.

At Knockraha Junction just as it was in school days.

With Stephen Payne (driver) and Aaron Donohue at Knockraha.

At the Bus Terminus in Knockraha.

Passing the Church in Knockraha.

Typical classic KC scene.

Comign around the bend, another classic pose.

Stephen and Aaron at depot turning circle.

Stephen Driving.

Dash.

Parked with similar vintage Leopards at depot.

MORE THEFT AT DEPOT
June 10, 2007. When we went to our Stagecoach Tiger to move her, we did the preliminary engine checks before starting and discovered to our absolute amazement that her radiator had been stolen and the following was what greeted us.

We did not know when it happened but we now are going to have to check all other vehicles to see if anything similar has happened,. It is really terrible that nothing seems safe anywhere. We are pretty sure who organised this theft but cannot prove it so once again we are at a loss. These things are what eat money in the museum and our vandalism and theft bill for the last twelve months will be about 20,000 euro which could buy a lot of buses.

One missing radiator!

COLM LYDON, STEPHEN PAYNE AND AARON O'DONOHUE VISIT THE MUSEUM
June 8, 2007. We had Stephen Payne and Aaron O'Donohue join us for the weekend and they were quickly put to work. Colm joined us on Saturday and was a great help.

Stephen Payne and Aaron O'Donohue with our Leopards and Tigers.

POLAND STEAM
May 29, 2007. The webmaster was privileged on Sunday May 20 to be able to get some superb photographs of Polish State Railways (PKP) steam in operation thanks to Trains Unlimited. Poland is one of the last countries in the world with the state railway running everyday steam.

The entire series of photographs - which are really amazing in this day and age - can be seen by clicking on the following link: NOTE : I have yet to put in the captions but these will follow uimmediately.

ANOTHER ROBBERY AT DEPOT - OR TWO OF THEM!
May 29, 2007. It's enough to break your heart. Last week when we arrived at the depot we found our ex-caretaker inside stealing diesel. On being spotted he loaded the diesel cans into this car and sped away. Fortunately the Gardai picked him up five miles away but god knows what he took. We have to check everything again. He knew how to get in.

Subsequently we discovered our water washer and generator missing as well as a jack and the remainder of our tools so we can start again on this area. We are pretty sure who took them but sending someone to jail does not get your tools back. We thought we were pretty secure but obviously not. We now have to have a system where nobody can go in without asking first which is a nuisance. All locks have been changed again and we must now spend money on a recording camera which will at least tell us who dunnit! Our theft and vandalism bill is now well over 10,000 euro per year, which money could be put to good use acquiring vehicles. It is a sad reflection on Irish society as it does not seem to be a problem in the UK.

DEATH OF EAMONN MC ARTHUR
May 20, 2007. As many of you know Eamonn Mc Arthur has died. This news is of immense personal sadness to me as he was a giant in preservation. When he started very few people did anything. He enabled us to get, amongst others, R 913, for which we will be forever grateful. I think we should put a plaque on it thanking him in memoriam.

I would like to do a tribute to him on this website. Alas, I do not have sufficient information do do an adequate tribute. I offer this space to any person that can write a suitable tribute. Please e-mail it to me at busmuseum@hotmail.com and I will put it here. Equally tributes with information on what he did, will be gladly received by the discussion board.

I simply do not know what to say. Thanks Arthur. You will be greatly missed in the preservation movement for which you did so much. Ar deis de go raibh a n-anam!

O WA TA NA C IS!
Pat Keohane Goes Beserk!
Will no one rid me of this wretched man!

THIS WEBSITE WAS UNFORTUNATELY HACKED INTO, ATTACKED AND DESTROYED.

April 28, 2007.The site is pretty well rebuilt by now with only some news details on the front page omitted for March and April. We hope to put these back shortly. Fortunately we have the entire photo gallery now put back. Between a bus being destroyed by fire, the discussion board under appalling attack and now this, it has been quite a week!

ECUADOR RAILWAYS REVISITED.

April 28, 2007. Having just returned from the railways of Ecuador, I have taken even more photos and as soon as possible will update the Ecuador Railways section.